Chapter 30

"And they said I wouldn't be successful." I locked the bunker door as soon as I got inside, humming happily to myself as the energy in the room changed. "Look who's laughing now. Me. It's me. I'm laughing." I squealed and clapped my hands, running the rest of the way down the stairs.

Pausing at the entrance to the bunker proper, I stopped just long enough to switch on the vintage record player, the strains of my favorite animated movie soundtrack echoing in the chamber. Plucking a discarded coat off the rack, I held it out and began waltzing around the room.

"But it's not a dream anymore. It's real. I'm going to win this, and no one can stop me."

"Oh lovely, she's off her bloody rocker," Grim muttered, his deep, gravelly voice breaking through my celebratory dance.

I blew him a kiss as I twirled around his cell. "You're just bitter and it shows, cutie."

"Helene..." Chaos growled.

"Oh, my full government name. You must really mean it."

Gliding across the floor with pure happiness in my little black heart, I continued my dance, singing along with my pretend prince/coat. I stopped in front of Sin's cell, giving him a beatific smile as I swayed back and forth. Then, as the song reached its final bars, I made my way to the empty cell reserved for Malice. He'd arrive any moment, and I could begin my most important ritual. The air hummed with power, and as I watched, the fourth horseman of the apocalypse materialized, all six foot three, stacked muscle, and smoldering inch of him.

"Alas, my prince has come." I dropped the coat, then leaned close and pressed my pink lips to the glass separating us. "Welcome to the party, Mal. We've been waiting for you."

Pestilence glowered around the room, spotting his brothers in their various cells. "If you wanted to see me so badly, you could have called. You didn't have to kidnap me."

"Where would the fun in that be? Besides, we all know you're not one to answer your phone. They call you a hermit for a reason, darling. Where is it you've been hiding? Switzerland? No. Sweden? Eh, it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? You're here now."

"Where exactly is here? I really expect more from you, Hel. This is a dank hole in the ground. Are you really that hard up? You know I'm always willing to help in exchange for something. I could've hacked into a bank and transferred some funds your way."

"I don't need your money, Mal. I'm just fine on my own." My eye twitched. He was getting to me. He always could, even more so than Grim, and that man was my ex-lover.

Perhaps it was because Malice and my sister had once been thought to be an unstoppable team—until he knocked her up and abandoned her. Well, she says he abandoned her, but he has maintained another story. I honestly don't care what he has to say. Chicks before dicks. Horse before... Meh, it just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

"So what now?" Sin asked as he leaned against the back of his cell. "You've got us all here. What are you planning to do with us?"

Grim's eyes found mine. He knew. Of course he did. We were two peas in a pod, he and I. Okay, not really. He was a lot grumpier and above it all than I was. He'd lost his joy somewhere along the way, whereas I still reveled in our divine purpose.

"Now, Sinclair darling, I steal all your power and start my apocalypse."

Chaos slammed his fist against the glass, making the magically reinforced barrier quake. If I hadn't already triple-checked that it would contain him, I might have been scared he'd escape before I'd gotten what I needed.

"Just like that?" Sin asked.

"Just like that. Well, minus the raising of my army and a nifty little ritual to kick things off. But those are just formalities, really. It's basically in the bag."

"And what are you going to do with us when you finish this little ritual?" Grim asked.

"Leave you all right where you are. You'll be nothing but husks by the end, but that's just fine. I don't care if you spend eternity trapped in your cells. You deserve it for the way you treated me."

Grim scoffed. "How we treated you?"

Chaos picked up the thread. "We're the ones in cages. How can you possibly claim to be the injured party?"

I pouted. "You never take my sisters and me seriously. You four think you're the only ones who could ever succeed at our task. Well, I showed you, didn't I? And I have a secret for you. I didn't even need a penis to do it."

"All you've done, sweetheart, is piss us off," Sin said, his voice thick with lazy seduction. I didn't think he even realized he'd turned it on. It was like that with him, the incubus that he was.

"The four of us may not much like each other these days, but it doesn't mean we won't work together when the occasion calls for it," Mal added. "I don't think you realize the level of shit you've gotten yourself into."

I didn't want to listen to them anymore. They were boring me with their incessant complaining. And, honestly, their opinions really weren't serving me any longer, and wasn't that part of the new me this year? My resolution? Get rid of things that don't serve me.

I'd start with them.

Skipping over to the record player, I snatched one of my favorite albums and replaced the soundtrack I'd been listening to. I selected an appropriate song for the occasion and turned the volume as loud as it would go before training my gaze on the four men in my clutches.

"I'll be back," I said, then I hit play.

If they said anything in response, I couldn't hear them. Instead I left, like the mastermind I was. I had a few loose ends to tie up. But I'd be back. Soon.

The grand finale was about to begin.