Chapter 28: Lana

S omething thumps onto the bed near my head and my eyes pop open. I'm faced with my reflection in two huge, wholly black orbs. I scream, my throat protesting, and the creature in front of me shoots back, the extended wings at its back making the motion comically slow. Once it lands, it runs towards the door.

"Wait!" I rush out, sitting up – and clutching the blanket to my naked chest, thank you very much. The rascal stops and turns his head slightly so one wary eye is visible.

"Puck, right?" I ask gently. "I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't expect to see anyone, especially not that close." Puck faces me fully, holding his arms behind his back under his wings, and peers up at me from a lowered head. How can a demon be so gosh darn cute?

"What are you doing here?" I try to keep my voice soothing, not wanting him to run again. He just chirps at me. Right. "I don't speak… whatever that language is, sorry." He doesn't seem to mind and starts exploring the bedroom instead, poking his head into my dresser.

"Do you know where Ashtaroth is?" The imp pops back out of the dresser, wearing one of my flats like a hat on his thorns. I bite my fist. Judging by the excited chirping and hopping, he does know where Ash is, so I carefully wrap the blanket around me and, after telling Puck to wait in the bedroom while I get dressed, close myself into the bathroom to make use of the facilities.

Refreshed and dressed, I come out to see that Puck has strewn clothes from my dresser around the room. I can see how servants may call this demon the bane of their existence.

"Let's go, little hurricane." I open the door and he darts out, heading out of the wing and, judging by the familiar décor in the hallways we take, towards the throne room.

On the way, Puck bumps into a candelabra, and a candle topples off, right onto some gigantic creature's hide. The fire must be enhanced somehow, because neither the fall nor my frantic stomps extinguish it. I try smothering the flame with ether as a last-ditch resort. Thankfully, it works and I blow hair out of my eyes before giving the imp a stern look. He's affected a pose of such pitiful regret that I can't bring myself to yell at the little pest. "Come on," I say instead. "Walk in the center of the hallway."

I hear murmurs of conversation coming from the throne room as we near it and see demons – courtiers – exiting, whatever gathering that occupied Ashtaroth probably concluded.

Puck and I walk in and I stop dead in my tracks. The archdemon is sitting on his throne and there's a half-naked sex demon perched in his lap. Her skin is a milky green color, her hair a deeper emerald.

"Maybe you can jog my memory?" she purrs in his face.

He sighs and rubs at his forehead, eyes closed. "You know nothing, Itra. Leave. "

"Aww," she whines in a voice that rakes over my nerves like a rusty pitchfork. She scoots forward and starts grinding on his crotch like she's giving him a lap dance. My ears start ringing and I start walking towards the throne. If he thinks I'm going to join his little harem, he is sorely mistaken. I feel disgusted. Right? Definitely not jealous.

The demonic stripper looks down between their bodies. "Do you really not wish to feed, My Lord?" Gag .

His eyes meet mine as he answers her. "All my needs are being taken care of." She follows his gaze and jumps off so she can look at me. Instead of returning the look, I drop my gaze to his now-visible crotch. It's still clothed and remarkably unstirred.

The demoness steps closer and sniffs loudly. "Her?" she shrieks. "You're turning me down for a mortal child?"

"Stop shouting in my face or I'll show you some of the ways this child can shut you up." I may not have my swords – something we'll be rectifying immediately – but I can take down this succubus, no problem. Their expertise is home-wrecking, mine is fighting infernal creatures.

She squawks like a vulture and turns her bare tits towards the archdemon on the throne. "She can't speak to me that way! Punish her!" Her tone then changes from the shrill one back to the seductive purr she used earlier. "We can teach this trash some manners together, My Lord." She looks at me slyly. "Fuck over her bleeding corpse, like we used to," she adds on a croon.

My back straightens at the implication of past trysts and the grotesque manner of them. I take a step back before Ashtaroth shouts, "Enough, Itra!"

"But –"

His roar interrupts whatever objection she was about to voice. "Leave!" His eyes are wholly black now, no whiteness visible, the tendrils of violent flame in them so vivid, they appear to be leaping out of their confines. They're nothing compared to the flames engulfing his throne now, though. Despite them, the room is suddenly icy, my rapid breaths misting in front of my face – I'm viscerally reminded of the power discrepancy between us.

Itra, ignoring the danger, unwisely charges at me instead of departing. I lift my hands in time to deflect her extended claws before they could bury themselves in my eyes. Tilting us sideways, I disrupt her balance and use my leg to throw her on the ground.

She's clearly even crazier than I thought, because instead of staying down, she shrieks like a harpy and launches herself up. I redistribute my weight in preparation to hold my ground, but the only thing that reaches me is a gust of hot air and a wave of ashes. The archdemon obliterated her without even moving and I'm not nearly as bothered by it as I should be. Good riddance. A not-so-small part of me wishes he had let me do it myself.

He turns his gaze to me, hands clenching the ends of the throne's armrests so hard, I can hear the metal protest. As I stand my ground, either from stubbornness or fear, I'm not sure, the flames die out and his expression slowly returns to its coolly neutral mien.

"You fucked on a bleeding body with her?" I ask, my voice cold and steady. My priorities may be a tiny bit out of whack.

Sighing, he pinches his nose between his eyes. Can archdemons get headaches? "While I have availed myself of her before," he starts, and I throw up a bit into my mouth, "I have no specific memory of the circumstances she speaks of." I exhale and he lowers his hand to look back at me. "But I am a primeval being, Lana." I startle at hearing him say my name for the first time, but he continues before I can reflect on it. "There is not much depravity left for me to explore. If you can imagine it, I mastered it."

"Right." I nod dumbly, unable to look at him up on his throne. How do I always forget? How do I get so wrapped up in what his body does to mine and forget about everything I was brought up to think of as good and moral? As if he wasn't pressing me against his hardness with Nick's body mere feet away not too long ago.

Like the last time I was faced with a mirror showing me my own sins, I don't fight the urge to leave his presence and find some clarity. Before I'm sucked in again.

"Wait," he says softly. I stop but don't turn around. "I was holding court to try and gather more information on Asmodai. Asking about events further back than I have, when before we only focused on his last known appearances."

I do turn around now as this is important and, unlike the demoness implied, I'm not a child. "And?" I ask, attempting to stay impassive myself.

He crosses his arms and sits back. "There was mention of a woman he held prisoner."

"A human woman?" This wasn't on my bingo card today. Well, none of it really was.

"Elioud."

What? "When?" I ask, both needing to hear the answer and dreading it.

"She was spoken of a year ago. Apparently he kept any information about the nature of it close to the vest." Could it be? Simone disappeared over two years ago.

I clear my throat. "One of my teammates went missing less than a year after we arrived in Purgatory. We looked for her, first in the area close to home that she was designated to patrol. It should have been an easy task for a novice. When we didn't find her we searched wider, the Fallen even wider than that. It was like she just disappeared into thin air."

Ashtaroth hums thoughtfully. "I know."

"You know?" I repeat inanely.

"It was brought up at Council meetings."

Of course. The Fallen had asked for the Council to help in the search for any information regarding Simone's whereabouts or fate.

A loud bang in the now quiet throne room startles me and I spin towards the noise. I forgot Puck was here. He somehow managed to detach an ancient-looking shield from the wall and it clattered to the ground. It looks dented. Ash clearly doesn't care about the shield as he continues our conversation like nothing happened. Probably used to it. "I believe it is time to visit my brother's home myself. Perhaps confirm some old suspicions."

"Can you do that?" I'm surprised – after all, I went there with Akira because the archdemons claimed to not be able to do so themselves without risking war.

"I have no interest in conquering his domain or interfering in any way. I will ask for forgiveness for my intrusion once we locate him." He stands up like he's going to leave right now.

"I'm going with you," I say quickly. I'll need my leathers and weapons.

Before I can ask him about their whereabouts he's shaking his head. "No. Remain here. You would only serve as a distraction."

I grit my teeth. "That could be my team member he held and I'm responsible for her wellbeing. I'd feel like a failure if I didn't do everything I could to find her."

"What you feel has no impact on my decision. You will remain here. Puck," he calls out to the imp, "guard her."

I bristle. Not only had he high-handedly decided I was a liability on his task, but to also think a walking calamity of a baby imp could keep me safer than I could myself? I stomp towards him, fists clenched, ready to tear into him. If there's any chance that this is Simone, it's my right to be there. But he only takes one last look at me, from my feet to the top of my head, as if making sure Itra really didn't touch me and disappears.

"Asshole!" I yell, my throat giving up the ghost and making my voice break halfway through.

I'm breathing like an enraged bull. "Come, Puck." I storm out of the throne room. "There must be a room full of priceless art we can destroy before he's back."