Red Blooded

He stopped, turning to me. Fine, but what do we do? Are there any windows in this place? They haven’t exactly given me a tour.

No windows. In fact, the sun here burns the skin. We’re going to have to duck into one of these rooms and think of something else. I moved toward a door. This one had a knob.

It turned slowly. No movement. I braced my shoulder against the door.

Nothing.

Try the next one, I told him, gesturing down the hallway.

“That one won’t work either,” an arch voice said from behind us.

My head whipped around.

The Prince of Hell stood very regally at the end of the long hallway we stood in. He was dressed in a three-piece suit, hair shellacked, precise in all ways.

Except for one thing.

A line of fingernail tracks running from his cheek to his chin.

11

The Prince’s wounds were closing fast, but that didn’t bode well for Lily. Drawing blood, or in this case motor oil, from the Prince of Hell was no small feat. As my brother had learned the hard way. Though the demoness was already in hot water, so maybe it didn’t matter.

“You will not escape through any of those doors.” The Prince took a step forward. “They are impassable. I had not thought you would encounter” he flourished one of his hands—“the demoness, and that meeting has thrown everything off. But make no mistake, we have been awaiting your imminent arrival. We’ve made plans, but in your… eagerness… to make another defiant alliance you have managed to throw a wrench in them. So, I am once again forced to come here and take care of things.”

“My eagerness?” I scoffed. “Of course I was eager to save my brother. And I’d pair up again with anyone who would help me. And I’m sorry, but I’ve ruined everything?” I sputtered. “In this situation”—I waved an arm between us—“you definitely win the spoilsport award. If you hadn’t kidnapped my brother, I’d be home right now curled up with my mate under the covers watching reality TV. Instead I’m here fighting my way through the horrors of your world. And, by the way, this place sucks. You need to redecorate and possibly import some sunshine that doesn’t blister off the skin.”

“The Underworld is an extremely pleasant plane to exist.” The Demon Lord continued down the hallway at a slow gait. “I took your kin, because you must face your crimes. There was no other way.”

“I beg to differ. I haven’t committed any crimes that will hold up in any real court, and you know it.” I took a bold step forward, Tyler behind me, a continuous low growl emitting from his throat. “I defended myself, which is acceptable in any supernatural realm. But when you kidnapped my brother, you forced me to here—and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be involved in any demon business at all. The Underworld wouldn’t even be on my radar.”

“It was fated you would come,” the Prince responded calmly, though I could tell I was affecting him. “It was only a matter of time. I simply sped things up.”

“I think not,” I contended. “If it weren’t for your stubborn visits to our plane and your constant aggression, I never would’ve come here.”

His eyes did the reptilian flash where the pupils elongated, making me curious once again as to why the demons were glamoured in their own realm. It would take much less energy to just be a regular demon, whatever that looked like.

“It was written. Everything that is written comes to pass. Do not question our Scriptures, you lowly mutt.” The Prince took another few steps forward. “It is offensive.”

I was tired of being called a mutt or a mongrel. If you wanted to get technical, I wasn’t a mutt, I was a reincarnated purebred. My wolf howled her agreement. “If me coming here was documented in your Scriptures, then your interference should be noted in there as well,” I countered. “Does it say, ‘The female wolf will descend to the bowels of Hell to wreak havoc, but only if she is provoked by the idiotic Prince of Hell’? Because that’s how it should read.”

“How dare you mock me?” His eyes narrowed as he continued to stroll nonchalantly toward me. The Prince’s face had already healed. Only faint lines of dried residue marred it now. “I did nothing but seek to make you pay for your atrocities. Killing our beasts and our imps is a direct crime against us. You are dangerous and will pay dearly for your actions.”

Jess, there’s something coming from behind and I’m beginning to hear movement behind all these doors. We are totally surrounded.

I was laser-focused on the Prince, who was taking his time reaching us. Twenty more yards.

Tyler continued, The bad news is I don’t know what’s coming at us from behind. They don’t smell like the regular demons I’ve been dealing with, but whatever they are, they are nasty as hell.

My wolf inhaled while I kept my eyes on the threat. Those are the chupacabras, I told my brother, but these smell different from the babies and there’s an undertone of something else. There may be other beasts with them.

Babies?

Long story, but the chupacabra adults are vicious. I don’t know how we’re going to get away from Mr. Nasty here, so I’m just going to keep talking to buy us some time.

Yeah, he chuckled, because that’s working really well for you. Why don’t you tell him his pants are on fire from being such a liar, liar?

I bristled. And what exactly would you have me say?

I don’t know, maybe tossing some honey on this mess would work better for us.

It was all I could do not to turn around and gape at my brother. You want me to sweet-talk the Prince of Hell? Wolves did not sweet-talk. I can’t believe you just said that!

Well, he said defensively, whatever works, right? How else are we going to get out of here? There’s a threat in every direction and we’re on a Hell plane with no backup. I’m up for doing whatever it takes to get out f here.

I swallowed a softball-sized gulp. Sweet-talk the Demon Lord? Right. My wolf snapped her jaws. I know, but Tyler makes a fair point. Even if I used my combined magic to get by the Prince, I don’t think we can get Tyler out too, or defeat all the beasts coming at us from every direction. We need more time and some… sweet talk might get us… something. The question was what? Less torture? A kinder trial?

But it would buy me more time.

“I sense your defeat.” The Prince took an long breath in. “And it smells divine. You are finally realizing that there is no hope for you any longer.” The Prince thought I was worried. He had no idea I was incensed with my brother’s suggestion to be nice.