Demons Like It Hot (47 page)

“Wow,” Kalli said under her breath.

Did she dare look? And risk Matthias’s life?
Hell
no.

Paying no heed to the conversation behind her, she continued to concentrate. “Heal, damn it! I won’t lose the man I love.”

Heat shot from her fingertips and she flung her head back. She had to save him. She wouldn’t survive if he didn’t. Matthias moaned, stirring beneath her.

“This doesn’t feel like limbo,” she heard him say.

Her eyes flung open. She glanced down at Matthias. The wound left by Salome was just a red, faded line. She wiped a hand gently across his brow and gathered him in her arms.

“No, sorry to upset you, but this is in fact not limbo.”

“Good. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Matthias reached up and brushed a stray curl from her forehead. He sat up and gave a low grunt.

“You need to rest.”

“The pain is gone.” Matthias reached out and grabbed her hand. “I’m not a man of many words, so I’ll keep this simple. I love you.” He gathered her close in his arms. “I always have, since I first laid eyes on you.” He grunted again as he adjusted her in his lap. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find the words sooner. And now I’ve lost you.”

“I wasn’t very forthcoming either, you know.” She placed a gentle kiss on his nose, down to his chin and back up to his lips. “As for losing me? Not in this lifetime. I love you too.”

She couldn’t resist any longer. She brushed her lips across his. His arms reached out and crushed her to him, the kiss becoming more demanding.

“Awkward.” Daniel stepped back and tried to shuffle away.

“Yeah, I can understand that,” Kalli said. “Why don’t we let these lovebirds alone for a few.”

“A few? They’ll need more than a few,” Lucy said with a snort.

Serah shook her head. She’d give Lucy that one—for now. She was too occupied elsewhere to care. She wrapped her arms around Matthias’s neck and snuggled in his warmth.

Then again, Lucy was right. She definitely needed more than a few. She needed forever, and thanks to Matthias, she had finally found it.

“What do you mean the chest is missing?” Rafael Deleon managed through gritted teeth.

Even though the clacking of boots on the polished black marble grated his nerves, he continued to pace the expansive room. Candlelight flickered and flitted, sending silhouettes darting against the ivory walls.

What about his sister? Jacoba had all but begged to join the guard, even though he’d pleaded with her not to. Unfortunately, Jacoba didn’t need his approval. She won the Fore-Demon Council over, instead.

Dominic Duvane, shrouded in darkness, stood solitary in the corner of the High Council chamber. A forlorn expression was etched across his face, adding to the already foreboding mood. The news was worse than Rafael had imagined.
Utterly horrible.

Dominic drew in a ragged gulp of air. “The guards were ambushed.”

“Who?” He shook his head. He didn’t even need to ask the question. Belial, the bastard prince of northern regions of Hell.

Blasted Fore-Demons!

“Belial’s Infernati warriors. Have a seat, my friend.” Dominic motioned to the burgundy jacquard and gilt divan in the far recess of the room.

Rafael’s heart sank. Dominic meant to talk to him as a comrade and not a colleague. This didn’t bode well. He clenched his fists. He couldn’t panic. To do so would show weakness. He needed to be strong—or at least appear so.

“What… happened?”

“The Infernati swooped in and torched the encampment.” His friend’s gaze grew somber. “I suggest sitting, Rafe.”

Rafael folded his arms and raised his chin. “I’ll stand.” He’d receive the news like a man, not a coward. “Say whatever you need to say, my liege.”

Dominic growled. “I might outrank you, but I’ll be damned if I let you call me
my liege
.”

Rafael shrugged. “Too bad we’re already damned, Nic.”

“The chest was to be our salvation.” Dominic blew out an exasperated breath. “Bloody hell, Rafe. Why must you be so stubborn?”

“It runs in the family.”

Dominic grabbed him by the arms, his eyes blazing. “Your sister was captured.”

“She isn’t dead. Our connection isn’t severed.”

Dominic nodded. “Yes, but who knows what tortures Belial has bestowed upon her.” His gaze hardened and he clenched his fists. Jaw ticking, he paced. “I begged her not to join. I stood by you.”

Rafael shook his head. “Coby wouldn’t take no for an answer. Even if the council forbade her, she would’ve found a way.”

Fighting the thought of his beautiful sister, with her magnificent flowing silver hair and enchanting silver eyes at Belial’s mercy, Rafael crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What happened to her?”

“Coby’s a hero.” Dominic’s jaw twitched, the demon blood tears rimming his eyes. “She managed to send the chest away before the guards could take it.”

A soft smile curved his lips. Leave it to Coby to save the chest instead of saving herself. Despite his despair, he was still proud of his twin sister. However, he wasn’t in the mood for Dominic to divert his questions. His gaze grew stern. “Where is she?”

“I guess I shouldn’t hide the truth…”

Rafael arched a brow and leaned against the wall. “Well?”

Dominic sucked in a ragged breath, sending candles flickering. “This hurts me as much as you, you know.”

“I do.”

His friend nodded. “My sources report she’s in Belial’s dungeon.”

Rafael clenched his fists as he held his anguish inside. Grinding his teeth, he paced. Bloody hell. Only a few of the strongest Paladin warriors had escaped that hellhole, but they were never quite the same after.

“Where did she send the chest?” he managed.

“Earth.” Dominic flashed a halfhearted smile, his eyes wide and alert. “Your favorite place.”

He didn’t even want to think about the chest being opened on Earth. Belial already controlled half the underworld—what would happen if he took over Earth too? But Rafael had to save Coby first. The Paladin needed her. She’d been the one the Fore-Demons had prophesied.

“Too bad I’ll be busy vanquishing Belial’s buffoons.” Rafael stood firm, holding his chin proud. “My sister needs me.”

Dominic shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. You’ve been ordered to retrieve the chest.” His black eyes grew stony serious. “I’ll save Coby.”

“Ridiculous!” Rafael stormed. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “She’s my sister. I need to rescue her. Why should you go?”

Dominic drew his lips into a straight line, his nostrils flaring. “Because I…” He wrenched himself around. “I ordered her to attend to the chest, so the Fore-Demons assigned me to her rescue. It’s
my
duty.”

“She’s my blood. That should trump duty.” Rafael steepled his fingers. Why must the Fore-Demons do this? They knew how much he cared for his twin.

“They make their decisions for a reason, Rafe.” Dominic turned to face him, blood tears threatening to spill. “In the end, everything will fall into place. I’ll see to it.”

“Where on Earth is the chest?”

Rafael grimaced. He remembered the last time he’d traveled to Earth for such a large mission. He’d been sent to quell an outbreak of Infernati possessions during the early eighteen hundreds. And those clergymen thought they’d done all the work. Earth wasn’t all bad, if you could ignore the mortals and their easily tempted ways.

Not that temptation didn’t serve a purpose. As a Paladin Demon, he was taught only to tempt when times were dire. The Infernati, however, chose to be a bit more overzealous with the skill. Money, sex, drugs, and alcohol, to name a few. He’d learned his lesson with temptation—a skill he wanted to live without.

“You know what happened the last time I was sent to Earth for such a large mission.”

Dominic shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll remind me. You always do.”

“Miss Amanda Newell.”

The other demon rolled his eyes. “So you slept with a human. Demons do that all the time.”

No matter how hard he tried to forget the past, it always came back to haunt him. The time he used temptation for his own good. “She died because I tempted her. I killed her.”

“That was two hundred years ago. Times have changed on Earth. Why, they even have horseless carriages now.”

Rafael rolled his eyes this time. “I know what the world is like. I haven’t completely closed myself off. Even with all their technology and fancy cars and airplanes, one thing remains the same.”

“Which is?”

“Humans are still human.”

When Lucia Gregory became a cosmetologist, she never expected this. Here she was, sitting over a bubbling footbath, scraping the calluses off Mrs. Gunderson’s bunion-ridden feet and sandblasting her thick, yellow toenails.

Got Lamisil?

Thank goodness for the soothing scent of lavender foot scrub and the protection of latex gloves. This wasn’t what she had in mind, at all. But when your nail tech calls in sick again, what can you do? Grin and bear it. Bearing it was easy. The grinning part she still needed to work on.

“There you go, Mrs. Gunderson,” she said, a wide smile pasted on her face. “You’re all set.” With a quick pat of the towel, Lucia—Lucy to her friends—dried the woman’s feet. Feet that shouldn’t be seen in public.

“Oh dear, you’ve got it all wrong.” Her voice, high and whiny, would make fingernails on a chalkboard sound like a symphony.

“Standard pedicure, Mrs. G.” Lucy ripped off the rubber gloves, powder flying, and threw them into the wastebasket.

Mrs. Gunderson huffed and crossed her arms. “Suzie always gives me a paraffin bath.”

“That’s a deluxe pedicure,” she replied, pointing up to the pricing chart that hung on the wall.

“Suzie ain’t ever charged me extra.”

Suzie ain’t here, damn it!

“Okay, Mrs. G.”

The door jingled open. Lucy turned her head. In sauntered her 1:30 customer. Then again, was she really even a customer? In some circles, she’d be called a best friend.

“Hey Lucy, I’m home!” Serah said in her worst Ricky Ricardo accent.

Lucy stifled the urge to roll her eyes. Yeah, Serah’s jokes were lame, but she still loved her. “What up, Serah Bear?”

“I need a wax.” She paused. “Oh, I also came across the coolest chest at the antique store.”

Mrs. Gunderson shook her foot and huffed. “Where’s my paraffin?”

She wasn’t ready to have a full-blown argument with a woman who could use her feet as weapons of mass destruction, so Lucy called over to her second-in-command, who lounged in a dryer seat reading the latest in celebrity dirt. “Frankie, hook Mrs. Gunderson up with a paraffin bath, please. My appointment just came in.”

Tossing his magazine, Frankie huffed. “Appointment, my flaming ass. She visits us more than a government official visits a high-priced harlot.” The mixture of effeminacy and southern flair rolled from his mouth like honey.

With a dramatic flip of her brunette curls, Serah put her hands on her hips and whipped off her Dolce frames, her sapphire eyes sparkling. “Do not!”

Frankie mimicked Serah and sashayed back and forth. “Do too, hon.”

“Yeah, whatever, Frank.” Serah gave Frankie an over-dramatic glare. “You know you want me. When you gonna get back in the closet, big boy?”

“The apocalypse could come, and I’d still wave my rainbow flag. Sorry, toots,” Frankie smirked.

Mrs. Gunderson shook her edema-swollen cankle in front of Lucy’s face. “Can someone just dip my feet, please?”

Frankie sighed. “Right away, Mrs. Gunderson.” Glaring, he swiveled to face Lucy. With a point of his always manicured finger, he mouthed, “You owe me—big time.”

He assisted Mrs. Gunderson from the foot spa and led her to the private room where the paraffin bath was located. Poor Frankie. She did owe him. He could have tomorrow off. That always worked.