Page 6 of All’s Hell That Ends Well (Infernal Covenant #4)

CHAPTER 6

B umbling toddler demons have a better grasp of their fire powers than you do , my favorite surly hellcat grumbled from up high.

I put my hands on my hips. “Well, considering that I have only been a demon for a few hours, maybe you could cut me some slack? I’m not used to these powers yet. They’re quite different from the magic I had as an angel.”

Mephisto’s tail swished wildly in the murky shadows above me. Did you like being an angel? Swish, swish. Did you have fun? His voice was velvety yet cool. Did you enjoy the years you spent away from here?

I opened my mouth, then closed it again, my brows drawing together. “Are you…are you mad at me?”

You left. His angry snarl echoed in my mind.

I winced, then shook my head. “Not voluntarily. The connection between my body and soul got severed, and then I died and?—”

YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO!

I reared back at his shout.

Mephisto never raised his voice. He never lost his cool. In all the times I’d spoken to him, he’d always been chill and laid-back. For him to snap like this…

You are not allowed to die , he hissed.

I swallowed hard, my chest aching with understanding. “I’m sorry that my absence hurt you. It wasn’t intentional, though.” And with a wobbly smile, I added, “I’ve missed you, too.”

Those luminous yellow eyes narrowed, and he sniffed. I’m not hurt. And I didn’t miss you. Swish, swish went his tail, painting him as a liar.

I grinned. “Sure, yeah.”

I didn’t. I could make out the shadowy outline of his wings unfolding and refolding in the gloom. I couldn’t have cared less but for the state of constant agitation your demon has been in these past years. It was untenable. Irritating. He is unbearable when you are not there. That is all.

I bit back my chuckle, warmth wrapping around my heart. “Of course. You are far too aloof for emotional attachments.”

Precisely.

He’d never admit to actually caring about me, and it was best to allow him the illusion of maintaining his detached nonchalance. Cats would be cats.

“Well, I, for one, am absolutely thrilled to see you,” I said, unperturbed by his lack of openly displayed affection. I knew how to take him. “It’s good to talk to someone friendly here. By the way, how did you know I was here? I mean, not just in Lucifer’s palace, but down here in Hell?”

Even with his mysterious cat ways, showing up here so soon couldn’t be a coincidence.

That clumsy hound of yours felt your presence.

My heart stopped beating, then stumbled into a staccato rhythm. “What?”

She started a hell-awful howling and tried to escape her enclosure, Mephisto said. And then your demon let her loose and requested I follow her to see where she would go. I trailed her for hours until we arrived here at the palace.

My mouth hung open in astonishment. I didn’t know which part of what he’d said I should process first. I settled on the most pressing issue. “She’s here? Venny is here, at the palace?”

Likely still trying to ram her way through the walls to get to you.

“Oh, my God!”

I pivoted and dashed to the door.

Where are you going?

“To find her!” I threw over my shoulder. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

Why wouldn’t she be?

I only paused for a moment, my hand on the doorknob. “She’s a hellhound from another archdemon’s territory, and she came barreling over here and is now apparently trying to enter Lucifer’s palace by force. What do you think that looks like? If I don’t find her and claim her as mine, they might kill her!”

No, they won’t, was his calm answer. Like you said, she belongs to an archdemon. She is his property, and they may not kill her. Corral and subdue, yes. But they are not allowed to use lethal force.

Worrying my lip, I peered up at him. “Are you sure?”

Hounds get loose all the time. He blinked, the lights of the chandelier reflecting in his gorgeous eyes. It is understood as something that happens without ill intent on the owner’s part. When a hound is found, it is simply caught and returned to its master or mistress. They will make sure your hound finds its way back to Azazel, unharmed.

“Really? Just like that? Even when the hound destroys something in the other demon’s territory? I can’t believe they’d be so cavalier about this.”

The owner is liable to pay for the damages. Mephisto’s claws scratched over the beam he perched on. The demons came to this understanding after hundreds of wars had been fought over killed and injured hounds that had gotten loose. At one point, the archdemons had enough, and they decreed that no rogue hounds may be killed or harmed, but instead shall be returned to their owners, who will compensate the other party for the damages incurred.

Some of the tightness in my chest unraveled. “How do you know all this?”

I’m a cat.

I flailed. “You can’t use that as an answer to everything!”

Fine. He uttered a quintessentially feline sigh. I am hundreds of years old and have seen enough of this world to understand its many rules. Do not worry. Your hound is all right. He made a considering pause. Well, there is definitely something wrong with her mind, and her general coordinative abilities, not to mention the fact that she belongs to a species that is prone to excessive salivation and displays levels of adoration and submissiveness that are quite frankly repulsive, but she is in no immediate danger.

“You’re really not a dog person, are you?” I asked with a smirk.

Of course not. His voice sounded miffed. I am not a person.

I hung my head to hide my chuckle. One of these days, I’d get used to Mephisto’s complete inability to understand figures of speech or sarcasm. But it wasn’t today.

“Okay,” I said, turning to the door again, “but I still have to go and find her. Knowing her, she won’t take kindly to someone trying to keep her from getting to me, and it will make it all the more difficult for them to subdue her without harm.”

Good luck. His tail swung languidly to and fro. Just remember that if you claim her as yours, you will be the one to pay for the damages she caused.

I froze. Shit . How would I pay for that? I didn’t have any wealth of my own—measured in souls down here. Then again, the damages caused would be to Lucifer’s palace, and seeing as he needed me to find Lilith, maybe he’d turn a blind eye?

Eh, I’d chance it.

“Oh!” I’d already opened the door when I paused again, struck by a thought. Looking up to where Mephisto lounged in the gloom, I asked, “You’ll be going back to Azazel, right? To report where Vengeance went? Please tell him I love him and I’m okay, and I’ll find a way to see him somehow.” I hesitated, unsure of how much I could get away with putting into a message to Azazel. “Lucifer claimed me because he wants me to do something for him. I’ll explain it all when we’re face-to-face, but it’s nothing bad or nefarious, you can tell him that much. No torture this time.” At least, that was what Lucifer had told me. I sure hoped that was true. “Sometime later today, I will have to go to Earth, and I’ll be back in three weeks. Lucifer is being a difficult little shit about allowing me to see Azazel, but I swear I’ll figure out something so we can meet up, okay?”

In the semidarkness, I could see how Mephisto licked his paw. And you expect me to remember all of that?

“I have the utmost faith in your cognitive abilities.”

He uttered a soft sound of appreciation. As you should. I will deliver your message.

Ha! Flattery always worked with cats. “Where did you last see Vengeance?”

Near the gate to Tokyo.

I stopped short. “Are you telling me there’s a gate to Tokyo on these premises?”

That habit of yours , Mephisto purred, of repeating what I just told you in a question, I find it quite concerning. Is your mind degrading?

Ugh. “So, Lucifer has direct access to two major metropolitan areas. That’s incredible.”

More than two. How do you think he accumulated so much wealth? He has territorial claims on Earth in many densely populated regions, which means his demons reap the most souls.

“Right, okay. So, how do I get to the Tokyo gate?”

I came here on paths you cannot follow , he said all catlike. Therefore, you must find your own way through the palace.

Dammit, he was of no help here. “All right, thanks anyway.” I waved at him. “Please come see me again.”

Maybe , was his aloof answer.

I grinned and then dashed out of the room. Skidding into the hallway, I paused for a second, then decided to jog to the right, tracing the way Gilarion had escorted me from Lucifer’s room. From there, I’d follow the path Haniel had brought me into the palace, at least until I ran into someone whom I could commandeer to show me to the Tokyo gate.

When I reached the door to the tomb-like room in which Lucifer had received me, I slowed down to sneak past it on tiptoes and at a snail’s pace. The last thing I needed was for the Devil to come barging out into the hallway and order me back into my suite.

My heart thumped madly all the way up into my throat as I crept forward. I could swear the deathly chill of the room emanated from underneath the door to whisper over my legs.

Once I was far enough away from the room, I started running again.

The walls zoomed past me. It took me a few minutes, but then it hit me that I was out and about in a building in Hell, all on my lonesome, without a guard…and I wasn’t afraid.

Because I could hold my own now. I wasn’t prey anymore. No inferni would dare to attack me, and no other slithering creatures hiding in the shadows would think me an easy meal. It was such a heady feeling.

Despite my overall shitty situation, despite my forced separation from Azazel and the uncertainty about the future, a smile broke out on my face, and I almost laughed as I ran.

I’m not weak any longer.

If only the me from nine years ago could see me now.

I finally came across another demon as I hurried down a half-crumbled staircase. Much like in Heaven with the other angels I’d met, I could sense her power level. But not just that—I could perceive it as beneath my own. It was a subtle vibration in the air that some part of my new demon nature immediately interpreted as subordinate .

“You!” I shouted and pointed my finger at her.

She stilled, her eyes widening as she took me in. Instantly, she made a deep bow, greeting me with clear deference. A part of me marveled at how easily I fit into this world now.

“Where is the Tokyo gate?” I inquired.

Opening her mouth, she hesitated. “Are you a visitor, my lady?”

“No,” I said and made the split-second decision to bring out the big guns. “I am His Grace’s ward and under his direct protection.”

Hey, if I was forced to toil for that fucker, I would absolutely use every little bit of authority that position might give me. Hell was all about taking advantages where one could find them.

She blanched a little at my mention of being this closely connected to Lucifer, then she straightened and waved her hand. “I can show you to the gate, my lady.”

“Thank you.”

I followed her as she led me through the maze of hallways in the palace, past even more signs of neglect and destruction. We encountered far fewer demons than the last time I’d been here and had walked the corridors at Lilith’s side, and an oppressive hush lay upon the rooms, with the exception of a handful of suites where some demons seemed to mill about and entertain themselves in various loud and excessive ways.

I couldn’t help but feel that it was somehow distasteful, like someone laughing uproariously at a funeral. The whole palace gave the impression of a wake, or a memorial of sorts, and a part of me therefore expected everyone to act accordingly.

Of course, actually keeping a place locked down in constant mourning for years and years was unreasonable. At some point, one had to move on and allow feelings other than grief or rage back to the surface.

Only it seemed that Lucifer abso-fucking-lutely wasn’t moving on. And likely not permitting anyone else to do so either.

The demon who was showing me the way finally waved me through a door that led outside. The lightning-painted sky opened up above me, the first time after eight years that I saw Hell’s fantastically apocalyptic scenery again. Clouds of charcoal gray and red-tinged black billowed overhead, half obscuring a firmament of dark red and orange hues. Flashes of purple lightning crackled, illuminating those heavy clouds from outside and from within, a cataclysmic symphony of shadow and light.

I would never have thought it possible, but I was actually happy at the sight. Unbelievable as it was, Hell’s landscape was another piece of home. I couldn’t quite make sense of it—after all, I’d spent longer living in Heaven than I ever had in Hell, and yet the latter felt much more like home.

My demon escort led me down a path through a bleak courtyard, through arches in walls and across what might have passed as a garden, if the point of it was to showcase the varieties of carnivorous plants that thrived in Hell.

“Why don’t we fly to the gate?” I asked my guide.

She grimaced. “It isn’t safe anymore, my lady. The dragons have been a bit bitey lately.”

I almost missed a step. “Are you telling me they eat unsuspecting demons who take to the sky?”

“Unfortunately.”

Yikes. That hadn’t been the case when I’d last been here. “Who’s in charge of the dragons? Shouldn’t someone control them?”

“The only one who can do so is His Grace.”

And he clearly didn’t give a fuck.

Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

The howling reached us long before we ever came close to the gate. My entire body seized at the sound. I knew that baying, and it struck a chord deep inside me, one that rang with another bit of recognition of home.

I sped up, rushing forward, with my escort jogging to keep up, across another courtyard with an inactive gate in the middle, toward an impressively high wall that could have rivaled the bulwark of such constructions as the Great Wall of China. A loud thumping echoed over from the other side, as well as the nail-curling sound of claws on stone and the shouts of demons.

Not waiting for my guide to open a gate or whatever, I simply jumped into the air and beat my wings hard to make a vertical takeoff—and lo and behold, I managed. Even with the dragons picking their snacks straight out of the sky, a quick hop over the wall should be okay.

I soared over the massive stone rampart, which wasn’t meant to keep out things that could fly, but rather those that would attack from the ground, and took in the scene on the other side.

Half a dozen demons had circled Vengeance, who intermittently clawed at the wall or tried to dig underneath it but saw herself forced to snap around every now and then with one of her three heads to push back the demons advancing on her. They each held a spear with a crackling tip, probably some type of electric-shock device.

My blood boiled. The words were out of my mouth before I could come up with something more diplomatic. “Get the fuck away from my dog!” I yelled, landing between Vengeance and the demons with an impact that shook the ground.

The demons jumped back. Dust whirled up around me, and the next second, the full force of a hellhound the size of a rhinoceros slammed into me from behind. My face hit the dirt, and then three huge tongues doused my head in enough saliva to fill a bathtub.

Vengeance’s happy whining and yipping filled the air and drowned out all other sounds, except for my coughing and choking, maybe. She was so excited that she danced around, and with me pancaking on the ground, that meant she accidentally scampered over me a couple of times, likely dislocating some of my joints in the process.

“Ven—” I gasped, retracting my wings and rolling over onto my back. “Venny! You gotta—ugh, not the licking again. Listen, you gotta stop for a—” I hauled in a big breath and shouted, “Sit!”

Vengeance immediately parked her behind on the ground at my command, though her butt continued to wiggle as she stared at me with the most adoring eyes ever. I scrambled up to standing, brushed off some of the dirt, which I regretted instantly, seeing as it was now mud courtesy of Venny’s slobber, and then shot my dog the widest grin.

“Venny baby!” I squealed and dashed forward to enfold her in a hug.

Which, given her size, meant I kind of just plastered myself to her enormous chest. All three of her heads tried to lick me at the same time, which was logistically impossible considering our position, so of course my clumsy doggie lost her balance and toppled over.

All the better to give her a proper belly scratch.

“Where’s my good girl?” I crooned as I petted the soft fur on the underside of her torso. “Who’s been such a good girl, coming to find me? Such a sweet baby! You’re the bestest! I wuv you. Yes, I do. And I’ve missed you so, so much!”

“Excuse me,” a voice said from behind me.

All three of Venny’s heads snapped up, and she snarled. I paused in my scratching and looked over my shoulder.

One of the demons who’d tried to corral her stared at me with a put-upon expression. “Who are you?”

“Zoe,” I replied. “Lucifer’s ward.”

Yep, that’s right, throwing around the authority again. I was going to milk this for all it was worth. No matter how much I despised the guy, I wasn’t going to waste the edge his direct protection and association with him could give me here in this viper’s nest.

The demons shifted uneasily at my mention of their boss, and I realized half of that might be the fact that I’d called him by his name and not his title. Oops. Then again, that could signify I was on such good terms with the head honcho dude that I could get away with a more informal address, which in turn should make the other demons even more hesitant to treat me with disrespect.

“Is this your hound, my lady?” the leader of the group asked.

“Yes, she is. You will cease your efforts to corral her, and I will take her with me into the palace now.”

I stared him down and dared him to contradict me or mention the subject of compensation for the damages caused—from what I could see, Vengeance had already rammed or clawed her way through a couple of walls before reaching this one here. The whole staring-down thing was quite the feat, given the fact that I was drenched in dog saliva and had to keep blinking hard and fast to keep the slobber from dripping into my eyes.

I chalked it up to my surprisingly grown acting skills that I managed to come across as authoritative and regal while I probably looked like an unfortunate pet ferret that a misbehaving child had dunked in their bath water.

The demon in charge made a deep bow, and the others behind him followed suit.

“As you wish, my lady,” he said as he straightened, then nodded at his comrades.

They turned away and walked off.

“Can you let us back in?” I asked the demon who’d escorted me here from the palace.

She bowed her head. “Of course, my lady.”

“Come on, sweet girl.” I faced Venny again and gave her a signal to heel. “Let’s get you inside.”

With a yip, my own personal hellhound jumped up and trotted along by my side, her tail wagging happily.