Page 17 of Generally Hospitable (Good To The Last Demon #7)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The room was like no other I’d ever seen.

Instead of a boxy square or short rectangle, it was more of a long, dark, narrow hallway.

A dim glow at the end was like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but I know that sometimes the light was an oncoming train, and I was most likely headed for a collision.

It didn’t matter. That’s where Pandora was, I felt it with my entire being, so that’s where I was headed.

Carefully, I made my way down the hallway, heeding Earl’s warning to look for traps.

I didn’t see anything, but that was the point…

If traps were obvious, they wouldn’t be traps at all.

The farther I walked, the farther the glowing endpoint seemed to be.

I was fairly sure it was an optical illusion.

“Shit,” I muttered. “Just take it easy, Cecily. You’ve got this. Stay calm. The Bee Gees would definitely want you to keep staying alive. And Pink would be broken-hearted if you never made it back to the party.”

Yes, I was aware I was talking to myself, but in order not to freak I decided to go with the flow.

“Help me, Cecily. I beg of you, help me,” my mother cried out.

What in the hell was Lilith doing here? Did she think I wasn’t capable of handling this on my own? She was human. Could a human even be in the Darkness?

“Mom?” I called out warily. “Where are you?”

“Please, Cecily,” she begged. “I don’t have long. Get me out. I’m dying.”

“What the actual fuck?” I hissed. Had the Higher Power dragged my mom into the Darkness to mess with me? How was this even happening?

“Find me Cecily, I’m here.”

“Where?” I shouted. “Where are you? I can’t see you.” The panic was rising fast. All the magic and power in me was jonesing to come out and play. I just needed to find my mom. “Are you in the hallway?”

“No,” she said, sobbing.

My heart was now residing in my throat. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. Killing the Higher Power was racing to the top of my list. If my mom dies because of Phyllis, I’d make Phyllis feel pain like she’d never known.”

“Mom,” I said, doing my best not to lose my shit. “Tell me where you are. It sounds like you’re close. Try knocking on something. I can follow the sound.”

The knocking began. It wasn’t knocking at all. It was explosions and it rocked the entire castle. But did it? Maybe this was one of the traps? Maybe the traps weren’t the kind I was looking for. Maybe the traps were psychological. Maybe Chub Chub and the Higher Power were sicker than I thought.

“Cecily, the throne room. I’m in the throne room.”

I wanted to scream bullshit. I didn’t. I still wasn’t sure if this was real of fake. “Mom, tell me what Dad calls me.”

“Your name. Cecily,” the voice of my mother shrieked. “Hurry, they’re coming. Please.”

“Mom,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Tell me my nickname. Tell me what Dad calls me. You’ve called me that plenty of times. Tell me. Please, tell me.”

She couldn’t. It was possible she was so traumatized she didn’t remember. I’d try another one. “What am I going to name my daughter someday?”

“You’re pregnant?” she wailed. “Oh my god, you’re pregnant?”

“Hypothetically,” I said quickly. I was pretty sure I wasn’t talking to my mom—just someone who sounded like her. There was no way in hell I was going to tell the Higher Power or Chub Chub I had life inside me. “Tell me the name you chose for my daughter.”

“I don’t know,” she screamed. “Why are you doing this? What have I done to you to make you hate me? What have I done? Save me before it’s too late. Is that too much to ask?”

I was going to walk away. That was not my mother. It was painful—like ripping my heart from my chest. If I was wrong and it was Lilith, I’d have to live with that until the end of time.

“Fuck me,” I said as I started to sprint toward the light. “Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.”

With every step I took, my mother’s voice grew louder and more desperate. I was getting closer to the light, and to whoever was pretending to be her didn’t want that to happen.

Her scream of terror as I finally entered the room at the end of the hallway was ear-piercing and brutal.

She roared like an animal and sounded as if she was dying.

At one point, I was sure she called me Cecily Boom.

My name was Cecily Bloom. However, ignoring her pleas was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

I’d arrived. There was a door at the end, and it easily opened.

As I stepped into another room, the voice stopped.

It was a small space, about fifteen by fifteen feet.

There were no windows—just a dull flickering lamp and a few hard wooden chairs.

It was eerily silent, but the person I’d been searching for was there.

Pandora sat slumped over in one of the chairs. The collar was still around her throat, and the leash was attached. Her palms and knees were bloody. My hatred for Chub Chub Wang increased tenfold. Screw Tiny shitting down his throat and killing him. I would do far worse.

“Pandora,” I said, kneeling down in front of her and gently lifting her chin. “It’s me. I came back for you.”

“Go,” she choked out. “Leave at once, Cecily. He’s coming back, and Phyllis is with him.”

“Nope,” I said, removing the collar and leash. “I’m getting you out of here. Tiny is waiting for you.”

She gave me a weak smile. “Did he bring sushi?”

“I guess we’re going to have to find that out.”

Pandora was pale, gaunt, and barely hanging on. Her gashes weren’t healing properly either, but that made sense. Her magic was barely there. That was something I could solve. I was hopped up on so much magic, I had enough to spare for about a hundred people.

I wished I’d thought to bring the jeweled dagger, but it didn’t matter.

I had a spare knife in my boot. It wasn’t a ritual blade, but it would do in a pinch.

Without hesitation, I sliced both of our palms and exchanged blood with my counterpart in the Darkness.

She was so depleted, I wasn’t sure how much it would help, but something had to be better than nothing.

“You’re a bitch,” she said as the color began to come back to her face.

“And you’re a Stinky Whore,” I shot back affectionately.

“Such a lovely pair we are,” she said with a small smile.

“Are youse though?” Phyllis said from behind me.

My blood ran cold, and the killer Demon in me emerged like she’d never emerged before. Standing up slowly, I turned around and faced the diabolical creature who had nothing to lose. I, on the other hand, had everything to lose, which made me even more dangerous.

I smiled. It was icy and didn’t reach my eyes. “That was a nifty trick, using my mom’s voice.”

She took a long pull from the lit cigarette in her hand. “And youse almost fell for it,” she said, practically coughing a lung up. She was a repulsive little troll.

“Where’s your boy toy?” I asked. “Seems like he’d hate to miss this little party.”

“On his way,” Phyllis informed me. “Gettin’ all the weapons he needs to kill youse two.”

“That’s fun,” I said, sitting down in the chair next to Pandora.

“Fireball,” Pandora said in my mind. “Create it. I gave you the ability. It hates to be burned.”

“I can hear youse,” Phyllis groused, tossing her lit butt our way.

“Fine,” Pandora said. “Next time I’ll say it out loud, bitch.”

The Higher Power’s eyes narrowed to slits. It wasn’t pleased with the direction of the conversation. Too bad, so sad. In precaution, Phyllis dropped a protection ward around herself.

Pandora laughed. “Looks like someone is a pussy. Imagine that! The Higher Power is afraid of the two Demon Goddesses.”

I wasn’t sure antagonizing Phyllis would end well, but she didn’t seem as strong as when I’d previously seen her. Maybe, just maybe, she was stronger on her own plane, but not so much on ours. Just as I was about to test my theory, the man of the hour entered the room.

“Excellent!” Chub Chub Wang bellowed. “I’ve got both of you right where I want you. Time to say nighty-night!”

I didn’t pause to think. I didn’t give Chub Chub a moment to catch his breath. Without hesitation, I dropped a protection ward around Pandora. She had some color in her cheeks and her sarcastic mouth back, but she was in no shape to fight.

However, I was.

Chub Chub laughed and pulled out some kind of ancient torture contraption from a bag on the floor. It had spikes, straps, and razor blades all over it. Fine. If that’s how he wanted to die, I could work with that.

The fury that was building inside me was unfamiliar and difficult to contain. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t sure if it was Tiny or Abaddon, but it was bloodthirsty and ready to go. All I had to do was let it take me over…

“I will destroy you, you stupid half breed bitch,” Chub Chub growled, sending a bolt of electrical fire my way. I easily ducked it. It bounced off the ward I’d placed around Pandora and ricocheted back, hitting him square in the chest.

Sadly, it didn’t take his head off. Chub shrieked in fury and came at me like a freight train that had jumped the tracks going down a hill. Foul words left his lips, and his eyes were crazed.

It was time to let the magic take me over.

When my fist connected to his face, his head snapped back, breaking his neck. The look of utter shock was gratifying, but I was just getting started. A broken neck didn’t stop Chub Chub. Nope, he wanted more.

I was happy to dish it out.

It was like I was watching myself from above. I didn’t recognize the Goddess in the fight, but I was rooting for her. She was deranged.

My fists connected to his face over and over until the Demon was unrecognizable. His former face was now raw meat. I wanted more. In honor of Tiny, I broke ever bone in his pathetic body while he screamed in agony and begged me to stop.

He had killed my people. He had tried to kill Pandora. He definitely wanted to kill me. He fucked around and he was finding out.

Peeling skin from a body was much harder than it sounded. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. Chub’s voice was far away and I could barely make it out. I thought Phyllis was shouting something, but I was on a roll.

“You like that, Chub Chub?” I ground out. “How does that feel?”

He was writhing on the floor in agony, but he wasn’t dead yet. I wanted to make him hurt before he died. There was no way in hell I was going to shit down his neck, but he would suffer before I removed his head.

“Hmm…” I said picking up the contraption that he’d planned to use on me. “How does this work?”

“No,” he said. I could barely hear him due to the pounding in my head, but that was fine. I didn’t need to.

“Yes,” I replied. “Does it go up your ass?” I asked politely. “Of maybe on your genitals?” The Demon was beyond terrified. “Or,” I said, standing over him. “Maybe it’s a hat. Yep. Looks like a hat to me.”

Without much pomp or any circumstance at all, I slammed the contraption down on his head. In the end, I didn’t need to tear his head off. His toy did it for me.

When I turned around, Phyllis was gone. Didn’t matter. I’d hunt her down next. Pandora was horrified and speechless.

Well, kind of speechless. “I have never witnessed anything quite so astonishingly terrifying in my life,” she choked out.

I rolled my neck and popped my knuckles. “Neither have I, and I hope to never see it again. You ready to go get some sushi?”

She laughed. I joined her. I didn’t want to think about what I’d just done. It was me and it wasn’t. I couldn’t wait until Tiny and Abaddon’s blood was out of my system. But… I was hungry. With a wave of my hand, I dropped the ward from around Pandora.

“You know,” Pandora said, getting to her feet with my help. “You’re pregnant. You can’t eat sushi. How about Italian?”

“Works for me,” I said.

Hand-in-hand, we walked down the hallway and back to reality. I had thought we were frenemies, but I knew now we were friends. The road for us would be long and not always easy, but we would figure it out. Together.

“You do realize we’re going after Phyllis next,” I told her.

“But we can’t kill her,” Pandora pointed out.

“Oh, I have a story for you that you’re going to love,” I said with an exhausted laugh.

“Do tell,” she shot back.

“Food first. Story after.”

Alone, I was strong. With Pandora, I was stronger, and she was stronger with me. A Demon’s life was tricky. But we’d navigate it together.

Or, die trying.

The End