Page 29 of The Devil You Know

“I will join you two next time,” I promised and with a last peck on the lips I teleported straight into the Embassy.

Chapter 12

“You want me to tell you about my tattoo, hmm?” Hellion tapped his fingers while staring straight at me. “What will you give me for it?”

“How about I don’t tear you apart with my teeth?” I snarled, absolutely fed up with his attitude.

“I got diplomatic immunity,” Hellion took a sip from his can of monstrously sugary drink with no care. “And the only person who can bite me is Zachariel.”

“If you want something, just come off it and ask,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Well, I was thinking if you want to see me without my clothes so much—” I spluttered in denial, but he continued over my protests. “Then you can join a little private get together at the Steel Velvet club.”

“Are you propositioning me?” I asked dangerously.

“I am inviting you to a special event, Your Stupidness. I find the club fun, but Zachariel and I got a bit too high profile to comfortably play there. And a few couples we know have a similar problem. So, I was talking with Kreshadon and we had an idea we could close the club for one night and allow only a chosen group of people in to have the experience they offer but without all the drawbacks of a large crowd. You in?”

The idea was actually... compelling, I have to admit. While I enjoyed the awed or scared looks the Embassy’s neighbors shot us when they spotted me or Michael, those kinds of reactions kept me from dragging Michael off to the club and showing him off to everyone. Maybe I could do that at a private party.

“Only if Michael agrees,” I said.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Hellion shot me a smug look. “Just consider it and let me know. The party won’t be sooner than in a few months, so you have time to decide. Now, let me grab Zachariel. He will be able to explain what he did with the mark better.”

I knew I had never heard of this kind of angelic tattoo on a demon, but only when Zachariel started explaining his process did I realize how monumentally insane, how groundbreaking what he did was.

“What? Like it’s hard?” Zachariel asked and the crinkle at the corner of his eyes after I shot him a glare told me the reference to Legally Blonde was intentional. “Look, I didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so I did it.”

To be honest, I didn’t quite understand how and why it worked, but I was pretty sure Raphael would find the information fascinating. I hoped it could be used to further my goals.

It turned out that any of my venues alone – the blood, the Steel Velvet owners’ knowledge, Zachariel’s unexpected skill with groundbreaking techniques – were not enough on their own but when they combined in Raphael’s big brain they created a concoction that led to a creation of a prototype.

“You sure it’s going to work?” I asked for a hundredth time, looking worriedly at the collar with a small hourglass Raphael was finishing affixing.

There was a combination of mine and Michael’s blood and who knew what else in the hourglass and, depending on its position, it should work for either Hell or Heaven. The details of how exactly it was supposed to work escaped me, so I had to trust that the Archangel knew what he was doing.

“It’s a prototype. I’m never sure a prototype is going to work. That’s why there’s testing,” Raphael scoffed. “But even if it fails, you will see the negative effects of demonic power infestation spreading and if you come back here fast enough nothing irrevocable is going to happen.”

That still left things like suffering for my little cute Bane, so it better fucking work, I thought darkly.

“Are you ready, boy?” I cuddled Bane close and he yipped in confirmation.

The world swirled around me as I transported us to another dimension. The familiar landscape spread in front of me, but I ignored it to check my fox over. Clear eyes, lolling tongue that tried to lick me, shiny white fur...

“You are well!” I exclaimed with relief and twirled the fox around.

I stayed for a minute, not daring to risk remaining longer, and popped back into my house. Raphael checked Bane over, discovering faint traces of demonic power in him, and made some adjustments to the hourglass and the spell it controlled. Then we tried again, and again, and again, until we were as sure as we could be that the method was going to work to its best ability and Bane wasn’t going to be harmed in the long run.

“I will come by regularly to check him and cleanse any power leaks, but after that doing maintenance on the spell every year or so and applying new blood should work.”

“So, you will be around a lot?” I grinned, knowing I was going to achieve my second goal this way: reconciling Michael and Raphael.

“I guess so,” Raphael grumbled, but I knew he was glad to have an excuse to reach out.

It was after I went with Michael for one of our walks with Bane, letting the fox frolic in nature, when I stopped just outside our house.

“I have a surprise for you,” I said and pushed the door open.

Inside, Raphael was waiting for us, ready to be on standby in case something went wrong with my gift.

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