Page 25 of All's Hell That Ends Well

Inwardly, I scoffed. Right, yeah, as if my doggie would just respond to some rando ordering her to heel.

Vengeance stood and happily scampered over to the King of Hell.

My jaw hit the floor. What? But! My dog!

“Venny?” I asked in a small voice.

Vengeance lay down in front of Lucifer’s chair and licked his outstretched hand with two of her heads. The third tried to chew the armrest. Her tail wagged with all the enthusiasm of a dog greeting a favorite person.

“What is going on?” I squeaked. “What are you doing to my baby?”

His eyes on Vengeance as he scratched one of her heads, Lucifer smirked, his features softening to something close to affection, an expression I’d only seen on him when he’d talked to Lilith. “All creatures of Hell are familiar to me. And I to them.”

Vengeance looked at him adoringly, and I stared in disbelief.

Did the Devil just steal my dog?

“Give her back,” I croaked.

Lucifer’s gaze slammed into me.

“Please,” I amended, my heart hammering.

“When you return from your first search.”

Vengeance had laid her right head on his lap, and he massaged one of her big, floppy ears. The other two heads tried to nibble on his boots.

I sucked in a breath. “You’ll keep her with you while I’m gone?”

“Just so.”

My chest felt like someone had punched a hole in it, reached in, and squeezed my heart. “Please don’t hurt her.”

He stilled, his fingers halting their scratching. His eyes were like black chips of ice. “What kind of monster do you take me for?”

I opened my mouth and flailed wildly. “Excuse me! You have a millennia-long history of torture and murder! You make visitors walk over a glass floor under which you have demons chained and eaten alive who angered you in some way. Your wing collection is so vast I can’t even see where it ends. You delight in cruelty. You’ve threatened me in every single conversation we’ve ever had. And you wonder why I’m wary of you seizing my hound?”

He curled his lip. “I do not hurt animals.”

“Well, there’s a difference to your son,” I murmured.

“What was that?”

I flinched and cleared my throat. “It’s just that I witnessed Samael torturing a hellrat earlier.”

If I read his expression right, his features twisted in disgust.Interesting.

“Your hound will be well cared for,” he said after a moment, not further acknowledging the info about Samael.

Vengeance had turned her belly up in the meantime, and since she was so huge, Lucifer could scratch her underside without even having to lean forward much. All three of her tongues were goofily lolling out of her maws.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” I said, my chest tight.

“There is another matter.” His chilling attention turned to me once more.

My fingers twitched nervously. “Yes?”

“Azazel is here to see you.”

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