Page 44 of All's Hell That Ends Well

I landed on the sidewalk in front of the library, Haniel touching down seconds after me. He activated the gate, drawing the attention of an angel lingering on a rooftop nearby. My gaze had swept the area out of habit, and the white of his wings had caught my eye immediately.

But the angel simply watched, making no move to engage us.

He wasn’t the first of my former brethren we’d come across.

It had been weird, was strange still, seeing angels casually out and about while we were here on Earth. We’d noticed each other’s presence, like one predator sensing another in the wild but refraining from an attack because they knew a confrontation would not be worth it. There was a truce in place, and barring an unpreventable provocation that forced us to act, we all had orders to leave each other be.

We’d seen other demons out here, too, even half-bloods, though we’d steered clear of them as well. It couldn’t be helped that I’d be seen on my mission, but it was better to keep our distance and not encourage small talk or conversations that might reveal more about what I was doing on Earth.

Besides, the few times that one of our own had tried to speak with us, I’d effectively chased them off with my social awkwardness. For once, my special talent of horribly tangling two phrases vying for dominance in the speech-processing center of my brain had been an advantage. So, when some demon had approached us asking if we had a moment, and I couldn’t decide between “We need to fly on” and “We’re in a rush,” of course, it had come out as “We need to flush.”

The demon who’d approached us had stared at me in bewilderment, then raised her hands and slowly backed away.

I went through the gate first, with Haniel following me a few seconds later.

The moment I stepped out into the whirring, hot air of Hell, my entire body and soul seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Home, truly.

Above, the clap of thunder rolled through skies churning with red and orange clouds, intermittent lightning bathing the black stone of this courtyard in flashes of the darkest violet. Somewhere in the distance, a dragon roared, and from nearby answered the goosebump-inducing howl of hellhounds.

Yep, home sweet home.

Next to me, Haniel rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “Well, let’s get you to His Grace so I can be rid of you.”

“You know,” I said as I fell into step with him as he strode toward the palace, “you really could put in some effort to be more-pleasant company.”

He shot me a dark look. “The words ‘pleasant’ and ‘company’ do not mix in my vocabulary.”

“Of course,” I muttered. “Just my luck. Out of all the demons to be stuck with during my missions, it has to be a misanthrope.”

“Now that’s just not true.” He clucked his tongue. “I don’t hate only humans.”

“A misanthropeanda nitpicker.”

“I prefer quibbler. If you’re going to insult me, at least be precise.”

I rolled my eyes.

We made our way through the palace and to Lucifer’s rooms without interruption, and when we reached the door, Haniel gave me a salute and turned on his heels.

“Have fun being a jerk!” I hollered after him.

“Always,” was his dry reply as he disappeared round the corner.

I’d have to prank him. He definitely needed to be taken down a notch.

Turning to the door, I knocked and waited for the call, then stepped inside.

Frosty air whispered over my skin, seconds before a giant hellhound ran me over. With a squeak, I tumbled down, losing the fight to keep Vengeance’s tongues from slathering me good and well.

“Venny! Sit!”

At my command, my trusty dog let up and plonked her butt on the floor, though her balance was off because one of her heads tried to chew her left hind paw.

“Good girl,” I crooned and then scratched all six of her ears in succession. “Did you miss me? Yes? I missed you, too! Sweet puppy pup!”

When I finally remembered that I was supposed to greet the ultimate ruler of Hell instead of smooching my hound, I cleared my throat and snapped to attention. Facing Lucifer, I went down on one knee and bowed my head in deference, then rose again at his prompt.

He lay half crumpled on a divan that gave me serious doubts about its integrity. The room around him seemed to have suffered more destruction in my absence, with more cracks fissuring through the floor and even fewer pieces of furniture still partially intact. Yet again, a lone candle fought against the oppressive darkness in here.

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