Page 18 of Another Underworld

Candy Vargo saluted him back. “I like a good attitude,” she mused then glanced over at Pandora. “I’d suggest to learn somethin’ from these two. You have a steep road ahead of your ass, and I won’t be there to guide you.”

“Wait,” I said, confused. “I thought you were coming with us.”

“Change of plans, badass,” she said, twirling the blade in her fingers. “Pullin’ the fuckin’ magic out is gonna knock me on my sexy ass for a bit.”

“Define bit,” I said.

Candy Vargo shrugged and moved the coffee table out of the way. “Don’t know until I get in there. But I can tell you this. Dagon and Shiva are gonna owe me for the rest of time.”

Screaming would have felt awesome. Puking would have come in a close second. It wasn’t until I felt the touch of Abaddon’s hand on my shoulder that I was able to pull myself away from the panic attack that was coming on fast.

I was the Goddess of the Darkness—one of two. I was the daughter of Lilith. Dagon and Shiva were my subjects. I would liberate the Demons from the camps who were loyal to me and end those who were not. Candy Vargo was my friend and about to save the lives of two who were important to me. I would go into the Darkness with Abaddon, Pandora, Cher and Fifi. A small and extremely deadly army was better than no army at all. I would pull some kind of plan out of my ass to help Pandora regain trust, and I would defeat the false God. And if I didn’t end up dead, dealing with the Higher Power would be a piece of cake. At least, that’s what I was telling myself. And then… I’d soundproof my house and bang Abaddon until neither of us could walk for a week. Or a month.

Truthfully, the movie of my life, which wasn’t a movie at all, was bad—full of plot holes and risky, dangerous scenes that would be impossible to shoot. The chances of someone dying on the set were high.

Too freaking bad. So, freaking sad.

I’d been cast at birth and my contract had me locked in for life. Every day I felt like I was about to go on stage naked and unrehearsed. Terrified was an understatement. However, Uncle Joe’s quote from Robert A. Heinlein came to mind—Courage is the compliment of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. He is also a fool.

I was many things. Scared? Yes. A fool? No.

“The supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” I said aloud. “Sun Tzu.”

Candy Vargo raised a brow at me. “While the words make sense, I don’t think Sun Tzu was talkin’ about batshit Demons.”

“Maybe not,” I agreed. “But as Margaret Atwood wisely said, war is what happens when language fails. I’m going to use my words first and my sword second.”

“Good luck with that, badass,” she said. “You’re gonna need it.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The sun had set,and the moon cast an eerie glow over the room through the bay window. In the past, evenings had been my happy time. My time to chill out and relax. Not anymore. Now? Tonight felt ominous with a side of danger and the promise of pain.

Candy Vargo’s chant as she prepared to excise the death magic was melodic and verged on hypnotic. Abaddon stepped in and sang counterpoint to her melody. His voice was low and Candy’s was high. At Candy’s command, Pandora joined the duo and made it a trio. The language was ancient, but somewhere deep in my soul, I could feel its familiarity. The scene in front of me was a stark reminder that no one in this room was human. Everyone was glowing, including me. Fifi and Cher had been tasked with holding down Dagon and Shiva. I’d been told to stay the fuck out of it—Candy’s words. And if it got too much for me, I was to leave.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

As the chant grew louder, small shimmering funnels of magic swirled around the Keeper of Fate. Her skin glowed a bright gold, and a breeze floated through the room, giving the funnels more power. The curtains danced, and anything thatwasn’t bolted down shifted in the wind. Both Shiva and Dagon had fallen into a deep trance that I hoped would prevent them from feeling what was about to happen. They were on the floor side by side where my coffee table usually resided. I wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but my gut told me it would be painful. Getting sliced from sternum to groin was never a good time.

“Abaddon,” Candy Vargo demanded in a voice that boomed through my small bungalow, rattled the windows, shook knick-knacks off my wall, and made me slap my hands over my ears. “Now!”

With the grace of a dancer and the sparest of movement, Abaddon took the dagger from Candy’s hands and sliced each of her palms open. Pandora continued to chant. The wind blew her hair and she looked like the Goddess that she was. The Keeper of Fate’s blood spurted bright red and ran down her arms. Quickly, I backed myself up against the far wall and put both hands over my mouth so I didn’t scream. Half of me wished I’d asked more questions about the procedure, but the bigger half was glad I hadn’t.

The Keeper of Fate’s eyes rolled back in her head and the scream that left her lips was feral. Abaddon held the dagger in front of Candy. She covered the blade with her blood. With each swipe of her hand along the sharp blade, the air in the room grew thicker with magic, making it difficult to breathe. The air left and returned to my lungs in short, sharp gasps.

“NOW,” Candy Vargo bellowed again.

Abaddon guided her glowing body to Dagon first. The sound of the dagger ripping through his skin and the low moan of pain that rumbled from his throat—even unconscious—were ones that would live in my nightmares for years to come. I’d fought bad Demons. I’d decapitated evil Demons. I’d felt very little remorse. It had been them or me. I’d chosen me.

This was very different. I cared about all the people in the room. Watching two of them get gutted was horrifying.

Candy Vargo, pressed her hands together and forced drops of her blood to enter the open chests of Dagon and Shiva. The moment her blood made contact, it hissed and black smoke rose out of the two Demons’ bodies in thin and putrid tendrils. There had been a really good reason for Cher and Fifi to hold them down. The trance, it appeared, didn’t preclude them from feeling what was going on, but I hoped, at the very least, it would keep them from remembering it when it was over.

Dagon and Shiva moaned and grunted, their bodies wriggling as the death magic entangled with Candy’s blood. Quickly, their sounds became gut-wrenching, animalistic, and their bodies convulsed spastically.

My instinct was to stop the madness. But Candy’s words were stuck in my head.

I would stay the fuck out of it.

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