Page 60 of Cursed by Death

Some people appreciated it, some people did not. Not everyone had good taste.

“Enough of this,” the shorter man said in a quiet but commanding voice that wiped any trace of hostility off of the woman’s face. She looked contrite and it had me reassessing the demon because the vampire was afraid of him for some reason. “The Princess of Demons and Wolves can bring whomever she wants with her. Now, let us take our party inside. He’s waiting. Ruby Jane, please follow me.”

I hated these titles everyone was using with me now. I didn’t want any of them. I just wanted to be Ruby Jane.

He turned around and started walking back towards where he’d come from without even a glance backwards. I followed behind him without hesitation.

I was tired of this night already. I was going to meet with my father whom I haven’t seen in years. A man who was a murdererand I probably should be afraid, but I wasn’t. I had no idea what I was going to say to him. I had never thought I would see him again, I hadn’twantedto ever see him again.

And, yet, here I was, willingly walking into his home to have a surprise meeting with him.

The twins fell in step behind me, taking my back. I assumed the woman and the other demon were behind the twins.

We took the same way down to the underground that I had when I’d come here before.

Since the hunters weren’t welcomed here I figured the twins were seeing it for the first time. It was exactly like it had been when I was here before.

What I hadn’t accounted for was people knowing who Roan and Bane were. A hush fell over the people as we walked through them. I hadn’t thought about what it would mean to bring them here with me.

What I hadn’t thought about but probably should have was that most of the shifters had been at Rally’s house that day for his challenge. I hadn’t thought about so many of them being down here and them recognizing me immediately. I could tell they recognized me from the way they stared at me.

Rally would be hearing about this as soon as my back was to these people and I had a feeling he was not going to be pleased with me.

I kept my focus on putting one foot in front of the other and moving straight ahead. I couldn’t worry about anyone but myself at the moment.

We left the large open space and entered a hallway that was painted all black. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. It was all black. It made it look and feel like the hallway went on forever.

Or maybe it would take us to an elevator that took us down to hell.

Eventually the hallway ended into a seating area that looked a lot like a waiting room. There was a woman sitting behind a dainty little desk with a computer and a keyboard sitting on top of it.

It was a whole lot more civilized than what I had been expecting.

The woman had bright pink hair and she might have been considered pretty if half of her face wasn’t a charred, ruined mess of burns.

There were two men sitting in the chairs in front of Pinky’s desk. I couldn’t tell what flavor of supernatural they were just by looking at them, they looked like normal men to me. Her long pink fingernails clacked against her keyboard as the woman clicked around, typing away.

She looked up from her screen, spotted me, and scowled a bit. “Ruby Jane. Next time you need to make an appointment before you show up. You’ve upset my whole schedule for the evening.”

I just blinked at her, at a loss for words.

How the hell did all of these people know exactly who I was just on sight? It was all just a little unnerving.

The woman, the vampire who’d walked in with us, spoke from behind me. “Ruby has informed me that she does not give a fuck about how we do things here. Don’t waste your breath, Betty.”

It was safe to say I wasn’t making friends down here tonight.

Betty shot a dirty look behind me, I assumed at the vampire. Her scars made her face look harsher when she wasn’t smiling. “I’m sure she probably doesn’t give a fuck about you or how you feel, Karlie. When you’re a bitch no one wants to play nice with you.”

She looked at me and the half of her face that wasn’t ruined softened a bit. “When you leave here you make sure you stop bymy desk and see me okay, hun. I’ll give you my card so you’ll know who to call before you visit next time.”

It was promising that Betty thought we’d be walking out of here. I took that as a good sign.

“Thank you, Betty,” I said politely. “I’ll be sure to do that.” My mother had raised me to be polite and from time to time it showed.

Betty smiled at me and I knew she’d been real pretty at one time in her life. “Go ahead and go on in, hun. You can take your entourage with you.”

“Thank you, Betty,” I said and this time I smiled at her sweetly.

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