Page 14 of Lucifer's Redemption

“Hi puppies!” she whispered enthusiastically.

Their growling ceased, and their large black heads tilted from one side to the other. One of their tongues lagged out of their mouth, licking their chops.

Reaching into her skirt pocket, she pulled out a piece of meat. “I brought you guys something,” she whispered as if it was a big secret.

Their mouths watered even more as she broke it into three pieces.

“Here you go!” Tossing a piece up into the air for each hellhound, each one took a large chomp, catching it and licking their maws.

“What good boys you are!” As she began rubbing their heads, they all laid in the grass at her feet. Uriel hopped into the grass with them as they rolled onto their damn backs letting her rub their bellies.

I shook my head exasperatedly.

“You are such good little puppies! I wish I had a dog.” Her lip pouted.

Loki walked up from behind, carrying a leg from the roasted pig. Taking a large bite, he smacked his lips as he spoke, “She’s a genuine piece of work, huh?” Then he licked his fingers.

I stared down at him, curling my lip. I didn’t like that he was making fun of her, but I didn’t want him to know that. He might get the wrong idea. I was still figuring her out, making sure she wasn’t some fraud.

“I mean, she just walked right up in here, not paying any attention to the evil glances all the hellhounds were making at her.” He waved his hands around. “And she didn’t even notice the supposedly, two hottest and highest-ranking wolf warriors, the twins Timmy and Tommy, who were staring her down like turkey on Thanksgiving Day. They were ready to lick her up from head to toe and stuff her with their—”

I grabbed Loki by the neck, tight enough to make him turn purple. Dropping the pig leg, his claws shot out of his nails and the horns on his head grew.

“Don’t fucking talk about her like that!” I growled lowly so that she wouldn’t hear. He smiled, trying to giggle.

“You are such a sick fuck!” I dropped him while he gasped for air.

“Didn’t you know I like being choked?”

Groaning, I hit the back of my head on the wall.Mother is going to have her hands full with him when his balls dropped.

Uriel continued to rub on the hellhounds, not at all perturbed by their grotesque-looking form. Hellhounds could sense any sin, even the smallest ones. They fed off it before finally attacking the ones that fed them the sin.

She had none from the looks of it. Her white dress was now stained with deep-green patches from the lawn. She stood up, wiping her hands down her dress only to run across the lawn giggling moments later with her wings trailing behind her as she ran towards the garden.

“You gonna follow her?” Loki looked up at me, mischief in his eyes, digging in his pockets and finally putting a sucker in his mouth.

“Why don’t you go say hello?” I muttered. “See what she’s all about?”

Loki rubbed his hands together, rolling the sucker between his lips. “My pleasure.” Rubbing his hands in mischief, he hopped off the stairs, sprinting towards the gardens after Uriel. Loki stepped only on the stoned path, careful not to fall into the grasses.

The hellhounds would never actually attack him, but they didn’t like Loki either. There were too many times he had changed his body into that of an animal, such as a deer, tricking them into nearly attacking him. It scared the shit out of the hellhounds because they weren’t allowed to harm so much as a hair on his head.

Father once saw a hellhound get too close and killed it on the spot.

Uriel found the center of the garden. It was stocked with tons of roses, daisies, tulips, and even a few gardenias. I found it funny that she gravitated towards those particular flowers, unwilling to pick the flower but smelling it enthusiastically. Stripping my dress shirt and throwing it to the ground, I willed my wings out and flew to the top of the gazebo where she sat playing with the petals. Loki shook his head, watching my shadow fly over his head.

Loki cleared his throat. “Hello.” He tried to make his voice sound deeper.

Idiot.

Uriel’s head sprung up excitedly. “Oh, hi!” Standing up, she brushed her short dress off—the green stains still discernible. “I’m Uriel! What’s your name?”

Loki took out his hand for her to shake. She shook it playfully. “I’m Loki, Prince of Hell.” He tugged on his suit jacket, flashing her a flirtatious smile.

“That’s right! You were standing up there with your family. Sorry, I got so excited I must have forgotten! You looked very handsome up there.”

Loki puffed out his chest. “You think so?”

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