Page 37 of Hell's Queen

Jigsaw jumps into them, pouring acid onto Circe. She cries out, using her magic to fling him away. It gives a moment for Hazen to shift. Hazen’s hound has a coat of white fur that stands up from friction. Lightning bolts bounce between his jaws as he roars. Electricity fills the air and hits Evara, knocking her to her knees.

My hounds are powerful. Fuck.

I’m set free of whatever spell I was under. I swing at Circe, and my fist connects with her jaw. Flames burn in my fist, and it shocks her. “Powerful, Asura. How yummy?”

She grabs my fist and twists it back. I cry out but swing my legs. She falls onto her back, and I reel back. Something stops me from hitting her, and I know it is Evara.

Jigsaw attacks her again, spilling toxic waste.

Circe head-butts me before I can even move, knocking me back. Before she can strike, Ryker is next to me, pulling his telum out. Chains clank in the air and wrap around her, and she hisses as it burns her.

“Leave!” Ryker snaps at me.

Part of me worries about what they will do to my men. I didn’t want to go. But I call to the shadows.

“Stop her!” Evara screams.

Before I can grab a shadow, arms wrap around me, and sharp teeth sink into my flesh, but it’s not like Thorne’s. I try to push Draco off me, but then heat blazes through my veins. I cry out as my vision blurs.

Ozias quickly grabs Draco and uses brute strength to pin the vampire down. He is bloody, but I can’t figure out who he was fighting. I hit the ground, reaching up to my neck. My body is on fire, with white-hot pain rushing through me. Black veins have formed and climbed from my shoulder all the way to my fingers. He poisoned me with his toxic blood. The world spins, and my eyes roll back. I try to fight it and stay awake. I really do.

I fling the lilac demon against the wall, trying to reach Asura. She doesn’t look good from whatever that vampire did to her.

Evara set up an invisible wall, blocking me from getting to her. Her eyes say it all; she’s happy I’m suffering. My fist bangs against the wall, trying to break it, and she doesn’t let me. She moves to Asura.

“She’s so much weaker than me, and I’m sure her pussy is loose by now.”

“Fuck you!” I snap. “Don’t talk about her like that!”

She sets her hand on Asura, and a lime green color rolls under her skin. She cries out in pain even as she’s now unconscious.

“Stop! What do you want?”

She says, “You know I want the Gates of Hell open. I want the sword, and I want The Flame. I am the rightful ruler. Did you know she’s a fucking minute older? If her mother didn’t say deal so quickly to Circe, I would have been fucking Queen. If she dies, technically, I get The Flame, right?”

My eyes widen as Evara grabs hold of Asura’s body. A shout fills the air, and Inarian rushes toward her. Quickly, Evara transports her and Asura somewhere, but not before Inarian touches Asura, and he’s gone with them too.

I need Thorne. Where the fuck did they go?

Suddenly a shout comes, and Draco’s teeth sink into Thorne. The same thing Asura is enduring happens to him. In a flash, the lilac demon and Draco leave.

I rush to Thorne. “I need you to find Asura!”

He looks out of it, barely able to speak to me. Within seconds, he’s out. I scream, frustrated.

I can transport, but I need to know where to go. I doubt they will come back and fucking tell me, and I doubt they are in the same spot as before.

“This is so fucking ridiculous!” I shout. Of course, within minutes, the Soul Reapers and council get here. Too fucking late.

Jigsaw meets my eyes as one of the professionals gives him a blanket to cover himself with. Some of his own skin is burned off on his arms. I’ve heard of hellhounds that can’t handle their own powers like him.

I want to rip my hair out, and the others look like they also want to. I hesitated to kill Evara near Hades’s home, but I won’t again.

“We will get her back,” Lucifer says. None of us say anything. “They need to give blood at the hospital to Thorne, and you all need to be seen and healed.”

Nothing will heal the fire rising in my chest, but we go anyway. The whole way there, none of us talk, and we all look fucked-up to the max. I make sure my best team is on the case to find her.

Lucifer and Hades talk to us while we get help. All the time wasted on healing me is spent trying to find Asura. My father calls my phone, but I ignore him for now. I don’t feel like talking to anyone that isn’t my girlfriend.

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