Damned and Desperate (16 page)

I swallowed the wine in a matter of seconds, unable to fully enjoy the sweet, mild refreshment before I was holding out my goblet for seconds.

“More please,” I asked, trying hard to keep the note of desperation out of my voice.

After she refilled my glass, I forced myself to drink with deliberate slowness, stopping several times to savor each crimson drop. Finally, I leaned back and let out a satisfied belch. “How did you make wine and pie?”

She set down the jug and sat beside me, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. Her hair was wild and beautiful like Ash’s. I clenched my hands as I fought the urge to run my claws through it.

“We grow the fruit and grains ourselves.” Her voice was much softer now, as soothing as a song. “The web provides the seeds.”

“Amazing. How does the web do such things?” I sighed, sinking against my pillow and feeling content.

“It is magical, given to Mother by the angels as a reward to those who embrace their fate and believe in the web’s truth.”

Weird, but I’d seen it before with the Nephilim. The angels had helped turn their pyramid into a virtual paradise.

“And the butter?” I asked with a lazy drawl as my eyes began to shut. The wine was potent, and I was in need of rest.

“Oh, Mother supplies all our milk, and we churn it into butter.”

My eyes flew open. “Mother supplies the milk?”

Cara nodded. “She excretes it.”

I could hardly believe she’d said this with a straight face. I burped into my fist again, fighting the urge to vomit on the aftertaste.

“I ate spider butter?” I rasped.

She placed a delicate hand over her mouth, laughing. “Have you seen any cows in Hell?”

A dairy spider? Dare I ask if there are any grotesque baby spiders with human heads crawling around?

“See?” She beamed. “It’s not so bad down here, is it?”

Apparently drinking spider milk was no big deal to her. I had to agree the pie had been delicious, and I’d eaten far worse things in Hell.

“No, it is not, but my friends—”

She held up a silencing hand before leaning into me. “Shadow is looking for them as well,” she said on a whisper, as if the demons above would hear.

But that was the least of my worries. “Shadow is controlled by an evil demon.”

She leaned forward, placing a hand on mine. “Not anymore.” She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze as she looked at me with luminous eyes. “His blood oath was broken when he was cast down. Mother has reassured us. Do not fear. If anyone can save your friends, Shadow can.”

Sweet Hell on fire. I so desperately wanted to believe this woman. At the moment, nothing would please me more than to sit here with her and get lost in her gaze forever.

“There you are. How did you manage to get cast down to the fourth level, you worthless idiot?”

I jerked back at the sound of Katherine O’Connor’s grating voice. I rose from the bed on shaky legs and confronted my brother’s dead wife.

Cara looked at Katherine and then back at me with a raised brow. “Your nettle?”

I nodded as I began stoking the flames deep within my chest. “Perhaps you should leave us alone.” Though I knew the nettle would find her way back up, I had no other option than to burn her to dust so I could have a few days’ reprieve.

I sucked in a deep breath, the heat expanding my lungs. All the while, my nettle continued to call me a drunk and an adulterer.

Cara threw an arm in front of me before stepping between us. “Don’t burn her.”

I slowly released a breath, regretting the steam that fanned her face. “Step aside,” I said with a wheeze.

She shook her head, coughing as she turned from me, and let out a shrill whistle. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Mother will rid you of her. You won’t have to worry about your nettle after this.”

I didn’t know if her promise was more comforting or disconcerting. The spider must produce powerful venom if she could banish my nettle forever. “How do you mean?” I asked.

“She will feed her to the web of light,” Cara said on a breathy whisper.

“The web eats nettles?” Okay, now I’d heard of everything. That web had looked like nothing more to me than a regular web dusted with flakes of silver, and yet it could make seeds and destroy nettles? “How does a web do such things?” Suspicion laced my words as I narrowed my eyes at Cara.

“I do not know, for the web only reveals its true powers to Mother.”

How convenient,
I thought wryly.
Mother probably ate the nettles herself.

Fear tore up my spine as I heard the faint clacking of the arachnid’s long legs. The walls buzzed as the sound grew louder. It was as if the very tunnels trembled in fear. Katherine was pointing a finger at me, bare breasts heaving as she called me a deceiver and a whore. She gasped when two long legs reached inside my small cave and snatched her by the waist, rolling her out of the room as her mouth was smothered in sticky gauze. In the next instant, my nettle was gone, and the rattle of the spider’s legs slowly faded away.

“Holy shitfire,” I breathed.

Cara’s eyes dazzled with an unnatural glow. “Isn’t she magnificent?”

I was too alarmed to tell Cara my true feelings, so I slowly nodded my assent. If by magnificent, she meant morbid, frightening, and lethal, I had to agree. It was then I resolved to plan my escape, and soon. I didn’t care if the beast had done me a favor. I had to get the hell out of here.

Ash MacLeod

The sign posted outside of town read “Tombstone, Hell, population 1043” but the numbers had been crossed out many times over. Weird, because according to the markings, at one point there had been over five thousand people living in Tombstone. Where had they all gone?

A deafening roar in the distance, and I had my answer. As if the bugs weren’t enough, I’d nearly forgotten about the dragon. We quickened our pace as we headed for one of the many saloons. Raucous laughter and loud piano music could be heard from inside. Shit. I didn’t know if it was such a good idea going in there. The last guy I saw coming out had gotten his head bit off and eaten. I was rather fond of my head and wasn’t in the mood to lose it at the moment, running around the town like a headless, flapping yellow chicken. Wouldn’t that be a sight? I’d be bleeding out of both ends.

The roar sounded again, this time shaking the ground beneath my feet. Okay, the saloon was looking more and more welcoming by the second. As we rushed up the steps toward the swinging wooden doors, I feared Jack might not fit inside. Aedan went in first, hand tucked inside his robe, probably on the hilt of his hammer, followed by Boner and then me and Mar. Jack barely squeezed in behind us, fitting in one head and then the other, but his butt was still hanging out the door. I nervously eyed my doggy, praying his ass wouldn’t be turned into a dragon snack.

The place had gone dead quiet. You know those cheesy old western movies where the newcomer walks into a smoky saloon and the piano music comes to a sudden halt? Well, I felt exactly like that newcomer, only change the saloon patrons to angry, salivating demons with red eyes shining beneath wide-brimmed cowboy hats. They looked up at us from their poker cards and barstools as if we’d just pissed on their mamas’ graves. One by one they stood and started walking our way. Aedan pulled out his hammer, Boner brayed and scraped the floor, Jack growled, and Mar did the smart thing for once and didn’t utter a peep as she ducked behind me. My wings nervously hummed, and energy pulsed in the tips of my fingers as I splayed my hands.

These cowboys are messing with the wrong set of circus freaks.

The demon who’d gotten into the street brawl and bitten off another demon’s head with his huge maw stepped forward. He had smooth green skin that reminded me of spring foliage and a big football-shaped head with an impossibly huge mouth that made him look like a man-eating plant. “Well, what we got here?” he said as his head bobbled on a long, slender neck.

Another demon stepped forward, yipping like a hyena as he rubbed his furry paws together. “Lawbreakers is what we got.”

Aedan widened his stance, his hammer firmly in his grip. “We’re not here to break your laws,” he said as his steady gaze swept the room. “We’ve just come to get our friends, and we’ll be on our way.”

Wow. He seemed so cool and collected. Lucky for those demons, I’d somehow lost my nerve. Otherwise, I’d have zapped everyone to dust.

“Can’t you read?” The plant demon sneered as he pointed to the wall behind us with a leafy arm. I spared a momentary glance at a wooden placard decreeing all weapons were to be checked in with the Marshal.

As if. The only weapon I had was my lightning, and there was no way I was parting with that. And seriously, all Aedan had was an old, rusty hammer. It wasn’t like we had shotguns and revolvers or whatever the hell they’d used in the Wild West.

Aedan didn’t bother to look at the sign, his knuckles whitening as he clutched the handle of his hammer like a lifeline. Did he really expect to use that thing? I mean, he wasn’t freaking Thor. What was he going to do? Nail them all to death?

“Like I said,” Aedan growled, “as soon as we get our friends, we’ll be on our way.”

“Friends?” The plant demon’s chuckle was a frightening cross between Chucky’s revenge and a cat with laryngitis. “There ain’t no such thing as friends in Hell. There’s only two kinds of folks here. Those that get eaten, and those that don’t.” He jutted a foot forward, widening his mouth like a hungry crocodile.

Jack’s heads growled so menacingly behind me, I was afraid he’d bust through the tavern doors and tear the place down.

“You forgot the third kind….Those that get zapped.” I raised a hand and aimed a bolt at the wooden chair beside him, blasting it into sawdust. “You come any closer, and I’ll blast your ass to the thirteenth dimension.”

“We’re looking for a dragon named Callum, a green demon named Sergeant Sanchez, and five giants.” Aedan’s voice boomed across the smoky tavern.

“And Katherine O’Connor,” Mar squeaked from behind my shoulder. “She has blonde hair and green eyes.”

“And an ugly ass snake growing out of her head,” I added with a wry smile. I couldn’t help myself. My PMS gremlins made me say it. Mar’s audible huff made my smile widen. Score one for the gremlins.

“Direct us to our friends, and we’ll be on our way.” Aedan swung his hammer in the plant demon’s direction.

Okay, ease up Captain Carpenter. No demon with a razor sharp mouth as wide as a bathtub is going to be intimidated by a hammer.

The demon shook his head. “Like I already said, ain’t nobody got friends in Hell.”

“Marie?”

I recognized the sound of her voice in an instant, and my gaze shot to the beautiful woman standing at the bottom of a smoky staircase. How hadn’t I noticed her come down the stairs? With the exception of the creepy pale snake growing out of her head, she looked like a stereotypical saloon prostitute wearing a crimson lace dress that surprisingly covered the length of her arms, heavy eye shadow, and bright red lipstick. Well, I supposed if she was going to act like a slut, she might as well get paid for it. Maybe she could earn enough money to afford a conscience.

“Katherine!” Mar practically shattered my eardrums as she pushed past me and raced toward her sister.

Aedan threw out his hand to stop her, but Mar skirted him, throwing her arms around Katherine’s neck and squeezing her to her chest. A wide-eyed Katherine patted her sister on the shoulder, her snake curling around Mar’s back as Mar wept into Katherine’s hair. I’ve heard of sisterly love, but Mar took it to a sickening level. Didn’t she care she was being hugged back by a snake? Actually, make that two snakes. Katherine might have had the face of an angel, but she had the cold-blooded heart of a spitting cobra.

Katherine jerked out of her sister’s embrace, the stony glare of indifference in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

Mar clasped her hands together, beaming. “We’ve come to save you,” she said with too much unnatural perkiness, as if Katherine had just won a new car.

Katherine’s snake hissed as she scrunched her features. “Save me?”

Mar eagerly nodded. “Bring you back to Purgatory.”

Katherine frowned. “But I’ve been damned to Hell.”

“I know God will release you,” Mar said with a pleading voice, as if she was a kid begging for an ice cream cone. “All you need to do is repent.”

Jeez. Sounded easy. So even if you were a lying, cheating, manipulating slut who tortured people with poisonous snake hair and had abused innocent giants for over a hundred years, you’d still get a free pass to Purgatory? Would she start on level two shoveling shit? Or would she talk some stupid soul out of his credits and open up her own whore house on level thirteen?

Katherine didn’t seem to be buying Mar’s delusional fantasy, either. She took a step back, her snake uprising and hissing in Mar’s face. “This is a test.”

Mar arched back. “What?”

I eyed Aedan, waiting for him to rescue his perfect princess, but surprisingly he just stood there aiming his hammer at ugly demon faces.

Katherine swept a hand at us with a sneer. “You are all apparitions. My master is testing me.”