Damned and Desperate (25 page)

I studied Mar’s profile as she stared across the glassy surface of the dark lake. “My mother and father were wonderful parents. If anything, they loved her too much. We all did. Perhaps that is why she’s here now.”

I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, finding it odd I no longer cared about shaming her. Guess that meant I was going to get my bitch card revoked. “Don’t blame yourself.”

Mar sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Who else should bear the blame but her mother?”

I knew the truth, though I doubted Mar cared to hear it.

“Katherine. She’s to blame for her situation.” I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before the pain forced me to drop my hand.

Mar vehemently shook her head. “She was an innocent conceived in sin.”

Ugh. A popular belief back then was children conceived out of wedlock were somehow going to Hell along with their parents. Even if they’d considered unmarried sex a sin back then, that didn’t mean the kids were responsible for their parents’ actions. “If it makes you feel any better,” I said with a sigh, “Aedan and I have sex all the time, and we were let into Heaven.”

The sigh was because I realized Aedan and I might never have sex again, and sex with him sure was nice. But there was no way I was going to give myself to a man who had feelings for another.

“Times were different then,” Mar said. As if that made it all better. “I was going to tell Aedan once we married.” There was a whimsical note in Mar’s voice, and I knew she was thinking back to the time she and Aedan were engaged. For some reason the thought of him engaged to another was like a blade twisting in my heart. “After we were dead… he had this delusion I was perfect.”

Really? Wow. That’s the first I’m hearing of that.
(Sarcasm times infinity.)

“I was such a fool.” Mar’s jaw hardened as she clenched the hem of her toga. “I thought Lars loved me, but he used me and moved on before I was the wiser.”

I assumed Lars was the hung German stud. Wow. So he’d used her for sex, and she’d fallen for it. I almost felt sorry for Mar. Almost. “What did your parents do?”

“My mother and I went to take care of a sick aunt.” Her mouth hitched up in a grin as she flashed me a knowing look. “We returned almost a year later with Katherine.”

“Didn’t anyone suspect she was yours?”

“If they did, they said not a word. My father was highly respected. We called her our miracle child, for my mother had reached the age where most women couldn’t bear children. Katherine was so beautiful, an angel with a halo of blonde curls.” Her eyes misted over as if she was recalling a dream. “My parents and I doted on her. She was our whole world. I doomed her to Hell from the start by conceiving her in sin.”

I leaned into her. “If that were true, then you wouldn’t have made it to Heaven.”

“I have spent every day since the birth of my daughter in penance for my sins. I was so fearful of my immortal soul, I neglected to protect hers.” She sniffled as tears ran down her cheeks. “Now you see why I have to save her.”

I placed both hands over hers and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Yeah, I understand. Look, if there’s any way I can help, I will.”

Wait. Did I just agree to help Aedan’s evil psychotic ex-wife escape Hell?
Someone commit me to the loony bin now. I’ve gone certifiably crazy.

Her mouth fell open. “But Aedan told me Katherine tortured and poisoned you.”

I groaned as I recalled my captivity in Aunt Kate’s torture chamber from Hell. Not only had she beaten me, she’d tempted and abused Aedan’s brother, Callum, too. Then she’d fucked her crazy demon lover right in front of us. Yeah, the girl had issues.

“She did,” I answered as I averted my gaze, afraid Mar would ask me for the details.

“Then why would you help her?”

I looked at her, feeling a tightening in my chest at the recollection of my mom crying at my gravesite. I’d wanted so badly to reach through that Purgatory television screen and tell Mom not to cry, that I would be okay. Poor Mar knew her baby would never be okay; she’d be confined to a lifetime of torture and misery.

“I never had kids, but I had a mom. She loved me with all her heart.” That damn lump in my throat started to feel like a noose tightening around my neck, making it hard to talk about my mom without unleashing a waterfall of tears. “She’d have been devastated if I’d been banished to Hell. Look at Aedan’s parents and their cheesecake addiction. No parent should have to go through that.”

Mar smiled as tears cascaded down her face. At least I thought she was crying. It was hard to tell through my blurry vision. “Thank you,” she sobbed before pulling me into the most awkward hug in the history of history.

“You know what?” I pulled back as an idea came to me. “I think she’d be more willing to listen to her mother than her sister.” I knew from experience. I’d respected my mom’s opinion far more than my sister’s. Maybe Katherine would, too.

“Really?” Mar’s mouth fell open. Then her brow furrowed in a sullen expression. “What would she think of me if I told her?”

“She’s been living in Hell for over a century. I’m sure she’s heard and seen worse than a confused teen accidentally getting pregnant.”

“True.” She clasped her hands together as her eyes lit up. “I should tell her.”

So it seemed me and my boyfriend’s ex-fiancée were allies, united in one common goal to save my boyfriend’s psychotic ex-wife from Hell. Yeah, I’d definitely need my head examined when I got back to Purgatory. Maybe I had an invisible hammer wedged in there and didn’t know it.

Mar and I linked arms when we landed at the cave, Jack happily wagging his tail as he followed us. I winced at the stomping and grumbling coming from the nearby tunnel, and I feared the giants were having difficulty with the web. Looked like we’d have to go help them. Aedan was leaning on a stalagmite outside the cave entrance, awaiting our return.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

Mar released my arm, her face reddening as she brushed past him without answering. I figured she’d avoid him for the rest of the trip, fearing he’d discovered her dirty little secret.

“The giants are having a hard time with the web.” I squared my shoulders, regarding Aedan as if he were a spec of dirt beneath my shoe. “Why don’t you go help them? Take Jack with you,” I said sarcastically as I nodded at my dog. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to get rid of my boyfriend, who was still at the bottom of my shit list. I was just trying to clear the way for Mar to have a one-on-one with Katherine. I didn’t await Aedan’s response before following Mar inside the cave.

Katherine was slumped against a wall, eyeing Boner with disdain. At least he’d tied a strip of cloth around his waist.

Boner rushed to Mar, gripping her by the shoulders. “Are you okay?”

She rested her chin on his shoulder. “I’m fine.”

Wow. So this was really happening. Boner seemed to care for Mar. For some reason I was sort of warming up to the idea, even though I felt sorry for Boner. Not because he was dating Mar, but because he was about to inherit the brattiest stepchild in all of eternity.

Mar cupped Boner’s cheek in her hand. “Would you go help Aedan and the giants?”

“Sure.” He bobbed his head, seeming eager to please her. Though what good could he do in his human form? He nodded at Katherine with a concerned look in his eyes. “Don’t get too close.”

“Don’t worry, darling, I won’t.”

I averted my gaze as they exchanged a quick kiss goodbye. I really didn’t feel like going back out there with Aedan, so I turned toward the hall. “I’ll go tidy up our rooms.” I had no intention of tidying anything. I hadn’t descended four levels of Hell to do maid duty, but I had to think of some reason to give Mar and Katherine some time alone.

I slipped into my room, gasping when I noticed how we’d practically worn a hole through the sheets. Just how long had we fucked, anyway? Last night was such a blur. All I remembered was slumping to the mattress in a pile of sweat and tears, still desperately horny. I didn’t even remember falling asleep. When we woke up, we were both unsated and angry. Then Aedan had attacked Boner. I wanted so badly to believe the water had made him angry with Boner. That his obsession with Mar was all in my head.

I sat on the edge of the bed, crumpling the sheet in my hand as I remembered what Aedan had told me when we’d first escaped Hell. After I’d asked him if he loved me more than Mar, he’d said,
“More than I’ve ever loved any other woman. More than I love my very soul.”

Could the same Aedan who agreed to let Mar come to Hell with us, the same Aedan who threw a jealous fit when he’d discovered Boner had slept with Mar, be the Aedan who loved me more than his soul? Gawd, I hated Hell. I was so confused and turned around in this place. One second I thought Aedan loved me more than anything, and the next, I was certain he and Mar were going to run off to heavenly Tahiti.

An ear-piercing scream pulled me from my obsessive pity party. I raced out of the room and down the hall, only to find Katherine straddling Mar, her snake latched onto Mar’s neck.

Awww, shit!

“Let her go!” I screamed before bitch-slapping Katherine. I had no idea if I’d been possessed by stupidity, but I grabbed Katherine’s throat with one hand, and the snake’s throat with the other, pulling the hissing thing off Mar’s neck.

I gasped when I saw the damage. It looked like a volcano had exploded on Mar’s neck, exposing the insides of her throat in a bloody mess. Mar flailed around like a fish out of water, making gagging sounds as blood seeped from her mouth.

“Spit in her wound!” I screamed, knowing Katherine’s spit had the anti-venom Mar needed. “Or I swear I’ll rip its head off.” I squeezed the snake harder, pulling it until it stretched in a straight line from her skull.

When Katherine reached for my throat, I had no choice but to zap her. She flew off Mar like a paper sack in a windstorm. Her disgusting snake flopped around on the floor beside her, so I jolted it, too. Damn. I so badly wanted to hit them with stronger thunderbolts, sending them all the way down to the thirteenth dimension.

I fell beside Mar. She was paler than a ghost. I knew any moment the poison would take hold, and she’d slip down another level. I clasped Mar’s hand in mine. “Hang on, Mar. I’ll get help.”

I raced for the exit. When I heard thunderous booms outside the cave, I tumbled to the side as all three giants came barreling into the cavern.

“We hear scream,” Goliath said, pointing his club at Katherine with a menacing growl.

I flew between them, waving my hands. As much as I would have loved the demoness and her creature turned to stone, the thought of Mar’s heartbreak forced me to intervene.

“I already took care of it.” I looked over at Anak, who had, thankfully, knelt beside Mar. “Can you save her?” I pleaded.

Anak didn’t answer as he held a hand over Mar’s throat. I released a pent-up breath of relief when Mar sat up rubbing her neck moments later. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t get to tell her.”

I knelt down beside Mar, squeezing her hand. I didn’t think telling Katherine Mar was her mother would do any good at this point, anyway. It was now clear Katherine wasn’t going to repent, which meant Mar would spend the rest of eternity mourning the loss of her child.

Jack came bounding into the cavern, followed by Aedan, whose wings pushed him forward at a hurricane force speed. Boner, who for some odd reason had changed back into a horseman, galloped in after them.

Aedan’s chest was heaving as he bent over beside me, trying to catch his breath. His gaze was centered on Mar as he nodded at Katherine. “I told you she wasn’t redeemable.”

“Shut up, Aedan.” I slapped my hand over my mouth, wincing at the pain in my palm. I hadn’t meant to sound so bitchy, but as I looked into Aedan’s eyes as wide as saucers, I kind of enjoyed his reaction. And, honestly, telling off Aedan felt kind of good. Jeez, what was wrong with me?

I thought about how God had tricked us by giving us angry water, and I realized the point he was trying to make. I wasn’t sure if Aedan and I had anything left to salvage in our relationship, but if we stayed in Hell much longer, we’d break up for good.