Hell's Revenge (6 page)

Plotting dishonesty. I was truly turning into my father’s daughter and the thought didn’t please me at all. Auric and David deserved better.

The TV shut off and I heard the door to the apartment open and shut. Silence reigned for several minutes and I blew out a noisy breath.

“Going to tell me what’s going on?”

Startled, I yelled. I peeked out from under the covers and saw Auric standing beside the bed with his arms crossed. Bloody man moved as quietly as my damned cat. “I don’t suppose we can have sex instead?” My hopeful question lightened his expression a touch.

“Time to stop hiding, Muri.” He sat on the edge of the bed, his green eyes soft as a spring grass. “What did Nefertiti tell you? And why does it have you so freaked out?” I sat up and let the sheet fall, but even the display of my fabulous bosom didn’t make his intent stare veer away. I pouted. “I’m pregnant.”

“I think we already came to that conclusion. Now tell me the part I don’t know.”

“It’s a g-g-girl.” Tears pricked my eyes and seconds later, I sobbed noisily against his chest while his arms held me in a hug tight enough to crush a mortal’s ribs.

“Don’t cry, Muri. You’re pregnant, not dying. I know it’s sooner than expected, but we’ll work something out. David and I aren’t going anywhere; although, we’ll probably have to move. What do you think of selling the loft and buying a house? Hell, if we get a big enough place with a gated property, you can even get one of those damned hellhounds for the baby if you want. Just please don’t cry.” I wailed louder. “You … you don’t understand,” I said, hiccupping through my tears.

“The baby is growing like superfast, and … and it’s already like majorly powerful.”

“So she’s special just like her mother,” he placated, stroking my hair.

His understanding seemed to make it all worse. “Stop being so nice. Our baby has the potential to destroy the world.” I spat the words out in a rush and Auric’s body went still.

“Um, what did you just say?”

“Stop being so nice.”

“I meant the part after that, Muri.”

My lame attempt at a joke made him sigh and my shoulders sagged in defeat. I gave him the unvarnished truth. I loved Auric. How could I do any less? “Nefertiti thinks I should abort because the baby might cause Armageddon all on her own.”

“Holy shit, Muriel. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this yesterday?” He pulled away from me and stood. However, news of this kind required action and he paced in front of the bed, his face and body taut. “This is fucking serious, Muri. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner. I thought it was too early in your pregnancy for the crone to tell you anything and that’s why you kept quiet. Shit.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“Now that I know, we need to make plans.”

“I know,” I sniffled. “And I wanted to tell you but see, I know you’re like the world’s champion and I already know what you’re going to say. The fate of one isn’t worth the lives of many, but … but I think I want this baby, Auric.” It wasn’t until I said it aloud that I truly realized it. Yes, I wanted this baby, this child created of love, a part of me and Auric and David. I just didn’t know if I had the strength to fight my lovers and everyone else who it seemed would want to kill her.

Auric spun and regarded me with green eyes that blazed in fury. “You thought I’d ask you to kill our child? Are your pregnancy hormones driving you out of your fucking mind, woman? I would never, ever do that to you. To our daughter.” My heart stopped. Had I heard him right? Had he understood what this child might be capable of? “Are you sure? What if she ends up being some crawling nuclear weapon in a pink bow?”

Auric’s smile was filled with such tenderness and love I think I would have faced the Legion of Hell single handedly to prove I was worthy of it. “When I said make plans, I meant to protect you and our unborn child. I care about the fate of the world, but I love you more. This child, even if shared with David, is ours. If she has powers, then we will teach her to use them with compassion. A child is the product of her parents. And really, could she have a more wonderful mother?”

My eyes brimmed even as my lips curled into a smile so wide my face almost split.

“You are the most awesomest man ever and I the luckiest woman alive.” This time when we hugged it was for more than comfort. I tore at his annoying clothes, ripping them from him in my haste. He danced out of my reach though and wagged a finger at me. “Much as I’d enjoy that, we’re not done talking. We still haven’t addressed the whole mommy issue.”

“I thought you said I’d be a great mom?” I replied, my sulky tone going well with my jutting lower lip.

“You will be. I wasn’t talking about you though. I meant your mother, Gaia.” I pouted for real at her name. “Do we have to talk about her?” Auric shook his head. “You can’t keep avoiding her existence, Muri. I don’t expect you to have a warm fuzzy relationship with her or invite her to Thanksgiving dinner given what she’s done. But we need to discuss her because I’m sure you haven’t forgotten what she said. While Nefertiti thinks you should abort, Gaia on the other hands wants us to hand the baby over.”

“Like fuck,” I spat.

“Exactly,” he nodded. “But her request means she’s tipped her hand and I for one would like to know more about why she wants our child. I also want to discover if we need to worry about her trying to kidnap the child once it’s born.”

“Just kill her now and get it over with.” In my life, decisions were simple.

Auric blew out a breath. “I know you’re upset with her for abandoning you, so am I actually, but we can’t just kill her. There could be severe repercussions for destroying Mother Earth after all.”

“Great. Take her side.” I grumbled as I crossed my arms.

“I am not taking her side. She touches one hair on your head or our child’s and I’ll kill her without a second thought. And, you seem to have forgotten, in our battle with Gabriel, the other power pulling the strings of his minion puppets, knew who your mother was. Don’t you think we should at the least question your mother about whom this being is? Find out all the facts before we make a decision and act.” I rolled my eyes. “You and your facts. Fine. She lives for now. But here’s one fact you haven’t clued in on. I’m horny and have less than an hour before I need to get to work. So do you mind cutting the talk and getting busy over here?” Some might say laughter was the best remedy, I begged to differ. Sex—the sweaty, emotionally charged kind—was much, much better.

Looking into Auric’s eyes as he made love to me made me realize that no matter what the future held, I wouldn’t face it alone. And when my orgasm crashed over me in a sensual wave that made me writhe, I clutched him to me tightly in an attempt to fight the darkness I sensed hovering on the horizon. A foreboding that seemed to mock my brave attempt to fool myself.

We were basking in the afterglow when I remembered something I’d forgotten from the previous day’s attack. A tidbit of knowledge that Auric needed to know.

“Azazel is up to his tricks again.”

“What?” Auric rolled himself on top of me and peered down with concern.

“Explain.”

“The demons who attacked me yesterday did so on his orders. Somehow, even though he’s supposed to be under guard and tortured daily, he’s found a way to give his lackeys orders.” And that meant whoever controlled Azazel, that mysterious power who’d fucked with my life a lot recently, had access to him, too. I wondered if my dad suspected but I wondered even more just who in blazes this super power was? I wasn’t naive enough to think my dad, Uncle God and my mother were the only powerful entities around. There were many planes of existence. Heaven, Hell and Earth were just the ones I was most familiar with. Who knew what existed out there in Limbo, space and elsewhere. It could have been the one eyed, four armed, flying purple people eaters pulling the strings and entertaining themselves at our expense. However, while the identity of Azazel’s true master interested me, I didn’t allow it to sway my opinion about Azazel. The demon needed to die.

“He won’t be giving fucking orders for much longer,” Auric growled reading my mind. He slipped out of bed to pull on some clothes.

I loved it when he got all protective. I rolled on my stomach and watched him hide his yummy flesh with clothing—wrapping paper, as I called it—that always seemed to beg to be torn off. “What are you going to do?”

“Tear his limbs from him one at a time and then finish him off permanently.” Say what you would, when my consort went all tough ass alpha, it was freaking hot.

“Mmm, say that again,” I purred.

Auric gazed back at me and I stretched with a lazy smile that said without words, I was his for the taking. He chuckled and shook his head. “Woman, you are some kind of sexy.”

He leaned over and kissed me, his hard lips claiming mine in a possessive embrace that made me think we’d embark on round two. However, Auric was ever the responsible one. He pulled back and ran a finger down my bare torso. “Keep that thought for later, after I come back from ripping that fucking demon a new one.”

“I’ll keep you to that promise. Now as to killing the bastard, you’d better speak to my dad first and make sure he takes off his punishment spell or he’ll just come back to life.”

While the damned could suffer eternal torture and never die, only the abyss could end them permanently. Demons, on the other hand, were mortal. In order to punish them and not have them die before my dad was satisfied, he placed a spell on them that essentially rendered them immortal. I wasn’t sure how it all worked, but I knew Auric would need to have it removed to take care of Azazel once and for all. I just wished I didn’t have to go to work. I would have enjoyed watching Auric go medieval on his demonic ass.

“So does this mean I’m going to work by myself?” I asked, even as I knew the answer.

“You wish,” he scoffed. “We both know the streets are safer if one of us is with you.”

I blew him a raspberry then squealed as he dove on me and gave me one right back against my tummy.

I screamed and giggled in laughter at the loud, wet noise, only to feel my mirth die when he laid his cheek against the soft skin of my stomach. I stroked his lustrous, dark hair.

“I’ll protect you both,” he whispered. “My two precious girls.” Damned dust in my eye made them water, had to be ‘cause I sure as hell wasn’t crying again.

* * * *

I thought about taking offense at his new nickname for me, but I found myself salivating when he pulled out a chocolate covered, Boston crème. He waved it in front of me with a teasing smile. I dove and grabbed at the treat. He used that as his opportunity to snag me and snuggle me onto his lap. I munched happily as he nuzzled my neck.

“Auric told me everything.”

I stiffened, but didn’t reply. I’d planned to have a talk with him as well seeing how the whole baby scenario concerned him, too. My discomfort stemmed more from the two daddy concept which still kind of wigged me out. I mean, would our child come out with one green eye and one blue like the daddies? I wanted a daughter, not a husky.

He hugged me tight. “I just wanted you to hear it from me, that no matter what, I’m with you, baby. Even when you get as fat and round as a giant pumpkin, I’ll still love you.” That earned him a jab in the ribs which made him chuckle. “And when it comes to our little girl, I’ll lay down my life before I’ll let anyone touch her.” The damned dust returned. My eyes teared up and I threw my arms around David’s neck as I sobbed. “I love you too, you giant furball.” These damned hormones were turning me into a wailing damsel but at least my men didn’t seem bothered. If this kept up though, I’d have to invest in a case of waterproof mascara. Raccoon face was not an attractive look for anyone.

“Now come on, my lazy ass princess. We need to get to work.” I glared at David as he dumped me off his lap and then slapped my buttocks to get me moving. “What ever happened to the nice shy guy you used to be?”

“He fell in love with a smart mouthed hottie whose daddy makes Charles Manson look like a cuddly bunny rabbit. Besides, I was always like this, you just never noticed

‘cause I was always tongue tied and in awe of your formidable assets when around you.” He mimed a pair of huge jugs and I almost bit my tongue in shock.

“Shy, my ass,” I muttered as I grabbed my purse.

“What’s that? Did you say we could finally take you up the ass? Woo! Wait until I tell Auric.”

I growled even as I giggled. “Pig! My ass is off limits. Don’t make me ground you from my pussy, too.”

David snagged me in his implacable grip and grinned down at me. “You are so cute when you’re annoyed.” David kissed me and kissed me again.

In the end we were late getting to work as he showed me with his tongue and then with his cock just how cute I was. I already knew, but saw no harm in letting him prove it to me in such a pleasurable fashion.

Charon sat at his usual spot at the bar when we arrived and I arched a brow at him.

“Gee, make yourself at home why don’t you?” My dad’s oldest friend—and I meant old—lifted his cowled head and peered at me. Or so I assumed, no one ever saw Charon’s face. He had held the position of ferryman of souls on the river Styx for as long as anyone could remember. While he scared the crap out of most people, I adored him and considered him an honorary uncle. But loving him didn’t mean I’d ever seen exactly what he hid under his head-to-toe robe. I’d often wondered if he took the robe off to make love to his wife or if he just lifted it up to plow her. Welcome to my mind, a sick yet interesting place that never gave me a dull moment.

Charon growled. “Don’t start with me, Muriel. It was a tough day on the Styx.”

“Uh-oh. What did your boy do now?” Charon’s son, while attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps, if he had feet, wasn’t quite succeeding. Between losing the oars and putting a hole in the boat on previous occasions, I wondered what was left for him to sabotage.