The Devil's Wife (25 page)

Clarissa.

~ * ~

      My search of the pipes wasn't very fruitful. At most, the Hellraisers were quietly rebellious, though my revelation as a Demon—if not the Devil—had quelled most of them into searching for Clarissa. As they understood it, they were working for me, trying to find Clarissa in this maze.

      As I understood it, I was going to kill them all as soon as I found Clarissa.

      I spent hours crawling through pipes, but I could tell I wasn't as graceful at it as the person I was following. I slipped occasionally, hitting my head often, and I was forced to admit that my longer body and heavier weight was the reason I wasn't so nimble in the maze of pipes.

      "Clarissa!" I hissed, standing on a set of stairs I'd come across. "Come on, Clarissa, show yourself. I've got Jayce!"

      Someone whimpered and I cursed, looking around me. I spotted a pair of familiar blue eyes watching me, and I turned to look at her, holding out my hand.

      "Come on, Clarissa," I murmured, as though to a frightened animal. "Let's get you out of here so I can destroy these people for what they did to you and Jayce."

      Clarissa blinked, then slithered out from between the pipes. I took in her appearance and stopped breathing. I couldn't see a single part of her body that wasn't bruised. She had slices over every inch of her body, the most concentrated around her breasts, and I gently touched the burn on the side of her face—one of the men had branded her with his mark.

      I growled in the back of my throat, releasing my wings, and she skittered back. I realized my mistake and relaxed, putting my extra limbs away.

      "It's okay, Clarissa," I murmured, "I'm not going to hurt you. The Hellraisers will pay for what they've done to you and Jayce. She'll be okay, Issa-honey."

      "Where is she?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

      She must have screamed her throat out at the hands of the Hellraisers. I felt my ire rise again, and fought it down. Not yet. I cannot kill them yet. I must get Clarissa safe first.

      "Aspen's looking after her." I gently rested a hand on

her arm, being careful of the bruises. "Let me heal you, Clarissa."

      She whimpered and collapsed into my arms, hugging me tightly. I was wary, unsure of where to put my hands, and whether I was hugging her too hard. She pulled me closer to her, and I melted to her, my hands around her waist and my chin on the top of her head.

      "I'm sorry," I whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I shouldn't have let you go off on your own with only Aspen to help."

      She turned her head to look up at me. "Aspen's dead."

      "I know." I hugged her a little tighter, and she frowned as I closed my eyes, using some of my magic to heal her as best I could. I could help her with the bruises, and I could magically sew the cuts together so they could heal.

      "How is he looking after Jayce?"

      I didn't answer, and she didn't ask again. I was frowning slightly, lifting my hand to her burned cheek as I concentrated all my limited healing magic on it. I wasn't very good at burns.

      After a second, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. Clarissa moved one arm around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss, and I relaxed. For now, my Clarissa was safe, and that was all I cared about.

      It wasn't an urgent kiss, but it was passionate all the same. I returned her energy and force, using my magic to heal her raw throat until she pulled back.

      "I love you, Lucifer. Thank you," she said quietly, clinging to me and resting her head on my chest.

      I rested my forehead against hers, looking into her blue eyes. "You're welcome. I love you, too." I lifted her up into my arms and she snuggled against my chest, tucking her head into the hollow between my shoulder and my neck.

      "Hold on, my love," I said, releasing my wings and springing from the landing, out into the air. "I'm taking you somewhere safe while I deal with these… these… humans." I spat the last word like it was the worst thing I could think of to call them.

      I felt her kiss the side of my neck, then she lapsed into unconsciousness, her body going completely limp. I didn't allow her to slip from my grip, shielding her with my wings as I smashed through the glass windows in the roof. I felt the dull ache of pain lacing my head, but I was all right. I was far more worried for Clarissa than for myself.

      I spiraled through the air, heading north, towards the Portal. I could trust Bee and Levi to look after my lover and Jayce while I went hunting.

      Levi would have the last three members of the Hellraisers to play with for the rest of eternity in the Frozen Lake.

Aspen Grigori

      I don't know how I managed to get Jayce down to Hell. As a ghost, I shouldn't have been able to so much as touch her, let alone carry her through nothing and end up in Hell. I could only surmise that it was one of the many Mysteries of the Universe, and leave it there—I wasn't going to waste time and brain power working it out when the humans could do it for me, eventually.

      "Oi, look, guys," a familiar Demon called out as I appeared beside him, Jayce in my arms. "It's an Angel!"

      "Thanks," I muttered, walking away from him and heading for Lucifer's chair.

      "Not you, you idiot," another, considerably drunker, Demon sniffed. My twin, Azazel. "The woman."

      I ignored the drunk and gently placed Jayce down in Lucifer's chair so that she was resting her head gently on one arm of the chair and her legs were thrown over the other one. She was still unconscious, her body covered in cuts, grazes, marks, bruises and burns. The heaviest bruises and burns were around her wrists and her ankles, where she'd been tied up.

      "Is that Clarissa?" the first Demon asked.

      "Nah, that can't be Clarissa, Bee," the drunk said, staggering over with a bottle of absinthe swinging from his hand. "Luce said Clarissa is light-skinned, not nearly as dark as any of us used to be."

      I smirked at the Demons. "My, you two have gotten stupid in five thousand years. This is Jayce, Clarissa and

Lucifer's housemate."

      Beelzebub glared at me. "Still haven't changed in five thousand years, Aspen?"

      "Neither have you, so we should get on like a house on fire—burning and pissed." I frowned at Beelzebub, who was looking at Jayce again. "Do you have something to put over her?"

      Azazel shrugged the shirt off his arms and held it out. I laid it across Jayce's body and turned to my twin.

      "Why the hell are you pissed, Aza?"

      He glared at me. "Gee, Asp," he said sarcastically. "Five thousand years of peace without you, then you turn up? You'd cause anyone to drink."

      I glared at my twin brother, then stuck my tongue out at him. "As if you did me any better in Heaven. I started drinking when I was fifteen because of you!"

      Azazel laughed, leaning on my shoulder. "And now you're a ghost, and I'm a Demon, and Heaven doesn't want either of us."

      He sniffed and collapsed. I caught him and laid him on the ground, taking the bottle of absinthe from him before he could spill it. I absently took a drink and smiled.

      "He still has the best taste in alcohol."

      Beelzebub kneeled beside Jayce, smoothing her hair back from her face. He was frowning slightly, his head tilted to the side as I made sure my idiot twin could breathe, then I stepped up to Beelzebub.

      "Jayce. I never realized before, but she looks like…" Beelzebub whispered, smoothing back her blood-matted hair. He turned to me. "What happened, Aspen, when we left Heaven?"

      I frowned, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Azrael, the King of Limbo, he told me God put the put the women in solitary confinement. Lucifer burst in, trying to save the women, and instead only managed to completely screw up. He told God that it wasn't our fault we were created as we were, the forerunners to the human race, the experiment to see if we could be created to reproduce on our own, and God bound him to Hell."

      "And our wives, sisters, mothers?" Beelzebub asked, and I heard him swallow thickly.

      "As far as I know, they're being treated to Seventh Heaven, still servicing her for Her experiments." I sighed, watching Jayce sleeping on the throne. "And I am so pissed that I can't do anything about it."

      Jayce rolled her head toward Beelzebub and relaxed. I hadn't realized she wasn't truly asleep—a deep, comfortable sleep—until then. I was happy that the Devil liked his throne big enough to sleep on, even if it didn't get used very often. Jayce distracted my thinking when she curled up on her side and hissed in pain, opening her eyes.

      "Jayce?" I asked quietly, and she frowned at me, ignoring the red-skinned Beelzebub shrinking back from her. "What's wrong?"

      She frowned harder, curling up against the back of the seat. "I don't... know you, do I?"

      I smiled at her as Beelzebub stood and stepped back a bit, allowing me to crouch in front of the chair, my head at the same height as hers. "You do know me, Jayce. Quite well, I would think."

      She frowned and narrowed her eyes, thinking. She obviously recognized my voice. "A...Aspen? You've changed a lot since I saw you last."

      I laughed. "That's right, Jayce. You're safe here with Bee and Levi and everyone."

      She relaxed a little, then looked at Beelzebub standing behind me. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin on her hands. She flushed slightly and inhaled sharply, but I could do nothing for her pain. I was sure the Demons could do even less than me. Only Lucifer would be able to help her with her injuries.

      "Jayce, meet Beelzebub, my great-uncle. He's Leviathan's brother-in-law." I smiled at her, and Beelzebub stepped forward slightly, as though afraid of scaring her away.

      "H—hi," she said carefully, and held out her hand.

      He shook it, smiling shyly, and I laughed. Beelzebub was such a pussy when it came to women!

      I heard something fwoop overhead and looked up. Lucifer had emerged from the Portal and was heading towards us, a purple-skinned shape in his arms. As he landed, a little haphazardly, I noticed that the purple-skinned

shape was Clarissa, covered in bruises.

      "Clarissa!" I hissed, helping Jayce stand up so Lucifer could place Clarissa on the throne instead.

      Clarissa was unconscious, her hands hooked into Lucifer's shirt, and she didn't want to let him go. Instead of disentangling her fingers, Lucifer sat on the throne and held her close to his chest, resting his head against the top of hers.

      "Hey, boss," Beelzebub crowed as the Demons started to gather around him. "Is this your missus?"

      He nodded, his arms around her torso. She snuggled in closer to him, murmuring his name. The Demons couldn't see her face, just her brown hair and her bruised skin, but I'm sure we all knew she was smiling slightly in her sleep.

      "Yes," he said quietly. "This is Clarissa."

      Lucifer looked out among the crowd of Demons, halfsmiling with a look of pride on his face. He saw Jayce standing next to me and frowned at her, then winked.

      A second later, Jayce was wearing her favorite clothes—a pair of skinny blue jeans and a white blouse, the top buttons undone to show off her chest just the way she liked it, black stilettos on her feet. Her bruises faded, and I could see some of her wounds were healing.

      Lucifer looked to Clarissa and winked again. A blue blouse covered her chest, a long black skirt wrapped her legs to the knee, and long black boots hid her legs from the thigh down.

      "What happened to them, boss?" Beelzebub asked as Clarissa shifted in Lucifer's lap, rubbing at her eyes.

      "She and Jayce were caught by the Hellraisers I didn't find before. As far as I can tell, they've been tortured." His voice shook on the last word, though with rage, guilt or sorrow, I couldn't tell.

      He hugged Clarissa as she turned to look at the Demons around her, sitting up in his lap with her arms around his chest. She shrank into Lucifer, rubbing at her eyes again, then turned back to bury her face in his neck.

      "Must be asleep or something," she murmured, making Lucifer laugh.

      "Clarissa, say hi to all the male members of the Grigori."

      She turned back to look at us all, and her gaze locked with mine.

      "Hey, Clarissa," I laughed, and she smiled.

      "Aspen. It's good to see you alive, even if it's not in your usual shape."

      I laughed as she frowned. "Well, more or less, though this is my usual shape," I said, then pointed to my neck where I was sure there was still pale blood sitting. "It's great to see that Lucifer made good his promise to save you."