When I arrived at Morgenstern and Clark the next morning, Robert Parr’s contract lay in the centre of my desk as if to mock me.
In the two centuries that I had brokered souls for Lucifer, he had never rejected a contract before. I could not think of a reason why Robert Parr's soul was the source of such conflict.
I picked up my office phone and called the Milan branch.
Marina answered on the first ring.
“Ciao, Dahlia!” the Sicilian woman chirped happily. The way she spoke my name grated against my every nerve. Da-Rr-Laya
“I need you to send a message to Mr Morgenstern please,” I replied without emotion.
“Mister Luc will find you, if he needs to speak to you, Si?” Marina replied, her tone was blissfully oblivious.
I had wanted to leave a message asking for the details of the Parr contract and why it kept bouncing back onto my desk. My curiosity was piqued even if I should have let it go.
Instead, I became childish.
“Tell Luc not to leave gifts for me anymore. My new mate doesn’t like it.” I snarled.
Denizens of Hell only mated once. I had been Luc’s consort, but never his mate or his equal.
“Mister Luc will not be happy with you, bambolina.” She warned.
“I am not your fucking Doll, Marina.” I slammed the phone down and pushed away from my desk, seething. I took my compact mirror from my handbag and checked my hair, it was only when I reapplied my lipstick that I calmed down.
Luiz leant against the doorframe of my office.
“Was that wise?” he asked, quirking a brow.
“Eavesdropping is a nasty habit,” I replied curtly.
Luiz scoffed and batted his hand flamboyantly as if my accusation was an annoying fly.
“This arrived for you, a few moments ago.” He reached behind his back and pulled out a small white box. The words Bvlgari were printed in golden foil on the lid.
My hands jumped to my throat. Why would Luc give me jewellery?
I took the box with delicate hands and popped it open.
Your answer is Haage.
It was Luc’s handwriting. A small part of my heart squeezed tightly. I did not understand the cryptic message at all. I couldn’t help but feel guilty as I examined the bracelet. It was made up of several circles, all linked. The smallest circle had a snowflake in the centre.
Luc had taken my outburst and provided me with a gift to placate me. I despised my weakness when I clasped the gift around my wrist. At least Luc had given an answer; albeit one that required further examination.
I felt despicable for forcing his hand by telling him about Samuel.
Lucifer abandoned me. I reminded myself. If anyone should feel guilty, it should have been him.
That evening, I made plans to visit a Fold. I chose the Tyburn Tree as it was the most popular spot for daemons to congregate.
I had asked Magnolia to find something fit for a 'BDSM nightclub’, and she did not disappoint.
My skirt was skin tight leather, and my halter was made of a shimmering silver material that was almost invisible under the UV light.
My driver dropped me off just outside of the roadside railings, and I made my way to the ancient metal plaque in the centre of the street. It had gone midnight, so there were almost no sounds around me. I expanded my consciousness until I found the groove the indicated a space between the fabric of worlds, and I slipped inside with ease.
The club was packed with Seventh Circle daemons, writhing against each other. I stepped around each of the couplings as if they were furniture, determined to find some clue about Haage.
Haage, the Wise one, was an elusive Pureblood, famous within circles for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the inner workings of Hell magic. He kept to himself and had not been seen in over a century. Purebloods were solitary creatures; his disappearance that did not say much.
Haage had been attached to the Seventh Circle so I assumed that someone in the PVC wearing crowd would know of him.
I weaved through the room, allowing my consciousness to skim the minds of the dancing daemons around me.
No one had any answers.
I caught a flash of silver across my vision. My ears filled with the nostalgic ringing of bells. I found myself smiling against all my instincts. I followed the smattering of silver energy. It reminded me of Luc.
When I reached the edge of the dance floor, a hand gripped my wrist. I jumped, heart in my chest. When I turned, I was ashamed to admit that a small pang of disappointment lit up my chest. It was Samuel.
His eyes glinted with the ever-changing lights of the dance floor. Dark with lust. He placed his forehead to mine. I closed my eyes and fell into his embrace.
The man that held me smelt of frigid ice and leather. I blinked away my lethargy in time to see a glint of lust shine across his pupils, turning the black dots into shillings.
That wasn’t right. Incubi sported pale ice blue eyes when their Daemon shone through.
Samuel’s lips were calm and decisive as they took my own. My reservations fled when I felt cocooned in the familiarity that was Luc.
He may have been wearing Samuel’s face, but I knew. It was the heady mixture of comfort and arousal that caused me to take his hand and lead him to one of the private rooms. My head swam with questions that I would never be able to answer.
Luc, wearing Samuel’s face, did not say a word as he lifted me up and felt my legs curl around his waist. His tongue traced my bottom lip and then his absence left me cold. I stood alone in the hallway to the private rooms. I was disconnected from Hell so my senses were not as keen as they would have been. My chest heaved with a palpable mix of arousal and shame.
I adjusted my halter top and strode towards the dancefloor. I scanned the writhing masses for more errand thoughts.
Had Samuel rejected me? Or was Luc wearing Samuel’s face?
A hand reached over my shoulder, holding a shot of patron. I recognised the scent of tequila.
I turned around and saw the familiar face of Samuel Rose but minus the distinguished facial scarring.
“Vincent,” I acknowledged, taking the peace offering of alcohol from his cold fingers. I knocked it back with ease.
“Lie detector.” Vincent's face was alight with joy. His eyes were glazed as if he wasn’t truly there.
“My name is Dahlia,” I supplied helpfully. “but you know that.”
“Do I?” he said dreamily.
“What do you want, Vincent Rose?”
Vincent reached forward to touch my face, but his fingers jerked back as if I was made of broken glass.
“Two Roses. One thorn. Bloody and infected...” he mused out loud.
“Where is your brother?” I said impatiently.
Vincent cocked his head to the side. If I weren't fully immersed in the facade of humanity, I would have taken his tongue between two fingers and twisted until the tendons snapped.
“Samuel mentioned that you had a run in with a Leviathan.” Vincent mused thoughtfully.
“We did.” I nodded.
“They travel in swarms, don’t you know?”
“Talking to you is riveting, Vincent. But I must be going.” I said, turning away, I felt Vincent's harsh grip on the top of my arm.
Unable to restrain myself, I snarled. Baring my teeth like a feral animal. I allowed a pulse of First Circle magic to attach itself to Vincent Rose like a dart. Right where his beating heart would have been if he were human.
Vincent looked like all his Christmases had come at once.
“Deliciously made of Hell,” he made a kissy face. “Does my brother know what you are?”
“Do you know who is wearing your brother’s body right now?” I retorted.
Vincent’s eyes widened and then narrowed. As soon as I had said it, the pieces slotted together. Luc couldn’t leave Hell for extended periods of time, but he could control others.
I had been so stupid. I clenched my fists to keep from lashing out.
Luc had always told me that I was immature and quick to anger. I would show him the extent of my temper.
Pushing past Vincent with more strength than necessary, I quickly found the spiral iron staircase to the VIP floor.
I marched up the steps, two at a time until I reached the red velvet rope at the top.
One look at the bouncer as all I needed to drop him to the floor. I stepped over his prone form. My facial muscles were schooled into icy indifference as I surveyed the VIP platform like a Queen overlooking her subjects.
I saw him in the corner, surrounded by women. His tongue down a blonde woman’s throat.
I did not expect fidelity from an incubus, but from the way Samuel’s body was relaxed with his legs spread as he laid back on the leather sofa, I could tell that he did not care if I saw him or not.
His eyes met mine, and there was no kindness. No silver sheen, like five pence coins.
How had I been so foolish?
Two Roses. One bloody and infected. Samuel had been infected. How much of my interaction with the man had been Samuel Rose and how much had been Luc?
Was it Luc, ever since the first moment we met?
I released my power in a shockwave. No longer caring about hiding my true nature.
I had forgone my natural barriers in a blind pursuit of finding the mother of Luc’s child.
My connection to Hell roared to life, my body filled with burning Hellfire and I inhaled the sharp tang of the pumping blood of every living being in a mile radius. My eyes glowed silver, the twin to Luc’s.
Samuel pushed the blonde off his lap and stood.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked him. I knew that he could hear me from across the room. I strode towards him, using my natural human repellent to create a path in the crowd.
“Dahlia Clark,” Samuel appraised my form. When his emerald eyes met mine, they flared bright silver, and his entire demeanour shifted. Gone was the languishing casual sprawl, in its place, was the cocky smirk that I knew and loved.
No wonder I had allowed the man access to my body. He was the very person I had craved but tried to run from.
“Luc,” I snarled.
“My Pet,” Luc/Samuel smirked cruelly.
“How does this help find the mother of your child?” I hissed, waving my hand to gesture to the body he had stolen.
“How long have you been disconnected from Hell, my Pet?” Luc asked as uncharacteristic concern layered over his voice.
What else could I expect from my master? The king of lies and deception. He was so good at it that I had almost forgotten the years of tutelage he had given me.
I raised my arms to push him away when a crippling pain washed over my midsection. I glanced down and saw that my legs were bleeding.
No. That wasn’t right. My legs were covered in blood, but I wasn’t injured.
Another wave of pain made my knees buckle. The blood was coming from my...I blinked away red tears. My trembling fingers went to the wetness running down my cheeks. I was crying blood.
I gaped up at Luc, silently pleading. “Master...?” I croaked.
And everything went black.