Chapter 49

Beatrice

I nearly tripped over the Hellhounds on my way out of Lucifer’s room. All four irritable balls of fluff were lying on the floor outside his door, gnawing on a bone. They growled as I did a quick dance to avoid stepping on anyone.

“Hey!” I began. “I’m not the one lying on the floor, waiting to be tripped on.”

“We’re small,” one argued. “We shouldn’t be blamed for being tripped over.”

“We wanted to see you,” another added.

“Don’t you want to see us?” a third asked as he batted his eyes.

“Lucifer won’t feed us until you come down for breakfast,” the last Hellhound whined.

I laughed. “So, this is all about food. You’re just hungry.” Since Lucifer had given them that meaty bone to chew on, he wasn’t starving them.

“We also like you,” the one who’d complained about food assured me.

“Why don’t you tell me your names?” I suggested. “It will make it much easier for us talk.”

They all looked incredibly similar, but there were slight differences. “We can talk to you just fine without you knowing our names,” the Hellhound with the hair clip told me.

“I’d still feel more comfortable if I knew your names,” I insisted. “You know my name. I could just call you Floppy, Curly, Tails, and Bangs.”

“Those are horrible names!” curly accused.

“Then I suppose you should tell me your names,” I replied.

“Our names are hard for most to pronounce, but you can use our nicknames, like Lucifer and Lucy do,” the one with Tails suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea,” I agreed.

“I’m Bix,” the one with the curly hair announced.

“I’m Rave,” the one with the hair clip added.

“I’m Sam,” the curly-tailed Hellhound announced.

“And I’m Tor,” the Hellhound with the longer ears stated.

“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Bix, Rave, Sam, and Tor,” I told them with a smile. “Let’s eat breakfast. I’m starving.”

“Because Lucifer was fucking you all night?” Tor asked.

“Tor!” Sam admonished. “You shouldn’t ask that question. Of course, he was fucking her. She’s his bitch. It’s what he’s supposed to do.”

“I’d rather not be referred to as Lucifer’s bitch,” I told the Hellhounds on our way downstairs.

“Why?” Tor asked with innocent blue eyes.

“You are his female, right?” Bix asked.

“If you’re insulting Beatrice, you’ll have no breakfast!” Lucifer shouted.

All four Hellhounds growled in response.

“Behave,” I told them. “You all know calling me a bitch was rude. You were messing with me.”

“We’d never do that,” Bix insisted.

“Evil little balls of fluff,” Lucifer muttered as he moved forward to scoop Bix up and stare him in the eyes. “Behave, like Beatrice told you.”

The others growled and glared at him. Cute as they were, the Hellhounds were irritable and demanding. One of them hurried over with something in his mouth. When he dropped it on the floor, the other Hellhounds lost interest in me and began fighting over what looked like a hand.

“Lucifer!” I screeched. “Is that a hand?”

Lucifer looked over at the Hellhounds and shrugged. “It seems to be. Don’t worry. That variety of demon can regrow their limbs.”

“What were they chewing on outside your bedroom door?” I asked.

“An arm,” Persephone replied for him, seeming much less shocked than I was. She was already seated at the breakfast table in Lucifer’s massive kitchen, cutting up something that looked like a blue grapefruit. “As soon as I came downstairs, they raced off with it.”

“It will grow back,” Lucifer assured me.

“How did you sleep, Beatrice?” Persephone asked before I could ask more about where the arm and hand had come from.

“I slept fine,” I lied before gesturing to the fruit she was cutting up. “What is that thing?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted as she eyed the bright blue fruit. “I’m calling it a smurfberry.”

“It doesn’t look like a berry,” I remarked.

“It’s a zellafruit,” Lucifer told us. “They have a very unusual flavor. You should try it, Beatrice.”

“I think I’ll pass,” I replied.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Persephone asked.

I shrugged. “If you find it, let me know. I don’t recall ever having a sense of adventure.”

“There go our plans to explore the Cavern of the Damned,” Lucifer said with a sigh.

“There’s no such thing as the Cavern of the Damned,” I scoffed. “Is there?”

Lucifer chuckled. “There is, and it’s beautiful in a morbid sort of way. I was joking about taking you there. It’s extremely dangerous. You’d need training to survive the trip.”

“I could always do it as a bat,” I pointed out.

He regarded me with a thoughtful expression. “You are something else.”

“This is amazing!” Persephone exclaimed around a bite of zellafruit. She moaned and swallowed before continuing. “It’s the most unusual combination of sweet and tart I’ve ever experienced. I want to try the skin.”

“Don’t eat the skin,” Lucifer warned.

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “You’ve already warned me about eating the skin.”

“Is it poisonous?” I asked.

Lucifer shook his head. “It will turn her as blue as the fruit for several hours.”

“It’s a lovely blue,” Persephone pointed out thoughtfully.

“Are you honestly considering eating it so you can turn blue?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yes,” she replied with no shame.

I shook my head at my friend’s response before a thought occurred to me. “Wait! She’s not going to be stuck in the underworld forever because she ate fruit grown here, is she?”

Lucifer laughed at my question.

“Why is my question so funny?” I demanded.

“There are tours of the demon realm specifically designed for witches,” he pointed out.

“They serve demon food on those tours?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “There’s a restaurant that caters to witches. I’ll take you there one day.”

“Why not today?” Persephone asked.

“That’s not the most secure area,” he explained. “We have tour groups coming and going all the time.” A thought occurred to him. “I’d better increase security there. Your brother might try to reenter the demon realm with one of the tours.”

“Don’t you have a dampening spell at the entrance?” I asked.

“One like they have at The Cauldron would force him to reveal his true form,” Persephone added.

“It would force the demons to do the same,” he explained. “Revealing their true forms would be bad for the tourism business. While some can appear human when they choose to, their demon forms vary. Many are unappealing to witches.”

“What’s the plan for today?” I asked. “Do you have any idea where my brother might be hiding?”

“All evidence suggests he’s still in the human realm, but we don’t know where,” he replied.

“You should check the cabin he used before,” I suggested.

Lucifer nodded. “We’ll check it out, but it seems unlikely he’d hide there again.”

“You’re probably right,” I agreed. “I’m so hungry, the zellafruit is starting to look good.”

“Our food should be here any minute,” Lucifer assured me.

Rainer hurried into the room, looking irritated. He forced a smile when he saw me and Persephone. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Rainer,” Persephone chirped.

I nodded. “It looks like you have a problem.”

Rainer responded with a sharp bark of laughter. “It seems that’s all I’ve got lately.”

“What’s going on?” Lucifer asked.

“You have a visitor,” Rainer replied. “One of the angelic variety.”

“Again?” Lucifer asked. “How are they getting in here?”

“It’s Azrael,” Rainer replied. “He wants to see you.”

“The Angel of Death?” Persephone gasped.

Even I gasped at the name.