Evie
I follow the deep voice of the man that spoke to see the door to the far right was open and a demon leaning on the door frame. He only has jeans on, a cheeky grin on his attractive face, and a mop of messy red hair. His black eyes look at us all, before settling on me.
“Azi, tut, tut, tut. You shouldn’t bring a beauty such as her to place like this,” he comments as he walks over to me, but Azi places his hand on his chest, stopping him from coming too close.
“Touch her, and I will enjoy killing you, Cody,” Azi warns, and Cody laughs, pushing his hand away and walking over to the other doors. He bangs on them both, before leaning on the wall in the middle of them.
“Who have you let into hell recently? And was there three women with them?” Trex asks, stepping next to Azi. Cody’s eyes go to Azi, who nods, and then back to Trex.
“I will tell you what you want . . . for a price,” he replies as the door on his right is opened, and a demon who looks the image of Cody steps out, narrowing his eyes on Azi.
“The wayward overlord returns,” he looks at us, “with friends, it seems.”
“It’s none of your business, Caleb,” Azi snaps.
“You’re right, it’s not. You and your brothers are playing with fire, and every single one of you will be burned for it,” Caleb replies dryly.
“What does that mean?” Azi demands, and Caleb looks at Cody rather than answering.
“Have my key and let them in, I want no part in this,” he says as he pulls a necklace off and hands it to Cody before walking to the door he came out of and slamming it behind him.
“Sorry about that, my brother is a dick,” Cody explains.
“At least you know it. Let’s hope he realises it sometime soon,” I say, and Cody laughs, standing up.
“So, a price for the information? You want to make a deal, man?” Cody asks Trex, who looks at the smoky door, and then back to Cody.
“Yes.”
“I will tell you some shit you are sure to find interesting, if you promise to do anything I ask when I call you. I’m not crazy, so it won’t be killing anyone, or any shit like that, but that is my offer,” Cody says, but I wouldn’t trust him. He smiles like the creepy Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland when Trex offers his hand to shake on the deal, and Cody shakes it.
“Done. I will keep my promise,” Trex says.
“Oh, I know you will. You seem like one of those serious fucks that keep your promises,” Cody grins.
“What do you know? We don’t have all day,” Nix interjects.
“About a week ago, one of his brothers came through here with three women. All of them were tied up and had bags on their heads, so I couldn’t see their faces,” he tells us, and I watch as Trex tightens his hands and looks back at Connor and Nix.
“Which brother?” Azi asks, the seriousness on his face makes me a little concerned for a second.
“Roth,” Cody says quietly.
“Shit,” Azi replies, rubbing his face. “Cody, go and find your other brother and give us a minute alone.”
“Sure, no thanks for the advice or anything,” Cody grumbles but walks over to the door he knocked on that no one came out of and opens it up, stepping inside and slamming it shut behind him.
“Is Roth someone we should worry about?” Connor asks just what I was thinking.
“I was hoping this had nothing to do with any of my brothers, but it looks like it has,” Azi admits, not looking happy about it.
“Why would your brother steal the princesses?” Nix asks.
“Roth has a thing for science, and not a good thing. He likes to create creatures, mix bloods, and in general mess with nature. When I saw those green creatures that came after us, I wondered if Roth could have sent them,” Azi admits. “His sin is curiosity.”
“Didn’t your brother ever hear the human saying ‘curiously kills the cat’? Because that would be a good lesson for him,” I remark, but they all ignore me.
“Then your brother has to die,” Trex coldly remarks.
“I can deal with one of my brothers at a time, and possibly kill him. That’s only if Roth hasn’t gotten the help of any of my other brothers.”
“We need to get to them quickly then, if your brother is going to be doing weird tests on them or something,”
“Yes, we do,” Trex answers, and the door Cody left through opens at the end of his words. Cody walks out first followed by his brother. His brother just looks like a slightly older version of Cody. He has a full red-haired beard that matches his trimmed hair, and black eyes that watch us all for a brief second.
“You want entry? You sure?” the bearded man asks in a deep voice.
“Yes,” Azi says simply, no need for messing around.
“Let’s get this out of the way, then,” Cody says, clapping his hands together and stepping up to the door. I watch as he gets the necklace his brother gave him out of his pocket and places the trianglular, metal symbol in a space on the door for it. It glows red as Cody’s brother pulls a bracelet off his wrist, with a metal circle symbol in another gap and it glows red, too. Cody finally pulls a ring off his finger, and it has a square symbol on it. The moment it touches the space where Cody puts it down, it glows red.
“Patentibus,” Cody almost growls out and presses his hand to the door. The glass just melts away into smoke, the smoke still holding the shape of the door. Cody steps back, waving a hand at the door.
“Time to go,” he says and looks over at me, trailing his eyes over my body slowly. “Though, you are always welcome back.” Azi whacks Cody on the head as he passes him and walks into the smoky door.
“Ouch, dickhead! That’s not how you say thank you!” Cody shouts as Trex walks into the smoky door, and Nix follows him. Connor just waits, crossing his arms.
“I’m not leaving him alone with you, go on,” Connor states. Cody laughs, “Smart man.”
“Later, boys,” I say, walking forward and stepping into the smoky door. The smoke smothers me for what seems like a few seconds, making me cough before the third layer of hell appears.
“Watch out!” Trex shouts, just as a dagger comes flying through the air towards me.