The damp air reeked of blood and mold. I’d finally woken up about an hour ago but found that I was still adjusting to the dim lights in my prison. I knew I was deep underground—I could feel it in my bones. But I wasn’t in Hell. No, I was in a place much worse.
My ribs ached and my head throbbed from the pain of being forced through the portal, or whatever it had been. Still wearing Jericho’s black tee, I pulled it over my knees as I sat scrunched up in the corner. The shirt, in combination with the lace thongs, didn’t do much to keep me warm against the rocky ground. And it was rock—like a cave that had been carved out of stone. Three walls and the ceiling dripped with the moisture coming from somewhere above. The fourth wall was made of iron bars. Thick as plumbing, the metal had been welded to keep something very dangerous inside.
A shadow moved on the ground outside my cell. Narrowing my eyes, I did my best to see out into the darkened room. Another movement in the corner by my bars drew my attention quickly to the side. A scratching sound across the room, followed by a door creaking open somewhere outside of my vision, had me curling in on myself even more. I wasn’t afraid of the dark. But I was leery of someone who was capable of capturing a demon.
Footsteps. Slow at first and heavy. Like a man’s.
Something hissed above me and my breath hitched. Stop being so fearful. You’re a fucking demon. Sometimes I really hated that inner voice, but right now I was grateful for her. I needed to get my shit together and figure out how to get out of this mess.
More footsteps scraped along the floor. The door to the cavernous room must be off to my right, but I still couldn’t see it. Was that the way out?
“Arabella.” The deep timbre struck instant fear in my heart. Leviathan was harmless if he was on your side. But cross him and…well, let’s just say there was a reason he was called a monster.
The tall man with his dark skin and darker hair stepped in front of my cell. He wore a business suit, which led me to believe we were still somewhere above and possibly still in the city. “Arabella,” he cooed, shaking his head back and forth. “I am so disappointed in you.”
“Good,” I mumbled from my spot on the ground.
“Come here.”
“No.”
“I said, come here.” He growled the last part and flicked his fingers toward me. In the same way I’d been ripped out of Jericho’s arms at my apartment, I was now sliding across the ground toward Leviathan like he had a damn magnet. The stone scraped my bare legs and I smelled my blood as it left a trail across the floor. But I didn’t scream. I didn’t even wince. Leviathan would not see any weakness from me.
As my body slammed into the iron bars and the archdemon forced me to stand, I bit my lip and held in the anger and fear. Leviathan reached out and grabbed a piece of my shirt. Pulling it through the bars, he bent forward and sniffed. Sucking in a deep breath, he raised his head and looked at the ceiling when he blew it out.
“Sex with an angel?”
“What?”
“You were supposed to kill that being and instead you…seduced him.” He glowered at me like a jealous school boy.
“I am a demon,” I mocked. “I’ve been known to seduce to get what I want.”
Leviathan continued to stare at me. “And you wanted the angel?”
Did I? Had I? My mind drifted to our breakfast together and then I realized that he was the first man I’d ever shared that with. He was the first man to stay in my apartment. He was the first one who I felt like I could really talk to.
He was the first one to steal a piece of my heart.
Had I wanted Jericho? Hell, yes, I had.
Leviathan jerked his hand away from my shirt. “Mammon told me you were her best. Her favorite of all her children. But I’ve yet to see what’s so special about a lowly demon like you who can’t follow a simple order and who spreads her legs to anyone who gives her an ounce of attention.”
“Just not you.”
“Excuse me?” His voice had a hint of a hiss behind them and his eyes got a little brighter.
“You’re pissed because I didn’t choose you.”
Leviathan laughed. “Oh, sweet young one. How you are mistaken.” He jerked his chin to the side and two snakes slithered up against his legs. “Having you as a mistress was not a part of my plan.”
“But you told Mammon—”
“I told her I wanted you, yes. But not to share my bed.” He smiled at me as he shook his head.
Should I be offended? “If not as your mistress, then why?”
The two snakes continued to crawl up his body. He placed his hands down by his thighs, allowing them to wrap around his forearms and watch me in the cell. “You’re obedient. And strong. I needed both.”
“I still don’t understand.”
Turning his back to me, he shrugged. “It’s not important now. You failed to kill the angel. And now you will be punished for your indiscretions.”
“Does Mammon know I’m here?”
Setting the two snakes on the ground again, he still refused to face me. “She might. But we had a deal.”
“She’s my sire.” I didn’t like the way my voice trembled. Mammon would be the only one who could fix this.
“Who sealed the deal in blood.”
Leviathan started to walk away as I stood there dumfounded and sick to my stomach. A blood deal could not be undone. Mammon had placed a great deal of faith in me by agreeing that if I didn’t kill the angel, then Leviathan could have me. She thought I would do it. She trusted that I would do it.
Sinking to the floor, I let the tears burn my eyes. How had I been so stupid? Jericho was just one man. One angel. I probably sacrificed everything for him. I was never getting out of here. Mammon wouldn’t renege on her deal. Ashby would be forbidden from tracking me down. Echo…well he didn’t really give a shit about me. Who did I have to help me out of this mess?
No one.
A snake slithered across the top of my foot and I jumped up, kicking my leg into the air to get the hideous thing off me. Somewhere from the dark, Leviathan laughed.
“Enjoy my girls,” he taunted a moment before I heard a door open and close again.
The torch lighting the exterior of my cell cast a lot of shadows on the ground and all of a sudden I swear I saw several snakes slinking about around me. The hissing grew louder, their scaled bodies scraping against the stone with a grinding sound. I pressed myself into the corner again, standing on my tip toes. One of the snakes, a black one the size of a boa constrictor, lifted its head and stalked toward me. It’s green eyes almost glowed in the darkness and I swear they projected a bit of light on their own. A second snake appeared on my left. Posturing the same way, this one had red eyes that reminded me of my own. Both snakes moved slowly, taunting me with their presence and seemingly enjoying the fear they produced. I slid my hands along the walls behind me. If I could just find a rock or a piece of something to use as a weapon…
One of the snakes morphed into a woman.
Beautiful and tall, her dark skin shimmered in the light and her green eyes stayed slit like the snake she’d been a few seconds ago. Tilting her head to the side, she looked at my legs. “You must be cold.”
“I’m fine,” I said, pressing my back into the wall some more.
The other snake looked up at us and the woman smiled down at it. “I think she’s lying,” she whispered. If she expected an answer, she didn’t get one, but a moment later, her naked and ice-cold body brushed up against mine. “You smell of lust.”
I wrenched my head to the side to avoid her face. “Get away!”
Her fingers gently caressed my cheek. “No.” She took one step back…and quickly shifted into Ashby. The other snake slid over to her and turned into my sister as well.
There were groups of demons that could shapeshift at will, but that power was usually given to the more powerful ones. Leviathan was known to have the ability to become any type of serpent he wanted, and I guessed he’d created these two to remind us all about that little talent of his.
The naked Ashby’s stared at me, swaying back and forth and twirling their fingers through their long, blonde hair. They had copied her almost exactly. From the freckles to the makeup, they could have passed for my sister on the street. But one detail was missing.
“You forgot the scar.”
“Oh, you mean this one?” the red-eyed Ashby said. Turning to the side, she brushed her hand along her left rib and a raised line appeared underneath her fingertips.
Absentmindedly, I touched my right side in the same place I had my own scar. Made from one, Mammon had split us in two the day she decided she wanted a pair of twins in her arsenal.
“Look, I think she’s sad,” hissed the first Ashby.
“Are you sad?” mocked the other one. They stepped closer to me in unison.
“Stay back!” I shouted.
The twins looked at each other and laughed. And then they turned their glare on me and hissed. Fangs protruded from their mouths as their eyes glowed and their image shimmered. It was like the stuff of nightmares…only this time, I knew they were real and I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what they were going to do next.
Something brushed across the top of my head and I ducked, swinging my arms around like I was swatting at a bee. Turning my back toward the twins, I whipped around to see what thing had just touched me. I didn’t notice it at first, but I heard the sound. Hissing and scratching and scraping. Somewhere within the rock wall, creatures were stirring.
The first snake stuck its head out right above the place I’d been standing. It fell to the ground with a plopping sound and started slithering my way. Three more fell from the ceiling followed by another ten or so in the rest of the wall. The twins grabbed the back of my arms and I screamed. Dragging me like I weighed nothing at all, they slammed me up against the iron bars and held me there. The first Ashby wrapped her unusually strong fingers around my ankles and spread them out to the side. Saying something in an old language, she called over several snakes. They weaved their way around my ankles, locking me to the bars like a scaly, rough cable. The second Ashby repeated the same process with my wrists. Tied to the cell and displayed like a sacrifice, I hated the way fear had taken over my body. My heart pounded, my breathing was shallow, and it was hard for me not to show it on my face.
“Scared yet?” the first Ashby murmured.
I shook my head. The snakes tying me up squeezed a little harder. “What are you going to do?”
The fake Ashby’s laughed and ran their hands down their body. “You betrayed our master.”
“You must pay in pain.”
Pain? Great. I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. I had a high tolerance for pain, so I could get through this little torture session.
I could do this.
Right?
The twins attacked me at once. They focused on my stomach at first, punching it hard enough the bile rose to the back of my throat. I couldn’t hunch over and protect myself, so I had no choice but to endure. It hurt like hell, especially when one of them hit my diaphragm with an impressive upper cut. A sharp, pulsating pain radiating through my core. I couldn’t breathe right for several minutes, even as the evil twins kept assaulting me. It was almost a welcomed change when they turned their attention to my face. Over and over the took turns punching, scratching, and even biting. I bled. I might have lost a tooth. I knew I had a broken cheekbone.
I would heal from all of this, but it would take some time. And the twins made sure that every inch of my body had been beaten, cut, or scratched by the time I saw the blackness closing in around me. The first Ashby nailed me in the jaw, snapping my head around until the other side of my face slammed into the bars. The cold metal felt good against my battered skin, but the relief didn’t last long.
The silver knife caught my attention.
When the twins saw me recognize it, they smirked. “Ready for round two?” the first one asked.
Spitting blood on the floor, I did my best to hold my head high. “Fuck you.”
They flashed their fangs at me a second before the knife plunged into my stomach. Unable to hold my screams in, I let out a cry so loud and long it used the last of my energy. And as the twins kept slicing off little bits of me, I closed my eyes and wished for them to end it.