Hell To Pay

Hell To Pay

“What do you mean I’m banished from hell?” Lucian Tievel barely had time to conjure clothing before his best friend, the demon Sorath, ordered him away from his bed … and his four naked demonic bedmates who appeared as confused by all this as he was.
“I’m sorry, Luke. Your father has ordered us to escort you out.”
“Of hell,” Luke repeated just to make sure he understood what was happening. He was being banished from the only home he’d ever known … it made no sense whatsoever. Who the fuck gets banished from hell?
Aghast, he stared at Sorath. “I’m my father’s favorite.”
Everyone knew that. Lucifer bragged about it all the time much to the dismay of every demon in this domain. In fact, his father loved to hold that over the heads of the rest of his children and demons.
“Favorite or not, Lucifer has ordered you gone.”
He stared at Sorath, a prince in his own right, and the leader of his father’s greatest legion, and the ten demons Sorath had brought with him for this dubious task. Like Lucifer, Sorath was so beautiful he was hard to look at. He had dark skin and black wings that matched his soulless eyes and long, braided hair. Aside from Luke, he was the creature Lucifer trusted most with tasks such as throwing his beloved son out of his realm.
“Any idea why?”
Sorath arched a brow that basically questioned Luke’s sanity for asking such a question. “Do you think for one heartbeat I dared to ask him?”
“Since your wings haven’t been ripped from your back, I’d say no.”
It still didn’t make sense. No one had ever been banished from hell. Not in all these centuries. How could this happen?
Granted he lived to irritate his father. Mother, too, for that matter. And Lucifer had made the threat more than once to toss him out on his ass.
Still, Luke had never once believed his father was serious.
Just pissed off. Which, as Lucifer, was his normal state of being.
“Does my sister know?” Luke didn’t give him time to answer. “Shaddix!”
She appeared instantly in his room, then drew up short as she saw Sorath and the number of demons with him. Exceptionally tall for a she-demon, she was impractically beautiful. The kind of beauty that left people staring at her, wondering how her overlarge features came together so that she was attractive. And yet she was. Long black hair framed an unconventionally beautiful face.
And for once, she wasn’t spewing hatred toward him. “I just heard. What happened?”
“I was hoping you’d know.” While she wasn’t Lucifer’s favorite, she was his daughter and her mother had been one of the original fallen angels who’d been cast out of heaven along with his father. In hell’s pecking order, his sister ranked higher than he did, given that his mother was a hellhound.
But when it came to raw viciousness and brutality, he had no equal outside of their father.
Her brow furrowed by worry, she shook her head. “I’ve no idea. I know he’s threatened it a lot in the past when you’ve angered him, but I never thought he’d actually do it.”
For the first time in centuries, they agreed on something.
Luke growled low in his throat. The only reason he could imagine was that someone had seen him conversing with Remiel – the archangel of hope. Lucifer blamed Remiel for his fall from grace. Therefore hated that bastard with every ounce of venom he possessed …
And that was a lot.
Luke had been a forbidden friend of Remiel’s for centuries. Why? He had no real idea. Other than the angel was funny and they’d often met in the human world while Luke sought souls for his father.
Their friendship was the only thing he could imagine would cause his father to overreact. And it meant there was a tattletale in hell.
He glared at his sister. “Someone betrayed me. Find out who.”
Shaddix nodded while Sorath gave him a hard stare. “Does this mean you’re leaving on your own?”
In other words, Sorath wanted to know if Luke intended to fight him. Normally, he’d do so without hesitation and just on principle. But right now, he didn’t want to pummel his best friend.
He wanted to beat his father. Which would be nine kinds of stupid. Stupid he didn’t need or want. While he knew he could defeat Sorath, he didn’t stand a chance against Lucifer.
Grabbing his sword, he paused in front of Shaddix. “Find my betrayer.”
“I will and I’ll keep asking Father to forgive you.”
Forgiveness? From Lucifer?
Their tropical haven would ice over first. No, he would have to find his betrayer and cut off their head, but not before he beat them enough that they’d go before his father and tell Lucifer they’d lied.
The four demons in his bed began to weep. Without him here, they’d be relegated back to their pits.
Such a shame given their beauty and talents. He’d miss them.
But right now there was nothing he could do to spare them their pain.
With all the dignity in his rotted soul, he walked past Sorath, then out of his room and toward the portal that led to the human world.
The portal shimmered in the dim light. In the past, it’d been something he’d stepped through without a passing thought.
Today, this might be his last glimpse of home.
And that infuriated him to a dangerous level. He met Sorath’s gaze levelly. “Tell my father this isn’t over.”
Just as he was about to step through the shimmering portal, he heard a tiny voice.
“Lucian! Wait!”
He looked past Shaddix to see Helly rushing toward them. She wasn’t a demon. She was an imp … his servant since the day his mother had whelped him. Short in stature, she had was classically beautiful with perfect features, dark brown hair and an adorable pair of curved horns that rose out from just above her ears.
“I’m going with you, dominus. You don’t need to be out there alone.”
Leave it to Helly to be loyal. Either that or his mother had insisted. Senka would be absolutely livid over this. Not that Lucifer would care.
While his mother, Senka, alone, held a special spot in Lucifer’s dark heart, she didn’t control him. If she protested Luke’s banishment, Lucifer would double down on it and refuse any leniency.
Luke’s only hope was to find his accuser and make that bastard undo this.
“Thanks, imp.”
Shaddix opened the portal.
Sorath met his gaze and held it. I’ll find out who did this to you and together we’ll gut them.
Luke clapped him on the arm. “I will find out who did this and when I do, there will be hell to pay.”

Teaser

Luke nodded. “Thanks. That helps. I can mark them off the list.” He took the paper from Sorcha’s hand and used his finger to strike through the names as he’d already done with the vampires. Another impressive power. “Any other soul eaters in Japan?”

Yuichi considered it for a few seconds. “You mentioned the shinigami, but they don’t take souls. While they're attracted to places of violent death, they go there to possess someone ... usually someone evil so that they can cause more evil.” He smirked at Sorcha. “They are definitely something my mom used to scare me with as a kid and it's why she hates my job. She's terrified I might come in contact with one and cause it to stalk and kill me because I'm evil for not calling my mother more often.”

She could relate. “My mom loved the boogeyman. That and the invisible snakes under my bed she swore would sting me if I left it after bedtime. ‘Course that ended after I peed in my bed because I was too afraid to go to the bathroom. Wish I’d done that sooner.”

They laughed.

She looked at Luke. “What did your mom scare you with?”

He shrugged. “That she’d tear my throat out and eat my heart if I disobeyed her.”

Not what she was expecting. “You’re not serious?”

“Hellhound. They do that to misbehaving pups. Why would I doubt her? Not to mention, she could always tell me she’d let the devil have me ... and in my childhood that really meant something.”

“Well ...” Yuichi cleared his throat. “I’ll never complain about my mom threatening me with yokai again. I’d much rather have those fears than yours.” He looked back at Luke. “Anything else I can help with?”

“That’s it. Thanks for narrowing the list.”

“Anytime. If I think of something else, I’ll let you know.” Yuichi left them alone.

Sorcha took the list back from Luke and looked at what was left. Revenants, Wendigo, Draugr, Daimons, Lamia, Bubak, Ankou, Cat-sith, and Raven Mocker.

Her gaze lingered on the first one he’d marked through. “Are vampires really a thing?”

He arched a brow at her question. “You lived in New Orleans and you don’t know?”

“Never saw one ... other than cosplayers and those who identified as vampires.”

“Then be grateful. Daimons and vampires love to steal souls. Though it’s more a Daimon thing than a vampire one, and the body was dumped in daylight. Back in the day, that would preclude Daimons ... now, maybe not. But it definitely takes vampires off the list. They hate the daytime almost as much as I do.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and texted someone.

“Law enforcement?” she asked.

He shook his had then rocked his head side to side as if reconsidering the no. “I guess he could be considered law enforcement, just not for humans.”

“Like us, then?”

“No. Dark-Hunter.”