I gasped. “What?”
“You left your blood on the imp. You shouldn’t be so careless. In the future, I would advise against it.”
“That’s impossible,” Rourke interjected for the first time. “I don’t know a lot about your race, but I know words have power to you guys. She has to agree, verbally, to what you are saying. You can’t sweep her off to the Underworld without verbal consent. A deal has to be brokered between the two of you.”
“Not correct.” It waved its finger at us, looking like a possessed anchorman with its snakelike eyes. It was a creature with very little humanness. This demon couldn’t possibly function in our world without being noticed even though it was doing its best to glamour itself into what it thought was a proper human form. “When crimes are committed, the magic shifts. Our world has branded her a criminal. We have her blood and her full name. That is enough to place her in our Book. Once it is written there, her future is sealed.”
I had to think fast. I wasn’t a criminal and power was power. If this Demon Lord wanted to take me, and what it was saying was true, it could’ve already taking me. Why hadn’t it just whooshed me away? Why is it sitting here debating me? Something is up. I cleared my throat. “If I’m in your powerful Book, why didn’t I just instantly materialize to your plane?” I paused. “It’s because my court date isn’t today. Right? And you can’t take me against my will ahead of time unless I agree to go with you,” I said. “The only way you can is if you manage to trick me into agreeing, which is what demons live for.”
Its fa?ade glimmered for a second. Behind the human mask was more ugliness. Sharp, bony features shadowed by an exaggerated brow. I was pissing it off.
It energized me. “I’m right! You can’t, can you?” I shot at it. “You were allowed to cross over to get Selene and nothing more. Finding me still here was a bonus, and now you’re trying to trick me into believing I will die if I don’t go to your court. Well, it’s not going happen. Even though I’m a new, I wasn’t born without a brain.”
Its eyes flicked. Did it just blink a clear eyelid? “I will see that you pay for your indiscretions here today. If you had come with me of your own volition, things might have been easier for you.” Its perfectly white teeth snapped tightly. “I will personally see that you suffer.” Its mouth opened again, and instead of glamoured white, there was a row of sharp yellowed stubs. The Demon Lord was losing it fast. “You have earned an eternity of pain and agony, the likes of which you have never witnessed.”
“That sounds lovely,” I replied. “But for right now, I need to recover from a hard day killing a goddess. So why don’t you run along. And don’t forget to take her with you. I’m sure the two of you can swap plans about my imminent demise over noon tea, but honestly, I’m not interested in hearing about it anymore.”
The walls shook so hard, I thought the mountain was going to tumble down on top of our heads. Rocks and stones flew around the room as suffocating power shoved us all to our knees. The sulfur was so strong I wanted to rip my nose off my face so I could breathe again. I now knew why Rourke had used sulfur to cover our smell in the creek before. With the cloistering smell of rotten eggs in my nostrils, I couldn’t even begin to scent anything else. It burned all the way down my esophagus.
The demon’s voice boomed around the enclosed space, but we couldn’t see him anymore. “You will answer for your crimes, Jessica Ann McClain. I look forward to our reunion.”
“Um, can you give me a time frame for that?” I coughed, gagging on the putrescence. My wolf forced power into my vocal cords, trying to channel pure air into our lungs, and gold immediately wound through them like a protective netting. “I’d like to get it on the calendar. I’ve got a date with a Vampire Queen soon that I can’t miss, so it will have to be sometime after that.” A few days to them could mean months or years to us, if my limited understanding of the Underworld was correct. I’d bet money Aunt Tally knew the rules. I’d have to set up a meeting once we arrived home.
And the information wouldn’t come cheap.
“Sooner than you think” was all it said before a ring of power echoed in the room.
Then everything fell blessedly quiet. The sulfur smell started to diffuse and we could all breathe again.
“So that’s what a Demon Lord looks like up close? I thought they’d be taller.” Danny coughed as he stood up, his sheet hanging at a precarious angle. His hair was disheveled, but he looked great, because he was alive. We were all alive.