Lifting my gaze, I answered her straight. “If you’re going to try to stop me.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
She was so serious, but I couldn’t find it in myself not to answer like the smartass I was. “Because you’ll cease to exist?”
Looking away, she began putting the pages in her lap in order. “I was never supposed to exist. I was created as a part of a demon’s game, a way of taking claim of someone who didn’t want her. Dad hates her, you know? Even though he loves me, and he answers to her for it, he knows what he’s condemned me to. I’ve seen the impact it’s caused. He’s slowly watching me vanish before his eyes, becoming something he’ll eventually love but hate, while attached to a bitch he detests, and there isn’t anything he can do about it.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So you want me to do something about it in his place?”
“I know about mortal history,” she said. “I’ve researched it, studied it and know it like the back of my hand. The place that exists now is a shell of what it was supposed to be. A place corrupted by demons, overtaken by them. Soon, there won’t be much of a world left. You’ve seen how it is, and believe me, it’s only going to get worse. Right now other half-demons are taking control of all the major cities across the world. When they do, they’ll summon and conjure their full-blooded brethren to take their place. Life for those with souls will become a virtual Hell on earth, with no other option but to fall from grace in order to survive. God might have won the first round, but he won’t survive the second. Armageddon is, as we speak, at hand.”
“From the looks of it, it’s already arrived.”
She made a sound that was a mixture of a snort and a laugh. “You’re probably right.” Taking a deep sigh, she settled her hands on her knees. “So, when do you plan to do the summoning? I’m assuming that’s your plan?”
Tempting as it was, I didn’t ask her how about now? “The sooner the better. I’m running out of time.”
She frowned, pensive and thoughtful. “You’re not going to get the opportunity to do anything if Victoria finds out about what you’ve done. That means we’re going to have to improvise.”
Relief, profound and immense, coursed through me. “Does that mean you’re going to help?”
She nodded, looked me in the eye, and said, “Yes, I’m going to help you. But a little bit of pain is going to be involved. We can’t have you returning empty handed without an excuse.”
Before I could question exactly what she meant, Bells moved to her knees and brought her fist back. She decked me in the face with enough force to plant me flat on my back and knock the wind from my sails. Before I could brace myself, she gave me another harsh rap to the chin.
Chapter Fifteen
“She attacked you?” Victoria circled me like a shark, eyes those of a predator. “You fought the mongrels in the club easily enough. How did she gain the upper hand?”
Pressing the wadded handkerchief Goose had provided to my bloodied and battered nose, I muttered, “She waited until my back was turned and got the drop on me.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No, I don’t.” I sighed and tried to relax in the extremely uncomfortable chair I’d been placed in. “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t experienced being shit kicked firsthand. You said she was an animal. I should have listened.”
Paine watched our interaction from behind his desk, unmoving, studying me. Next to him was Goose and Bells, both equally quiet. Victoria’s guards were, as always, at her back.
Victoria turned from me, glancing at Bells. “Any word from Mardock?”
Bells stepped forward, shaking her head. “She was long gone by the time I entered the apartment.”