“You can’t punch the devil in hell. Get him topside. I heard he can die there,” I tell him, patting his back now.
The tingles make me want to turn whole, so I withdraw my hand. My job is done anyway, because Kai’s unclenched his fist, and a smirk toys with the edges of his lips.
“Good luck in the trials, in case I don’t see you before then. And enjoy the party,” he says, gesturing around, his smile growing as he starts backing up. “Hell is known for its parties.”
Two girls immediately join him, one for each arm, and he grins as he turns and walks away. Several really stunning women walk by in their lingerie or just completely naked.
I’m not really sure why I’m just now noticing this.
“So help me, after how you jerks treated me over Neal last night, if any of you try to have sex with some really hot hell girl, I will let you die,” I decide to point out. “I might even push you into a giant centipede’s mouth to see if you turn into one after transition.”
Kai shakes with silent laughter, but he ends up voicing a groan.
“Why did we use our powers?” he asks.
“It felt like I had to. I was just going to punch them,” Jude bites out.
“I was going to slam them into each other and knock them out. Instead, I killed them,” Kai tells him, clapping his shoulder.
“So we can thank you two uncontrollable hotheads for the unwanted exposure,” Ezekiel growls.
“How were we supposed to know the guards are that resilient? There was very little information on them available to us,” Kai points out.
“I’m assuming you don’t want them knowing about your power because it’s too strong to be topside? Like the devil hinted at?” I ask.
They give me a wary look.
“The devil already knows. I highly doubt I’m more of a threat to you than him even if I am out to get you,” I say on an exasperated breath.
“It’s not that,” Ezekiel says, looking around us, reminding me we’re not exactly draped in privacy.
They start smoothly moving through the party, and they make their way into a bathroom. Ezekiel checks it, and I hop up on the counter as he proceeds to investigate every stall.
He closes his eyes like he’s concentrating, and then his eyes open as Kai locks the door.
“Nothing in here to listen in,” Ezekiel says.
Gage turns his attention to me. “Partially. We sure as shit don’t want to live here full time. It’d get old. And though the parties are lavish and much more fun than the clubs, things are twice as lethal down here than up there. The ones strong enough to kill us are given limited amounts of time when they can be topside unless in mortal form.”
“Mortal form?” I ask.
“They can be born into the world as a mortal if they’re important enough or blessed by a royal, and they live until they die, then they bypass transition and return to their form that has been preserved in hell,” Kai explains.
“Awesome,” I state dryly.
“They’re not as powerful in mortal form, but it doesn’t really matter. They can’t legitimately die, so they live a fast-paced, rock star sort of existence until they get sent back to hell,” Ezekiel tells me.
“I think we’re telling her a little much now. Half of this stuff is among the things we learned from Harold just last year,” Jude growls.
They ignore him, much to my surprise.
“If we’re topside, we’re among the most powerful there on a full-time basis. Better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond when it’s a game of life and death,” Gage continues.
“But we’re getting stronger, and we have no idea what we’re doing some of the time,” Kai says quieter.
“Now you’re definitely telling her too much,” Jude snaps, looking at them like they’ve all gone mad. “Just tell her the part she needs to know and stop sharing the details we never agreed to discuss.”
“Why are you getting stronger?” I ask, even though I think I already know.
“It seems to happen every time you ‘level up,’” Ezekiel says, his jaw tightening a little as I take a step away from him.
“That’s why you didn’t want me gone,” I say more to myself than them, looking down at the sink. “That’s why you closed the books when I tried to read them, and why you got jealous about Neal, and—”
“Neal had nothing to do with the equation. That was uncontrollable blind-rage jealousy,” Ezekiel interrupts, shrugging unapologetically when I look over at him.
“You never really wanted me there. You just wanted the power boost.”
They look at me like they expect me to cry, when all I really want to do is just walk out. Swallowing my pride, since I don’t have a hell of a lot left, I just nod.
“Alright then. So how big of a boost did you get after I reached this last level?”
“Haven’t tried it out yet,” Kai tells me. “We’ve been recovering from our stint in Hell’s throat and trying to conserve all our energy for the trials. It drains us to use too much, and the soul stones drained us in general.”
Jude throws his hands up and walks out, slamming the bathroom door behind him.
“I’m not hearing anything so top secret right now. What’s his problem?” I ask. “I’m the one who should be walking out and slamming a door. The four of you know how much I care about you, no matter how hard you deny it, and you act like it’s no big deal you’ve been using me.”
Yeah, that last part comes out bitter.
“First rule of hell: Don’t trust anyone you don’t share a bond with,” Kai says with a sardonic smile. “Yet, as you already pointed out, the devil is already onto us. However, Jude still doesn’t want you equipped with the same knowledge we have or admitting our weakness about not knowing our true powers or reach.”
“I find it worth pointing out that Jude is the only one who hasn’t tasted her,” Gage states dryly. “And he’s the only one still keeping secrets.”
He cuts an accusatory gaze at me.
Ignoring him, I turn toward Ezekiel. “What do I have to do with any of this? What’s my connection to the four of you?”
His lips purse. “We don’t know,” he answers honestly. “It could be a cosmic perfect storm of some sort, and you could have used us an anchor to…fuck, I don’t even know at this point.”
“We need to get back out there before someone takes notice of our absence and gets too curious,” Gage says, exiting.
Kai turns and follows, and Ezekiel exits with me. I even suppress a taunting grin when he opens the door for me.
He mutters a curse under his breath when he realizes what he just did, and he walks off a little briskly.
Prickly they may be, but right now, they’re mine to protect. Nothing else matters when their lives are at risk.
Chapter 26
The party has been going for a while, and we’re still waiting on the devil to lower the boom and tell us why we’re all here.
Lucifer has been on his throne for the past hour, and occasionally his eyes land on the guys.