Lamar is standing behind Manella, who is sitting in a throne three down from Lucifer. I start to go to him, when a redhead steals my breath as she lands herself right in front of us.
The guys don’t react, but I take an immediate step closer, watching her carefully. She smirks as she runs a finger up Kai’s chest, and his fists ball at his sides.
“You four seem to owe me a favor after what I did for you, don’t you think?” she asks in a voice so seductive that I expect them to shuck their clothes immediately.
Fortunately, they don’t.
“Wait. Is she talking about me?” I ask, looking at them as she slides her finger over to Gage’s chest.
He looks really tense right now, and his jaw clenches.
“How do you plan to work that off?” she asks, her finger now moving on to Ezekiel’s chest.
“Considering you left me for dead,” Kai says, drawing her attention, “I don’t feel very indebted,” he answers her.
Oh, that favor.
Her finger pauses on Jude’s chest, and she strolls back through, dragging her finger over them again as she makes her way down the line to Kai.
I take another step closer.
Her hand slides down his chest, pausing just above his belt as she steps into him. “If I had wanted you dead, I would have let you fall all the way into the hellfire before I saved you,” she says with a little too much pep.
When her hand starts moving lower, I can’t help but stare at it like it’s the most offensive thing I’ve ever seen.
“So I’ll ask again; what do you plan to do for me?”
Just as her fingers start to dip behind his beltline, my anger might boil over a little overly so. In fact, I feel something leak out of me without permission—power, not anything gross. Just power.
She rips her hand back, shaking it out as it sizzles. An actual hiss leaves her mouth as she glares at Kai like he’s the one who did it.
He just smirks.
“I’ll remember that,” she growls, then stiffens as though something just occurred to her. “How did you even do that?” she asks more seriously, her sexy voice gone as a commanding echo chases her words.
“I actually did nothing. I think someone is toying with you, Lilith,” Kai tells her, gesturing toward where Lucifer is staring at us.
“Turning the devil’s daughter against the devil is so not a sound plan,” I grumble.
Her eyes turn to slits as she glares at Lucifer for a moment, then turns and stalks away. Now that I’ve noticed him staring, his hands steepled in front of his face like he just witnessed all that, I really don’t feel too smug.
I feel played.
I almost feel like this party was called to test me. Or maybe it’s to test them and I’m just being paranoid.
Cain distracts him when he leans down to say something in his ear. Lucifer nods, a new smile donning his lips as he stands.
Someone taps a glass over and over, and all eyes drift up to hell’s king as he stands on his platform in front of his obnoxious throne.
“I’ve assembled you all here tonight for a very important reason. The trials lately have gotten a little complicated due to outside interference. Clearly we have to clean house, but before we can do all that, the trials must continue.”
He takes a step down, and the crowd parts for him as he starts walking.
I lose sight of him, but I can still hear his voice as it draws closer.
“So, in an effort to keep details from leaking out before I was ready for them to be leaked, we’ve decided to change the date of the trials.” The crowd parts in front of us, and Lucifer stops walking as he stares directly at us with a smirk on his lips.
“Tonight,” he goes on, still staring, “we have the final trial!”
There goes the boom we’ve been dreading.
Their jaws tense as they part, making room for the devil to pass between them. Lucifer grins like he’s delighted to have sprang this on them.
“And since I designed the final course this year, you can be sure it’s going to be a very epic event,” he says, walking away from us as the crowd continues to clear a path and start following behind him like really bad sheep.
We follow too, and my hand passes through Ezekiel’s shirt like I’m trying to draw some calm from him to keep from wolfing out. Or girling out. Or fleshing out?
Anyway, I’m losing a little control right now.
“This year, instead of one day in the course, it will be three,” Lucifer goes on as he steps onto a platform.
The crowd erupts into hushed whispers and surprised gasps. This sounds really bad.
“Three days?” Kai hisses.
“This is a test designed specifically for us,” Gage states quietly. “Look at the other competitors.”
My eyes flit around as I start noticing the other competitors losing their suits, and attaching weapons onto their bodies.
“The invitation said black tie and no weapons. It didn’t say bring a change of clothes and a secret stash of killing devices,” I feel the need to point out.
“He wants to see what we can do,” Ezekiel says as his jaw grinds.
The devil steps high on the platform, and his grin only grows as the wall behind him starts to slide open. The thing about this mansion? I’ve never once seen a window.
I’m guessing the view must suck.
A glowing red light starts creeping in more and more as the wall continues to slide open.
“This year’s course will take place in the belly of the beast,” Lucifer goes on. “Hell’s stomach.”
More hushed whispers and some audible sounds of excitement comes from the restless crowd. I really don’t know if I want to do something that excites this bloodthirsty gathering.
“I’m guessing they’re not talking about giving hell indigestion with all of us in its stomach,” I state wryly.
Ezekiel steps closer to me, and I continue to try to draw a modicum of calm from him.
“Hell’s stomach is literally the place where the throat sends the most vile monsters that are too vicious for purgatory. It’s never been used as a location for the trials because it’s the hardest spot to survive. In fact, I haven’t ever heard of any survivors,” Ezekiel says quietly.
My eyes flick back to Lucifer as the wall opens the entire way.
“We were so busy accusing Manella that we never thought to suspect the devil,” I say quietly.
Gage bristles beside me, as does Ezekiel on my other side. Jude glances at me like he wants to agree, but has too much pride to take my side on anything.
“And we bought into everything he was saying,” Kai goes on.
“Number one rule in hell: Never trust anyone you’re not bonded to,” Jude states flatly.
All the competitors are allowed to pass through, and I follow the guys to the edge, looking over to see an endless wasteland of savage creatures racing around far below.
Lava runs far and wide, and now Lilith isn’t going to gift/curse us across it. Hellfire sprays up much like it did in hell’s throat, but it actually looks like acid reflux that would be in the actual stomach—I assume. You know, if the stomach had lava and monsters and stuff.