“And my Guide to me: “He will not wake again until the angel trumpet sounds the day on which the host shall come to judge all men.”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno
“So, how was the conversation with Prince Charming? Did he get your mojo going?” Zach asked, when I left Rodriquez’s office a bit later on. I stopped abruptly around the corner, sensing his rippling excitement nearby. I suspected that he was going to wait for me somewhere by the exit. I turned around, shutting down the tap of my stupid libido. Yes, he was still intimidating enough to make me lose my usual control, to make me think about stuff that didn’t matter.
“Like you would want to know.” I laughed nervously. “Have you seen Ronan?”
His cologne was strong, waking up desire that I’d buried deep inside me for a good two months. I hated to admit that I liked his cocky attitude and the fact that he still wanted to ravage me, so I couldn’t remember my own name. Sad, but true.
“He asked me to tell you that he had to be somewhere. I don’t know, maybe he has another pressing meeting,” Zach explained, as we were walking towards the exit. “You’re flustered, Maxine. Did Prince Charming steal a kiss from you, after he ditched the fiancée?”
I turned around, my hand was itching to slap him hard. Working together after our steamy date was going to be a challenge. Zach had no idea why I was forced to take on this case, and I couldn’t tell him about the letter.
“There is nothing going on between me and Arthur,” I said through gritted teeth. “And now we are stuck on this case together, so you better tell me what you have or I’ll stop being nice. Let’s not forget that you’re the one with a soft spot for me, Detective.”
He laughed, getting ahead of me, so I was forced to stop walking away from him.
“Flower, don’t try to turn this around. We had a shot and you ran away. The prince is still in your mind. And now he’s finally free, so you have a chance to jump back to his bones,” Zach said, sounding completely serious and angry for some reason. I needed a strong drink, maybe not my usual tequila mix. Magic and alcohol was a bad combination right at this moment.
I rolled my eyes, wondering what the hell his problem was. I never promised him anything. We went out for one date, and I panicked. He didn’t need to be so bitter about it.
“I’m done talking to you, Zach. Call me when you’re ready to discuss Nameless Thief,” I snapped, pushed him away and turned around the corner, hoping he wouldn’t follow me.
Oh boy, I was so wrong. That guy was stubborn and very determined to push my hot buttons. Moments later he twisted my arm, wrapped himself over my body, and then shoved me against the wall. The last time he surprised me like that was outside the pub when we ended up fighting. That night I ended up beating him in a poker game and winning a bet.
When I opened my eyes, his mouth was inches away from mine, and I felt his erection pressed over my thigh. The world around me started spinning, and my old insecurities were back, zooming in front of my eyes. Everything had been going so well when we went out on a date two months ago. He’d kissed me in the car and left me drenched, enhanced with arousal and completely ready to take the next step. Then we had dinner, and when we got to his house I decided to run. It was the most pathetic thing that I’d ever done in my entire life, and now I was ready to do it again.
“Flower, you’re so hot when you’re irritated. My proposition stands. Let me have my way with you,” he said, barely touching my lips, caressing them slightly. I sucked in a breath, feeling a fresh wave of desire brush over my hardened nipples. First Arthur, now bloody Zach. What was going on with these men?
“Get off me. This isn’t a game anymore. We have a guy to catch,” I said, sensing his arousal and the craving at the back of my throat. Maybe tequila was a bad idea, but at least I didn’t have to deal with my tormented feelings while drunk.
“Oh baby, it’s game on, because now it’s a real race. I’m going to beat Prince bloody Charming and have my way with you first,” he whispered and then kissed me. I wasn’t expecting him to do that, especially not in the palace, out in the royal corridors. Once his lips touched mine, I lost my ability to say no. He pressed himself against me harder, intensifying the kiss, as his hand traveled down to my butt cheek. I was ready to enjoy this moment for as long as it was humanly possible, but the tiny voice in my head told me that I was making a mistake. His lips felt as perfect as they looked, firm and wet.
In that short moment of distraction my hands travelled down to the front of his crotch. He was so ready to take me home, but I wanted to teach him a little lesson. I grabbed his hard erection and, using my inhuman strength, I flipped him over a hundred eighty degrees. His body slammed on the floor, but then I lost my balance—and my dignity—and landed on top of him.
This probably looked absolutely comical to anyone who was standing in the corridor, but I didn’t have time to play around. I grabbed the knife that I hid at my shin and pressed it over his throat. He was still hard, maybe a little surprised by this sudden hostile movement, but his eyes were filled with scorching lust.
“I’m done messing around. We’re on this case together, so stop screwing around or I swear to god I’ll kill you,” I snarled, feeling damn moist in certain departments myself. I was only bluffing. I wasn’t planning to kill him. After all, I needed him.
A moment later, we both heard steps in the corridor and soon Rodriguez and a couple of guards were standing in front of us. Yeah, we must have looked really weird, with me on top, pressing a knife to Zach’s neck, but I no longer cared what people thought about me. I thought that two months of not seeing him could cure me, but it seemed his domineering personality fit in perfectly with my own stubbornness.
“All right, kitty cat, I get it. You and Prince Charming are taking things slow. I promise on scout’s honour that I’ll stop talking about him, if you sleep with me instead,” he joked. Rodriguez’s energy was moving through me, and I didn’t want him to know that my body temperature was reaching the boiling point. He needed to stop trying to read me, the old nosy bastard.
I slid the knife back where it belonged and then punched Zach hard, like I really meant it.
“That’s for winding me up,” I muttered, getting off him. The poor bastard was bleeding already, touching his nose, but that wiped the annoying smirk off his face once and for all. I was back on my feet in no time. Everything was suddenly clear. I needed to track the Nameless Thief with Zach’s help or without.
“Miss Brodeur, can I have a word?” Rodriguez asked, blocking my way out. I was done talking at this point, but as a head of Lucifer’s faction he had certain advantages over me.
“I’m sure Detective Quinton can fill you in on everything that’s happened in the past hour in here. I have somewhere that I need to be,” I said, not waiting for him to stop me. It was a really dumb thing to do, just walking away like that, but I couldn’t stay in the palace any longer.
My past mistakes were now biting me back, and nothing was going the way I thought it would. I used one particular exit out of the palace that no one knew about, leaving Zach and Rodriguez behind. It was easier to avoid paps, as they most likely were ready to ask anyone to comment about the situation in the palace. Arthur’s failed engagement must have surprised a lot of people and anyone that was leaving the palace on foot would get dragged out in front of the camera.
It was still light when I stepped on the roads of central London. I saw cameras, vans filled with all the gadgets, and at least fifty reporters that were rumbling outside the gate, trying to snap useless pictures. Arthur had chosen the worst time to end things with Natalie. He could have waited or reconsidered. Either way I was screwed, because he was willing to fight for me.
The ride in the tube was atrocious. My head throbbed with pain, and I had trouble blocking the human emotions out. I was already planning to pop in to certain places in the city, to chat with individuals that must have at least heard about Nameless Thief. That was my priority, but first I had to get home, have a shower, and fuel my stomach with some food.
When I reached my street I had to stop short, as my car park was suddenly filled with reporters, white vans with graphics from most TV stations in the city. I rubbed my face, deep down hoping that maybe something happened and these media weren’t here because of me. I was no one, but as soon as I cleared my mind, their burning thoughts hit me like an unexpected allergic reaction in the summer.
They were here for me. Someone must have leaked my name out; there wasn’t any other explanation.
After all, I used to have a significant position in the palace. They wanted to know if I would be willing to make a comment on recent events.
I automatically thought about Alexis. The bitch held a grudge against me. Her demonic soul was dying and she had nothing to lose. Maybe it was time to reach out to a few Watchers and find out what happened to her. Her death would had been a relief, but life was never that simple.
I stayed out on the street, contemplating what to do. The hyenas weren’t going to leave unless they got what they wanted. God, this day was going from bad to worse with each passing hour.
“Funny how things turn out—one day you’re on the top and the next at very bottom,” said someone standing in the entrance to the building, right opposite me. I stumbled on my feet, nearly falling down, shocked that I hadn’t sensed him. There was something really wrong with me. My abilities yet again let me down.
“Are you talking to me?” I asked, knowing that the man in front of me was a demon, part of Berith’s faction. He was short, stocky, overweight and pretty much ordinary, although his demonic soul was filled with dazzling power. Part of it was twisted, the other murky. I found him hard to read.
“The prince posted a statement on social media. Apparently he is in love with someone else,” the stranger said, smoothing a very nice-looking walking stick. It was polished wood, with a gold top, beaming with powerful energy, a magical object that I had never seen before.
The coldness that settled inside me quickly shifted into panic. No, Arthur wouldn’t have been that stupid; he wouldn’t risk telling the world that there was another woman in his life besides Natalie.
I opened my mouth to tell him that he was wrong, when he dragged a mobile phone out of his pocket and approached me. For a long bizarre moment I was staring at his ordinary face, amazed that a demon looked exactly like a human. Wrinkles, patches of grey hair, deep lines in his cheek. He was just an old man, holding a very powerful source of energy. He lifted the screen and showed it to me. There was a statement from the prince. He clearly stated that he needed space to figure out his next move. He talked about this other woman that he was in love with, the woman that wasn’t ready to commit.
My throat was suddenly dry, and dread crawled over my back as I looked up at the stranger. This whole thing was a joke, a bad nightmare.
“I know that paps are here for me,” I said, pissed off with Arthur. He obviously had his new agenda in mind. “It’s not news.”
“Yes, someone leaked your name to the press. Someone who wishes that you were dead.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but then changed my mind. It occurred to me that the stranger was most likely working for Berith himself. And now I had the opportunity to ask him about the pits, about what happened to Alexis. It was one chance in a million, but my intuition told me that he was very highly situated in hell, that he might possess information that I needed.
“Right, about that,” I began. “There was a female demon that had fallen down into the pits around two months ago. She was red-haired, and she called herself Alexis. I have a feeling that you might know what happened to her? I just want to make sure that she is dead?”
The stranger looked at me with a creepy smile, and a cold shiver moved over my spine.
“I was sent here to give you a message, not to talk about Berith’s business,” the demon said, putting his smart phone in his pocket. Okay, so he wasn’t willing to tell me anything about that bitch. I wasn’t surprised. Berith’s faction was always very secretive.
“A message? From who?” I asked.
“That doesn’t matter, Maxine. I was sent here to tell you that you should look into the death of your mother. That should shed more light into the part of your soul that you’ve still yet to understand,” he said, tapping the walking stick over the pavement. Sparks began to rattle from it and I stared, fascinated, feeling more and more confused.
“A message?” I repeated. “Someone wants me to look into the death of my mother?” I repeated, knowing that she died of cancer, and it was a very human disease. I knew for a fact that her time simply came and she was taken away from me.
“That was the message that I mean to deliver,” he added, like he was ready to leave, but then he stopped and turned to face me again. “That female demon is no longer in the pits. She made a deal with other demons and escaped. Berith himself punished those who allowed it. They all lost their heads. Be well, Maxine Brodeur.”
A second later there was a loud bang, and some demonic source of power was thrown over the street. I landed on my arse painfully, seeing stars in front of my eyes. Great, so I was going to be achy tomorrow.
The pain that slid over my back was quickly replaced by shock and trepidation. Alexis had managed to escape from the pits. She was alive and well, ready to turn my life upside down again. Or end it. I had no doubt that she was the person that leaked my name to the press.
When I looked up, the stranger was gone, and in the spot where he stood there was a yellow powder. I heard voices: humans were asking each other if anyone heard the strange noise. It was time for me to get out of here.
I got up reluctantly, massaging my backside and thinking that I had to be ready when Alexis decided to strike back. She was dying and that made her even more dangerous.