Cast In Blood: Revelations Series Book 1: (20 page)

"Are these the keys to my new place? I get furniture, too?" Lenny said excitedly as she looked at the keys in her hand.

"According to Lucy, you do. You work for Hell now, and there are perks that come with it. We can't have you sleeping on the floor. Now, pick out your furniture so we can get going. I really want to get home and soak in a nice hot tub of sulfur; it really takes the aches out of the bones."

L
enny plopped
down on the sofa in her brand new apartment before she remembered the pain in her tail end from being tossed across the floor at the church. She winced for a second, but soon settled in comfortably. She took a sip from her soda and shoved a few potato chips in her mouth, surveying her new home.

The taupe carpet perfectly complemented the chocolate brown furniture . The sofa and love seat were both accented with an assortment of pillows in several colors, each of them making the room look even better than the last. The artwork adorning the walls made Lenny feel sophisticated and posh. In short, she was in love with her new place.

Lucifer had really outdone herself.

"Are you going to share any of those chips?" Drew asked with a smile as she sat down on the other end of the sofa.

"That depends on how fast you can get to them." Lenny grinned, her teeth full of potato chip crumbs.

"Nice." Drew laughed and reached into the bag.

The two women jumped at the sound of a sharp knock on the door. Chuckling at her own skittishness, Lenny rose to see who was there. She opened the door and saw Lucifer standing in the doorway, holding a bottle of wine with Polly at her side.

"Hello, ladies." Lucifer walked into the living room. "I thought it polite to bring a gift."

"Hi." Lenny ushered the two in as Drew got up and took the wine before heading to the kitchen. "Please come in and have a seat."

Polly sat down on the loveseat as Lucifer took a seat in the large accent chair to her left.

"How are you adjusting to your new place?" Lucifer was obviously not very good at small talk, but she was trying.

"It is amazing," Lenny gushed. "I love it. The view is unbelievable, and the bathroom is bigger than any room I have ever seen."

"Well, that is one of the perks of being employed by Hell. Plus, we have a great 401K and dental."

"I hope it's okay with you, Lucy; I asked Drew to move in here with me. She lost her place and this apartment is so big…." She trailed off as Lucifer blotted a bead of sweat from her forehead.

Polly sat up straight, wondering what was wrong with her boss and friend, but said nothing.

"It is perfectly fine with me. This place is all yours for as long as you work for me. That actually brings me to the point of my visit."

Returning with a corkscrew and a tray of glasses, Drew poured each of them a glass of the rich red liquid and handed them out before settling in to her seat with a glass of her own.

"I want you to come to work for me as well, Drew. I was going to offer you the same deal as Lenny, your own place, a monthly stipend, and pay per job. Plus, of course, the dental and all of that. I trust that Lenny has told you all about our arrangement?"

"Yeah, she gave me the glossy version. So, this job would basically be doing the same kind of thing we just did in the church?"

"Hopefully there will be less getting your asses kicked," Polly interjected with a snarky grin. "Also, you'll get to work with me. So … bonus."

"Well, I will have to think about it." Drew took a sip of her wine. "All right, I'm in."

"Excellent." Lucifer smiled, her eyes looking brighter. "Where would you like your apartment to be located?"

"If it's all right with Lenny, I'd like to stay here."

Lenny nodded vigorously.

"That works for me. Your company cars are parked outside, by the way." Lucy dropped two sets of keys on the coffee table.

Lenny and Drew looked at each other before jumping off the couch and heading to the window to look down at the street.

"Are you kidding?" Lenny said in disbelief. "Those two cars belong to us?"

"Yes. You can fight amongst yourselves, or you can let me know if they don't suit you."

"Holy crap! I've always wanted a Mustang." Lenny jumped up and down with excitement.

"I think that I can live with a Fiat," Drew said, smiling from ear to ear.

"This job will not be all fun and games, however." Lucy leaned forward. "It will be dangerous, and it is more important than you can possibly imagine."

"We can do it," Lenny said, her confidence radiating.

"I want you all to know how important this really is. You know about the soul deficit. Souls are not making it to Hell or Heaven in the volume they should and it is causing some … difficulties."

"What kind of difficulties?" Drew asked, her interest piqued.

Lucifer stood up, running her fingers around the rim of her wine glass as she looked out the window.

"I am weakening by the day," she said grudgingly. "It is not easy for me to admit that, but you need to know."

"What do you mean by weakening?" Polly asked, leaning forward in her seat. "Not like Hades weakening, right?"

"I'm afraid if we don't get this soul issue under control, then it will mean I meet the same fate as Hades." She took a long drink of wine and turned back to the group.

"Lucy, why didn't you tell me?" Polly asked, looking wounded.

"Because one of my many sins is that of pride, my friend. I did not want to admit it, not even to myself."

"We won't let you down, Lucy," Lenny interjected. "We'll find out who is stealing the souls and get them back where they belong."

"Yes, we will," Drew chimed in.

"Good." Lucifer finished her wine and put her glass on the table. "So, it's settled. You three are a team."

"Just like Char—" Lenny started to speak, but was quickly interrupted by Polly raising her palm.

"If you say
Charlie's Angels
, shifter, I will set you on fire, I swear it."

"Okay, then." Lenny giggled. "We'll have to think of another name."

"While you do, I am going to take my leave." Lucifer smiled and turned toward the door. "I think you ladies will do fine. I'm putting all of my trust and the continuing survival of Hell in your hands. Don't let me down."

"We won't," Drew reiterated as she stood up.

"If you do, I'm sure you can guess what will happen." Lucy smiled as hellfire flashed in her eyes. "Bye, ladies."

With that, she walked out the front door.

"Well that was terrifying." Drew sat down and poured herself more wine.

"I think we can forego a superhero handle. It's not like we're getting tee shirts made or anything." Polly took her seat. "But we had better get to work figuring out how to stop this mess. I definitely do not want to get a new boss, and I can't lose my best friend."

"Then let's get down to business," Lenny said as she took her seat. "What's our next move?"

"I hope you ladies like baguettes. It seems, based on the intel I've been able to gather, you two need to pack your berets, because we're heading to Paris."

T
he bum watched
as two figures made their way up the Parisian alley to the Children of Light church. They set a large crate at the church's back door and knocked lightly in an odd pattern. The door opened, and the two men were met by a woman. They grabbed the crate, and one of the deliverymen opened the lid.

"Is the Messiah here? Shouldn't he see this?" the shorter of the two asked the woman.

"The Messiah is out at the moment. I am to take charge of the delivery. You already know this," she barked sternly.

They shrugged at each other and took out a vial of some liquid, holding it up for the woman's inspection. When it met her approval, she ushered the men inside. As he moved, the vial slipped from the man's fingers and shattered on the concrete.

"
Merde!
You fools!" The woman screamed at them in a thick French accent. She quickly pulled them into the church and closed the door.

Thinking that perhaps there were drugs in the vial, and hoping there might be enough for him to scrape off the broken concrete and get high, the bum walked closer. It'd been twelve hours since his last hit of crack, and he was desperate for something to relieve the pain building inside of him.

He knelt by the puddle of amber liquid and reached out to swipe his finger through it. As the tip of his finger grated across the glass, he hissed. While he watched, blood pooled at the wound site. The man stood for a moment, sucking on the tip of his finger, when the door flew open.

The woman emerged from the church in hazmat gear, carrying a red plastic gas can. She saw the bum and sighed.

"Madame, could you assist me,
s'il vous plait
? I have cut myself on some glass here and could use a bandage."

"Where did you cut yourself?" The woman's voice was stern, and he dared not disobey for fear she would alert the police.

"On my finger, here." The man held up the injured finger.

"No, fool, I mean where was the glass you cut yourself on?"

The bum pointed to the smashed vial at his feet and mumbled, "I was only trying to clean it up."

"Lying is not good for the soul." The woman grinned broadly.

"No, it is not. Will you help me? It just won't stop bleeding." The man sat on a five gallon bucket of paint that was near the dumpster.

"Unfortunately, nobody can help you." She spread the gas over the smashed glass and lit a match. She tossed it onto the puddle of gas and turned to the bum. While he was busy sucking at his fingertip and watching the fire, she knocked him out with a fist to the side of his neck and doused him with gas. Once she was confident there was enough fuel there, she lit another match and tossed it on his limp form.

The flames brought him to and he began thrashing and screaming. It didn't last long. He was dead in moments and the stench of charred meat hung heavy in the air. The djinniri sighed heavily, and the flames exploded back to life as she added more gasoline to both the corpse and the vial. This could have been very bad, indeed. If the bum had not stuck around, the virus would have spread like wildfire.

It worked quickly. The old bum would have been dead within a matter of days. This assured the woman that her betters were right. Their idea for war was going to be a good one. The humans would never know what happened, and other beings caught in the crossfire would spare their souls to the cause. The woman held a red stone up in the air and caught the man's soul as it fled his body.

At least she managed to do something right tonight. She hoped the Master would be grateful to her and would overlook the broken vial. It wasn't her fault, after all, that the delivery men were so clumsy and stupid. Dr. Sandberg would be pissed. He sure as hell wouldn't like that these bumbling fools had already made a mess of things.

The smell of burning flesh assailed her nostrils. The body would still be an issue; even if the virus was destroyed by the flame, the corpse wouldn't be. She sighed and called out at the doorway to the church. Another of the messiah's "Faithful" approached, and she gave them the orders to wait for the body to cool before disposing of it and the glass.

They'd most likely cut it up and put it in the soup for the homeless. She sighed as she realized she'd have to check with the good doctor to make sure that was okay. The virus was a vicious one, and though she couldn't wait to deploy it against the humans, she knew she would have to. The timing wasn't right yet. If they didn't all go at once, everything would be ruined. She didn't want the Master to be angry at her. She saw what he did to their messenger after the scuffle at one of the Children of Light branches in the States.

He was still alive, but he would never fail the Master again. Even if he had managed to grab the souls before he fled, he still had allowed those damn girls to ruin the church. That was an unacceptable loss to the Master.

Hershel had been bringing in some good numbers. He was the highest producing soul factory in the chain, and losing that had put a serious dent in the plan. She would succeed where the Messenger had failed. She chuckled as she thought to herself,
Faith always succeeds
. Then she walked swiftly down to phone Dr. Sandberg in the U.S. and ask about the body. She wasn't looking forward to the lecture she would most likely receive, but she knew it wasn't her fault, and she knew her Master would only be grateful that she had cleaned up the mess the others had made.

"What is it?" a gruff voice asked over the line.

"Doctor, this is church 111-908 calling. We had an incident with one of the vials. It fell and smashed in the alleyway. I burned the remains of the virus and the man who'd become infected. I need to know if the meat will still be good to eat."

"I wouldn't serve it. We need the virus to be released on our terms. Just get rid of the body another way. Hide it in the catacombs or something. Be very careful not to be so clumsy next time. If the plans aren't kept on track and have to be escalated because of your buffoonery, the Master won't be so pleased with you."

The not-so-good doctor hung up rudely and the djinniri spat out, "Stupid, lazy, asshole American!"

She knew what he said was true, that once the virus was released, war would begin and that was all they'd need for their team to get a leg up on the idiotic demons that once stood in their way. If they weren't careful and the virus leaked too early, it would definitely destroy everything they'd worked so hard for.

Things are going to change around here,
the djinniri thought as she walked to her newly renovated office next to that of this church's "messiah."

Soon, the Master will see to it that we djinn are given the respect we so richly deserve
, she thought as she phoned for someone to help the djinn upstairs remove the body and deliver it to the catacombs below the streets of Paris. Once that task was done, she quickly went back to the alley to tell the djinn waiting on the body to cool what they would have to do with it.

The loss of the Children of Light church in the States was a rough one, but it wasn't something that will hold up or ruin the Master's plan
, the woman thought blissfully.
Soon, it will be up to us to change the world in a way nobody ever thought possible and we won't be second class citizens anymore. We will be the stars!
She was certain of it. So certain, in fact, that she would give her life to make it happen if need be.

We shall soon see who the lesser demons truly are,
she thought gleefully as she went to the storeroom to hide the crate that held the key to their freedom.