Fashionably Dead Down Under (26 page)

Letting my mind leave my body, I closed my
eyes and searched for my mother. She was blocked. There was no way
in. I pressed my hands to my forehead and tried again. Closed. Why
couldn’t I go in? She had no chance. My father had destroyed her
the same way he had destroyed Lance and the other Demons. I wanted
to give my mother one last gift. She was by no means innocent of
guilt, but she was as much a victim as the ones I’d shown mercy on
yesterday.

“You can’t enter the mind of a soul,” George
said.

I whipped around and stared at him. How did
he know what I was doing? Hell, I didn’t even care. I just wanted
his help. “Is there any way to end her suffering?” I asked
desperately.

“None that I know of,” he said.

“I was meant to rule the world,” she
screamed, coming completely unhinged. “Find my lover, girl. Bring
him to me and he will reward you with immortality and riches. He
promised.” She was now foaming at the mouth and her beauty was
marred by the blood and pus that poured from her wounds. She had
smeared it all over her face and in her hair. It was all I could do
to look at her.

“I will try to find him for you,” I promised,
telling her what I thought she wanted to hear. “I promise to find
the answer to help you.”

“You’re a good girl,” she grunted as she
slapped at the flames. “I wish I’d known you better.”

“So do I,” I whispered. “Goodbye.” I turned
back to George and Ethan. “Take me out of here. Now.”

“As you wish.”

It took several hours of staring into space
before I was ready to speak. Ethan sat next to me and General
George lay quietly at my feet. I wanted to give mercy to the woman
who had shown me no compassion in life. Putting the sad pieces of
her story together made my heart break. I was no longer surprised
at how happy everyone was that I had killed my father. He was
horrific. Truly horrific.

“I want to end her—to give her peace,” I
said.

“I know.” Ethan reached over and held me.

“She was already gone before she was mine and
that wasn’t her fault.”

“She made choices,” the General said flatly.
“She went to him willingly.”

“Yes, but under false pretenses. I know she
was greedy and committed horrors over her lifetimes, but . . .
after lifetimes of concentrated abuse and rape, do you really think
she had free will to make a choice to leave? Do you?” I
demanded.

“I do not know. It is not my place to condemn
or forgive, nor is it yours,” he said.

“I think nothing is black and white. You talk
of balance and good and evil, who in the hell is keeping tabs here?
It certainly doesn’t seem like Satan is,” I yelled.

George simply stared at me.

“I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. Maybe it’s
not even Satan’s. With as many people that are here who could
really dig deep enough to figure all the nuances out?” I reached
out and ran my hand through George’s soft fur. “I’m just sad and
angry.”

“I know, child. I will leave you now to rest.
I will see you this evening.”

With that he disappeared in a burst of
glitter. I glanced at where George had lain and saw something
shiny.

“Did the General lay an egg or does he poop
shimmering rocks?” I asked, leaning off the couch to peer at what
looked like a small shiny egg or worse.

“I certainly hope not,” Ethan said, examining
the object. “Oh my God,” he muttered. “The amulet.”

“What amulet?”

“My father gave me this before I followed you
to Hell. It will kill one. Only one. The one meant to lead,” he
said, remembering his father’s words.

“Holy shit, that can kill Satan?” I picked up
the stone and rolled it in my hand. It was smooth and gave off
heavy vibes of magic.

“Now that I know of True Immortals, I’m not
sure,” Ethan admitted. “Quite honestly, I don’t even know how it
works.”

“I’m going to assume that very little is a
mistake as far as the General goes. He left that here on purpose.
Do you really think he would give us the means to kill his lord and
master?” I was fascinated with the amulet. It was as beautiful as
it was deadly.

“He must have taken it from Lust. She had
stolen it when I was beaten and chained.”

“Did she know what she had?” I asked, still
furious about what she had done.

“No, she couldn’t have.”

“What do we do with this thing?” I asked.

“We keep it until we need it,” he answered
logically.

“And if we don’t?”

“All the better for everyone,” he said.

“Put the damn thing away. Wait, I’ll put it
with the book Grandpa gave me. I shoved it under the mattress.” I
took the stone and ran to the bedroom. The bed looked inviting and
I was freakin’ exhausted.

“Would you like to cuddle?” Ethan stood in
the doorway, looking every inch the sex-on-a-stick Vampyre Prince
he was.

“Um, kind of.” I smiled and crooked my
finger. All of a sudden I wasn’t so tired. “Come here.”

His smile undid me. We slid into each other’s
arms and fell onto the bed. Jeans and t-shirts disappeared and it
was impossible to get close enough. I wanted to crawl inside him
and live there. Forever. He reverently ran his hands over my newly
rounded belly.

“So beautiful,” he murmured. “So
amazing.”

“Do you think he’ll like us?” I placed my
hand on top of his as he made lazy circles on my stomach.

“God, I hope so.” He laughed and moved his
hand to my breast.

“I thought you wanted to cuddle.” I sighed
happily and arched my back so he cupped me more fully.

“Ahhh, you’re right,” he teased. He removed
his hand from my aching breast and wrapped me in a non-sexual
embrace. “I’m not in the mood anyway.”

“You suck,” I giggled and rubbed my bottom on
some very hard evidence that belied his words.

“You do realize that we have to be at your
uncle’s in a half hour.”

“Can we be fashionably late?” I murmured,
placing his hands back on my breasts.

“I’m good with that,” he said and shimmied my
panties to my ankles.

“I wannna be on top,” I said as I straddled
his body and felt the fire begin to unfurl low in my belly. “Do you
mind?”

“I’d be delighted.” His lopsided grin made my
lady parts dance.

God, I loved this man. I loved him inside and
out, but his outside was making me crazy at the moment.

“One rule,” I whispered as I rubbed myself
like a cat on his chest. “No breaking eye contact the entire time.
I want to watch you come and I want you to watch me.”

“That could be arranged,” he said huskily.
His eyes blazed green and hips moved in a slow fashion that
promised really, really good things.

“Poke her boobie, it’s squishy,” a little
voice squealed with excitement.

“Nooooooo, why he get to poke Mommy’s melons?
Mommy no let me grab her jugs,” another whined.

“Pretty boy touches Mommy’s butt. Me saw him
smack it and Mommy laugh!”

“Was Mommy bad girl and get spank spank?” yet
another asked with great concern.

“What the hell?” Ethan groaned and covered
himself with the sheet. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He
slapped his hand over his eyes and tried not to laugh.

“Off,” I yelled at my inappropriately nosy
Demons. “Off the bed and out of the room. Now.”

“But Mommy, it just getting good,” Beyonce
complained. Abe was humping the air and Ross was trying to pry
Ethan’s fingers from his eyes.

“Mommmmy, how bout we be quiet and no touch.
Can we stay?” Rachel asked sweetly as she pulled on Ethan’s chest
hair.

“No,” I snapped. They were better than a vat
of ice water as far as libido destroyers went. “You most certainly
cannot watch. Ever . . . wait, have you been watching us?”

“Um, what you mean, Mommy?” Ross inquired
innocently, slinking away from Ethan’s head.

“I mean,” I said as I pinched my thighs to
keep from laughing or screaming, “have you been watching Ethan and
I . . . um,”

“Get jiggy?” Beyonce asked.

“Bump uglies?” Abe grunted and acted out his
suggestion.

“Get some stankie on the hang down?” Rachel
offered and Ethan choked.

“I know,” Ross yelled. “She mean to say pound
the duck!”

“Oh my God,” I moaned as I scooped up my
little monsters and tossed them out to the living room. Ethan’s
laughter followed me as I herded them out of the room much to their
great disappointment at not being invited to the party.

“Are you guys almost ready?” Dixie was
standing in the living room, fully dressed and ready to go. “It’s a
sit down dinner and Daddy has a shit fit if we’re late.”

My head dropped to my chest and I wanted to
cry. I liked Dixie a lot. I was growing to love her, but right now
I wanted to kill her. “Be there in a sec,” I said and raced back to
the bedroom. “Get up and get dressed. Our ride to my uncle’s is
here,” I whispered and tried not to laugh at the incredulous
expression on his face.

“We’re finding the damned Sword tonight. I am
done with being interrupted. My very impressive package is going to
fall off soon if I keep having to ice it down.” He swore and
stomped into the bathroom to take a shower. A cold one. I wanted to
join him, but that would add insult to injury.

“We’ll be out in a sec,” I repeated and
pulled out a sexy black number. With my blood red locks, I had very
little choice in the color department. I yanked on some hotter than
hell thigh high boots and twisted my hair into a messy knot. I was
pissy but good to go.

After a two minute icy shower Ethan came back
a bit calmer. He took a long look at my ensemble, rolled his neck
and closed his eyes. “The boots are not helping,” he muttered as he
retrieved the amulet from the mattress. “The stone can be worn as a
charm. I want it on your neck.”

“Is that smart? What if someone knows what it
is?” I said.

“Fuck ‘em,” he said. He removed the thin gold
chain from my neck and slid the amulet on. It was beautiful. “I’ll
feel better if you have this since we’ve been forbidden
weapons.”

It fell perfectly between my breasts and
sparkled with magic. “It’s a little scary.” I laughed and glanced
down at the tiny rock of utter destruction, but Ethan was right. If
I needed it . . . I would use it.

“You ready?” he asked. He was dressed head to
toe in Hugo Boss and I wanted to strip him with my teeth. Instead I
sighed and grabbed a clutch.

“Yes, as ready as I’ll ever be.”

He grinned and gave me a quick but promising
peck on the lips. “Let’s go.”

The dining room was still massive, but less
so than this morning. Filled with Demons dressed to the nines, it
looked like the set of a movie. Carl, Janet and Myrtle were on duty
again making rounds with heavy silver trays laden with champagne
and hor d’oeuvres. I was curious what Satan deemed appropriate eats
for a formal diner party, so I hightailed it to Janet.

“Would you like some smoked salmon, Astrid?”
she asked.

“No weenies tonight?”

“No.” She giggled and popped a perfect toast
point smeared with cream cheese, salmon and capers into her mouth.
“I like the soy weenies better, but Satan said we had to have
classier fare tonight. Ohhhh, you look beautiful. Your hair is
amazing.”

“Thanks,” I muttered ungratefully. Trying to
ignore my hair color was impossible. There was no avoiding tresses
the color of blood. “Do you know everyone here tonight?” I needed
to start somewhere and I highly doubted that Janet had taken the
Sword.

“Well,” she whispered, “I know who everyone
is. They wouldn’t know me, because . . . I’m me, but it’s the cream
of the crop in attendance.”

“Who are those people?” I pointed to a group
of hard looking men sipping champagne and exchanging terse
pleasantries.

“Those are Guards, like Cole.” Her cheeks
darkened with displeasure. “They think they run the show when the
Master isn’t around.”

“Don’t they?”

“Yes, but . . . ”

“But what?” I asked. Were they cruel? Were
they screwing with Satan?

“Nothing,” she said, quickly recovering. With
a big fake smile plastered on her sweet face, she gave me a small
curtsy and hustled away.

“Anything interesting?” Ethan asked. He held
a glass of champagne and eyed the crowd.

“Janet is afraid of the Guards over there.
Possibility one or more might have delusions of grandeur about
taking over Hell.” I dipped my pinkie into his glass and touched it
to my tongue. “Motherfucker,” I hissed and choked. “How old do I
have to be for food to stop tasting like butt?”

“Three hundred,” he answered and arched an
eyebrow in amusement.

“It’s really not funny. I’m pregnant and I
want pickles and ice cream. Only problem is I’m not fond of things
that taste like dusty ass,” I snapped.

“I can see how that might be a problem,” he
agreed. I rolled my eyes and elbowed him. His grunt of pain made me
happy. “How many people know of the Sword?” he asked as he pinched
my ass in retaliation.

“Good question.” I gasped and smacked his
hand. I considered tickling him or licking my finger and sticking
it in his ear, but figured that was very immature and might be
conspicuous.

“Hi guys, is this boring or what?” Dixie said
as she tucked herself between us. “I hate these things.”

“Dixie, how many people know about the
Sword?” I asked.

Her head whipped to me so fast I felt a
breeze. Her pretty eyes narrowed and she grabbed my arm in a
vise-like grip. “What do you know about the Sword?”

“Ease up,” I hissed and discreetly pushed her
to a corner by a ridiculously large plant in a gold and jewel
encrusted pot. The show of wealth in Hell was staggering. Ethan
stepped in front and hid us from view. “Let go of my arm. I like
you and want you to keep your hands.”