Hell Inc. (20 page)

“Can't
I have just a little taste?” she whimpered, trailing her boney
fingers down Levie's arm. I felt a surprising twinge of jealously
and an uncontrollable urge to snap her little waist in half.

“I
don't suppose that you intend on upsetting my uncle. You know how
irrational he can be at times.” This came from Levie whose lips
began to dribble blood as he spoke. My heart stopped in my chest,
and I felt the bile rise in my throat again.

“Oh
dear Leviathan, you know that we mean you no permanent harm,”
replied the vampire in the bird hat, lips out in a pout. “We're
just following Hahti's orders.” I was surprised to hear
Levie's full name and opened my mouth to speak again. The vampire in
the 'Bite Me' shirt put a finger on my lips.

“Please,”
she begged, her voice hoarse and rough as if talking was some great
effort. “Please don't. The smell of demon blood makes me
sick.” She leaned her head down on her knees, her raven hair
brushing the floor of the limo as she grasped the edges of the seat
and squeezed the leather between her fingers. “Fuck, Levie,
what's your problem anyway?”

“I
am Ginger's ... caseworker.” I glanced up at him sharply.
Something about the way he said that simple phrase set me on edge.
Not to mention the fact that it had an air of authority that seemed
utterly wrong in this situation. He and I being the kidnappees. Her
back went ramrod straight, her hair flying around her face as she
stared at him with surprise.

“Oh.
Wow. I thought you were finished with all that.” Her voice
was tinged with just a hint of regret and something else that I
couldn't quite put my finger on. She turned curious brown eyes to me
and a faint smile teased the edges of her full, rouged lips. “At
least she's cute,” she said, voice high and cheerful before
abruptly frowning. The air in the limo climbed several degrees as I
felt rather than saw the effects of Levie's magic. When next she
spoke, her voice was irate. “And socially acceptable.” I
had the urge to apologize profusely though I wasn't sure why. I
hadn't the slightest clue as to what was going on in that car. Not a
fucking clue.

“Oh
please,” Levie breathed, voice low and dangerous. “Don't
be so bitter. It's unbecoming, Helena.” His mouth was curved
wickedly, and his eyes gleamed with mischief. The effect of his
being in complete control came to an end quickly when he coughed up
an extraordinary amount of blood onto the bird hat vampire's face.

“Ooooh,”
she gasped, leaning forward and grabbing Levie's jaw roughly in her
pale hand. “I have to have a taste.” She opened her
mouth baring two, tiny, white fangs. Levie sat unmoving, mouth set
in a stern line and eyes fixed on mine. I wanted to tell him to run,
or fight, to do something, but he just sat there, unmoving. Either
he wasn't afraid or the danger I thought he was in was far less
severe than I was allowing myself to imagine.

I
was relieved when the demon in the cloak reached across the open
space between us and grasped the dainty vampire's wrist in his hand.
“Feeding on the Devil's kin is like taking true death into your
very veins, Fuerella.” His voice was cool and calm, utterly
self assured and completely at odds with the heated magic that
surrounded his being. “How many times do I need to tell you
that?” He sat back, and Fuerella released Levie with a scowl,
folding her arms across her flat chest and glaring out of the tinted
window nearest her.

“You
are incredibly undignified,” the vampire in the top hat
sniffed, nose wrinkled. “I can't even bear looking at you
anymore. It upsets my delicate sensibilities.” Fuerella turned
towards him, chest inflating like a balloon and cheeks puffed out.
She looked more like a spoiled child than an undead bloodsucker.
What happened to the idea of dignified, cultured vampires? First
Liam and now these guys. And I still didn't even know if the two
sets were related although I somehow doubted it.

“Delicate
sensibilities?” she asked incredulously, touching one white
gloved hand to her flat chest. “You are joking, right? I saw
you rip out the throat of a rat with your teeth and then drink from
him. How dare you try to talk to
me
about delicate
sensibilities.” She nodded her head, blonde curls bobbing as if
making an indisputable point.

“You
promised that you would refrain from mentioning that to anyone,”
he spluttered, his own cheeks darkening with embarrassment and a
scowl forming that turned his doll like face into something more
frightening. Luckily, it only lasted a moment before he gained
control of his emotions and smoothed his face back into its perfect
mask. Apparently, one didn't need to be dignified or cultured to
still be a little bit scary. I shivered.

“What
do you want with us anyway?” I finally blurted when Fuerella
opened her mouth to argue again. The rest of the passengers went
silent, and all eyes were focused on me. “Does this have
something to do with Liam or Nathaniel?” I was betting that the
four looks of disgust I received meant no, but I waited patiently,
hoping for some sort of answer or explanation.

After
several moments of silence, I assumed that I was going to be ignored
again. Was it a habit of powerful supernatural creatures to just
ignore people? If so, it was starting to get on my nerves. “Well
then, what about Levie? Are you going to let him bleed to death?”
My voice squeaked slightly with the effort of speaking up to a car
full of people who could kill me with a thought.

“Do
not mind them, silly girl. They are no threat to us. My cousin and
his lovely husband, Thomas,”
Levie nodded at the vampire in the top hat. “Are merely
angry at being terminated.” I was sure my eyebrows had migrated
somewhere beyond my hairline. Cousin? I turned to the demon in the
hooded cloak with the familiar lips. Levie's cousin? The Devil's
son?

“What
the hell?” I asked.

“What
the hell indeed,” Levie said, a smirk firmly planted on his
face.

“Now
why do you always have to bring that up?” Thomas shouted, arms
in the air. He shook his head and snatched a bottle of liquor from
the minibar, downing it in one gulp. Thomas tried to pass the bottle
to Levie's cousin, but he held up a hand. Helena took it instead.

“Because
getting fired from Hell Incorporated is the one thing that Lunen
cannot bear to admit. And it is my right, as Lucifer's last
remaining family member on company payroll,” Levie said smugly.
Helena shook her head and gestured at him with the tiny green
bottle.

“This
has nothing to do with Hell Inc. We're here on Hahti's business,”
Helena snapped back. Levie growled at her, literally growled, and
she raised her lip at him. The air in the car was nearing a hundred
degrees, and I felt my hand inching towards the ice box on the
minibar.
Just one cube. Or some vodka. Or both.
“Besides,
this is all your fault.” She pointed her finger at him. “And
hers.” She turned and glared at me. I fought the urge to cower
and tried to keep my spine straight. I could at least pretend to be
brave.

“That's
enough.” Lunen spoke from inside the cloak, his voice still
calm and unangry. “Dwelling on past business matters will get
us nowhere. Today we're here to discuss a certain issue we've been
having with some of
our
clients lately. I would discuss the
issue here and now, but Hahti seems very intent on meeting this girl
in person.” He glanced up at Levie, and I saw another flash of
white as he smiled again. “And I think I now know why.”
Levie looked away, but I thought I saw just a hint of his own smile
before he did so.

“Oh,
goody!” Fuerella flung open the limo's door and leapt from the
still moving vehicle. We
were
in the process of rolling to a
stop, but it was still rather disconcerting. Vampire or not, I still
half expected to see her body rolling along the pavement. She
managed to land quite easily though and whirled around in a flurry of
skirts. “Come along now!” She gushed tiptoeing back over
to us and sticking her head back into the car after we'd finally
slowed completely. “Thomas,” she nodded her head at the
top hat vampire. “And I will escort you while these three
attend to another matter.” I looked over at Levie and tried to
figure out what it was that he wanted me to do. I was utterly
useless really; I hadn't even remembered the dagger.

“Go
along,” he said slowly, eyes locked onto Lunen. “They
will not harm you.” Lunen nodded as if in acceptance, and I
allowed myself to be dragged out by Thomas. The very first thing I
saw was the sphinx who trotted up to me and immediately regaled me
with another bit of useless advice.

“The
actions of a friend are often mysterious,” it told me sternly,
and I kicked my foot at it.

“Traitor.”
The sphinx leapt nimbly out of the way and galloped ahead of us to
what appeared to be the back doors of an enormous office building. I
took a quick glance around before being hustled to the doors myself,
but I couldn't make out my surroundings at all. Most of the
buildings around us were dark, their doors closed for the night. I
could see a street sign on the corner, but it was impossible to read
with the lack of outdoor lighting. We'd been driving for such a
short while that I was surprised to find myself completely lost. I
couldn't have been far from home yet it didn't even look like the
same city.

“Where
the fuck are we?” I whispered to the sphinx as Thomas dragged
me into the building behind him. The sphinx furrowed its golden
eyebrows at me and sighed.

“A lost man can always be found.” I tried to kick it again, but
Fuerella intercepted me, snatching my arm from Thomas's grasp. He
paused to light a cigarette in what looked to be a lobby. There were
sandwich boards everywhere with photos of canary yellow condos and
periwinkle beach houses surrounded by smiling supernaturals. There
was even a small poster of a mermaid next to an underwater cottage
made of stones. I did not have the slightest idea what was going on.
I may have been able to see things that others couldn't, but it
wasn't like I interacted with them on a regular basis. In fact, I
avoided interacting with them altogether. Now I remembered why.
Stupid fucking newspaper ad.

I
leaned towards the front counter as we passed and tried to snatch the
titles off some of the brochures. 'Make Your Last Stand Here' and
'Retirement: The Golden Years' were the only two that stuck out at
me. That only confused me more.

“Where
are we?” I asked as Fuerella continued to drag me through the
overdone red and gold lobby and away from the sphinx, Thomas, and
Levie. God, I hoped he was okay.

“Come
with me, little one,” she said in her sticky, candy sweet
voice. “Hahti is a busy woman. We don't want to keep her
waiting.” Fuerella paused at a set of double doors at the end
of a hallway. The brass plate was hard to read in the dim lighting,
but I made out the words 'Chief Executive Officer' before Fuerella
wrenched the door open and shoved me inside, giving me my first look
at the woman who had ordered Levie and me kidnapped.

Hahti
wasn't exactly what I was expecting. She stared at me, or at least I
thought she was staring at me (I couldn't tell since her face was
covered in bandages) and motioned me into the room. My eyes caught
immediately on her rectangular, gold “3
^rd
Century
Realty” badge glimmering in the static, commercial glow of the
fluorescent lights. Her hands were folded atop the gleaming oak
conference table, and her red blazer was pressed and buttoned in the
center giving her a very professional appearance at odds with the
dusty brown and white of her bandaged skin. I had seen mummies
before, sure, in museums, in pictures, on T.V. but never like this.
Never sitting across from me in a sterile gray and white office
complete with ficus tree (why are those so popular anyway?).

I
gave Fuerella a “Please God, help me” look to which she
responded by shoving me down forcefully into a very uncomfortable
chair before retreating to stand next to the mummy/CEO. I gulped
down a big breath of air which got caught uncomfortably in my throat
and ended up coughing violently for several minutes. No one offered
a glass of water or a pat on the back either. They just sat there
and waited for me to finish. When I was done, face red and lungs
burning, she finally spoke.

“Igh
dung noga logagalog,” is what she said or at least it's what it
sounded like she said. I tried to school my face into a pleasant
mask so she wouldn't read my confusion at her words. I was
determined not to piss off any more supernatural creatures than was
absolutely necessary. I was starting to realize this was going to be
my key to surviving this whole stupid wishing experience. The ragged
bandages across her mouth didn't stop Fuerella from understanding
her, and she began to translate. “Welcome to my office,
Ginger.” Fuerella faced me while she spoke but turned back to
Hahti when she was finished.

“Ig
blog nodda goo log.” Fuerella nodded and continued.

“I'm
sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances.” Pause.

More
gibberish.

“But
I really do need to speak with you about your latest wish ... ”
My latest wish ... the museum fiasco. I wasn't entirely
certain what I had done, but Levie had assured me that I was within
the rules. What could have possibly gone wrong now? Fuerella waited
patiently, blue eyes back to normal. She was far less scary like
that. “Do you know what we do here, Ginger?” I tried to
meet Hahti's eyes or at least where I thought her eyes would be and
shook my head. I had no idea if she could see me or not as she
continued. “3
^rd
Century Realty provides
comfortable, affording housing for those looking for quiet, exotic
places to spend their golden years.” Wow.
Was not expecting that one. A vampire/Minotaur drug ring and now a
vampire/mummy retirement community. I thought I had seen it all; I
hadn't even scraped the surface. “We've been providing
that service uninterrupted for eighteen centuries!” I hadn't
noticed a raising of Hahti's jumbling voice when she'd spoken, but
Fuerella practically screeched the last part at me as Hahti slammed
her fist onto the table, losing a thumb in the process. Unfazed, she
scooped up the lost appendage and stuck it in the pocket on the front
of her blazer.