bedeviled & beyond 01 - bedeviled & beguiled (10 page)

Benoir shoved the demon and Timmon fell to the ground at the demon king’s bare white feet. Abrine gave a slight nod to Benoir and that royal turned, rather sharply I thought, on his finely made heel and returned to his seat. Where he flopped gracefully, crossing his slender legs in preparation of the show to come.

I was still standing where I’d landed when I lost my very limited patience and brought up the subject of Timmon in the first place. Sensing that something horrendous was about to happen, I did not sit back down like Benoir to enjoy the show.

With his head lowered so that he appeared to be staring at the stones beneath his broad, white feet, Abrine slowly raised his arms over his head, clenching his fists so that the long white nails, which were at least an inch long and curved inward like talons, began to cut into the white flesh of his palms and produce bright, green droplets of demon blood. I watched those droplets of blood with fascination. They were all the more startling against Abrine’s completely colorless form.

Closing his white eyes, Abrine began to chant in the language of Hades. As he chanted, the demon Timmon, still prostrate before Abrine on the floor, began to writhe and cry out. He didn’t try to get up off the floor and run away. He just put his hands over his face and screamed.

As Abrine’s chanting grew in volume and intensity, so did Timmon’s screams. The air in the room grew progressively colder and thicker, pushing at me with an insistence that made me feel a little claustrophobic. I forced myself to take deep breaths as I began inching backward toward the door.

Blood began to roll down the unfortunate demon’s grainy, black cheeks from beneath that monstrous brow and his body started to thrash wildly around. His screams pierced the heavy air and vibrated against my eardrums, banging painfully into my brain, until all I wanted to do was cover my ears with my hands and run from the room. But, something kept me from leaving. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt, somehow, like I needed to see the thing finished.

Reluctantly, I watched as the Demon’s leathery black flesh began to split apart and spill green blood and other stuff onto the floor. I watched as his right arm and then his left exploded away from his body. I watched as his chest opened up and dispensed a wriggling mass of what looked like maggots before it too exploded into the room. Warm, rancid smelling mush hit my face and arms and I finally closed my eyes with revulsion.

My knees buckled and my head snapped back to slam against the hard, cold surface of the wall behind me. I suddenly realized that I had continued to back away from the scene even as I had been mesmerized by it. Ignoring the throbbing pain at the back of my head, I reached up and scraped what was left of Timmon off my face. I found my gaze being pulled toward Benoir, who was still sitting in the chair looking like something from Gentlemen’s Quarterly of Hades. The elegant devil smiled at me as if we’d shared a particularly intimate secret. When he opened his mouth I realized I was afraid of what he was going to say. There was a good reason for that.

“Now that we have done you a favor and taken care of your little...problem.” His beautiful lips curled in distaste as he glanced briefly toward the mess that had been Timmon, we know that you will represent us well to Nerul and his court.”

I couldn’t even respond. I looked from the evilly beautiful face before me to the frosty white countenance of the demon king and then, Heaven help me because I couldn’t help myself, I looked again at the mess on the floor of that foul-smelling dungeon room.

Then, shaking my head in disgust, I turned away and ascended the stairs as quickly as I could without running, praying with all my might that I would make it back out into the beautiful normalcy of my adopted human world. And away from the disgusting lunacy within those walls.

CHAPTER TEN

Back to School

The Maiden bent her fiery head o’er the learned texts of God,

And studied how to best her foe, on ground the Angels trod.

I was on my sixth cup of strong black coffee and still I felt mushy headed. The scene I’d witnessed the night before had stayed with me through the night and left me with a horror hangover that no amount of sleep or coffee seemed able to defeat.

I had showered no less than four times but I could still feel the remains of Timmon on my skin. Even as I thought about it I shivered and got up to pour myself another cup.

Moving to my information unit, I placed my palm over the Identi-pad and said, “Power on.” The voice-activated unit sprang to life and I sat before it gratefully, realizing that work was the only thing that would take my mind off things.

Unfortunately, the first order of business was to contact my client and tell him that Timmon had been taken care of. With a sour taste in my mouth, I composed a note that basically evaded the details and told my client I didn’t want to be paid for the job. I couldn’t in all good conscience take money for what had been done to the demon.

I know what you’re thinking. I was gonna vaporize him anyway right? Well yeah. But, as you know, vaporization is painless and quick. I was only doing what both sides expected of me when I vaporized a demon that had stepped outside the accepted boundaries of human/demon relationships. What I’d witnessed the night before was neither painless, nor quick and it certainly wasn’t done in the spirit of justice being served, it was done to somehow tie me to the royals and the scheme they wanted to involve me in.

That, I decided with a jolt of understanding, was what was bothering me. Somehow they had made me feel complicit in the horrible cruelty they’d perpetrated on Timmon. Somehow they had made me responsible for the way he’d died. And I didn’t like it. Not one little bit.

My musings were interrupted by a faint hissing sound that announced the arrival of Myra or one of her kind. I raised my eyes from the screen of my information unit and smiled at my angel and her companion, the chubby, red-haired angel with the soft southern twang who had spoken at the council meeting I’d been “invited” to attend.

“Coffee ladies?”

Myra’s eyes lit up and I looked at her companion with a questioning lift of my eyebrow. The pretty red-haired angel gave a tiny nod and then followed me into my food service area. As she hovered behind me I realized she was probably hoping for something a bit more substantial than coffee. I turned to her and asked, “cream cake or chip cookies?”

Her pretty, peach colored lips spread in a soft grin. “Cream cake please.”

I turned away with a smile. She had said the word “please” with the most endearing lisp. I thought that I was going to like working with her. And I’d already discovered her human vice. Just in case bribery was ever called for. “Coming right up.”

Myra settled herself into her favorite chair and waited expectantly for me to carry her coffee to her. She accepted it with the air of royalty, even giving me the “you are dismissed” nod as I gave it over. I shook my head and chuckled. Some things never changed.

As I carried the plate of cake in and set it on the holding tray nearest my small suite of divans, Myra’s soft-spoken companion joined her on the largest divan and smiled as Myra took her soft, white hand. “This is Prevara. She will be giving you your first lesson on the Royal Court.”

I nodded and pushed the plate of sweet cake toward Prevara. She reached for the biggest piece and then settled back happily onto the divan. As she took the first bite, a look of genuine pleasure crossed her pretty features. She finished chewing and swallowed with a sigh of contentment. “This is why I forced myself to be good all those years, Myra. Because my Spiritual Advisor told me that heaven was filled with only good and happy things. I interpreted that to mean I could eat all the sweets I wanted without gaining weight.” She followed this up with a devilish grin in my direction and I couldn’t help laughing. Even my angel chuckled.

Myra raised her coffee cup in a silent toast to her friend and the two of them giggled together. I just sat back and watched because I’d never seen Myra so relaxed and happy. Obviously she wasn’t always crabby. Just when she was around me. The thought brought a frown to my face, which nobody seemed to notice but me.

When the cake and the coffee were gone, Myra shimmered away to do whatever angels do and left Prevara and me to do what we needed to do.

Unlike any teacher I’d ever had before, Prevara approached her job with a sparkle in her blue eyes and a genuinely happy smile. “Now, Astra, here are a couple of volumes you’ll need to read before your next teacher comes.” She put her hands in front of her, palms up and two oversized books that were bound in leather with gold tipped pages shimmered into view. She handed them to me and I gasped under their weight.

“Those records will give you good, solid information on the last two thousand years of the Royal Court. You should especially focus on the break-up in human year 2001. That was when Nerul’s group finally split off from the main court and set up their own court. Up until then Nerul had been third in line for the throne. However, his scheming and backstabbing ways had landed him in trouble a few too many times. It is our understanding that he was going to be dismissed from the court within a matter of weeks when he finally took his band of cutthroats and skedaddled.”

I laughed. “Skedaddled?”

Prevara grinned. “Anyway, that information will help you understand the enmity between the two groups now. Which is basically at the heart of the whole trouble we are currently seeing. That and the fact that Nerul wants that crown badly enough that he will do anything to get it.”

“I thought Nerul was already the king.”

Prevara licked a bit of cream off her fingers before wiping them on her shimmery, peach colored robes and shaking her head. “There can only be one true King. You see, Astra, before Nerul left the court of Dialle the First, there had always been only one Devil Court. Although he has called himself King Nerul since establishing his little kingdom, his leaving didn’t change the fact that the devils only recognize one true king.”

I nodded, thinking I was starting to understand some of the political dynamics I’d become embroiled in. “Satan.”

Surprising me, Prevara shook her head and leaned forward excitedly. “No. I know that humans think Satan is the king of devils. However, the true king is actually Satan’s direct servant. His power is subjugated by Satan’s. Satan rules the entire dark world through a single devil king, which is why it is such a coveted position.”

“And which is why Nerul will do anything to get it.”

Prevara nodded and smiled proudly at me. “You got it, Astra.”

“So if Nerul isn’t the king, then who is?

“Dialle the First.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Dialle the First is still alive?”

Prevara laughed and patted me on the knee as if I were simple, “Of course! You see, Astra, although he keeps trying to put himself above Dialle, Nerul isn’t recognized as king by any of the dark world except his own followers. At least that was true until recently.” She gave me a look that told me she wasn’t sure where the situation stood at the moment and then shook her head and went on. “Dialle the First has shown signs of weakening lately. He is getting on in years, of course, but it’s more than that. Something is happening. The dark world has been getting more and more restless and Princess Rayanne has been getting more and more outspoken as King Dialle has shown less and less inclination to lead.” She sighed. “It has always been a difficult situation but it has recently grown worse. And Nerul certainly isn’t helping matters any. He, of course has heard of Dialle the First’s weakened state and he has moved to strengthen his position in the dark world. What makes it even more difficult is that, in some ways his claims are true. Aside from Dialle the First, Nerul is the oldest and most powerful of all the devils. And the fact that he held such a lofty position in the old court works in his favor too. In fact, many have said that he is the obvious choice to succeed Dialle.”

“So what, or should I say
who
, stands in his way?”

“Right now it’s Prince Dialle and Princess Rayanne.” Her pretty face formed a very unladylike scowl. “I believe you’ve met them already.”

“Oh yeah. We’ve definitely met.”

“Aside from speaking badly of Nerul to the King, young Dialle and his lady love are at the top of Nerul’s list because he blames them for the death of his only son, Nille.”

I suddenly found it difficult to stay seated. Standing up, I wandered into the food service area, where I requested more cream cake from the Food Distributor. Carrying a heaping plate of cake back to Prevara, who accepted it happily, I sat down again and asked the question I’d been stressing over. “When I went before Dialle’s court, I was told that Nille was being held prisoner. They implied he was still alive. How do you know he’s been killed?”

Prevara sucked on her long, pink fingers and shook her head. “We don’t actually. I mean no one’s seen him for a fortnight and our court spies heard Dialle and Rayanne speaking of his death a few days ago.

“Court spies?” I let the question sit between us as Prevara used her tongue to remove a dab of cream from her full, peach-colored lips and then sat back contentedly. “You probably saw some of them when you were taken to Dialle. They have made the ultimate sacrifice so that they would be in a position to hear of Dialle and Rayanne’s plans in advance.”

Realization suddenly dawned. “You mean the chained angels?”

Prevara’s pretty face clouded. “One of them was my best friend.”

“Will she ever come back?”

Prevara shook her head and stood. “Their souls are lost to us. They will not get out of that court alive. The things they are subjected to...” She gave a small shudder and turned back to me with a forced smile. “I must go now. Study those records and you will be ready for your next teacher. God Bless, Astra.” And she shimmered away, leaving me with a heavy heart and a new determination to help. If those captive angels could be saved I was going to make sure it happened. I had some idea what the members of the Devil Court were capable of and I couldn’t believe anyone would deliberately put herself into a position to be subjected to it from now until eternity. If she existed that long.