Good Side of Sin (33 page)

“Thoros?” I said, my voice sounding slurred even to my ears, but there was no answer from the bedroom.

Trish giggled and shut us in the bathroom together. “This will only hurt for a moment.”

Thoros followed a pudgy little bald guy down a long corridor and then up a winding set of stone stairs. He hadn’t wanted to leave Josselyn, but he doubted any harm would come to her. It wasn’t like the teenage girl wielded a sword in the make-up case she had carried in with that dress. Not that Josselyn couldn’t take care of herself; he just wanted to protect her from all of this. He didn’t know what to expect from Limbo or the queen that ran it.

Richard, the pudgy bald guy, led him into a large, well-lit room. Isaiah was already there and half dressed in formal wear. He looked like a respectable gentleman in the deep burgundy and cream garments the queen had sent for him to dress in. They appeared to be tailored to fit the angel perfectly and Thoros wondered if he, too, would fair so lucky.

He smiled to himself as he thought of what Josselyn must be going through at that moment, and crossed the room with a smile.

Isaiah looked up at him, arching an eyebrow, but, if he had been listening, didn’t comment on the thoughts running through Thoros’ head. “I trust Josselyn is alert and well?”

Thoros’ grin grew wider as he let his fingers run along the soft navy and cream material that would make up his formal attire for the night’s activities. “She is.”

“Excellent. I’ve avoided intruding on her thoughts, as well as yours, since the two of you discovered your fate. Some things are better left private. And some things I would rather not hear.”

Thoros nodded once and, remembering the promise Josselyn had asked him to make, kept his silence. He had made another promise—to himself—that he would get her out of Limbo safe and in one piece. That was all that mattered. If anything else surprised them it could be dealt with if and when it occurred. Worrying about anything was only a waste of time when none of them had a clue as to what to expect.

“Are
you
all right?”

Thoros looked up out of his daze and stared into the grey eyes of Isaiah. The angel had moved to his side without his knowing, carrying a look of concern and interest on his face. Thoros smiled as he averted his eyes back to the wardrobe. “Yep. All good here. Why wouldn’t I be?” Isaiah did not answer, but Thoros had not really expected him to. He nodded as if everything had been settled and the world was a safe place once again, and looked up when the bathroom door opened to reveal a freshly shaven and showered Ethan.

Without turning to look back at Isaiah, Thoros marched into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Baddon gave a nervous laugh and flexed his wrists in the restraints Chelsea had put him in. “Not so tight, baby. I need a little slack so I can touch you.”

There was a little sliver of light through the blindfold she had put on him, and he strained to see what she was doing.

“I missed you, baby. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to find my purse. But you weren’t the first to open it, were you?”

His brow furrowed in confusion at her words. “I just opened it an hour ago to see how to contact you. I didn’t take anything or snoop through the other contents. A woman’s personal belongings are very private—”

Baddon let out a yelp when his right leg was jerked straight and quickly shackled to the iron bed. “Wow, you’re strong for your size. Do you work out?”

As she mumbled something under her breath, she grabbed his other ankle and locked it in the other shackle.

Baddon smiled despite the uneasy felling he was getting in the pit of his stomach. He heard ripping and his head jerked toward the sound.

Chelsea traced the outline of his lips with her finger, and then gave him a brief kiss. “Open up, baby,” she said.

Baddon, ignoring the warning signals, gave in to the seductive temptation and parted his lips. Immediately after, a soft ball was shoved into his mouth and thick tape closed everything up nicely. Great, he thought, the ripping sound had been duct tape! Suddenly Chelsea’s visit did not seem so fun anymore.

“Don’t bother trying to fleet. The restraints have silver in them.”

Every muscle in Baddon’s body tensed in that moment and he jerked viciously against the bondage that held him to the bed. The only thing he got out of that was the cuffs cutting into his flesh and feeling the silver in them for the first time. He screamed against the gag as his body bucked in protest. His head slammed against the pillow and his chest arced up as the metal seared his bare wrists and ankles. The silver shackles were steel coated. She was a smart one.

“I assume you’ve figured out by now that I’m not here to play games, at least not any that you’re going to win. You see, I had my clutch rigged with the possession spell for you, so that when you opened it to see how to return it to me, I would have total control over you. I guess you can imagine my surprise when the Prince of Lust showed up in that alley to take the first soul, instead of you. Although he was a fine looking male, and it was more than obvious how he had earned the title Lucifer gave him, I had a job to do and didn’t have time to play around. I refuse to fail him as the nine of you have done. He will reward me handsomely for my completed assignment, and all of you will suffer his wrath for your betrayal, including the angel that tricked him. Oh, yes, this is not over by far. It’s only a matter of time before Heaven falls and Lucifer rises to take control. Then it will be me that he praises for it. I can hardly wait!” She squealed excitedly. “You fools have practically made it effortless for me!”

Baddon mumbled against the gag and tape.

“What was that?” she said, and ripped the blindfold from his eyes.

He squinted and blinked as the bright overhead light stunned his vision, and then, finding her sitting at his side and smiling sweetly down at him, he glared at her, his eyes full of menace and hatred. She would let down her guard—the cocky ones always did—and when she did, he would rip her to pieces and grin as she pleaded for him to show her mercy. There was a reason he had earned the title of Prince of Wrath. Lucifer’s new tool would soon see why. He promised himself that, and then just relaxed and waited. He refused to get all worked up and nervous. It would be what she would want to happen. He would wait. However long it took, he could wait.

Fallis shot straight up in his bed with a dreadful feeling. It wasn’t the recurring nightmare that bothered him. It was something different, something far worse.

He took a few calming breaths, but the bad feeling only grew stronger. Could it be Thoros and the group that had traveled with him to Limbo? He shook his head even before he finished the thought. No—that wasn’t it. It was something much closer to home. Was the demon trying to break down the wards around the property? Double-checking would not hurt anything.

Jumping out of bed, Fallis ran for the open door of his chamber then up the hall and down the stairs to the front door. After quickly throwing the locks, he grabbed the door handle and pulled the door free of the jamb. A new sunny day greeted him. It was already hot and unnaturally humid for this part of the country.

Seeing that Chelsea’s car was missing from the drive sent a flare of anger through him. Baddon was supposed to have let him know the moment she left, so he could cover her with protection and make sure the wards were all still intact around the property.

“Careless ogre,” he mumbled under his breath, and slammed the door as he turned and rushed up the stairs to Baddon’s room.

“Baddon!” Fallis shouted, flinging Baddon’s chamber door open wide, but there was no one in the room. He walked to the bathroom and flipped on the light. No sign of him there, either. Just a hole in the shower wall and some busted granite crumbled on the shower floor.

The sex must have gotten rough last night. Sounds just like Baddon.

Surely he wouldn’t have gone with her knowing the danger they were all in. Fallis shook his head. No. He wouldn’t have done that without at least telling him. Maybe he was in the kitchen feeding his always-empty stomach or in the gym burning off some steam.

He walked back out of the bathroom and headed for the door to check those places, but his eyes were drawn to something attached to the bed and he stopped dead in his tracks. Curious, he walked over to examine the shiny shackles hooked to the iron rails. They weren’t the fuzzy type of cuffs that were sold in sex shops; they were more like the shackles that held Lameria captive down in one of the spare rooms in the basement.

With deep lines creasing his brow, Fallis reached out and lifted one of the restraints up by a finger, and then immediately dropped it when the metal seared his skin.

Shaking his head, he stared down at the restraints in disbelief. “God, no,” he whispered, but the evidence was right there in front of him, and Baddon was not.

The demon was Chelsea, and she had taken Baddon.

“Damien!” Fallis screamed as he ran from the room.

I had to admit that I felt gorgeous. I ran a red, satiny, gloved hand over my waist and thought for the millionth time that the dress fit me perfectly. As it turned out, the bodice wasn’t the only place the
diamonds
adorned. The straps that crisscrossed my back were lined with them as well. I had been afraid to put the thing on, but Trish assured me several times that diamonds weren’t quite the luxury here as they were on Earth. There had even been a princess-cut diamond on the tip of each of the bobby pins Trish had put in my hair. I turned slowly as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The light bounced off the jewels, causing me to shimmer from head to toe.

Wow!

“You look fabulous!” Trish said, and gave me a subtle wink. “All the boys will be falling over each other to get a chance to dance with you.”

I giggled as she fastened a clasp at the nape of my neck, and then I touched the sparkling stones that lay at the hollow of my throat and dangled from my earlobes. I shook my head and watched them sway. “They are beautiful.”

My expression turned somber as I stared at her in the mirror. “What’s it like to live here?”

She shrugged. “I’m happy. There are others who are not, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I had unfinished business and there is no way to fix it. That’s the only way anybody can be happy here: to stop looking and just live out their eternity with the good memories they have. The bad ones will leave once you accept that you’re stuck here.”

My gaze fell when I felt hot tears prick at my eyes. I suddenly felt all the hope of getting the lost spirits and Malcolm out of Limbo drift away from me. The mission was impossible.

“No crying! You’ll smudge! The queen spoke quite highly of your angel friend. I’m positive she will give you all a pass out of here. You are her guests!”

How could there be guests when nobody ever left?
I nodded and accepted the tissue she offered me, but didn’t tell her that was not exactly what I was worried about. If I couldn’t get the five spirits and Malcolm out, then there was no real reason for me to leave here anyway. I will have failed, and Lucifer will have won everything. How was I supposed to convince his soulmate that that was a bad thing? If he ruled Heaven and Earth, wasn’t it possible that he could just release Melina and her people from Limbo when he got out of Hell?

I wanted to talk to Isaiah about this, but I hadn’t heard or felt him in my mind since before we left Earth. I would have to find him quick, before we met with the queen.

“I’m fine. Where are the others?”

“You will see them at the party, if you can find them.” Trish smiled as she held out an exquisite and very delicate-looking white, scarlet and glittery gold mask to cover the top half of my face. “You can’t attend a masquerade ball without your mask.”

I took it from her with a gaping mouth, put it on, and looked back to the mirror. I knew no one would recognize me. I didn’t even know who I was.

“Aren’t you coming? Will I see you there?”

She laughed. “Oh, I’ll be there all right, but my dress won’t be as eye-catching as yours. I’ll be one of the staff carrying a tray of champagne flutes. Find me if you get thirsty.” She mimicked my frown. “Don’t worry. There will be so many people wanting to talk and dance with you that you won’t even miss me. I hear Omega has already requested to be your escort. You must have done something right to get his attention. I’ve never seen him look at anyone except Queen Melina. All of Limbo is gossiping about it—”

My eyes shot open wide and I grabbed her arms a little too roughly. “What?” I shook my head as I began to panic. “Omega can’t be my escort for anything—to anywhere. I already have an escort!” Why would Omega request to be my escort? Was he insane? Did he want Thoros to murder him? Oh, sweet Jesus, this night was already turning out to be a disaster.

I wondered if the queen would believe if I sent word by Trish that I was all of a sudden ill and couldn’t attend the ball. I could request to meet with her afterward and bypass any bloodshed.

“Calm down, Josselyn. I’m sure your man will understand. It’s customary for the female guests to be escorted by one of the royal court. I’ve just never seen Omega step down from the queen’s side and volunteer his arm before. Your other female friends will have escorts from the queen’s chosen, too.”

It was the memory. Omega wanted to know how Thoros got out of Hell. That was the reason he had requested to be my escort. I’d have to find a way to let Isaiah know, so he could relay the message to Thoros.
Dear God, help us all if Thoros doesn’t get the message in time.

I drew in a deep breath and let it all out in a whoosh. “Well, at least all he has to do is walk me into the room, right?”

She sucked air in through her teeth, and then claimed her bold-colored lower lip with her teeth. “Did I forget to mention the escorts get the first dance?”

I couldn’t physically do anything except stand there and blink at her, but in my head I was screaming bloody murder…