Graveyard Shift (25 page)

Chapter 33

“Slow but sure

moves the might of the gods.”

-Euripides

“Blast it all!” I wailed as I dropped the edge of my travel trunk on my big toe. Why had I decided to wear flip flops instead of my new boots?

Gabriel soared up beside me and lifted the trunk by one handle, turning it on its side. “I got it.”

“So much for folding everything,” I grumbled.

Trumpets sounded as Limbo City’s eclectic marching band of souls and nephilim came to the end of Morte Avenue and curled around Market Street. The Olympus Ballet trailed behind them, swishing their sequined costumes, all hand-made by Athena, who was regretfully attending Sa
mhain in Summerland. A dozen Draculas on miniature motor bikes zipped around the ballerinas.

I sighed and draped my arms over the ship railing. Everyone was packed and present, except Maalik. Dating a council member was not turning out to be much of a picnic.  

Josie and Kevin had shown up in matching tee shirts and quickly disappeared into the captain’s quarters after shooing out Saul and Coreen who were furiously disassembling a stuffed frog I had picked up at Flora’s. Even Gabriel and Amy, the Romeo and Juliet of Eternity, were having a blissful time, canoodling around the deck hand in hand.

I looked down at the flowery cocktail dress I had st
upidly decided to wear and shivered. It was perfect for Hell’s weather.... and a perfect excuse for Maalik to snuggle up to me, if he ever showed up.

“What’s wrong with those people?” Maalik shouted to me as he flew over the harbor, cradling a canvas bag the shape and size of a typical soldier’s pack.

I laughed and popped a hand on my hip. “It’s called a parade. Now I know you have those in Hell.”

Maalik’s eyebrows twitched inward as he landed on the deck. “I didn’t get out much in Hell. My work schedule kept me pretty busy.”

“I would say so,” Gabriel huffed behind me. “I haven’t packed one of those things in a long time. You need Lana to take you luggage shopping when you get back.”

“What’s wrong with my bag?” Maalik frowned at the lumpy sack in his arms.

“Nothing,” Gabriel smirked. “If you don’t mind ironing everything before you wear it again.”

Maalik shrugged.

The parade was finally winding down. Two Hindu deities on stilts blew bubbles over the cheering souls crowded down the sidewalks. Behind the four-armed clowns, a frilly float sporting a huge inflatable skeleton signaled the end of the parade. A gust of wind swept up the skeleton’s arms, sending its Styrofoam scythe up in a menacing pose.

I fixed my stare over the gasping souls, hoping I wouldn’t find Winston among them. He was stronger than Khadija, but it would have been nice if she had given him a little more of her modesty and simple wisdom, and not just raw power and nosy insight.

“All ready?” Josie rested an arm on the railing beside me and blushed as I made another face at her “Now where did I put that handbasket?” tee shirt.

“Finally,” I sighed and leaned around her to watch Gabriel drag Maalik off to the guest cabin, giving him a thorough tour of our ship.

“Cut him a little slack. He is on the council.” Josie turned her back on Limbo City as it drifted further away.

Kevin was determined not to get seasick this time
, and he had even volunteered to man the ship all the way to Hell. It felt almost naughty, traveling the sea without any souls or having to do any of the navigating. Maybe being a mentor wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Do me a favor, would you?” I turned to Josie.

“Sure.”

“Don’t remind me about school until we get back.”

“I won’t, if you promise not to cut class this time.”

“That was for Saul’s memorial.”

“And what about the three months after that?” Josie scoffed.

“I was in mourning.”

“At Purgatory Lounge?” She nudged my shoulder with hers. “I mean it, Lana. No slacking this time.”

“I won’t,” I sighed. “I can’t. You’re not going to b
elieve this, but I think I’m up for another promotion.”

“Shut up.” Josie gave me one
of her disbelieving stares and stepped back to throw her hands up in a frustrated eruption. “Please tell me it’s a normal job offer this time and not some suicide mission that will attract more demons than an Ouija board convention.”

“It’s not in stone yet, but I think I’ll be working with the Posy Unit next year.”

“Oh.” Josie tilted her head with a thoughtful frown. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“I guess not.”

Fireworks exploded behind us over Limbo City, now a tiny sliver drenched in fog.

Josie rubbed a hand over my back. “
Then shouldn’t you be happier right now?”

Yeah, I should have been happier. But I was leaving Winston unattended, Horus’s bracelets were stashed in a shoebox in my closet, and I had already begun the dreaded countdown of days
until I would be sitting in a stuffy classroom with Craig Hogan, of all people. Hell was just what I needed right now, the Vegas of Eternity.

A wet nose pressed into the back of my knee. Coreen had turned Mr. Frog into a pitiful amputee. She whimpered at me, squishing the soggy stuffing between her teeth. Josie and I would have to do some shopping in Hell. They prob
ably even had a pet supply store just for hellhounds. Besides, it was going to take a whole lot of shopping to take my mind off everything waiting for me when I returned.

Kevin slipped up beside Josie and wrapped an arm around her waist, giving me an unsure smile. “How’s the ride so far?”

“You’re doing good. How long until we get there?” I asked.

His smile widened with my compl
iment. “About forty-five minutes, I’d say.”

“Lana’s being promoted to the Posy Unit next year. Won’t that be great for your training?” Josie gushed.

“Wow.” Kevin gave her a playful squeeze while I tried to keep my eyes from popping out of my head.

“Don’t be telling everyone! The placement proposal may not even go through.”

“It’s just Kevin. You know, your apprentice, who has to go everywhere you do for the next century.” Josie rested her head on Kevin’s shoulder.

“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled.

Coreen shoved her nose in the back of my knee again, harder this time. I reached down to scoop up the mangled frog and hurled it down the deck. Coreen stumbled over a napping Saul, racking her toenails along the deck floor as she vaulted after the soggy ball of fluff.

I turned back to Josie. “While you’re busy spilling all my secrets, don’t forget to mention that shop-talk is off limits for the duration of this vacation.”

“What about the dinner with the Hell Committee?” Josie grinned.

“Don’t bring it up unless Cindy does first, or the co
nsequences could be dire,” I warned them, twisting what was left of Mr. Frog out of Coreen’s chompers.

Chapter 34

“God is a comedian

playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”

-Voltaire

Two demons met us at the gates of Hell and escorted us, after many groveling greetings, to a ferry waiting at the mouth of the flaming river of blood, Phlegethon. Charon, the Greek ferryman who usually patrolled the river Styx, reached out a skeletal hand to take our luggage. I hardly recognized him without his cowl.

“New dress code in Hell?” I asked, taking in his H
awaiian shirt.

“Casual Fridays.” He shrugged, grinding his shou
lders in their sockets as he examined my passport with a bored sigh.

Charon’s career began in the Greek hell, Tartarus, but when Christianity tore through the land of the living, the a
ncient rivers refused to shrink within their new borders. They spilled outward, filling the new Hell with all their torturous glory, and saving many a pagan demon from an eternity of loitering around the unemployment offices of Hades. Charon knew the definition of job security better than most. As long as the rivers endured, so would he.

Maalik and Gabriel flew over the small gap of fla
ming blood while Kevin, Josie, and I waited for Charon to secure the ramp slanted off the cast-iron deck. Amy leaped the distance, giggling when she almost lost her footing as my hounds followed her onboard. Two horned guards poked spears at the sooty souls howling and clawing the surface of the river with blistered fingers.

“What a perfect beginning for our vacation,” Amy sighed, popping open a cherry red umbrella.

“Yeah,” Josie laughed. “Nothing like a nice relaxing boat ride down a river of flaming souls.”

“I had hoped you would enjoy it.” Amy grinned, not quite catching the sarcasm.

I gave Josie’s hand a warning squeeze. I liked Amy, and it wouldn’t hurt if she put in a good word for me with Cindy. Grim’s comments on my pull within the council got me to thinking. I needed all the allies I could scrape together.

The Inferno Chateau was built on a dark, rocky cliff, overlooking a blazing lake of fire that the river Phlegethon fed into. It wasn’t the Promised Land, but it was breathtaking enough. Twin towers framed an open deck scattered with little gothic tables crammed full of horned and scaled patrons sipping cocktails in their bikinis and flip flops. Beasts of the underworld grazed in a pasture beyond a Victorian iron fence lining the property next to the chateau.

Amy stood and pointed up at the spewing volcanoes to the north of her retreat. “There’s where we’ll be going later. It’s been rated the number one volcanic hiking trail in Hell by
Demon’s Health Magazine
and the
Fallen Frequency
Radio
Station
.”  

Josie raised an eyebrow and frowned at me. “No kidding?”

The ferry passed under a crumbling bridge. I held my breath and watched the monkey demons squawk and flap their webby wings at each other, hoping they were friendlier than the one who had possessed Mrs. Henderson’s mailman.

Charon pulled our ferry right up against another cast-iron deck, where Beelzebub greeted us. “Cindy wished to be here herself, but she had to deliver her report to the Hell Committee first. She looks forward to dining with you t
omorrow evening and has even requested that I grant you the full services of her personal tailor for the occasion. Please, take my card.”

He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and handed me a business card listing his private cell number against an artsy watermark of his nic
kname, Bub.

“Wow, thanks.” Amy blushed at the high ranking demon while Gabriel tried to not notice the way Bub was staring his girl down. The angel’s wings flicked nervously as he stepped out of the boat and held his hand out for Amy.

Bub nodded to us. “Just call whenever you’re ready.” His cell phone went off in his pocket, ringing to the tune of Elvis’s
Devil in Disguise
. He dug it out and gave us a wave, walking away before answering.

“What’s wrong with the clothes we brought?” Gabriel grumbled and examined his tattered white pants and new flip flops.

“I’m sure Cindy’s just trying to be hospitable,” Amy sighed, tangling herself in Gabriel’s arms as he lifted her from the boat. “Are you jealous?”

“Just a little,” he admitted.

“Good, I can make it up to you later,” she purred, curling her tail around his leg.

Gabriel’s breath hissed out in a heady rush. “Later?”

“Or sooner.” Amy reached up and ruffled his curls.

“Where’s our room,” Gabriel asked the luggage a
ttendant.

Amy’s idea of luxury and relaxation wasn’t too d
emonic to appreciate. The suites at the Inferno Chateau were worth trading your soul for. Mine and Maalik’s room had been decorated in shades of crimson and burnt amber. Artfully stained curtains hung in the corners, looking like golden candle wax, melting down from the ceiling. A god-size bed filled a tiered platform rising in front of a huge barred window displaying the frighteningly beautiful volcanoes I had secretly begun to worry about. Maybe I would check some death statistics before doing anything sudden. I’d been putting myself in enough danger lately.

Maalik rested his hands on my hips and pulled me back against his chest. His warm breath pooled over my shoulder
, setting off fireworks in places I had been neglecting far too long. Something of the old Maalik was slipping through. The rush of relief I felt was almost embarrassing. He brushed my curls back with his fingers and planted a lingering kiss against my neck.

I sighed
, melting into him. “I wondered if I was ever going to see this side of you again.”

“I had to take care of business first, but now it’s pla
ytime.” He nipped at my ear.

“Aren’t we supposed to be meeting up with the others for the volcanic hiking trail?” I raised an eyebrow.

Maalik grinned and then kissed his way down my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist as he went. “I slipped Asmodeus an extra coin. We’ll have to go hiking tomorrow. It’s going to be raining fire until later this evening.”

“Raining fire? For me?” I laughed and tilted my head back against his shoulder.

He ran his fingertips up my arms and looped them under the thin straps of my dress. “Let’s not waste it,” he whispered.