Hell's Revenge (15 page)

Boy, did I ever—on my knees, against the wall and bent over. By the time we were done, not only was I squeaky clean everywhere, I fairly burst at the seams with magic.

Dressed and grinning like loons, my boys and I went to the war room where I outlined my plan and, to everyone’s surprise, it was a good one. But I already knew that.

It took us a few days, long impatient ones, to set our plan into motion. I used that time to help Nefertiti devise a spell to complete one phase of it—the part that would render Lilith impotent. What a shame my part of the plan required me elsewhere. I wouldn’t have minded grabbing a bag of popcorn and watching how Nefertiti powered the spell with an orgy of a hundred and fifty men. Maybe she’d tape it and post it on HellTube.

The moment to act arrived and everyone took their places as I prepared to enter Eden’s garden alone.

Auric pulled me aside before my departure. “I don’t like this part,” Auric grumbled as he hugged me tight.

I leaned my head against his chest. “I can do it.”

“I know you can. I just wish you didn’t have to do it alone.” I loved that he finally recognized my strength and loved him even more for worrying about me. “I love you.” I stared up into his eyes. “You’ve put up with a lot and I don’t just mean the havoc that comes with my parentage. I know it hasn’t been easy dealing with my magic and its needs. I don’t know if I could be so understanding were the roles reversed.”

“Well, I’m still not too crazy about the vampire. But, I love you and sharing you is a small price to pay to spend eternity with you. Now, go get our daughter back and know we won’t be far. And if you’re a good girl,” he dipped his head to brush his lips across mine creating a sensual shiver in my body. “We’ll tie you down and eat you until you scream ‘uncle’.”

Auric always did know just the right thing to say. David took his turn next hugging me and murmuring his love as he rubbed his cheek against mine in feline fashion. The vampire, now that we both stood dressed, just gave me a sardonic grin. “I’d wish you luck, but you’ve already got all the horseshoes you need up your ass. So instead I’ll say thanks for allowing me to join your circle.”

“Ah, shut up.” I yanked him to me and hugged him tight. What could I say, the damned vamp was growing on me and in spite of my doubts, my heart widened to include him.

“Are you done already? We are in Hell, after all, not some fucking hippy love fest,” my dad interrupted, his disgust evident.

Just for that I planted a noisy wet kiss on his cheek that had him harrumphing and turning shades of burgundy.

“Let’s do this.” Anticipation coursed through my body. I lived for danger and the thrill of the battle and this definitely counted as a major one.

My dad sketched the portal to the Garden of Eden. He’d gotten the coordinates from his brother, God—they’d played cards for it. My dad, of course, cheated and won.

The swirling doorway appeared and I prayed my theory was right as I entered it to confront my mother and Lilith. Two birds with one stone—or in my case two bitches with my boot up each of their asses.

I stepped into a humid jungle, one not as neatly kept as the one I’d visited before.

The place seemed wilder while the sky’s blue appeared off, not quite the beautiful clear color I remembered.

Lacking patience and subtlety, I got straight to the point and bellowed. “Mother!” I tapped a foot as I waited and when she didn’t immediately appear, I yelled again. “Gaia, you little bitch, get your mother earth ass out here right now before I raze your precious Garden of Eden to the ground.” Apparently, in an effort to woo my mother, God had given her the place as a courting gift. Being a selfish cow, she’d taken it, but never put out in return. As for my dad’s method to get in her pants? He’d called her an uptight bitch—the perfect come-on line to get a woman to spread her legs. Go figure.

Leaves rustled and from the branches stepped Gaia, but not the calm collected one who enjoyed pissing me off. Her face appeared drawn and circles of fatigue outlined her eyes. A tangled mess of hair crowned her head from which poked twigs and leaves. Her gown bore ragged holes while her bare feet peeked from the hem, stained brown with dirt.

I whistled. “Geez mom. Talk about letting yourself go. How are you supposed to win dad back looking like a refugee?”

“Shh!” she hissed, her frightened eyes darting erratically to peer at the woods around us.

I arched a brow. “Excuse me, but you do not shh me. Not when you’ve got a ton of explaining to do, starting with where the fuck is my daughter?”

“Please, you must leave before she finds us.”

“Who? Lilith?” I bared my teeth in a feral grin. “But, I want her to find me. She and I need to have a talk.” My itchy fist and sharp edged sword were impatiently waiting to get acquainted.

My mother straightened up and her face took on the haughty expression I’d come to expect from her. “You’re going to ruin everything.”

“Really? Why not explain what you’re doing and obviously failing at?” Gaia’s lips tightened.

I chuckled. “Oh really, you are so fucking transparent. I grew up with the king of lies and deceit. Let me tell you how I see it and you can correct me if I’m wrong. After putting the boys to sleep in the jungle, defenseless,” I added pointedly with a glare. “You ported your ass over to Lilith’s hideaway. Somehow, you managed to steal the baby from her and teleported my ass out of there, saving me from certain death for which I’ll give you grudging thanks. Then, you expected to hide the baby in your garden and keep her to yourself after wiping everyone’s mind of her and then, when she was old enough, using her to fight Lilith. How am I doing so far?”

“You weren’t supposed to remember anything,” she grumbled.

I snorted. “Fuck with my mind once, shame on me, twice and you’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet. Anyway, as I was saying, you obviously didn’t count on Lilith following you back to your precious garden.”

“She was supposed to be banished for life.” Gaia’s disgruntlement over that error almost made me laugh.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Lilith’s been practicing all kinds of evil magic. Did you think your little magical fence would stop her? It didn’t impede me.”

“So I noticed,” Gaia remarked dryly.

I stuck my tongue out at her. Things were about to get resolved, my way, because, after all, the world, Hell and now, even Eden, would revolve around me and my needs.

“So how long did you figure you could play hide and seek from Lilith before she caught you and Lucinda?”

“You think you know everything don’t you?”

I pretended to think about that, tapping my chin. “Actually, I know everything I need to. And I know your plan sucks.”

“But—”

I narrowed my gaze and lost my jovial attitude. “Listen up, bitch. Because of you and your machinations, Lilith almost got her hands on my daughter. Lucky for you, I survived both your stupid games. Now, hand my daughter over or I’ll take your precious garden apart leaf by fucking leaf until I find her.” I could feel my gaze heating up and judging by the way my mother stepped back, I guess the flames of Hell were dancing brightly in my eyes. Now, if only I could turn on that neat trick during power failures. I’d never need candles again.

“But the destruction I saw in my vision—”

“Is going to happen in about three seconds if you don’t give me my child!” I yelled, done with her hemming.

“You would destroy the world?” Gaia’s eyes widened. “For the sake of one?”

“You messed with the wrong mother from Hell. No one takes my child. Now what’s it going to be?”

Gaia sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Fine. Take her back. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I didn’t, but I also didn’t care. Lucinda belonged with me and her fathers.

“Mommy.”

The childish voice from behind me had me turning and opening my arms wide for the little body that hurtled towards me. I hugged Lucinda to me tight and stood up, cradling her on my hip.

“You found me,” she whispered.

“Always,” I replied in a voice tight with emotion. My daughter’s eyes held a knowledge far beyond the age of her tiny body. Lilith and my mother might have forced her to lose her baby years with their petty games, but I’d do my best to ensure she enjoyed the best childhood from this point forth. I turned back to face my mother, who shook her head sadly.

“Your greed to have your daughter with you will cost us the world. You’ve played right into Lilith’s hands.”

As if her words summoned her, the sky above us darkened. A roiling black cloud crept in, overpowering the blue sky. Lucinda popped a thumb into her mouth and tucked her head into my shoulder. I didn’t detect fear in her, just a curiosity as to what would happen next.

Stay tuned as this mommy from Hell is about to kick some serious ass.

I waited with more patience than I felt for Lilith to make her grand entrance and when she did, to the flare of lightning and roll of thunder, I yawned. “Boring. Don’t you know pyrotechnics are so eighties.”

Lilith’s tight lips flattened into an almost invisible line. “What a shame you survived.

I’ll have to rectify that, right after you hand over the child.” I smiled. “Is this where I say, ‘over my dead body’? How cliché. There is only one possible outcome here and it involves a lot of screaming, mostly by me, as I cheer on your demise.”

I swear my taunts almost made her head explode. Her face turned a mottled red, her fists clenched so tight I expected to see blood dripping and she came close to spewing smoke from her ears.

“Laugh all you want you spawn of the devil, I will prevail. You can’t hope to beat me in a contest of power.”

I smirked. “I thought pissing contests were reserved for men? Seriously. You chose the wrong princess to mess with. I’ll give you one last warning to back off and forget about touching my daughter.” I lied of course. Lilith wouldn’t leave this garden alive.

Besides, I didn’t figure she’d agree.

“So be it,” she intoned.

I sensed movement behind me as Lilith played her treacherous hand. I whirled, the words to a spell on the tip of my tongue, ready to blast Azazel as he dropped down from the trees to attack me. Apparently, my vague recollection of his death wasn’t quite true.

No problem. I’d resolve that in a moment.

With a scream, Gaia threw herself in front of him, protecting me with her body.

Stupid bitch—I had this fight. His claws, meant for me, entered her stomach and exited her back, dripping in green ichor. Gaia slumped to the ground.

“Mom?” I stared in disbelief as the woman I’d scorned gave her life for me, uselessly, as I’d expected this attack and would have easily repelled it.

“I’m sorry.” My mother’s whispered words hurt me, but not as much as I’d hurt Azazel for taking her from me.

Even that revenge became lost to me. The earth under my mother’s body heaved and from the ground where her blood soaked it, sprang roots, gnarly living things that flailed in a macabre dance. They whipped around my mother’s body and dragged her back into the ground. But that’s not all they did.

They wrapped around Azazel and though the demon slashed and pulled, the roots twined about him, dozens, hundreds, until all that remained were his eyes. I quite enjoyed their wide, wild look, the dawning horror. Cocooned, the earth opened up and swallowed Azazel whole.

It seemed killing Mother Earth pissed off the garden. That, or demons made great fertilizer. I whirled back to Lilith in time to catch her raising her hands and chanting words of power that made my hair stand on end. Probably not a good sign. But again, my plan had predicted this.

“Ready baby girl?” I whispered to my daughter. Lucinda gave a slight nod. Linked by proximity, I drew on my daughter’s untutored power as Nefertiti had taught me.

Alone, I lacked the strength, but together with my little atom bomb—just call us unstoppable.

Lilith stalked toward me, lightning dancing from her fingertips, her expression as dark as the storm she’d called. I felt the slam against my mental shields first; however, I’d learned a lot since Gabriel had played with my mind. I giggled at her attempt. “Ooh, that tickles. Do it again.” Unlike before, not only did I have my own power times three, I drew on Lucinda’s raw magic as well and rebuffed the mental invasion without breaking a sweat.

Lilith snarled. The ground under my feet rumbled and the crashing sound of toppling trees echoed. Cracks zigzagged toward me, threatening to swallow me whole. So I floated above the heaving earth and drove Lilith even crazier.

Rule number one when in a fight—never lose your temper. Rule number two—be sure to provoke that of your opponent’s. And rule number three—cut them off from their source of power. Lilith’s strength, while formidable on its own, required the consumption of souls stolen from Hell for truly remarkable heights. Naughty me, I’d cut her off from her magical battery. Nefertiti, enjoying herself in a Guiness record orgy, locked those souls down tight with the erection, pun intended, of a shield around Hell, thus restricting Lilith’s magic.

I smiled serenely and even chuckled a few times as Lilith threw magical attacks at me: lightning, fire, wind, more mind invasions. Her power waned and I watched as she tried to draw on her previous fount of souls and came up dry.

“What have you done?” she screeched.

I batted my lashes innocently. “Who me?” Lucinda giggled at my exaggerated tone, a sweet sound that spurred me to end this, once and for all.

“I don’t need magic to kill you,” she spat stalking closer to me.

“But you could have used friends.”

“Who says I didn’t bring any?” She let out a sharp whistle.

I snickered, truly enjoying myself and without having shed any blood—yet. “Oops, did I forget to mention I brought some of mine along to play with yours. Oh boys,” I sang.

They strode from the woods of Eden, my trio of men dressed in black leather and looking wickedly delicious. With them came my dad, dressed in his black cape and looking suavely dangerous. My father threw a decapitated demon head at my feet.

“Happy birthday,” he announced.

“I still want a cake,” I announced. “A pink one,” I added just to get that pained look on my dad’s face.