The Road To Hell Part 14

"You helped me when I needed it. Now I must help you."

"Really?" A celestial-turned-infernal ent.i.ty, in my debt? Ooh, possibilities. "So how'm I supposed to cash in on this unexpected windfall?"

She smiled, displaying her pearly whites. "Think of me as your guardian angel, Jesse Harris. I'll be watching you." With that, she blinked out of existence.

Bless me, Angel and Daun would be a perfect freaking match. What was it about otherworldly beings watching me these days?

And why did they keep accosting me in or near the bathroom?

Chapter 10.

Paul's Apartment (II) I opened my dresser drawers and pawed through my clothing. Later, at Spice, I'd be covered in temporary wrappings, like a living birthday gift. Until then, I'd be content in a green turtleneck, jeans, and low-heeled boots. The bra and matching panties I picked were puritanical: opaque and full coverage. The red satin of the material, though, would have been worn by Puritans subsequently burned at the stake for witchcraft. Paul liked this particular set of lingerie-he said it was the perfect combination of "wicked innocence."

Paul.

I need s.p.a.ce.

My lip curled into a snarl. That angel-groping White-Knight-wannabe I'm-so-f.u.c.king-righteous Paul Hamilton.

No, stop that. Snarling messes up the lip liner.

I glanced at the clock radio on the nightstand. My shift at the club didn't start for a couple more hours. Plenty of time to stuff my belongings into a suitcase and finding a temporary place to hang my hat.

And shower again, if necessary.

I reached under the bed and emerged with Paul's Louisville Slugger. The wood felt comfortable in my hands. Natural. I hefted it, brought it down into the meat of my palm, where it hit with a satisfying thwock!

I nodded grimly. Perfect.

Even though I wasn't hungry, I decided to make something to eat. I'd need my full strength when I introduced the baseball bat to the living room walls.

Stomping down the hall, bat in tow, I was about to turn the corner to enter the miniscule kitchen when the fine hairs at the base of my neck stood on end.

I wasn't alone.

The leather chair in the living room, its huge back to me, slowly spun around.

Biting my lip, I raised the bat high over my shoulder, ready to knock whatever was waiting for me into the next level of existence via grand slam. Not that the Slugger would do me much good if it were Lillith turning around-her weakness was iron, not wood. But getting her stomach mashed into pulp would slow her down.

Wondering if I had time to race into the kitchen to grab a cast-iron frying pan, I watched the chair finish its spin, stopping when the person seated in it was fully visible. And then I felt my heart stop.

Sitting in the chair, the Fury Alecto smiled, white fangs gleaming against the jet of her charred flesh. The vipers of her hair rose in a reptilian beehive, hissing a h.e.l.lo.

On the floor in the living room, the glyph glowed a brutal crimson... then disappeared.

I was out of time. The bat slipped from my numb fingers.

"Don't worry," Alecto said. "You won't be needing that."

My voice a trapped scream, I said, "You told me I'd have a human's day to think about it."

"It's the next day, is it not?"

Mental note: Nefarious creatures don't operate in real time.

"So," she said, twisting a strand of snake around her pinkie, "have you made your choice, Fury friend?"

"Um. Working on it."

She stared at me, her bleeding eyes spilling over her cheeks like red wine. "You have had more than enough time to consider. Now make your choice. Return with me to h.e.l.l, now, and I will take you to Megaera. Or stay here and never know what has happened to my sister. Choose."

I thought about Meg-how she'd sneak me away from Apocalypse Drills, how we'd toast eyeb.a.l.l.s over the smoldering bonfires in the Heartlands, how we'd mock the elite and whisper our secrets that we would never trust with anyone else.

How I loved her.

Love sucks, Daun reminded me. It plays head games with your heart and heart games with your head.

A month ago, Meg had made her choice. And now I made mine. I met Alecto's murderous gaze and said, "I'm staying."

The Fury's hair recoiled, the serpents tangling and hissing. Her face contorted into a mask of utter rage. "You will never see her again, you who were Jezebel."

I hated it when supernatural ent.i.ties tried to strong-arm me into anything. Crossing my arms under my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, I said, "I made my choice, Erinyes."

Our gazes locked, the air between us thick with tension. After a small eternity, she hissed through her teeth, a sad, defeated sound. In a voice completely stripped of malefic ire, she said, "That's just great. I should have known the hard sell wouldn't work with you."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

She ran a taloned hand over her eyes. The black snakes of her hair nipped at her clawed fingers, perhaps trying to cheer her up. Without looking at me, Alecto said, "Fine. Let's try the direct approach. You still care for my sister. I saw it in your face yesterday when you thought I was she. You still love Megaera."

"That's debatable," I said, my head spinning from the Fury's abrupt change in demeanor.

"Don't lie to me." She lowered her hand and raised her head until her b.l.o.o.d.y gaze met my own. "Your feelings are tattooed to your soul. I see the truth of things clearly. You still love my sister."

"So what if I do? I made my choice," I said, sounding far more confident than I felt.

"The wrong one. I need you to come with me, freely and of your own will."

My heartbeat quickened with antic.i.p.ation. "Why?"

Her lips pulled up in a tight smile. "I need you to accompany me to h.e.l.l so that you can save Megaera."

After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I said, "Care to explain that?"

Alecto sighed-such a perfectly normal sound. Just an ancient burned woman with bleeding eyes and snakes for hair and the mother of all serpents for a stole. Other than the form itself, there was nothing overtly threatening about her. For now. She said, "When Megaera failed to bring you back to h.e.l.l, she subjected herself to the King's judgment. And He found her wanting."

"Maybe He missed that episode. Meg led me to my death. She did her job." Duty over friendship. I worked my jaw, grinding my teeth together hard enough that sparks should have flown from my mouth. Bless me, even a month later, the betrayal still burned.

"She was supposed to bring you back. That was her a.s.signment. She failed."

The memory of Meg's voice, just before she kissed me and left me to die: Will you return with me now?

I told Alecto, "No, that's not right. Meg offered me a choice." The ghost of Meg's touch made my lips tingle, and I tasted mint and old parchment.

Her sister stared at me, blood seeping from her eyes. Alecto's hair writhed around her face, the serpents twining and untwining, pulsing with menace. "The choice was not hers to give. And now she suffers for making that decision."

Suffers.

I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering from the ice that crept up my spine. For a creature of the Pit to truly suffer, the punishment must be particularly horrid. Bile rose in my throat as an image came to me of one of h.e.l.l's more gruesome torments: Meg chained, spread-eagled and dripping in honeyed mead, her body draped over a badger's den. Her screams would not be loud enough to cover the sound of the animal digging its way up and out, burrowing through her flesh. Once the creature tore its way to the layer with the sweet liquid, Meg's wounds would slowly bind themselves together, the badger would be replaced, and the scene would play itself out again.

And again.

I whispered, "What is He doing to her?"

"I did not lie to you before. Return with me, now, and I will take you to her. Will you come with me?"

Again, a choice from an Erinyes.

"Why didn't you ask for my help yesterday? Why did you try to intimidate me into doing what you wanted?"

Her mouth tightened into a thin line. "I am unused to mortals saying no to me. And I have never before asked a human for help." She shrugged. "I am what I am, tempter girl. So the question is, are you truly a Fury friend? Will you come with me and save Megaera?"

Meg's face appeared in my mind. I saw her blue eyes sparkle with wicked thoughts, heard the sound of her joyous laugh.

Oh, Meg. You betrayed me, betrayed our friendship out of a loyalty to h.e.l.l. I should let you rot.

But bless it all, Alecto was right: I loved her still. More than a thousand years of friendship was too hard to ignore.

"She's your sister," I said, my throat dry. "Why don't you save her?"

"I am not allowed."

"Allowed?" I spat out a surprised laugh. "Who can tell you otherwise?"

The snakes of Alecto's hair rose up as one, their mouths dropping open in a collective hiss. The gargantuan serpent around her shoulders unwound its tail, rattled its threat. The Fury's face remained stoic, impa.s.sive, but her fingers drummed a beat on her chair's armrest. "She is being rightfully punished. Even I must follow rules, tempter girl. There is no way for me to free her. But you," Alecto said, her voice dropping low, "you escaped h.e.l.l."

Barely.

"You bucked the King's authority once before. You can do it again. Please," she said, the word clearly foreign to her tongue, "come back with me. Save my sister."

My heart thumped, the beat sounding far too loud to my ears as I considered her request.

I wanted to say yes. Whether it was to escape Paul's judgment or to find a way to help my old friend, I wanted to tell her yes, take me back. Take me away from this plane of despair and destruction, where people murder each other with words and actions, where humans are the demons of their world.

Take me home.

But I had too many questions, and no answers. Why was she asking for help instead of demanding it, forcing my hand? And why was Alecto convinced that I-a former fifth-level succubus and infernal runaway-could somehow free a being nearly as powerful as the Almighty?

"I'm an exotic dancer," I said, "not a hero."

"You're her friend."

Yes. But h.e.l.l didn't give a fig about friendship. Something stank to high Heaven, and it wasn't the brimstone. "Will you give me a spiffy talking sword, or something like that?"

Alecto's mouth pulled down into a scowl. "What?"

"Well," I chirped, "isn't that how it works? The intrepid heroine receives a talking sword, or some sort of magic item that will help her in her quest to save the world, retrieve the potion, or destroy the ring of power?"

The Erinyes growled, and her snakes hissed in reptilian harmony. "Do you joke?"

Some ent.i.ties have no sense of humor.

"No dice," I said, lifting my chin high. "I'm not going. Nothing could hurt Meg, not unless she wanted to be hurt. You of all beings know that. She's a Fury."

A moment pa.s.sed as she quivered with hatred. She spat, "Small wonder she left you to your fate." Then she poofed away in burst of malefic sulfur.

I waved away the stink of rotten eggs, noting that this time, the Erinyes left the floor unscathed. Figured. When I wanted to trash the place, the nefarious ent.i.ty cleaned up after herself.

Staring at the baseball bat on the floor, I debated taking my emotions out on the Nagels hanging on the wall. But the encounter with Alecto had left me uneasy, unsettled-and without an appet.i.te for destruction. I sighed. Maybe chocolate would cheer me up.

Meg, wherever you are, you have to fend for yourself.

Because I would be d.a.m.ned if I ever returned to h.e.l.l.

Chapter 11.

Spice/Paul's Apartment "Jesus! Careful with that elbow, Jezzie. You almost poked my eye out."

"Sorry," I muttered, not tearing my gaze from the vanity mirror. My hair was being positively scary today. Must have been influenced by all of Alecto's snakes. Well, screw it. I'd be doing the Rocker Groupie thing in a few minutes; might as well go for big hair circa 1987. I took my brush and started teasing out my locks, adding about three inches to my height.

Paul certainly liked taller women, if the way he'd been fawning over Angel at the dance club was any indicator.

You're being silly, my stupid conscience said. Angel had been flirting with him, not the other way around. And she did it only because Daun had told her to. That wasn't Paul's fault.

Right. The White Knight could do no wrong.

Of course he could do wrong. He's only human.