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  She hustled in his wake, though she spared a longing glance at the clean fresh water in the pool. Being covered in sticky gore—particularly her own—had never really been a favorite pastime, and she didn’t trust minion claws not to be infected with something nasty. But apparently washing her arm was a delay they couldn’t afford. The tension in Jay’s shoulders told her wherever they were, it wasn’t where they wanted to be.

  “Leaving so soon, darling? And here I was hoping you would introduce me to your little friend.”

  The voice was purring, sweet and high—sugar coating every word—and it still made chills shoot down Sasha’s spine.

  Jay slammed on the brakes. “Fuck. Don’t say anything,” he hissed hurriedly before he turned toward the voice. Sasha could see each muscle in his body lock down Fort Knox-tight. “Jezebeth.” The word was a curse and did nothing to quiet Sasha’s deafening unease.

  “Jevroth. For shame. Is that any way to greet your mother?”

  Sasha’s vague sense of dread solidified. Lovely. The in-laws.

  Chapter Nine

  Hell Hath No Fury Like Satan’s Mistress

  The demoness Jezebeth didn’t look like anyone’s mother, but if ever a woman was sultry enough to tempt Lucifer himself, she’d just walked into the room.

  Petite and feminine, her lush curves were accentuated rather than concealed by the crimson bikini-mini-skirt-and-straps concoction she was almost wearing. Sasha had seen exotic dancers in more modest clothing. Jezebeth’s unbound hair swirled like a midnight cloud around her hips as she oozed toward them, a sexy little pout on her lips. She didn’t look like she had a maternal bone in her body.

  Jay put a hand on Sasha’s hip and guided her behind him so his broad shoulders partially blocked her view. His chest seemed to expand as he loomed protectively between her and his mother. His petite, utterly harmless-looking mother.

  Looks are deceiving. Especially here.

  “You weren’t going to leave without seeing me, were you, Jevroth? After all the trouble I’ve gone to bringing you home?” She almost sang the words, kitten-soft and petulant like a child, but Sasha heard the threat in them.

  The Bettie Page demoness who looked about twenty years too young to be Jay’s mommy began circling them, kitten heels clacking on the Turkish marble tiles. Jay shifted slowly as she circled, keeping his body between them.

  “No, my son wouldn’t do that. Not when he knows how it would reflect on me.” Jezebeth caught the trailing edge of one of the gauzy hangings, running it through her fingers. “And not when he knows how I’ve been longing to meet his girlfriend.”

  Sasha couldn’t help it. She snorted out a laugh.

  Jezebeth’s smile was arctic, dangerous. “Amused, my dear?”

  Jay shot her a dark look over his shoulder. A shut-the-fuck-up look if she’d ever seen one, but something reckless uncoiled in Sasha’s breast and she shot him a go-screw-yourself look and smiled sweetly. “It’s just that I’ve been trying to get Jay to meet my parents for ages. I can totally empathize.”

  Jay made a choking noise, turning a little purple as she bonded with his mother.

  Jezebeth studied her, eyes narrowed as she judged everything about her. “You’re a lovely thing, aren’t you? But then I suppose I should have expected as much, considering your lineage. You have his look about you. Around the eyes, mostly.”

  Whose look? “Wh—”

  “I never get to meet Jevroth’s ladyloves.” Jezebeth pouted, cutting off Sasha’s question in favor of the sound of her own voice. “You’d almost think he was ashamed of me.”

  “My mother said almost exactly the same thing. I tried to explain that it had nothing to do with her. Jay’s commitment issues are his own problem.”

  “Sasha.” Jay’s shut-the-fuck-up look was getting more forceful by the second.

  “No, no, Jevroth, she’s only telling the truth. And I know exactly what she means,” Jezebeth said, her black eyes flashing angrily. “Try waiting a couple millennia for your lover to commit to you, flitting off on affairs with succubi whenever he bloody well pleases but unleashing the wrath of Hell if you even look at another demon lord. Men.”

  When she put it that way, Jezebeth did have a teensy bit more grounds for complaint than Sasha did in her measly six-month affair with a lying son-of-a-demon.

  “But he’s mine now. Him and all the Dominions of Hell,” Jezebeth purred and Sasha experienced the unsettling sensation of feeling sorry for Lucifer. “And I’m sure you realize, my dear, I won’t be allowing anything to jeopardize that. Especially not some pipsqueak angels’ pawn with a Champion’s contract.”

  And here they’d been getting along so well.

  “Nothing personal, darling, but if you think you’re going to take Jay out of here tonight and derail the plan I spent four hundred years developing, I’m afraid you’re about to discover what real evil looks like.”

  Jay had gotten out of position, letting Jezebeth creep around for a better angle on Sasha, but now he moved to block her entirely, giving her a great view of his muscular back and nothing else.

  “Out of the way, Jevroth.”

  “Touch her over my dead body,” Jay growled, raising the katana.

  “Do you dare threaten your own mother?”

  “You threaten Sasha.”

  “You would challenge the Queen of Hell for a mortal girl you haven’t even known a year?” Jezebeth laughed sharply. “I raised you to be smarter than that.”

  “You raised me to pick my battles. I pick this one.”

  A deep voice rippled across the chamber, rich with power. “You aren’t having a battle without me, are you?”

  “Luc.” Sasha couldn’t see Jezebeth, but she could clearly hear her voice raise to a wheedling baby-talk pitch. “Jevroth won’t let me kill the angels’ little pawn.”

  “That is quite cruel of him,” the voice of Luc—which Sasha really hoped wasn’t short for Lucifer—replied.

  She heard footsteps and then a tall, blond man with crystal-blue eyes came into view. For a moment, Sasha stopped breathing and just stared. He made Uriel’s heart-stopping angelic beauty pale in comparison. Charisma and a sense of power poured off him. A white dress shirt and tailored pants were hardly demonic attire, but Sasha knew instantly that this was the most famous fallen angel to ever exist. The Morning Star, Light Bringer and ruler of the Underworld. Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness himself.

  “Jay,” Satan said casually, nodding to her lover. “Good to see you.”

  “Sir.” Jay lowered the katana slightly, bowing his head.

  My boyfriend is on a first-name basis with the Devil. Sasha’s brain shut down in protest.

  “Your mother seems set on killing someone,” the Root of All Evil said conversationally. He studied Sasha from head to foot, as if searching for the source of his bride’s irritation. “I do hate to disappoint her.”

  There must have been some unspoken signal in those words, because Jay relaxed visibly, stepping aside so he was no longer acting as her personal demon shield. “I guess we have a problem then, sir, because I’m not going to let anyone hurt Sasha,” he said.

  “It is a conundrum.” Lucifer linked his hands behind his back. “Perhaps if she weren’t holding the angel’s sword it might soften your mother’s feelings toward her.”

  “She threatens you, my love. Yet another reason to kill her,” Jezebeth said eagerly, kitten heels slapping the tiles as she pranced to Lucifer’s side to coo up at him.

  Sasha looked down at the angelic Desert Eagle, surprised to find it still in her hand. She quickly holstered it and began stammering an apology, but Lucifer held up his hand and the words stalled in her throat.

  “I’m sure you didn’t mean to bring a weapon into my presence. Did you, Miss Christian?”

  “No, of course not,” Sasha said quickly, raising her now-empty hands as if that could confirm the innocence of her intentions.

  Lucifer approached, his smile so charming she felt all h
er reservations about him melting under its warmth. “You understand my difficulty, Miss Christian,” he said, his blue eyes entreating. “My bride wants you dead and I so wish to please her, but my new stepson is ready to defend your life with his own and he is less expendable. A demon with his unique gifts is so valuable.”

  She knew she shouldn’t ask, but… “His gifts?”

  Lucifer tapped his temple. “Reading minds. Very rare, you know.”

  Reading… Sasha’s stomach took a swan dive toward her toes. Suddenly every thought she’d ever had in Jay’s presence was subject to reevaluation. The concept of privacy vanished. An intense sense of violation rolled over her. Every time he gave her that searching look, was he really digging around in her head?

  Sasha stepped backward, needing some distance between herself and the demon who had managed to find yet another thing to conceal from her. Mind reading. Jesus Christ. She sidled away until she had a clear view of all the players—now didn’t seem to be the time to be walking into anything blind.

  “If I can’t kill her, just let me torture her a little,” Jezebeth pleaded, pouting prettily and tossing a tennis-ball-sized fireball between her fingertips.

  Lucifer smiled indulgently. Jay just stood there, infuriatingly impassive.

  Sasha wanted nothing more than to scream at him, but first she needed to get away from Lucifer and his pet psychopath—who just happened to be Jay’s mother. Dodged a bullet mixing with that gene pool.

  She tried to remember the gatekeeper’s instructions for negotiating in Hell. How did it start? Give a compliment to figure out what they really want. How did that even work? And what could the Prince of Darkness want from her? For that matter, what did the Devil want from anyone? He was the Devil. He’d fought God and been cast down from Heaven only to build an empire for himself in Hell. If ever someone knew how to take what he wanted, it was Lucifer.

  What do you get for the Devil who has everything?

  “You’re looking well, sir. Married life seems to agree with you.” Jay spoke before she could. Unease snaked through her mind at the idea that he might have been trolling through her thoughts even now.

  “Does it?” Lucifer’s laugh echoed through the room.

  Sasha realized she was smiling like an idiot, enchanted into submission by the sound. Even Jezebeth and Jay didn’t appear to be immune to Lucifer dark, compelling radiance. Jezebeth giggled coyly and Jay’s lips quirked up in a hint of a smile.

  Shaking off the spell of his laugh, Sasha studied the world’s most famous villain. He was supernaturally good-looking, supernaturally charming, and Hell was at his feet, but everyone wanted something. Demons were notoriously ambitious by nature. So what was Lucifer’s current ambition? And how could she use it against him?

  “I’ve been remiss not to visit since the wedding, but now that I’m here, I suppose it falls to me to ask you what your intentions toward my mother are?”

  Lucifer went still, his eyes alert, a small smile curving his lips. “My intentions?”

  “Why did you marry her?” Jay asked, the slightest edge of challenge in his voice.

  Sasha felt certain she was missing the significance of this conversation. The undercurrents in the room were so far beneath her depth she could barely feel them, but Jay was doing something. It’d be nice if she had the first clue what it was.

  “She thinks you only married her to gain more access to me—but you were already more father to me than any other creature on Hell or earth. You had all the influence you needed. So why agree to marriage after all these centuries?”

  Lucifer’s good cheer vanished. “What are you playing at, Jay?”

  “I want to live on the mortal plane. Indefinitely.”

  His mother gasped, horrified. “Jevroth. How can you mean that? Why would you want to leave Hell to live among the filthy, small-minded humans?”

  Jay continued speaking, pleading his case directly to Lucifer. “I never belonged here and to some it is risky to have me here. If I stay I will never be anything other than a tool in the power games. A dangerous tool.”

  “Jay,” Jezebeth pleaded, her voice unnaturally high. More fireballs began orbiting her like hyperactive moons. “You belong here. You’re a demon. Where else would you belong?”

  “There are no secrets around me.” Jay ignored his mother, his dark eyes intent on Lucifer. “And some secrets are bombs just waiting to be detonated. If, for example, I were to tell my mother how you—”

  “Jevroth.” The single word was a command. Lucifer didn’t need to raise his voice to freeze Jay’s words in the air. “Leaving isn’t without risks.”

  “I’ll take my chances with redemption. I love Sasha—without manipulations or power plays.”

  Lucifer arched one golden brow. “You show your human side tonight. But love without conditions, manipulations and power plays—that isn’t the demon way. You will tire of it, much more quickly than you think. I would have grown bored of your mother centuries ago if I didn’t suspect she was secretly trying to dethrone me and rule in my stead.”

  “Oh, Luc,” Jezebeth said, blushing prettily.

  Trust the psycho to be flattered by being suspected of treachery.

  “Are you afraid?” Sasha asked, then shuddered as all eyes in the room locked on her. But she kept talking, hoping she wasn’t digging her own grave. “Sure, everyone knows you can hold your throne by manipulation and deceit. No one can outmaneuver Lucifer. But if they had a choice, if Jezebeth had a choice, would you still rule? I think you covet respect that isn’t forced, but freely given. Love that isn’t bought, but a gift.”

  The Devil laughed. “Save me from the humans and their psychotherapists.”

  “I think you want your people—demons, whatever—to choose you. But they can’t do that unless you give them the chance to choose—”

  “Stop. It’s adorable, your attempt to fight for young Jay. But I will not give him the choice to leave any more than I will give you the choice whether I allow Jezebeth to kill you. You cannot persuade me, my dear.”

  Sasha’s heart plummeted.

  Lucifer steepled his fingers in front of his lips, studying Jay. “It’s a dangerous game you play, Jay, threatening the Devil. Are you sure she’s worth it? It’s still a risk.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  “If I allow it—”

  “Luc! You can’t honestly be considering this. He’s my son. Mine.” Jezebeth stomped a dainty foot, sparks shooting from her fingertips to singe the tiles.

  “And what’s yours is mine, my dear. I’ve decided it’s time young Jay left the nest.”

  “Lucifer!” Jezebeth shrieked.

  The Devil ignored her, waving them toward the arched doorway. “Go on. Both of you. Before I change my mind.”

  Jay started to reach for her, but Sasha ducked away from his hand. Mind reading. His lies just kept snowballing.

  “I’m not finished with you, angelspawn!” Jezebeth screamed and the door in front of them burst into flames.

  Sasha gasped and fell back away from the searing heat. Jay caught her, her back pressing against his chest as his arms steadied her.

  “Jezebeth,” Lucifer roared and the room quaked. This was one lovers’ spat Sasha really didn’t want to be in the middle of.

  “Come on,” Jay whispered against her ear. “It’s an illusion.” He began to guide her toward the flaming door, but Sasha balked as the heat from the flames made her skin feel baked.

  “I can feel them,” she protested.

  “My mother can’t conjure fireballs, but she’s Queen of Lies. Trust me, it’s an illusion.”

  Trust him. Always those damn words.

  As the room shuddered again, Sasha put her hand into his. “Don’t make me regret this.”

  Closing her eyes, she let him pull her straight into the fire.

  Chapter Ten

  Truths & Consequences

  As soon as they touched the flames, the sensation of heat vanished. Running
through the doorway, they stumbled into a hallway that matched the blandness of her first foray into Hell, but this time Sasha knew the beige paint was hiding secrets. She’d found nothing but secrets here so far.

  Jay began to pull her down the hall and Sasha slipped her hand from his grasp. “I’m not going one more step with you until…” Until what? She couldn’t even issue a good ultimatum. Her brain was still playing catch-up from the satanic duel she’d just started.

  Jay backtracked to her side. “I know you have questions, but we don’t have time right now for an interrogation. We have to get you back to the mortal plane.”

  “We have hours before dawn.” And even though he knew the way, she couldn’t be dependent on him to get her out right now. They’d gone beyond questions and mistrust. She needed to get away from him. Just a few minutes out of his presence to think, to sort everything through.

  “We don’t have hours,” Jay said, patience in every word. “Time works differently here. We have an hour, max, and the exits aren’t always where you leave them. Hell’s like a casino—everything is designed to bring you in and keep you here. Getting out is always a challenge, even if you know the way, so we need to run. Unless you want to be stuck in Hell with me forever?”

  “Running is good.”

  They jogged in air-conditioner-humming silence through a maze of corridors which occasionally rumbled with earthquake tremors—reminders that Lucifer and Jezebeth were still going at it.

  “Are they going to kill each other?” she asked, grateful for her morning cardio routine so she was only panting a little.

  “They haven’t yet,” Jay replied, not even a tiny bit out of breath—this from the man whose exercise regimen consisted of sitting on the couch with a remote control. Demonic physiology was just unfair.

  “What did you threaten him with?”