The Hot Damned Collection 1, page 85
part #1 of Hot Damned Series
"My BFF. You'll love her. She creates lightning storms and can change decor in no time flat."
"Is she coming to the dance?" Myrtle asked as she decapitated several offending dolls with the flick of her pinky finger.
"Yep."
"Good, this is a clusterfuck waiting to happen," she muttered disgustedly as she stomped out of the gym, but not before she zapped several more Demons and a few Heavenly chimes.
"Dixie, come here," Lucy said. Her tone was off and her body was stiff. She stared at the floor and her normally rosy complexion had gone pale.
"What?"
"Look," she whispered.
On the wooden floor of the gym, partially obscured by a ridiculous fluffy cloud was a bracelet. A lovely delicate bracelet. Eve's bracelet—the one with the language I couldn't read engraved into the woven bands. A ray of sun shining through the skylight caught it and it glistened.
"That's not a mistake," Lucy said as she squatted down and examined it. "It's her bracelet. She was here."
"Or someone took the bracelet and put it here," I said as I picked it up and held it. The magic that flowed from it was strong and it carried my mother's signature clearly. "Do you feel that?"
"I do." Lucy nodded and ran her fingers over it. "She put it here. I only can scent her. No one else has touched it. Do you think she's dead?"
"No. She'd have to have the Sword of Death, but… " Holy Hell, did Eve steal the Sword of Death? Was she going to kill herself? No. She was too selfish to kill herself. She might be tempted, but it would all be for show.
"But what?"
"She's not dead. We would know. She may win the Asstastic Mother of the Millennium Award, but she's still our blood and we would feel her death."
"You sure about that?" Lucy asked doubtfully.
"Yep. It's a story my father told me as a child—we know when our blood dies. We will feel it. All these years I've lived with the pathetic hope that I would meet her because I never felt her death."
"That certainly turned out to be a disappointment," Lucy snapped.
I turned the bracelet over in my palm and realized the script was the same as the text in The Beginning of Time. This was no mistake, but was it a trap? Was Eve part of my purpose or was she the harbinger of my downfall? I was Balance, but she was the Balance of Chaos. Were we natural enemies? I carefully slipped the bracelet on my arm and a searing shot of pain sliced through my head. I dropped to the floor and curled to a ball. Damn her. Damn her to Hell.
"Oh my God," Lucy screamed. "I don't care if she's a fucking True Immortal. She is so dead. Dixie, don't die. Let me take that thing off of you."
My sister tried in vain to remove the bracelet. The moment I put it on, it became a part of me and it was going nowhere fast.
"I'm okay," I mumbled as I got to my knees and looked at my arm. "What the Hell was that?"
"Oh my God," Thing One screeched from the far side of Heaven. "Do you love it or what?" She barreled into the gym followed by the other chattering Things.
Lucy pulled me to my feet and stood slightly in front of me, effectively covering my throbbing red arm. "I wouldn't say love," Lucy quipped.
"Thank you!" Thing Three gushed, completely missing Lucy's sarcasm. "We worked for a whole hour on the Devil."
"I'm sure he would appreciate that," I muttered.
"You are so funny, Dixie," Thing Two sang as she turned circles in Heaven and giggled up a storm. How Lucy spent any time with these girls was still a mystery to me. From the look on her face it was a mystery to her too.
"Oooookay," Thing One said as she straightened out some tangled wind chimes. "The dance committee has to be here early tomorrow. Six o'clock sharp. We get to help the band set up and they are hotter than sin!" she screamed at decibels meant to attract strays.
Thing Three whipped out her lip gloss and applied it as she doled out the rest of the instructions. "Now you two can't be late. Come in the side door because the front will be locked until eight. Bring your costume so you don't mess it up. I'll bring hairspray and extra faux blood in case anyone needs it."
"I'm bringing vodka and Percocet," Thing Four volunteered. "Is anyone bringing Oreos?"
"I will," Thing Two said. "Ewww, what happened to the Demons?"
They stared in horror at the decapitated and crushed dolls.
"Um… Myrtle didn't feel they look quite right, so she fixed them," I said sincerely.
"I think it's perfect," Lucy said and nudged me.
They paused in confusion for a minute and then began to hop around like bunnies. "Me too," they shrieked in unison.
Help me Satan, they were almost too stupid to live.
"We're skipping class tomorrow to get our hair dyed green," Thing One explained. "So we'll see you two at six!"
"Toodles," they yelled as they exited the gym en masse.
"Green?" I asked.
"Green," Lucy answered.
"Gonna be fun."
Lucy grinned and shrugged. "It won't be boring."
Chapter Thirty-Five
The bracelet enabled me to read The Beginning of Time. I'd spent a good part of the evening before and the entire afternoon trying to piece together the stories. I no longer thought Eve had sabotaged me. I believed in her own pathetic way she was trying to help. Lucy didn't buy it and had tried for hours to remove the bangle from my arm. The book made me feel itchy and antsy.
"Leave it be, Lucy," Janet said. She ruffled Lucy's hair and looked over my shoulder at the book. "What does it say?"
"Even though I can read it, I can't make sense of all the words," I admitted. "But I'm pretty sure there are more True Immortals than the ones we know about. There's a bizarre passage about a child that will encompass all the Immortal traits."
"Are there more True Immortal traits than the ones we already know?" Myrtle asked.
"What in the Hell are True Immortal traits?" Lucy asked as she eyed my bracelet distrustfully.
"God is Good, Satan is Evil, Dixie's grandpa is Wisdom, Mother Nature is Emotion, Angel of Death is Death, Angel of Light is Life, Eve is Temptation, Astrid is Compassion and Dixie is Balance," Myrtle rattled off the list by rote.
"So there are more?" Janet mused.
"I'm not sure. It doesn't say here, or it's just tied up in the language I don't understand."
"Maybe the other True Immortals running around are spare heirs," Lucy said.
"That's freakin' genius!" Myrtle slapped Lucy on the back and she went flying across the room. "Whoops. Sorry."
"You are one strong little skinny girl," Lucy grumbled as she got up.
"I said sorry." Myrtle grinned and flexed her little arms.
Myrtle was such a little shit. I grinned and rolled my eyes.
"I agree," Lucy said.
"With what?"
"That Myrtle's a shit," she replied.
"I didn't say that out loud," I stammered.
"Yes, you did," Lucy insisted.
"No, she didn't. I would have kicked her Demon princess ass if she did," Myrtle informed us. "But now that the cat is out of the bag, I'll kick your ass after the dance. I'd do it now, but I got a manicure and I don't want to mess it up. Plus she still deserves a beating for sending the baby Demons to spank my bumbum." With that she flipped us off and left the room.
"You really heard me?" I asked Lucy.
"I really did."
Was she like Elijah? Was I yelling in my head? Why didn't anyone else hear me? Damn, I was really going to have to watch my thoughts…
"It's five-thirty, you gals need to get a move on," Janet said and handed me my purse.
"I'll see you at eight. I refuse to be around the Things without killing them. For real killing them," Myrtle yelled from down the hall.
"Alrighty then, we'll see you at eight."
"I can't wait to see Hayden and you'll meet Stella tonight. Who knows? My dad might even show up. Shit, he'll blow an aneurysm when he sees his red sequined likeness," I babbled to Lucy. "Did you bring a costume? Did you know Myrtle is coming dressed as a bear and… " WTF?
We both froze as we entered the gym. We entered cautiously and the heavy door slammed shut behind us. Heaven was still heinous and Hell was still an abomination, but something was wrong—very wrong. The air was thick with malevolent magic and an icy wind whipped through the cavernous room. Shitshitshitshitshit.
"What are the Things’ names?" I asked Lucy frantically.
"Veronica, Velda, Vivian and Varsha."
"Are you fucking serious?"
"They're vultures. What did you expect?"
"Not that," I hissed. "Veronica? Are you guys here?" I called out.
Nothing.
Not good.
No one answered and my body tightened. The need to crawl out of my skin was intense and little sparks lit the tips of my fingers. The spot on my palm that I had sliced with the dagger tingled and burned.
"What's going on?" Lucy whispered.
"I'm not sure, but this isn't your fight. I want you to go." I pushed her toward the door, but she pushed right back.
"Nope. Not going anywhere."
"Lucy, leave," I ground out through clenched teeth.
"Dixie, no," she shot back. Her eyes glowed a brilliant green and a gauzy film of magic like I'd never seen glowed around her.
"Is Steve the only form you shift to?" I asked as I took in the power of the magic she was throwing off.
"Not even close." She snorted and rolled her neck on her shoulders.
"What else do you shift to?" I demanded. Could she hold her own in whatever clusterfuck was about to happen?
"Do you have nightmares?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Think of the most horrific nightmare you've ever had. I'm ten times worse."
"For real?" My grin split my face and I wanted to hug her and smack her.
"For very real." Her grin matched mine and I gave up on making her leave. I knew she wouldn't go anyway.
"Hello Dixie, I see you brought your dog," Cole's voice boomed and bounced off the walls. His eyes were slightly wild and he was armed to the teeth. He wore a long cheesy black cape, black pants and a red ruffled shirt. "So nice of you to come to my party."
What the Hell was Cole doing here and why was he dressed like a Demon from a bad B movie? He muttered and laughed and he walked quickly in circles so his cape flowed behind him. This was bad, but I knew I could take him. He was stupid and arrogant. I was a True Immortal. He could do me damage, but he couldn't kill me. Lucy was another story.
"Didn't realize it was yours," I greeted him politely. "I would have torn up the invite and spit on it if I'd known. I'm guessing this is a family affair—you will let Lucy leave."
"But she's your sister," he sneered. "Family is family, no matter what the breed."
"I already told you, I'm not leaving," Lucy hissed under her breath.
"See?" He laughed. "Your dog likes to heel."
"Shut up, asshole," I snapped.
"I've always said you were a spoiled rotten brat and I can see things haven't changed."
I was right about Cole being a shitbag, but I still didn't understand the game. Lucy stood quietly beside me, but her body was as tense as a coil about to spring.
"Everyone should be arriving soon, so make yourselves comfortable."
"We'll do that," I said nastily.
The door we'd entered through flew open and Demons of the sort I'd never seen entered and spaced themselves around the gym. There had to be at least two hundred. The odds were looking slightly craptastic. Even though the Things were vapid and worthless, I hoped like Hell they would sense the danger in the gym and stay away. There was still two hours before innocent people would arrive. Pus and blood oozed from open sores on the faces and necks of the all male Demon army. Their breathing came out in short bursts and their black teeth protruded over bulbous lips. Rogue Demons were butt-ass ugly—and they looked hungry. Awesome.
I pulled Lucy away from the perimeter and into a clump of trees made out of coat racks and tissue paper. I said a quick prayer to my father that what happened earlier wasn't a fluke…
"Lucy, can you hear me?" Her eyes shot to mine and I closed my eyes for a brief moment in relief. "Cole is my father's second in command. Or he was… He's a powerful Demon and he clearly has delusions of grandeur or a massive death wish. I'm unsure what's going down, but all the stinky asshole wallflowers are Rogue Demons."
Lucy gave me a quick wink.
"You don't want to go at Cole under any circumstances. I'm pretty sure he has some Black Magic and he wears a Hell Fire ring. It could kill you, and if you die today I will hunt your ghost ass down and kill you again. Do you understand me?"
She gave me another wink and a smirk.
I discreetly reached into my purse and smiled. I had told them they couldn't come, but I was delighted they blatantly disobeyed me. I pulled my baby Demon saliva covered hand from my bag and patted it gently. I had no clue if they could eat two hundred Rogue Demons, but the less I had to destroy would leave me more time to deal with Cole.
"So killing me gets you what?" I asked as Cole paced Heaven with an authority and stature that belied his true status.
"Kill you?" He laughed and gave me a condescending glare. "I can't kill you. She would be upset if I did that. You've been granted a reprieve." Thank Hades he thought I was killable. He was unaware of my True Immortal standing.
None of this was adding up. Where was the Sword of Death and was I just supposed to annihilate the room of bad guys? How would that balance anything? The Kev told me to see things clearly and make a balanced decision. All I saw were badly dressed smelly evil dudes. Did they tip the balance?
The waiting was worse than anything I'd ever experienced.
And then it happened.
All at once.
The vultures came crashing through the skylights and landed at Cole's feet. He cooed to them and pet their hairless heads.
"Motherfucker," Lucy muttered. "The Things are bad guys?"
"Looking that way," I replied as I brushed shards of glass from the skylight off of my sister and pulled us farther back to the relative safety of the seven-foot papier-mâché Satan.
The Demons surrounding us wailed and moaned. They rocked back and forth—their teeth clicked and snapped ominously. The sounds and smells made my stomach roil.
"Such good little vultures," Cole purred to the Things. "You brought your daddy the evil ones right on time."
"They're related?" Lucy was flabbergasted.
"Cole's their dad?" I was shocked.
"My children are hungry," Cole bellowed. "Who will make the ultimate sacrifice for me?"
The Demons began to fight each other. Their long claws stabbed through open wounds and the screams were horrific. I felt their shrieks all the way to my toes. They pushed each other forward and fought to go back to the wall. Clearly no one wanted to be dinner.
"You," Cole cried out to a smaller Demon who had landed in a heap on the floor. "You will serve me. Disrobe."
The hideous Demon disrobed reluctantly and his comrades against the walls hissed and laughed maniacally. His muscular body was covered in open wounds and dried flakey blood. My gag reflex rose quickly.
"Oh fuck no," Lucy grunted and turned her head as the Demon laid himself at the clawed feet of the Things.
The sounds were Hellish and the screams from the peanut gallery made the entire show more macabre. The vultures viciously tore into the live body of the Demon as he screamed in agony. Cole clapped his hands with delight and the Vultures ate hungrily. If this was the warmup act the evening was going to be very bad indeed.
The magic in the air of the gym thickened and Cole's eyes widened in excitement. His pacing became erratic and his cape blew around him making him look like he was ready for takeoff. "She's here," he announced loudly over the roar of the Demons and the shrill keening of the vultures.
The crash through the ceiling and the explosion of glass, wood and metal made me hope for a short moment that Mother Nature was making a violent entrance, but that would have been too easy. I didn't need my grandma. I didn't need to be saved—I simply needed to figure out what the Hell was going on. A Dragon the size of an SUV barreled down from the sky holding a beaten, bloody and barely breathing Eve in her sharp talons. She wasn't dead. It would take far more than a beating to kill Temptation. The Demons danced wildly and the vultures in their ecstasy coughed up chunks of bloody Demon. The bile rose in my throat and I realized that half the battle would be to keep from vomiting.
"You're late," Cole shouted as he ran to my mother's crumpled body and pulled her from Rhonda's claws. He ran his hands possessively over her in such a sexual way I had to turn my head. Could no one deny temptation?
"Silence," Rhonda the Dragon roared so loudly I winced in pain. I yanked Lucy behind a cardboard boulder and watched the disaster unfold. Before I could act I needed to be sure. More plaster and metal fell from the ceiling, impaling and beheading several Demons. "I said silence," she screeched. The walls trembled and the floor shook, but she accomplished her goal. The room went quiet.
"You hurt her," Cole accused as he ran his open mouth down my mother's neck.
"I'll hurt you if you don't shut up. Where are they?" she demanded. She stomped around Heaven and crushed two Things to death beneath her massive feet. Cole barely noticed his feathered children had died as he was too engrossed with my mother.
"Soon. Amanda is luring him. Where is the Sword?"
Amanda, my father's consort, was luring who? Was she luring my father here? Were they planning on killing my father in front of me?
"She has the Sword," Rhonda snapped. My mother did have the Sword. It was strapped to her back. Had Mr. Rogers caved to temptation too? "Where's God?" Rhonda's beady eyes swept the room.-
"Won't be coming," Cole said as he backed away from the furious fire-breathing Dragon.
"Can you not get anything right?" she hissed as an explosion of flames burst from her nose and destroyed a clump of Demons cowering in the corner. "I have spent a year weakening and brainwashing the bitch to make her steal the Sword and neglect her job and you can't do the simple things I asked?"
