Cass peeked her head through the door. “Is the coast clear, or do you need to have some demon alone time to scream and rage?”
I waved my hand up to let her know it was okay for her to come in. “I won't rage at you. You are rage proof.”
She smirked as she stepped across the threshold and came over to where I was seated. “If you are too tired, I can just cancel the fight tonight?” The hope in her voice turned my head.
“Oh, hell no, IneedFight Night. I need to get out all this anger and frustration on someone's face and feel powerful again. Invincible. Yes, that's what I need.” The last part was more to myself, but Cass reluctantly nodded.
“So last night was a bust?” She sounded so hopeful yesterday that it pained me to disappoint her, which was very un-demon-y of me, but she was my bestie, and I didn’t want her to worry about me.
I put on a big fake ass smile and winked at her. “Nothing long term, but I got a good amount of power, so I'm ready to rumble tonight!”
She grimaced at that, but I couldn't help it. She had always hated Fight Night. A couple of times I had dragged her there with me, and she’d puked at the sight of all the blood, sweat, and dirt. She was, after all, a bit of a germaphobe.
“Well, you have fun with that tonight. I'm going to be soaking in a bubble bath to get rid of the tightness in my back from all the stress you cause me.” She winked and waved at me as she walked to my door. I rose to change for tonight. Looking like a fancy businesswoman wouldn't work with tonight’s crowd.
Cass stopped, hand on the door as she looked over her shoulder. “I know you can take care of yourself, but please be careful. I don't want to get a call in the middle of the night about needing transportation with you covered in blood. I’ll start to hyperventilate about if it's yours or someone else's.”
I gave her a saucy look in return. “Naw, you'll be hyperventilating because there is blood dripping on all your nice, pretty things.”
She closed the door, throwing out, “That too,” before it shut completely. Damn, that girl was sassy, and I loved it.
Chapter 9
Iwasinthegym at the house minding my own business as I got in extra reps for the fights tonight. While looking into the file about Lillian Darkstar, I saw that she frequently visited a place called the Rumble House. It was one of the pieces of property that Lillian owned, and when I started to ask around, I found that she also fought occasionally. I instantly knew this would be my ‘in.’
I knew all the true players in the fighting world since I ran one of the best MMA fighter gyms in the world in Brooklyn, New York. Fighters from all over come to train with me, learn from me, or teach with me. It had turned out some of the best fighters, but not all of them come from ‘good stock.’ Some were downright killers, underground thugs, and I liked to fight them too. They always came up with the most interesting ways to try to kill someone.
My idea was to challenge her at Wednesday’s Fight Night, then activate the portal and push her through while we were fighting. It seemed easy enough. I just had to ask Con what she was like.
From what I’d read, I pictured a stuck-up bitch. She had all this money, all this status in and out of the demon world, and she did things like going to Vex, having important meetings, and going to fancy events. It just seemed like she was a lot of work. The only interesting thing about her was that she owned the land Fight Night was on. Maybe that was her demon side, craving to own something violent.
I started my next set, wanting to look jacked for the fight tonight, because even if she was a prissy bitch, I still wanted to look fucking edible. I wanted her to be putty in my hands.
While I was envisioning my hand squeezing her throat, Lucifer materialized right in front of me. It freaked me the fuck out so much that I screamed and dropped the weights I was holding. The thud at my feet vibrated where the heavy weight landed.
“That’s a super manly scream you got there, boyo.” The sarcasm dripping from his mouth was made even stronger by the Irish accent he put behind it.
I straightened my back and narrowed my eyes. It was him popping in that scared me, not the fact that it was him. I was fucking War, ready to fight for any reason at any time, but that didn’t mean that I couldn't get spooked. Or that my scared scream wasn't an octave too high.Bastard, sneaking up on me like that.
“We have the place warded, blessed, and don't invite anyone over, so I wasn't really expecting any visitors to pop in. Excuse me.” I could hear the brattiness in my voice as I crossed my arms, tucking them under my muscles to hide the slight tremor they still had. This was why I hated scary movies. Why the fuck would you want to be purposefully scared and look like a weak fool? That did not make sense to me.
“Trust me, it wasn't a plan on my end, either.” He switched to his normal crazy-sounding voice, the one that reminded me of the Joker fromBatman. The animated series, not all the fancy smancy CGI movies they show now.
“Here, I have a special delivery for you.” He waved his hand to the side, and a portal shimmered into existence. A body flew through and landed at my feet with a hard thud.
Curious, I bent down and pushed the body over and was surprised to see it was Con, and he was conked out.
“Did you do this to him?” I pointed at my brother as I rose slowly, growing more and more angry by the second.We’re doing his dirty work and he thinks he can fuck with us!
If Lucifer thought that I wouldn't fight him, even knowing that he would beat my ass, he had another thing coming. I didn't need to win. I just needed to make it even. I just needed to keep going long enough to get one solid punch in, to satisfy the surging blood lust I was feeling before it started to boil over.
I took a few steps forward. Lucifer was looking at his nails as I approached. When he looked up, flames flashed in his eyes, but that didn't stop me. As soon as I got within a foot of him, my knees weakened and gave out. I crashed to the floor like gravity drastically increased in the air and forced my body down.What the fuck?
Lucifer bent at the waist as he whispered in my ear. “It's hard to be War without anger. But anger is just another word for wrath, and Wrath sins aremydomain. Figure out how to fight without it and you will be unstoppable.”
Then he flicked his fingers at Con and his eyes flew open. His hand immediately cupped over his dick, and he yelled, “No, leave my dick alone, you freaky vagina monster!”
I gave Lucifer a questioning look, and he giggled as he flicked his wrist, releasing me from his Wrath magic grasp. “I found him in the first circle in Hell. He was running when he tripped and knocked his head on a stone pillar. Sounds like he was entertaining the Vulious.”
