At first, I questioned if this place was really a part of Siren’s because it looked too old to be anywhere close to Seattle. But then I spotted cardboard boxes of Bacardi and Tito’s vodka and a few pieces of PVC furniture that matched what I’d seen in Siren’s club scene. It all looked so out of place against the aged barrels of wine and whiskey.
I scanned the space for any kind of windows, or doors for that matter but was stumped to find old doors, dozens of them, some old and rusted and bolted shut with thick chains with links the girth of my forearms, and others with padlocks that I could only guess had been hand forged ages ago. I wasn’t an expert on Hell; I barely remembered readingParadise LostandThe Devine Comedyfrom college. Now I wish I had paid a little more attention. But I didn’t have to be an expert to know this was more than Siren’s storage cellar.
“Smart girl,” Lucifer murmured, a smile on his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. He hopped down from the barrel, straightened his shirt with his free hand and slowly strode over to me. I bristled but held my ground. There was nowhere to run. Even if some of the doors without chains or locks could open—doubtful with centuries of oxidized build-up on ancient hinges—I would get lost. And I wasn’t about to play hide and seek with the devil in his creepy labyrinth. There was no escape for me unless I could talk my way out of this.
“Calm down, Kitten. Your heart is racing faster than a hummingbird’s. I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“Seems like you don’t have a problem with me being unconscious, you fucker,” I snarled.
He bunched his brows, a deep V cutting his forehead. “Jessica, I didn’t want to hurt you. That’s never been my intention. I brought you here for your own safety. You don’t understand what kind of danger you’re in.”
“Oh, I think I’m beginning to understand,” I spat, my words dripping venom. I pulled the blanket tighter around me. I was still wearing the Alexander McQueen dress, and while the evening dress was beautiful, it wasn’t exactly functional against the cold of Satan’s dungeon.
“It’s not a dungeon,” he murmured. “It’s a cellar.”
“Stay the fuck out of my head! You have no business invading my life, making empty promises to save my dad,kidnappingme.” I was shaking now, but this time it was not from the cold. Hot, angry tears stung my eyes, and my captor’s form began to blur.
Normally, fear wasn’t an emotion that I ever let touch me. But anyone in this situation would be scared.
“Jessica,” his voice softened. “I have not lied to you once. I will help your father, as promised. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you to accept the things I’m telling you. But they are all true.”
He stepped closer, eating up the distance between us with every step and the closer he came, the higher my pulse climbed. What was he doing to me? Why was my body reacting this way to him? He was like a drug, one tiny taste and Reckless Jessica was hooked. Meanwhile, Sane Jess was a sobbing, frantic mess because she realized just how fucked our situation was.
He stopped directly in front of me. He was so close I could feel the heat rolling off of him, seeping through the blanket that I was wrapped in, warming me all over.
The thing that bothered me most about all this wasn’t the insane fantasy he was trying to get me to buy into. It was how right it felt being around him. All the stress of my life, all the tension in my muscles, all thoughts of my dad and the stacking bills just kind of faded away. Lucifer’s presence somehow made me feel…at ease. And it was a bit early for succumbing to Stockholm’s Syndrome, even for me.
“You’re at ease because you and I belong together,” Lucifer murmured.
I glared at him through hot tears. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
I loathed my stupid heart for making a liar out of me. I didn’t hate him. Even though logically, I should hate him. I was supposed to. He kidnapped me, for crying out loud. He claimed it was for my “safety,” but what psycho dragged a woman to a basement that would look right at home on the set of a Hitchcock movie for her safety?
“Look at you. You’re freezing. I should have taken you to the hotel on the Second Circle. But… I brought you here as a last-ditch effort, hoping you would remember something about our old life together.”
I gave an exasperated scoff, shaking my head. “Yeah, a hotel might have been a tad smarter of an idea. This place looks like the set of some slasher film. The only thing missing is bones and blood, and maybe a bone saw—” My blood froze as his words finally sunk straight to my stomach like rocks. “Wait. What do you mean, ‘the Second Circle?’ I thought this was Siren’s Cellar?”
Lucifer’s shoulder stiffened and his gaze dropped to the wine in his glass. “Well, youarein Siren’s cellar. But you’re also on the first layer of the Underworld.”
“What?”
“You’re in Limbo, Jessica.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t cold anymore. My entire body went numb. “L–Limbo? You brought me toHell?”
“As I said, you’ll be safer here.”
“Fromwho?”
“From the celestials,” he said, his golden eyes lifting to lock with mine.
My heart tightened in my chest. For some crazy reason, I did feel safe with him. But Sane Jess was telling me that was just Reckless Jessica talking, and that girl was going to get me killed.
“Right… So let me make sure I’m following you. Angels, who work for God, want to save me from the devil? Where’s the part where I’m supposed to think this is a bad idea?”
“God has very little to do with this, Jessica. It’s my incessant brother, Michael, the chief of all celestials, who wants to take you from me. ‘Saving’ isn’t exactly what he has in mind. The last time he got his hands on you, he murdered you.”
