Christ, was I actually considering allowing Lucifer to escort me through Hell on some kind of freaky memory tour?
Hell yes!that reckless side screamed in my head.What else did you have planned for the rest of this weekend? Another shitty bar with another shitty guy? MoreGolden Girlsreruns? More porn that could never fill that inexplicable hunger for something… more?
“And you’ll have me back by tomorrow night?”
His grin spread wider at my crumbling resolve. “I promise.”
“I don’t trust your promises as far as I can throw you, Lucifer Morningstar.”
“Would you prefer I sign a contract?”
Yeah, right. I’d had enough of contracts. “Alright, fine. Take me on the freaky tour. Is there a bus or something? Can I take pictures?” I asked with a sarcastically tight smile while scanning my immediate area for the clutch where I had stashed my phone. I was almost surprised to find the clutch sitting on a crate that doubled as a coffee table in front of the couch. A normal kidnapper would have taken away my cell phone. I opened the clutch and reached for my phone, my heart falling in my chest when I saw I had no bars.
Of course.
I glared at Lucifer, who flashed me a smug smile over the glass he’d lifted to his lips, finding it had somehow mysteriously refilled to the rim with wine.
“No reception down here, I’m afraid. Unless you’re on the Underworld’s cell phone service. Perfect for talking pictures, however. As for the rest of our little journey into the past, we’ll make our way down from Limbo all the way to the ninth floor. I’ll first show you the layers as they exist today, and then I will show you the memory from that floor I deem most significant to our relationship. By the time we reach the ninth floor tomorrow night, if you still don’t believe you are my mate, I will return you home.”
My brow crinkled. “Didn’t you say we met on the ninth floor? Shouldn’t we start there since that’s where you first met Lilith? Wouldn’t it make sense to start at the beginning of the story?”
He lifted his hand from my knee and pressed his palm to my temple, his eyelids heavy with wine going half-mast. The moment his fingers brushed against me, my mind began to fill with images that weren’t mine.
“Actually, I’d prefer to start at the end of the story. We’ll start with the last place I ever saw you.”
“Which was here, in Limbo?”
He cracked one eye, peering at me. “Yes. Now close your eyes, Kitten.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lucifer
Lucifer – Past
Istood at the very heart of Limbo, among the crates of possessions—mostly wine—that had been packed up, ready to move to the surface. Limbo was the first layer of Hell, and ironically, it was the last one of my journey before I reached the surface. I could only guess how long I had been down here. Time here wasn’t like in Paradise or on the surface. There was no sun, and hours felt like years, years like decades. The demanding journey through Abaddon’s Hell had been a laborious one, filled with nameless horrors and obstacles I could never have imagined even in my wildest nightmares. It would have gone a whole hell of a lot faster if I hadn’t decided to rebuild it, layer by layer. But the state in which Abaddon keep the majority of hell was completely abhorrent. Thank fuck he hadn’t messed up Limbo. I’d rebuilt pretty much everything else, and by the time Lilith and I crawled our way up to the near-surface, we were both tired as hell and ready to make our breakout.
Limbo was a ceaseless labyrinth just below the earth’s surface. Abaddon had used it as Hell’s storage for all the junk, including the aimless souls that he didn’t know what to do with. Unlike the rest of the levels, I had no special plans for Limbo. I would still keep this a storage room but only for intimate objects. I had moved all the wandering souls down to Lust, where they could actually have a little fun.
A door opened behind me, and I turned, half expecting it to be one of the imps I had ordered to bring up the rest of our things. Instead, I was greeted by a far more pleasant form standing in the doorway leading down to the lower levels.
Lilith.
My beast purred with delight, seeing our mate standing there looking like Aphrodite herself, dressed in the latest human fashions.
She was in her human form, as she preferred. For once, she wore her ink-black hair loose, which reached all the way down to the back of her knees. I hadn’t realized just how long it had gotten, as she always wore it up during our travels. It was brushed silky smooth and full of her scent. She smelled of sunshine even though she’d never once seen the sun.
Her silver-gray eyes sparkled, and her full lips softened as my gaze centered on them. Her lean body was wrapped in a flowing dress of red silk with two brooches of gold bearing my symbol fastened to either shoulder, positioned so that the fabric draped over her cleavage in a way that left little to the imagination.
Who needed Father’s Paradise when I had my own down here, wrapped in the color of sin, wearing my crest, looking at me likethat?
Like I’m the only male in all nine circles.
She held a small crate filled with the things she wanted to take to the surface. I moved forward and took it from her, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips in exchange. “Have I told you lately how absolutely fucking radiant you are?” I muttered through a silken growl, nipping at her bottom lip.
Her beast purred for me, leaning into the kiss with a happy sigh. “You’re just saying that because, for once, I’m not covered in mud, blood, or shit.”
I set the crate down with the others and returned to her, gathering her in my arms. She laughed as I delivered a flurry of heated kisses to her lips, her cheeks, her throat. She squirmed in my arms, playfully pushing me away. “Oh no, the King of Hell isn’t going soft on me, is he?”
