The three-headed beast sat back on his heels, looking down at the woman in his bed with a sadistic smile twisting his lips. “Look at this soul. So pretty. Or she was before I got my hands on her.”
He held up a hand, his index finger extended, and a moment later a razor sharp claw pushed out of his fingertip. He moved quickly, slashing the woman’s throat with a flick of his wrist. There was a gurgling sound, her naked body jerked. Then she fell still.
Too bad she was already dead. He could revive her, and abuse her as many times as he saw fit.
Pushing her off the bed with a sickening thunk, the demon lord rose from his bed and grabbed for a red velvet robe. I assumed he would put it on but instead he used it to wipe the blood off his dick—He’d been fucking the girl for some time.
After a few seconds of suffocating silence, he tossed the robe over a chair sitting beside his hearth and slowly approached the mirror. The hooves of his cloven feet clacked against the stone floor, and I tensed as his eyes found mine through the mirror. “One of the dozen souls you sent last month. And theonlyone with her body still attached.”
I shrugged off his accusatory tone. “Bodies should remain in the mortal plane. That one must have slipped through.”
“Fuck you, Belial.Twelve damned souls. The corridors of your castle must be awfully cramped. You can’t hoard them forever.”
“I’m not hoarding them. I’ve fallen behind.”
As much as I hated my brothers—Asmodeus most of all—they could always read me like a book. “After all these years of losing your precious human pet you’re still sulking?”
“I didn’t contact you to chat. Two, almost three, centuries ago I sent you the soul of a witch, you should remember because it’s the only one I’ve ever hand delivered to you. I need it back.”
“Let me get this straight. Your obsession with that human turned Limbo into a waiting room for the damned. You’ve sent me all of a dozen fucking souls in the last month when you should be sending methousands, and now you actually expect me to send one back? Your brain really has been eaten by maggots, hasn’t it?”
“If you’re stalling because you hurt the witch—”
“So what if I did? You gave her to me, meaning you didn’t give two fucks about her, brother. Wasn’t she your human pet’s attendant? The one who tried to help her escape? Why would you want her back?”
If I could smile in this form, I would have. “That witch brings suffering to whoever she touches. I’m finally in need of such a skill.”
My brother’s bull head shook with disapproval while the other two held steady, their glares burning into my bone. “Souls are supposed to be filtered down the layers of Hell. Not up. It’s against the natural order. The old ways state—”
“Do not recite the old ways to me,brother.I helped write them.”
“Lucky for you I never passed the soul on. You can have her back…But you have to do something for me.”
Blood and Darkness.I should have expected as much. A selfish cunt like Asmodeus would never do anything unless he got something out of it. Knowing him, he’d want more female souls, with their bodies attached for him to torture.
I’d have to be more careful about stripping all souls of their vessels when they passed into his realm…
“What is it you want? I can send you more souls but remember, I govern their flesh and bone. Their bodies will stay with me—”
“I want you to throw a party.”
I balked, as if I’d been struck. Had I heard him right? Was this his idea of a stupid jest? “I’m waiting for the punchline,” I snapped, annoyed that he was wasting my time.
“No punchline. I mean it. All Hallows’ Eve is in a few days. Host a masquerade. All the demon lords will attend.”
I laughed, the sound cold and mirthless. “You don’t want a party. You want to snoop around my castle to see what souls I’ve failed to deliver to you and our brothers.”
The demon lord gave a one-shouldered shrug, brushing off my accusation. “We’re just concerned. Souls must pass through Limbo to reach the lower layers. If you don’t have your horns on your task, soon there will be no fresh souls to torture.”
“I’m simply behind on my work. There are ledgers I have to organize. My system is outdated, I need to refresh it. Plus, I have to restock my own catalog of souls before I start sending them out to you.”
The center head’s expression turned cutting. “Throw the party, Belial. We’re coming. So clean your halls. Dust off your wine casks, pull out some musicians and serving wenches from that pathetic little collection you call a Soul Library, and send the invitations. Agree to that and I’ll send you the witch’s soul.”
I shuddered to think of throwing a social event of any kind, let alone one that my brothers were to attend. But this was nothing compared to what Asmodeus could have asked for.
“Fine,” I bit out. “You’ll have your party.”
“Good. One more thing. If I am to hand back the witch’s soul, tell me why you want her back, after all this time. Have you decided to make her suffer for her betrayal after all these years?”
