One more stab should do it.
Sticking her bottom lip out and batting her eyes, the princess delivered what she hoped was the final blow to push the Chancellor into a full-blown rage. “Afraid of being alone? Afraid none of the other demons will play with you after I’m gone?”
Faster than she could track, Adramelech was across the room, had ripped the chains from her naked body, and pulled her to a standing position by the hair on her head. Audrey’s scalp burned like fire. The pain made her eyes water, but she refused to cry out. There was no way she would give the bastard the satisfaction.
Praying he would snap her neck where she stood, the princess groaned in frustration when the Demon Lord grinned a sarcastic grin and snickered. “You’re wasting your time, princess. I’m to going to kill you.”
He let go of her hair with one last jerk, causing Audrey to stumble before regaining her footing. Then added with dramatic flair, complete with his paw across his chest and a look of utter shock on his face, “As if I could do that to my favorite human in all the world. After all, we’ve been together so long. I would be lost without you.”
Turning to leave, the Chancellor called over his shoulder, “Come now, dear. How could I let you go when all we’ve worked for is about to be realized.”
A sick feeling settled in the bottom of Audrey’s stomach. The bastard was up to something. Something that would hurt her more than the beatings. She couldn’t put her finger on it but it was bad…really bad.
Following Adramelech up the winding stone staircase, the princes paid little attention as he prattled on about getting her new clothes and maybe even a new hairstyle for the upcoming Full Moon Ball. Audrey’s sole focus was on figuring out what the Chancellor had planned. It had to be a doozy if he’d given up flogging her for whatever he had cooked up, because there was no way he’d forgiven her for what he saw as her betrayal. He never would. But the princess didn’t care. Not if she could keep him focused on her. If the Demon Lord was messing with her, he was leaving everyone else alone.
Entering Adramelech’s study from the hidden entrance behind his desk, Audrey was again surprised. A man who could only be described as a well-kept zombie, who was dressed in a butler’s uniform, bowed before wrapping a red silk robe around her and politely instructing with his wheezy British accent, “If you will, please follow me to the lavatory where I have prepared a bath for you, misses.” His putrid breath stung her noise as he bent his arm for her to take.
Carefully placing her hand in the crook of his elbow, afraid he might fall to a pile of ashes if she pushed too hard, Audrey followed the butler’s lead. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as Adramelech called to her back, “Don’t be long, sweetling. I have more surprises.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Audrey mumbled under her breath.
“Pardon me, mum?” Jeeves, the only thing she could think to call the zombie butler since she hadn’t been and didn’t want to be formally introduced, asked.
“Oh nothing. Just thinking out loud.”
“Yes, mum.”
Entering a room she’d never seen before, Audrey had to do a double take. When that didn’t work, she closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them again, thinking the mirage would be gone. But no! It was the same as when she’d entered
Instead of the huge stone cavern decorated in early demon that she’d been assigned upon her entrance into hell, Audrey stood looking at a beautifully decorated, obviously feminine bedroom. Tears filled her eyes as she recognized the elegantly carved bed designed by the most renowned artisan in their kingdom and given to her by her father for her eighteenth birthday. “A bed fit for a queen,” her father had said when he presented it to her.
The tears she’d tried to hold back wet her cheeks as she took in the white eyelet canopy and matching drapery, exact duplicates of the ones her Auntie Mae had hand stitched for her. She ran her fingers along the jewelry box and ceramic figurines atop the armoire as she slowly made her way around the room. The dirty bastard had copied every detail from her past. Brought her long gone youth back as yet another move in his endless game of demented torture.
Jeeves had entered what Audrey could see was a bathroom on the left. She heard water running just before he called out, “Just warming the water for you, mum. I won’t be but a moment longer.”
A willowy okay was the only response the princess could give as she took it all in. Spying another door beside the bathroom, Audrey slowly approached, testing the knob before turning it. Cautiously opening the door, the princess gasped at the huge walk-in closet full to bursting with every imaginable style of clothing and shoes. After a quick inspection, she was stunned to find not even one petticoat in the lot.
He’s pulling out all the stops. Can’t wait to see what’s coming next.
Jeeves appeared at the open door. “Your bath is ready, mum. Please come. The Master has plans and was very clear that you not be late.”
“Well, the Master can shove it up his…” At the stricken look on the decomposing butler’s face, and not sure where her new companion’s loyalties lay, Audrey changed direction. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We mustn’t keep him waiting.”
Stepping into the bathroom, the princess turned to shut the door, only to encounter Jeeves standing at the threshold. “I can handle it from here,” was all she could think to say. She’d had servants when she was younger but they never bathed her.
From the look of indecision on the butler’s face, she could only imagine what instructions Adramelech had given him. Turning to the side and motioning with her hand, Audrey added, “There’s no where I can go. No windows. Only one door.” She knocked her fingers against the wood. “You can sit right there,” she instructed, pointing to the chair against the wall between the door she held and the entrance to her closet.
Finally, Jeeves nodded and moved back enough for her to close the door. Of course, there was no lock, but the princess figured she could move faster than the shuffling corpse. Letting the robe drop to the clean, white tiled floor, Audrey stepped into the first hot bath she could remember and slid down until the soothing water touched her chin.
She had to compliment Jeeves on his choice of bath salts as lavender and vanilla filled her senses. Bit by bit, her haggard muscles began to relax and soon, Audrey was floating on an herbal cloud working with all her might to think about anything but what fresh hell the Chancellor had up his sleeve.
All too soon, Jeeves knocked on the door. “The Master expects you in forty minutes, mum.”
Opening her mouth to tell the rotting butler to tell Adramelech to stuff it, Audrey sighed. “I don’t want to get the guy killed but he’s dead, so maybe it’s killed again? Anyway…” Raising her voice so Jeeves could hear, she answered, “Be right out.”
Regrettably, the princess exited the tub, wrapped herself and her hair in pink, fluffy towels, and made her way out of the bathroom. The surprises just kept coming. She found Jeeves standing beside what Audrey had seen in the fashion magazines that the former-models-now-demons who serviced the Chancellor had left lying around. All the fashionistas called it the perfect little black dress, and the dirty son of a whore had made sure there were black lace panties and a matching bra to go with it.
The princess thought about searching her new wardrobe for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt like she’d seen so many wearing, but then thought better of it. Audrey knew if she made Adramelech too mad, she wouldn’t find out what he as up to until it was too late to stop whatever carnage he was planning. No, she had to play the game, at least for the time being. The Chancellor was good at scheming. Hades knew the jerk had been doing it since the beginning of time. How the hell else would he have become the Chancellor of Hell, right hand to the Devil himself?
