After what seemed like forever, they reached the ball and entered the hall. If she could’ve thrown up where she stood without being beaten to within an inch of her life for embarrassing her master, Audrey would have. It was the most grotesque display she’d ever seen.
The guests included creatures out of every child’s worst nightmare and some that hadn’t even been dreamed up yet. They were the things parents threatened their children with to get them to eat their vegetables or go to bed on time.
She saw two and three-headed ghouls with green skin and blood red lips wearing tuxedos and sipping red bubbling liquid from champagne flutes. There were horned beasts and scaled beings of every size, shape, and configuration anyone could imagine. Some she knew would haunt her dreams for years to come.
These guests doused various skewered body parts, mostly of unknown origin, into a steaming blood concoction she knew was meant to resemble chocolate. The dark, viscous fluid poured from huge silver fountains adorning the ends and middle of every banquet table. There were displays made of wine glasses strategically placed throughout the room to catch what she now knew was bubbling blood and could only assume was hell’s version of champagne.
Bodies in various stages of decomposition decorated the walls, while part human, part animal, part reptilian beings served as targets for the demon’s game of darts. Shrunken skulls painted with various body fluids clanked together as ghouls struck them with pool cues made of human long bones on a billiards table constructed of brimstone.
Luckily, Adramelech was too busy fawning for his fans and showing off to offer Audrey anything to eat or drink, because it was all she could do to remain standing as one atrocity after another came into view. A loud gong echoed off the tall rock walls drawing everyone’s attention to the front of the room, where an incredibly unassuming six-foot-three-inch red-skinned man impatiently waited.
The room was immediately silent. Not even the sounds of breathing could be heard. It was as if all the air had been sucked from the hall. Audrey’s heart beat loudly in her chest as she wondered what horrible fate was about to befall them. The man on the stage looked from one Demon Lord to the next, his gaze collecting information before nodding and moving onto the next. He left each of his victims gasping for air and swaying on their feet. The entity grew larger, not only in height, but also in girth, with every probing look.
When he finished, his skin had become so dark it was closer to brown than red, his muscles so large he resembled Atlas, and the antlers on his head so thick and long they were more like legs growing from his brow than horns. Even though he spoke in low tones, his voice reverberated through Audrey’s body, making her feel lightheaded and weak in the knees.
“Lords and Ladies, aristocracy of the realms of hell, I, Beelzebuth—the Supreme Chieftain of the Underworld and second only to Satan himself—welcome you to the Blood Moon Ball. May your hunters find untold bounties and your reapers an abundance until now unknown to your coffers. Eat and drink to your undead heart’s desire. The Ritual of Retrieval will begin at the stroke of the darkest hour. Be well, for tonight is our night—the night of the damned.”
No sooner had the last words left the Supreme Chieftain of hell’s tusked mouth than the air around them thinned to normal, the black candles sitting in the countless candelabras again burned bright, and every being breathed a sigh of relief. Audrey watched her master attempt to act as if Beelzebuth’s mere presence had not affected him as it had all the others. She would’ve laughed aloud had she not feared losing her teeth. Thankfully, Adramelech was more interested in working the room than bothering with her, so the rest of the evening was spent parading around like his favorite show pony.
Lost in thought and trying to look anywhere but at the festivities and monsters around her, Audrey jumped when the Chancellor leaned down and lisped into her ear with his forked tongue. “Gwyllgi and Barghest will escort you home. I must stay for the ceremony. I will be home before morning, so be sure to have my meal prepared.”
Without another word, Audrey was turned over to Adramelech’s henchmen. Walking back to the Chancellor’s castle, sandwiched between a half human, half goat and a zombie—although the undead woman preferred reincarnated—prostitute who chattered incessantly about getting paid for her services, the princess had never been happier to see the tarnished brass goblin-shaped door knockers on the ten-foot-tall stone doors that led into the Demon Lord’s abode.
Without a word, Audrey climbed the forty-eight steps to her room on the third floor, cursing each one as she went. After walking across the threshold, she made sure the door was locked before flopping face first onto her rock hard bed. Eyes barely closed. Mouth stretched wide in a yawn. She was counting the seconds to the sweet oblivion of sleep when the air around her began to swirl like tiny cyclones floating about her bed. Her long, dark locks blew into her face as she was lifted from the covers and flung through a dark, misty opening that appeared in the concrete wall of her room.
Audrey found herself traveling through an all-encompassing darkness so quickly her clothing clung tight to the front of her body and her limbs pushed back to the point of pain. A loud pop and blinding flash of light had her tumbling from flight and landing with a thump on a hard, cold surface.
Used to being on guard, Audrey jumped to her feet, threw her hands out on front of her, and began turning from side to side to ward off any attack that may be coming her way even before she had regained focus. Her ears were still ringing, by what had sounded like a gunshot, but somewhere in the distance, she could hear a man shouting her name.
After several backward steps, her butt made contact with a wall and Audrey took her first real breath since she’d hit the ground. The blurry figures around her were slowly coming into focus, while the voice calling her name still sounded as if the person was at the bottom of a well.
Rapidly blinking her eyes to clear her vision, while shaking her head with the hopes of stopping the ringing in her ears, Audrey gasped when she could finally see who it was that called her name.
“Rian.” His name a prayer upon her lips, Audrey collapsed in his arms and sobbed for the first time since her abduction.
The hug of her mate’s arms around her body felt like heaven. With her head cradled against his muscular chest, Audrey sighed at the simple beauty of his heartbeat as it whispered in her ear. His kissed the top of her head and she smiled. She felt cherished for the first time since her father’s death. The low tones of his voice slid under her skin and skittered down her spine, warming her from the inside out.
“Oh, Audrey, you’re here. You’re really here. And you’re safe. I’ve waited so long to see you again.”
Audrey raised her head as his voice quivered with emotion. Looking into his deep brown eyes, she laid her hand on his cheek and marveled at the spark of attraction where her skin met his. Barely able to speak, she whispered, “I thought I’d never see you again. How did you do this?”
He handled her with such care that Audrey knew she could just as easily fall in love with the man as she had with the idea of him. It was true they were fated mates. That the Universe in Her infinite wisdom had somehow decided to make the princess just for the dragon. At least that was what all the stories her momma had told her said.
Still, there was one thing she’d always wondered about but had been afraid to ask…what would they feel for each other? Would she love him? Would he love her? Would she feel his devotion to her no matter how many miles separated them? Or would they simply be two pieces of a vast puzzle fit together but Fate to merely exist as a pair, nothing more, nothing less…companions for a lifetime.
All of her questions were answered in an instant. Rian was everything she could’ve hoped for. He’d thought of everything to make her feel comfortable…human. Even had a fresh brewed pot of tea and something to eat. Audrey knew without a doubt this was a man she could love and who would love her in return.
Placing a cup of tea and plate of food on the table in front of her, Rian sat down, took her hand in his and for the first time since she’d landed back on earth, purposely avoided eye contact with her. When he spoke, his voice sounded more formal, but the warmth and affection she felt coming from him was undeniable.
“Audrey, I have spent every minute of every day that I could searching for a way to bring you back. To break the demon’s hold on you. I even searched for your uncle. Sadly, he and all his most trusted advisors were killed in battle, and the information of your whereabouts and the deal made for your life was lost with them. With nowhere else to turn, I contacted a coven of white magic witches.”
Audrey could feel his aversion to the witches and tried to remember if her mother or grandfather had ever spoken of a feud between the white magic spell casters and the dragons, but she could think of nothing. Not wanting to miss anything Rian had to say, she filed it away to think about later and focused on her mate.
“Without knowing the name of the demon who holds you hostage or the bargain your uncle made for you, they were only able to concoct this spell.”
The sad look on Rian’s face told Audrey that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say but needed to hear it anyway. “And I had to use a Devil’s Trap to keep the demon inside you from escaping.”
Her eyes followed the index finger on his free hand as Rian pointed to the ceiling. The strange mosaic pattern containing a mixture of sigils and Gaelic symbols within a thick black pentagram seemed familiar somehow, but Audrey couldn’t place where she’d seen it before.
