Lycus and the warlock entered the throne room. Lucifer made me remove Aeacus since I’d made the mess. I put him on a bench outside the room and returned inside to wait. The demon would heal, I was sure.
“Father, you sent for us?” Lycus looked no worse for wear, but I couldn’t say the same for Paxton De Vil.
Gremon, Lycus’s hellhound, had a golden rope tied around the warlock’s arms and was holding the end of it like a leash. I laughed.
“Is that a lasso of truth?” Lycus and De Vil stared at me, but Lucifer laughed at my lame joke.
“It’s to restrain his powers and render him helpless,” Gremon stated. I forgot that hellhounds didn’t understand human sarcasm.
“Anywaaaay...” Lycus raised an eyebrow in my direction. “We weren’t finished with our interrogation. I found out it was an Archangel who returned his powers, but he refuses to tell me who.”
“It’s not that Iwon’t. Ican’t. Iphysicallycan’t say the name out loud. He put a hex on me that prevents me from speaking his name.”
“Did he tell you why?” I was likely speaking out of turn, but I wanted some damn answers.
“Whywouldone of my former brothers be inclined to return a warlock’s powers? I’m sure he wouldn’t allow you to say his name in order to keep his actions secret from the other Archangels and the Creator.” I glanced at Lucifer to see his question was rhetorical.
Lucifer seemed to grasp the enormity of this news quicker than I thought he would—but then again, he was formerly a brother to the Archs and had fallen from the Celestial Realm. I wasn’t much of a Bible scholar, but I remembered that much from one of my father’s cases about a radical mega-church preacher secretly running a conversion camp in Ojai. It was odd, the things that stuck in the mind.
“What would get an Arch in trouble?” I wasn’t that up-to-date on the rules of Archs. Hell, I hadn’t known it was forbidden for a cherub and a lesser demon to have a relationship until I was told. I was, though,forcedinto the family, not born.
“I’d like to make a deal,” De Vil spoke up. I wanted to break his fucking jaw so I didn’t have to hear his stupid voice.
Lucifer stepped down the stairs and walked over to De Vil, towering over the warlock. “What kind of deal?”
I had an idea, so I hurried over to Lucifer and touched his arm. “Can I make a suggestion?”
He glanced down at me before taking my arm and walking me away from De Vil. “I’ll hear your suggestion.”
“I’m assuming you can do something about his powers, correct?” Lucifer nodded.
“Why don’t you take away his powers and make him your new valet instead of me. That way, you can keep an eye on him since we believe him to be in cahoots with Nyx. Maybe you can torture him and find out if she’s after your throne because she thinks you impregnated her daughter and didn’t make her grandchild a prince of Hell? Why’d you give it to me?”
“That’s a discussion for another time, Prince Jameson. But, since you are now a prince, it’s true I can’t have you as my valet. Aeacus is getting on my nerves, so I will need to replace him. You have brought a solution to me I can agree with. Well done.”
“May I please tell him?” It was hard to keep the grin off my face.
Lucifer chuckled. “You may.” He stepped over to Beelz and whispered something before returning to his throne.
I walked closer to Paxton De Vil and stared into his eyes. I could feel my anger flare and the flames in my eyes were reflected in his. “I’ve got some bad news, Paxton.”
“You still don’t scare me, demon. You can go to—” He glanced around and shut up. Yeah, we were already in Hell.
“After you relinquish your powers to Lucifer, you’re going to get a new job. How do you feel about holding Lucifer’s dick while he takes a piss?”
The room erupted in guffaws, and Paxton’s face paled considerably. That was quite satisfying.
“How do I go about removing his powers?” I was asking anyone there. I really just wanted to rip out his soul.
Beelzebub stepped up behind me. “I’ll show you how we do things, brother.” He then stared at De Vil and smirked.
“Did you ever put your hand on a hot stove?” Beelz voice was sinister as he held up his hands. Flames shot out of his palms, and he touched De Vil’s bare forearms. His shirt had beenremoved at some point, and his back bore stripes from a flogger or whip. The hiss Beelz’s flaming hands made on De Vil’s biceps sounded like meat frying in a hot skillet.
De Vil wailed in pain, which made me smile. That fucker was the reason I was in this ridiculous position in the first place.
Beelz removed his hands from De Vil, blew on his palms, and stared at the warlock. “Next, I come for your face. I wonder how much pressure it will take to pop your eyeballs out of your head?”
A lot more princes had gathered in the throne room. I’d met them previously, so I just gave a wave and returned to watching Beelz.
