“Enough!” Shemhazai snarled abruptly. “We need to get this threat under control; then, once we have Hec whole again, the three of you will need to come with us to Hell until we can figure out what to do about Ares and Raziel.”
“Jeeze, Hazai, didn’t know you cared,” Hecate drawled, pocketing her phone and getting up to stretch lazily as if this entire situation were boring her. He narrowed his eyes on her.
“Of course, I care. Do you know how much it will fuck things up if Raziel gets full control over your magic? He could use it to free Yahweh, and I amnotsuffering another severalmillenniaanswering to that asshole.”
Hecate glanced at the obviously distressed cat demon and softened. “Okay, yeah. Fair enough. Don’t worry, Hazai. We’ll get this sorted out. There are five of us, plus my daughters. They don’t stand a chance.”
“Donotunderestimate, Raziel,” Shem growled, and again, I felt myself bristle at how uncharacteristically upset he was.
Hecate even seemed to notice, and she crossed the room, laying a hand on his forearm gently. “I said we’ll figure it out, Hazai.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, and finally, the tension seemed to leak out of him, and he relaxed.
“Alright. So what’s the plan?”
“Luna said she would meet us at Hex and Haven. We’ll get her caught up and make a plan from there.”
“What’s Hex and Haven?” I asked. Hecate and her dogs all turned equally devilish grins on me, their eyes lighting up with excitement.
“Salem’s best kept secret.” Hecate winked, and I frowned.
Something told me I wasn’t going to like whatever thissecretwas. I glanced at Shemhazai, who seemed just as intrigued as I was.
“Let’s go, little hell demons. Let me show you what you’ve been missing.”
The sun was setting as Hecate led us to the Ropes Mansion on Essex. We followed her to the back of the mansion into the garden. She approached an ancient sundial that was erected on a stone pedestal, and she spun to face us with a large grin on her face.
“You ready?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes, sliding my hands into my pockets. Shemhazai’s mood had turned for the better, and he was now buzzing with curiosity and excitement next to me.
For some reason, it annoyed me. I wanted to dig into why he had been so frightened earlier. The aching need to pull him aside and strip away his walls was gnawing at the inside of my skull with so much intensity I was developing a migraine.
However, Shemhazaistillhadn’t even looked in my direction since Raziel’s name had been mentioned, and it was pissing me the fuck off.
He was integrating himself into this little group of strangers, and I was feeling snubbed. He had even exchanged some good-natured ribs and jabs with Fenrir on the walk here, and I couldn’t tell if I was jealous or just on edge because I was worried this Raz character would hurt my partner.
“I was made ready, sweetheart,” Shemhazai purred, eyeing up the sundial curiously.
Hecate grinned and snapped her fingers. The sundial whirled and spun like the hands of a clock, and before our eyes, it rose out of the ground, the base twisting and rising to create a tall, cylindrical structure that housed an opening large enough for us to step through.
“This leads to the Salem Tunnels, which were built in the 19th century for smuggling. Hex and Haven is down these steps. Come on!” she chirped, skipping into the stone cylinder and down what appeared to be a spiral set of stone stairs.
I glanced at Shemhazai, raising a skeptical eyebrow, but he refused to meet my gaze. He stalked after Hecate eagerly, and I scowled before diligently falling in step behind him.
The guardians followed, and once we were all making our way down the steps, there was the telltale grind of stone against stone as the sundial twisted back into place, closing the portal behind us.
The base of the staircase opened into a massive underground cavern, and my eyebrows rose to my hairline in surprise.
It was aclub.
A magical club, to be exact.
The high ceilings were filled with pulsing glowing orbs that smoothly shifted from gold to violet to a bright, shamrock green as they lazily bobbed through the air. The stone walls glittered with twinkling lights and there were VIP alcoves carved in strategic places. These alcoves were complete with large, heavy tables draped in velvet cloths covered in celestial designs and pillars of flickering candles.
Along the far wall of the massive space was an imposing obsidian bar manned by no less than four witches, happily serving drinks to a line of patrons who waited patiently for their intoxicating potions.
The dance floor in the center of the room pulsed with light, and there was a stage in the middle where a witch was performing. She was controlling large, silky ribbons with some unseen magic in an impressive and elegant display that was choreographed perfectly to the otherworldly music that played from some unseen DJ booth.
I pursed my lips and followed Hecate as she led us to one of the empty booths, gesturing for us to take a seat.
