Someone clears their throat. “When you two lovebirds are done, we rocked enough lust to let us all through and I’m ready to escape this dimension,” Zac hollers.
“Leave them alone, they are having a moment—it’s not like they’ve had a chance to breathe since she returned,” Emi says.
Archan places a chaste kiss on my lips, leaving them tingling as he pulls away. His wings snap to his back and then disappear. I focus on mine, imagining them shrinking back. A sharp sting lashes my spine as they sink out of sight.
“Which way out of here?” he questions. Lucifer points to an arched metal door that has appeared amongst the curtained wall.
“I’ll go first,” Archan states, strutting up to the door.
Lucifer hands me my leather jacket.
“Thank you, Lulu,” I say, shrugging it on.
One side of his mouth tips up. “It was the only piece of your clothing that survived your dalliance in Hell.”
A blush spreads across my cheeks. He laughs and slings an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, Natia, you are the perfect contradiction. Putting the God of Men in his place with a simple tongue lashing yet blushing at the mention of hanky panky with your beloved.”
Zee hooks an arm around my waist and the two of them lead me after Archan. “It’s not the hanky panky,” I mutter.
“No,” Zee says. “What is it then?”
“It’s the fact you guys heard my sex noises.” I shiver. “There’s no coming back from that.”
“Too much information,” Duncan mumbles behind me.
“Don’t forget, temptress,” Lucifer says in my ear, “that you also saw us in our moment of weakness. You witnessed the need, the lust, the want in our eyes. Whatever we saw in you was only a reflection of our own desires.”
“Huh, I knew there was a reason I liked you,” I say, feeling a little better as we step through the doorway. Light blinds us as we spin through time and space before being spat out in a sprawling heap. I glance up from my position at the bottom of the pile of gods and magical beings. Food spills from bowls and plates in every direction whilst liquid overflows from glasses. Bodies stretched to their limits lie around us. They grimace as they force more into their mouths. Archan appears above me and holds out his hand. I grip it and he pulls me out. “Welcome to Gluttony,” he mutters.
15
Chapter Fifteen
Natia
All zodiac signs: What happens in Hell, stays in Hell.
“This is disturbing,” Duncan says, standing next to me and absorbing the scene.
“More so than Lust,” Zee agrees just as my stomach cramps. I clutch it with one hand.
Lucifer narrows his eyes on my hand. “Don’t eat anything. No matter how much you crave it.”
We pick our way through the mess of food and drink. Gluttony is set in a massive ball room. Light dances from the chandeliers onto the black and white marble floor and ornate chairs outline the tables set in rows. Oil paintings of various people and landscapes adorn the wooden paneled walls. A girl no older than twenty with long dark hair shoves a cake into her mouth. Her eyes stare straight through me as she groans, the sound a mixture of pain and relief. Archan stalks my every move, the silent sentinel at my back. “What did they do in life to deserve this?” I wonder.
Lucifer grimaces. “Gluttony is a specific punishment for those who overindulge in food and drink and step upon those around them in their pursuit of their own desires. It includes those unwilling to help someone in need of the basics, like food and water. These people flaunted their wealth through substance. It’s not a common level these days. Most people here have been suffering for hundreds of years.”
My stomach clenches again, releasing a loud gurgle. I dig around in my mind for a distraction. “So as we dig our way through the levels of Hell, we are eventually going to come face to face with the nasties of Tartarus?”
Zac glances at me. “Depends if they get past Lucifer’s army. Regardless as to their position, we defeat the motherfuckers and tuck them back into their beds in the pits of the universe.”
I nod. “So how do we get out?”
“This path that we are forging will allow easy passage through Hell for all who travel it,” Lucifer says.
“How did you and Lawrence zip and zap in and out of Hell last time?”
“The safeguards I’ve put in place are recent; I put them in because of your kidnapping. Before then the rulers of the various levels could move freely in Hell and take who they wanted in and out. Now the rulers can only move in their own levels, unless I give them permission. I am the only person who can travel to any level. But the rules get a little tricky when it comes to gods. I’m a god, so there are loopholes.”
