Romanus grabbed my hand and shifted us out of Hell.
CHAPTER
TWO
HECTO
Sex.
Sex.
Sex.
Stupid Krax.
Wait. Lust.
“Are you coming to the club tonight? It’s blackout night, and you know it always gets wild.”
“Hell yeah. Shelly already bought new lingerie. We’ll be there. Can’t believe it’s actually going to happen. She wants to start in the voyeur rooms first to get all hot and ready for the more adventurous stuff.”
Hot? Ready?
“Come on, we better finish these deliveries. You really lucked out with Shelly. Plus, she has great tits.”
Tits!
CHAPTER
THREE
KRAX
We stoodoutside a door that looked pretty unremarkable—beige, scuffed, and boring—but when Romanus knocked, it was opened by a face I knew all too well.
“Ukobach? What the hell are you doing here?”
Ukobach was an inferior demon, and as far as demons went, he was the best of a shitty bunch. Each one had a specialty and an attitude to match. Word had gotten around that Ukobach had been summoned from Hell, and Romanus and Rella had gone up and dragged him back down. I’d seen him when he returned, looking sad and defeated. I’d just assumed he’d been thrown into the great abyss with the rest of his brethren, waiting to be respawned once more.
My surprise was mirrored on the face of the inferior demon of fried food and fireworks.
That was why he was my favorite. You just knew a demon whose abilities involved bacon grease and explosives was going to be a good time. “Krax? What are you doing here?” His eyes dropped to where Hecto should have been, and his eyebrows rose. “Oh. Again?”
Nodding, I tried to keep my exhaustion from my face. “Yeah. The hunters are giving me a couple of days to find it before I get my ass flayed.”
Uko looked good. Being earthside had definitely given him some color, and if his marks were anything to go by, he was really happy. Inferior demons, the good ones anyway, let their bodies become hosts to imps. They were little more than glowing squiggles in the skin, feeding off the feelings of the host, but not unduly affecting them. They weren’t really symbiotic, but they didn’t do anything negative to Ukobach. If anything, they made him look like a badass.
“Well, fuck. Come in. I’ll get you some coffee. I have to brew it though. Elsie says you can’t eat it straight out of the bag.”
“Elsie?” I queried, but Romanus interrupted.
“You owe Rella, and you can return the good deed by helping Krax find his penis.” He turned and left.
I finally let out the breath I’d been holding. There was always a chance they’d decide I was too much hard work and kill me. Without me, Hecto would die too. It would have been a neat solution.
“Uko, who was at the door?” someone called from the back of the apartment.
“Just Romanus. We have to help someone find their penis!” Ukobach shouted back to her.
