“Better.” A touch of fang peeked out from her blood-red lips, a nearly affectionate look. The Terror of the Sixth Level stood her full eight human feet, swaths of crimson silk twitching around her form like living things. Gold horn-wraps glittered on her head—the mark of her rank. Vik preferred earrings. “How are you, mydarling?”
The touch of her lips singed Vik’s cheek, judging by the burn. A warning, nothing more, a reminder of his place in the cosmos—and hers. The burn would heal in under a minute. Oh shit. Soon she’d say something Vik didn’t want tohear.
Like Vik, her eyes were gold, with vertical slits, her skin glowed a healthy, unblemished red. He’d definitely gotten his looks from his mother, even if having a human father meant he’d never achieved his mother’s height. He’d only managed six feet six, with shoulders wide enough to get caught in some of the narrower corridors. His father had been an accountant—but a truly evil accountant, who’d impressed Mom so much she’d brought him home and granted him immortality. In her words, “I’m not raising this little demon all bymyself!”
While Dad might not have been demon born, he’d earned his place in Hell by orchestrating financial crises throughout time: the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dutch Tulip Mania, the Mississippi Bubble, the Great Crash of 1929, and more recently, the housing meltdown of 2008, and the United States budget deficit. It kept climbing andclimbing…
Currently he spent his days sequestered away from the rest of the world, playing fast and loose with the American economy. He’d even ventured into politics! That US election. Wow! What aguy!
Oh, wait. Yeah. Mom asked a question. “I’mfine.”
The hand she placed on his arm didn’t bode well, especially not when she dug her talons into his shoulder to hold him in place. “Noorvik, it’s time for you to settle down. I long to hear the tippity-tap of tinyhooves.”
Oh, Home! Not this again. “But, Mom, I’m still young. I’m not readyyet.”
The talons tightened. “If I waited for you to be ready nothing would ever happen. So humor your mother, dear. I’ve put the wheels into motion.Kiana?”
A demure looking female demon glided through the door, her footsteps so light she appeared to float. Her shimmery silver dress clung to her ample curves. She’d used some kind of cosmetic to fade her skin color to a deep rose hue, and she’d filed her horns down to barely-visible nubs. Ha! Fads! Last century magenta skin had been all the rage, and horns sharpened to dagger points. They might grow back—in a decade or so. She’d also dyed her hair from red to brown, worn in a slightly familiar style, bringing to mind someone Vik had seen on TV. Snoopy? No, that was a dog. Snook-ums? From Rhode Island Shore?Hmm…
But… “Kiana?” He recalled pigtails and braces on a twig of ademoness.
Kiana fluttered her fingers. “Hi, Vik. Nice to see you rememberme.”
Vik remembered her all right. She could drink a vial of ink back in preschool and sign her name when she belched.Impressive.
“Oh good, you two know each other,” his mothercooed.
Both Vik and Kiana did double-takes. Cooing didn’t really work for the Mistress of All Things Dark andSinister.
To Vik she hissed, “What do you think? She’s the prettiest mate I could find foryou.”
“Mate?” Vik didn’t sweat often, but beads popped out on his forehead, right between thehorns.
His mother’s smile fell. “You don’t likeher?”
Kiana’s strained smile grew wider and she took a quick step back. Ah, so she didn’t care for this little arrangement either. Good. Vik could usethat.
“No offense, Mom, Kiana, but she’s a little too…” Soft? Lacking a dick? How could he possibly tell his mother he wanted a male? Or fourteen. And to be honest, he’d even take a human male, like the ones in his rock posters. If only Andy Sixx came in blue… the guy really had Vik going once with thatFallen Angelsvideo. Had him totally convinced the entire band hailed from level two. Damned specialeffects.
“Voluptuous?” Kianaventured.
Vik flashed a smile and a silent “thanks.” “Yeah, that’s it. Voluptukiss, voluperous. Oh, home. What shesaid.”
“Oh.” His mother’s pout hit Vik right in the heart he wasn’t supposed to have. The midwife called it a birth defect. “That will be all,Kiana.”
Kiana winked at Vik and backed from the hall. Oh yeah, he owed her big time. One bullet dodged. And from the look of horror she had for a moment, any moment now she’d be slamming down tequilashots.
Vik could sure handle a few rightnow.
“If that’s all, Mother, I’lljust…”
His mother curled her lips in her most ominous smile, exposing two-inch fangs. “Am I not your mother? Do I not know you? I have just the female in mind. Tazlina? Comeforth.”
Two fire minions opened the far door, and in strode a seven-foot warrior princess, complete with bulging muscles peeking out from beneath her chain-mail-but-barely-there attire. Her horns rivaled Vik’s for length. Not a bit of cosmetic dulled her skin. Did she have abrother?
One of the minions nearly put out his own flames withdrool.
His mother relaxed her grip on Vik’s arm. “Isn’t she magnificent? Why, look at those legs. She could crack walnuts with thosethighs!”
