The door to the apartment opened and closed softly, and the silence that fell in its wake was deafening.
26
Hell Is Other People
Luna walked so close to Raum’s leg, he might as well not have bothered with the leash. But she didn’t cower, and her tail stayed up.
He wished he could join in her newfound bravery. Instead, if he was a dog, he’d have dug himself a hole so deep he’d end up back in Hell.
Then again, he’d already dug a figurative hole deep enough for that.
Why was he so mad about this? Why did he feel like tearing apart Sunshine’s entire apartment when she told him so plainly she’d always been planning to get the book and return to her former angelic glory?
Of course she was planning that. If she’d tried for even a second to throw that away for him, he’d have dragged her back to Heaven himself.
She deserved the world. She deserved everything she wanted and more. She deserved to be elevated to the highest position an angel could rise to. He wanted that for her.
That she’d been through what she had made him so goddamn angry, he was liable to pull a Bel and burst into hellfire. Thinking about her trapped and suffering in Hell made his hands curl into fists and his claws shoot out of his fingertips, digging into his palms until blood dripped onto the sidewalk. The world disappeared in a wash of red.
A slight whimper had him blinking and looking down into Luna’s concerned eyes. He’d stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and the people passing were giving him wary looks. Made sense. There were two little puddles of blood beneath his fists.
He retracted his claws, forced his fingers to uncurl, and examined his bloody palms.Fucking great.He wiped them on his hoodie. It already had bloodstains from when Bel had stabbed him, so he might as well add to the collection. At least it was black.
“I hear I missed all the fun,” Asmodeus said when Raum made it home fifteen minutes later.
His happy little demon family was all gathered there, minus the girls. Mist lurked by the fridge, Ash and Meph sat on the barstools across the island, and Bel stood with crossed arms by the stove, glaring at the world like a rage inferno poorly contained by thin glass walls.
Luna immediately shrank behind Raum’s legs.
He really needed to take her back to the shelter—she wasn’t going to like hanging out in a house full of demons—but he didn’t have a ride. He’d just have to keep her close and calm her if she got scared.
“Maybe if you weren’t such a downer, the fun would follow you,” Meph said to Ash. “That’s what happens to me.”
“That’s not fun,” Ash replied. “That’s total fucking chaos.” He looked at the quivering pit bull at Raum’s feet. “I hope you didn’t adopt that dog.”
Raum bent and picked her up. Yeah, Luna was no tea-cup poodle, but he was strong and she was scared. He could deal.
“How many damn animals do you people need?” Belial growled. “I’ve already got fucking cats coming out my ears, and now you’re bringing home a rat?”
Raum held Luna closer and pinned his brother with a glare. “She’s a dog. Not a rat.”
“She does kinda look like a hellrat,” Meph said. “Big, gray, and wrinkly.”
“Don’t insult Luna.” After shooting Meph a threatening look, Raum looked back at Belial. Evidently, Bel’s anger at him was very much alive and well. Considering the apartment was still trashed from their fight, it made sense.
Also, it was Belial. He was always angry about something.
Bel stared back at him, and tense silence reigned. The only movement came from Mist’s tail, flicking restlessly.
“Are you really under a contract with the angel?” Meph asked, always first to fill the quiet. “Are you going to try to kill us now?”
Raum looked at him, choosing to ignore Bel for now. He wasn’t in the mood to manage his brother’s perpetual shitty mood. “I was. It’s dissolved now. And it wasn’t for that. I just couldn’t talk about it to anyone who didn’t know.”
“You’re actually defending her,” Ash said incredulously.
“According to Bel”—Meph jabbed a finger at the enormous, scowling demon as if he wasn’t already the most noticeable thing in the room—“the angel threatened to sell us all out if you didn’t cooperate. And she made you go to Hell to steal some grimoire for her.”
“Yeah.” Raum chose not to mention that he’d failed to get said grimoire. That part was a little embarrassing.
