"For very real." Her grin matched mine and I gave up on making her leave. I knew she wouldn't go anyway.
"Hello Dixie, I see you brought your dog," Cole's voice boomed and bounced off the walls. His eyes were slightly wild and he was armed to the teeth. He wore a long cheesy black cape, black pants and a red ruffled shirt. "So nice of you to come to my party."
What the Hell was Cole doing here and why was he dressed like a Demon from a bad B movie? He muttered and laughed and he walked quickly in circles so his cape flowed behind him. This was bad, but I knew I could take him. He was stupid and arrogant. I was a True Immortal. He could do me damage, but he couldn't kill me. Lucy was another story.
"Didn't realize it was yours," I greeted him politely. "I would have torn up the invite and spit on it if I'd known. I'm guessing this is a family affair—you will let Lucy leave."
"But she's your sister," he sneered. "Family is family, no matter what the breed."
"I already told you, I'm not leaving," Lucy hissed under her breath.
"See?" He laughed. "Your dog likes to heel."
"Shut up, asshole," I snapped.
"I've always said you were a spoiled rotten brat and I can see things haven't changed."
I was right about Cole being a shitbag, but I still didn't understand the game. Lucy stood quietly beside me, but her body was as tense as a coil about to spring.
"Everyone should be arriving soon, so make yourselves comfortable."
"We'll do that," I said nastily.
The door we'd entered through flew open and Demons of the sort I'd never seen entered and spaced themselves around the gym. There had to be at least two hundred. The odds were looking slightly craptastic. Even though the Things were vapid and worthless, I hoped like Hell they would sense the danger in the gym and stay away. There was still two hours before innocent people would arrive. Pus and blood oozed from open sores on the faces and necks of the all male Demon army. Their breathing came out in short bursts and their black teeth protruded over bulbous lips. Rogue Demons were butt-ass ugly—and they looked hungry. Awesome.
I pulled Lucy away from the perimeter and into a clump of trees made out of coat racks and tissue paper. I said a quick prayer to my father that what happened earlier wasn't a fluke. . .
"Lucy, can you hear me?" Her eyes shot to mine and I closed my eyes for a brief moment in relief. "Cole is my father's second in command. Or he was. . .He's a powerful Demon and he clearly has delusions of grandeur or a massive death wish. I'm unsure what's going down, but all the stinky asshole wallflowers are Rogue Demons."
Lucy gave me a quick wink.
"You don't want to go at Cole under any circumstances. I'm pretty sure he has some Black Magic and he wears a Hell Fire ring. It could kill you, and if you die today I will hunt your ghost ass down and kill you again. Do you understand me?"
She gave me another wink and a smirk.
I discreetly reached into my purse and smiled. I had told them they couldn't come, but I was delighted they blatantly disobeyed me. I pulled my baby Demon salvia covered hand from my bag and patted it gently. I had no clue if they could eat two hundred Rogue Demons, but the less I had to destroy would leave me more time to deal with Cole.
"So killing me gets you what?" I asked as Cole paced Heaven with an authority and stature that belied his true status.
"Kill you?" He laughed and gave me a condescending glare. "I can't kill you. She would be upset if I did that. You've been granted a reprieve." Thank Hades he thought I was killable. He was unaware of my True Immortal standing.
None of this was adding up. Where was the Sword of Death and was I just supposed to annihilate the room of bad guys? How would that balance anything? The Kev told me to see things clearly and make a balanced decision. All I saw were badly dressed smelly evil dudes. Did they tip the balance?
The waiting was worse than anything I'd ever experienced.
And then it happened.
All at once.
The vultures came crashing through the skylights and landed at Cole's feet. He cooed to them and pet their hairless heads.
"Motherfucker," Lucy muttered. "The Things are bad guys?"
"Looking that way," I replied as I brushed shards of glass from the skylight off of my sister and pulled us farther back to the relative safety of the seven-foot papier-mâché Satan.
The Demons surrounding us wailed and moaned. They rocked back and forth—their teeth clicked and snapped ominously. The sounds and smells made my stomach roil.
"Such good little vultures," Cole purred to the Things. "You brought your daddy the evil ones right on time."
"They're related?" Lucy was flabbergasted.