Page 89 of Her Soul for Revenge
“No,trueHellishness,” I said. “The Hell I know, the Hell you’re bound for; not the Hell humans have concocted in their storybooks. Hellish in freedom and depravity.”
“Okay, enough being vague!” She leaned up against the Jeep, arms folded, eyes narrowed at me. “What is thisHellishplace? And do they have liquor?”
“Only the best of it.”
“Is a bloody suit appropriate for their dress code?”
“You’ll be the envy of everyone there.”
“Let’s go then!” She reached for the door, but I caught her wrist. As excited as I was, I needed her to understand.
“There will be demons there. Many of them.”
She paused, her face growing serious. “What...what kind of place is this exactly?”
“Demons on Earth need a way to blow off steam,” I said. “We need places where we can be ourselves, let loose without worrying about being seen. We need places to socialize, places where we can meet playmates we don’t have to worry about accidentally killing.”
“And where is this place?”
“The locations never stay the same for long. It wouldn’t be a good idea to linger and draw too much attention. But an old acquaintance contacted me a few days ago and told me there was one nearby.”
“One...what?”
“We call them Clans,” I said. “Clandestine places. Think of a nightclub, but with no rules, no restrictions, watched over by a single host who ensures the liquor keeps flowing and everyone keeps fucking.”
Her eyes widened, her lips parting slightly. She was intrigued. “Is it...I mean...is it safe for me?”
“Of course. Demons know better than to fuck with another’s property.” I gave her a wink, before her pride could flare up too much. “And you won’t be the only mortal in attendance. You can relax there. You won’t have to hide anything.” Her eyes still flickered to the side. She would be thinking through everything that could go wrong, assessing every potential threat. But that was exactly what I wanted to free her from. I didn’t want her to feel threatened.
I wanted her to feel free.
“You can say no,” I said. “It’s up to you. But I’m only offering because I think you’d enjoy yourself. I think it would be something different for you, somewhere you don’t have to worry about hiding. You could speak openly there. You’d be surrounded by beings that understand the strange side of life.”
She gulped, chewing the inside of her cheek. This was for her, and if she said no, we’d find some other way to celebrate. But I wanted her to have this. I wanted her to have a place to let down her walls for more than just me.
She took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and said finally, “Okay. Let’s go.”
I drove, and she sat beside me in the passenger seat with her feet up on the dash, tapping her legs to the beat of the music as “Friend of the Devil”by Adam Jensen played through the speakers. An old friend had sent me the Clan’s coordinates a few days prior, and I didn’t need a map to find my way. Most demons had an instinctually good sense of direction, but I’d traveled around Earth enough that mine was better than most.
I drove southeast, until we were deep in the forest. I kept my senses alert, sniffing the air through the open window for any signs of dangerous creatures.
But the only scent I caught was that of dozens and dozens of demons. I pulled off the road, grateful now that we were driving her Jeep. My car was fast, but it wasn’t built for roads like these. I wound down the overgrown road until we reached a chain-link fence, barbed wire coiled along the top, with a largeNo Trespassing — Government Propertysign secured to the locked gate.
I turned off the engine and hopped out. “We’ll walk from here. Can you make it over, or should I toss you?”
She looked up at the fence, hands on her hips, before she pulled off her jacket and tossed it back into the Jeep. “It’s not even an electric fence. I’ll be fine.”
I jumped over the fence easily, landing crouched on the other side. By the time I’d turned around, she’d already climbed halfway up.
“Not bad,” I said, as she carefully pulled herself over the top, gripping the wire between its barbs and turning herself so she could leap to the ground. “Not bad at all, little wolf. Although I still think it would have been fun to throw you.”
“Of course you do,” she snickered, shaking her head. We walked together back into the trees, the demonic scent growing stronger as we went. The cold air smelled of woodsmoke, sweet demonic blood, marijuana, and alcohol.
It smelled like home.
Juniper stopped abruptly, eyes wide, staring upward. I smiled at her awe over the massive structure ahead, and said, “Welcome to Hell on Earth, love.”
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