Page 4 of Absolved In Death

“Absolutely fucking not,” Bash growled.

“Agreed,” Mal and Zaz said in unison.

“No, not like that! He obviously wants to be her bestie. He said he’d teach her how to dance and seems genuinely remorseful about having to torture her. Play that up. Convince him to get us out of here,” Judas clarified.

A loud bullhorn sound filled the room, catching all of us off guard. Then Quelier’s disembodied voice echoed, making my stomach drop.

“You will now be transferred to your Personal Hell. This Hellscape is made for you in real time by your subconscious, liberally seasoned with your thoughts and feelings. Enjoy!”

Before anyone could respond, the room started to rumble. One by one, each of us disappeared. I was the third to go, and ended up in a stone cell, with bars. The lights flickered, turningoff for several seconds. When they came back on, I was sitting at a desk in a classroom.

No, wait, my high school English classroom from senior year. All of the mean girls I took the class with sat around me and Zaz was up at the front of the room, dressed in khaki pants and a powder blue button down, the same way he dressed when he watched over me as a substitute teacher before we met.

“For Lucifer’s sake,” I huffed. “Let me guess, we’re going to relive me getting mercilessly teased by blond, skinny mean bitches who’ll reach their peak five years post graduation, and you’re going to have to sit back and do nothing to keep your cover, just like you did when you were watching over me?”

Zaz’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. I tried to mindlink him, but it didn’t work. His brows reached his hairline as he pointed at his mouth, then shook his head.

“Awww, Diana is such a teacher fucker,” Carrie, the ring leader of the bunch said to me. “Not surprising. She’s so fat that none of the boys in this school want to fuck her.”

The other girls cackled, like Carrie said the funniest thing ever. Memories of these girls bullying me made unease coil in my gut. They were ruthless.Relentless. It took years of self-love and distance to rebuild my confidence.

“She’s going to die alone!” another girl named Jessica shouted.

Years ago, that same comment had me crying in a bathroom stall. But as I thought of my men–of Desmond, Ares, Mal, Bash, and Zaz—they seemed absurd.

At my lack of response, the girls started chanting a whole slew of insults. Fattie. Ugly. Teacher fucker.

I’m totally fucking that teacher as soon as we get out of here.

“He probably couldn’t even find her pussy with that FUPA!” Another girl said. I forgot her name, because she wasn’t very memorable.

“Joke’s on you. I’ll end up meeting five grown-ass men who’ll find my clit, even with all this fat upper pussy goodness,” I said, gesturing at my lower stomach. “Something none of your boyfriends can do. Most of them will never learn how, either.”

They all stalled, looking at each other like they didn’t expect my brash response. One of them looked at the loudspeaker in the corner, as loud, peppy cheer music started playing. It was mildly annoying, but not as ear-splitting as it used to be.

“We’re going to make your life a living Hell,” Carrie promised me. She flipped her long golden tresses over her shoulder, giving me a level eight death glare straight out of a tele novella.

“I’d like to see you try.” I meant it too. They could try their hardest to break me down, but it was no use.

I didn’t know how, but one way or another I was getting us out of here and a bunch of popular bitches wouldn’t stop me.

2

ARES

“No!” Desmond shouted as the portal’s light flickered off and closed. He ran to where it materialized, waving his hand through the empty space.

The last thing we saw was Diana’s worried expression and Lucifer shifting into his true form, which means something terrible happened.

I’d say so,Voice agreed.That man is too vain to stray from his handsome humanesque form, so something fucked up is afoot.

Ugh!I took my spear, slashing at the air, even though I knew it wouldn’t make the portal open back up. In an act of pure frustration, I threw it at the wall. Most of it went through, with only the very end sticking out. Desmond recalled it, handing it back to me.

“Calm the fuck down, A-Bomb. Try mindlinking her,” he barked.

The voices in my head were shouting, ringing the alarm bells loud and clear.

Something is wrong with Diana!

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