Page 13 of Generally Hospitable
Pandora slowly let go of my hand. I was at full strength now. I could feel it… and she was once again on empty.
“This is the way it has to be, Bitch Goddess Cecily.”Her voice was resigned, but there was a calm serenity about her that I’d never witnessed. Goddess Pandora seemed happy.“This will be the way my story ends, and I am at peace with it. Use my magic wisely. Save yourself and your daughter. It’s the only way to beat the Higher Power. However, I would like your word that the bitch will pay.”
“You have my word,” I promised. All of the emotions rioting inside me made my head spin. This wasn’t a happily ever after in any way. The sitcom of our lives was ending with the demise of one of the main characters. That wasn’t how I rolled. I despised those kinds of shows.“However, make me this promise, Pandora. Hang on long enough to give me the chance to come back for you. You have to promise me that or I’ll take my best shot at Chub Chub Wang right now.”
“That would be foolish. While you might be a bitch, you are not a fool,”she said with a hint of a smile pulling at her lips.“While Phyllis might be running the show, It has given Decatalian an absurd amount of power to play with. Going against him could end everything. Think hard about that, Cecily. Very hard.”
I hated that she was right. But I wasn’t Chub Chub Wang. I was not stupid. In order to save the universe… and Pandora, I had to live.
Holding back a primal scream, I simply nodded.“I won’t do that, but I need your word that you’ll hang on until I come back.”
Pandora paused. I knew she didn’t want to give me her word. Her word was good. We both knew that.
“Fine,”she said after a full minute.“I shall hang on as long as I can.”
It wasn’t the promise I’d asked for, but it was as good as she was going to give me right now. I only hoped I could get back in time to save her, to save all of us, before the final curtain call.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next fifteenminutes were some of the most humiliating and degrading I’d ever witnessed, and that was saying a lot considering the past months since learning about my Demon Goddess DNA. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how Pandora had handled it with as much grace as she did. The old Pandora would have reduced Decatalian to ash. The new Pandora didn’t have the magic to do that. There was a possibility that I did, but I’d made a promise that I wouldn’t go for the despicable Demon. I’d never wanted to break a promise so much in my life.
The shit stain, still butthurt about the death magic rumor, wasn’t playing around. With a snap of his repulsive fingers, he conjured up a collar and a leash. He chanted a few words and Pandora’s feet were released from the floor. Mine were not.
I gasped and watched in horror as he clipped the offensive leather around Pandora’s slim neck before forcing her to all fours on the ground to leash her. He treated her like an animal.
She gave me a warning glare not to interfere. I stuck to our deal, but I mentally took vengeance notes for the near future. Once Abaddon and my people were by my side again, and I would rescue Pandora from the monster, and then I would takeChub Chub Wang down in the most public and humiliating way I could imagine.
And I was an actress, so my imagination was limitless.
My plan was to make his death hurt. Maybe I’d dose him with his own medicine and do a few rounds of ling chi before setting the traitor on fire, before tearing his head from his body with my bare hands. Of course, I wouldn’t forget how much he loved the idea of shitting down my throat before decapitating me. Not that I was going to take a dump in his mouth, but I had quite a few demonic buddies who would do me a solid—gross pun intended.
Decatalian waved his hand and created a door. He kicked Pandora’s butt with the toe of his boot to get her moving, then laughed like he’d just heard a hilarious joke as he moved ahead of her, tugging on the leash to make her move faster. My stomach roiled, and my fury almost made me go back on my word. I wanted to destroy him so badly, I could taste it.
His time would come. It had to.
At the door, Chub Chub Wang paused and turned back to me. The grin on his face was deranged. “Have fun trying to leave, half breed. It will not be easy for someone as stupid as you. Trust me on that.”
I waved goodbye with my middle finger. I’d kept my promise to Pandora. I didn’t go after him, but I had to send him off with a fuck you.
After his parting shot, he walked out the door with my friend on her hands and knees, leashed like a dog, and fully at his mercy. The final image would dance in my nightmares for a long time. As soon as the door closed behind them, it disappeared.
I fell to my knees as my feet disengaged from the floor. I wasn’t sure if Chub Chub allowed it or if his spell left with him. The asshole wasn’t nearly as powerful as we’d thought. That was the work of the Higher Power. The thought of Phyllis made megrind my teeth. The Higher Power was the true abomination. And no matter what happened, I would figure out a way to make It pay.
There wasn’t time to cry, but the scene I’d just watched was so awful, I needed a moment to compose myself. I expected executioners to arrive at any moment. It was imperative that I transport out as fast as possible. Unfortunately, my body shook so hard that it was impossible to concentrate my magic to land me outside of the castle. I worried that if I tried without calming down first, there was no telling where I would end up, and reappearing inside a mountain was not on my bucket list. Not today.
“A minute,” I promised myself as I tried to force my body to stop trembling. “You can have one minute, Cecily. That’s all. Just one.”
Closing my eyes, I pressed my forehead to the cold marble floor and took a few deep breaths. Touching my stomach and knowing my baby was counting on me to keep my shit together calmed me down. In thirty seconds, I would be ready.
“Bitch? Stinky Bitch?” a familiar voice whispered. “Is that you, jackhole?”
I was on my feet in less time than it took to inhale. My gaze flew wildly around the room. “Irma?” I called out. I was certain it was Irma.
If she were alive, that meant Corny, Jonny, Stella, and Moon might be alive, too. It would make one of the worst days of my life a little bit better if my friends were still breathing. There was a chance I imagined the voice, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have called myself a stinky bitch in my subconscious.
“Down here,” she said.
“Down where?” I questioned, scanning the floor in the room.
