Page 26 of Minions and Magic
“I’ll win. And then I’ll have your soul.”
Before I could wrestle my emotions enough to muster a reply he’d left, slamming my door so hard it rattled the house. I gritted my teeth, determined not to fall back into a flood of tears and spend the night drowning my sorrow in sour cherry pie. I needed to get my shit together. I needed to plan for the most amazing catering job of my life, to create food that would make the angels in heaven weep. I needed to make sure I won and kept my soul.
Which meant that I didn’t need to be alone tonight with my very tumultuous thoughts. No, tonight of all nights, I needed my sisters.
Chapter 14
Xavier
My anger faded before I was two blocks from Glenda’s house, but I didn’t have the courage to return and face her wrath and disappointment. How could she think that a few days in her company would completely change me? Did she truly expect me to give up everything I was to be with her? A part of me wondered if I even could. As demons, we reported to a higher power, and that higher power didn’t exactly appreciate dereliction of duty. There had been a few exceptions over the ages. Occasionally a demon got trapped in an oil lamp, or a bottle, or a circle, and was basically on what amounted to an extended leave. Sometimes those individuals were forgotten for a while. Although everyone assumed they were still trapped, no one really checked up on them. I supposed that a demon could have been released on go the minion equivalent of AWOL, but I didn’t know how that would work out in my case.
And why was I even thinking of this? I loved my work. I wasn’t about to give it up for a sexy witch who made me feel all sorts of things I’d never felt before. A witch who wove her magic around me in the kitchen as well as in the bedroom. Even now I longed to be with her, but not if she insisted I give up everything that made me a demon.
Damnation, I just didn’t understand witches at all. But I knew one demon who did. All of hell had gossiped when he’d gone on vacation and bound a witch to his side. Although a lot of demons joked that it was the witch who’d bound Lucien to her side instead.
Being the son of Satan gave Lucien quite a lot of street cred, but snagging himself a witch had sent that reputation into the stratosphere. He was here in Accident. Everyone knew that, especially those who needed to contact him for business reasons. I could find him, but would he talk to me? Lucien was pretty high above my pay grade, but right now I needed someone who knew witches. I needed someone who could advise me how to get this crazy idea out of Glenda’s head, to make her forgive me, make her love me, make her mine.
I zipped back to hell, bribed a few demons, then found myself back in Accident, standing in front of an old house that seemed to have a hodge-podge of additions stuck onto it. It didn’t exactly look like the sort of place I’d expect the son of Satan to reside, but there was no accounting for tastes. Besides, I’d heard the guy was rather eccentric. Marching up the steps, I rang the doorbell and waited.
A woman answered. She had reddish brown hair, was wearing a business suit, and from the resemblance, I immediately realized she must be a relative of Glenda’s. A cousin? A sister? We’d spent so much time cooking and flirting that I’d never asked her about her family. Of course this woman had to be some sort of relative though. Glenda was a witch. Lucien’s bonded female was a witch. I doubted there were two witches in this town thatweren’trelated.
“I’m here to see Lucien.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to address the demon’s witch consort. As a crossroads demon, I’d been a bit out of the loop on affairs in hell, and I didn’t know how formal their relationship was.
The witch spun around and motioned for me to follow. “He’s in the kitchen. Are you from the second circle? I hope that acid situation is resolved because we’ve got plans this weekend. There is no way I’m going to let Lucien go running off to hell when we’ve got the werewolf barbeque and family dinner night. If you all can’t get it straightened out by Friday, then it’s just going to have to wait until Monday.”
I stared at her back, a little shocked at her bossy tone. Not that I expected the son of Lucifer and Lilith would bond with a passive female, but this seemed excessive. I barely knew Lucien, but he must be a very strong demon to control this woman.
Or perhaps those demons in hell were right, and the witch was wearing the pants in this relationship.
“Lucien!” the woman shouted as she entered the kitchen. “Some flunky from hell to see you, even though it’s after five o’clock.”
I half expected him to turn around and fry her to ash on the spot for such insubordination, but instead Lucien dried his hands on a kitchen towel and commented drily, “It’s not like you don’t bring work home with you, Cassie. I’ll be at the barbeque, and I’ll be here for family dinner, but sometimes I need to work on the weekends.”
The demon turned, clearly not recognizing me from his perplexed frown. Not that I’d expected him to know who I was. I bowed, then with a quick glance at the witch, spoke in Enochian, hoping that she wouldn’t understand me.
“Son of Satan, I am in service as a crossroads demon, and I beg for your assistance in a matter of importance.”
He shot a quick glance at the witch he’d called Cassie and nodded, replying in English. “I totally forgot about our meeting.”
The witch narrowed her eyes. “Lucien, it’s date night. We’ve got plans.”
Lucien held up his hands. “I know, I know. Just give me an hour to meet with Freddy here. I’ll make it up to you I promise.”
Freddy?
“Yes, it will only take an hour.” I turned my sexiest smile at the witch and saw a familiar spark in her eyes. Then I turned and saw a very clear warning inLucien’seyes. Noted. No flirting with the witch belonging to the son of Lucifer.
He grabbed my arm and steered me out the front door and to a dark gray SUV in the driveway. I climbed in the passenger side and we rode in silence outside the wards to a little diner next to an entrance ramp onto the highway.
“We’ve got to make this quick,” Lucien told me. “The town is full of shifters, and they can hear a pin drop from six blocks away. I’m assuming whatever you’ve got to tell me isn’t something we want known outside of hell, so this is the safest place to talk. We’ve only got an hour though.” He checked his watch. “Actually, we’ve only got about ten minutes. I’ve got to be back for date night or Cassie will skin me alive.”
I choked back a laugh, wondering exactly how powerful this witch of his was. But since we only had ten minutes, I didn’t have time to ask questions—well, questions beyond the ones I’d originally planned to ask.
“I need to know about witches. Did your witch ask you to give up your work in hell? Or change who you are? Is that a reasonable request?”
Lucien’s eyes widened. “I thought…you’re not from the second circle? Or the fourth? This isn’t about the acid or the three souls that managed to escape?”
“No. I’m a crossroads demon, and I met a witch last Saturday. I’m…fond of her. And I thought she was fond of me, but she just threw me out and told me never to come back because she’d expected me to change.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Did your witch do this?”
