Page 44 of Fiends and Familiars
Adrienne
Ty left and I immediately felt bereft at his absence. Rhoid was gone. Gone. Dead. I’d never see him again.
Ever since Cassie took up with Lucien, I’d had a different opinion of demons. Yes, they had their business, and I didn’t always approve of their methods, but who was I to criticize how God and Satan managed the afterlife of reward and punishment? Plus Lucien was nice. He adored Cassie. He went out of his way to make sure his infernal career didn’t interfere with their relationship. I knew he’d made huge sacrifices in both his reputation and in his business decisions to keep the peace with Cassie.
And then there had been Hadur, a warmonger who was so gentle and devoted to Bronwyn. And Nash, a reaper. Eshu, a sort-of demon, although I honestly thought he might be a demi-god. Then Xavier, a crossroads demon who bargained the sort of contracts that Rhoid had agreed to when he’d been Faust.
They were wonderful men, even though they were demons who had jobs that involved the punishment of wayward souls. They ate dinner with us every Sunday. Theylovedmy sisters. I’d just assumed all demons were like them.
Then Ty had shaken my faith. And this Abraxas had completely broken it.
He’d smashed though my wards. He’d broken into my house and trashed it. He’d stolen a being that was under my protection, killed him, and taken him to hell. Me. A witch. The sister of the very witch who was mated to the son of Satan.
I didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel powerful. I wasn’t sure how I was going to ever sit down to Sunday dinner with my sisters’ demon mates and make small talk with them when one of their own had done this to me.
I knelt in my trashed kitchen and cried, Oak, Pine, and Maple snuggling against me in sympathy. Drake came and perched on my shoulder, running his sharp beak through my hair. I turned to him, feeling his soft feathers under my hands. He’d been hurt defending the house, defending Rhoid, but he’d healed since I’d gotten back.
I guessed familiars had powers of their own.
I tried, my witch. I tried to save the squirrel, but the demon’s fire was too much for me.
“It’s my fault, Drake,” I told him. “I shouldn’t have gone to that stupid party. I should never have left you all alone here. I just thought after what happened in Cassie’s office, that Rhoid would be safe here in my house, behind my wards.”
It’s not your fault.Drake nuzzled me again.It’s that demon’s fault.
I wiped my eyes and gave each of the squirrels a reassuring pat. It might be Abraxas’s fault, but there was nothing I could do about it. Rhoid was gone, and somehow I’d need to figure out how I was going to handle all of this going forward. Should I move farther away so I didn’t have to face demons once every week at dinner? Should I just mourn Rhoid and continue on with my life?
Or should I get off my knees and fight to get my squirrel back, even if he was dead? For fuck’s sake, my sister was mated to the son of Satan. My sisters’ mates were five powerful denizens of hell. I needed to fight this. Even if Satan refused to intervene and I lost Rhoid forever, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t at least make an attempt to get him back.
The first step would be to go see Cassie. My house wasn’t fit to spend the night in anyway, and Cassie did live in our family home, the one we’d all grown up in, that generations of Perkins witches had called their home since the founding of Accident. I texted Babylon to let her know what was going on, so she wouldn’t freak if she drove by here and saw the condition of my house. Then I loaded three squirrels, a vulture, and a bag of clothes into my truck, and drove to Accident.
* * *
“This is bullshit.”Cassie paced back and forth across the kitchen, sparks flying from her fingertips. I eyed her in a bit of alarm. Would I be worried about putting out random fires for the second time tonight? Because Cassie was just as likely to start setting things alight as demons evidently were.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Lucien said. His voice was calm and even, but he was also sending quick glances toward Cassie that showed he was equally as alarmed as I was.
“I was at a party, and while I was in the middle of the corn maze, a demon came out of nowhere and tried to grab me. I ran, but he tried to grab me again, and Ty fought him off. He said the demon was Abraxas.”
Lucien’s brows knitted together. “Abraxas.”
Cassie stopped her pacing. “Not that asshole your father’s been fawning over for the last few months?”
Lucien nodded. “He has taken quite a liking to Abraxas. It’s problematic. He’s not likely to support me if I lodge a complaint against the demon. He’ll say Abraxas was justified in using whatever force was necessary to retrieve a soul that has eluded us for so long. In spite of what the contract says,” he quickly added as he saw actual flames flicker in Cassie’s palms.
“But he tried to abductme,” I stressed. “Then he distracted us with three demons who attacked us in full view of a group of humans, while he was smashing through my wards and destroying my house to get to Rhoid. I mean, Faust.”
“Breaking and entering,” Cassie snapped. “Attempted kidnapping. Assault. Did I mention breaking and entering? And all that’s before we even get to him taking a squirrel that was under the protection of my sister.”
“My father isn’t going to give a damn about Addy protecting Faust in the form of a squirrel,” Lucien argued. “And he probably won’t give a damn about the rest either. Cassie, darling, please try to understand the situation. I’m the son of Satan, but I’mnotmy father and I don’t have his authority.”
“I think we need to let Ty deal with this,” Babylon interjected. She’d arrived not long after I had, and was in the process of making a big pot of coffee for everyone.
“Ty?” Lucien laughed. “He’s the master of the hellhounds, and I’ll admit that he is a powerful demon, but he’s no match for Abraxas, especially with my father backing the latter.”
“He beat the crap out of him in the corn maze.” I wasn’t sure why I was defending Ty, but I found myself absolutely incensed that Lucien would think my demon was no match for Abraxas. He’d wipe the floor with that asshole. Wipe. The. Floor.
Lucien’s eyebrows rose. “With his hellhounds?”
