Page 15 of Snowed in with the Demon Lord
“You said you wouldn’t last long without your wards, right?” I nodded confirmation. “How long is ‘not long’ to an immortal?”
I frowned. “Honestly, I did not expect to still be here when you woke. I shouldn’t be. An unbound demon rarely lasts the night, and the more powerful the demon, the quicker reality rejects us.”
Holly took a moment before replying, and her answer went in a direction I hadn’t considered. “You mean you expected me to wake up here,alone,and just cope? That’s kind of shitty, Abaddon. I’d be on my own, and if I survived at all, I’d be worried and wondering why you’d abandoned me.”
“I had planned to tell you, but emotions rather overtook us, if you recall.” Holly blushed, and I grinned. “After that you were unconscious, and I had no desire to wake or disturb you. It worked out, because here we both are.”
Though I had no answer to the question ofwhyI remained. It bothered me too, probably more than it did Holly.
“Sure, you got lucky somehow, but if your plan had worked, I’d have been worried to death.”
“It was not aplan,little one. I simply wanted to let you rest. You needed it.”
She sighed, looked away, and relaxed with a visible effort. “You’re right, I did. I feel much better, even my head doesn’t hurt where I knocked it. Maybe you made the right call.”
“And now that you are awake, and I still exist, we can fuck again. Better now that I know your body and your responses.”
Holly’s face flushed bright red, and her mouth flapped silently. I chuckled, which only made things worse for her. But she shook her head, and buried her face against my chest.
“I think,” she said, voice tiny and muffled, “I think another round would kill me. Which, I mean, what a way to go, but I don’t plan on dying yet.”
Another chuckle from me, which made her squirm delightfully. “Very well, little one. I can wait. In the meantime, what would you like to do?”
“I like this,” she said, squeezing me. “Just being here with you, holding you. Being held. That’s enough for me.
“But if it’s not prying, I want to understand what’s going on.”
My turn to sigh, and I lay back, holding her close and loving the feel of her naked skin against mine. Itwasnice just to hold her. “I will do my best, but I do not understand everything myself. What do you want to know? I will answer what I can.”
“Let’s start at the beginning. Why are you here?Howare you here?”
“Now that, I can tell you.”
I toldher about the Hellwar. Fighting in hell was unremarkable, but the scale was all-encompassing. Hellfire raged across whole worlds, noble houses put to the sword, chaos and betrayal everywhere. The city of Dis, a world in itself, burned and broke as brother fought brother.
No one individual could rule all of Hell, but Lord Baal would destroy everything trying to prove he was the exception. Damn him for his pointless ambition!
“My lord, you must withdraw. We have lost the outer gate, and the Baalists are in the tormentorium.” Grael, the grizzled captain of my guard, sounded annoyed, as though this was a minor inconvenience rather than the end of everything we helddear. Wreathed in lightning, he didn’t let the report keep him from fighting, throwing bolts from the throne room window as he spoke.
I laughed without humor. “Withdraw, Grael? Where should I go? This spire is the safest place in my holdings.”
He half-turned to face me, but whatever he’d intended to say, a tentacle of black liquid cut him off. It shot in through the window, engulfing Grael’s head, and dragged him out before anyone could react. My remaining two bodyguards rushed forward, trying to save him, but bolts of ice caught the first in the chest, impaling and freezing him at once.
His companion ducked back, prudence overwhelming her urge to rescue her comrades. She looked at me, and I read the horror and guilt in her expression.
“They are both past saving,” I told her. “There is no shame in abandoning the dead to tend the living. Vengeance is impossible unless you are alive to take it.”
She nodded, a shaky up and down motion of her wolf-like head. I wished I knew her name. Carnia? Carsis? Something like that. The war had seen too many deaths and rapid promotions for me to keep up.
“Take your own advice, Lord. Leave. Fight another day. If you die, we lose everything.”
“That is no way to speak to your liege-lord,” I said.
She shrugged, throwing a hellfire blast out the shattered window. Outside, someone screamed as their soul ignited. “You can punish me for that later, Lord Abaddon.Ifwe both survive.”
I snarled. “I will not run from Baal.”
“Then we both die today.” She took my arm and pulled me toward the throne room’s massive brass doors. “So I can be as insubordinate as I want, you fucking asshole.”
