Page 14 of Nope, No Regrets
“Nothing is stopping us from making a trip to buy them new clothes. They are new residents of Hell, and they are companions of a princess… shouldn’t they walk through the fiery gates in style? I know you’re all in jail for various crimes, but forcing you to wearthatis a crime unto itself!”
“Let’s get out of here,” Rei said. “I need to stop and see Hauser before we leave. He needs to meet everyone. Sorry, Sota, I know my father arranged our union, and he approves, but Hauser is my mentor. He taught me everything I know about stealing and how to survive in the supernatural world. He was the one that told me I was a demon and not a fox shifter. I trust his opinion more than a father I never met.”
Rei was going to make this demon work for it, and he didn’t seem upset about it at all. If Rei never knew about him, then he’d been in Hell and would have never met her until now. I was guessing he wasn’t some demon creeper who had been watching her in the shadows, or he would have stepped in when she was getting arrested.
He wasn’t mad about needing Hauser’s approval, even if he already had her fathers. He just gave her a gentle smile and a bow.
“I’d be honored to meet the wolf who guided you when you weren’t in Hell.”
Demons were just so fuckingweird!I loved reading about them, but meeting them in person was just… bizarre. Rei was raised here, but Sota and Barbatos had grown up and lived in Hell. Hauser took Rei in because she tried to steal from him and had then taught her everything she knew about robbing people. I needed Rei to be a thief, and I liked her the way she was, but I imagined her fiancé and a Duke would have problems with it.
They looked pretty damn proud of her, and I didn’t get that at all.
I barely had time to enjoy the sun on my face when we stepped outside, I didn’t get to see what a twerk was either. We had people waiting for us, and I didn’t think that was a good thing.
There was a male Kitsune with his ears and tails out. Rei had three, and this demon had seven. This could only be her brother, and I wasn’t just saying that because he was also a Kitsune, they had the same white hair and almond-shaped violet eyes. His face was much sharper than Rei’s impish features, but the similarities were there.
He had a witch with him who took the whole witchy thing way too far. Even back in my day, the witches and warlocks blended in with everyone else. She was definitely a real witch, but she was dressed like she was playing one on some of those television shows they played at the prison that Wren hated.
She was wearing a purple velvet cloak, with the hood up, and this headdress with an opal resting on her forehead. I didn’t really get to see anyone that wasn’t in some way associated with prisons when I was being transported from Scorchwood to Silverhold, but I could see people on the street. Modern clothes were weird, and some were offensive, but not like this witch.
We all just stopped and stared. Was someone going to make an introduction? I had access to my gargoyle now. Her brother was supposed to be dangerous and the entire reason Rei was here. Was anyone going to get mad if I shifted and killed him?
“Hello, little sister. You’ve been out of my reach for the longest time. No one could find you until your mugshot was all over the news. I had to bribea lotof demons to get here. Sota has always been extremely annoying and brought backup. I brought a friend, too. Did you formally meet Sabrina Stone before you broke into the Aether Circle compound and stole their grimoire? She has a pretty strong opinion on that, and I agreed to get you where she had the opportunity to question you as to its whereabouts, because we both kind of want you dead.”
I was only stuck in this ugly jumpsuit until we went somewhere to purchase new clothing, and I had a feeling shopping in a prison jumpsuit was going to be awkward, even if it wasn’t in pieces, but people knew not to fuck with the Aether Circle, even back in my time.
My clothes ripped in several places as my muscles grew larger and hardened into stone. The back of my jumpsuit violently ripped open as my wings erupted from my back. I jumped in front of Rei. My stone hide was immune to witch magic.
I wasn’t the only one either. Dakarys had his Sphinx out. I’d fought with it several times at Scorchwood, and it felt like I was with an old friend. His lion tail flicked about as he ruffled his falcon wings. He snapped his beak and shrieked at our foes.
Faust’s wolf was out and snarling at the witch and the Kitsune. Faust was scary with only his human face, but his wolf was insane. He was bigger than any wolf I’d seen before, his fur was the deepest shade of black, like his soul, and his eyes burned a brilliant shade of amber.
This crackling red cloud surrounded Barbatos, and Sota had turned into this massive blood-red bird. What the fuck kind of demon was that?! I read about Kitsunes when I was in Japan. Whatever Sota was had probably been written about, too, but I couldn’t pin down exactly what it was since it had been so long. He was some sort ofYokaithough,and he was terrifying.
We had a witch on our team, too. Wren threw up a protective barrier around us just as Sabrina put up hers. If Sabrina and Kudan were smart, they’d get the fuck out of there. They were outnumbered. If Wren dropped her barrier, she could bring down Sabrina’s. We would slaughter them, and I don’t think any of us would have a problem with that.
“Hey, bitch!” Wren yelled. “I might not be in your stupid coven, but I earned my prison sentence here. I’ve been in here a long time, with nothing else to do except learn spells from criminal witches. Some of them know some pretty dark shit that isn’t in that pathetic little grimoire you’re so pissed about.”
“I’m not here for you, traitor,” Sabrina yelled. “Give me the fox that stole my property, and we can all go home.”
“Rei has a lot more friends with her than you do, Sabrina,” Barbatos called. “Kudan is a traitor to his people. The Aether Circle is already on Hell’s radar for crimes against demons. I’d think long and hard about whether your missing property is really worth pissing Hell off any further. I think every demon in Hell would jump at the chance to wipe your entire coven off the planet. They are just waiting for permission. They’ll get it if you don’t drop this.”
Sabrina just glared at Barbatos.
“I’m not scared of Hell, or demons. They die easily enough. I want my grimoire back, and her brother wants her dead. I can’t say any of us in the Aether Circle would be upset if she bit it. She’d already be dead if it were up to us.”
Sabrina might have been willing to fight us, but Kudan seemed to realize that they were both going to die if they kept this up. He wanted Rei dead. I didn’t think he had any problem with us killing Sabrina, but he had no intention of dying in front of this jail.
A swirling cloud opened behind him, and he yanked Sabrina through it. We were all stuck on the lawn, with our supernatural sides out and our dicks in our hands. Barbatos opened a similar cloud.
“We need to get out of here. We can’t afford a shopping trip if Kudan is working with the Aether Circle. They will be back, with reinforcements. We need to get to Hell and summon all our legions. Bael has avoided attacking the Aether Circle so far because they are so vast, but he might not have a choice now.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I didn’t think about the fact that I was about to see an entirely new realm few people got to see. I grabbed Rei and jumped through.
