Page 42 of Anarchy
They wanted the God of Chaos. They thought they could manipulate me by stealing my witch. It was time they found out who they really raised.
31
Ripley
Ibarely had the chance to process I’d gone to battle with Lilith herself, and now I was in her big cushy castle because there was just too much to do. Reyson, Lilith, Bram, and Talvath were tag-teaming Dorian and Akul to find out exactly how deep this plot went and who had those sigils now. Of course, Reyson could have just plucked that information out of their heads, but Lilith and Talvath wanted their brains intact for now.
Bram was mostly working Akul to piss him off. Honestly, I was surprised Akul hadn’t spontaneously combusted from that. Akul literally betrayed Hell, raised a god, and intended on killing a bunch of demons to continue to profit from Hellhound slavery. He purchased Bram’s twin brother from underneath Talvath and turned Oscar into a monster.
I honestly wanted to be in the room while Akul had a little man baby bitch fit because Bram beat him, but there were all these Hellhounds here that needed our help. They were dazed, confused, and honestly thought they didn’t deserve to be here. They really needed Bram. Ravyn and I were both pretty shitty at feelings.
The Hellhounds had showered, and Lilith’s servants were bringing food in. My parents weren’t wealthy. We never had servants. We didn’t even have a dishwasher for a little while. Ravyn and I begged for our parents to get one, and they told us they gave birth to twin dishwashers. They thought that was much funnier than we did.
If I was uncomfortable having people bring in a seven-course meal on ornate silver platters and breaking out the good China, then these Hellhounds definitely were. I didn’t even own fancy plates I only brought out for company. It just seemed weird to spend money on something I wouldn’t use.
“Ripley, are we supposed to eat this?” May asked. “We’ve cooked things like this before, but we can’t eat it.”
I furrowed my brow. I’d seen Bram eat Oreos dipped in a Frosty. I was certain they could eat a roast.
“What have they been feeding you?”
Just then, this absolutelystunningdog walked in. It was smaller than a Hellhound, and I was pretty sure it was just a dog. But, it was still pretty big with sleek muscles and an inky black coat. It had big ears that stood straight up. She trotted straight up to May and booped her knee. May scratched her ear.
“This is a Dolrun. It’s a breed of dog in Hell. They are loyal, fierce pets. They make us shift and eat the same thing they do.”
Okay, I got they needed Akul for information, but I really wanted to march in there, and pistol whip him with his own dick.
“May, Bram spent a lot of time at my library on Earth. I watched him eat whatever he wanted without getting sick. He even ate chocolate. I never once saw Bram eat dog food. If he were in here, he’d take a bite and show you.”
The Hellhounds started moving closer to me. That food smelled amazing, and I was starving. They had to be hungry, too, and be able to smell it. I kind of wanted to fetch Bram. Ravyn was sitting next to me, totally bewildered by this entire thing. I wasn’t expecting Balthazar to give me an assist.
“I’m not a shifter, but I am a vampire. Have you heard of us? I have to drink blood to survive. I can eat all this and not get sick too. Bram baked us all a lovely cake for Felix’s birthday, and I watched him eat four pieces. I’ve also seen him eat Taco Bell and not explode. If he can eat five Dorito tacos without farting us out of the room, you can totally eat anything you want that isn’t dog food.”
Solomon was one of Akul’s Hellhounds. I got vibes off him he was into May. He puffed up his chest and looked directly at her. Yeah, totally into May.
“I’ll try it first. If Bram can do it, so can we.”
“We can,” Duke said. “I’ll do it too.”
Ravyn elbowed me in the ribs. Oh, man. Duke was into May too. All the male Hellhounds started chiming in that they would eat first. If they weren’t looking at May, they were looking at one of the other female Hellhounds. Balthazar rested his head on my shoulder and sighed.
“I love happy endings.”
“It’s not over yet,” Felix said. “Between Kaine and the others, I’m sure they’ll get information out of the prisoners. We might have to fight again. What do you think Lucifer is doing with Gabriel?”
Everyone who wasn’t here in this room was working over Akul and Dorian except Gabriel and Lucifer. Lucifer talked Gabriel into leaving because he wanted to show him something. Gabriel didn’t particularly want to leave, but I got the feeling whatever Lucifer wanted to show him was important, so we all talked him into going.
“Hey! This is amazing. You should try it, May,” Solomon said.
“I can feed you if you want,” Duke said.
Ravyn elbowed me again. She was going to leave a mark at this rate. I was hoping May had this little Hellhound harem when this was over because I really liked her and wanted her to be happy. Both of the guys seemed unsure about how to flirt with her, and it was adorable. Everyone seemed unsure about this new freedom, but I guess watching Bram kiss me and Lilith telling them it was okay had lit a fire under them for secret crushes they might have harbored.
Pretty soon, we were all eating, and the food was delicious. It would have been good even if I had spent my entire life eating dog kibble. That was fucked up, by the way. I felt like I needed to say something, but they didn’t teach classes on the feels at the academy, and even if they had, I wouldn’t have taken one. Public speaking always made me feel like I was going to vomit up my internal organs.
Felix stood up like he had something to say. Yeah, Felix could handle inspirational speeches. Most of the time, he was a dick when he was giving me one, but if it wasn’t my fault that time, he gave damned good pep talks. Ravyn and I just would have ruined it as soon as we opened our mouths.
“Hellhounds, I want to say something. I’m a warlock. I was created by Lilith too. I died and was brought back as another one of her creations. I came back as Ripley’s familiar. The other god you met was able to give me my body back. I used to pray to Lilith, but I never put much stock in the gods before because my prayers were never really answered.
