Page 64 of Anarchy
Felix was less amused.
“Seriously? You did that on purpose, you utter cunt!”
I was trying so hard not to laugh at Felix’s expense. He just looked so mortified in pink glitter, and while Balthazar always pulled it off, it just wasn’t a good look on my familiar. Lilith just sighed.
“Glitter is so much harder to get rid of than blood. Did it really have to be glitter, Reyson? Pink doesn’t even go with my decorating.”
Felix fell out laughing, and I allowed myself to lose it now that he was. Dorian Gray went out in a cloud of pink glitter, which was just about as ridiculous as his social media feed. No one cared. Everyone was worried about how stupidly hard it was to get glitter out of anything.
“I can get glitter off my hair and body no problem, but you’re going to have to toss that rug,” Balthazar said. “It’s now possessed by ghosts of sad floors at raves held at buildings with carpeted floors. You’re going to have to burn it.”
“I was going to do that, anyway. Even if I had it professionally cleaned, I’d alwaysknowDorian’s brains were on it.”
“One of you gods with superpowers better clean this shite off of me. Not even Balthazar would be seen in public wearing this much glitter.”
“Set the scene. Have I been drinking, and are there people there taking photos of the party that could make me famous?” Balthazar said.
“That’s enough,” Lilith said. “The warlock has been poked enough. There’s still a traitor in my house I need to deal with.”
Lilith waved her hand, and Felix was clean. Then, she stalked out of the room without telling us a damned thing about what she had planned next.
44
Ripley
Iadmired the effectiveness at which Lilith got shit done, but she was just so bad at keeping us in the loop about anything. I got that we were peons compared to her, but I didn’t think even Reyson knew what the fuck had happened. If he did, he would have told us. He was pretty open about literally everything.
Akul was pretty mouthy and ballsy when we went into his room, considering we were there to kill him. He’d been stuck in this spare room with no television and no one giving him any attention while a revolution was going on. This dumbass right here still thought his friends were going to rise up and free him. He was just sitting there with this smug look on his face like he wasn’t staring at his creator, and she was pissed.
“Just so you know, while I left you sitting in here to rot, I’ve been busy. Parliament revoked all laws subjugating Hellhounds. It’s now illegal to own them, force them to have sex against their will, and it’s a crime to hurt them in any way. They’ve all been liberated and moved to my properties. Only one family attempted to disobey, and they are dead.
“Literally none of your friends backed you on this, Akul. The family that tried to keep their Hellhounds didn’t do it out of loyalty to you. One woman was pregnant, and they didn’t want to lose that money. We thought two of them might have ideas about joining your little murder crusade, but we informed one of them you intended to frame him for your misdeeds, and the other wanted nothing to do with you after that. So you’re all alone in this, Akul.”
“So, what? You’ve come to tell me I’ve been a naughty boy for trying to keep inferior, violent creatures in their place? People will eventually realize I was right all along when the Hellhounds slaughter people again.”
“Are you mansplaining my creations to me, Akul? Do you think to know what Hellhounds are capable of more than the woman who created them? I may have stepped back for a while, but I’m still quite protective of my children, and you hit the trifecta. You plotted to kill demons so you could continue to abuse Hellhounds, and you dragged one of my witches into it. I have no doubts you would have betrayed Dorian and killed Ripley when this was done to protect your own ass. So, no, Akul, I’m not here to tell you that you’ve been a naughty boy. You’re about to find out what happens when you try to hurt a goddess’s children, asshole.”
I wouldn’t want to be Akul right now. Shit, Akul was looking like he didn’t want to be Akul right now. He was trying to fake it, but he shifted in his seat like his asshole was about to swallow him whole, so he didn’t have to face Lilith’s rage. A bead of sweat slowly trickled down his face.
This was the second time today I’d seen a grown ass man come to terms with the fact that no matter how big and powerful they thought they were, there was always someone bigger and badder out there. I had a healthy ego about my skills, but I wasn’t about to piss off a god. Fuck, it was probably pretty stupid to tell Reyson I wouldn’t be his wife when we first met, but he was a patient god and let me get to know him first.
“What do you intend to do to me?” Akul asked. “My friends might not be coming for me, but if you kill me over those filthy Hellhounds, the demons will rise up and avenge me.”
Oh, man. He justdid notknow when to shut up. I was worried about that too, but we’d gotten this far following Lilith without knowing what her plans were. She knew her creations much better than I did, and I was certain she had already accounted for that. Lilith waspissed.Now was the time to shut the fuck up, so she didn’t change her mind and think up something worse.
“Samael?” Lilith said, giving him a curt nod.
Samael and Lilith seemed desperately in love, even after all this time. He probably knew what she had planned. Samael had this ornate woven bracelet with a silver talisman on it. He pressed the rune on it, and a sword just appeared in his hand. Sothatwas where the swords came from.
Samael just clubbed Akul over the head with the butt of his sword. There wasn’t really a gentle way to beat someone with a sword, but Samael wasn’t holding back. He flung Akul over his shoulder and nodded to Lilith. She opened another one of her doors, and he stomped through it.
Were we invited to this? I never quite knew. I didn’t know until Lilith gestured to the door that we should step through it. I never really knew where I would end up when I stepped through one of these things. I just did it and trusted my creator. She hadn’t led us wrong so far, but I was a little shocked to walk out on a stage with an entire audience of demons.
There were reporters here like there always were, but there were also many well-dressed demons who looked crabby as fuck sitting out there. I had plenty of tattoos in strategic places, but none of them would protect me down here like Bram’s tattoos. I could hear grunts and displeasure from the crowd when Samael walked Akul to the center of the stage and just dropped him.
Lilith stepped out, and those people didn’t immediately shut the fuck up. She waved her hands, and six more magical doors opened. May stepped through one with Duke and Solomon. Other Hellhounds stepped through the other doors. The little bitchy grunts got a little louder.
Lilith stepped to the center of the stage, and everyone was smart enough to shut the fuck up as she stood up there and glared at everyone.
