Sweet Revenge (Dueling with the Devil) (15 page)

“
You cannot kill him for two reasons. Firs
t,
it takes the power of at least two Crown Princes to kill one of us. That’s why Lucifer imprisoned me down here. Secon
d,
we need him to get me out of this place. And we’ll need all three of our powers to defeat Lucifer
.
”

CHAPTER TWELVE

His battle cry loosened the rocks in the cave wall. Ziz lunged across the distance separating the
m,
planting his razor-sharp claws into Xavier’s chest. His fangs sliced through the tendon between the base of Xavier’s neck and shoulder. A bolt of searing pain shot through his arm. A warm river of blood oozed down his back.

Xavier’s quick hands made steady work on the beast’s ribs. He landed on
epowerful blow after anothe
r,
until the demon relaxed his hold on his neck.He wedged his hand between their meshed bodies and clutched Ziz's throat like a vice gri
p,
squeezing until he heard the snapping of the animal's vertebrae. The claws buried deep in his chest retracted. He flung his attacker to the far side of the roo
m,
knowing he only had a few moment
s,
before it regrouped to attempt another assault. Xavier didn’t have the power to kill Ziz. The only option was to run.

He sprinted haphazardly to the mouth of the cave on his still healing leg. The stabbing ache radiated up his calf. Damn Hell Hounds. A loud bellow stopped his progress
.“
Run if you mus
t,
like the coward you are. Trust me when I say I will find you. But first I think I will find your female and see if she can take a blade as well as my Lailoni
.
”

Rage exploded in Xavier's gut. At that instan
t,
his eyes turned demon red
.“
Leave her out of this. She's not even my female. Just a partner on a contrac
t
,
”
he commanded.

“
Aw. See that passion. This is what tells me she means
s
o
m
e
t
h
i
n
g
t
o
y
o
u.
We'll just have to find out how much
.
”

“
Xavier resisted the urge to turn back and rip Ziz’s heart from his chest. But that wasn’t a possibility. Likel
y,
he would be the one lying lifeless on the cave floor at the end of the battle. At the core of his existenc
e,
he was a survivo
r,
so Xavier ran. He would find his way out of this godforsaken hellhole and make sure Bell was safe.

Back out in the scorching heat of the burnt horizo
n,
Xavier ran back
toward
where he awoke in this worl
d,
hoping there was a portal to take him to the alley. Ziz didn't have the power to telepor
t,
so he had to be using portals to take him between dimensions. He had to get back Topside to find the one demon that could help. This was the last person he wanted to ask anything o
f,
but he had no choice.

t t t

Bell hated she had to ask Jacque for help. She was supposed to be handing his ass over to Lucife
r,
not colluding with him to save his dumbass brother. And now her father. How did this happen? Her mind rushe
d,
as she followed her brother Topside. None of this made any sense to her.
Why the Hell do I care what happens to Xavier Toussant? He's nothing. I wouldn't have given a second thought about leaving Jacque's ass to be maimed by the crazy beast.

Once she was back in the fiel
d,
breathing regular ai
r,
Bell pu
n
c
h
e
d
L
a
u
r
e
n
t
h
a
r
d
i
n
t
h
e
c
h
e
s
t
.

Laurent gazed at her in bewilderment.

“
Why didn't you tell me
?”
Tears flowed down her face.

Laurent hugged her close and wiped her cheeks
.“
It's okay. He didn't want you to get yourself kille
d,
trying to get him out or taking revenge on Luc. He knows your ass is crazy
.
”

“
Oh. Y'all got one thing right. Lucifer and Mother are going to pay for this
.”
She pushed out of her brother's embrace and w
a
l
k
e
d
toward
t
h
e
ca
r
.

Silence owned the ride back to Etienne’s place. Bell needed to assess all the recent events to determine how she would ask Jacque to
enlisthis father’s help. Depending on others was not Bell's preferred method of getting things done. This tim
e,
there was no other way. Laurent was right. She shouldn't have skipped that etiquette class. Sucking up to people wasn't her strong suit.

Bell and Laurent entered the front sitting room. Jacque and Angel sat on the sofa. Marie perched on the chaise. Etienne and the wol
f,
Damo
n,
lounged at the bar. They were a motley crew of supernatural beings. She had never mingled with this many specie
s,
until Jacque and his little human decided to declare war on the Devil. All this trouble behind one human girl.

Marie glanced at her and Laurent
.“
S
o,
did you get what you w
e
r
e
l
oo
k
i
n
g
f
o
r
?
”

“
Loo
k,
crazy woman. I'm about tired of you and your secret decoder ring talk. No. He didn't know where X...u
m,
Sean is. We did find out who's hunting him. And who can help us find hi
m,
I think
.”
Bell plopped on the sofa next to Jacqu
e,
causing Angel to scoot a little closer to her man. This was only an invite for Bell to taunt her.

“
Don't talk to my grandmother like tha
t
,
”
the Voodoo P
r
i
n
ce
s
s
r
e
s
p
o
n
d
e
d.

“
Whatever
.”
Bell focused her attention to Jacqu
e,
giving him her most dazzling smile
.“
Ja
c,
I need a huge favor
.”
She batted her lashes for good measure. This rewarded her with something similar to a growl from Angel.

“
I'll do what I ca
n,
but you know we have the wedding this weekend
.”
He refused to look directly at Bell.

She placed her hand on Jacque's le
g,
which Angel quickly removed. Bell laughed
.“
What? You don't have him trained to only respond to you
?
”

“
Don't worry so much about my man. Yours is the one that's missing
.”
Angel flashed her three carat engagement ring for
e
ff
ec
t
.
“
W
h
a
t
d
o
y
o
u
n
ee
d
f
r
o
m
u
s
?
”

“
I need nothing from you
.”
Bell rolled her eyes and focused only on her ex
.“
Jacqu
e,
I need you to ask your father to help me. I gotta bust my dad out. The
n,
get Sean back
.
”

Jacque met Bell’s gaze
.“
Don’t disrespect Angel. You come to us for help. Don’t act like we owe you something. I know I hurt yo
u,
but you have to think about the consequences of your own actions
.”
He rubbed the back of his nec
k,
closing his eyes. Shaking his hea
d,
he addressed Bell again
.“
Why do you need my father? And where are we breaking your dad out of
?
”

She swallowed her prid
e,
declining to react to Jacque’s remarks
.“
Luc trapped my dad in some godforsaken level of Hell. Apparently there's only two other demons that have the power to break him ou
t,
one being your da
d,
and the other has Sean. I'm not sure if we can convenience Ziz not to kill Sean and help my dad
.”
Everyone studied her
.“
What the hell are you looking at
?
”

Jacque spoke after a nerve racking bout of silence
.“
Do you know the level of demon you're talking about? Ziz was a Crown Prince. I thought he was dead
.
”

“
Yeah. S
o,
he's a prince. Your dad's a prince. My dad's a prince. Who isn't a prince? Apparently Luc killed or trapped all of the
m,
except your dad
.”

Jacque massaged his temples
.“
Bel
l,
I don’t understand why we’re doing all this for some guy you just met. I can’t ask my father to risk his lif
e,
or my mother’
s,
to help you get back some demon you’re gonna dump in a couple of days
.
”

Bell clamped her jaw to stop the words she wanted to say. She tried to smil
e,
but it felt more like a grimace
.“
Look. I know you think I’m some cheap flooz
y,
jumping into bed with any warm fles
h,
but I have
…”
She wasn’t quite sure how to finish the sentence. She would have to admit to a weakness she loathed.

“
You have what? Feelings
?”
Angel guffawed.

Laurent spoke up
.“
He
y,
don’t talk down to her like that. This hasn’t been easy for Bell
.
”

“
I don’t need your hel
p,
Laurent
.”
Bell pointed a finger at Angel
.“
I don’t care about you. Don’t think you’re equal to m
e,
just because you found a few potions and mustered some sparks
from
your fingertips. I will break you
.”
Jacque pushed the girls apart before they could harm each other. Laurent removed his sister from the sofa.

“
You both need to calm down. Bel
l,
you need to convince me why I need to call my parents into your mess
.”
Jacque nestled Angel next to him.

Bell struggled for an answer
.“
I need my dad out. We need to get Ziz on our side. Dad said they are the key to take down Lucifer
.”
She conveniently left out the fact they only needed two of the three. More fire power was always better anyway.

“
She is right. We need them to defeat Lucife
r
,
”
Marie interjected
.“
We will help her
.
”

“
Grand-mèr
e,
we don’t know what we’re dealing wit
h
,
”
Angel said
.“
Far as we kno
w,
it could be some kind of trick
.”