Hers

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sam was insane if he thought I was going to sit around and wait for him to fix everything.  I was going to find my own way.  He knew it, I knew it, a complete stranger could have known it.  However, Sam did have a point.  I couldn’t risk reawakening my succubus, not even for Ace.  Eternal damnation wasn’t exactly something I was willing to gamble with.

Envy, envy, envy.  My thoughts hissed as I stared at the door.

But if there was a way around it, a deal that I could make, I would take it.  Which is why I was currently sitting in the coffee shop in the middle of town.  The same one Ace and I had spotted the demon of envy, Lev, and was all but summoning the demon.

The door didn’t open, but I felt a chill rise up on my skin, one that I had come to associate with the presence of demons.  The chair beside me squealed against the floor.  I didn’t look up, I didn’t need to.  I could feel him beside me, like a slight breeze that barely brushed my skin.  A little alarm in my head went wild, begging me to run, that this was a mistake and I should get out while I still could.

“I know what you’re going to ask,” Lev started, leaning forward onto the table.  “I can help you.”

“How?”  I asked, trying not to sound too eager.  “And what is it going to cost me?”

He chuckled.  My skin crawled.

“Demons,” he started, lowering his voice to a low grumble.  “Love to play games.”

“I don’t really have time for a game of Scrabble right now, what with Ace being tortured and all,” I bit back.

“Have you ever heard of the story of Eurydice and Orpheus?”  Lev asked, his black eyes shining like opal.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.  “No.”

“Well the story goes, Eurydice was Orpheus’ wife and when she died, Orpheus went to the nymphs and deities and made a deal.  He could go into the Underworld to retrieve Eurydice, but he had to walk in front of her and couldn’t look back.”

A little hope rose inside me with the story.  “You want to make the same deal with me?”  I asked.  Lev nodded.  “Won’t entering Hell awaken my succubus?”

“Not if you’re protected.”

Sam.  I thought, my hope diminishing.  He would never go along with this plan.

Lev’s laughter brought me out of my thoughts.  “Angelic power can’t cross the threshold into Hell.  You’d need to be protected by a dark power like black magic or demonic power.”

“And you would be willing to do that for me?”  I wondered for a moment whether or not using demonic power would be the wisest choice but I didn’t have long to consider before Lev answered with a simple yes.