The Darkest King Read online

  Panda nodded her agreement. “Where are your boys?”

  “Two are chasing rumors about Lilith, and one is hunting for Evelina Maradelle, Lucifer’s absentee wife.” The few things William remembered about her: a witchy dragon-shifter with a kind heart who spoke with a stutter. She’d run off soon after the wedding, sending Lucifer into an unstoppable rage.

  William couldn’t wait to taunt his ex-brother. I have your wife. Want her back? Too bad, so sad.

  He snickered as he shoved a favorite video game system, games and a deep conditioning—totally manly—hair treatment into the bag.

  The little hellhounds decided to emerge, prowl over and sniff his leg.

  Teasing them, he said, “Put your noses in my ass, and we will have problems.”

  “As if! I would never put—” Pandora glanced up from the magazine at last, noticed the hounds and muttered, “Never mind.”

  William bent down to pet the pups. The one caked in dirt flinched, as if expecting a hit, and a sharp pang of sympathy tore through him. Had Baden and Katarina found her in the wilds of hell? The other hound nipped his fingers. As blood welled in the pad of his thumb, the pair backed away. Afraid of him?

  “You remind me of an acquaintance,” he told the two-headed baby. “Only, she uses bullets instead of teeth. Her name is Sunny, so let’s keep the sky theme going and call you Dawn. And you...” He gave the dirty one his kindest smile. “We’ll call you Aurora. You’re as pretty as the northern lights, sweetheart.”

  Aurora understood him; she must. She softened, even rubbed against him.

  Pandora tossed the magazine. “I was hoping you’d bring Sunny to dinner. Can you imagine Rathbone using freesia as an expletive? Talk about hilarious!”

  A faint pitter-patter of claws on wood caught William’s attention, and he frowned. Sounded like an entire pack of hellhounds. Then the scent of sulfur, brimstone and malice tainted the air, stinging his nostrils, and he palmed two daggers.

  Demons. A horde. They hadn’t come for a chat; they’d come for blood.

  Pandora sensed the threat, too, and reached under a pillow, pulling out a minicrossbow and a mythical dagger with the power to incinerate its victims.

  His daggers weren’t going to do shit. Use the medallion? No. He wouldn’t wield an untried weapon against an enemy.

  Within the borders of Hell, otherwise intangible demons had the ability to materialize and dematerialize on command. Since one spirit could be fought only by another spirit—like called to like—William would have to dematerialize at times, too. Both a blessing and a curse. He would land blows, but he would also burn through energy faster. Too fast.

  Dawn’s neon red eyes glowed with fear. Aurora kept her head bowed as her body shook. Usually, hellhounds exhibited massive amounts of aggression. That these two feared... Something awful must have happened to them. Katarina must have thought they’d do like every other woman, and melt for him.

  Every other woman but Sunny.

  “Back under the bed, girls.” He strode over to hold up the bed skirt. The pups rushed to obey. “I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, I swear it.”

  He dropped his daggers, raced back to his closet and grabbed two sickles.

  An enemy has invaded my father’s home. Rage transformed his blood into fuel, the barest hint of smoke already seeping from his pores. Careful. They were in Hell; the smoke could hurt Pandora just as easily as the demons.

  “This must be payback for Hades’s attack against Lucifer,” Pandora said, darting to William’s side. They would fight back-to-back, ensuring no one snuck up behind them.

  “Then they want blood. Ours.” The pitter-patter grew louder...louder...soon becoming a stampede. “Should arrive in three...two...”

  The horde ghosted through the walls in droves, flooding the room with a cloud of dark smoke.

  William coughed, blood leaking from his eyes and nose. No time to clean up. The demons swarmed him, ready to kill.

  16

  “If you allow an enemy to live today, expect to die by his hand tomorrow.”

  Pandora remained at William’s back as he dematerialized to slash at one demon and rematerialized to slash at another. Sweat poured from him, a crazy intense surge of adrenaline turning his torso into a furnace. He sliced and diced limbs, genitals, wings and tails. He removed eyes and severed spines. Heads thudded to the floor and rolled away, sizzling black blood spraying in every direction. Bodies collapsed, piling up around him, filling the room with the pungent scent of old pennies and emptied bowels.

  A cacophony of noise assaulted his ears. Grunts and groans. The gurgle and swish of liquids—blood, bile and piss. The pop of breaking bones. The raggedness of panting breaths.

  One of the fiends managed to claw William’s neck. The pain! The demon must have injected him with some kind of venom; the gashes heated, soon boiling.

  Venom...akin to a vial of poison?

  Shit! The heat singed a path to his brain. In seconds, he felt as if his head had been dropped into a vat of boiling oil, agony overtaking him.

  Do not slow. He drew back his elbow, about to remove his opponent’s head. Then he paused, horrified. The demon was no longer a demon, but Gillian, wearing a bloody tank top and shorts.

  William had almost murdered the girl he treasured above all—most—others.

  Panic fragmented his thoughts. How had she... She couldn’t... This...? “You shouldn’t have come. Go!” Why weren’t the demons attacking her? “You have to go now.” She’d grown into a fierce warrior, yes, but she wasn’t ready for a battle like this.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Pandora snarled, her body jerking against his.

  Gleeful snickers. He’d amused the demons?

  “Not you.” Did his sister not see his friend?

  Gillian smiled and strutted closer, oblivious to the danger. The moment she stood within striking distance, he latched on to her forearm, intending to yank her between him and Pandora. Will protect her with my life! Only, her skin wasn’t soft and supple but dry and patchy like scales. A green tail uncoiled between her legs, slithering out from behind her. The spiked tip resembled the head of a demonic snake.

  What the hell?

  Oh, shit. The demons, they belonged to the Hallucina horde, Lucifer’s favorite pets. They leaked venom that screwed with the minds of their victims, causing them to see vivid hallucinations.

  Before William could strike, fake Gillian cracked her tail across his cheek. Skin split, and his head whipped to the side. A new flare of heat and pain.

  Sunny appeared a few feet away, and his heart nearly stopped. Sunny, with her pink hair, emerald eyes and untapped sensuality. Logically, he knew she was a hallucination created by his mind. Still, he panicked all over again. What if she’d flashed, following him here? Could she flash? Think!

  Did the answer really matter? He couldn’t risk her life.

  “Stay where you are,” he bellowed at her. “Do not move.” He would remain out of striking distance, just in case, but he would allow no others to near her.

  Readjusting his grip on the sickles, William freed a hand. With a roar, he bent down, grabbed one of the daggers he’d dropped earlier and tossed it, nailing the demon next to Sunny.

  Arms remaining in a constant flow of motion, he cut through another demon, then another. Swinging. Slashing. Jabbing.

  Every time he slicked the curved edge of a sickle into a demon’s body, he twisted the blade for maximum damage. Drops of black blood splattered over his skin, blisters welling.

  “Help me,” Sunny pleaded. She wrapped her arms around her middle, as if terrified, and attempted to edge closer to him.

  Though sharp pangs tore through him, he jumped back—and inadvertently collided with a demon. More pain and heat. The sharp edge of a wing ripped through cotton and flesh, a stream of crimson trickling down
his abdomen.

  Whoosh. An arrow embedded in the space between Sunny’s eyes. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed.

  “No!” He dove to catch her before she hit the floor. More pain and heat, but he didn’t care. Dead. She was dead.

  Vision blurring, he cradled her beautiful face against his chest. A war cry lodged in his throat.

  This isn’t her. Can’t be her.

  Please, please, don’t let this be my Sunny.

  Another demon launched at him. Contorting, William kicked out his leg. Impact. The demon collided with his steel-toed boot and stumbled backward.

  “Hades?” Pandora gasped out. She stilled, her crossbow lifted but shaking.

  Hades had come? Struggling to control his breathing, William chanced a look over his shoulder. No sign of his father but... No! Every demon wore Sunny’s face.

  Terror rattled him to his core, his vitals icing over. In that moment, he felt as if he’d lost the battle, one hundred percent. What if the demons had hidden the real Sunny in their midst?

  Could William risk the murder of his codebreaker?

  My woman. Mine! I’ll protect her with my life. But he had to do something fast, or he would die in this room.

  Die? No! Not today, not ever. Determination hardened his heart into stone. Today, he killed. Them. All. No mercy. “The venom,” he bellowed for Pandora’s benefit. She’d lived in the underworld for a very short period, and she had yet to learn about the different demon breeds. “It causes hallucinations. Feel the skin. If it’s rough, deliver a death blow, no matter who it is.”

  * * *

  Something came up, but I’ll return to the stable in an hour. Be ready.

  Be ready for what? Sunny had received William’s text message three hours ago. That “an hour” had come and gone without another word from him.

  I’m not good enough to meet my fake boyfriend’s beloved father or get an explanation for his tardiness.

  Hurt pricked her, but so did worry. Where was he? What if something bad had happened?

  She sent a message, asking for an update but...another minute passed. Then five. Ten. Thirty. No response.

  Hellebore! Daisy! Sage! Freesia! Something bad must have happened. But there was nothing she could do about, trapped in a stable.

  She paced, her emotions running the gamut. Everything from paralyzing fear to righteous anger. She wanted him here with her now. She wanted to hug him and patch him up if he were injured. And then she wanted to throat punch him for making her worry.

  Desperate for a distraction, she opened her diary and ripped out the list of sexual positions. Magic supplied a brand-new page, only blank.

  She wrote a new list titled All the Ways to Punish William for His Poor Treatment of Me.

  —Staked to a wall naked.

  —Orgasm denial.

  —Chained to bed and whipped.

  “I’m sensing a theme,” she muttered. She created a second list of made-up sexual positions. Things he couldn’t possibly have heard of, since she’d just invented them. Fingers crossed he would feel totally inadequate. Read ’em and weep, big boy.

  Another half hour passed, but still no word from William.

  Why was she still sitting here, doing nothing? She was a freaking killer unicorn, not some lame-aster princess in distress. If her prince charming needed aid, Sunny would provide aid. If he needed a reminder that he’d acquired a vengeful superhero vigilante of a girlfriend, she would provide a reminder.

  She strapped on a pair of daggers she’d lifted from William during his last visit, then stuffed his photos into a backpack. With the pack anchored to her shoulders and the daggers in hand, she kicked open the barn doors. There had to be a way around the invisible block. And if not around, over. If not over, under.

  Nobody locks me in a glorified barn!

  Despite the legions of demons William had killed, more fiends already congregated in the area. They stopped what they were doing, turned and faced her. As countless red eyes looked her over, rage coursed through her veins, hot and hungry. Hate demons! Evil must be eradicated.

  One of the first lessons taught by her battle instructors: Never leave an evil being behind. They’ll only slither away and return with friends at a later date.

  Her heart thudded as she took a step forward. Let’s do this. She’d take out every fiend and—

  A calloused hand snagged her bicep, squeezing tight, yanking her backward and spinning her around. William! Silent, he removed and dropped her backpack, then kicked the doors shut.

  Eyes narrowed, still silent, he stalked forward, backing her against the wood and flattening his palms at her temples to cage her in. Her heart thudded harder and faster, snatching the air from her lungs. He looked like a man possessed, dark and sinister, with streaks of black all over his body. Dried demon blood. She’d worn her fair share, too. His raven locks stuck out in spikes, framing a beautiful face littered with gashes and bruises. His clothes were ripped, the scent of sulfur and death emanating from him. But hidden beneath the stink were hints of his innate fragrance. Mouthwatering.

  Finally he said, “Safe word. Tell me. Now.”

  Uh, what the what? “Your penis is cute?”

  Relief softened his harsher edges. Within seconds, however, fury eclipsed the relief, and he snarled, “Where the hell were you going?”

  Oookay. Splatters of red, green and rusty yellow glowed in his blurry aura. His emotions were as interchangeable and turbulent as hers. But his eyes...his eyes became two open wounds, bleeding pain.

  “Tell me,” he croaked.

  The thought of her absence upset him that much? “I planned to find a way past your barrier, kill the demons, then find and save you,” she admitted softly.

  He did that surprised-blink thing.

  “You messaged to say you’d be here in an hour,” she reminded him. “That hour passed almost five hours ago without another word from you. So, you had better be mortally wounded or something.” She searched him for an outside sign of injury, but found none. All right, then. Her rage returned and redoubled. “What in hellebore happened to you? Why didn’t you respond to my text?”

  Another blink of surprise. “I was ambushed.” He popped his jaw. “Lucifer sent a horde of Hallucina demons. Their fangs and claws produce a hallucinogenic venom, and I only just recovered.”

  Now her rage switched targets. I’ll slay them. Slay them all! “Take me to them. Now.”

  “Can’t. They’re dead. Killed by my hand.”

  Okay. Fine. But now he’s even sexier!

  William ran his tongue over his perfect white teeth. “No questions about my state of being? No fawning over my wounds?”

  “Why? Do you have hidden owies in need of tending?”

  “Yes,” he hissed.

  Finally, she had a legit excuse to run her greedy hands over every inch of his sculpted body. Maybe, just maybe, she could turn off her paranoia, if only for a bit, and have fun. Had she ever had fun? Other than killing demons, of course.

  No. Now wasn’t the time for fun. As a child, the king had loved telling her that her duty came before everything. And right now, Sunny had a duty to perform. A lesson to teach. William might have a good reason for failing to update her, but he’d still caused her unnecessary worry. For that, he would pay.

  Let’s get started.

  17

  “Love without might is misery.”

  Sunny delivered a quick jab to William’s throat. “That’s for making me worry.” As he gasped for breath he couldn’t catch, she slammed her fist into his nose. Cartilage snapped, and blood trickled from his nostrils. “That’s for being too embarrassed to introduce me to your dad.”

  Her knuckles pulsated. He had a freakishly hard head.

  With a growl, he got in her face. The tip of his nose brushed hers, and he blinked. Between pa
nting breaths, he grated, “I’m not embarrassed of you, sundae. I just don’t want my father trying to recruit you. I’d have to decline on your behalf, and our relationship is already strained.”

  Really? He’d been protecting her? Softening, she flattened her hands on his chest. To her surprise and delight, his heart raced against a palm.

  He heaved a heavy breath. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  See! A little punishment, and he’d learned. So had she. Never assume I understand his motives. Always ask.

  “Why don’t you hop in the shower?” she said, feeling magnanimous now. “Afterward, I’ll—” A dog barked, and she yelped, jumping up. A peek beyond William. The cutest two-headed, red-eyed dog in all of creation raced through the still-open portal.

  Sunny went soft and liquid against him, peering up at him with what had to be the dreamiest eyes ever. “You brought me a puppy?” That was, hands down, the sweetest, kindest thing anyone had ever—

  “Her name is Dawn. I saved her from the demons, and now she follows my every move. Typical female,” he grumbled. “There was a second one, but I don’t know where she—”

  Dawn barked louder and shot through the portal, reentering what looked to be a bedroom. The little sweetie turned to face them and barked again.

  “I think she’s trying to tell us something.” Sunny darted through the portal before William had a chance to stop her. “Show me, girl. What’s wrong?”

  Dawn moved to the closet and barked again. Sunny crouched beside her. Movement underneath a rumpled coat. She pushed the material out of the way...and gasped. The second dog. This one flicked in and out of view, blood spurting from her head. The poor, sweet darling had been mutilated. Her throat had been slashed, and her lungs wheezed every time she tried to breathe. The death wheeze.

  Too far gone to heal with magic. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry for your pain.” As she gathered the wee darling close, tears welled in Sunny’s eyes.

  William flashed to her side, the color in his cheeks dulling. He attempted to take the dog.