Demons Like It Hot (33 page)

Serah blinked.
She
knew
about
the
necklace? What was she?
She craned her neck for a glance at her sous-chef.

Edie threw her hands in the air, a giant ball forming between her palms. She closed her eyes. Cloaked in a flowing purple toga instead of her usual chef’s jacket, she threw her head back. Her red hair swirled around her face. Warmth emanated from her body. She’d felt that warmth once before. When she met Minerva.

Another goddess? No freaking way! Then again, she didn’t have time to contemplate it. She needed to vanquish these pesky demons.

“Use it!” Edie implored. “Now!” With that, she threw the giant ball of violet energy at the demon on the right. It howled and screamed, then burst into a million pieces of light and vanishing with a loud burst of air. Edie fell back and crumpled to the ground.

Serah had no choice but comply. She allowed her own warmth to pool around her neck and spread through the rest of her body. She looked down. The diamonds in her necklace sparkled and glowed. What was going on?

The locket continued to radiate, the heat and energy coursing through her entire body. Her head pounded and her toes tingled.

Close
your
eyes
, someone whispered in her head.

Serah wasn’t in a position to argue, so she squeezed her eyes shut.

Harness
the
power. Control it.

How in the hell did she do that? It wasn’t like she’d done yoga or anything to become one with her inner chi. She’d have better luck milking a billy goat.

The
answer
is
in
your
heart.
She didn’t have time for this cryptic shit. She needed to kick some Infernati ass. Why did everything have to be so danged confusing?

She kept her eyes closed. In her heart, huh? Fancy that particular organ thumped wildly against her rib cage. She took a deep breath. With that, she concentrated on her heart. She visualized all the warmth of her body surrounding it, pouring energy into it. Confidence pounded its way through her veins. She kicked out her foot, sending the demon reeling back.

The demon grunted and righted itself. Wiping some trickling red sauce from its brow, it hunched low.

“Die, Pure-Blood bitch!”

“Uh, no thank you.”

“Arrgh!” It lunged forward again.

Serah dove to the left, slamming against the side of the buffet. Adrenaline pumped through her body, her pain at the back of her thoughts. She didn’t need a bodyguard after all. She was doing fine all by herself.

“Ha. Ha. Ha! Got you now.” The walking mound of marinara spread his slimy lips into a mocking grin. Slithering along the ground, it reached out and grabbed Serah by her shoulders and turned her to face it.

Heart still pounding and full of energy, Serah stood her ground. Feet firmly planted to the floor, she stood tall.

“Isn’t that pot a little small for both of us?”

“Where you’re going, size doesn’t matter.”

She knew what she had to do. It was time to trust her heart. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh, yes you are, and I’m going to take you there.”

She squared her shoulders. “No, I’m not.” With that, she closed her eyes. She sent all her heart-energy shooting through her body, right to where the locket rested on her collar. She threw her head back and let the energy rush through her.

“Aggggh!” the demon gurgled. “What have you done?”

She opened her eyes. The sauce-man flailed its arms as flames lashed out from beneath it. It lunged forward in a last-ditch attempt to take her to hell with it.

Serah spun out of his grasp and snatched another sharp knife from the counter.

“I’m pretty sure I just vanquished your ass. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.” She sent the knife flying, lodging deep in the demon’s chest.

“Bitch,” it garbled out. With that, it burst, sending marinara sauce spraying across the kitchen walls.

She slumped against the counter, tightly gripping the edge.
What
in
the
hell
had
just
happened?
She turned toward the counter and rushed toward Edie. Leaning down, she brushed a wisp of hair from her cheek. She hoped she wasn’t dead. Then again, if she was a goddess, Edie was probably immortal.

“Are you okay?”

Edie murmured, her eyelids fluttering open. She reached up, and brushed a fingertip across Serah’s chin. “
Oui!
Now that you are safe.”

“What goddess are you?”

Edie sat up and stretched out her arms. “You should know. I’m a good cook.”

“I thought Bacchus was a guy.”

Edie rolled her eyes. “He’s the god of wine. I am the goddess of food.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m not that well-known.” Her sigh turned into a smile. “Not that I shouldn’t be. I’ve helped so many famous chefs achieve their lifelong goals.”

“Well?”

“Edesia’s my name. Food is my game.” She stood up, allowing her garments to billow about her. “I’m not supposed to be here. I just wanted to make sure you remained safe. I owed it to your grandmother—to you!”

Her grandmother was a blessed woman, in more ways than one. “So, you’re the goddess of food?”

“
Oui!
I am!” Edie smiled. “But you do not need much help with that.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“You’re welcome.”

A loud pounding echoed on the door. Matthias’s voice boomed. “Serah! Are you okay? Let me in!”

“I must go. Matthias, he is a good man. He will take care of you.” With that, Edie spun around, allowing the warm mists to envelop her. A loud pop echoed in the air and then she was gone.

Serah flew backward from the percussion, only to find herself caught by two very muscular arms. Her head crashed back against more muscles. The familiar scent of ginger and spice wafted to her nose. Matthias. Had he seen Edie?

“Edie,” she murmured.

“Edie isn’t here.” A gentle hand swept a blob of sauce from her cheek. He took her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. Fingers laced into her hair, stroking her neck. Maybe Edie was right.

Letting out a deep sigh, she snuggled up against his hard, muscled chest. “I’m just going to order a pizza instead,” she whispered, as the events of the ordeal finally took their toll.

“What the hell?” Serah mumbled, rubbing her temples. She groaned as she fought to open her eyes.

“Shh,” Matthias whispered, pressing a warm cloth to her forehead. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and dabbed away some rancid sauce.

“The demon,” she moaned. She attempted to pull herself up. “Edie.”

Matthias placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Edie isn’t here.”

“Goddess—Edesia.”

“Shh,” Matthias murmured. His breath hitched. “Goddess? Another one?”

She forced her eyes open, grabbing Matthias’s shoulder. “You did it, didn’t you?”

Matthias’s gaze narrowed. He stepped away from her. “No. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.” He turned to the window. “And I sure as hell wouldn’t have had another demon do the job.”

He did have a point. He was a trained mercenary. He knew how to kill. But he had also kidnapped her. What’s not to say he wasn’t still working for the Infernati?

Then again Edie had said he was a good man. She was a goddess. Weren’t goddesses all-knowing? And why did she want it kept a secret? She shook her head. After a year of all this weirdness, she knew better than to question things.

“I need a shower,” Serah mumbled, taking a whiff of her sauce-covered chef’s jacket. “I smell like I fell in a sewer.”

“I called Kalli for cleanup.”

“Thank you.”

Matthias crossed his arms. “It wasn’t me, Serah. I swore to the Fore-Demons and Rafael that I would protect you. I might have done some reprehensible things in my past, but one thing I’ve never done is broken my word.”

“Balthazar doesn’t seem to think so.”

“I did what was asked. They were the ones who broke the vow.”

“I’m still trying to understand why.”

Matthias took a deep breath. “It’s complicated.” He took a seat next to her on the bed. “I don’t expect forgiveness. I wouldn’t forgive myself either.”

“I just want the truth.” Serah sat up in the bed. “You owe me that at least.”

“If I said you couldn’t handle the truth, would you understand?”

“Sorry, that line’s already been used.” She reached down and slid a finger across a splash of sauce. “If I can handle a demon in a pot, I think I can handle what you’re hiding.”

Matthias nodded. “I kidnapped you, but not for money. I was already planning on retiring before the Infernati contacted me.”

“How noble of you. You did it for free.” Serah rolled her eyes. “Not a good way to get on my good side.”

“I did not do it for free.”

“Then what did you do it for? Notoriety?”

“You said you wanted to know. Let me tell you.”

“Fine. What did the Infernati have on you that was so bad you needed to kidnap a Pure-Blood?”

“I didn’t know you were a Pure-Blood. I thought you were just the succubus’s friend.”

“So that makes it okay?”

“No. I am not saying that at all. If I knew their true intentions I would have turned down the mission.”

“It still doesn’t make it right.”

“I know!” He reached out and grabbed her hand. She should have pulled away, but instead she allowed him that one touch. “Let me explain.”

“Okay. I won’t say another word, unless you ask.”

Matthias nodded. “I was married before. I joined Emperor Frederick II in 1228 to go on his crusade.”

“The Holy Roman Empire?” She had gone to Catholic school, after all.

Matthias nodded. “I was raised near Münster, in modern-day Germany.”

“Like the cheese?”

Matthias scowled. “No, unfortunately not. Let me continue. My wife, she never told me she was with child.”

Serah cringed as he told the story. How he’d taken a blade through his chest. How he thought an angel was taking him to the Promised Land. But it wasn’t an angel. She was a demon. She’d turned him into a demon for her own pleasure. Serah’s stomach roiled.

Salome
. She remembered the story from her years at Catholic school. It was only fitting that Salome would choose the Infernati in her demonic afterlife.

“She showed me what the Paladins had done to my village. It had been burnt to the ground. My wife had been torn to pieces, she said. Then she told me about the babe. How she tried to save it.”

But she had lied. Kalli had shown him the truth. How the villagers had been manipulated by the Infernati. How they tried to kill her. Kalli had shown him his wife’s final moments, how she eased her pain.

But one thing disturbed Serah the most. The baby had been ripped from his mother, quite literally. She clenched her fists. Of all the sick and demented things she’d heard in her life, this had to be the worst.

“I’d always believed the baby had died. I’d been conditioned to believe the Paladins had killed everyone in the village. The truth is, Salome killed Josephine and our child because I chose them instead of her.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Kalli happened to be in the area and she saw the fire. The villagers attacked her as she rushed to my wife’s aid. Unfortunately, she was too late.” A tear crested along his eyelid, ready to drop. “Kalli had to burn the village. They’d been changed to
animi
mortui.
”

“Sorry, my Latin stinks.”

“Dead souls—zombies.”

Yuck!
And here she thought zombies were only a voodoo creation.
Who
knew?
“So what does all this have to do with kidnapping me?”

“Salome never killed my son.”

“She raised him as her own?”

Matthias shrugged. “I haven’t any idea. Kalli said she’d tried tracking him for years, but she never found anything.”

“And Kalli’s a pretty good tracker, from what I’ve heard.”

“Salome can be pretty sneaky. She’s evaded quite a few trackers over the centuries. No one knows quite how she does it.”

“Okay, so go on.”

“Belial called me in. He knew I was planning on retiring. He told me he had an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Offers like that never boded well. “What sort of offer? Your prized horse’s head in your bed?”