Everyone of note in Hell was here and I had a bad feeling that I was going to be in the center ring of the circus. I gave Stella a quick hug and promised to catch up with her at the end of the evening. I moved to the back of the ballroom to an area that was reserved for Lucifer’s family. I spotted my sisters Sloth, Pride, Envy and Gluttony all smiley and waving. It was difficult to miss us. We were quite tall and reeked of magic—well, at least they did. Oftentimes my sisters resided on Earth, reporting to my dad and making sure the Demons on Earth didn’t upset the Balance of Chaos. Today they were here except for Wrath, Greed and Lust who were spending some frightening quality time with my grandma.
I spotted Carl and Janet. What the. . .? She had forgone her beard and was wearing a pretty dress. Carl proudly had his arm around her and they looked so happy it made me grin. Blanche was gonna have to eat it about Janet's hair issues. Myrtle followed them like a third wheel and wore black jeans and a concert T. That was about as formal as she got.
They were too far away to get their attention and I quickly lost sight of them as more Demons filed into the Grand Ballroom. My favorite sister, Sloth, grabbed me in excitement.
“I think you’re going to get your deportment date tonight,” she said with her lazy sexy smile.
“I'm not ready, and thanks for leaving me with Gigi the other day."
“Oh honey child, I was fourteen when I got assigned—you're ready. Besides, I heard it went well with Gigi, short of her leaving Dad with no roof." Sloth laughed and kissed my forehead.
“You were deported eight hundred years ago,” I said, reeling from the thought of my life changing so drastically. I glanced up and noticed the ballroom had a new mirrored ceiling. Oh my Hell, I held back a gag. My father's taste was truly appalling.
“You’re twenty-one.” Sloth stated the obvious. “And for whatever reason, Daddy thinks you’re going to come into an assload of power very soon.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I was at home when the assload arrived?”
“Nope,” Gluttony, my second favorite sister, said as she smiled and ran her beautifully manicured hand down my cheek. “There are things happening that need to be dealt with and Daddy thinks you’re the gal to do it.”
“I haven’t had any training and I pretty much suck at being a Demon.”
“Oh baby,” Sloth cooed as she pulled me close. “You’re a beautiful Demon. None of us were trained before we were deported. Lucifer believes in on the job training. You can’t conquer the world without failing miserably first, sweetie.”
My stomach roiled at the thought of my impending assignment. “What if all I do is fail?” I whispered.
“You won’t, my darling,” Gluttony said as Pride and Envy nodded in agreement.
"Do you realize your sexy pet name is Donkey Booty?" Envy asked me as she played with her phone.
My sisters were obsessed with the name games on Facebook. The dirtier the better.
"I'm Smelly Booty," Gluttony moaned. "I don't like that one."
"Because it's accurate?" Envy asked with an evil smirk.
"I will kick your ass after the party," Gluttony shot back sulkily.
I did not want to be there for that. My sisters could take down cities when they fought.
"Mine's Honey Booty," Pride said gleefully. "I'll take that and keep it."
"I win. I'm Fire Booty. Trumps all you beeotches." Sloth laughed and then went silent.
Daddy had arrived.
The room quieted as Satan entered. His power was stunning and his beauty was absurd. Demons were a glamorous race, but my father put all to shame. His black Hugo Boss suit fit to perfection and he wore his black silk shirt open at the neck. He had an aura that was unexplainable. It instilled rabid loyalty, adoration and fear. He was beloved by his people and despised by his enemies, and he was good with that. . .very good.
“Good evening, my Demons,” Satan laughed, showing even white teeth and dimples that brought women to their knees. My sister Sloth made a gagging sound as all the women in the room swooned over our father. I grinned and grabbed her hand.
“Do you know anything about me being. . .” I began.
“Shhh,” Sloth admonished. We had to have exemplary behavior, and speaking while our father held court would not fly.
“Sloth” I whispered, panicked. “I've lived in Hell my whole life. I'm not ready to leave."
“Yes, you are,” she whispered back. “Now, hush!”
I did, but it wasn't easy.
“Welcome, my people,” my father’s voice boomed through the Grand Ballroom. His second in command, Cole, stood on his right and his consort Amanda stood on his left. It was surprising he let her stand so close in public, but she was crafty at weaseling her way into the forefront of everything.
“Tonight is a night for celebration.” He grinned. “My consort becomes more swollen with my son every day and my youngest daughter will soon go to Earth and do me proud."
Amanda smiled at the crowd and rubbed her belly. She was disgusting and in her glory. The crowd eyed her with distrust. The applause continued, but there was much speculative whispering. Amanda ignored it and mooned at my father. He gave her a short nod and turned away, much to her embarrassment. The crowd’s chatter increased with the slight.
"Was this bad with my mother?" I asked.
"We never met her," Envy replied. "You didn't come to us until you were three."
Right. Another mystery in my life that no one wanted to explain. I had no recollection of my first three years of life, hence no real clue where I truly came from.
Gluttony tensed beside me and her magic swirled. My sister had a gift for telepathy. She was the only female Demon I knew who could send her thoughts, and she could target who she wanted to communicate with. Right now it was me, Sloth, Envy, and Pride. “
Did Amanda not get the memo that once you bear Satan’s child, he kicks your ass to the curb?”
I put the mystery of my first three years on the back burner and I laughed. Clearly big fake-lipped and silicone-boobed Amanda didn’t think that would apply to her since she was supposedly carrying a boy. Maybe she was right.
“If she blows out a boy, Daddy might keep her,” Pride surmised.
“Possibly,” Sloth agreed. “But I just don’t see it.”
Sloth had visions. Unshareable visions. Violent and terrifying visions. She refused to speak of them because not all of her visions came to fruition. Free will had a habit of changing destiny constantly. So instead of scaring the crap out of everyone she kept them to herself. The only person privy to her visions was Satan. Sloth and our father were very close—he trusted her with enormous decisions.
As the crowds murmuring died down my father continued, “But the main reason I have called you here tonight is to celebrate my beautiful daughter, Dixie.”
The crowd whistled and clapped. Amanda seethed and I blushed. I might not be very evil, but I was certainly very well liked. My dad held his hand out to me and I went to him. I was truly mesmerized and I adored my Prince of Darkness, my father. I would do anything for him, anything he asked of me.
“Your deportment draws near,” he told me. “You shall transport to Earth and serve me well.”
"I know and I will serve you proudly," I whispered, trying not to cry, but fear and abandonment were forefront in my mind.
He pulled me close and hugged me. "This is for the best."
I nodded, unable to reply.
I didn’t want to leave my home, my family, my friends or Hayden. I could feel my eyes go crimson red beneath my closed lids. I slowly opened them and met my father's gaze that blazed red with emotion.
I heard Amanda hiss her displeasure at my father's attention to me. He turned on a dime and cut her to shreds with a look that sent her to her knees in fear. The crowd edged forward with excitement. She had better have a boy and it better be his or Amanda was dead. Satan raised his eyes to the room, clearly dismissing her. “The ones that have agreed to go to Earth with my child and protect her—come forward.”
There was snickering as Carl, Janet and Myrtle stepped forward. My insides boiled with rage at the way they were treated, but they seemed to be oblivious. Many of the caretakers of Lucifer’s daughters ended up dead. For real dead. Every time my siblings went to Earth, Uncle God sent a gaggle of Angels down to destroy us. I'd almost lost several of my sisters to God’s wrath.
To be fair, Demons killed Angels on sight also. Of course since we were all immortal and difficult to kill it took some doing. So even though a Demon may gain Satan’s highest praise by protecting the fruit of his loins, said Demon may not live long enough to enjoy it.
“Yes,” he said, his melodic voice booming through the room as my caretakers approached. “You are brave and well-suited for this journey. Myrtle, Keeper of Secrets, Carl the Destroyer and Janet the Atrocity Maker, you will go with my child and protect her. Kneel to me,” he commanded, and they did. He laid his hands on each of them and gave them another gift of Black Magic power. The Demonic audience hissed with jealously. I was hoping he’d give me a little extra magic hoohoo but he didn’t. Apparently I had an assload of powers on the way.
“You will leave three weeks from today,” Satan proclaimed. “Go and prepare.”
With that the crowd began to disperse. I quickly thanked and hugged Carl, Janet and Myrtle. I still couldn’t get over how pretty Janet looked without her fake beard. It really made me want to take a stab at Myrtle. I made my way back to my dad as I waved bye to Stella, miming a phone--international signal for
I’ll call you
.
“Dad?”
“Yes, Dixie?”
“I don’t want to leave,” I whispered.
“I know, baby,” he whispered back. “It won’t be for long and I will never be far from you. It’s time for you to come into who you are. When you were born I made a deal and part of that deal requires us to be parted for a while. Trust me, if I could keep you with me for eternity I would.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess if I wanted you to expand on what you just said, you won’t.” I watched him closely.
“You guessed right. I’ve said more than I should have already. Just remember that I love you and I always will, no matter what path you ultimately choose to take.”
“You’re kinda freakin’ me out, Dad,” I told him. I wanted him to keep talking as much as I wanted him to stop.
He grabbed me and hugged me hard. It felt so good. As he let me go, Amanda slithered over and took me into an embrace purely for my father's benefit. Cole and several other high-ranking Demons drew his attention away.
"You're a spoiled rotten little brat and you will fail. You will disappoint your father greatly, but I will be there for him when he realizes how much time he's wasted on you," she hissed viciously in my ear.
For the first time in my twenty-one years I knew true dislike, actual hatred. I wasn't sure why, but this woman brought out the worst in me. The need to destroy her was intense, but that would be a cluster of epic proportions. A bizarre rush of power came alive inside me and manifested in my fingertips. I remembered how my cousin Astrid had popped Amanda's collagen lips with magic. . .
Did I dare? Would it even work? It would be quite reckless and out of character, but I had a hate-on for the smug Demon hissing evil in my ear. I grinned. I would not copy my cousin Astrid. I would do one better. Glancing over and making sure my dad was engaged, I raised my fingers and pointed at her overly-blown silicone chest and I flicked.
I held my breath. I watched a glittery mist fly from my fingers and head toward my target at alarming speed. . .and they popped. I think. I might have made them disappear. Shit.
Amanda's scream of fury was nothing short of earsplitting.
“What’s wrong?” Satan demanded of his consort impatiently. I wasn't sure he liked her any more than we did.
“Cramp,” she said as she crossed her arms quickly over her chest. “Excuse me.”
She left, but not before she gave me a glare so vicious it actually unsettled me. She was horrid and I couldn't believe my dad couldn't see it. My father nodded to Cole, who followed quickly on her heels.
"All right, off with you. I have to dole out punishments and you've never enjoyed that much," Satan said as he gave me a quick hug and a gentle push toward the door.
I leaned in, gave him a kiss and glanced over at my sisters. They loved the punishments and I knew they would stay and watch every last bit. They were clearly delighted with the Amanda boob pop. I couldn't wait to tell Astrid. . .she would be so proud.
Chapter 11
I walked quickly down the hallway away from the Demons still milling around and hoping for an audience with my Father. I decided to stay the night in my old room at the Dark Palace. I felt impatient for something familiar as my life was hurtling towards the unknown. I slipped off my heels and started to run. Running gave me joy. My sisters called me the Tasmanian Devil when I ran as I tended to be oblivious to things I knocked over or destroyed while I moved at crazy warp speeds. Rounding the corner at a fast sprint, the violent force of two large hands yanked me into an alcove.
I screamed and reared my fist back to punch my abductor’s nose up into his forehead as I’d seen Myrtle do to Wolf Boy. I froze mid-punch when a strong hand grasped my arm in an iron grip.
“Dixie, it’s okay. It’s me.” Hayden grinned as he gently halted the arm that was about to rearrange his face. In the dim light of the alcove, he looked more beautiful than I remembered. How was that possible? His black Armani suit and black silk shirt fit him beautifully. He put every male model I’d ever ogled to shame. Furthermore, how did he catch me when I was moving at a speed that almost rendered me invisible?
“Satan forbid.” I was breathing hard from shock and fear. “I almost punched your gorgeous face.”
“So you think I’m gorgeous?” He chuckled and moved a step closer.
“Well. . .um, you know,” I stammered as I tried to regain control and moved a step back from him. He seemed different, more mature. I couldn’t put my finger on it. “You’re definitely not butt ugly.” Oh my freakin' Hell, my choice of vocabulary stunned even me.