She blinked, realized she’d been lost in a world of Hades. “Ah, yes. Sorry, sir. What is it?”
“Have you seen Zhubaal?”
She nodded. “He was heading toward the dorms about half an hour ago. I think he said he was going to be teaching some of the new Unfallen how to be an asshole or something.”
Hades barked out a laugh, and she caught a glimpse of two pearly-white fangs. She used to think fangs were repulsive, but if Hades wanted to sink his canines into her, she’d gladly bare her throat and invite him in. She tapped her tongue against her own tiny fangs, the smaller versions that Unfallen grew a few days after being de-winged. For the most part, she’d gotten used to them. She didn’t even bite her lip anymore.
“Z is finally teaching them something he knows all about,” Hades said.
There was no love lost between those two, but Cat had no idea why. She did, however, know why she thought Zhubaal was an ass. Not that she wanted to think about it, let alone talk about it. She just had to hope that no one else knew.
Because humiliating.
“Thank you, Cataclysm,” Azagoth said, dipping his dark head in acknowledgment. “I hear you’ve been helping out with the Unfallen, as well. Lilliana says you advised them to use their Heavenly names instead of their Fallen names. You know that’s forbidden, right?”
Anxiety flared, but she lifted her chin and boldly met his gaze. “Not in Sheoul-gra. The rules are different in your realm. I figured that if they use their Heavenly names here, it’ll remind them to stay on the right track if they want to earn their way back into Heaven.”
Hades’s gaze bored into her, the intelligence in his eyes sparking. No doubt he was wondering why she hadn’t taken her own advice, but thankfully he didn’t have a chance to ask.
“Very smart.” Azagoth’s approval gave her a secret thrill, and then it was back to minion-chores as usual when he said, “By the way, my office could use some attention. It’s a little...messy.”
Azagoth brushed past her, and was it her imagination or did Hades linger for just a moment? Every inch of skin exposed by her blue and black corset tingled, and she could have sworn his gaze swept over her, appreciative and hot. But then he was as cold as ever, walking next to Azagoth as if she didn’t exist and never had.
With a sigh, she dropped off the dishes in the kitchen and grabbed her bucket of cleaning supplies before heading to Azagoth’s office. Once inside...well, he wasn’t kidding when he said he’d left a mess.
She ran a cloth over the stone and wood walls, wiping down the blood mist from whatever demon Azagoth had vaporized. And it must have been a big demon.
Apparently, he didn’t obliterate demons often; there was a price to pay for destroying souls. But when he did, the mess was considerable.
She went through two bottles of cleaner and dozens of rags before the office no longer resembled a slaughterhouse, and man, she was going to need a long shower. Relieved to finally be done, she started to gather her supplies when a dark spot on the wall behind Azagoth’s desk caught her eye. Cursing, she swept her cloth over the stain, scrubbing to make sure she got every sticky bit of gore. But dammit, blood had gotten into a crack, and...she frowned.
Putting down the rag, she traced the crack with her finger, squinting at what appeared to be a round recess in the wall. What the heck was it? Driven by curiosity, she pushed slightly. There was a click, followed by a flood of light coming from behind her.
Oh...shit.
She turned slowly, and her gut plummeted to her feet.
A huge chunk of wall had disappeared, revealing a portal from the human and demon planes. A stream of griminions filed through, their short, stocky forms escorting the souls of demons and evil humans into the realm of Sheoul-gra. The creepy little griminions chittered from under their black, monk-like hooded robes as they marched the souls, whose bodies in Sheoul-gra were as corporeal as her own, through the cross-sectioned tunnel, only to disappear into another portal that would take the demons to their final destination—Hades’s Inner Sanctum.
“No!” she shouted. “Stop! Azagoth hasn’t approved the transfers!”
But they didn’t stop. They kept emerging from the right side of the tunnel and disappearing through the shimmering barrier of darkness to the left. Panicked, she pushed on the lever again, but the griminions kept marching. She wiggled it, pushed harder, punched it, and finally, with a whoosh, the portal closed, leaving only a solid wall in its place.
Cat swallowed dryly, her heart pounding, her pulse throbbing in her ears. Maybe she hadn’t screwed up badly enough for anyone to know. Maybe no one would notice the souls that got through to the Inner Sanctum without Azagoth’s approval.