The minion cackled with laughter as he rounded the corner. His shaking made him look like stop-gap photography. He moved frantically in quick bursts, pausing to shake in place for a few hurried breaths.
“I like skin the best. It has a crunch.” He was so close she could see his mania. It seeped from his pores.
First, fear pooled in her stomach, and her heart froze in disbelief. But then there was rage. Rage from a primal place. She would protect her daughter. Jenny growled and showed her teeth, making a claw with one hand and gripping her knife with the other. Reason would have made her sit right down and cry. Nero had been so strong, and this thing had bested him. But Jenny didn’t invite reason to this fight.
Brut laid his hand on Jenny’s arm, squeezing her muscles like Play-Doh. She slashed her knife first for his hand, then changed it up at the last second to fake him out and stab him right in the eye.
His screams were so loud Jenny thought her head might crack from the sheer noise. She raised her fists and was disappointed when only one came to her call. The arm Brut had injured remained limply at her side.
The minion pulled her knife from his skull and closed the distance between them. He put his hand around her neck and showed his teeth. Jenny wet her pants.
This was the sacrifice for loving a minion. The price was so very high. Jenny only hoped the shaking would force Brut back to Hell before he could get to her daughter and her sweet aunt. She hoped Brut would relish her death, get carried away, take too much time. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see this thing in front of her, his mangled eye marring his horrible face.
“Want. Want. Want.” Brut hissed his favorite word all over her body, and the knife traveled a painful path, their blood mingling, hot and wet, on its blade.
And then his hand was gone from her neck, along with the knife, the hissing. Jenny had to try three times to get a decent breath. She opened her eyes to see Nero’s whipped back and Brut crushed in a bear hug-like hold. And then the minions were gone, shaking strong and crazy, and there was just a cabin around Jenny. She was still alive.
After a moment Nero returned, pulling himself along the wall and clutching his side.
“Where is he?” Jenny’s words were vocal tears, clogged with so many emotions.
“Hell. He’s gone. I’ve just a moment.” Nero fell to his knees in front of her. Jenny wrapped her good arm around his head.
“Nero, he wanted her too. Just now. He wanted Kate too.” Jenny loved this man, but all she wanted was him gone now, and her daughter in her arms.
Nero looked up at her, his dark features serious. “I promise you, he will not get her. Either of you.”
And then he was gone. There had been movement—Jenny felt the air move around her, a hint of a kiss on her lips. But Nero was returned to the fires of Hell.
Jenny staggered away from the door and called to Kate and Bess, letting them know it was safe. She sank to the tile floor, so cold and afraid. The door unlocked and Bess came out cautiously before she let Kate come too. Her daughter couldn’t stop crying. Her special day, her tea with her father, was ruined.
They waited for an ambulance to take Jenny to the hospital.
Chapter 4
Hell wasn’t ever pleasant, but being bound next to a seriously disturbed minion made Nero’s sentence seem that much longer. Brut’s eye had healed from its horrific injury at an alarming rate, and he bore no marks from his battle with Jenny. But he certainly hadn’t forgotten it. Between singing and promising horrors, any sound he made was to taunt Nero. Jenny and Kate were Nero’s ultimate weaknesses now, and Brut had to know he was wearing him down.
Nero was desperate for her—the touch of Jenny’s skin, the smell of her hair. And even more than that, he was concerned. Why was she sick? Had Brut injured her and made things even worse? And Kate. Just the thought of her name stirred such immense pride. He had made a child, and that was something to exist for. Another person to protect.
As much as he loved them both—and he realized now that the intense, deep longing he felt for them was love—he could not go back. Bringing Brut to the surface again was impossible. But his sweet Jenny was scared, and he needed to ease her mind.
Mid-shovel, an answer came to Nero. He needed to let more minions know of his escape route. Immediately he knew this was the wrong way to accomplish his goal. But like a seed, the idea grew and changed until it was a rational choice.
He’d need at least three accomplices: two to hold Brut down and one to help him back through the tunnels and traps to get to Earth. At his next brief respite, he ran, rather than sitting to catch his breath. He searched for minions who weren’t serving violent sentences. It wasn’t a fool-proof plan—after all, Brut was only shoveling, and he was sickening. Minions weren’t a trustworthy bunch.
He passed the stretching carousel, and the screams drove him farther away from the shoveling. Alcove of evil after alcove of evil slipped past Nero until finally he came to a small cave where a group of minions waited.
He slowed and approached the closest female. “What is this sentence?”
At his words, all the minions turned their attention to him. They looked mildly annoyed.
“We wait here. That’s the sentence.” Her wild yellow eyes drank in his form.
“May I ask what you wait for?” Nero could see no apparatuses, no tortures evident.
She gave a shallow laugh. “Well, damn it, if I knew what I was waiting for, it would be a whole lot easier. No, I just wait. For what’s next.”
Nero thanked her and left, tearing off at a dead run to get back to his shoveling. Some of the waiters were likely his best choice of accomplices. He could offer them a result, a conclusion for their wait. On the soil they could pick anything, watch a bird fly, and see it land. They could wait for a car to pass and, more than likely, one would. They didn’t seem particularly dangerous.
It took two more trips to the waiting cave before Nero had three minions willing to help, each for their own reasons. The first was the female who’d answered Nero’s question. Her name was Sin. Her yellow eyes and matching sunshine hair could be spotted from three miles away, which Nero thought was good for when they were above. Others would know to watch out for her, like a vibrantly colored poisonous frog.
The second female went by Velvet, and she had deep skin and a bald head. She was easily taller than Nero. The last one Nero wasn’t sure about, but he needed three. Ransom had shifty blue eyes and close-cropped brown hair. He was lanky, but he looked plenty strong. He’d assured Nero he could hold Brut easily.
It was stupid, showing three more minions the way out. Nero knew trust wasn’t a gift any of them had given him. They each wanted to see something else. Sin wanted to see a sunset, Velvet wanted to see fireflies, and Ransom had answered simply, “Boobs.”
Nero told them Jenny’s house was off limits, and that he’d rather rat any of them out than have them wreak havoc on the soil. When finally they had an opportunity, when the time slowed and became flexible enough, he whistled. At the sound, Brut cocked his head and placed his demented eyes on Nero. Fortunately, the waiters were much faster than Nero expected. He guessed their nerves were so frayed from their punishment that actual action excited them.
Brut didn’t even sense Ransom, and the tall man quickly folded the unsuspecting minion into a restrained pretzel. Velvet sat on Brut’s legs as Ransom held his arms. Brut began screaming, cursing, and begging for justice, but in Hell none of those cries was unusual enough to raise an alarm.
Sin hopped from one foot to another, seemingly ready for anything. Nero nodded at the pile of minions once and ignored the many things he could see going wrong in his head: Brut getting loose, the minions being reclaimed by their compulsions and having to return to the waiting cave. He powered through his doubts and lead Sin through the hole.
It had been easier to transverse the traps, gates, and beasts with Brut. The crazy minion had just enough sense to outwit them. He was clever, but Sin did a good
job for a first-timer. However, by the time Nero got to the rock, his hands were already shaking. Sin helped him move the boulder out of the way. It was almost twilight, and that boded well for his companion.
“Head that way, and you will see the sunset,” Nero told her. “Your patience will be rewarded this time. When you can stand the shaking no longer, meet me at this spot. Hurt no one.”
Sin waved Nero away with a frustrated hand and ran toward the descending sun. Nero watched her for a moment, then slid the boulder back in place. If Brut got loose, Nero hoped he would be unable to move the boulder alone.
This plan was ridiculous and unstable, but right this minute he could see Jenny’s house, and he had to remind himself to use the door, not walk through a wall in his rush to see his girls. The door was repaired, but unlocked. He chastised himself for failing to keep his promise to Kate. He hadn’t gotten a hammer to repair the damage he had done last time.
“Jenny? Kate? I’m here!” Nero closed the door behind him. He loved the idea of his ladies safe, even if the door was just a mirage as far as an angry minion was concerned.
“Here. I’m here.” Her voice sounded strong and confident.
He followed her voice upstairs and found her smoking and drinking wine—his formerly blushing lover. She licked her lips when she saw him, and her sweet sundress looked out of place.
“Jenny?” Her demeanor was off. Something was wrong. “How’s your arm? Where’s Kate? How long has it been?”
She rolled her eyes and took a long sip. Finally she sighed. “It’s been two weeks, Nero. Amazing. All those years raising Kate without you, and now I get two visits in one month. It’s like I won the genital lotto. Are we going to have some hard, sweaty sex?” She shot him an aggressive look. “I hope so.”
Her eyes were different. And she held her body as if there was no love left in her. Nero shook his head slowly. Of all his concerns, Jenny being healthy and angry hadn’t been among them. She wasn’t right.
“Where’s Kate? Your aunt?” He moved closer to her.
“My aunt? She said Kate didn’t need to see me like this. You know Katie—oh wait, you don’t—well, she fought. She didn’t want to leave. I’m proud of that little bitch.” Jenny took a pull from the cigarette.
It was Brut. Somehow he’d contaminated Jenny. After all the eons next to that minion in Hell, Nero recognized the crazy in Jenny’s eyes. He took the cigarette out of her hand and crushed it in his.
“That’s sexy, you big fucker from Hell. Let’s screw.” Jenny poured her wine on the carpet of her bedroom, then tossed the glass, and it shattered.
Nero took her face, so dear to him, his very destination, and held it. She couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead she squirmed and ran her hands over his chest.
“Stop looking at me. Take out your dick.” Jenny reached up and untied her sundress, and it slithered to the floor.
Nero looked down at her body and fell to his knees. He traced the inflamed track Brut’s knife had left. Her system was fighting demon blood. He looked up at her face and she tilted her head back, avoiding him yet again. She swiveled her hips, running her hands down his head and scratching his shoulders.
He could still see hints of her, the real her, but he had no idea how to fix her. At this moment he realized she was trapped with a bit of her worst fear inside her, so the only thing he could think to do was to love her, fill her, make her his.
Nero stood and grabbed a fistful of her hair, just enough to get her attention and turn her eyes his way. “Look at me.”
She could only get as far as his mouth. He kissed her lips and pulled back. “Look at me.”
She raised her eyes to his cheeks and stopped. Nero unbuttoned his pants, and they joined her sundress on the floor. Her let go of her hair and walked into her, knocking her backward, making her stagger. When she fell backward, he reacted, grabbing her hips and forcing her to sit on the bed.
She scooted to the center of the bed. Nero longed to see her smile. He loved her glow of health, but hated Brut’s marks marring her beautiful skin. He followed her onto the bed and waited for her to respond with love, but she was grabby and greedy. He imprisoned her hands above her head and positioned himself between her legs. With one quick push he was in her.
Her silkiness surrounded him, and he had to stop before he lost control. His hand holding her wrists shook as he asked her, one last time. “Look at me.”
And then she met his eyes. And she was there, home, here for him once again. Her eyes filled with tears, and the mania bled from them as she released her emotion.
“Nero.”
It was Jenny, his Jenny. He covered her mouth with kisses, and neither of them closed their eyes. Nero didn’t want to lose sight of her even for a minute. He let go of her hands, and she held his face, keeping him close. He let himself love her then. With every thrust, he let her know he’d fought to be here, he’d done those wrong things—let minions out of Hell and risked everything—so they could be like this, just Jenny and Nero.
She pushed him flat on his back and changed their position so she could straddle him. He watched her achieve her own bliss, amazed as her long scars of minion-induced pain healed. Like a reverse blood poisoning, he was somehow absorbing the venom that had been changing her.
She saw it too and ran her hands along her now-clean body. “How?” she said, still moving on top of him.
“Love,” he answered simply. “I love you so much.”
Jenny felt like herself for the first time in two weeks. Lying in Nero’s arms, in her own bed, without Brut’s creepy stare, she was home. Actually, she felt the best she had in years. She couldn’t burden Nero with her diagnosis now. As much as she wanted him to hold her and share her pain, she knew their time was limited. Jenny tried to force the conversations with her doctor out of her mind and away from this contented moment, but as always, they lay in wait for her. The doctor had been mystified by Jenny’s decline after Kate’s birth. He claimed it was as if she’d ingested toxins. Every blood test came back clean, but her pupils remained dilated, her balance off. Jenny wasn’t sure if it was the demon DNA her body had nurtured or the fact that Nero had claimed her heart, but there was a price to pay for bearing his child. But none of it mattered. Any punishment was worth the gift of Kate. She looked at her lover and smiled sadly.
“I’m so sorry about the things I said to you, my sweet. How did you get here so soon?” She touched his cheek, letting her fingertips reassure her of his realness.
“It wasn’t you,” Nero assured her. “Somehow his blood infected you. And Kate is okay?” He grabbed Jenny’s hand and kissed it.
“She is. I owe her an apology too. I kept saying the most inappropriate things. I felt stronger, but out of control.” Jenny snuggled deeper into Nero’s chest, smelling the scent of him, trying to bathe her hair in it, so she’d be able to prove he’d been here after he left.
“I consorted with other minions to be here. I promised them things. My first instinct was to kill Brut.” He searched her eyes as he pronounced his murderous instincts.
She propped herself up a bit and looked at the whole length of him. “I would’ve killed him to keep him from Kate if I could’ve. I’ll not judge you.”
“Jenny, I’m not a good man. I wasn’t a good man. I’m in Hell for a reason. But if I killed him, I’d have to do his sentence as well. I would have to shovel with two hands.” He held them up.
“You’re good to me. And you’re Kate’s father, so that makes you an angel. If she’s safe, I’ll bring her back. If I stay like this, back in my own head, I’ll try to have her here so you might see her next time.” She straddled him again. “I’d love you to stay, though. I dream of us here—in this bed, in this house, making breakfast, taking showers.” She leaned down to cover him, hugging his chest. “Can you never stay?”
He stroked her hair gently. “Jenny, I have a sentence.”
She sighed, expressing her disappointment eloquently without words.
/> Chapter 5
Nero replayed fixing Jenny with love in his head so many times. It made him stand a bit straighter on his breaks from shoveling. Brut, however, was furious that he’d missed his trip to the soil and had treated Nero to long, horrific descriptions of the plans he had for his love and his daughter. He repeated them over and over.
To take his mind off of killing Brut, Nero concentrated on making something for Kate. Every other stroke with the shovel, he grazed a lump of rock, carving it. He was trying to create a little puppy for Kate, like the one on her shirt. It took a million swipes to do it. Nero counted—out loud at times.
He took the puppy with him on his frantic runs to the waiting cave. Sin was still buzzed by her sunset, and she wanted to go again, rather than having Velvet or Ransom get their turn. More personalities made the situation even a bigger task.
When it was finally settled, Nero had to promise Sin he would try to smuggle a jack-in-the-box into Hell for her. And Brut was ready this time, tense and flinching at every sound. But Ransom handled the spastic, angry minion with ridiculous ease, pinning him face down in the dirt in moments. Sin took the position on the back of his legs as he seethed.
Velvet was athletic and poised, and she showed Nero faster, more efficient ways to get around the obstacles. When they lifted the rock together, breaking the seal between Hell and Earth, it was afternoon, judging by the sun. It took them both a little while to adjust their eyes. Then Nero wished Velvet well as she headed off to find a field to wait for the fireflies.
The trees seemed taller. Time had gotten away from Nero. But the hose was still where it was supposed to be, and he cranked on the flowing water, drinking and drinking until his tongue finally felt moist. Then he washed off the puppy rock sculpture. It had no color, just midnight black rock, but each hair was defined, the nose small and cute. He hoped Kate would like it.
But first, he needed to find Jenny. He had to break the door, again. There was no one home, but something was wrong. Out of place. Nero had no idea how to find Jenny if she wasn’t home.