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I’d been half expecting some sort of inappropriate joke from Giguhl as we picked our way across the human bridge, but even the Mischief looked unsettled.
In comparison to the decidedly grisly entrance to the palace, the interior was downright mundane. Walls of black marble and fixtures forged from iron. I guess even a demon king and the Great Mother of the dark races needed a break from the death imagery.
Valva walked in like she owned the place. “Mom! I’m home!”
Adam and I exchanged an anxious look, both of us not quite trusting the Vanity. Giguhl stood between us and looked worried for a different reason. “I’m so nervous,” he said. “What if she hates me?”
I frowned at him. “Who?”
“Lilith,” he whispered. “I want to make a good impression.”
“For f**k’s sake, Giguhl. Priorities!”
He shot me a pursed-lip glare but said nothing.
Adam grabbed my hand around the demon. “Be strong.”
I swallowed and nodded. “Be ready for an ambush.”
The mancy cracked his knuckles. “I was born ready, babe.”
I certainly hoped so. Because if my vision was right, one was coming. “Listen, Adam,” I said, taking him aside. “No matter what happens in there, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said slowly. “But why would you say that now? Do you know something you’re not telling me?”
I shifted my eyes left as I recalled the vision from Vinca’s pool. “It’s just… I don’t know if we’ll all survive.”
He planted a kiss on my forehead. “Maybe not, but at least we’ll put up one hell of a fight, right?”
“Come on, guys!” Valva waved us to follow her.
I turned to Tristan, Nyx, and Horus. “Stay close and watch your backs.”
Valva led us through a large entryway dominated by a curving staircase carved from smooth black stone. We went under the stairs and emerged into a gigantic open-air… something. Tall walls built from charred bones and ash spread out from the entrance in a broad circle. But the center was a lush botanical garden. Overhead, there was no ceiling but a starlit sky dominated by a huge full moon.
“This way,” Valva said. She stepped onto the packed dirt and ducked under palm fronds and darted around huge, foul-smelling flowers. “Watch your step—most of these plants are carnivorous.”
As she spoke, a huge Venus flytrap snapped six inches from my head. I jerked away, bumping into Giguhl. “Easy,” he said, steadying me. “It’d be super embarrassing if you got eaten ten steps away from your destiny.”
Valva forged ahead through the dense foliage until she finally parted two huge elephant ears to reveal an open-air throne room of sorts. The thrones were huge and made from human skulls painted bloodred. The marble floor was a refreshing change of pace from the body part theme, but otherwise everything was blood and bones.
I looked around, expecting to see Lilith or maybe Asmodeus lounging indolently on one of the thrones. Instead, a familiar face grinned at me from next to the stone blood fountain to the side of the throne.
“Oh shit,” Giguhl breathed. “What’s he doing here?”
“Sabina, darling.”
I gritted my teeth. “Clovis.”
Clovis Trakiya both had and hadn’t changed much in the months since Giguhl dragged his ass down to the Pit of Despair. His auburn hair was a tad longer and he wore a black robe instead of a business suit. Clovis was half vampire and half demon, and when I’d known him in the mortal realm, he’d appeared in his urbane, vampire form. But now he was flashing horns and his skin was red and leathery. Despite his demonic makeover, his smarmy grin was the same.
“Welcome to Irkalla. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to greet you personally when you arrived, but, well, the Great Mother had me preparing some surprises for your arrival.”
“I bet she did,” Adam said.
“Lazarus,” Clovis sneered. “I’m surprised to see you.”
Adam crossed his arms. “And why is that?”
Clovis picked an invisible speck of lint from his shoulder. “Figured Sabina would grow tired of your pedestrian appeal by now.”
“Cut the shit, Clovis,” I said. “Where’s Lilith?”
Clovis stood straighter and grinned. “She’ll be here shortly.” He leaned forward and whispered, “She likes to make an entrance.”
“What are you doing out of the Pit?” Giguhl demanded. “Last I saw you, you were receiving some sweet back-door attention from a gaggle of Lust demons.”
A shadow passed across Clovis’s face. “Let’s just say I convinced the Great Mother I could be more useful to her as an assistant. Better than that pu**y David Duchamp.”
I crossed my arms. No doubt David blamed me for Clovis taking over his position, since it was my fault the ass**le was in Irkalla in the first place.
As for Clovis’s success in manipulating the situation to his benefit, well, I wasn’t really surprised. Despite his many and varied faults, Clovis could be exceptionally charming when he wasn’t double-crossing me or conspiring to take over the dark races.
“Is this going to take much longer?” I demanded. “We’re kind of in a hurry.”
Clovis raised a dark brow. “If I were you, I’d curb my tongue when she arrives. She doesn’t respond well to demands.”
As if he’d summoned her with his warning, Lilith arrived in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Black smoke and flame flared up from the floor and when they disappeared, the Great Mother herself struck a pose in front of us.
I’ve known a few powerful females in my time—priestesses, leaders of entire races, goddesses—but even Hekate’s awe-inspiring appearance paled in comparison to Lilith’s dominating presence. It saturated the air like ozone after a lighting bolt.
I fell to my knees. All around me, my team did the same, dropping like flies to the floor.
I didn’t dare look directly at her. My hands trembled. It was one thing to think about meeting the Great Mother. In theory, I knew she’d be powerful and intimidating. But kneeling before her felt like… straying too close to a black hole.
“Look at you. Trembling like a child.” Her voice was as dark as midnight. “It pleases me. Rise, Sabina Kane.”
The unbearable weight of her gravity made standing gracefully impossible. I kept my eyes on the ground.
“Look at me, child.”
