AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We didn’t hang many picture frames together.”
“We didn’t hang many in hell either, at least not in the traditional sense.”
I looked at him. “I don’t think I want to know the details.” I’d gotten a glimpse of Kane’s circle of hell thanks to one of his nightmares and I wasn’t eager to repeat the experience.
He adjusted the frame so that it was perfectly straight. Show-off.
He pivoted to face me. “I do.”
“You did do. Well done.” I reached up and patted his head.
“Not the painting. You said you didn’t want to know the details, but I’d like to know them about you. Consider this the vetting stage of our relationship.”
I had so little experience answering questions about myself with honesty and clarity—the vetting stage sounded like my version of hell.
“All right then. Vet me.”
“When did you discover you were different from the other kids?”
I shifted my attention back to the picture frame. “Don’t we all grow up thinking we’re different? It’s part of childhood development.”
“Except you really were different. You must’ve realized from an early age.”
“This feels too much like an interrogation.” I adjusted the frame a millimeter and stepped back to observe the change.
“That was already straight. You’ve thrown it off balance.” He stepped forward and fixed it again. “It’s hardly an interrogation. That would involve far more nails.”
I cut him a sidelong glance. “You of all demons think that’s funny?”
When Kane attempted to overthrow Lucifer, he was caught and tortured. The torment would’ve lasted for an eternity if the prince of hell hadn’t been rescued by his loyal friend, Dantalion.
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “What doesn’t kill us makes us lucky.”
Kane picked up the hammer and drove another nail into the spot I’d marked on the wall. “Speaking of lucky escapes, you should know Magnarella is making noise.”
“Seems to be all he does.”
“According to my sources, this claim has teeth.”
“Don’t you mean fangs?”
Kane grunted. “Watch your back, that’s all I’m trying to say. He won’t have forgotten you. Vampires hold more grudges than the gods.”
Vincenzo Magnarella’s grudge against me began when I ruined his blossoming business and destroyed his expensive laboratory. The vampire’s lab had been devoted to developing an elixir that turned mundane humans into deities, which were then showcased in a fighting ring. As a favor to my friend, Gunther Saxon, I’d volunteered as tribute in his sister’s stead and ended up fighting for my life in a pit of despair. I won the fight and destroyed their science experiment before they could clear my mind to make space for another goddess. Despite the target on my back, I had no regrets.
“What have you heard?” I asked.
“There’s been movement at his compound. Trucks in and out, that sort of thing.”
“The Corporation?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
A wave of relief rippled through me. The Corporation was even bigger and badder than Magnarella. The vampire’s lead scientist, Dr. Edmonds, had left their employ and brought his knowledge and expertise on avatars to Magnarella’s lab.
Kane hung the next picture. “No word from Addison Gray, I take it?”
