“It is coded to me alone. All others can pass through.”
“Why?”
Her pupils pulsed. Like a small heartbeat in the middle of her eye. I’d have to watch for that. “Because I am dangerous.”
She said it so matter-of-factly, it sounded like she was telling me she enjoyed afternoon tea. “You don’t say.” I walked toward the curtain and she followed behind. “So you’re telling me I can just walk back out the way I came and you can’t follow me?”
“That is correct.” She stopped shoulder to shoulder with me as I peered out at possible freedom that didn’t include promising anything to this creature. “But I wouldn’t advise it. As I said before, I am your only hope of escape. I was not telling an untruth.”
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. “What did they do to you when they blasted you into the wall?”
“They hit me squarely in the chest with the equivalent of a bazooka in your world.”
My eyebrows lifted. “And why did they do that?”
She turned her body, addressing me directly. “Because I told them to fuck off.”
“How come they left so quickly? All they had to do was search the room. I was crouched behind the only cover in the entire cube.” I nodded behind me at the dresser. “It wouldn’t exactly be hard to sleuth me out.”
She shrugged. “Because I would have killed them if they had tried.”
This time I openly gaped. “So what you’re telling me is, I stumbled into the only cell in all the Underworld that holds the only prisoner who will be able to keep me safe? Or maybe I’m wrong and every prisoner is just like you?”
Her arm swept out in front of her as she gestured to the curtain. “You are welcome to go find out. I’ll wait for you over here.” She turned and strode to the bed. Once there, she lay down, clasping her hands under her head like she didn’t have a care in the Underworld. “Of course, it’ll be a long wait if the chupacabras find you first. But if you happen to get past the beasts, and the guards, and get to the next prisoner, they may toy with you for a while, depending on whom you stumble upon, but likely not before they rat you out. It’s very easy for us to summon the guards. They have buttons all over the—”
I held up my palm, effectively cutting her off.
I went to the dresser and leaned against it and crossed my arms. “I’ve had enough of your games. I’m not really in the mood, in fact I’m in a hurry. We need to get down to business…” I didn’t know how to address her. “What do I call you?”
“Lily.”
“What?” I shouted, then tried to rein in some of my incredulity. “Your name is Lily?” It was so human. How could there be a demon named Lily?
She smirked as her blonde hair, dappled with its green highlights, spread over the pillow, seeming to dance against the shimmery material. “Demons never give their true birth names to anyone. If you had my real name, you could summon me against my will. Names are sacred in the Underworld.” She didn’t need to end with “duh,” because it was implied. “So you’ll have to settle for Lily, whether or not you deem it demonic enough.”
“Um.” I coughed. “Yes, that does make some sense now that you mention it. You’ll have to forgive my total naïveté about the Underworld. I’m pretty much befuddled that I’m actually here in the first place.”
“While you’re gone investigating the other prisoners, trying to find someone more reputable and trustworthy to help you, I’m going to take a nap and finish regenerating from a nasty bazooka blast to the chest.”
She was shrewd, I’d give her that.
My wolf snarled, still unimpressed. She wanted us to leave the way we’d come. We can’t do that. I can still hear the guards out there. She’s intelligent, but she wants something from us. I’m going to use it to our advantage.
“I’m not leaving,” I said after a moment. Her nonchalant attitude didn’t fool me. She needed my help as much as I needed hers. “Although it sounds very tempting, I’m not going to investigate the other prisoners.” Lily gave off a strange vibe that made my wolf hyper-aware. “I realize you’re playing this all very cool, but you need me more than I need you.” She gave me a bored expression, which I ignored. “As I see it, I’m your only ticket out of Hell. And if the demons are willing to blow a hole in your chest, which didn’t even seem to harm you, and you can tell them to fuck off and they scurry away, it means you’re über-dangerous. I may find another way out of here if I go searching, but you clearly don’t have that option.” I folded my arms across my chest, satisfied.
“I already told you I am dangerous. I’m not trying to hide it.”
“If you want my help, you’re going to have to tell me why you’re in here.” I glanced around the tiny room to remind her where she was stuck. “And I want the truth this time.”
“I’m residing in this cube because I’ve tried to kill the Prince of Hell”—she paused for effect—“often.”
“Why are you still alive? I would think the Prince would obliterate you as quickly as possible.”
Her eyes flicked to the wall and back. “Because he… secretly enjoys the challenge of holding me prisoner. When he can.”
“But this time you went too far? Is that why you can’t escape?” I was grasping at straws, but it made sense. She’d surprised me with her admission, and she held a quiet desperation about herself that told me something had gone very wrong with her last attempt. “You did something so bad the Prince decided to give you no more chances, and you’re biding your time until you’re to be executed?”
“Yes.”