It’s miserable but exactly what I need to snap out of the emotions that are threatening to spill over the dams I’ve built in my soul. I splash my tender face with its iciness. Time to shore up.
“Shouldn’t there at least be hot water in Hell?” I grumble.
Vudu looks over his wing at me with the tiniest smirk, the armored plating on his shoulder bunching beneath his impressive back muscles before he turns back around.
I smile to myself, feeling a little bit better and warmer, either because I’m used to the first shock of cold water, the blazing fire next to me, or Vudu’s look. Maybe a little of all three.
I find a bar of soap floating in the water at my feet, and I snatch it up and immediately start scrubbing myself down. I start at my toes, getting between every single one, and move up my body with meticulous care. By the time I scrub my hair twice with the shampoo and conditioner I find just outside the tub, the water is murky gray and I’m shivering a little, but I’m a hundred times cleaner than I was before.
Just as I’m using the last of the soap to scrub under my dirty nails, I hear Shateel come back in. “Put it there,” she directs, and beneath Vudu’s wings, I see a trio of spindly looking demons carry in another tin tub and plop it down beside me. They scurry out, and Shateel orders my sisters to both get in, forcing them to share the tub.
“I guess we’re making up for all those missed bathtub moments as toddlers,” I hear Medley whisper, making Delta’s lips twitch.
“I’m not even fucking dirty. I showered this morning,” Delta grumbles.
Vudu, ever the gentledemon, stands sentinel between both tubs so my sisters can undress, while Shateel is busy barking orders at the demons who brought the tub, talking about dress colors and makeup.
My sisters don’t take nearly as long to clean themselves as I do, and Delta doesn’t even have to wash her hair. The three of us are quickly lined up, wrapped in nothing but thin towels in front of the fire, the heat of the flames drying our wings and bodies.
Vudu stands with the other guards, his body imposing with his feet spread and his arms crossed in front of him, and since Delta’s hair is already dry, Shateel takes her first.
Medley and I watch by the fire as our sister is made to stand in front of the vanity, a floor-length mirror at her back as Shateel circles around her, a long finger tapping thoughtfully against her painted lip. “Hmm...” Her snakes languidly sway in her high ponytail as she studies Delta. “You’re the crass one who made things so hard on the Ophidian. I think we’ll make you the help at the party,” she says with a smirk. “It’ll be a good reminder of your place in our new world.”
Delta rolls her eyes when Shateel isn’t looking.
The green snake-haired female walks to the hanging dresses and snags a short one made of plain black fabric, complete with a red apron attached to the skirt like some Hellish Halloween maid costume.
Delta gets dressed in it, while Medley and I are brought forward and put into clothes as well. Medley gets a form-fitting skirt that barely covers her butt, in a color that matches her wings and hair, paired with a sparkly silver top that drapes over her. After seeing how short both my sisters’ skirts are, I’m relieved when Shateel brings a floor-length dress to me.
But as soon as I step into it, I realize how brief that relief is. Because while this black dress does go all the way to my toes, it also has a plunging neckline at the front and the back, the fabric held together by sheer panels that match my pale skin tone, doing nothing to hide my cleavage or the dip that nearly reaches the curve of my butt. After a lifetime of mostly wearing sweatpants and cotton T-shirts, the skintight dress, while beautiful, is totally out of my comfort zone.
“There,” Shateel says as she looks over the three of us. I fidget with the cuff on my arm, the sheer sleeve of my dress ending just at my wrist. “Now for your disguises,” she goes on, moving to stand in front of me first. She must see a look of confusion crossing my face, because she grins. “What, you didn’t think Morax was just