Hell's Belle - Eve Newton Page 0,7

her blonde head. He gives his father, Dashel, a smile and then sits on the coffee table next to him and opposite Mom.

“Hi,” I say, scooting in between her and her other husband – my Head Reaper, Evan.

She leans over to kiss me on the cheek. “Baby girl. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say. “Are you?” I give her a shrewd look.

“Yes, I just miss Luc, that’s all.”

There is no accusation in her tone at all, but it still makes me bite my lip and feel a bit awkward.

“Tell me where he is and I’ll get him,” I blurt out after a moment of unease.

Her sparkling blue eyes go livid. She looks like Angry Barbie as she spits out, “Absolutely not. We said a year.”

“Yes, exactly, you said a year. He has been locked away in that painting for six months now, practically dead so that I could have my powers without actually killing him! I refuse to let him stay in there any longer!” I rise up, my flame wings sprout and everyone ducks out of the way. Sure, some of them, namely my mother and twin are reasonably immune, but it’ll still burn them if my temper is hot enough, and it definitely is. I want my father back so that this sliver of pesky guilt can fuck off.

“If we release him now, your rule will be undermined, and it will all be for nothing,” she snarls.

“Axelle,” Evan says, taking her by her hand from the other side of the sofa. “Stay calm for the baby, please.”

I grimace at my mother’s protruding bump. She is currently growing a baby Reaper inside of her and while I’m not one to begrudge my mother any happiness, I was content with it just being me and Shax.

I count to three and smile. “Look, Mom. It’s not going to make any difference. Now or in six months time, everyone is going to wonder why their ex-Ruler has miraculously come back to life. I would rather it be now.”

“So would I,” she mutters. “But your father made me promise.”

Dashel goes to her and takes her other hand. “There is going to be no easy way out of this, regardless. I agree with Anna, we should do it now. That way we can start to do damage control instead of sitting around on our asses. The Demons are going to want to know what happened and someone, somewhere, might just figure out about the paintings. And if they find out about Luc, maybe they’ll also find out about Lucifer.”

I shudder. Not out of fear for my great-grandfather, but if he gets released from his painting prison, he is going to be as mad as a Hydra on acid. You see, my grandfather imprisoned him instead of killing him to take his power. He knew there was no way he could beat Lucifer. Lucifer never gave up his powers in the rightful battle, he had them taken from him. He was placed in the painting as a long-term power move, by all accounts dead, but all it takes is the right being to touch the painting and he will be released and by fuck, he’ll want his power – my power – back.

My mother is one of those beings. We have no idea if anyone else is, but I’m willing to bet my Demonic crown that I’m also one of them. I have dreams of these damned paintings. They are taunting me, calling to me, but I can never find them. I have no intention of releasing the original Lucifer back into Hell, but neither am I going to give anyone else a chance to. My father is another matter. He’s coming home, whether he likes it or not.

Mom looks at Shax. “What do you think?” she asks.

“I think Belle and Dad are right. We do this sooner rather than later. Belle’s rule is solid. The Demons respect her and fear her. Luc carved her path out when she was still a baby. She is the true ruler of Hell, he made sure of it. Him returning will be neither here nor there.”

We exchange a look of solidarity. He always has my back even if I’m wrong. He will bitch me out about it afterwards if I am, but this time, I know I’m right.

“Very well,” Mom says after a pause. “But there are several obstacles between us and him. I don’t know where he is and I don’t have the key to the lock. You