Fiends and Familiars - Debra Dunbar Page 0,29

of it, I’d get through it.

“She forgives you, right?” I asked, a little worried about this plan of mine. “After all the yelling and fire and the makeup sex, things go back to normal? She doesn’t refuse to see you ever again or vow to never rest until she disembowels you or something?”

“You need to make sure the makeup sex is really good.” Lucien emphasized his point with a raised index finger. “If you did something really bad, then you might need to bring her flowers or cook her dinner, or even grovel a little.”

“Grovel?” Lucien groveled? The son of Satan groveled?

“Just a little.” He made a pinch motion with his thumb and index finger. “Happy witch, happy life.”

Break through the wards. Steal Faust and return him to hell. Come back and endure the yelling and fire. Enjoy the makeup sex, but ensure my performance is top notch. Grovel. I really didn’t like the last one, but I’d do it if it meant the witch forgave me.

“So, what do you need to discuss this morning?” Lucien leaned back in his chair, cradling his coffee mug in his hands, the picture of an executive from hell.

“He’s here,” I told the other demon. “We’ve managed to finally locate Faust.”

“Faust? Here? Where?” The prince looked confused as if he expected the man to be hiding behind the stove or in the pantry.

“Here.” I gave the pronoun lots of emphasis. “He’s about twenty miles from this town.”

“You’ve found Faust?” Lucien asked.

I winced, wondering if bedding a witch had addled his brains. Was this what I had to look forward to?

“Yes. We know his location, but haven’t yet laid eyes on him. The man was tricky when he was alive, and I’m willing to bet he’s learned a thing or two since his escape.”

“So you know his general location? As in a few square miles?” Lucien’s expression was hopeful. “Do you honestly think we might finally be able to retrieve this bastard and drag him back to hell where he belongs?”

Shit, I hoped so. “He’s in a house. He’s inside the house, but he could be hiding anywhere inside. I’ve verified this personally. My hellhounds have felt his presence there, and so have I.”

Lucien frowned. “Then what’s the problem? It’s a house. Search it. Tear it down. Set it on fire and wait for him to come out. Why haven’t you hauled him back to hell yet?”

I clenched my teeth, unwilling to admit that we’d been trying with no success—that I’d been trying with no success.

“There are some…difficulties in that. First, he’s cagey and we don’t want to tip him off that we’ve discovered his whereabouts only to have him vanish on us. I’d like your permission to send my pack to surround the house and remain there until he can be retrieved. Secondly, there are some fairly strong wards around the house, and the dwelling is in a neighborhood. Breaking them would bring attention from the humans.”

There was a time when I didn’t have to ask permission to send my pack of hellhounds to scorch the earth and shred every living thing in their path. The world had changed though—for the worse in my opinion.

“Why can’t your hellhounds retrieve him?” Lucien asked. “Just snatch him on his way to the grocery store if there’s a problem getting into the house.”

“We haven’t seen him leave the house. If I can have the hellhounds do a twenty-four-hour surveillance, we might be able to grab him if he leaves, but that means the humans are going to see a pack of hounds on a stakeout. And if we go in to forcibly retrieve him…well the humans are going to notice that as well.”

I had a plan. I was ready to move. But I didn’t want to have the upper management of hell coming down on my head because I freaked out a whole bunch of humans and possibly risked breaching our stealth contract with heaven.

“You and your hounds can break into one human’s house to retrieve Faust.” Lucien rolled his eyes. “We’ll take care of any fallout. Just go get him.”

There was my permission, but if thousands of years in hell had taught me anything, it was to make sure all the risks had been laid on the table, and that I had informed consent to proceed.

“We haven’t been able to observe him inside the dwelling, but he appears to be living with a woman and using magic to keep the hellhounds outside. There are wards,” I