Old Demon and the Sea Witch (Welcome to Hell #9) - Eve Langlais Page 0,27

delicious example of a man.

Delicious? The very idea had me gnashing my teeth. Had I entered my horny hundreds again?

Good thing Gerard, a mortal man, had already died by then. The man had proven boring and predictable in the sack. Given Shax’s intriguing new confidence, I didn’t think he would leave me yawning. Just one kiss and I’d almost creamed myself. Obviously, a sign I needed to get out more often.

Quickly making it to my room, I hopped into the cramped shower. There was barely room to move around. Good thing I didn’t have to shave my legs.

The lack of space didn’t stop the devil from appearing, looming on the other side of the tiny frosted door.

“How come no one told me there would be Undine sushi?” he exclaimed.

“Is that what that thing was called? An Undine?”

“Judging by the smell of its guts in your hair, a variation of.”

“Whatever its name, it was on board the ship, spying.”

“Not very well, obviously, or he wouldn’t have been caught.” The devil snorted.

“It died before we could find out much. I don’t suppose his soul came to you in Hell?”

Lucifer shook his head. “The Undines are interesting creatures. Possessed of some intellect, and more closely resembling the humans on the Earthen plane than any other animal. Except for one thing. Their souls don’t come to me.”

“They go to Heaven?” Because that was the only other place that came quickly to mind.

“Nope. They go somewhere else.”

“Cool.” And not entirely surprising. There were many planes out there. And different timelines. Reality could change with the killing of just one person. Not a butterfly as the mundanes liked to quote. Only grave and pivotal deaths could affect huge shifts big enough to spawn a new timeline.

In another world, I might have married Shax. Being married, would he still have chosen to become a demi-demon to save his precious library? Or would he have lived a mundane life and died an old man?

“More than likely, the Undine you killed worked for Atlantis,” Lucifer announced.

“Shax already figured that out.”

The devil eyed me with sudden raptor-like interest. “Of course, he did. Tell me, do you know what that old demon is up to? You haven’t reported anything to me yet.”

“Because there’s not much to say.”

“I beg to differ, seeing how often my wife,”—spoken on a growl of puffed smoke—“has popped onto this ship. To see him. Not me. She gets a few minutes off, and is she looking me up to show me her female parts? No. She’s plotting against me.”

I debated letting Lucifer froth himself into a righteous rage, but he might accidentally take it out on Shax. I’d feel bad if that happened.

“She’s not cheating on you.” I rinsed off the last of the soap and debated whether to keep the water on or not. I wasn’t about to step out without a robe or a towel, which might sound odd. After all, I’d danced around countless bonfires in the buff while the devil watched. But that was during rituals with the coven. Alone with Lucifer? That was grounds for having Mother Nature pay a visit and imprison me with vines while some carnivorous plant ate me.

“Are you sure about that?” It seemed strange to hear Lucifer actually worried about something, as if he had…feelings.

Nauseatingly cute. And it in no way diminished his cruelty to the arriving souls who deserved Perdition, the newest prison they’d just finished building in Hell. It contained the latest in torture, including a room that played the Baby Shark song over and over.

Shudder.

“Mother Nature is not cheating on you because she’s too busy trying to protect you.”

“I see.”

I waited for him to rant that she was trying to emasculate him in front of his legions. He said nothing. Didn’t break into dance or song either. Which was truly a blessing. He’d done that to a celebrating coven a few All Hallows’ Eves ago. One never forgot the way he hit those notes in all the wrong ways and made even the most robust witches cry. And as for the dancing… He’d gotten naked and sexually scarred more than a few with his bouncing, hairy…

“You’re not mad she’s coddling you?” I asked, surely tugging on his horns, but I didn’t understand his lack of explosion.

“That would be a waste of time. What is she protecting me from?” The words emerged low, and to my surprise, a towel suddenly appeared tucked around my head and a robe on my body.

I stepped out to find