Touched by Fire (Demons of New Chicago #1) - Kel Carpenter Page 0,62
that he wants us dressed like you two, given the rack of ridiculousness over there?” I thrust my chin toward it. Dominatrix smiled.
“Bingo. The nicer you play, the sooner we’ll be done.”
I eyed Nathalie, who was being poked and prodded by the Catholic schoolgirl. The irony of her outfit given Lucifer’s history with the church might have been amusing under other circumstances.
“All right, but I want food. We both do.” I motioned to Nat. “And she needs cold medicine. I can’t imagine she’ll be much fun if she’s dripping snot everywhere.”
Dominatrix inclined her head. “I can do that. Now I’m going to need you to strip and shower. No offense, but you smell like week-old roadkill. There are towels in the bathroom. I need to see what I’m working with, so don’t dress in those clothes again. Just come out naked.” She wrinkled her nose at my smell. I shrugged. Being kidnapped and drugged did that to people.
Dominatrix kitty gave me a look as if to say, “get going.”
I huffed under my breath and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
This next part was going to be the hardest.
The riskiest.
And it was only my desire to get it all over with that let me strip and step into the shower. I turned the water on, and a cold downpour drenched me. I shivered. The water warmed.
My hands were mechanical in their movements as I washed my hair twice, and then my body. The hot spray was pounding into my back when the bathroom door opened.
“Food is here,” one of the pussy cats said. I wasn’t sure which, given I couldn’t see them through the steamed glass wall of the shower.
“I’ll be out in a sec.”
The door closed, and I flipped the nozzle off. Water dripped down my body in rivulets. I wrung my hair out three times on the shower floor before opening the foggy glass door. Dew drops of steam condensed on the mirror over the sink. They ran down the length of it, creating streaks where I could see slivers of myself.
I stood there, naked, staring at the intertwining black vines around my neck. The markings changed as they descended my chest, shaping around my breasts, and running over either side of my ribs. They covered my shoulders and most of the way down both arms.
If Lucifer saw them, he would know.
It was enough to make me want to call off this plan. Just give myself to the magic and light the entire place up. See if the white fire that I conjured in rage really was enough to kill him.
Knowing Aeshma was his atma, though . . . it made me pause.
Ronan had said my fire could kill almost anything, but it didn’t kill him because of our bond. What if I had some sort of bond with Lucifer that was leftover from Aeshma?
What if it couldn’t kill him? What if I couldn’t?
I needed Ronan, though he didn’t know it.
I needed him to deal with Lucifer, and with any luck, Lucifer would deal with him.
So I dried myself with a towel and wrapped it tight around me.
Then I stepped out into the room.
Nathalie sat cross-legged on the couch. She took a long drink of some amber liquid from a cup and groaned. “Sasha, this is divine.” Catholic schoolgirl giggled beside her. She was holding a teapot. “Jasmine tea. Lucifer imports it just for us.”
Across from them, Dominatrix stood, piling food from a cart onto the long coffee table. White meat chicken breasts covered in some kind of gravy with mushrooms sat on one plate. Roasted green beans, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit, and cake were also among the choices. My mouth watered.
It had been a long time since I’d had a real good meal. After the Magic Wars, fresh food became astronomically expensive. I had to be careful in buying it, but I couldn’t bring myself to live on processed stuff alone. I splurged where I could. Even that cost an arm and a leg, but when retirement and taxes didn’t exist, and vacations were a thing of the past, it was more than worth it.
I considered myself better off than most humans, but food like this, I hadn’t had it since I was a kid. I guess there were perks to owning the New Chicago Underworld.
Even your slaves could eat like kings and queens of old.
Three heads turned toward me.
Of the three, it was only Nathalie that eyed my brands.