“Good luck,” she snorted, and his heart sank. That definitely wasn’t the sentiment he was hoping for.
“Thanks.”
“No, I meant good luck trying to leave. You signed a contract in blood, remember? You’re not going anywhere.”
“Fuck.” But even as he swore and felt terrible for his pack and Gus, he couldn’t feel bad for himself.
He was standing on a boat that was floating on clear and smooth water, holding a beautiful woman in his arms.
There were worst lives. There really were.
NINE
ETHAN
After sailing for nearly an hour on the eerily calm sea, the boat docked on a small island that really seemed to pop out of the water … almost like it was an afterthought to put an island there. It had to be some more magic. The island’s sand was black but soft and fine. Ethan expected it to be too hot to walk on, but surprisingly, it wasn’t. It had to be more of that Hell magic.
“Where do you think we are right now?” he asked.
“We are on a beach,” Ruby answered with a grin.
He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Thanks. I meant, in the world. Do you have any idea where we might be geographically speaking?”
Ruby wrinkled her nose. “Honestly? No. I have no clue. There were so many twists and turns to get here that I wouldn’t even be able to find this place on my own. I think that was the point.”
“Funny. I thought the same when I was traveling here. I figured it was because Lucifer was involved.”
“He did build the place.”
“But does he ever come to stay? Or, at the very least, does he plan on visiting this place? It seems like he is going through a whole lot of trouble to build this place if he won’t ever enjoy it.”
“Oh,” Ruby shook her head. “I never even considered that. I don’t think he can leave Hell, to be honest.”
“But you’ve seen him, right? You’ve met him a few times when you’ve brought souls to Hell for him?”
Ruby threw her head back with a laugh. “No! Why would Lucifer want to meet me? I’m just some lowly succubus with a bad soul count.”
“Hmm. And if you had a better soul count, would he meet with you?”
“Yeah, probably. My sister Roja has met him a couple of times. She likes to go for whales, my sister.”
“Whales?”
“Yeah. Paradigms of pure good. She wiggles her way into their lives, corrupts them, seduces them, and then she brings their souls to Hell. Lucifer loves that. I prefer to corrupt people who are basically toeing the line. That way, I don’t feel too bad about taking their soul.”
He chuckled. “So you’re a sweet and thoughtful succubus.”
“Hush! Don’t let my aunt hear you say that! I’d never live it down.”
“Hey, is this why you and your mother don’t get along? She wants you to be more like your sister Roja?”
“Yup. That’s it. Or it’s what I think, anyway. I haven’t seen either one of them in a few years. Maybe a century, now that I think of it.”
“Holy shit! You haven’t seen your family in a hundred years?”
“Or something like that.”
“And you don’t miss them?”