I shrugged and stalked into the demons’ room. Angel sprang ahead to scout, apparently done snacking on the demon.
“Make sure there aren’t any more incubi,” Lisa called behind us, hopping around as she tried to shrug her other foot into her pants. “Or you can wait for me to throw a few spells to clear the path. Those motherfuckers embarrassed me today. Usually, I’m cooler and know how to handle myself when facing an incubus.”
“Those two were ancient incubi,” I said.
“No wonder they’d holed up here,” Lisa said. “They were recluses. I’ve never seen incubi like them on campus. I was lucky and they were very unlucky today—me that I have you and them that they met you.”
It was a nice surprise to find the ancient demons’ room was spacious and comfortable. Several electronic guitars hung on the walls, and sheet music was scattered over the coffee table.
“They were musicians,” I said incredulously.
Angel shrugged a shoulder. I knew what he was saying.So? Meat is meat.
“I wonder if they were any good,” I said with a hint of regret. “Maybe I made a rash decision in slaying them. I like artists. I should have gotten them to perform for us before I stabbed and burned the duo.”
Lisa surveyed the room. “This has got to be the most secure place on campus. No wonder your hellhound brought you here so you could take the room by force.”
“Angel knows his shit,” I said fondly, scratching the beast behind his ear.
The hellhound purred like a big cat, but his purr turned to a growl the next second.
I followed his fiery gaze to a far corner. Human skulls were piled on the shelves against the stone wall. They must be from the incubi’s victims, and the psychopaths had collected their preys’ skulls as trophies.
“They planned to add our bones to their collection,” Lisa said in a shivering voice. “They’d have achieved that if you were less powerful, Icy Dagger.”
I could get used to her calling me that.
I frowned. “It’ll take a while to clean up this place.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Lisa said, eager to please. “Warding, cleansing, cursing, and dark magic are my fortes. It’s time for me to prove to you that I’ll be an asset.”
She started chanting and waving her hands in the air without me giving her the go-ahead. When she was done, the demon remains, demon ash, and the victims’ skulls all vanished from the room. She didn’t stop there. She tossed a few more spells at every corner and recited words of enchantment. She even conjured dozens of white candles and lit them as she kept chanting.
I liked candles, so I suggested having rainbow-colored candles, but she insisted only white candles were good for banishing negative energy.
“This is Hell, Black Widow,” I said. “There’s no positive energy in any corner of this realm.”
“You’d be surprised what Hell has,” she said. “It possesses the purest uncharted energy in its core. That’s why powerful mages and witches are drawn here.”
“Is your power seven-plus?”
She widened her eyes. “How did you know?”
“You try to tune it down to look like power five,” I said. “Seven is rare among witches and mages. When you ascend to eight, you’ll be at your peak.”
“It’s extremely difficult to reach level eight,” she said, eying me warily. “No one else has detected my true power.”
“I’m not just anyone.”
“I see that. You won’t rat me out, right?”
“To that up-to-no-good Lucifer? Why do you hide your power? Everyone here wants to show off and get into Lucifer’s, his heir’s, or the archdemons’ inner circle.”
“I’m not just anyone,” she said, throwing my words back at me, and even shot me a defiant look.
I arched an eyebrow, waiting for her explanation. I had allowed her to trail after me. If she lied, there’d be no more free passes. Or I might just kill her if I decided she was trouble.
“I come from one of the greatest ancient witch bloodlines,” she said. “It’s not by choice that I serve the Underworld. I was born in a demon-controlled region, but even if I had been born in the demigods’ Half-Earth, the demons might have still snatched me, as they did to so many witches and mages.”