Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(34)

Despite his warning, I couldn’t help staring as we passed the ragged group. Several of them stared back, their eyes huge and hungry-looking. One little boy in particular caught my eye. He had pale blue eyes and tousled blond curls. If he hadn’t been half starved, he would have looked like one of those baby angels in a Renaissance painting—a cherub.


Poor little thing! I didn’t care what Laish said—these kids looked like they were in bad shape. I’m no social worker but I don’t like seeing children hurt or abandoned or in danger and this little group looked like they were three for three on that score. Some had bruises and what looked like bite marks on their arms and legs and none of them looked like they’d had a decent meal their whole lives.

How do they survive in this horrible city? I wondered. How do they keep from being grabbed and murdered or worse in those awful crowds we passed through? Maybe they stuck together, taking care of each other and avoided the central square of Baator. Maybe the older ones took care of the little ones? I hoped it was something like that although it would be better if they had an adult to care for them.

I wished I could do something for them. If I’d been back home, I would have called somebody and reported the situation at the very least. But it wasn’t like I could call Children’s Services in Hell.

We passed by them and the little cherub-looking boy with the blond curls stared after me until they were out of sight.

When we got to the huge front door of the vast black spire Laish had called the Hotel Infernal, two red skinned demons with sharp, crooked teeth and doormen’s coats hastily came to attention.

“Who asks entrance?” one demanded, eyeing Laish uncertainly.

“Laish, Lord of Hades,” he said in a cool, controlled voice. “Open the door before I flay the flesh from your bones.”

The demons sprung to attention at once.

“My Lord Laish—forgive us! We are but lesser demons—we did not know!”

Laish said a single word in that harsh language I was beginning to think of as “Hell Speak” and they silenced at once. As one, they gripped the enormous door handles and pulled, revealing a vast lobby that seemed to be carved entirely of black marble.

The opening the doors made was plenty big enough for Kurex to walk through with us still sitting on his back. Which in fact, is what we did. If the minor demons had a problem with Laish riding a huge demon horse into their hotel lobby, they didn’t say anything about it. But the way they were looking at him from the corners of their yellow eyes made me think they wouldn’t have said anything if he’d decided to bring a whole herd of horses with him into the hotel.

“So, ‘Lord of Hades’ is it?” I murmured, turning my head to give him a sidelong glance as Kurex’s hooves echoed on the black marble. “That’s pretty major I’d say.”

He shrugged laconically.

“As to that, who can say? Some are more impressed by titles than others.”

“Titles or threats?” I asked. “And by the way those two jumped to attention, I’d say you must have the power to back up your threats.”

“Possibly.” He was still playing dumb which was really irritating. I wanted to know exactly how important and powerful he was. Back when I’d first worked my spell, I had been trying to get the most minor demon I could but I was beginning to believe I had brought over Hell’s version of a powerful CEO—or I’d brought over a general when I was trying for a private, if you prefer a military analogy.

“Could you really, uh, flay the flesh from their bones if you wanted to?” I asked him, trying to read the look in those ruby red eyes. “I mean, don’t you need a whip for that?”

“I could do it with a single word of power which I will not utter here,” he remarked. “It might cause you discomfort even if it was not directed at you and I would not wish to do that.”

“Thanks so much,” I said dryly. “But it’s discomforting enough to know I’m with someone who can strip people’s flesh from their bones just by saying the right thing. Or the wrong thing, I guess.”

“You should feel reassured, Gwendolyn,” he murmured, pulling me back against him. “That you are with someone who can protect you.”

I straightened my spine, refusing to melt against him but I had to admit he was right. He’d certainly protected me when the demon had grabbed me in the crowd. I’d felt myself sliding from the horse’s back and had seen the gleaming eyes and sharp teeth of the demon who wanted me all in one frantic instant. Then Laish had kicked the creature in the face and pulled me back to safety.

If I had been with a lesser demon, would they have been able to save me? I thought not. Maybe it was good I’d gotten the CEO when I cast my spell rather than the guy who worked in the mail room, although it was irritating that he still wouldn’t admit outright to me who and what he was.

Kurex clopped towards the vast black marble desk that ran the length of one whole wall. It was so long I couldn’t see either end of it—we appeared to be headed to somewhere in the middle. The ceiling was far above us, when I looked up I could barely see it. A gleaming crystal chandelier a big as small house hung suspended above us and cast its cold, silvery light over the lobby. Here and there, small groupings of furniture were scattered, mostly upholstered in red and black leather.