Her Dragon, His Demon (Dragon Guard Series Book 12) Read online

  Words could not describe Audrey’s fury when she woke up chained to a stone slab and well on her way to being completely healed. To say she was livid would’ve been the understatement of the year. She’d thought for sure her days in hell with the Chancellor and his many inventive forms of torture had come to an end. Had welcomed it. Prayed death would be the eternal equalizer she’d always been told it was. But for some reason, Fate or the Universe or just the same stupid dumb luck she’d had her entire life had seen fit to allow Adramelech to work his magic to keep her alive.

  Once she’d come to tenuous terms with her deliverance from the afterlife, the mysterious absence of the Chancellor for the next seven days became glaringly obvious and very welcomed. At least she thought it had been a week. Time moved differently in the Underworld; it was one of the many things Audrey had never truly gotten used to. But before she’d been caught sneaking topside, Adramelech had always made sure she had a calendar. It helped to know days were actually passing and she wasn’t in some sick time loop that never ended.

  Not that my life is all that different from a never-ending circle of insanity. Cue the maniacal laughter.

  She knew it was just another mind game in his vast bag of tricks. He’d even told her so and said he had hoped that if she couldn’t count the number of days she’d been under his control, she would eventually give up her fight and become a willing servant. What he didn’t count on was the passing of time actually fueled the fight within her.

  Luckily, since she was away from her room and her calendar, and lost as to how long she’d been comatose, Audrey heard a random demon say the Full Moon Celebration was still two weeks away. Simple math meant that on top of being strapped to a rock for the week she’d just lived through, there was the week before that, in which she’d been unconscious and healing since she’d been flogged on the night of the last full moon. She was shocked to find out the Chancellor had left her alone for so long. Of course, no sooner had she thought it than he showed up and the beatings resumed.

  He was back to being careful of her face and only beating her to the point where, with the help of his nasty black magic, she would be fit as a fiddle and ready for more abuse in four days. Today would mark the third day of rest for this round, and if she was keeping up with her dates, the full moon was only five days away.

  “Well, aren’t you looking no worse for wear, princess darling?” For the millionth time Audrey prayed to be deaf to the sound of his voice. It truly was the most irritating sound in the Universe.

  Deciding to play along and get the beating over with, she snorted. “It was nothing a little rest and black magic couldn’t cure. Of course, we could avoid all this nastiness if you’d just finally kill me. I mean, what’s the problem, big guy?”

  She gave her best imitation of Mae West and even winked when she called the Chancellor big guy. Audrey may have been locked in hell for a century, but if there was one thing the occupants of the Underworld loved, it was pop culture. She’d been kept apprised of every trend from the flappers of the nineteen twenties to the Cosby kids of the eighties and most recently texting on an iPhone. Naturally, Adramelech would have none of it. He kept her in petticoats and wanted her to retain the olde world style of speech, but to the latter, Audrey had flatly refused.

  When the Chancellor didn’t answer, the princess pushed harder. “Don’t have it in ya’?”

  Adramelech took a long, slow breath. Audrey could almost hear him counting to ten to keep from striking her where she lay.

  One more stab should do it.

  Sticking her bottom lip out and batting her eyes, the princess delivered what she hoped was the final blow to push the Chancellor into a full-blown rage. “Afraid of being alone? Afraid none of the other demons will play with you after I’m gone?”

  Faster than she could track, Adramelech was across the room, had ripped the chains from her naked body, and pulled her to a standing position by the hair on her head. Audrey’s scalp burned like fire. The pain made her eyes water, but she refused to cry out. There was no way she would give the bastard the satisfaction.

  Praying he would snap her neck where she stood, the princess groaned in frustration when the Demon Lord grinned a sarcastic grin and snickered. “You’re wasting your time, princess. I’m to going to kill you.”

  He let go of her hair with one last jerk, causing Audrey to stumble before regaining her footing. Then added with dramatic flair, complete with his paw across his chest and a look of utter shock on his face, “As if I could do that to my favorite human in all the world. After all, we’ve been together so long. I would be lost without you.”

  Turning to leave, the Chancellor called over his shoulder, “Come now, dear. How could I let you go when all we’ve worked for is about to be realized.”

  A sick feeling settled in the bottom of Audrey’s stomach. The bastard was up to something. Something that would hurt her more than the beatings. She couldn’t put her finger on it but it was bad...really bad.

  Following Adramelech up the winding stone staircase, the princes paid little attention as he prattled on about getting her new clothes and maybe even a new hairstyle for the upcoming Full Moon Ball. Audrey’s sole focus was on figuring out what the Chancellor had planned. It had to be a doozy if he’d given up flogging her for whatever he had cooked up, because there was no way he’d forgiven her for what he saw as her betrayal. He never would. But the princess didn’t care. Not if she could keep him focused on her. If the Demon Lord was messing with her, he was leaving everyone else alone.

  Entering Adramelech’s study from the hidden entrance behind his desk, Audrey was again surprised. A man who could only be described as a well-kept zombie, who was dressed in a butler’s uniform, bowed before wrapping a red silk robe around her and politely instructing with his wheezy British accent, “If you will, please follow me to the lavatory where I have prepared a bath for you, misses.” His putrid breath stung her noise as he bent his arm for her to take.

  Carefully placing her hand in the crook of his elbow, afraid he might fall to a pile of ashes if she pushed too hard, Audrey followed the butler’s lead. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as Adramelech called to her back, “Don’t be long, sweetling. I have more surprises.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Audrey mumbled under her breath.

  “Pardon me, mum?” Jeeves, the only thing she could think to call the zombie butler since she hadn’t been and didn’t want to be formally introduced, asked.

  “Oh nothing. Just thinking out loud.”

  “Yes, mum.”

  Entering a room she’d never seen before, Audrey had to do a double take. When that didn’t work, she closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them again, thinking the mirage would be gone. But no! It was the same as when she’d entered

  Instead of the huge stone cavern decorated in early demon that she’d been assigned upon her entrance into hell, Audrey stood looking at a beautifully decorated, obviously feminine bedroom. Tears filled her eyes as she recognized the elegantly carved bed designed by the most renowned artisan in their kingdom and given to her by her father for her eighteenth birthday. “A bed fit for a queen,” her father had said when he presented it to her.

  The tears she’d tried to hold back wet her cheeks as she took in the white eyelet canopy and matching drapery, exact duplicates of the ones her Auntie Mae had hand stitched for her. She ran her fingers along the jewelry box and ceramic figurines atop the armoire as she slowly made her way around the room. The dirty bastard had copied every detail from her past. Brought her long gone youth back as yet another move in his endless game of demented torture.

  Jeeves had entered what Audrey could see was a bathroom on the left. She heard water running just before he called out, “Just warming the water for you, mum. I won’t be but a moment longer.”

  A willowy okay was the only response the princess could give as she took it all in. Spying another door beside the bathroom, Audrey slowly approache
d, testing the knob before turning it. Cautiously opening the door, the princess gasped at the huge walk-in closet full to bursting with every imaginable style of clothing and shoes. After a quick inspection, she was stunned to find not even one petticoat in the lot.

  He’s pulling out all the stops. Can’t wait to see what’s coming next.

  Jeeves appeared at the open door. “Your bath is ready, mum. Please come. The Master has plans and was very clear that you not be late.”

  “Well, the Master can shove it up his...” At the stricken look on the decomposing butler’s face, and not sure where her new companion’s loyalties lay, Audrey changed direction. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We mustn’t keep him waiting.”

  Stepping into the bathroom, the princess turned to shut the door, only to encounter Jeeves standing at the threshold. “I can handle it from here,” was all she could think to say. She’d had servants when she was younger but they never bathed her.

  From the look of indecision on the butler’s face, she could only imagine what instructions Adramelech had given him. Turning to the side and motioning with her hand, Audrey added, “There’s no where I can go. No windows. Only one door.” She knocked her fingers against the wood. “You can sit right there,” she instructed, pointing to the chair against the wall between the door she held and the entrance to her closet.

  Finally, Jeeves nodded and moved back enough for her to close the door. Of course, there was no lock, but the princess figured she could move faster than the shuffling corpse. Letting the robe drop to the clean, white tiled floor, Audrey stepped into the first hot bath she could remember and slid down until the soothing water touched her chin.

  She had to compliment Jeeves on his choice of bath salts as lavender and vanilla filled her senses. Bit by bit, her haggard muscles began to relax and soon, Audrey was floating on an herbal cloud working with all her might to think about anything but what fresh hell the Chancellor had up his sleeve.

  All too soon, Jeeves knocked on the door. “The Master expects you in forty minutes, mum.”

  Opening her mouth to tell the rotting butler to tell Adramelech to stuff it, Audrey sighed. “I don’t want to get the guy killed but he’s dead, so maybe it’s killed again? Anyway...” Raising her voice so Jeeves could hear, she answered, “Be right out.”

  Regrettably, the princess exited the tub, wrapped herself and her hair in pink, fluffy towels, and made her way out of the bathroom. The surprises just kept coming. She found Jeeves standing beside what Audrey had seen in the fashion magazines that the former-models-now-demons who serviced the Chancellor had left lying around. All the fashionistas called it the perfect little black dress, and the dirty son of a whore had made sure there were black lace panties and a matching bra to go with it.

  The princess thought about searching her new wardrobe for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt like she’d seen so many wearing, but then thought better of it. Audrey knew if she made Adramelech too mad, she wouldn’t find out what he as up to until it was too late to stop whatever carnage he was planning. No, she had to play the game, at least for the time being. The Chancellor was good at scheming. Hades knew the jerk had been doing it since the beginning of time. How the hell else would he have become the Chancellor of Hell, right hand to the Devil himself?

  Sliding the dress over her head after putting on the elegant undergarments, that on any other occasion Audrey would’ve been thrilled to own, the princess turned toward the mirror and immediately wished for her petticoat and heavy gown. The dress fit like a glove, emphasizing all her curves and highlighting a cleavage she didn’t know she had with its deep V-neck. Looking at herself from all angles, the princess had to admit she liked what she saw, which was something she’d never thought before in her life.

  In her day, many suitors had admired Audrey for her beauty. The princes her father had tried to match her with all complimented her on her full figure and one even commented on her behind, saying he’d ‘like to take a bite out of that apple’ when he thought she was out of earshot. Audrey had always wished she could be thin like the other princesses she’d met at court, but that had not been in the cards for the raven-haired girl.

  It was all very flattering, mostly because she looked just like her mother, Bianca, who’d been brutally murdered when Audrey was only six years old. The princess still missed her mother every day of her life. There had been a time when she’d thought her father’s troops would find whatever enemy had chosen to strike out at the king by killing his wife and father-in-law and do to them what they’d done to Audrey’s loved ones.

  Many days of Audrey’s childhood were spent trying to forget the image of Bianca and Gabriel’s heads on pikes in the courtyard of their castle. She remembered crying until there were no more tears. Breaking everything she could get her hands on and screaming until she could no longer speak before collapsing from exhaustion, only to wake up and have to face the people of their kingdom as they came to pay their respects to their dead queen.

  Her father had helped her into the first black gown she’d ever worn and slid her tiny feet into the matching ballerina slippers. He’d explained that it was going to be a difficult day and he would understand if she needed to step away to cry but warned her not to let the commoners see her tears. They could never see, even while in mourning the loss of a loved one, any weakness in their monarchs. It was just the way it had to be. He kissed her on the forehead, stood and took her hand, leading her to the ballroom where she’d gotten her first pony just a few months earlier. But on that day, it served as a mortuary.

  Audrey’s memory blinked out of existence as Jeeves wheezed, “Time to go, mum.”

  One last look in the mirror and a pinch to both cheeks for color and the princess was out the door. Jeeves insisted she take his arm on their slow trek to the formal dining room Adramelech only used for his fanciest parties. The tiny heels of her bejeweled slippers tapped against the stone floor. Audrey’s reminder that she had been teleported back to a happier time but was actually being coerced into only the devil knew what by a sadistic Demon Lord.

  Entering the dining room, the smell of roast pork and vegetable invaded her sense. Audrey stomach growled and it was then she realized it had been over a month since she’d eaten.

  “Damned black magic,” she growled under her breath, sure Adramelech had heard her comment from the way the tiny earflaps on the top of his grotesque head quivered. She was suspiciously surprised when he did not react.

  Yeah, he’s up to something for sure.

  Making a spectacle out of standing up, the Chancellor met Audrey halfway to the table and after bowing to her, took her hand, placed it on top of his, and escorted her to a rather ornate golden chair she’d never seen before. After sitting, the princess smoothed the tablecloth and almost fell out of her chair. The table, and after closer inspection, the chair, just like the furniture in her room was wooden, not bones and skulls as was the Demon Lord’s usual choice of medium for his interior décor.

  Immediately noticing her reaction, Adramelech asked, “Do you like the improvements to our home, princess?”

  The use of ‘our home’ was not lost on Audrey, but she decided to play dumb to see where the Chancellor was going with their conversation. Using the voice her father had taught her to use when speaking with dignitaries from other kingdoms that she didn’t care for, Audrey responded, “I do. It is very nice. Thank you for my bedroom and all the clothes. They are beautiful.”

  Appearing pleased with her reaction, Adramelech pointed to the huge silver dome in the middle of the table. Jeeves shuffled over and, with a great deal of struggling, lifted the lid, revealing the roast pork and accompaniments Audrey had smelled upon her arrival. Again, her stomach grumbled and her mouth watered.

  It wasn’t that over the years the Chancellor hadn’t kept her well-nourished. It was just that her meals, if they were food and not some magical concoction the Demon Lord made her drink, usually consisted of stale bread, mushy vegetables, and an unreco
gnizable meat-like substance with an origin Audrey refused to guess at. So for her to be presented with real food after all these years, she had to figure whatever bomb Adramelech was about to drop on her was going to be huge. Like Armageddon. But she would see it out to the end. It was the only chance she had to stop whatever was coming.

  Adramelech rang a small silver bell and out popped a leggy blonde demon dressed in a scant maid’s outfit, which began to serve their food. Right behind her entered a stringed quartet made up of a mixture of demons and ghouls, who sat right down and started to play Bach.

  This just gets weirder and weirder.

  Using every ounce of self-control she could muster, Audrey looked down at the Chancellor and smiled. She wasn’t surprised to find him staring at her. It was something he’d done all the time before what he now referred to as her fall from grace. Now more than ever, her skin crawled and she wanted to poke out his eyes. She’d always promised herself the day would come when she watched the fire dwindle in his yellow eyes but doubts had started to form lately.

  Taking a bite of her dinner, Audrey wondered what the Chancellor was going to do with the huge plate of food before him. She’d never in all her years in captivity seen him eat. The princess didn’t even know if the part lizard, part wolf, part whatever else he was could eat real food. Her questions were laid to rest when he slid a small piece of meat into his mouth.

  Learn something new every day.

  Blessed silence accompanied the rest of their meal, including the lovely strawberry cheesecake their busty blonde servant delivered with the first real coffee Audrey had sipped in over fifty years. Several times, the princess thought about asking where all the food had come from. After all, fresh strawberries did not grow in hell. But every time the thought crossed her mind, she pushed it away, deciding ignorance was bliss.