Dancing With the Devil Read Online Free

back there.”
    He smirked, apparently doubting my abilities.
    Let him doubt. When the time came, I’d wipe that smirk off
his face. “What’s your name?”
    “Xavier in Heaven. Zayfeer in Hell.”
    God really needed a new baby name book. “Zayfeer?”
    “Means ‘west wind’. Ever hear the expression ‘an ill wind is
blowing’?”
    “You’re the ill wind?” At his look of satisfaction, a new
thought dawned. An ill wind had definitely blown in a few minutes ago. “Did you
have anything to do with me killing Lucifer?”
    Mikayla gasped. “You killed him?”
    Zayfeer’s gaze cut left to the smoke column, back to me. “The
Mark sent Lucifer back to Hell.”
    “He’s still alive?”
    “Not on Earth, but yes, he’s very much alive.” Z stared at
the sigil under my bangs. “You…er, rather, the Mark…created a hole in the gates
of the underworld.”
    As if to emphasize his point, a new demon crawled out of the
smoking pit. This one had a high, flat forehead and spikes down his arms and
legs. Lovely. “And how do I close that hole?”
    “You can’t. Only Lucifer can reseal the opening once it’s
broken.”
    I hate it when anyone tells me I can’t do something. “I
don’t know anything about the gates of the underworld, but I do know a thing or
two about Hell and I’ll find a way to seal the hole. I also know you must have
some kind of magic, Zayfeer or Xavier or whoever you are, so get off your butt
and clean up the mess you made over by the window.” The new demon was eying
Mikayla. He licked his lips and I made a face. “I’ll deal with this one.”
    Zayfeer grinned as if this was the best time he’d had in a
while. Probably was. He jumped up from the stool and headed for the slain demon
in the window, keeping an eye on the latest spike-addled addition to our party.
    “Yo, Spike,” I called to the new demon. He didn’t take his
eyes off Mikayla and she rose from the chair in slow motion and slid behind me.
I grabbed the heavy-duty ice cream scoop I’d used on Latimer and threw it at
the demon’s face.
    It connected, smacking him in the nose and bouncing off. His
gaze swung to mine and he let go a battle cry that raised the hair on my arms. His
spikes stood at attention, their gnarly-looking barbed ends quivering from the
sound. I couldn’t help it, I took a small step backwards as green liquid oozed
from those ends.
    Seeing my hesitation, he laughed. A knowing laugh. Low and
guttural. Just the kind to piss me off. I wasn’t exactly having a good day
here.
    Squaring my shoulders, I started forward, giving him a
wicked smile. Bring it on, ugly.
    He didn’t like my renewed courage, and without further
warning, he launched himself at me, ready to make me regret it.
    Mikayla screamed and grabbed my shirt, yanking me backwards.
There was nowhere to go since the sinks were behind us, but I knew the Mark
would kick in and take Spike down before his barbs touched me. Still, I had to
steel my nerves not to turn tail and run.
    He flew through the air and Mikayla and I both reared back.
Spikes, long and thick, flashed in front of my eyes. Green poison dripped from
the ends.
    And then the Mark flashed its horrendously bright light and
Spikey went bye-bye.
    Mikayla and I staggered to the side, away from the sizzling
green ash pile at our feet. The shop was sufficiently cold enough, our short,
choppy breaths made tiny clouds in front of our faces.
    I needed to close that hole and the opening the broken
window created. Needed to clean up all the ash piles. Needed to hunt down
Latimer and his pit buddies and put them back in their pen.
    But all I wanted to do was find Lucifer and make sure he was
all right.
    I’d been to Hell. No biggie. Not my favorite place to visit,
but I could handle it if I had to. How would I find Lucifer, though? And
couldn’t he get back on his own? Surely he had more magic and power than the
three of us in my shop combined.
    Inching over to the smoke column, I watched the