devil 02 - tween a devil and his hard place by sam cheever

that throbbing and my damnable guardian angel was definitely going to pay the price for breaking into what had been the most pleasurable and realistic dream I’d ever experienced.
    I continued to sit there glaring at her and she continued to stand beside my bed, glaring right back at me. Finally I realized that I could never beat my angel in a cranky contest and that one of us had better resort to common sense or it was conceivable that we would both still be standing—or sitting as the case may be—there glaring for all of eternity. In fact, if eternity was the finish line, Myra would win anyway because she’d still be there when we hit eternity while I, being slightly less than immortal, would not be.
    Sighing, I pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed, heading for the cleansing tube. “Talk to me while I cleanse, angel. I need to wash the remains of that dream away, before I lose my frunkin’ mind.”
    I didn’t turn around to see if she followed me into the personal hygiene room but I could feel her presence in the room as I climbed into the cleansing tube. “Water on, one hundred degrees, full soap.” As hot soapy water left the spigot on the wall I sighed and turned to face Myra. “Well, what’s up?”
    Myra’s perfect pink and white face didn’t change an ion as she lowered her angelic behind onto the chair beside the door and continued to stare at me. “You could at least have made me some coffee.”
    I stopped in mid-scrub and stared at her, my mouth dropping open in disbelief. She simply stared back. Once again I sighed and decided on the better part of valor. “I’ll make you some as soon as I get out of here.”
    She shrugged, finally looking away, “I can’t stay.” Her clear blue gaze scanned the room as if looking for flaws in its décor she could point out to me.
    I waited, knowing that nothing would spur my angel into speaking until she was damned good and ready.
    Finally she said, “The demons have made good on their threat to take hostages, Astra.”
    I turned off the water and stepped into the drying tube. “What have they done?”
    Myra’s waist-length blonde locks swung softly around her shoulders as she turned to face me. “They’ve kidnapped the humans who visited Demonica last night.”
    I pushed at my long, auburn hair in an effort to get the thick layers dry. “How many?”
    Myra shrugged. “We’re not entirely certain but we believe it’s in the range of twenty to thirty humans.”
    I stepped out of the tube and whistled. “Hades. That will certainly get somebody’s attention.”
    Myra’s scowl returned. “Precisely.”
    I grabbed my warm, bulky robe off the heated rack by the cleansing tube and pulled it on. Shivering in delight as its warmth started soaking into my chilled flesh. “What exactly do you want me to do about it?”
    The scowl deepened. “Fix it of course.”
    I sighed, “Of course. And how do you propose I do that?”
    Myra’s form started to shimmer and fade. “How the hell do I know, Astra. Just fumble and bumble around like you usually do until you get lucky and it gets fixed.”
    I watched the damnable creature fade completely away and then took out my favorite string of curses and started filling the air where she’d been with them.
    I was up to my third level of foul deprecations and was really gearing up to enjoy myself when I walked through my sleep room door and my heart stopped.
    Dialle lay sprawled across my bed, totally naked and in the exact state he’d been when he’d popped out of the dream, his gorgeous black hair spread across my pillow. He smiled at me when my eyes finally made it to his face and said, “Now, lovely Astra, where were we?”
    I pulled my mouth shut and fell against the wall behind me, my spindly little knees totally giving out with the shock. Holy shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
     

Chapter Five
    Hostage Situation Demon Style
     
    Into the demon’s lair she goes, a devil on her arm,
    To plead release for