Maddie’s grin stretched from ear-to-ear, too wide to be formed by a normal human face. The mirthful, mischievous light I’d seen so many times in the waitress’ gaze was nowhere to be found—her eyes were like cold, dead pits in their sockets. Her smile froze on her face, like the rictus of a freshly slain corpse.
“Maddie? What the fuck—”
“Hello Luke,” the Not-Maddie growled. It’s voice was distorted, the way mine got whenever I fully activated my demonic form. “How I have been dying to finally meet you…”
As the figure spoke, it tore at its face. It peeled Maddie’s skin back like a grape, discarding her scalp and hair like a cheaply made Halloween costume. No—this wasn’t Maddie at all. Whatever this was, it hadn’t eaten her; it had fashioned a clever disguise. It wanted to get me in nice and close, separated from my friends—
I realized the trap a moment too late. The door I’d just ripped off its hinges shimmered, replaced to its former glory—then slamming shut in my face. Christina and Mareth rounded the corner, but now a locked door stood between them and me. I’d just been cut off from the rest of my group.
This was a trap. Which meant that the person wearing a Maddie suit had to be…
“Karl,” I growled, reaching for my demonic powers. “You son of a bitch…!”
He’d discarded the last of his Maddie suit by the time I turned back around. Standing before me was a handsome, blonde-headed demon with a shit-eating grin and a set of robes as luxurious as my own. A pair of delicate horns extended from either side of his head, one of the only things that would have clued in a casual observer to his demon nature. Like the girl I’d met back at the dorms, Karl looked more like a human than most students at the Academy. If our school had been turned into a movie, he’d be the good-looking quarterback who’s always juggling a cheerleader or two.
“So you’re the new Archlord candidate,” Karl said, kicking his way free of the remainder of his Maddie suit. “I have to say, I might have overestimated you. I can’t believe you plunged headlong into a trap to save a piece of mortal pussy—”
Tendrils slammed into the wall to the immediate left and right of his head. Bits of dust and plaster covered Karl’s robes as more of my demonic tendrils unfurled, ready to rip him limb from limb. To my surprise, he didn’t flinch—nor did he look the least bit troubled to be locked in a cell with me.
“Now, now,” Karl said, giving the tendril nearest his face a dismissive little wave. “There’s no need for violence. It wouldn’t do you any good, anyway. This is my subspace, Luke. Everything you see here—every droplet of water, every brick of the dungeon—is my creation. I am the Master here. You think you can kill me? Tear me limb from limb and I’ll just regenerate.”
I grit my teeth. “Maybe,” I growled. “But it’ll sure feel good to bash your fucking face in!”
Karl rolled his eyes. “In here, you have to win every fight, Luke. I only have to get lucky once. If you die, or your little human girlfriend?” He wiggled a finger back and forth, chiding me. “No regeneration for her—or you. So if you want to see your human again, I suggest you smarten up quick.”
Dark, leathery wings ripped themselves free from between my shoulder blades. There almost wasn’t enough space in the cell for them.
“What would you suggest?” I growled, going full-on demon mode.
“We can end this right now,” Karl said, spreading his arms in a gesture of contrition that was almost certainly fake. “All you have to do is do something for me, Luke. One favor, then I’ll hand your human back and we can go our separate ways.”
It reminded me so strongly of the deal I’d made with Lilith that for a moment, I was taken aback. But I was pretty sure this bargain wouldn’t have anywhere near as happy an ending were I to accept.
I forced my voice back into a more human tone. “What could you possibly want from me?”
Karl chuckled. “Hell is no place for a human, Luke. If anything, your experience trying to keep this pretty little human safe should have taught you that. What I want is for you to leave. Give up, withdraw from the Infernal Academy. Quit while you’re ahead: take your little blonde Mog and go back to Earth. Have a nice white picket fence, two and a half kids, and give up thinking you can conquer Hell as the new Archlord. Because trust me, human—you do not have what it takes.”
“Bullshit,” I growled, shaking my head. “I’ll never do that, Karl. I am the next Archlord.”
He laughed without humor. “The fact that you charged into this cell for a human proves you’re not Lucifer’s true chosen,” he said, smugly stepping from between two of my tendrils. “The Prince of Darkness would never stick his neck out like that.” He came up closer, savoring his little logical victory. “Face it, Luke—you’re too soft for this business. Too weak. You have too much heart for it.”
I let him approach. My face fell; anyone watching me would think Karl had won. That I was about to give in, to agree with his assessment.
“You mean that? Lucifer wouldn’t risk himself to save a human?” My voice trembled as I said it, as if I were at the end of my rope.
Karl nodded sympathetically. “That’s right. The Prince of Darkness would never—”
He’d stepped too close. The tendrils hanging around my shoulders shot out, all of them at once, wrapping around him from his
