"How?" Mal asked, voice tight.
Ezra sat on one of my bar stools and laced his fingerstogether.
I leaned into Mal, and he put his arm around me. I waspractically vibrating with the distance between Ezra and me but Mal'scomforting presence helped to some degree.
"I believe what happened was that when Pricebanished all of the demons the enemy grabbed Sabian and now has him imprisoned.I can't directly go and get him back because he's in enemy territory, so I needPrice to come with me. She'll be able to get in where I can't, and she will beable to use many of her abilities while she's there."
"You want to take her to hell?" Mal's armtightened around me.
"Yes."
Oh boy, I should have seen that coming, but I hadn't.
"There's no other way?"
"I've been trying to find one since I discoveredhe was captured. This is the simplest and safest way that I've been able tocome up with. Her innate abilities will be useful."
"Well, I never thought I'd hear the words simpleand safe in the same thought with taking a human to hell," Mal said.
I still couldn't get words to form on my lips. Would Igo to hell to get Sabian back? Absolutely. Did the idea terrify me? Well, ithad me terrified speechless. My normal sarcasm had completely failed me.
"It is far safer for me to take her than youmight expect." Ezra sounded a bit defensive at that and I got theimpression that while he was trying to play nice with Mal, his patience waswearing thin.
Mal didn't reply right away.
"So, uh, you said you had something you needed myhelp with?" I didn't mention that it was in exchange for Ezra's helpgetting Sabian. Mal was ticked off enough as it was.
"Yes. This is relatively simple. You may recall Ithought this little incursion was related to something larger. A group of,shall we say, concerned individuals, are getting together in a few days in NewYork to share information. We want to see if we can spot any patterns anddiscover who or what might be involved. I want Price to come along. If nothingelse, the information will be useful for her in the future."
"Then you take her to hell and get Sabian back?"
"Yes."
Mal and Ezra glared at each other and I wasn't surehow to break up the tension. Fortunately, the front door opened just then. Mal'sgaze flicked over in that direction but he didn't otherwise react, so I assumedit was Aaron.
Mayhem also perked his ears forward and wagged hisfluffy little tail, so I relaxed.
Moments later Aaron came into the living room and hisattention went straight to Ezra, who had twisted around on the bar stool to observethe other man.
Aaron, looking alarmed, glanced over at me and Malwhere we still stood next to the oven.
"Aaron, I don't think you've met Prince Ezra,"I said, forcing myself to throw the honorific in front of the demon's name.
"Hi," Aaron said tightly, clearly not surewhat to do with himself when confronted by a demonic prince.
"Ezra is going to help us get Sabian back,"Mal explained, voice softer than it had been. Maybe he was trying to help Aaronrelax a little.
"Oh, good." Aaron's shoulders did ease abit.
Of course, no one had anything to say after that, sothe silence stretched uncomfortably.
Ezra finally broke the silence. "If you're comingwith me, I'll pick you up in the morning."
"How long is Chris going to be gone?" Malasked.
"I don't know. Possibly a week. Hopefully, it won'ttake longer than that to retrieve Sabian," Ezra answered.
"How are we getting to New York?" A week. Ihadn't been gone for more than a day or two here and there since I'd taken overthe pizza parlor. I'd need to let Billy know I was going to be seriously out oftouch. I doubted I'd have cell reception in hell. Was I really going to hell? Imean, I suppose I'd expected to get sent there one day, but not while I wasalive.
"Airplane," Ezra replied as if that was soobvious it was almost painful for him to answer.
"Right. Well. Uh. Great. What time?"
"Ten."
"See you then, mate."
Ezra stood and I went to see him out. Mal followed andAaron and Mayhem trailed along behind.
Ezra held my gaze for a long moment before he turnedand left the house. We all watched him get in his car and drive away before Imanaged to take a few breaths.
"Hey, Mal, where's your car?"
"In the shop. Check engine light came on, soAaron gave me a ride back over here."
"Oh."
"I'm guessing there's more to this than just Ezrahelping us get Sabian back? Mal, you're wound tighter than a clock." Aaronput his hand on my shoulder.
The insane pull toward the demon eased and I sighed inrelief and wrapped myself around Aaron. He returned my hug.
"You okay, Chris?"
"Yeah. Well, no." I kept a hold of Aaron'shand as I pulled them back toward the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, but I imaginedAaron was.
"So what's up?"
I let go of Aaron's hand so I could pull the pizza outof the oven. Some of the insane pull toward Ezra returned, but it was lessened.Something about Aaron's angelic nature dampened the demon's effect on me. Neat.I also couldn't go through life attached to Aaron's hip. I was going to have tofigure something out.
"Okay, so somehow Ezra is in favor with someonemore powerful than him right now. Probably something to do with helping us stopthat other demon prince from whatever they were up to. He got a pass out ofhell that didn't require a summons. Probably to attend that meeting, if nothingelse. He's going to then take me back to hell and help me get Sabian back."
"That's insane," Aaron blurted after amoment to digest my words.
"Yeah, it's batshit, but I gotta get Sabian back."I put the pizza on the table. Aaron got
