Free The Devil You Need by Sam Cheever Page A

sending me
skidding across the floor. I rammed up against something that felt like rock
and looked up to see Gerch peering down at me. Burning spittle dripped onto my
cheek. Standing on my chest snarling, the hound’s sulfurous breath painted my
face. My hands pressed against its chest, holding the snapping teeth away from
my throat.
    Just barely.
    Gerch stared at me for a moment, his craggy face dark with
anger.
    “A little help here?” I gasped as those impossibly white
teeth made headway toward my cringing flesh.
    He reached down and grabbed the hellhound by the scruff of
the neck, flinging it away. The thing landed with a yelp and the two hounds
skulked away, tails tucked.
    “How strange to see you here, my queen, since I told you to
leave.”
    I climbed to my feet and brushed rock dust off my ass. “And
I told you I wasn’t leaving without Dialle.”
    Gerch frowned, his small, black eyes nearly disappearing
beneath a wide, red brow. “Well, since you’re here we might as well escort the
king from this place together.”
    I nodded and we turned. Horror knifed through me and I had
to reach out and grab Gerch’s arm as dizziness made the world spin.
    “Where is he, Astra?” Gerch spoke the question in a soft
voice, his eyes sliding to mine.
    “I…” The throne was empty. As was the throne room. Oh Good
Him. Dialle had left without us.
    * * * * *
    With the last of my quickly faltering power, I shifted Gerch
to the office. We spent the next hour contacting everyone we could trust,
asking them to come to my office for a confab on what to do next.
    The office was empty when we got there. Apparently Bob and
Ralph were out on a job.
    Gerch and I settled into my office to wait for my friends
and family to arrive. While waiting, I tried to fill Gerch in on what had
happened before he arrived in the throne room. “I’m afraid Dialle’s going to
hurt himself. You should have heard him.”
    “What makes you think I haven’t?” He fixed me with an
accusing look that made me bristle. But knowing the loyal Captain of Dialle’s
guards had done his best in a terrible situation, and he’d remained loyal when
everyone else had turned against us, I bit back my angry retort and said
nothing.
    Again with the maturity. Impressive, yes?
    The air in front of my desk shimmered and Brina appeared,
looking slightly the worse for wear. The skin under one of her eyes was puffy
and bleeding, she had a long, healing wound down one slim arm, and blood caked
her usually silky black hair. The feisty royal still held a bloody sword in one
hand. “I tried to trace the king’s magic signature but lost it at the
dimensional split. He’s definitely left this dimension.”
    “The Shadows?” Gerch ventured.
    The royal shook her head. “I can’t know for sure but I don’t
think so.”
    Slayer shimmered into the room and picked up the
conversational thread. “Could he have gone to Olympus?”
    We all looked at each other but Brina finally said, “It’s
possible.”
    My sister shimmered in next. She and Slayer shared a look
that made me distinctly uncomfortable.
    I inclined my head in her direction by way of a greeting and
told my gathered friends what I knew. “He’s very depressed. I’d even say suicidal.
He told me that he no longer belonged here.”
    Slayer frowned. “If he doesn’t feel he belongs here he probably wouldn’t go to Olympus either.”
    “Or any of the light dimensions,” Brina agreed.
    “He could have gone to Hell.”
    We all looked at Gerch. He met my gaze and I realized he’d
been nursing that thought for a while but hadn’t wanted to voice it. “He’d feel
more comfortable there,” I whispered.
    Myra and my father shimmered into the room. When I looked at
them I had to blink tears away. “What are the chances Dialle’s soul will
survive a prolonged visit to Hades right now?”
    The air beside my father flickered and Emo shifted into the
room. My father turned an angry look toward my friend and