Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

I could feel it—the power Asmodeus held over my need. My body couldn’t ignore who or what he was. Asmodeus was a crowned Prince of Hell and one of the strongest commanders of Hell’s Army. He was also the one that Erie had claimed to have kept in her freezer.

My stomach clenched with his husky laughter that tickled along my neck. His teeth pulled at my earlobe, and a sharp pain stole a yelp of surprise as he bit into my delicate flesh.

“Do you think Lucian would still want this body without what lives within you? I can sense his seal, woman. It isn’t you that Lucian and Lucifer want, is it? It’s what you house inside of you that call to them.” Startling blue eyes met mine as he pulled back, settling between my thighs. “You house Lucian’s seal, and therefore he wants you close to him so that he knows where it is at all times. The furies I created to guard the seals worked out in his benefit, but you can’t fucking feel me. That son of a bitch had you custom made for his dick, didn’t he?” he asked coldly. He grabbed my hair, forcing me to look down at where his fingers pinched my sex, but I hadn’t felt it at all. “You’re not immune to me, not entirely. I could fuck you, and you wouldn’t feel me. Who brought you back?”

“Hades brought her back, asshole. Now, let her poor pussy go. Lena is a lady; treat her as such, brother.” Lucifer watched me from the doorway, his bright, vibrant gaze sliding over my body while Asmodeus stood, turning to look over his shoulder. The Devil leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his naked chest. “Finally found a woman you can’t charm, Lust?”

“I could shut that part down and allow the furies to lead her corpse about, asshole. I’d be careful, Lucifer. You may be a Prince of Hell, but you’re not the only one who can rule it. I suggest you have a chat with this shell and ask her about what she houses inside of her.” Asmodeus growled, pulling me closer to whisper in a strange language against my ear. I closed my eyes as something within me slowly unraveled. “Soon, she won’t be able to control her thoughts. She’ll be my pretty little mindless thing that does anything I asked of her. Isn’t that right, my little monsters?” Asmodeus smirked down at me as chiming started in my head. I whimpered at the sensation of the furies flurrying in me.

Fear snuck up through my mind, even as I felt them clawing inside me. It was as if they were trying to crawl their way out of my body. Pain ripped throughout me, piercing my brain as cackling sounded in my head.

I groaned, blinking past the blinding light that flooded my vision. When my sight came back, it was brighter, as if the furies enhanced it. They’d improved all of my senses.

My gaze slid over Luc, noting how beautiful and enthralling his presence really was. Everything within me lit up like a wildfire burning through a wheat field in late summer.

Shoving down the emotions and how my body responded to him, I pleaded with my eyes for Lucifer to stop this now.

“I know what she holds within her, Asmodeus. It’s no secret she contains his seal. That wasn’t what drew me to her, though. You’re wrong about her pussy. It tastes like heaven and is sweeter than any forbidden fruit in father’s garden,” Lucifer returned, winking at me as he pushed from the wall and walked toward me.

“You think she houses one seal? Each fury holds a seal, Luc. They were each created to house one separately. No one has ever been able to hold all three furies and seals within them. Not until this little witch came alone, anyway.” Asmodeus smirked down at me as he rose to his full height. His hand cradled my chin, forcing it up while he continued holding my hair in a painful grip.

“I am aware that she was the key to opening the Hell Gates. What other seal would she hold that would be worth hearing about?”

“Magdalena knows. I can see it in her worried expression.” Asmodeus chuckled, releasing my chin while continuing his hold on my hair. “Lucian didn’t tell you what happens when that seal is freed, did he? How the furies would seek out a new shell to contain them? I bet he just planned to keep you hidden in his world so that you never could touch that fucking box.”

“Lena?” Lucifer asked coldly, his tone stern and warning danced in his glare. “You hold the key to Pandora’s Box?”

“I do,” I replied softly.

Lucifer snorted, his arms uncrossing as he watched me through disapproving eyes. “You hid that from me?”

“You act as if we’re friends, Luc. You bashed my fucking head in until brain fluid leaked from it. I slit my throat to protect my son from being used to punish his father. You took everything from me, and now you expect me to trade secrets with you? I didn’t even know what I held until recently. I wouldn’t have told you anyway, because she isn’t inside Lucian anymore. When you and Katarina forced me to end my life as Lucian watched, he unleashed his grief onto this world, and with it, Pandora.” I stood, wrenching my hair away from Asmodeus’s hold. I lifted my hand, curling around Luc’s strong jawline.

“I know, because Pandora was at my grave as I crawled out of it. I placed her there, secured with the chains they’d used for me to keep his seal secure in that wooden box. Pandora came back months ago, but she didn’t come for you, Luc. If she loved you as much as you deserved to be loved, you should have been the first stop on her new world tour. You weren’t. She didn’t love you. She loved the idea of what you could give her, just like the other women in your life. You deserve to be the one someone runs to, not forgotten and discarded. Not an afterthought. Everything you’ve done has been to gain the purest form of love. That’s why you wanted me, even though you know I will never love you as I do Lucian. Love is something that has to be freely given. You can’t force it.”