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

“You knew better. Lucifer is waiting for you to leave the club. You want him to capture you? He won’t be gentle, Lena. He will punish you, and it won’t be anything you’ll enjoy. I hurt him, and I did so intentionally when he refused to stay away from Katarina. He wanted to know why I searched for her, needing a way to free himself from Hell. I protected her in that lifetime, and I did so by taking the one woman Lucifer loved to ensure he knew not to mess with mine. If you think you’re anything more than a way for him to get back at me, you’re wrong.”

“So give her back, Lucian. Trade his lover for Makenna.” I leaned against the door to glare at him, studying the stubble that lined his jaw, creating a hot 5 o’clock shadow. I stifled the moan at imagining his mouth between my legs.

“I can’t do that,” he hissed, peering back at me before lowering his eyes to where my thighs clenched from the image in my head. “She didn’t love him. She was a selfish, pathetic goddess who convinced Lucifer that she cared for him. She craved chaos and played with his emotions because the thought of love made him easy to manipulate. The thing is, the woman he loves cannot be allowed to be in this world. She’s inside of me, Lena.”

“Eris? The goddess of Strife and Chaos is within you?” I snorted, and he turned to look at me like I was daft.

“Worse. His lover was Pandora,” Lucian admitted, peering at the rearview mirror before dodging a large hole in the road where the asphalt was missing. “I removed the box she held, but to do so, I had to find another host for it. Without her box, Pandora is easily controlled. Like my seal, it craves destruction. Lucifer promised her that he would open it, and the first time that happened, it was a mess. I was charged with finding it and closing it before it could cause any more problems. But before I could secure it, the box unleashed slivers of darkness inhabited by monsters strong enough to threaten this plane with an ending worse than anyone would ever have expected. Pandora’s Box released the black plague in England, long before this continent had been discovered. So first, I had to capture her and then the box. Then it took more than a year to capture each monster she’d released, shoving them each back into the box.”

“What type of monsters?” I asked, expecting some new kind of creature to have been created.

“Jack the Ripper, among other humans, that the box transformed into instruments for murderous events. Most were quickly captured, so their names were never mentioned, but Jack held three slivers of darkness previously housed by the box. We handled him silently, which is why the authorities never caught him or learned his true identity. We sent him back to Hell, where he still gets off on torturing women, although now he is into sexual conquests. His shards of darkness were the only ones ripped from the form they’d inhabited.”

“Please don’t tell me Lucifer is Jack the Ripper,” I groaned, resting my head against the seat to stare at Lucian.

He smiled tightly. “Pandora created the Princes of Hell when we trapped her there. I was uncertain about bringing her box into another world, what it would create, or if it would have an adverse reaction within me, which is why I only hold her now. The box produced the seven princes, adding a sliver of its magic into each one—pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. They formed the podium of Hell, and from them were born the different types and castes of demons. Each prince leads a legion of Hell’s army, and let’s not forget Abaddon, the abyss, who is said to have created the three original furies.”

“The abyss produced the things inside of me?” I asked, hoping he was about to say he was joking.

“According to history, yes, but we changed history to state that Abaddon was their creator. The furies weren’t drawn to discord, though, which isn’t well known. Asmodeus created the furies to protect Abaddon. Of course, creators impart their genetic markers into their creations. Hence, your insatiable need to fuck, and your newfound freedom to shed your inhibitions. Since Nyx brought you back as fury, you are not part of Asmodeus’s creation, the High Prince of Hell, Lust himself. Luckily for us, Erie turned Asmodeus into her slave, continually cutting his head off to keep him in check. He hasn’t sensed Nyx bringing the furies into the new world yet. His order, the Revengers of Wickedness, will soon sense your presence, especially if you walk back into Hell, Lena. That can’t happen, so I need you to promise me that you won’t sneak out again.”

“I wish there was a guidebook that went with this shit, Lucian. You’re something that shouldn’t exist, for fuck’s sake. And Spyder, he’s—well, you know what he is. I still can’t even say it out loud, which I know has something to do with you.” I glared at him, watching his lips curl into a wicked smile. “I feel like I’m tripping over dead bodies and that I don’t fully understand all the rules. So handing Pandora over to Lucifer is not on the table. We don’t need some bitch wanting her box of destruction back.”

Lucian snorted, turning to look down a side street as his phone rang. He glanced in my direction and then spoke in a strange language that had me guessing its origin. Then, exhaling, he switched to English, including me in the conversation.

“We’re on our way.” He hung up the phone, setting it down to grab the gear shift. “Alden has the information you requested. We’ll be stopping by the guild before we go home. Do you have anything else you want to tell me? Something you forgot to mention in your hunt for Spyder?”