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

“You should get up and shower. The club is preparing for another party. After the results and feedback of your first one, you are now in charge of the lower club, just as you requested. I am impressed by what you did, Lena. It was an erotic show that received rave reviews from the clientele. I’m also considering your color-coded outfits for the other levels of the clubs.” He moved from the bed, grabbing his jacket before turning to smile at me. “Come on, get moving. Haven’t you heard? Hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Tonight should be interesting, especially if Lucifer comes to challenge me for you. After last night, I expect his challenge to come promptly.”

I sat up, holding the blankets against my chest while Lucian walked toward the door. He paused, turning to look back at me with a grin playing on his lips before disappearing through them. Every part of my body ached, and some parts that I hadn’t even known could hurt—did.

Where did I fit in now? I’d been so sure that Lucian had wanted me here. I thought he loved me, yet he still hadn’t said the words or even hinted at how he really felt. It may be a moot point to him, but I needed at least some confirmation other than he’d destroy worlds to keep me. Sure, that was sweet, but it also made me feel like he was only claiming ownership and not anything beyond that. Love might be a human emotion, but he’d made the furies turn that shit back on, not me.

I laid back down, staring at the door he’d vanished through before a weightless feeling took hold of me. My eyes closed, and the scent of brimstone burned my nose. Opening my eyes, I gazed around the room, finding Lucifer leaning against the wall. He was dressed in jeans and a tight shirt that looked enticing against the mass of muscles I knew lay beneath the material.

“I should fucking kill you,” he snapped, watching me through narrowed eyes as his mouth pulled into a tight line. “I guess I should be impressed that you survived them, right? I offer you love, a womb, and children, Lena. And you settle for being their whore? I thought you were different. What do they have that I don’t?”

“Heart, Lucifer. They have a heart, whereas you have a black hole.”

“Did he have a heart when he bartered for you to never live through losing your son again? Do you know what he gave in return?”

“No, Luc, I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?” I snapped, irritated at everything and everyone today with the emotional overload unfolding within me.

Lucifer pushed off the wall, strolling closer as his wings expanded behind him. His violet eyes glowed a mix of blue and violet while he smiled coldly. Studying me, he placed his hands on the altar, where he kept putting me during our visits. “Your entire bloodline, Lena,” he laughed chillingly, surveying my face. “He bartered their souls for you. Even if Makenna hadn’t killed Kendra, your sister would have died. Your bloodline was the cost he paid without your permission.”

“You’re lying, asshole. If Lucian had done that, then Makenna would have also died, and she is very much alive.”

“Makenna lives because part of her soul belongs to me. Therefore, Lucian couldn’t claim her in his bargain. I am what saved Makenna from the reaping.”

“Lucian wouldn’t do that to me, ever,” I chided, swallowing past the swelling in my throat as I laughed soundlessly. “He knows what my family meant to me.”

“Then ask him, Magdalena. Ask Lucian what the cost was to free you. You don’t experience your death echo anymore, do you? You haven’t since the day you lost your beloved family. They’re not able to be summoned from their graves, are they? You’ve asked witches to try, and they fail every single time. You know that something happened to their souls even if you won’t admit it, fearing you’ll never see them again. You just didn’t think Lucian would be the one to do something so horrifying to you and to those you loved. I may be the bad guy, but I didn’t kill your fucking family, Lena. Why don’t you ask the monster you love what he paid to free you and him from ever having to watch you slit that pretty throat of yours again? I get it; I’m the Devil. You won’t believe me, so go ask your precious Lucian.”

I sat up on the bed, blinking, the heavy scent of brimstone and sulfur clinging to my flesh. Frowning, I peered around the room before grabbing clothes to head into the shower. Lucian wouldn’t have done what Lucifer claimed. Right?

Sure, Lucian had said he would destroy the world for me, but kill my family to free me from the death echo? He wouldn’t dare. They were my family, and he knew how much they’d meant to me when I’d been alive.

Showered, changed, and with my emotions all over the place, I left the apartment to search for Lucian. If he had done those things, what would I do? What could possibly have given him the idea that our relationship would ever be okay if he had?

Lucifer hadn’t held his usual cockiness this time. He hadn’t cared if I believed him or not, which told me I had to ask Lucian. The implications caused my heart to pound painfully against my chest as worry consumed me. Why wasn’t Lucifer concerned about me asking Lucian unless he didn’t fear me doing so, because he’d spoken the truth?





Chapter Sixteen




You never know true pain until it rips into your chest and tears out your soul. ~Lena



I walked silently through the empty hallways. My heartbeat thundered deafeningly in my ears, growing louder with everything step I took closer to the upper floor and bar area. Fear of how far Lucian had gone to protect me made it worse, knowing that he didn’t even think as humans did. Lucian had no limits. His ethical compass pointed south of the border, and it never moved.