A Beautiful Evil (A Beautiful Book. 1) #Wattys2015

Chapter Twenty-Four - Big Girl Panties

"Sarah. Like, the one you fell in love with and your brother supposedly kicked your ass for?" asked Charles, his eyebrows going skyward. When Asmodeus shook his head yes, his face full of longing, he asked, "Why?"

"Because Lucifer knew it would be the biggest tourture of all for me. To know she's here in purgatory with me but she wants nothing to do with me. She thinks I left her," he sighed, and it sounded as if his heart was breaking all over again. "I mean, yes, I did, in reality. But she thinks I left her because I didn't want her. And when Lucifer first put me in here... He said my love for Sarah was a conspiracy against him, because she was Raphael's daughter and I was somehow using her as a carry pigeon."

"Were you?" Avery crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh course not!" snarled Asmodeus, his voice sounding more like a big cat that human. "I loved her. I would've given my immortal life up for her; to live with her, to love her."

"But why can't you get the key and take us to the box?"

"Because at the moment she hates my guts. Lucifer told me when the time was right, I'd be able to convince her that I need that key for good intentions. But I was serious about running out of time. The longer we sit here and jack our jaws, the more time your father has to get to the box."

My mind spun. My father lied to me. Yes, I know. I should have seen this coming. He was the Devil, after all. But I guess I thought being his daughter meant I wasn't in the little pool of people he lied to. His betrayal stung worse than Avery's when he left me to face the wrath of my mother.

Who was now dead. A strange pain stung my heart. My mother just died and I didn't feel the weight of her loss like I should have. At least, I don't think I was. Was this how a normal daughters dealt with grief over a parent?

You're not normal though, hissed a voice. You're different. An abomination.

I flinched internally.

Shaking my head slightly, I scattered the voice from my brain and straightened my shoulders. If I could stand the pain of watching my father change into someone I didn't recognize, and take the heartache of watching my first love lay in bed with another woman, I sure as hell could take a little nagging voice that was more annoying than anything. I wasn't going to let that, of all things, break me.

I caught Asmodeus's gaze and held it levely. He smirked slightly. "So what do we have to do?

Asmodeus's smirk turned down at the corners, and his eyes drifted over the Horsemen and I. "Oh dear. I really wish you would have worn more appropriate clothing."

Charles's eyebrows knitted together to form a confused expression. "More appropriate clothing? Is what we're wearing not good enough for you?"

Asmo grinned wickedly. "Oh, on the contrary. I do not care what your clothes look like. But, out of respect for the dead, I will look in the back for a nice dress and a few suits, yes?"

"Suits and a dress for what?" Avery called just as Asmodeus walked away, his back turned towards us. He strode to the other side of the room where a door swung on it's hinges. He disappeared when the door swung shut behind him.

"Mara."

I looked over my shoulder and there stood Avery. "Yes?"

"I was thinking... Maybe after all of this-"

Asmodeus entered the room again, this time his arms full with a mountain of different dresses and tuxedos. My eyes automatically dropped to a russet velvet gown with a gold and green stomacher. It looked almost exactly like the gown I'd worn to Jeblingon's masquerade ball.