Hell's Kitty (Welcome To Hell) (9 page)

F
or some reason, Jenny found that immensely funny. She commenced laughing, almost hysterically, until he muffled her with a kiss—a kiss that stole breath instead of giving it.

Soggy. Wrinkled. Exhausted, with possibly a fish or two caught in his pants.

Despite the unromantic situation, Felipe had no problem finding the good in the moment. For one, he was alive. Two, he’d not used up any of his lives. And three, he kissed the most amazing woman he’d ever met.

Without her, he would have drowned. He wasn’t too macho to admit it. When he hit the water, despite the lifejacket—and his extra lives—he freaked. As a result of his panic, he used up his oxygen too fast, a problem compounded when he couldn’t find the surface. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough, flotation device or not, he felt himself sinking. With lungs straining, his kitty practically catatonic, and about to breathe in water, Jenny took him in hand. She saved him.

She not only breathed life into him, she calmed him and kept hold of him even during the roughest of tumbles through vicious waves and currents.
With single-mindedness and courage, she forced him to focus on her, showed him he could trust her with his life.

To one such as him, used to roaming alone and giving his loyalty to no one but the witch who raised him
, this was huge. It went beyond huge; it was life altering. Mind-boggling. Freaky.

Washing ashore was euphoric.
Solid ground never felt more wonderful. And hearing her laugh? The most sensual sound he’d ever heard.

He didn’t kiss her to shut her up or because she mocked his heartfelt words.
No way am I sailing again!
He kissed her because he wanted to keep the connection between them. He needed to make sure the bond they’d forged while flotsam in the wild storm remained intact. And he selfishly wanted to get her naked to fuck.

Nothing like facing mortality—or at least one of his lives at any rate—to bring out the horncat in him.

He rolled atop her, their lips joined and his tongue questing. She met him, kiss for kiss, her breathing erratic, her need just as frantic. While he’d lost his boots during their swim, the life vest remained, making their attempt to grope frustrating.

With a growl he leapt to his feet and
, with clumsy, pruned fingers, attempted to unbuckle the blasted thing.

She
, of course, giggled, and he glared at her, not too angrily. She truly was picture perfect lying sprawled on her back on the sandy shore, her wet hair spread around her in a halo, her lips curved in mirth.

“This isn’t funny.”

“Lighten up, kitty. We’re alive. If we can survive a cyclone, I’m pretty sure you can handle a simple fluorescent vest.”

Yes he could. He popped a claw and sliced through the damned straps until he could peel the hated thing from his body. Then
, as she still laughed, he took care of hers. Tossing it to the side, he dragged her onto his lap.

“Where were we?” he murmured, a hairsbreadth from her lips.

“I don’t know where you were,” interrupted an amused voice, “but I can tell you where you are, and it’s not a motel. Although, if you don’t mind an audience, and possibly seeing your sex tape on Helltube later on, then, by all means, carry on.”

Felipe blamed the water in his ears—and seasick cat—for not noting the stranger who’d snuck up on them. With a curse—that was mild compared to what Jenny was capable of—he sprang to his feet to face the newcomer.

Standing almost eye-to-eye with him was a warrior woman. Tanned, lean, muscled, with her hair tightly braided and wound atop her head, the female eyed him with a smirk as she leaned against her spear. “Let me know when you’re done ogling.”

Jenny shouldered her way in front of him and
, despite her shorter stature, seemed determined to cover his body with her own. “Stand back.”

The barbarian winced at the sound of Jenny’s voice but didn’t cower. “Did the sea render you hoarse?”

“No. I always speak like this. And this is nothing. If I don’t get answers, I’ll start to sing.”

Grimacing, the woman didn’t start bleeding from any orifices
, which Felipe took as a good sign given what he knew of Jenny’s power.

“And I thought I had a rough voice.
Hope you don’t talk a lot.”

“Who are you? And where are we?”
Jenny asked.

“Shouldn’t I be asking the questions?”

Felipe jumped in before Jenny sang and killed the warrior woman before they got answers. “Listen, we’re just looking for some answers, not trouble.” He paired his soothing words with a smile. It worked. The stranger softened, but Jenny stiffened and shot him an annoyed glance.

“I’m Valasca. Warrior and hunter for the Amazon tribe who lives upon the cliffs.”

Great. From one matriarchal situation to another. Was Felipe cursed to deal with women who thought men were only good for one thing?
And yet, ironically, before I began my voyage, wasn’t fucking my only concern?

Funny how seeing and encountering women who lived with that belief was causing him to re
-evaluate his own perceptions on life and his role for the future.
Perhaps it’s time I worried less about screwing and more about what true skills I have to offer.

Ugh. Please don’t say
I’m growing up finally.

“How did you find us?”

“I was scouting our beach for debris. You never know what, or who, you’ll find.”

“Have you seen another
person wash ashore?” Jenny asked. “A woman with blonde hair, kind of short and chubby. We were sailing with my aunt when the storm caught us.”

The Amazon shook her head. “Sorry.
You’re the only living thing to wash up on the shores that didn’t have fins.”

Seeing Jenny shiver, Felipe
resumed his role of protector. “Do you have some shelter we can borrow? Dry clothes, too, and food? I’ve got no coin to currently pay you with, but if you send a message to Lord Lucifer, he will pay any and all expenses we incur outfitting ourselves that we might continue our journey.”

“I’ve got all that. But might I ask, why journey when you can use a portal?”

“You have one?”

“Of course,” she scoffed. “We’re barbarians, not cavewomen.
We have one that leads to the third ring.”

“Why the third?”
he asked. Most chose the fourth or fifth ring, which was where most of the shops and trade goods were found.

“Best demonic horseflesh in the nine circles.” She stated this as if it were the most obvious thing in Hades.

“Can you take us to it?”

“After we get changed,” Jenny interrupted. “I am not going to meet Lucifer in rags and stinking of the river.”

Felipe opened his mouth to retort that, given the events, speed was of essence but took note of her cute, if bedraggled, state. He also noted the lines of exhaustion. When meeting the Lord of the Pit, it was best to have all your wits about you. It wouldn’t kill them—he hoped—to delay by one day, or at least a night to allow her time to rest and recoup her strength.

“How safe is your village?”

He accepted Valasca’s belly laugh as answer.

With his hand laced
around one of Jenny’s, he followed the warrior woman along a path that wound steeply, following the craggy cliff face.

Jenny was silent at his side
, and he could guess the reason. “I’m sure your aunt is fine.”

Troubled blue eyes met his. “Probably. It would take more than a capsized boat to
kill my aunt Molpe. What’s more worrisome is how it happened in the first place. Cyclones don’t happen on the Styx. Heck, according to my lessons, they’re rare even at sea. The kind of power needed to create that kind of storm…” Jenny gnawed her lip. “This wasn’t mermaids.”

“And you’ve no idea who else has that kind of power?”

She shook her head.

“From what I know
, Gaia has caused more than her fair share of super storms on the mortal plane.”

“You’re speaking of Mother Earth? I learned about her in history class. She even visited my aunts once when I was young. And yes, she’s capable, on the mortal plane where her magic is strong. But here in Hell, over the Styx
, which is kind of a no-woman’s land? It was my understanding that no one could control it like that.”

After that, they traveled again in silence, each lost in their thoughts
, Jenny fretting about who could possibly want her dead and where her aunt ended up. Or so he guessed. He, on the other hand, wondered how he would explain to his boss the delay and the fact that some unknown power was messing around in his domain.

Lucifer didn’t take well to challenges. Actually, that wasn’t quite accurate. His boss always faced threats to his reign head
-on—usually by tossing legions of minions at it. It usually didn’t bode well for the minions.

Which led him to
think about the sexy lady who was his mission. Yes, speed was of essence, yet he couldn’t deny Jenny’s simple request to replenish themselves, not when it would probably align with his plan to seduce her. He wondered if they could manage any privacy in the village. A bed wouldn’t hurt either. Then again, he’d had many a pleasant encounter in an alley against a wall. But for some reason, he wanted something a little more private and comfortable for his first time with Jenny.

The so
-called Amazon village proved a lot more sophisticated than he would have imagined. Fortress-like and ringed with a wall of stone, the tops of which were guarded by more women sporting bows, the heavy portcullis clanged loudly behind them.

Felipe arched a brow at the heavy defense.
“Expecting an attack?”

Shooting
him a glance over her shoulder, Valasca grinned. “Always. Only the unprepared get taken by surprise.”

Well, duh. He didn’t say it aloud though, not with the dozens of flinty stares aimed his way. Of more concern than the ones that promised bodily harm were those appraising him much as he would
horseflesh. Those women eyed him up and down, spending more time than he liked on his midsection. He didn’t protest when Jenny, with tight lips, laced her fingers in his, for comfort or jealous claim, he didn’t care. He’d hide behind her skirts if it kept him safe from these man-eaters.

And I thought the nymphs were dangerous.
At lease they left their men alive, if exhausted. These Amazons though … he’d heard rumors.

“Are there no men here?” Jenny asked. An innocuous question, yet several shrieks were uttered, moans of pain
, and a plump seagull hit the ground with a thud at her feet.

“What just happened?” Valasca demanded.

Chagrined, Jenny hunched in on herself as her power inadvertently manifested. Squeezing her fingers in invisible support, Felipe explained. “Jenny’s voice can have unfortunate side effects.”

“It didn’t on me.”

“Those who are tone-deaf seem to fare best against it, but others…” He gestured at the glares, nose bleeds, and women holding hands to their heads. “I guess this answers our question as to how widespread the problem is.”

“I think it best you keep quiet until you speak with our elder,” Valasca declared.

“What happened to food and shelter?”

“You’ll get it. After you meet with
Thora. It’s protocol that all visitors be presented to her before given accommodations within our walls.”

Less presented and more like examined.
Valasca led them into a large room, a dining hall he’d wager given the table and benches set in a U shape, which at its peak boasted a table on the dais. And seated at the table in a chair whose back arched higher than the others was an old woman. Old in presence, not features.

Felipe hadn’t quite yet figured out what the Amazons were.
Gossip held they were related to the Valkyries, blessed by the ancient Viking gods and given special status when they died. Not entirely human, their smell wasn’t quite right and, yet, not demon. What did that leave?

A mystery
that he’d delve into if he ever found the time. Right now wasn’t the moment.

“Elder, I found these two washed upon the shores. This is Felipe, one of Lucifer’s minions and Jenny, from Siren Isle, his companion.”

Sharp green eyes perused them from a face tanned by the outdoors. “A hellcat. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of your kind.”

Felipe couldn’t help the surprise in his tone. “You know what I am?”

The elder waved a hand. “Of course. Anyone with eyes in their head could. Your coloring, and bearing, not to mention your eyes, give it away. But your friend, on the other hand…” The woman leaned forward and subjected Jenny to a more intense stare. “She is different. New. What are you, child?”

Jenny peered at him, lips clamped, fearful of speaking he’d wager.

“Don’t look to him for approval. I’m speaking to you.”

“Jenny’s afraid to—”

“Silence, cat. I was speaking to the girl.” The elder waved her hand at him.

His
kitty wanted to bat at it. How dare she order him to shut up! He would have said something to that effect; however, to Felipe’s annoyance, he found his lips wouldn’t move. His eyes narrowed, and the elder smirked at him.