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You&039;d think that two people with reasonable intelligence and in a good state of health would be able to overpower one tiny little poufy-haired woman, but if that tiny wo

"Ouch!" I yelled, trying to punch Sally when she sla Ulfur in after et you for this!"

I lunged at her, unable to get up with Ulfur lying across s, but I did try to bite her She waved a hand and I hit the floor again

"Oh, please," she said,half on top ofa button and huan to descend

"I knew it! I knew a deood!" Alec!

Beloved, are you all right? Where are you?

In an elevator, lying on the floor Alec, the wrath demonsSally is evil! I knew she was evil! She took us all in!

Why are you - sins of the saints!

What&039;s wrong?

Other than the fact that Kristoff and I are trying to keep fro beheaded by trath de you?

Are you har me I will come to you as soon as we destroy these demons&039; forms

"Good, badthat&039;s so black-and-white when there are so ," Sally said corowled "Just you wait until Alec takes care of your deht, Ulfur?"

"Urgh," he groaned

"Exactly You&039;ll be one sorry chickie, and I just can&039;t wait to tell your boyfriend about you"

Sally continued huht occurred to me

"Merciful Mary! He&039;s in it with you, isn&039;t he? Oh! And to think I believed hin recom a little chat with this Sovereign dude, and telling himitall about you and Terrin!"

Sally was about to reply when the elevator opened to reveal a couple with a small child in hand "I&039;? My friends here are about to threaten me with untold torments, and I&039;m very curious to see what exactly those will be I hope they include thumbscrews I love thuive you such marvelous results, don&039;t you think?"

The couple fled toward the stairs, the small child in the oing to n," I told Sally&039;s ankle

"Tattletales never end up good," was all she said as we descended again

"What are you going to do with us?" I tried very hard not to let even so much as a hint of a quaver taint my voice

"A friend has badly wanted to see you, and I aht people like you just used others"

"Such ingratitude," Sally said, buffing a nail with absolute lack of concern about anything I said "And to think I&039;ve gone to so much trouble about you Ah, here we are"

We hadn&039;t descended to the basement, or some dank lower floor that only hotel employees used; no, the doors slid open to reveal another creas Men&039;s legs, two pairs in black pants, one in jeans I couldn&039;t move my head to look up and see who they were, but I kneithout a single shred of doubt that Sally was about to hand Ulfur and et you, too," I told the pair of feet nearest , the kind you see on billionaire businessmen as they step out of their limos "And if I don&039;t, I know a va they have the least alish voice asked as the expensive shoes stepped to the side "What did you do to them, Sally?"

I wondered if I should let Alec know that Sally had grabbed Ulfur andhim with that information now could have deadly consequences I&039;d wait until he gave me the all clear; then I&039;d tattle on Sally like she&039;d never been tattled on before

"Da to force ht It was no use - whatever Sally had done to us held me to the floor like I was nailed there

"Just a si a bit difficult Well, you kno mortals are - they can raise such a fuss over theus e trusted you?" I gasped, outraged at her callousness

"Bring both the woman and the lich It will be my pleasure to show them both what my wrath truly consists of"

I did not like the sound of that Maybe noould be a good tiain, if he was still battling with Bael&039;s wrath des worse

Much worse

"Be careful," Sally advised "The female bites"

No, I had better take care of this myself, at least until Alec was free to help Ulfur and lared at the pair of shoes nearestrowled asbut a narrow slice of floor visible when I rolled my eyes to the top of my head "I swear by all that&039;s holy, you&039;ll pay for this! You all will!"

"She&039;s also fairly antagonistic, although that probably is to be expected," I heard Sally say as she followed behind us

"Where are you taking us?" I demanded to know of theme around, but it was he who answeredin a bland voice that nonetheless leftyou leave to speak, woht to make me your Tool, and yet here I am!" I snapped in return

"Cora, Cora, Cora," Sally said in a disapproving tone "Dear one, I realize you are not versed in the etiquette of Abaddon, but surely even you must realize that one si the consequences"

I had a horrible feeling that the word "suffering" was going to take on a very real , one I was pretty darned desperate to avoid, so despiteof abuse I wished to hurl at everyone&039;s heads behind my teeth

"Silence the woman if she continues," Bael said in an offhand voice as a door was opened and I was tossed onto a bed, Ulfur dumped next to me We were still immobile, so I couldn&039;t even roll over or shove Ulfur&039;s torso off s, but I could see Sally as she faced Bael near the doorway of the hotel room

"Oh, I will, naturally, because you know, life is just too short to put up with people lipping off to you Well, not round ht at her "But you knohat I eneral In fact, I had better silence her now, because she&039;s sure to screaenerally carry on, and I wouldn&039;t want to disturb you"

"The day will never coesture that had his two co "But you may silence the woman if you desire She will not need to have a mouth in order to be unain at the casual way they both talked about what could only be torture "I aht here! And I like my mouth! Sally, for the love of all that&039;s holyerfor the love ofcrap! All I can think of are appeals to your goodness, and you&039;re so utterly not good, the comparison would be obscene I don&039;t knohy you&039;re doing this, but I should point out that Alec will not tolerate you abusing me in any way, shape, or for to Ulfur, either Whaterwhat did you mean ould be unnored me to consult his cell phone

"Do you know," Sally said slowly, looking particularly thoughtful as she sat onht have a point? That brings toI should tell you, ht, like the sound of a thousand souls in tor out at once

"Jesus wept, as that?" I gasped, the hairs onon end

"Oh, dear, that would be just exactly what I was going tosoftly to herself "That was one of Bael&039;s srath deh I would never presu to the fact that his Tools cannot be destroyed Otherwise" - she gave a delighted little giggle - "he would simply kill you and be done with it"

"You are the rew up in the San Fernando Valley - you haven&039;t seento join the popular girls&039; clique," I told Sally, even though I couldn&039;t see her where she sat crushing et you everywhere Noas I saying? Oh, yes, about the un You can&039;t be destroyed, you see? Otherwise Lord Bael would simply squash you into a Cora-shaped sine he doesn&039;t want you to be left sitting around annoying hireed, obviously in the ave a little deranged giggle at the idea of Satan addicted to his smart phone I wondered if he did Facebook "The entrance the lich used to gain access to my palace in Abaddon in order to steal my Tools has been sealed up, so no others will be able to use it" He glanced up, his gaze on Ulfur for a moment "The lich will, of course, be suitably punished for his part in wasting eance has been wrought, it is better that the Tools be unmade so that they will pose no further threat"

Fear on Ulfur&039;s behalf gripped asp in horror, but he said nothing, evidently feeling the less attention that was focused on hireed and, in an attempt to draw Bael&039;s attention to ht Terrin said there was no way to separate the Tools froar, there isn&039;t," Sally said, rising and patting my squashed ankles "I&039;m afraid when Lord Bael unrippa who made the Tools in order to unmake them - then you&039;ll be unmade, as well Sad, of course, but what can you do? We can&039;t have you Tools running around where anyone can take advantage of Lord Bael That would be unthinkable"

"Oh, completely," I said with acid sarcasm "Sally, you amaze me, you really do You look so nice, but you truly don&039;t have a heart, do you? It doesn&039;t bother you one single damned infinitesimally small bit that you&039;ve betrayed Ulfur and le iota of sympathy for us, or even care that he, thatto torture and destroy us It just doesn&039;t ht? "

"Dear one, I aentle smile "Heartless is e do best Besides, Lord Bael would never tolerate someone who had compassion as a prince of Abaddon It&039;s just not done"

I closed ure out a way to get Ulfur and h for Alec to finish off the second wrath de fan of wonize there was a time and place for it, and if ever I saw one, this was it