Chapter 12

When Bo returned to her suite in Hell, Bilith was already there waiting for her. Sitting in the middle of the bed, he greeted her with the gaze of death. His golden eyes were burning with anger.

"Bo," he bit out. "You promised me that you wouldn't go look for the Dark Temple on your own. You promised!"

"I'm sorry, okay!" Bo raised her hands to surrender. "I didn't plan to go alone. I just…I saw the map in that notebook and I thought-"

She swallowed hard when her feline friend let out a low growl. Somehow, it reminded her of the brief glimpse of his monstrous true form while he (and Tamsin) had come to rescue her.

"I…I mean, I would have totally gone with you if you had been here, okay? I couldn't find you and…I thought I'd just go check it out myself. You know, just making sure it's really there…."

The little panther closed his eyes and put one of his paws on his forehead in defeat. "Do you even have the slightest idea of what could have happened to you, Bo?"

"Kind of…?"

"You could have died, or worse!"

Bo frowned a little. "Or worse…?"

"Do you know what the River of Flames does to souls?"

"Yeah, Tamsin told me. It…destroys guilty souls with its flames."

"Do you know what would happen to you if your soul is damaged?"

"Yeah…the weaker my soul is, the...stronger my demon becomes," Bo answered. Then, she chuckled a little as she recalled how "strong" her sex demon had become when she was in bed with Tamsin.

"This is not the time for chuckles!" Bilith hissed as he beated his tail against the sheets angrily. "Your soul can only take a certain amount of damage before it becomes completely destroyed. Do you know what will happen to you, if your soul is completely destroyed?"

Bo licked her lips as she pondered Bilith's question, for she had never thought of it before.

"I…I guess if my soul is destroyed…then my Demon will just take full control?" She guessed. It would be a scary scenario, however, judging by Bilith's tone, she sensed that it would be far worse than just "scary".

"I mean, yeah, I get why it would be bad but…it wouldn't be the end of the world, right?" She said hesitantly. "You are a pure Demon, so is everyone else down here. It can't be that bad, even if my Demon takes full control of me, right? What I'm just gonna be…hornier?"

Bilith let out a frustrated growl. "You don't know anything, do you? No, Bo, you don't just become hornier. Having your Demon taking full control of you is really that bad, because you are not like us.

"I know. I'm only a half Demon."

"No, that is not what I meant. Bo, listen," Bilith stood up and cradled her cheeks with his front paws. "Your Demon is fundamentally different from mine, and from anyone else's."

"How so?" Bo frowned as she ran her palm along the length of Bilith's back to calm him down.

"What are Demons, Bo?"

"Ummm…the manifestation of uncontrolled human desires," Bo replied.

Bilith nodded. "Then have you wondered how us Demons can have some level of self-control?"

"You? Self-control? Please, I've seen how you go through a box of chocolate."

"Only because I know it's okay to do that. Do you see me raiding Hershey's factory at night every night? Do you see other sex demons fuck people until their brains come out?"

"Huh…I guess you are right. You do have some level of self-control..."

"Yes, we do, Bo, that's because when all pureblood Demons are born, we immediately go through a ritual called Branding."

"Branding?" Bo frowned hard.

"That is when a code of conduct is literally branded into our demon core by searing flames of Hell. That's why we have some self control. We are bound by the code. "

"Okay…?"

"Your Demon, on the other hand, is not branded, Bo," Bilith tapped his right paw gently at Bo's chest. "Instead, your Demon is bound by your soul. If your soul is gone, your Demon will be completely and fully out of control. Do you understand the magnitude now?"

Bo gaped at him. "So…if my soul is destroyed, my Demon will just…go do whatever it pleases?"

"Mhm," Bilith nodded. "Take me for example. Had I not been branded, I would have destroyed all chocolate factories in the human world long before you and I met. You are a half Demon. You…inherited your Demon from your mother, from your ancestors. Your Demon is much more powerful than any of ours. There is no way to tell what it is capable of if it loses control. This is exactly why you must protect your soul at all cost."

He paused briefly as he looked into Bo's eyes. "I'm really angry with you for going after the Dark Temple yourself. We have no idea what might be there, or what it might do to you. Thank Lucifer your soul has not been destroyed."

Bo took a deep breath as she fidgeted the ring that she was wearing. What Bilith had told her brought cold sweat on her back. "Well, you could have told me all this earlier," she murmured.

Bilith narrowed his eyes on her. "You really didn't know any of this before?"

"Well…my father did tell me that my soul is kind of important but…he didn't tell me how serious it would be."

"Has he ever mentioned to you that you shouldn't go near the River of Flames?"

"He might have but…I guess I wasn't really paying much attention. You know, I've been too busy with my nightlife to…listen to him babbling about a river."

The little panther rolled his eyes and went quiet for a while. Then, he asked, "where did that map come from?"

"I thought it was from you, but apparently it wasn't."

"Where did you find it?"

"It was in that notebook," Bo told him as she showed him the notebook. "It was buried under a pile of parchment. I thought it was something that you had checked out from the library."

"It wasn't me," Bilith said with a low voice. "I have no idea how this got into your room, or who might have put it there."

"It might have been a good thing after all, though? I mean, I know the map is not as old as it appears, but the location of the Dark Temple is accurate. The Dark Temple really is at the end of the river."

"That's not the point," Bilith hissed. "Whoever left the notebook here, wanted you to go after the Dark Temple. They wanted you to go into the River of Flames. Considering how damaging the River of Flames is to your soul, their intention is just malicious, to say the least. Besides…"

"What?"

Was it really just a coincidence that neither I nor your Angel was available when you found this map? Bilith raised the question telepathically.

Bo raised her eyebrows. You think whoever did this somehow made sure the two of you were not with me?

"I need to figure out who did it," Bilith murmured.

"Yes, sure, we will investigate, but we need to investigate the Dark Temple too," Bo suggested. Then she described to Bilith what she had seen at the Dark Temple, including the sunk relief pattern.

"Can you draw it?"

"I'll try," Bo said as she found a pen and a piece of paper. She carefully drew the fine tooth gear pattern, then the circle outside of it, then the wings.

Bilith tucked her drawing into the leather bound notebook. Then, he tucked the map into it as well.

"I'll go do some research," he announced as he carried the notebook in his mouth.

Before he left the room, he turned to give Bo a long stare. Do not go back there alone, and stay away from that damn river. He warned.

"Okay, okay, I promise. This time, cross my heart," Bo assured him. Then, she called out and stopped him from leaving. "Do you think I should tell my father about what happened? You know, about Tamsin coming down here to save me and all?"

Bilith gave her a weird look. He probably already knew. He told her before he left.

Tamsin spent her day meeting with her clients and doing stakeouts. Every time she allowed her mind to wander, she'd think of Bo.

She had rolled her eyes at herself many times but she just couldn't get Bo out of her mind.

There was something in the heated kisses, in the soft touches, in the gazes, something that kept pulling her in. It made her heart race. It made her cheeks burn. It made her stomach flutter and her fingers quiver.

Oh would you fucking stop. She told herself as she pulled her truck in front of the railroad church just before sunset.

She headed straight to the confession room. Her client had not arrived yet, so she sat there and waited anxiously, until she heard someone enter the other chamber.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon, Tamsin," the man on the other side commented. "I assume that you have something to report?"

"Not much, just found out that the Dark Temple does not only have a ghost form. It is also a real temple and it's down in the underworld."

"Where?" The man didn't seem to be too surprised, nor was he enthusiastic.

"Outside the Demon territory," Tamsin said simply.

"I see. We've heard similar rumors. What about the Book of the Dead?"

"No update on that," Tamsin shook her head. Then, she went quiet.

"You have something on your mind, Angel. What is it?"

Tamsin clasped her fingers together tightly and rested them on her knee. "I'd hate to say this but…I'm just done with this job. I'm done working for you."

Before the man had said anything, she added, "I'll refund you your payment, plus the penalty according to our contract."

"Hmmm…" the man hummed. "Don't fly away just yet. We have something that you should really-"

Tamsin huffed out a light laugh. "Whatever you have, I'm not interested."

With that she left the church.

Bo eventually decided to go talk to her father, just as a courtesy. She gave him a very concise version of the story while leaving out everything that had happened between her and Tamsin.

Her father listened intently, while occasionally asking a question or two. Bo somehow felt a little relieved that he didn't ask a single question about what had happened after she had gotten out of Hell.

"So…I don't really remember if you have told me about the River of Flames," Bo said hesitantly.

"Of course I have, Bo. I've specifically told you that for someone who has a soul, you should stay away from it."

"Oh…I just…don't really remember you telling me about it at all."

"Well…I might not have made it as big of a deal as it should have been. I thought you'd be okay even if you got into the river."

Bo frowned at him. "You thought I'd be okay? Why?"

"You see, I just had no idea you'd have that much guilt in you, my dear," her father said to her softly.

Bo found his statement irritating, but she didn't want to continue the debate. She poured a little whiskey for herself to quench her thirst. While she was doing that, she looked around casually.

She frowned as she noticed that the hellhound Vug, who would usually lay in front of the fireplace, was not there.

"Where did Vug go?"

"Who?" Her father seemed too distracted to pay attention to her question.

"Vug, your dog who's always sitting right there?" Bo pointed at the fireplace.

"Oh, Vug…" the man let out a big smile. "He's ummm…he's been a bad dog and I sent him to…learn some manners."

"Like a hellhound training camp?"

"Something like that."

"Huh, didn't know you guys have that down here too," Bo chuckled. She quickly shrugged it off and continued her dry small talks with her father, before she decided that it was time for her to leave.

Her father watched the door close behind her. Then, he leaned back in his chair and snapped his fingers.

The jackdaw Demon, Raim, flew in like a ghost and shapeshifted into her female form in front of him.

"Is everyone in position?" The man asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good. Nobody moves until I talk to Bo first, so she can…stay out of my way."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Bo lay in her bed lazily as she turned the ring around her index finger. It was the first night in many months that she had not organize or participate in any sex activities in Hell.

She still felt somewhat exhausted, but at the same time, content and fulfilled. Every time she thought of the Angel, it brought a small smile to her face.

Just as she was about to give in and send Tamsin a text, she heard a knocking on her door.

"Who's there?" She raised to take a peek through the cracked open door, and saw her father's messenger Demon outside.

"The King wants to see you, Your Highness," the Demon announced obsequiously while bowing down.

"Didn't he see me just a few hours ago?"

"Yes, but he wants to see you now."

"I'll be right there," Bo told the Demon before she got up and got dressed.

She followed the Demon to her father's throne room. Her father greeted her with a smile.

"Take a seat," he told her. "I have something I need to show you."

"Okay?"

The man took a stack of photos out of his desk drawer. "Take a look at these. I think you might find them interesting."

A little confused, Bo took the stack and took a glance. She frowned hard when she realized that those were all surveillance photos of Tamsin.

Bo went through the photos one by one: Tamsin meeting with someone in a coffee shop, Tamsin eating a sandwich in her truck, Tamsin pulling her truck in front of a rundown church….The blonde was unaware that she was being followed and photographed in any of the photos.

"What is all this? You were spying on her?" Bo angrily threw the stack of photos back at her father.

"I was," the man admitted. "I had her followed, because I wanted to make sure that she was doing her job right, but then…I found out that she was working for someone else."

"Yeah, she had many clients. She does that for a living, dad," Bo replied as she stared at one of the photos absentmindedly. In the photo, Tamsin was exiting the rundown church. She had something in her hand, a bottle, a liquor bottle. Somehow, that bottle seemed awfully familiar….

"Oh, sweetheart…" Bo's father let out a light laugh while shaking his head. "She is spying on you, on behalf of someone else."

"What?" Bo frowned.

"She gets paid for passing information that you have given her to someone else, to this client that she regularly meets at this church."

"That's bullshit," Bo raised her voice.

Her father picked up the photo of Tamsin exiting the church, and pushed to Bo. He pointed at the bottle as he explained, "this bottle she's holding, it's a special drink infused with a serum that's often used to…hmmm how should I put this….Let's just say that to Demons, this serum works like a truth serum. It's been used in interrogation all the time."

"Truth serum…interrogation…?" Bo muttered as she took a closer look at the bottle. Her heart sank when she recognized the label: mint green background with a drawing of white berry clusters. It was the drink Tamsin had offered her the night they had kissed for the first time. She still remembered that kiss, even though it had been brief. She remembered herself being so tipsy after drinking that, so suspiciously tipsy.

The mere thought that the entire night, including the kiss, might have been an "interrogation" made her blood run cold.

"No…this is…this must be a mistake…." She murmured. "She…she came to-" She came to save my life, and she comforted me.

"I believe that that client of hers, that person to whom she has been passing information, is someone from the resistance force."

"The resistance force?"

"Ever since your mother's death, ever since I inherited the throne from her, there has been a group of misguided Demons who are doing everything they can to dethrone me. When they learned that I was looking for the Book of the Dead, they hired the Angel to spy on you."

"But…I thought…it was you who told me to hire her first?"

"I was…given some bad information by…a traitor. At the time, I had believed that she was a good candidate, but apparently I was wrong. We've been played, Bo, by her, by them."

Bo swallowed hard as she stared at the photos. Now she also noticed the time stamps on each photo. It appeared that Tamsin's visit to the rundown church had always been shortly before or after she had met with her.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up a photo of Tamsin visiting the church. She discovered that it was taken earlier today, just a few hours after she had left Tamsin's place.

All the soft whispers, all the touches and kisses, the intimacy and the connection…now they all felt like a hard slap on her face.

She started to wonder if anything that had happened between them was real. Was it all a lie? Was pulling her out of Hell an act to gain her trust? Was it Tamsin who had made sure that Bilith wasn't available when she had found the map? Did she really…ever care about her?

Those questions started to jab her and it was too painful for her to even breathe. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, before she took the photos and left the room.

As Tamsin opened the door and found Bo outside her apartment, she pulled her lips into a smirk. "I knew you'd be back begging for more."

She frowned a little when Bo pushed her aside and entered her apartment in silence.

"Something wrong?"

"You tell me." Bo shot her a glare as she tossed the stack of photos at Tamsin. She was so angry that her entire body was shaking.

Tamsin picked up the photo. She froze at the first glance. Fear and guilt rendered her mind blank.

"Bo, I…" she muttered as she took a look at the brunette, then immediately turned her eyes away.

"Tell me these aren't true," Bo said slowly as she stared at Tamsin. "Tell me that you didn't lure me into that apartment and gave me Demon truth serum. Tell me that you aren't spying on me for someone else!"

Tamsin bit her bottom lip, attempting to defend herself, but eventually closed her eyes with a sigh.

Bo huffed out a sneer. "What a fucking idiot I am…" she murmured as she turned away, biting back her tears.

"Bo, look…it was…it was not…" Tamsin tried again, but she couldn't get a single sentence out. She thought she'd explain to Bo that she was no longer working for that client, but what good would that do? The look in Bo's eyes brought her more pain than the damn Demon blades.

"I'll send you the payment for all the services you have provided," Bo squeezed those words through her clenched teeth. She forced herself to look at Tamsin in her eyes as she added, "you are fired."

She headed to the door, but Tamsin stopped her.

"Bo, that friend of yours, that Kenzi chick, is her soul-"

"Don't you dare!" Bo hissed at her as she shoved Tamsin away forcefully. "Don't you dare say her name!"

With that she stormed out and slammed the door behind her.