Page 42 of Whiskers on Kittens

“What a lovely assortment of jewels,” the Devil murmured. Something about his presence drew the eye of every woman in the room with the exception of myself and the succubi. Much like the pied piper, he drew them closer, cooed to them, and somehow charmed them all.

Then, with the exception of the two women I’d isolated with the succubus, he made assignments. Before anyone could think twice over it, the various sex demons teleported off, taking the women with them, leaving me and Easton alone with Belial, Lucifer, and the snow leopard.

“That’s my wife,” Lucifer announced with pride in his voice. “I told her you’re a cat, too, and she wanted to meet you. Well done, Kelsie.”

“I didn’t use the rag or the bag, though.”

“No, you used your compassion, which is far more valuable and kinder. It was a test. I do that. You passed, in case you’re curious.” The Devil came over, chuckled, and unbuckled the collar from Easton’s throat. “Thank you for letting Belial loan that to them for this, my darling.”

The snow leopard’s purring intensified.

“What would have happened had we used the rag and bag method?”

“A little more trauma and guilt than you’d like enduring but the outcome would have been the same. It would have resulted in you being suggested for harsher jobs. You accomplished your key goal, which was to put the women in a better place. You used your wits to do your work, taking what you thought you knew about their operations and blending in. And yes, your speculations on how the women behave is correct. My demons will cater to the orders you have given the women, because that is all they know to do now. Once they have done their jobs and the fear of retribution is over, we’ll start integrating them back into human society. Some will be ready sooner than others. May I ask your motivation for isolating the two women?”

Right. While the Devil could read my mind, I assumed he wanted Easton to be aware of my motivations for behaving as I had.

I had experience with abuse victims—and I had no idea how much exposure he had on a curtailed duty within the force. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I held it until the count of ten before exhaling, careful to keep from sounding huffy-puffy over the situation. “Succubi have a reputation of being able to read women better, and I wanted her to take the most vulnerable and most likely to be damaged under her wing. By tricking the girl into revealing who she trusted among the women, I could keep them together. The other women will be, at least for a bit, separated with their various demons until you can help sort them out. I couldn’t do that with all of them, but involving the succubus let me have some assurance I could control some of the damage. For the rest of it, I gambled.”

“You played the game without knowing the rules and rolled with it, just like you do in corporate negotiations. Well, Easton? What have you learned?” the Devil asked.

“Did they really bring all of the trafficking victims here because she acted like she belonged and had me, some unknown male hybrid, along?”

“Yes. The place is cleared out of all human residents. You’ll have to worry about the various pets, but outside of the fish, you can handle that on your own. Belial and I will handle the finned residents. The traffickers here are smart; they give the women just enough joy to deal with their evening work. These women have been so broken that the traffickers can leave the door unlocked and they will stay.”

I had no idea how many more times my heart could handle breaking for the women. “Thank you, Lucifer.”

“I do enjoy doing His work in absolutely evil ways. It makes my dark heart happy.”

I snorted at the absolute lies regarding his heart. “You’re about as dark as a flood lamp at midnight—one that’s been turned on at maximum along with ten others just like it, all pointed directly onto you.”

The snow leopard rewarded me with a purr and a cuddle before taking her leash in her mouth and teleporting away.

“That is rude!” the Devil exclaimed.

As I had zero desire to deal with the whining and a lot of work to do, I opted to put the bag to the test, jumped at Lucifer, and shoved it over his head. As theorized, I managed to send the bastard straight to hell in a hurry. “That was so satisfying.”

Belial laughed, shook his head, and said, “Have a good night working. I’ll make sure the evidence of your presence has been erased. This is a crime no mortal has a chance of solving—and the divine will work to make certain no one asks the right questions. Today, evil for the sake of good will persevere.”

The devil vanished, and I pocketed the bag and took a good look around the home. “Let’s start upstairs and see if we can find any of these pets. Once the living things are gone, we’ll go the brute force route and get everything cleared out. We start with the women’s stuff, and then we clean the rest of the bastards completely out of house and home.”

To keep the women under their thumbs, the traffickers had opted to give them an odd assortment of pets, all of which were required to be kept in cages. I stopped counting after seventeen cats and sixteen dogs, all smaller breeds, and I took care with the beloved birds, the kind who knew how to talk and regaled us with questions punctuated with random cursing.

One bird mimicked a woman’s crying, and I hurt for the owner. I took a photo of the cage and texted Belial if he could handle the reunion personally. As requested, the devil showed up, and with reverent care, he picked up the cage. “For this child, you shall have your way. Good insight.”

“The bird was crying, Belial.”

“That is all the girl knows how to do anymore when she is alone in the safety of this room. We will take care to replicate this room exactly as it is, for she will need a gentler hand than most. I will have the team working on the removals focus on restoring this one precisely as it was. I recommend you use the bag as you did on Lucifer for as much as you can in here. The rest are fine to toss in, but she knows every scratch of her furniture by heart.”

Before I could suffer through a breakdown over the thought of the woman’s suffering, the devil left.

“It’ll be all right,” Easton rumbled, and he plunked one of his massive paws on top of my head and ruffled my hair. “The bird is safe, alive, and well. The women will get the help they need. We just have to finish robbing the street first.” The lycanthrope gave himself a shake and went to work easing the bag over everything he could while I observed, helping with the larger objects as needed.

The room didn’t have room for the both of us.

The bed proved to be a challenge, but we discovered if we put the bags side by side, they worked together, allowing us to ease the whole thing, bedding and all, into their dark depths. Within twenty minutes, we had the room emptied of everything, even dust.

As promised, Lucifer handled the fish, of which there were at least twenty tanks between the two properties.