Vas nodded. “Lucifer isn’t stupid. He’ll know Samael wants Danica back, and he has his own spies informing him that we’re gathering our armies. So he’s attempting to bolster his own. I bet he’s promised them money, power, and territory in exchange for their loyalty.”
“I may be able to help,” Meredith said. Next to her, Vas went very still.
Steve frowned. “How?”
Vas clamped his hand around her arm. “Be careful, Mere.”
Meredith looked at Vassago’s phone. It immediately signaled a text.
He glanced at it. “You suck,” he read and scowled. “Real mature.”
Steve stared at her. “You just did that without a spell. You’re a tech witch,” Steve said, as if she’d revealed she was secretly a demigod.
Meredith nodded and Steve practically rubbed his hands together. Something clenched in my chest. If Danica were here, she would be glancing at me, her eyes laughing. Then she’d likely speak mind-to-mind, making some smart comment about a nerdy boner.
Meredith cleared her throat and then leveled Steve with a hard stare. “I’m going to need you to keep that quiet.” She glanced around the room. “All of you.”
Everyone nodded. Steve pushed his glasses back up his nose and gave her a dark frown, obviously offended. “I wouldn’t work for Samael if I didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut. Besides… if anyone found out…”
Vas tensed. “Explain.”
“Well,” Steve said. “Imagine you had someone who could hack into any network with magic. Then imagine how valuable they’d be to various criminal organizations around the world. They wouldn’t all be terrorists—there are plenty of political regimes that consider us to be enemies too. The United States, I mean. Even a few of our allies would likely love to have access to every scrap of data we have.”
Meredith looked like she wanted to sink into the floor. Vas looked like he was barely restraining himself from throwing her over his shoulder and stalking out of the room. After the numerous times he’d teased me and Danica, my little witch would have been extraordinarily entertained by this little interaction.
My voice was harsh as I pushed the thought away. “You want to disrupt their communications.”
“Yeah,” Steve said. “They’re trying to organize supporters from this realm. If we can hack their system from afar, we can send a message of our own and then delete and block all contacts.” He glanced at Meredith. “Is that something you could do?”
“Yes.”
I ran it through in my head. Never had I imagined a war with Lucifer would include using human technology to disrupt his plans. My hands itched to pick up a sword and finally fight. But if I hadn’t expected such a tactic, neither had Lucifer. Our army would already be hugely outnumbered. Anything we could do to prevent more from joining his side would help. And perhaps that message could convince some of them to fight under my banner instead.
“Make it happen,” I ordered, turning to stalk toward the balcony. I wasn’t going to enjoy my next meeting, but I knew enough about Gemma to be sure she would be offended if I sent one of my people to have this discussion with her.
I launched into the sky and made my way to Trinity Park.
The witch let me in, turning her back on me as she used her cane to hobble toward an armchair, where she sat and watched me out of narrowed eyes. “This is an unexpected visit,” she said.
“Unexpected? You’re aware of where Danica is.”
She nodded. “Rumors of her capture reached even us. I’d like to say I was surprised, but few things surprise me about that girl. I always knew she’d meet a bad end.”
I watched her. Whatever she saw on my face made her stiffen.
“If you’ve come here to ask for help with your little war, you’ve wasted your time. What interest is it of ours if Lucifer wipes you all out? Perhaps it will be an opportunity for the rest of us to finally demolish that monstrosity you call a tower after all these years.”
“You know, I’ve always found it interesting—the insular nature of witches. How you cling to covens, most of you terrified by the idea of living your own lives, and yet you’re quick to turn on each other whenever the chance arises.”
“If this is about Evie—”
I slowly shook my head. “How powerful would the witches be if your covens were to actually unite?”
She frowned. “What business is that of yours?”
“I merely find it interesting that no witch in history has managed to unite all of the covens in a single city. While the High Coven rules over all of you, your individual covens are far less powerful than they could be. What a waste of potential. A witch who could achieve such a collaboration would make history. Perhaps even inspire a larger alliance across states, maybe even countries.”
She leaned back, folding her hands in her lap. “You believe I don’t know what you’re doing?”
