“Explain,” I snapped. “I have no patience for veiled threats and words.”
“Actually, it’s your mate I need.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Not an explanation.”
Hudson rose to his feet, a guarded expression shrouding his face as he tried to lock down whatever silent communication was occurring between him and my uncle.
“Ready?” Lucifer asked Hudson, ignoring me completely.
“Not without me. I’m still not sure what the ramifications of his ingesting your essence are.”
“Then come see for yourself, niece.” Lucifer snapped his fingers. The world twisted in a strange spiral and sucked us inside a tight tube before spitting us out into a dark and chilly night.
I spun in a circle, my hands swiping down my torso and jeans, and I was relieved to find my clothing made it intact. Teleportation was disconcerting.
“Where are we?” I wondered, squinting at our surroundings.
“New Orleans,” Lucifer muttered.
In a cemetery. How cliché. “What—” A shadow shot toward us, knocking me back a step as it ricocheted off my shoulder. Okay, that was new.
“Condemned souls,” Lucifer explained through gritted teeth. “Eloise has breached my protection, and they are escaping.”
“Remnants?” I asked as more shadows darted in and out of the large gravestones.
“No, these are tortured souls, spirits that should be suffering an eternity in Hell.”
Two more rushed us.
“Let me free,”Indigo purred.“This is what I was made for.”
I’m the daughter of death, so that figures. But it wasn’t me that Lucifer had come for; it was my mate. My wings exploded outward, and the power I kept locked down ran like fire through my veins.
“Don’t let them touch you. They’ll leech on your power,” Lucifer advised.
I spared him a glance when his wings erupted into view. Seeing an archangel in his full form, even a fallen one, was a breathtaking sight.
Hudson growled as he stepped in front of me, protecting me from the souls that sensed my power and wanted it for themselves.Too bad, suckers, I’m not giving this up for anyone.
“How do we send them back?” I asked.
Lucifer shook his head. “You can’t. Your power is connected to Heaven, not Hell. If you try, you’ll flood the promised land with evil. Best leave it to us, niece. Just stay out of our way, and touch nothing.”
I took a step back, then another, assessing the situation without making it worse. Why the hell was Hudson the right person for the job?
A swarm of shadows pooled together, building their terrifying, wicked force into an impressive foe.
“Ready?” Lucifer asked Hudson. “Just like we practiced.”
Practiced what? And when? I glanced at the stars twinkling in the sky. Was my grandfather up there watching this unfold with a bowl of popcorn, or was he sunning himself somewhere with a cocktail?
Hudson’s arm stretched to the side, and a long staff emerged in his hand. He gripped it, and the weapon shimmered as the sharp blade sliced through the air, hitting the first shadow.
A scythe. Holy mother of god. My mate was a freaking reaper. An actual reaper of souls—specifically the condemned ones meant for the fiery pits of Hell. I wanted to murder him and kiss him at the same time. No need for dramatics, though. Being a reaper for the devil likely came with a great benefits package, including being invincible to dangerous things like being stabbed by their frustrated mate. What was he thinking?
He moved through the cemetery with grace and speed, and now I was angry and turned on. How confusing. This was going to involve a very long and murderous chat later—before my next date with a mysterious god and after a meeting with the Serpents where I expressed mywhat the fucknessto the group at large.
I dropped my ass on the wall of a tomb and side-eyed the inscription. “Why would my mate do something so ridiculous?” I asked Julia Pearson, devoted mother to Maureen and Herbert and loving wife to Kenneth for over forty years. She didn’t answer. That was fair. Hopefully, her afterlife was treating her well, and she wasn’t going to get embroiled in this mess.
