“No.” Dante shoved him aside. “You have ten seconds to get out of here, Lucifer, or I’ll knock you out and throw you in that prison after all. Fuck your truce. I should have known it was a lie.”
“Lucifer?” Dex whispered, recoiling and moving further into Ollie’s trembling grasp.
“Dex, please.” Luc took a shaking step forward, but Dante dragged him back.
“D-don’t listen.” Ollie pulled Dex farther away, his voice shaking. “He can trick you with illusions, mind control.”
“No. I wouldn’t,” Luc pleaded.
Dex trembled. “Mind control? This date wasn’t real? You tricked me with magic?” His devastation shook the earth beneath Luc’s feet.
Dante grabbed Luc by the collar, shocking him with invisible lightning. Luc’s body went rigid, his heart stopping. He would have fallen if not for Dante’s hold.
“Ollie, call Ash. Now.”
Ollie scrambled for his phone.
No. Luc had to explain. But how could he? Facing Ollie now, it had never been more apparent that he was utterly irredeemable. He’d betrayed Dex before he’d even met him, hurting a friend he clearly loved. Dex, who was so afraid of loss that he held himself back. Luc couldn’t have done worse if he’d tried. There was no fixing this.
Dex looked at him like he was a monster, and he wasn’t wrong.
The second Luc’s heart restarted, he fled, disappearing to the Realm of the Damned, where he belonged.
8
DEX
Dex gaped at the spot Luc had been, his nails digging into Ollie’s arm.
Luc could do magic. One second, he’d been standing there, the next, he was gone. No, not Luc.Lucifer.
Dex might be sick. “Is he invisible? Like you were, Dante?”
Dante cursed under his breath. “No. He’s run off to the Realm of the Damned.”
Ollie spoke urgently into his phone before hanging up. He trembled against Dex, more afraid than Dex had ever seen him.
Why was he scared? Had Luc—Lucifer—been planning to hurt him like he’d hurt Ollie?
A man approached Dante, asking what the hell was happening, and Dante pulled him aside.
“Did that guy see Luc disappear?” For some reason, Dex couldn’t get Lucifer past his lips. It hurt enough the first time.
Ollie took a long, slow breath like he was trying to calm himself. “He might have seen. Don’t worry, Dante will wipe his memory.”
Dex’s stomach twisted.What the fuck?“You didn’t tell me magic could do that.”
“I was going to. I swear, but there’s so much to explain.” Ollie’s already broken expression crumpled further, and guilt overwhelmed Dex.
Dante wrapped his arm around Ollie as the random man walked away, all his concern seemingly vanished. “Come on. We’re going.”
Ollie kept hold of Dex, their grips so tight they’d both have bruises tomorrow. Not that it mattered. Screw tomorrow. Dex was having enough trouble wrapping his mind around everything in front of him.
Mind control. Illusions.The Devil. Ollie, saying he’d almostdied.
“It’ll be all right,” Dante said with calm authority. “Let’s get home. Then we can figure this out.”
He guided them down the street. Strange hiccupping sounds came from Ollie. Shit, he was in bad shape, but Dex didn’t know what to do. Luc had hurt Ollie. And Harper. Fuck, he had to stop thinking of him as Luc.
