“Dad?”
“Loki?”
Lucifer and I spoke at the Sophiee time. I turned back, matching his look of confusion. “Wait, youknowmy dad?”
He gestured toward my dad angrily. “Your dad is Loki?”
Loki laughed as if we were doing a stand-up routine. The flames that had started to gutter out at his arrival flared back to life. I loved my dad, but I wasn’t above turning him into a toad for involving me in his stupid tricks.
“Ah, Lexi, Lucifer, and Loki.” He held his arms out toward us. “How I do love alliteration.”
Chapter 17
Lucifer
Alliteration? Did he think this was a fucking joke? We were just swarmed by demons and one of the fallen, and he was making jokes? I glanced at Lexi, whose arms were coated in red flames again, almost the exact shade of her hair. It suited her.
Loki’s daughter.
And I’d been thinking her secret couldn’t possibly be as big as mine. Nine Hells, she was a demigoddess. And her power… fuck, her normal presence gave away nothing compared to what she was putting off now. No wonder she had trouble holding it in at her young age. It took me at least a couple hundred years to learn how to silence mine. Lucky for me, her glare was currently aimed at Loki.
At my feet, Astaroth’s body slowly disintegrated. I reached down and dug into the layers of filth and rusted metal to grab the amulet I’d caught a glimpse of. Another Hellcraft amulet, like the one I’d found a few weeks ago. These weren’t easy to make, nor were they toys to be handed out like candy.
“What is that?” Lexi asked behind me, her voice edging the line between angry and curious.
“Something worth looking into.” I straightened and pocketed the necklace, trying to hide the slight tremble in my hand. Angelfire was tricky to use, especially since my fall from Grace, but necessary sometimes.
I stabbed a finger at the trickster god and opened my mouth to demand answers when he suddenly appeared between me and Lexi. He grabbed my hand and lowered it, also grabbing hers. Her flames receded around his touch and I wondered if that was her or him.
“We need to go somewhere a bit more private to talk,” he said quietly, then glanced at Lexi. “Maybe we should clean you up first, sweetheart.”
The black muck vanished from her hair and skin, her jeans and hoodie replaced with an elegant black gown that sparkled in the moonlight. My dragon, still very close to the surface after all that, growled appreciatively.
Lexi gasped and shoved me, making Loki chuckle before she turned on him. “No!”
“Fine, fine,” he pouted. “You’re no fun.”
Her clothes changed again to tight jeans, a dark grey pullover, and a black trench coat. “Dad.”
Loki waved his hand at her. “I’ll get your precious Nightmare hoodie back to you. Demon blood isn’t as easy to get out of clothes as it is hair and skin.”
He took her hand again and his magic made the barest blip on my radar, but only because he was touching me. He’d proven on more than one occasion that, if he didn’t want me to feel him teleporting, I wouldn’t. My living room materialized around us and my ears didn’t so much as pop. Damn, he made my technique look like a beginner.
“Why do you know where I live?” I asked through gritted teeth.
Loki winked at me. “Oh, I’ve been keeping my eye on you for quite a while.”
Lexi smacked her hands over her eyes. “What the hell, Dad?” she mumbled.
“Besides,” Loki continued, “I’m a god. Scissors beat paper, god beats angel. You know how it goes.”
Normally, I could handle Loki just fine, but there was too much happening at once. Questions bombarded me and I couldn’t get my thoughts straight, but his comments were so blase, it was already pissing me off.
I growled. “You’re nottheGod, and I’m no mere angel.”
Loki waved his hand flippantly and rolled his eyes. “Semantics.”
Taking a deep breath, I held my hand out toward the couch, resigning myself to his blithe company. It was almost pointless to argue with the man. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
