“Lucifer, if I may?” Hades stood at Lucifer's acknowledgment. “I know of a handful of hidden paths I never shared with you.”
Lucifer smiled. “I figured. I found one or two of them myself early on.”
Hades held his head high. “Since I was forced out of my home rather abruptly, it didn’t come up.”
Hela’s laugh boomed across the small space and I flinched at the unexpected sound. “Forced? I was there, remember?” She smirked and it looked gruesome on her split face. “After Michael raided the Elysium Fields of all the good souls, Lucifer and his fallen only asked for a temporary place to regroup. You and Persephone basically gave him the keys, packed your bags, grabbed Spot, and ditched the place.”
More than half the table laughed at that, which was promising, and Hades sat down, looking a little embarrassed. Lucifer cleared his throat. “Hades, make a list of your secret tunnel entrances and exits and I’ll cross-reference them with the ones I know. We can send scouts to check if any have since been compromised.”
“I can handle the scouts, if that’s okay,” Nathan said.
Lucifer nodded reluctantly and I wanted to laugh at the annoyed twitch in his jaw. “Next problem. Abaddon is building some kind of weapon. I don’t have many details; most of the demons he sends are peons that know nothing, but I managed to figure out it’s something they intended to test on me. If it’s something that will hurt or kill me, then most, if not all, of us are in trouble.”
“You are not made like us,” Yum Kaax said. “How can you be sure it will hurt us the Sophiee?”
“I can’t be sure, Yum, but it’s a risk I wanted everyone to be aware of going in. Angels have gone missing, and who knows what else he’s snatching up. If he’s looking to storm Earth, he may be looking at each of you, as well.”
Loki stood, leaning his fists into the table. “Why don’t you lend Hephaestus your Archangel blade to study?” he suggested. “Maybe we can make something for our side to counter Abaddon’s weapons and his sturdier forces.”
The room erupted in a cacophony of voices. I only caught snippets of what everyone was saying. I agreed with my dad, though. We needed countermeasures. Abaddon had thousands of fallen under his command, and only Michael and Lucifer had active blades with Uriel still being stationed at Eden’s gate. The voices got louder, some in favor, some opposed, and I closed my eyes.
People had a tendency to get worked up easier when they were hungry, and I was hoping the Sophiee was true of gods. I imagined all my ingredients at the shop, pictured what I wanted, and then the room went quiet. When I opened my eyes, the table was loaded down with sweets.
Lucifer snorted and looked down at me. “Did you just…?”
Persephone dove for a plate of red velvet cookies. “Nowthatwas pretty cool!”
We were in that room for hours, but things cooled to a manageable level. There was a lot of work ahead of us, but we got a solid start on a plan. For now, we got pledges of support from everyone there, and they would continue to hunt the demons as normal.
“I do look forward to working together, Alexis.” The Morrígan held her hand out.
“Please, just Lexi.” I reached to shake it, but she flipped my palm up and hummed seriously.
“Very powerful for your kind, but you have quite the struggle ahead, child.” She traced her fingers across the lines in my hand. “A word of advice? Embrace your darkness to save yourself.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but she’d already shifted into a black crow and winged her way out of the room. Shivering, I wiped my hand on my jeans. Yeah, not creepy at all.
Mom and her coven were going over the old grimoire, so I sidled up beside her and listened. Since I didn’t officially train as a witch, with my powers going haywire and all, half the symbols and circles they were going over made no sense to me. The book was very old, but very well-kept, and I wondered who it belonged to before.
“There are spells in here that would allow us to put up a boundary,” Mom said. “Or some kind of early warning system. Enough to cover Salem and most of Boston.”
My eyes widened. “Can you do something so big?”
“It would take time, but the coven can handle it.” She grinned and patted me on the shoulder. “If Abaddon’s minions start to act in this area, we’ll know.”
Lucifer's arms snaked around my waist. “I appreciate your efforts, Miranda. Thanks for hosting this, and keep me posted if you run into any issues. For now, Lexi and I have our own plans to discuss.”
Mom’s eyebrows raised and she turned away with a knowing smirk, raising her hands. “Well, don’t let me keep you.”
We stepped out onto Salem’s streets and I took in the fresh night air. Things were picking up speed faster than I’d anticipated, so I needed to enjoy the quiet moments where I could get them. I didn’t know how many more walks I’d get with Lucifer before he took back his throne. How much I’d see him after. A war was coming, and I was afraid of what my world would look like when it was over.
“Hey, can I ask you something?”
He glanced down at me. “Hm?”
“Did you really lose your golden fiddle to a hillbilly in Georgia?”
Epilogue
