I only let him hug me for a minute, then pulled away and walked toward the living room where we'd sat together before.
Gabe branched off toward the kitchen, and a few minutes later, he and Lucifer joined us. "I'm sorry," I said. "Knowing I can't get to her is torture."
"It's okay. I know how you feel." Lucifer stood and walked across the room to take my hand. "I could easily kill something right now."
I let him squeeze my hands, then pulled away to pace more. "Is there any source of magic that isn't bound by the laws we are? A way to tap into power?" I asked, desperate. I was willing to do anything under the sun to get my daughter back, no matter how evil. "Another one of these Hammers?"
All three of my mates shook their heads as I paced. "There must be something. There are so many things in this world that not even we know about, and we're some of the most naturally powerful beings in Creation!"
"We didn't know about the hammer," Lucifer said. "It stands to reason that there are other things." He scrubbed his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. I loved it when he did that, making it so messy.
"Call Joel," Michael said. "He'd know."
Gabe winced. "He's awfully close to Raphael."
Joel was another archangel. He'd been friends with Raph since pretty much the dawn of time. "What are the chances two Archangels would go as bad as Raphael seems to have gone?" I asked.
Gabe shrugged and raised his eyebrows. "Okay. But I say it's risky."
He disappeared, but within seconds was back with Joel in tow.
Joel had always looked like a textbook angel. His blond hair was so light it could only have been described as white. He even had white eyebrows. His thick, black eyelashes framed eyes so green I wanted to pluck them out of his head to make earrings out of them.
Joel looked around the room in his white tunic and scowled. "What's going on?" He whirled on Gabe. "You said it was an emergency. Why'd you bring me to humans?"
Gabriel held up his hands. "Look again, man. That's Lucifer and Lilith."
Luc and I stared at him as he studied us. "I'll be danged," he said. "How? Why?"
I threw up my hands. "We don't have time for this."
"Joel, we'll explain later, but you gotta tell us. Did you know how off the rails Raph has become?" Gabe brought the conversation to the point.
Joel narrowed his beautiful eyes. "I knew he'd gone missing, but that's it. What are you saying?"
Michael pulled the small gold hammer out of his pocket. "Raphael used this to create an alternate realm," he said.
Joel's jaw dropped. "No."
"Yes," Gabriel said. "He kidnapped Lucifer and Lilith's newborn baby and took her there."
Joel's jaw dropped as he turned to look at Luc and me again. "Human?"
"We thought. But humans aren't supposed to be able to leave the Earth realm without their bodies being destroyed," Lucifer said.
It was my turn to drop my jaw. I hadn't even thought of that. I staggered backward, arms out. "She's not human."
If Ariel wasn't human, that meant I'd caused all this. My whole basis for putting her with adoptive parents was to protect her humanity. She couldn't come to Hell while human.
"The realm he created could've been specially made to hold humans," Michael said quickly. "Don't do that to yourself."
Luc put his hand in mine and pulled me close. As shocked and dismayed as I was, I couldn't help but watch Joel notice Lucifer's motion. He took in everything that was going on around him. He'd always been shrewd, though.
"Can you help us?" I asked.
Shrewd he may have been, but he was also shocked. "Help you what?"
"Find our baby." I didn't give him time to sort it all out.
