"Do you want to watch?" I asked. I'd get them all in her living room right this second if it meant she'd help.
She shrank back. "I do, but only if I will be safe."
"Do you have an open space we can use?" Lucifer asked. "We can make sure nobody sees it, but we will need room."
"Behind the building." She stood and led the way out the same door we came in and to a large yard behind the apartment complex. A lonely jungle gym that had seen much better days stood in the middle.
I took Gabriel's hand, but then Luc took mine. "I'll lead," he said, meaning we would funnel our magic to him. "Joel, if you want to help, it will heighten the effect."
Joel didn't look happy about it, but he took Luc's other hand, then Michael took Joel's.
"This yard will fill with demons, then we will order them back to Hell," I explained to Mary. She stood to my left, but several feet away. She didn't want to get close. "Don't be afraid. They won't touch you."
After she nodded, Lucifer called the demons. They came fast with all our magic amplifying him. I whispered to Mary, who looked like she'd been shocked to her roots, that it would take several minutes for them all to appear.
She didn't respond as she studied the myriad of creatures that appeared. When I was fairly sure we'd gotten all there was to get, the large yard was full of creatures of all shapes and sizes. I even saw a chimera in the back. "Good haul," I muttered.
Mary gasped and stared at me. "Good haul?" she asked. "This was prowling the streets of my city and you say good haul?"
"I'm sorry," I replied. "But if we don't find our baby, this is going to get much worse." We weren't focusing on the problem of getting Lucifer back to Hell until we found Ariel.
Lucifer raised his voice. "Return to Hell and do not leave. Not even if you find a way to escape. Stay in Hell."
They started to disappear, so I raised my voice. "And if you find a hole in the walls, fix it or hide it!"
That got me a few eye rolls from the closest of the demons, but I'd expected that. They'd do as I said, but they'd complain the whole time. I didn't care how much they bellyached as long as they did it.
When the yard was empty, Mary held out her hands. "Blood of the parents," she said.
Lucifer pulled out a knife. "How much?"
"Just a finger prick will do." Mary gave him a reproachful look. "Don't go cutting anyone's throat or anything."
He took my hand and pressed the tip of the knife into one of my fingers. I fought a hiss at the pain. When the bright red blood welled at the tip, he left me to drip it into Mary's hands and cut his finger. We let the blood drip until she nodded. "That's good," she said.
Gabe took my hand, and I knew he was healing my finger. Michael would probably heal Lucifer's, but I couldn't see them from my angle.
Mary rolled our blood around in her hands, then put them together and rubbed, Our blood spread across her palms, then all over her hands and fingers. As she began to move it up her arms, she gasped, and her head jerked back as if someone had grabbed her long braids and pulled. "Take my hands," she gasped.
Lucifer and I lunged forward and each grabbed a hand. Mary's entire body vibrated. "He is three steps ahead of you," she said in a garbled, deep voice. "You must hurry."
With a huge exhale, Mary slumped forward. Doing this had made her exhausted. Luc scooped her into his arms and walked back to her apartment, depositing her on the couch. I had to take a second and admire his human physique that could carry the heavy woman. She wasn't huge, but no way she was light, either.
Mary held out her hand. "I have information for one of you, whoever can transport you from one spot to another."
Gabe rushed forward and took her still-bloody hand. "Yes?"
She put her hand on his face. "Here is where the child is. This will not be easy," she whispered. "God be with you."
She let her hand fall and watched us through sleepy eyes. "What are you waiting for?" she yelled. "Go!"
We jumped and grabbed hands. The woman had a presence that would make anyone jump to obey her. Gabriel took us to wherever she told him to. When I opened my eyes, we stood in the middle of a field of green. Trees swayed in the distance, but I only had eyes for the man standing in front of us.
Raphael.
He looked as shocked to see us as we were to see him. "Where is she?" I yelled.
He staggered back a few steps and put his hand over his heart. "I'm sorry, my old friends." Michael lunged for him, but Raphael dodged him with a rip of his cotton shirt. "It's for the greater good."
