"Suit yourself," I said. "If you know anything more, now's the time to tell us."
Lucifer, who had been pacing the room, stopped in front of Genevra. "You're lucky I don't have my full powers," he growled. "Lilith isn't willing to harm your babe, but I would."
A bluff. I knew he wouldn't. But of course, I didn't tell her that.
Michael put a hand on Luc's arm. "She's not going to talk. Let's just finish this."
Her eyes widened, and I realized she didn't know we were going to wipe their minds. She saw Ezekiel asleep, but not why or how. "Fine. Hand me the knife and we'll be done."
Michael stared at me but had sense enough not to look surprised at my words. Lucifer, catching on, let a purely evil smile spread across his face. "Let me do it." He didn't remove his gaze from Genevra's throat. "I enjoy it so much."
"Fine!" Genevra yelled. "Fine. I'll tell you, but Raphael will kill me if you don't help me hide afterward."
I cocked my head at her and pretended to consider. "All right. We can hide you. He's not the only one with other realms. Then, when he's captured or killed, you'll be free to make a new,purelife for yourselves and your babe."
She nodded frantically. "That... It sounds wonderful. I've wanted to break away from him for years."
Nudging Lucifer out of the way, I perched on the coffee table, knee to knee with Genevra. "Tell me." I shot Lucifer a little side-eye. "I understand difficult men."
He scoffed and even though I couldn't see him properly, I knew to my very soul that he rolled his eyes.
Genevra softened ever so slightly. "He wooed me at first," she said.
Sighing, I gave her a sympathetic look. "He's a charming man." Ugh. Raphael was a lech, but he was charismatic. That was true.
She nodded. "He had these beautiful plans. Of an Earth where humans aren't as tempted. Everyone would know God was real. All the different religions, they think they have different Gods, but it's all Him, you know?"
I nodded, knowing all too well. The religions that touted a one true Creator, they all had it right, but the devil was in the details.
Literally.
"Only the atheists, they're gaining a huge foothold," she said.
"Preaching to the choir," Michael said. "We do what we can to show them the Light, though."
Genevra's eyes lit up. "Then you understand where Raphael started. He wanted to expose Lucifer, Lilith, Hell. Show people what sin truly bought them. Is it worth it for an eternity of damnation?"
"Well, that's not exactly how it works," I said. Souls didn't spend eternity in Hell. They either rehabbed and tried again, or they became demons. There was not an eternal damnation, per se.
"Yes,weknow that, but the humans don't. He wanted to give them proof. He's been showing himself to humans for hundreds of years in different ways. He was trying to stay under the radar."
"Why didn't he just do some major expose of himself?" Michael asked. "On live TV or something?"
Genevra chuckled. "He went down that route for a while. Before television was invented, all he could do was show himself to different people, but he knew he'd never get enough angels on board to make it a mass thing. So he had to be sneaky. If hundreds of humans around the globe suddenly had the same story about a very tall, brunette, muscular angel with wings of gold appearing to them, well, there's only a handful of Archangels with brown hair. And only you guys have gold wings."
It made sense. He couldn't get enough support from the angels to support himself. "But if he blows the lid off of Hell, and demons pour out, he doesn't need support. He'll have to hide from all the angels, probably be killed, but the job will be done."
"He thinks, in the end, when it's all calmed down and the demons are all dead. All the humans will become followers. No more atheists. No more religions that worship trees or animals, or what have you. He believes he'll be a martyr. A saint."
"For Pete's sake," Lucifer muttered. "What a dolt."
I chuckled at the very Lucian word. "Indeed."
Genevra shrugged. "He was compelling. And once I knew things, and helped..."
"You got in too deep."
She nodded frantically. "I want you to know, I wouldn't have chosen this, had I known how far he'd go. I thought he just wanted to find new and creative ways to build followers. Not blow the gates of Hell wide open."
