Constance-Lilith
Gabriel triedto kill Lucian so many times over the next week. His attempts grew more and more desperate—and comical—as the week progressed.
Wednesday, two days after he disappeared to try to find out who put a spell on Lucifer, he appeared as I woke up.
Pressing a finger to his lips, he grabbed a pillow from the foot of the bed, then tiptoed to the head. Lucian slept on his back with his mouth open as he snored lightly. I let Gabriel get close enough that he thought I'd let him get away with it, then flicked my finger while giving Gabe a flat look. The pillow disappeared from Gabe's hand. At the same time, I stuffed a bunch of the goose feathers it contained into his mouth.
He glared at me and disappeared.
Later the same day, I stopped Lucian before he walked out in front of a semi-truck. "What in the world is a truck that big doing on our street?" he exclaimed as he watched it drive past us. We were out for a walk before making dinner, enjoying the air before it turned colder.
"I have my guesses," I muttered.
The next day, I went to work with Lucian again, but things were quiet. Gabe must've been busy looking for who had cursed Lucifer. The day passed uneventfully, except for Lucian mentioning he'd been unable to get a hold of his good friend Adam.
Oh, no! We'd forgotten to take care of Adam now that he was dead, and Michael was back. I tried not to react. "I'm sure he'll call you soon," I muttered and hid my face behind my laptop.
Had Michael and Gabriel even taken care of Adam's body?
I made a mental note to ask them later, then buried myself in my editing. Gabe made an appearance in the form of a printer malfunction. It caught fire right behind Lucian with a small explosion. I looked up just in time to see the fire flash, then squashed the explosion to something smaller. We had a fire extinguisher in the office, of course, so Lucian grabbed it and put the printer out in a flash.
Crisis averted.
The week continued in that vein until I was stopping Gabe's attempts as second nature.
Lucian helped me with the dishes, trying to force me to go relax. As much as I wanted to, I had to stay close to him and make sure he didn't die from a freak, as-seen-on-TV accident.
Lucian excused himself to go use the restroom, so I grabbed the pot of leftover soup we'd never eat and walked out the back door toward the compost pile. Constance had been getting into growing her food and had been planning a garden.
Lilith didn't care at all.
As I turned back toward the house with my empty pot, wondering why I hadn't just put the soup down the garbage disposal—I wouldn't be around to reap the benefits of a compost pile anyway—the dog that had attacked me the week before bounded into the back yard.
My heart stopped for a second, then I realized what it was. I puffed out a relieved sigh and put my hands on my hips. "How did you get here?" I asked the Hellhound.
He wagged his tail and woofed.
"You're a pretty boy, aren't you?" He bounded forward and heeled staring up at me with intelligent eyes. "Where's your handler?"
I looked around the backyard for the Fallen or Upper Demon that should be around to control the beast. "Come out, come out wherever you are..." I whispered, casting out to the area around me for the aura of a demon. I should've been able to sense one, especially an upper level. But then, I hadn't sensed the hound, so that part of my magic was probably subdued by my human body.
"Damn it, pup, you shouldn't be here." Hounds weren't allowed out of Hell without a handler. "I'm out here, in the dark, big as a damn house, dealing with a Hellhound."
He wagged his tail and woofed at me, and his eyes glowed red, a sign he was excited. He'd been looking for me. And I was sure he was the same dog to knock me over in the kitchen, though I hadn't recognized him for what he was then. Michael would have, but he hadn't gotten a good look at him. Throwing up my hands in exasperation, I froze the drooling, happy beast so he wouldn't bark anymore and draw Lucian's attention.
I did have access to some of my power, so I gathered what I could and tried to send the hound back to Hell, but it didn't move, just stayed frozen in front of me with a happy, goofy expression on its slobbery face. Damn it. Being human with my ethereal knowledge just made me feel powerless.
"Gabriel," I hissed. "Gabe!"
If Lucian looked outside for me, he'd see this giant crazy dog.
Gabriel appeared beside me, wearing his tunic and Angelic armor. "What?" he asked. "I'm busy."
"I don't have time to explain. I can't access enough of my power to take care of this." I gestured behind me at the dog.
"Oh, how'd he get here?" he asked.
"Since no Upper Demon is controlling him, I'm guessing he escaped Hell," I said. "Which is not good." Crossing my arms, I waited for the inevitable.
