“Right.” I hadn’t actually known her name, but that was good info. “These demons have been attacking cities all over the world, and we’re working to fight against them, but we need the Boston covens to join us. Jasmine, I want you to tell your mom what happened here tonight, and have her get in touch with Miranda Sutton of the Salem Coven. We need to work together right now, and we could use the help as much as you can.”
Tears formed in their eyes, but they nodded enthusiastically before gathering their candles in a hurry and taking off. I flicked more goo off my hands and glanced up at Nathan, who’d been silent during the exchange.
“Should we follow them?”
He shook his head and turned toward the dissolving bodies, pocketing the amulet the leader wore. “No, they should be fine now. Look, I know you’re already working on your magic, but maybe I can help with your combat training in case your magic… doesn’t turn on.”
“Aren’t I taking up enough of your valuable time?”
“You’re my friend, Lexi,” he said softly. I really wanted to believe that was true, that it was more than just working for Lucifer. “It’s no trouble at all. I don’t get the chance to fight often, either. I’m usually the guy in the chair directing people where to go.”
I considered him for a moment before agreeing. “In that case, I accept.” I looked down at my black-splattered clothes and groaned. “I’m not looking forward to driving home. I was told this stuff is horrible to get out, even with magic. Maybe I should walk home.”
Nathan tilted his head and lifted one eyebrow. “What? No, it’ll disappear on its own in a few minutes or so. Kinda how the bodies vanish back to their realm? Who told you that?”
My mouth dropped open. I turned my face toward the sky, my cheeks burning with the memory of Loki’s brief fashion show after my last fight. He would hear me. I knew he would.
“I’m not a fucking dress-up doll for you to play with! Asshole!”
The chuckle on the wind was definitely not my imagination.
Chapter 5
Lucifer
I watched from the shadows as Lexi threw Nathan halfway through a car.
And smiled.
Not only was I reassured of her safety, but also her potential fighting skill. Though we’d have to work on her reflexes so I wasn’t the one caught in her blasts when she was startled. Seeing that natural instinct calmed me some, so as they took off down the road together, I turned away, shoving down the twisting feeling in my gut that made me want to separate them. I had things to take care of.
Someone to interrogate.
The safe house in Salem appeared in front of me. Inside, Lilith had gained enough strength to change her form to one I knew better—her original form from before she was cursed. An oversized white t-shirt set off the miles of golden-tan skin she left exposed. Her dark brown hair held natural copper highlights and loose curls, but her eyes were always the same greenish grey. Judging by the bandages still wrapped around her limbs and torso, it seemed her healing was still ongoing, which worried me.
“Lucifer,” she breathed, sitting up on the small bed. Her face lit up while I kept mine carefully neutral. “I started to wonder if you’d been a delusion of my exhausted mind.”
I pulled a chair over from the corner of the room and sat. “How are you feeling?”
She hummed and dropped her eyes. “Better than yesterday, I suppose. It hurts to move too much, and my tail…” Her jaw clenched and released. “My tail has certainly seen better days.”
Said appendage appeared and she pressed her hand where the stitches held it in place at the base of her spine. In the millenia that I’d ruled, I’d seen my fair share of torture, including at Lilith’s hands. The marks left on her were nothing compared to the worst of them, but they were not insignificant. Abaddon was mad if he thought that would win her over.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked, softening my tone. “You said Abaddon caught you while you were visiting.”
Lilith nodded slowly, turning her familiar gaze back to me. “It’d been a few decades since I visited, and there were some… odd stories floating in the wind that I wanted to investigate for myself. So I took my favorite route along the Styx, but Charon wasn’t there. With no one there to ferry the dead, the shores of the river were choked with restless spirits. That was my first sign that something was seriously wrong.”
Charon wasn’t there? I rubbed my jaw as my mind spun. His absence could’ve meant a number of things: abandoning his post to ally with Abaddon, escaping Hell before it became the clusterfuck it seemed the Destroyer was turning it into, or Abaddon had locked him up like Asmodeus and anyone else who refused to serve him.
A warm hand slid across my knee, drawing me back. Lilith peered up at me through her lashes, a sultry look on her face that I recognized. My stomach turned, and I lifted her hand away and placed it back on her lap. Her eyes narrowed, but her frown quickly turned into a pout.
I couldn’t blame her. We’d been a comfort to each other more than a few times since our, for lack of a better work, break-up. I was usually firm about not rekindling it, but I’d always taken what she offered first. Lexi’s face came to mind and I fought the urge to recoil entirely.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, crossing her legs in front of her and turning toward me fully.
“Yeah,” I replied quickly. “What then? If Charon was gone, how did you get inside?”
She pursed her lips, perhaps sensing the redirection. “I entered by way of the Erebus Gate. The guards seemed excited about my return, as my children would be, so I thought nothing of it when they personally escorted me to the Sanctum, where I thought I was meeting you. Abaddon waited for me there.”
