“You heard me,” he said. It took a lot to rattle Shemhazai, but I could tell he was pissed. He ran a hand through his dark mop of hair in frustration. “All of the general managers of Voodoo seem to have spontaneously gone to a conference. The team I sent last night returned saying they were unable to meet withanyof them. It’s like they knew we would be coming.”
An intoxicating mix of terror and rage coursed through me.
“Who do you think it is?” I asked, running through the list of people in my head who were aware of our plans. “Do you think Gabriel turned on us?” I asked, and Shem pursed his lips.
“It’s possible… I like that theory better than the alternative, which is that one of our own turned on us.”
“What do you mean,turned on us?”Both Hazai and I looked up to find Lilith had followed us into the hallway, disobeying adirect fucking order.Fuck, she was getting ballsy.
I opened my mouth to reprimand her when I took in the outfit she had chosen for the day. Holy fucking shit, she was just begging to get fucked. Her leather pants were painted over her supple hips, and a soft line of her waist peeked out from a skin-tight black crop top. I felt my cock harden at the sight of her and found myself unable to speak. All I could think was how satisfying it would be to peel those leather pants down her thick thighs.
“I thought Ramel told you to stay put, sweetheart,” Shem warned, but he too seemed to be enthralled by how fucking good she looked.
She cocked her head to the side, her long butterscotch and honey waves swishing gently around her shoulders with the movement.
She glanced at Hazai, her eyes suddenly turning glassy. Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. He stiffened, his eyes widening in surprise before his arms found their way around her exposed waist. He pulled her in close and kissed the side of her head fondly, giving me a questioning look over her shoulder.
‘She had a nightmare last night that Yahweh unmade me. Maybe you were there too?’I explained into his mind, shrugging. His expression softened, and he gave her head another gentle kiss before pulling back and looking down at her, wiping a tear off her cheek.
“What’s wrong, Lil?” he asked softly. She shook her head.
“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re safe,” she whispered, and he frowned.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Yahweh sent me a threat through my dreams last night. He said He’s going to unmake you both.”
Hazai frowned, his green eyes filling with rage. “I would like to see him try,” he muttered, tilting her chin up and kissing her softly on the lips. “We’re not going anywhere, Lil. You don’t need to worry about us.”
“I can’t help it,” she replied, her voice quiet and vulnerable. “I want to help fight him. Please, let me help.”
We exchanged a look, and Hazai sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“It’s too dangerous, Lilith.”
“I won’t leave Hell,” she promised. “Just let me help with the planning. You know I’m good at it.”
I pursed my lips. “She has a point. She’s smart as fuck,” I agreed, somewhat half-heartedly. Hazai looked unsure, but she gave him her best‘pretty please’face and even the cat demon didn’t have enough resolve to say no to those big mossy greens.
“Ugh, fine. But if you stepone footout of Hell, I’m locking you in the dungeons for the next century,” he warned, and she nodded eagerly.
“Cross my heart!” She made an ‘X’ over her chest earnestly, and I chuckled.
“Alright, deathtrap. Let’s get you something to eat; we’ll update you over breakfast,” I said, taking her hand and gently pulling her out of Shem’s arms. He took her other hand, and together, we led her to the dining hall.
If we were going to let her participate, I was going to make damn sure she was well-fed and had her strength up first.
Shemhazai relayedwhat he had told me to Lilith. She frowned pensively and mulled over this new information while I scanned the room full of demons blissfully eating breakfast around us, unaware that another war was brewing.
Could one of them have betrayed us? It felt unfathomable. Every single demon here had left Heaven of their own free will. I could remember the pain of my angel form clearly now that I had my memories back, and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to willingly return to Yahweh once they had experienced the glory of being a demon.
“We need to talk to Art and Jezebel to see if they told anyone else our plans,” Lilith said as she stabbed a strawberry with her fork, a little more ruthlessly than necessary if I was being honest. She was feisty today, and it was fucking adorable. I had been expecting her to mope and wallow in her depression, but instead, she seemed to have decided to tackle Yahweh’s threat head-on. I didn’t know why I was surprised. Her resilience was one of the things I loved about her so much.
“If they haven’t told anyone else, it narrows down our list of suspects quite a bit,” she said, her tone dark.
Shem and I nodded just as Jezebel approached our table. My lip curled in anger. I yanked Lilith out of her seat and pulled her into my lap, curling around her protectively. She squeaked in surprise, dropping her fork with a clatter. The strawberry she had stabbed flew off and rolled across the floor, stopping at Jezebel’s booted feet.
“Uhm… hey? I was just coming to see how you were doing,” Jezebel said, bending down to pick up the rogue strawberry. She looked hesitant and apologetic, but I didn’t trust her. We had a mole, and she was one of the three people outside of Lilith, Hazai, and myself who knew of our plans to overpower Yahweh.
