“Hell?”
Lucifer smirked. “Well, where else would you find a Daemon?”
Fuck. Me. Sideways. He was a Daemon. Like a real fucking Daemon.
“Don’t worry, little bloodsucker, I will protect you from this strange building and its contents. I respect the fuck out of Kace, even though he’s a raging psycho. He doesn’t take shit from anyone, and you seem to be the calm to his storm. He’s chosen his mate well.”
Eva tried to swallow the slight panic. “I’m not his mate.” The word felt wrong on her tongue. She had been brought up thinking about marriage and babies, not being soulbound to someone she barely knew.
“Then it’s really going to fucking hurt, for the both of you.” Lucifer shrugged, rummaging in the hot pink bag he had slung over his shoulder. “Not everything in life can be planned.” He pulled out a small ball, the surface a pale pearlescent cream. With one throw it cracked against the wall, bursting into a cloud of powder.
“Glitter, really?”
Lucy let out a whoop. “Your mate is a fucking artist with these things, although he’s super boring.” He rushed over, pushing the powder with his boot. “And yes, I sometimes sneak some glitter in there when he isn’t looking. You would too if you had lived more lifetimes than you can ever imagine in the dark. You learn to live for the light.”
Eva watched as Lucifer frowned, his head tilting to the side. The horns had completely spread though his hair, the tips curling down towards his sharp cheekbones.
“The room is real, it’s not a glamour which means there’s stairs in the corner. We should see if we can find the others on another level.”
“Can’t you just… poof us?”
“Poof?” he snorted. “It’s called a drift, and no, it’s not how it works. I need to be able to visualise the destination and I don’t know where the fuck we are.” He stormed over to the doors, pushing on the metal that didn’t budge. “So I haven’t lived here for that long, and even I know that bolting closed the emergency exit is a serious health hazard.”
Eva pushed the door too, even with them both it didn’t move.
“Step back.” Lucifer clicked his fingers, frowning at his hand. He stretched, rolling his shoulders before trying again, staring intensely at his palm.
Eva pursed her lips. “Are you having performance issues?”
Lucy snarled, the veins along his arms darkening to black. Curling his fingers he punched the metal door, it denting beneath his strength. “I didn’t want to alarm you, but it seems I can’t access my chi, something is blocking it.”
“How can something block it?” She knew of chi’s. Kyra having explained before that access to one’s chi was the difference between a human and a witch. Or in Lucifer’s case a human and a Daemon, although she was sure there were many more differences.
Lucifer hit the door again, his fist straining against the metal. “It means I can’t ‘poof’ us out of here.”
“That’s…” Eva turned at a familiar ding. “Lucy, I thought you said there was no glamour?” At the back of the room, behind the glass partition was a single lift that definitely wasn’t there before.
Lucifer turned in the same direction, red eyes glowing. “I take it back, your mates exploding balls are shit.”
The lift doors parted, and Eva froze, ice sinking into her lungs.
“Hello there, pretty lady,” Dutch said with a grin. “How nice of you to come home.”
Lucifer snarled, forcing Eva behind him.
Dutch’s smile widened, and Eva noticed that he was missing his left eye, the skin around it smooth and unmarked. His attention flicked to Lucy, and then he was gone, blurring his speed far faster than she had ever witnessed.
“Shit!”
She reached for a wooden stake, having stored one in her boot. Her fingertips touched the smooth surface before she felt a solid weight hit her, her grip slipping as she fell heavily to the floor. Dutch’s fangs sliced across her shoulder, and before she could scream, she stabbed up with her knife, catching between two ribs.
She was sure Lucifer hadn’t expected Dutch’s speed, his hesitation evident before he seemed to explode, his shirt ripping as he grew to almost seven-foot, the muscles in his back flexing as black wings shot out from discreet little slits. The skeletal frame was covered in a thin membrane, the high arches curved with sharp spikes. He yanked Dutch away, throwing him across the room, and through the glass in the centre of the room.
Skin tore, and Eva grunted as Dutch took a chunk of flesh with him. She raised herself on her arms, freezing when she noticed Lucy’s sheer size.
Holy shit.She understood why cultures from around the world dictated Daemons as evil, because Lucifer looked terrifying.
Dutch jumped to his feet, his smile turning frenzied, his black eyes far from sane. “My uncle’s pretty distracted right now. I bet he wouldn’t be even that mad If I fucked you before him. That’s fair, right? Considering you killed my mate.”
