But Lucifer should be back and he could put a stop to that. Satan and Wrathhog would get him out of that cage and Lucifer could name who took him. If it was one of the Princes, it would be dealt with and maybe things would get less shitty. Now that I’d met them, I wouldn’t put it past Asmodeus to convince some of the others to do his dirty work for him. He was the loudest, and I saw how the others deferred to him.
Then again, we might all get smote by an army of angels before any of this was over.
Wrathhog stuck her head out and called us into the volcano. I didn’t hear some epic fight go down, and that didn’t make sense. Nothing was foolproof. Obviously, if Isawthrough Lucifer’s eyes when I wasn’t supposed to. The kind of person who was able to get the Prince of Lies in a cage would have thought of everything and left way more than just imps guarding Lucifer.
I didn’t like this.
I carried Sydney into the volcano and found it empty. The cage was gone and there was glowing blue script on the wall. I couldn’t read it, so I was guessing it was Enochian.
“What does that say?” Celix asked.
“Enochian is an ancient language that’s fairly flowery, but basicallytoo late.Someone knew we were coming. See that sigil near the entrance? Basically, angels can’t portal inside, even the one who kidnapped Lucifer. Lucifer was already gone when we got here. Whoever took him moved the cage out with magic and then portalled him somewhere else. There’s a leak somewhere. Someone who works at Lucifer’s estate could have turned or I wouldn’t put it past some of my siblings to have the place bugged.”
Great. We still didn’t have Lucifer, Sydney was going to be vulnerable until her wings came in and settled, and whoever was at the helm of all of this knew we got close.
I doubted they would let us get this close a second time.
Iwoke up on the sectional at Lucifer’s place in just a sports bra. I was smashed between Celix and Nero and I could tell Nero was using his magic on me. Someone had rubbed something that smelled like spices on me and I was stiff and sore as fuck. Kujo was sitting across from me with his elbows on his knees staring at me like he was trying to read my mind and Satan and Wrathhog were pacing.
There was one particular person whoshouldbe here and wasn’t. Lucifer was still gone. I remembered being in incredible pain and then blacking out.
“Shit, you didn’t bring me home and leave Lucifer there, did you? I just got stabbed.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Wrathhog said.
“You didn’t get stabbed. Your wings are coming inveryearly. My kids are half demon, half angel and their wings didn’t come in this early. Kir’s mom was mortal, so your wings aren’t coming in this soon because Lucifer is your dad. What do you know about your mom’s side of the family?”
“Hold the fuck up. It’s been decades of waiting. Aren’t you going to pop the devil out of a box for a family reunion since you said he never would have abandoned us if he had the choice?”
“Whoever took him knew we were coming and moved him. I’ve already called demons I trust and they are searching the house for bugs and cameras. Itcouldbe one of Lucifer’s servants. I didn’t know he was sneaking off to have a relationship with a mortal. Abaddon didn’t, either, and if he was going to tell anyone, he would have told us. Someone found out.”
“Well, fuck. I’ve liked the people I met so far. Do I need to beat anything out of someone? Did you grab the imps you knocked out? Maybe I could hit them until they say who hired them.”
“You aren’t doing a damned thing, killer,” Kujo said. “The salve I made and Nero’s magic are the only thing keeping you from feeling like two gigantic wings aren’t trying to burst out your back. When they do come out, you have toleavethem out for a few days. It takes a while to learn to hide them and the bones aren’t quite set yet. Your wings will deform and you won’t be able to fly if they get damaged while they are new. You don’t want that and no one wants that for you. You’re on the bench for a while.”
I didn’t flip him off or snap at him because he was right. Kujo was looking out for me and he wasn’t even being a dick about it. He’d actually helped me with the salve he made. I could follow instructions and Ireallywanted my wings.
“I prefer killer over princess, baby girl.”
“If I start calling you killer, will you stop calling me baby girl?”
“I could be persuaded.”
“Anyway, Ihatelosing,” Satan growled. “It was pretty lucky Kujo managed toseethrough Enochian warding. Whoever has Lucifer is going to double the spells to try to prevent that from happening again. And your wingsreallyshouldn’t be coming in right now. It’s leaving you completely vulnerable when you can’t afford it and we’ve all been around long enough to know itshouldn’tbe happening this soon.”
“I got my period and boobs really early. Maybe it’s related,” I said.
Wrathhog started laughing and Satan cleared his throat like even fallen angels who were thousands of years old got uncomfortable with periods.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. Angels and demons aren’t the only magical creatures from other realms having children with mortals. You could have something extra in your lineage.”
“Yeah, no. Mom was magical because all single moms are magical. She raised a kid who could be difficult as fuck sometimes into a functional adult with absolutely no family or support system. And I had to watch her waste away and die of cancer before my eyes because shedidn’thave magic to save herself. Her parents died when she was a teenager, so magic didn’t save them, either.”
Yeah, I wasn’t entertaining this. Watching the strongest woman I knew die was the worst thing that ever happened to me. My mom had been away at the school when her house got robbed. The robber didn’t know anyone was home and murdered my grandparents. As far as I knew, they never even caught the guy who did it.
Imight be the child of a fallen angel, but my family were just humans. They didn’t have a drop of magic to save them from theshitty parts of humanity like crime and cancer. When Mom got sick, I hadn’t known about any of this and I couldn’t have healed her. I couldn’t have even healed her right this minute if she were still alive. I thought my dad was some deadbeat, so when she got sick, I didn’t even know he had family that might have cured her since he was missing.
It was fucked up, and I’d managed to avoid thinking about it until my wings started coming in early and everyone started throwing theories around.
