“She was fifteen when her parents were murdered in a home invasion. Why did he give a shit?”
“Because your grandparents were murdered by angels. Your grandfather was a Nephilim. Your grandparents didn’t tell your mom because they didn’t know if she’d get wings or magic as a quarter angel. They had precautions just in case the angels came. Your mom went to boarding school most of the year and they didn’t keep photos in the house.
“Lucifer wrote most Nephilim don’t live long enough to have kids, so no one knew much about future generations. He didn’t know if the angels would still come for her with just a quarter angel blood even if she had no magic, so he watched over her.”
“Bullshit. Mom told me everything. Sometimes, I just needed a hug and to be told I was pretty and special. I would have thought she was lying when I got older, but being told my great grandfather was an angel would have done that.”
“She didn’t know. He didn’t tell her he wasthatLucifer, either. She just thought his parents hated him. He didn’t know she was pregnant, but his last entry was that he was leaving to tell her the truth and he was going to convince her to come toHell with him where the angels couldn’t get her. That must have been when he got grabbed.”
“Does he say if he told anyone about Mina?” Wrathhog asked. “Out of all my uncles, I was closest with Lucifer because he was closest with Dad. And Dad had no idea or he would have checked in on Mina when Lucifer went missing and convinced her to come here as soon as he realized she was pregnant.”
“This journal just talks about Mina and how amazing she was.”
“Damned straight. Trust Mom to shag the devil. Mine doesn’t mention my mom. Lucifer was trying to figure out who killed Kir. He’s got passages about how awful it is that the angels murder Nephilim because they are innocents who didn’t ask for any of it, but by the time he got tothisjournal, he was starting to think one of the fallen betrayed him and murdered Kir.”
“It would make sense,” Wrathhog said. “From what I’ve been toldeveryonein Hell loved Kir. If anyone would have been able to get rid of the hierarchy for good and fully unite demons, it would have been him. Even the upper demons who would have lost their position loved Kir.
“He would have been a threat to any prince who had their eye on Lucifer’s throne, though. If everyone would rather follow Kir than the various factions that seemed to have settled, then they had no change at taking the throne. I could very well see it being one of my uncles.”
“Okay, so full disclosure, he looked at everyone, even your dad. He didn’t think it was him or Abaddon, but he looked anyway. He suspected Asmodeus the most, but he couldn’t find proof on anyone.”
“So, Asmodeus is my least favorite uncle. He’s a dick, and he’s usually up to something. If he gives anyone a compliment, it’s generally backhanded, and he’s only nice to people he’s planning on using. Except no one has ever been able to pinanything on him and a few times, everyone thought it was him and it ended up being one of his siblings. And they got very offended when it was suggested Asmodeus manipulated them into anything, so who actually knows at this point?”
“What does Sydney’s great-grandfather being an angel mean for her?” Nero asked.
“Honestly, no idea. Angels usually kill Nephilim before they become adults. Some of my uncles used to marry their half angel spawns off to each other, but the kids never came out right, so they stopped. They’d make an exception for you because of your title. We usually marry demons and the angel blood gets diluted.
“Angels are made, not born and most of them are prudes about sex, so they aren’t exactly fucking each other and making more angels. They think it’s blasphemy for angels to be born instead of made by their father, so they kill them. So, the child of a Nephilim having a child with a fallen angel is uncharted territory.”
“Awesome. So, we knowwhymy wings are coming in early, just not exactly what’s going to happen as they do.”
“It’ll definitely be interesting. My cousins who are the children of half angel and half angel are strong, but practically eat paste. There’s never been a child of full angels before or a child of a full angel and part angel. It could mean nothing. I’m texting Dad.”
“Yeah, because I’d like an update on the leak,” Kujo said.
We shared a look. Someone would be coming for both of us. Celix and Nero would be in danger because they were with us. I had absolutely no doubt Wrathhog could handle herself in any situation and no one wanted to piss her dad off by hurting her.
“Dad is interested as fuck in your family tree, but he said his people have thoroughly searched Lucifer’s place and there are no cameras or bugs. The other team questioning the servants don’t think it was them, either. They are loyal to Lucifer, but they alsoreally like Sydney. He said they also just thought Kujo was a mean drunk who resorts to vandalism and weren’t really spying. They didn’t know anyone found Lucifer and was trying to bring him home. Theywanthim home.”
“Sorry, but if I was going to betray the devil and literal Satan came asking questions, I’m definitely going to lie about it,” I said.
I’d lied to spare someone feelings all the time, but if it came down to lying and me getting my ass obliterated, I was going to say what I needed to say to stop that from happening. And most people didn’t confess to their misdeeds unless they were presented with a mountain of evidence and were going down anyway or they’d been coerced into giving a false one.
“I mean, you can try, but there were a lot of things in the mortal realm Lilith took offense before she left. Some creatures in Hell you can’t lie to. You can, but it’s pointless. They always know. A good bit of them work for the princes. You have some that work for Lucifer you can call on. That was who Dad used.”
“Shit, so if your mother-in-law wears white to their kid’s wedding and asks you if you like their dress, you can’t lie so there’s not a fist fight on the big day?”
Nero wrinkled his nose.
“Why would you wear white to a wedding? It stains, and no one looks good in white. You wear black or red to a wedding.”
“Yeah, okay, if someone’s mother-in-law wears black or red to their kid’s wedding?—”
“Focus,” Celix said. “There’s a leak somewhere and we have no clue where it’s coming from.”
“So, the princes have all these demons working for them. Do they also have seers?” I asked. “We’ve established no one has been able toseethrough Enochian spells before and I’m guessing spying on angels is pretty hard, but what if someone was powerful enough toseethe people around the angels? Like,one of themsawhe was sneaking out of Hell to meet Mom and theysawus figure out where the cage was from Kujo’s dreams.”
“I’d say that wasn’t possible because it can’t be controlled like that, but I also didn’t think it was possible toseethrough Enochian spells before,” Wrathhog said.
