My jaw ticked. “The summoner was my grandmother.”
He shot to his feet and a growl rumbled from him as he paced in front of the fire which was now roaring. “Your grandmother is murdering my demons and stealing their magic?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“Why?”
“I’ve yet to determine that.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“She tried to do something in Peach Tree, to the residents there, and it backfired.”
“She is screwing with the natural order, Cora. Stealing magic is the ultimate crime, no matter your species. There’s a reason this is termed black magic, and it has nothing to do with its apparent attachment to my realm.”
“I’m not sure she has the spells correct, that’s why Bill’s remains reappeared in Hell. She was trying to stop him from returning.”
“Demon bindings are rarely successful,” Lucifer agreed. “And magic transfer is almost unheard of, it’s a crime against the supernatural community that will not be forgiven. I don’t even know how she’s attempting it, the only book that would contain that knowledge is—”
“The Red Dragon,” I finished for him with a grimace.
“But that’s impossible, the location is a closely-guarded secret. Nobody has all the pieces to find it. It’s too dangerous.”
I lifted my gaze to his and let out a long sigh. “My grandmother has Eunice’s grimoire.”
“Fuck,” he shouted. Indeed, the evidence was stacking up against my own flesh and blood, and I could no longer ignore the crimes she was committing. Whether vampire, shifter, elemental, or demon, the world has rules—and my grandmother had broken them. I couldn’t stop the shitstorm coming her way, no more than I could prevent Lucifer from seeking her out and slaughtering her.
Lucifer turned to me. “You have one week, niece, then I will take matters into my own hands.”
Chapter Twenty
Don’t fret, my crazy aunt with scarves had arrived.
The sky was streaked with lilacs and pinks by the time we arrived on the edge of my property.
“That took less time than I expected,” I muttered to a frowning Lucifer.
“It’s not the same day,” he explains as we begin the walk up to my house. I’d asked him to teleport us to the property border so I had a minute to collect my thoughts before my friends and family descended upon me demanding answers. “It’s been over twenty-four hours.”
I grimaced. That wouldn’t go down well. As if my thoughts had summoned him, Hudson threw open the door and took the steps two at a time to reach me. His arms banded around me and he picked me up off my feet to squeeze me to him and I got a unique look into what a nut felt like. His body trembled against mine.
“I’ll see you inside,” Lucifer said, disappearing through the open door.
I tapped Hudson’s back. “Delicate female here,” I grumbled.
His grip loosened, allowing me to lean back. I took his face between my hands and placed a kiss on his lips. It was meant to be a chaste touching of our lips in greeting. Hudson’s hand twisted in my hair and he ravished my mouth like he was starving and only I could relieve the ache.
He pulled away before I could pass out and leaned his forehead against mine. “You were gone.”
My hands tightened in his shirt. “You knew that.”
His eyes flipped open and green rolled over them. “No, you don’t understand. I can sense you in the world. You could be a thousand miles away and I would still feel the beat of your heart against mine, but you were gone.”
“Is that a mate thing?”
Hudson shrugged. “I don’t believe it’s a typical mate thing. But what about us is typical?”
Indigo snickered in my mind. Right, I had an insane, murderous, soul-sucking angel hiding inside me, and Hudson had a prehistoric tiger inside of him. We were the opposite of typical.
