Lilith hadn’t mentioned the old man gardener, but it didn’t surprise me. Back in New York, she’d taken in humans at her penthouse that lined Central Park. They’d been her friends and her confidants, and she’d given them various jobs to do if they so desired. In the end, she’d had to leave them behind when we fled from Berith. More for their own safety than anythingelse.
“I hope it’s alright that we came here?” I said, stepping forward. “She gave us some documents that led us tohere.”
“Yes, yes. Of course. Lilith told me you’d becoming.”
I frowned and exchanged a glance with Ramiel. “How would she haveknown?”
Did demons have some kind of premonition? Had she seen exactly how all of this would unfold that day when Berith had attacked us? And, if that were the case, had she known she would die? Why hadn’t she tried to stop it? Why hadn’t she said something to us? If only she had, maybe we could have prevented it from evenhappening.
My mind was churning, my heart fluttering in my chest, even though I didn’t truly understand what the gardener wassaying.
The old man cleared his throat, leaned a long-handled shovel against the fence, and hobbled over to where we all stood staring at him. His light blue eyes were kind from afar, but even kinder up close. There was a twinkle there, the kind of lightness that could only be genuine. It was a shock to see, something I certainly hadn’t seen in any of the humans I’d met so far. It was as if the apocalypse and the demons were a distantmemory.
“You know, back in the olden days, before the demons invaded and all, way before my time.” He sniffled, but then gave me a broad smile. “We humans had these crazy contraptions called telephones. You ever hear of them up there in your celestialskies?”
I exchanged a glance with Ramiel, and then nodded. “We were taught the basics about humanity. You could talk to people across longdistances.”
“That’s right.” He turned away then, and nodded at the house. “So you won’t know that Lilith made it through that awful attack. She’s in there. She’s still healing, but she’salive.”
My breath felt as though it had been knocked from my lungs. I was halfway to the house before someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I whirled on my feet to find Ramiel shaking his head, his eyes dark and hooded, his mouth pressed into a thinline.
“Let go of me.” I yanked against his grip, but he was far stronger than me. “I have to go toLilith.”
“This could be some sort of trap,” he said in a low rumble. “I saw Berith kill her with my owneyes.”
There was the sound of a door opening from behind us. A rustle, and then a soft sigh. “It’s not atrap.”
Her voice was music to my ears. The sound I made was something between a cough, a snort, and a gasp. Ramiel’s eyes lifted toward the door behind us, and his lips quirked up just the slightest in the corners. I whirled on my feet, heart hammering hard in my chest. Lilith stood in the doorway, her long red hair spilling around her shoulders in thick waves. Her eyes were bright but tired, and she stooped as though a heavy weight pushed down on her shoulders. But she was alive. She was very much alive. I could scarcely believe it, even though I could see her, with my own two eyes, standing right there beforeme.
“Lilith?” I breathed. “You’realive?”
She nodded, but then winced. “Only barely. I have…a lot of healing to do. Come on inside. I’ll explaineverything.”
* * *
Inside,Lilith eased into a recliner, one that was a far cry from her antique wing-backed chairs and red velvet cushioning that she’d collected in New York. This one looked more like a pile of dirty napkins. Still, she sighed in relief as she sunk into the soft cushions. “I hate the aesthetics of this chair, but I cannot deny it’s comfortable. My body is healing, and I didn’t have the strength to argue when Harry insisted I borrow hisrecliner.”
“How did you?” I knelt before her. “When did you? What didyou?”
She let out a light chuckle. “Berith blinked me away after he slit my throat, once he sensed that it wasn’t going to kill me. I suppose he didn’t want you to realize I was alive. He likely hoped you’d make an emotion-fuelled response.” She cracked open an eye and lifted a brow. “Didyou?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Igrinned.
“That doesn’t answer myquestion.”
“I, ah…” Lilith didn’t know the truth of me. She hadn’t been there when my arms had caught fire, mostly because she was the reason it had happened in the first place. My emotions had been raw and far too real, and it had transformed me into a walking fireplace. Out of all the friends I had in the worlds, it should be easiest to tell Lilith what I was, her being a demon herself and all, but…well, Lilith didn’t particularly like demons any more than I did, even though she was oneherself.
She was an exception, and I didn’t know what I would do if she turned me away, not after thinking she was dead, not after mourning for her as Ihad.
“There’s something you should know about me.” I took a deep breath. “I’m part firedemon.”
For a moment, Lilith just stared, and then she nodded. “That explains a lot, but why didn’t you just tellme?”
“I only found out when you died. You know that whole emotional reaction you were asking me about? I might have burst into flames. And then launched a fireball at our least favorite Archdemon, who then burned to acrisp.”
Her eyes softened. “Oh, Erela. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to tell you I was alive. There wasn’t much I could do. He blinked me into England, and I haven’t been in any state to travel. I knew you’d come here.Eventually.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem to be at all surprised or weirded out that I’m a firedemon.”
