“No.” I pushed up from the sofa and stepped in front of him. He ducked around me and kept pacing the floor. “He’s hidden them somewhere. Probably in Manhattan. If we put enough heads together, maybe we can come up with something. Track them down before our time is up.”
“What heads?” he asked, his voice as sharp as steel. “Valac is gone. Caim is gone. Bael is gone. Phenex is—”
I motioned toward the door as a knock echoed through the penthouse. Az furrowed his brows as I strode over to it and let out guests inside. Serena, Priyanka, Ramona, and Piper poured inside with pizza, beer, and Hendrix.
Az looked dumbstruck as they set up camp in the middle of the living room. Hendrix waddled over to the kitchen to poke around, and the girls spread a subway map across the coffee table. Serena had even rustled up a whiteboard that she propped up in front of a lamp. As I settled onto the floor beside her, she gasped and buried her face in my hair.
“Mia.” Her cheek pressed against mine, damp with tears. “I swear to god, if you ever run off and do something stupid without me again, I will track you down and absolutely obliterate you. I have claws. I will use them.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pulling back. “Things have gotten a little out of hand.”
“I mean...” She blinked at me. “Understatement of the century.”
“Multiple centuries, it turns out.”
She cocked her head. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll explain later,” I whispered. “Right now, we need to focus on why I called you over.”
When Az and I had returned to the penthouse, I’d sent out an SOS to the girls. They’d been more than eager to help, especially when they learned of the demons’ fates. We might not have the experience of the Legion when it came to mystery solving, but we had something just as important. A lot of love and determination.
We immediately go to work, pouring over the map Priyanka had found at the club. The one Valac had spent all those years on, detailing every corner, every building, every room inside this crazy city.
It was...a lot.
“So.” Priyanka glanced up from the section she was studying. “What are we thinking? Could he have hidden them close by?”
“It sounds like something he would do,” Piper said with a nod, her blonde bob bouncing on her shoulders. “You know how much he likes to play games. It’d be like hiding them right under our noses.”
“But surely that’s too easy.” Serena frowned. “Wouldn’t he expect us to start looking in Hell’s Kitchen?”
“He wouldn’t expect us to look in Hell’s Kitchen,” Az said with a growl, stalking over to where we’d set up shop “Because he knows I have no choice but to acquiesce. Searching for the Legion is completely pointless. We won’t find them unless Luciferwantsus to find them.”
“Fuck Lucifer,” Priyanka said with a shrug. “Maybe it’s time he doesn’t get what he wants.”
“She has a point.” I dropped my chin onto my knees and wound my arms around my legs. “Just because he tells us to jump doesn’t mean we have to jump.”
Az shook his head and stormed away. The door of his bedroom slammed behind him, reverberating through the silence. With a soft sigh, I stood and brushed the pizza crumbs off my jeans.
“I should go after him.” I nodded toward the maps. “You three see what you can come up with.”
Pri peered up at me with a sad smile. “I’d say he’ll be okay, but I worry that’d just be a lie.”
“I won’t let it be,” I said firmly, following Az’s footsteps to his room. During the time that I’d known Az, he’d put so much on the line to protect me, to keep me safe. It was time I repaid the favor and did the same for him. I’d do whatever it took to get his Legion back.
I pushed the door open and closed it as quietly as I could. Az stood beside the window, curtains thrown back. He stared out into the darkness of the night. It was late enough that some of the high-rises had gone dark, but the twinkle of the city still lit up his room like stars.
“I know you’re hurting right now, but I won’t let you give up.” I joined him by the window and dropped my head against his folded arms. “You’re Asmodeus, the First Prince of Hell. If anyone can take on Lucifer, it’s you.”
“You really believe that. Don’t you, Mia?”
“I’ve seen what you can do.” I turned to him. “If you used those shadows against him, you could win.”
He frowned. There was little hope in his expression. “Did it ever occur to you that Lucifer’s powers are even worse than mine?”
My stomach flipped. “Sure, but—”
“I’ve failed them.” His voice was pained.
