“Maybe I’ll lock you up in my bedroom,” he shot back.
“All of us?” I arched a brow and turned toward Caim. “Even him?”
Az fisted his hands. “If that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”
“It’smydecision, Az.”
Asmodeus stared at me across the room, conflicted emotions churning in the depths of his eyes. Shadows glided along his skin like ribbons of silk, and a dark tension pounded through the penthouse like a hammer against steel. I understood that all he wanted was to keep me safe. I couldn’t fault him for that. But this was my decision. This whole thing had started because of Az and me. I had to be there when we ended it.
“Fuck,” he said with a growl, jamming his fingers into his hair. “Fine. We’ll do this together. But if something goes wrong, you have to do everything I say. No heroics, Mia. Got it?”
I smiled. “We’ll face down the King of Hell together.”
28
Normally on a night like tonight,Infernal’swalls would be thumping from the bass. A packed dance floor would be lit up by the strobing golden lights. The dancers would be in their elevated birdcages, swaying to the beat. And Az would roam the floor to meet his most distinguished guests.
Movie stars, singers, internet personalities.
Infernalwas famous among the supernatural elite.
Not tonight. The club was dark. The doors were locked tight. It felt like a ghost town.
Or a tomb.
Az unlocked the back door and motioned the team inside. I had a little bounce in my step, fuelled by the nerves sizzling through my veins. This was kind of scary, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it was also kind of exciting.Finally, I was doing something useful. I’d spent a lot of time running and even more time hiding. I was ready to face the music, even if it was a chorus of demons as they dragged me into Hell.
Obviously, I hoped for the total opposite of that. We’d defeat Lucifer, and then everyone would live happily ever after. Of course, life wasn’t like a fairy tale. There was still the small matter of Lucifer’s throne. It would go to Az. But we’d tackle that complication when we came to it.
“Where will he be?” I whispered, mincing down the corridor on the tiptoes of my heavy black boots. We were on a secret mission. If we made one wrong move, we’d alert the enemy of our arrival. Like Tom Cruise inMission Impossible.
Maybe we should have come in through the air ducts.
Az and everyone else just walked normally. Spoil sports.
“In the club’s main room,” Az said, raising his brows as I continued to whisper across the floor like a phantom wraith. “Why are you walking like that?”
“So that he can’t hear us coming.”
His lips quirked. “He knows we’re coming, Mia. I’m pretty sure he watched us walk through the door.”
“Right.” I started walking normally, but that meant I no longer had anything to distract me from the fact we were walking straight into the most deadly situation I’d certainly ever been in. Once we’d gone up against two fallen angels, but we’d had a full Legion against them. Then there was that time that Az had pretended to sacrifice me. At the time, I hadn’t understood what was happening, and I’d been pretty terrified. But my life had never really been in jeopardy then. Okay, maybe it had been. Just a little.
This was the King of Hell. The demon who had already killed me once in another life. Just because it hadn’t beenthisbody didn’t make the memories any less real. I could still feel the terror of that moment. It haunted me in my dreams.
“You ready?” Az slowed to a stop outside the stage door that led into the main section of the club. I knew if I told him I’d changed my mind, he’d walk through that door right now and give himself up to Lucifer. No questions asked.
Which was why I nodded and squeezed his hand.
Together, the five of us pushed out onto the dance floor. Lucifer stood in the center of the quiet space, flipping through a book with a symbol on the front. A pentagram.
He lifted his eyes from the pages and snapped the book shut with a smile. “Ah. Interesting little collection of supernaturals you’ve brought with you. Two demons, a fae, a wolf, and a human all walked into a bar. There’s a joke in there somewhere.”
“I’m here to make the trade,” Az growled.
Short and to the punch, like always.
“Of course you are.” Lucifer’s gaze shifted to my face, and he scowled. “What’sthisall about, then? Why’s your hair brown?”
