I turn to Matthew, wide-eyed, and demand an answer, hoping to get a good explanation.
“Why are we in the Plagued Mountains?”
“What?” Zeke snaps. “Why the fuck would we be there? It’s a death sentence. That can’t be right,” he blurts as he takes my place, allowing me to move closer to Matthew.
“Don’t worry, we are protected here. I wouldn’t dare put anyone in this room in harm's way,” he reassures me, squeezing my shoulder. “Now, let’s try to figure out what’s going on. First,” he says, turning to Rez and the man on the sofa, “Where have you been, Delvin, and what do you have to do with Miss Taylor?”
The gentleman doesn’t stop brushing Rez’s hair but just looks up at us as he states matter-of-factly, “I’m Nerezza’s father, and where I’ve been is none of your business, Matthew.”
You could knock over everyone in the room. I know we all speculated down in the Gatekeepers’ house, but to have him reveal it like that…and for him to deny a Leader of Nova…is another experience.
“Okay, that’s great,” Dr. Steinbeck says, just rolling with it and completely not picking up the dangerous aura Delvin is giving off.How come this guy is so brilliant but misses out on all the social clues?I guess we’re lucky Ryker got his smarts from him, but the common sense from Lilith.“So she’s a supe; a mage.So why didn’t her blood test show the markers as a mage?” Dr. Steinbeck asks, dragging a chair closer to the sofa and pulling a pad from his pocket.
You can take the doctor out of the office, but you can’t take the doctor out of Steinbeck, that’s for sure.
“That’s simple,” Delvin states, and Steinbeck's eyes light up like a child's on Christmas morning. “Because she isn’t one.”And… there goes his spark.
“What? That’s impossible,” Steinbeck refutes.
“No, it’s improbable, not impossible, as you state.”
They go back and forth as to why, as my wrist starts itching and burning. Not thinking, I start to rub it and jump slightly when I hear Dad in my head.
‘JP?’ Lucif—Dad calls out.‘Are you there?’
‘Yes, I’m here,’I reply, touching my tattoo in shock.We can communicate long-distance with this? I might have to tattoo everyone in our group so we can do this. Moni perks up and notices my behavior.
“Oh, are you talking to Dad?” she asks as she floats over, which catches Matthew's attention.Fuck. I wasn’t ready to tell him about this yet, and apparently, she doesn’t have a problem calling Lucifer “dad”.
“What’s going on with you two?” he inquires, glancing between the two of us. Noticing how I’m holding my wrist, he reaches out to grab it. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt? We can heal that.”
Pulling my hand away, he looks down and freezes as he sees Lucifer's initials on me. Multiple emotions and thoughts flicker through him, leaving me sucker punched with his most powerful one: sadness. It’s fleeting, but it hits hard for that brief second.
“Never mind, I see you’re busy,” he says quickly, joining Dr. Steinbeck with Delvin. I go to open my mouth to say something… fuck anything… but Dad engages once again.
‘Did you make it back to Purgatory okay?’he asks. I can hear the deep concern in his voice as he continues, not even waiting for an answer.‘They have multiple traps for you and Seeker Demons waiting to track down your group.’
‘Yes, we saw the main trap laid out for us, but we were able to reroute the portal to school. A few demons attacked there, but we are currently with Matthew and Dr. Steinbeck in a safe house,”I assure him. I bite my cheek as I debate asking what I want to, “How’s it going in Hell?”but he answers my question anyway.
‘The portals are back open now, so we’ve finally calmed down most of the Demon population. But now we need to figure out where Asmodeus is getting his power from and how he managed to power down the portals in the first place. Then it’s getting his followers under control or cleaning house, probably the latter if Lilith has her say.”
Remembering how it was on Level Two of Lust and what Ryker had explained to us, I decided to point Dad in that direction. That level was spilling over into levels One and Three, which, according to Ryker, shouldn’t be happening, and the princes' power shouldn’t be that strong.
‘I don’t know if this will help, but you might want to look at the trail we just completed. Level Two had magic stored up there, leaking over to the other levels. Asmodeus is probably storing or hiding excess power there where you and the rest of L.A.M.B. can’t feel it.’
‘Thank you.’Dad chokes up a little.‘You have no idea how much that helps us. You will definitely be a fine ruler one day. Please tell Matthew and the others that Lilith will be back in time for the Gauntlet. She doesn’t want to miss the festivities.’I feel the connection close, and I don’t know whether I’m upset or relieved by the conversation.
On the one hand, I did my part to help Hell and Dad out, but it also showed him that I would be a suitable heir. On the other hand, I don’t know if I want the responsibility of being the next heir to Hell.
“JP?” Moni waves her hand in front of my face. “HEY!” she yells. I blink and finally focus on her light teal color. “Really? Are you okay? You’ve zoned out for a good… I don’t know, a minute or so.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. Yeah, I’m here. What did I miss?” I give her a dazzling smile, and she frowns at me as she places her hands on her hips. But at least she turns back to her normal greenish-brown and shrinks to her preferred four-inch self.
“First, you didn’t answer me about Dad; second of all, I think there’s something wrong with Real Dad.” She points in Matthew's direction. “And what’s the deal with the Delvin dude?” she rattles off.
I take a slow, deep breath and blow it out as I answer. “Yes, Matthew knows and feels betrayed somehow, so we need to reassure him. And I have no clue about Delvin, so I’m in the same treehouse as you.” I give her a pointed look.
“What?” She turns glitter bomb and immediately flies towards Matthew. “No!” she wails before turning a beautiful shade of blue and growing bigger, crashing into Matthew. He doesn’t hesitate and wraps his arms around her.
