“She seems to have a mind of her own. Any time my magic has come out has been just as much a surprise to me as it is to everyone else.”
“That’s what Nero is for. I’m guessing your magic came out when your emotions were high or you were threatened. Keep in mind, I created his kind to keep the Beast of Eden subdued. He can sense your emotions.”
“Knock my ass out if you sense me panicking.”
“I’m sure it won’t come to that.”
I mean, I knew Kujo’s family were abusive, purist, shit stains, and she tried to kill Kujo. I shouldn’t feel bad about killing them, but I’d never killed anyone before. I actually liked these people and didn’t want to hurt them. Still, I trusted them.
Nero stood behind me and Celix stood in front of me. I knew Nero didn’t have to touch me for his magic to affect me, but I still asked because it would make me feel better. It wasn’t the spellnot working that scared me. It was my magic freaking out again. Knowing Nero was nearby made me feel better.
Kujo and Wrathhog pointed their phones at Lilith. It was now or never. She preened a bit for the camera. Yeah, Lilith was a bit of a showboat. Honestly, if I looked like that, created demons, and was the originalFuck the Patriarchyposter child, I would too.
“Gather round, children. Mommy’s home. Apparently, a little bit of magic I left you has been forgotten. Lucifer’s daughter is also home, and she’s an early bloomer. Will you look at those wings? I’ve never seen bronze before, but it’s gorgeous.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a demon, half angel, fae, dragon, or anything else with wings. You aren’t born with them and they come out later. They areextremelyfragile for the first few weeks, which is why I created a spell for that. It’s never been used on a half angel before, but I can assure you it works onanythingwith wings. Sydney has volunteered to be the first Nephilim to do this spell,anddo it on camera so the rest of you can learn the spell.”
Forgotten was a nice word for deliberately hidden by some bitch pigeons on an ego trip. I was fine with saying that, but I could see where inciting a riot might not be a good thing with everything else going on.
“So, I’m not quite surewhymy incubi and succubae were effectively neutered and are no longer allowed to defend themselves, but Nero here is going to help with Sydney’s consent and permission from Satan. This spell is best done with someone you know and trust. Sydney knows and trusts both Nero and Celix, but she hasn’t known them very long, so Nero is going to help with that. Celix, you need skin to skin contact, so touch her.”
Celix looked like he was just going to put his hands on my shoulders and I decided absolutely not. They were mine, and I was keeping them. The idiotic hierarchy here said I shouldn’t bewith them and I neededeveryoneto know how much I didn’t give a shit about that.
So, I just grabbed Celix and kissed him. He tensed at first and then he relaxed and started kissing me back.
“That is also an option and for the folks not in this courtyard, that is all Sydney and not the incubus behind her. He hasn’t started using his magic yet.”
I wrapped my arms around Celix and gave the cameras two enthusiastic thumbs up.
“All demons have the power to shapeshift and that’s what you’re going to want to tap into. It’s basic cellular manipulation. Celix is going to call up his magic like he’s going to shapeshift, but he’s going to send it to Sydney instead of keeping it. Now, she has tolethim do this, but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem and we might not even need Nero.”
I felt something pressing against my mind. It wasn’t invasive, and I didn’t feel like I was under attack. It felt different from Nero’s magic, so I knew it was Celix. I just relaxed and kept kissing him.
Celix’s magic rushed in and I felt it travel to my shoulder blades. I became moreawareof my wings. They felt like they were a part of me instead of two giant things growing out of my back. They felt like they wanted tomove.
My wings shot straight out and then I curled them around Celix so we could have a little privacy. I broke the kiss and cupped his cheek.
“Thank you. I needed this, but hopefully, it helps other demons too.”
“Any time. I’m not complaining, but why did you kiss me with all of Hell watching?”
“Because I’m keeping you as long as you’ll have me and I needed everyone to know that.”
Well, that was actually super easy and would have been helpful when I was younger. And Sydney trusted us more than any of us knew because I hadn’t had to use my magic at all. She knew my kind needed to feed off sex to stay strong and had given me permission to take what I needed. I had a fairly nice snack while Celix was fixing her wings.
Then, the shit hit the fan.
It started with Celix’s phone ringing. Kujo and I both knew that ringtone. It was the one he set for his mother.
“Please tell me that you told your mother you were involved with the heir to Hell,” Kujo said.
Yeah, Celix didn’t have to say a damned thing. The panicked look on his face said everything. Shit, I hadn’t called my mom either. It wasn’t that we were hiding it, there just hadn’t been time with everything involved. Our moms weren’t pushy, but they did want us happy with whichever partner we decided to settle down with.
Celix had an existential crisis long enough that it must have rolled over to voicemail. It almost immediately started ringing again. I didn’t know if this was going to be a happy call or a yelly call. She’d be thrilled he found someone, but not that she found out over the internet.
Celix picked up and there was a bunch ofyes ma’am'sandno ma’ams,but he could barely get a word in otherwise. I knew his mom pretty well. She only let him go after she said what she needed to say and if I knew her like I thought I did, she probably ordered him to bring Sydney over for dinner and then hung up in his face before he could offer any type of rebuttal.
“So, that just got blasted all over Hell. A bunch of news stations saw Lilith was back and got one look at Sydney’s wings and piggybacked on Wrathhog’s live. Mom was at the salon getting her claws done with her gossipy friends and they all wanted details about Sydney. Of course, with everything going on trying to find Lucifer and deal with breaches, I haven’t had time to actuallytellher about Sydney and now she has the vapors her son kissed the heir to Hell like that and she knew nothing about it. Anyway, she wants, no,demandedto meet Sydney.”
