by L-J Baker
In the light of day, Luc second guessed himself. Maybe all of this was a huge mistake. Maybe he shouldn't provoke Michael, or bring him so close to the tablet. Maybe he would lose against his brother once again. Maybe he shouldn't care so much. Earth wasn't supposed to be his home, Hell was.
What would happen to Hell?
If the gates were broken open, would he have a home to go back to? Would his father ever let him back in Heaven? Did he even want to go back there?
Questions swirled around Luc's mind giving him a throbbing migraine. He wanted to rewind, go back to last night when he was laughing with Talia. Or maybe further back, to the island with Valerie. Hell, if he could rewind, he should go back far enough to not have to deal with Michael at all.
Luc pulled out his phone and checked for messages. There were none. He was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. Sooner or later, he'd have to go downstairs and check in with his crew. Az would have talked to Gabriel by now and Uriel would be back from Heaven. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know how either of those things went.
The one thing he did want to know, was how Oz made out. He might not be sure if he was ready for Michael to show up, but he damn well wanted to know how much time he might have. Luc finished off his coffee and went to get dressed. Before he could make it through his tie, there was a knock at his door.
He adjusted the tie, hoped it wasn't Michael staring at him when he got there, and pulled open the door. Standing in a group, was Az, Uriel, Harley, and Oz. Other than maybe the mage, it wasn't like them to knock. It gave Luc an uneasy feeling.
He stood aside and let them pass, without questioning why they'd knocked in the first place. "Anyone want coffee?"
There were a few head shakes and a no, so Luc went to join them in his living room area. No one said anything at first and it didn't help Luc's uneasiness. When it was clear they weren't about to break the silence, he spoke.
"Why are you all here?"
"I'm finished with my work," Oz said, the first to speak up. "Your brother should sense what we've done here."
"When can we expect him?" Luc asked.
"It doesn't work that way," Oz said, taking a seat on the couch. "We've done our part. Now you need to wait for him to make his own decisions. He may never show up, or he could be here any second. There's no way to know. What I can tell you, is that he will feel drawn here, so the pull will be strong."
"I spoke with Gabriel," Az said and all eyes were on him. "He insists that he wasn't aware of what Michael was doing. He's been off spending time with a group of monks in Nepal for the past few years."
"That sounds like Gabe." Harley snorted.
"When I told him what Michael wanted, he seemed concerned. He said he would come, but not until the end of the week. He had to finish up his lessons."
"Again, sounds like Gabriel." This time it was Uriel who spoke. She was never all that fond of Gabriel. She and Luc used to spend hours making fun of Gabe and Michael. It was one of their favorite pastimes for a short while while growing up. From the scrunched up look on her face, Luc figured she didn't feel any more positive about him now.
"What the fuck good is it if he can't show up until after Michael attacks?" Harley dropped herself into Luc's favorite chair, but he didn't say anything.
"Like I said," Oz said. "There's no way of knowing when, or even if, Michael will show up. Your other brother very well may arrive before anything goes down."
Luc had prepared himself mentally for this to happen last night. He hadn't prepared for the fact that it could still take an indefinite amount of time. He'd needed to work with the mage because he wanted to bring the fight to Michael, in a manner of speaking. He was tired of waiting for the prick to show. He needed this to be over so he could shift some of his focus back to the game, especially when the month for lust was nearly on top of them.
It wasn't even that Luc wanted to make sure he could have a month of hot sex uninterrupted by family drama and maybe the end of the world. Although he did want those things. But top priority in his mind was to make sure he didn't put another innocent girl at risk.
Luc thought about the first movie he'd watched with Talia, with the angel who gave up everything to be with his true love, only to have her die the next day. He knew what happened when his soul mate died. It would likely be the last he'd see of her. She would go to heaven and he wouldn't be with her. The last thing he needed was to find her, then lose her to this battle with Michael.
"Lucifer," Uriel said, with her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, of course." He brushed her off and brought his attention back to the group. There was a time when he would have confided in Uriel, when every thought in his mind would have come out in a flood, but those times were long gone.
"Are you on board with that?" Az looked at Luc for a reply.
"With?"
Az blinked a few times, then repeated their plan to set up wards inside the bar, so that innocent patrons wouldn't be hurt in their battle. There were no guarantees of course, but trying to avoid needless bloodshed was always a good idea.
"I think we should have our human members of the security team replaced with others for now," Luc said. "They're no match for Michael, or whatever demons he brings with him, and they shouldn't have to give their lives for our fight."
Enough had been lost already. Not that demon, or mage lives couldn't be taken easily enough by an archangel. But they at least stood a chance. Humans had no shot.
"I can get a few mages I trust to fill in." Oz pulled out his phone and texted something without waiting for confirmation. Luc respected the guy. He was willing to put his own people at risk when he didn't have to. He'd done his part. He could have left them there to deal with the rest and come back when it was over. Of course helping out would give them their best shot at winning, and really, Oz only got his sister back if they won.
Luc thought about that for a moment. If they lost, and Michael did break open the gates of Hell, Oz's sister would be released anyway. He didn't know that, or Luc didn't think he did, but it was a fact either way. She would have no physical body on this plane, but being a mage, he could probably work through that with time.
If they won, Luc would turn her into a demon and she would not only have her body, but be practically immortal. He wasn't sure what Oz would prefer and he wanted to give him that choice. But the more people who knew about the tablet, the less safe it was. He made the call to tell Aivah because he needed her help and he thought it was his only shot. It worked, but what the consequences would be, were anyone's guess.
Before Luc could give it further thought, Oz left to work on the wards for downstairs. Harley joined him to brief the security team and set things up for new people to come in. She was also going to put out some feelers for a few demon recruits. Uriel decided to see if she could meet up with Gabe to hurry things along, and get him there sooner, leaving Az and Luc alone in the apartment.
"You look worried." Az poured two bourbons and handed one to Luc.
"The King of Hell doesn't worry." Luc accepted the drink and gulped down half of it.
"I never thought I'd see the day." Az sunk down into the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table.
"What day?"
"That I'd see you lie."
Luc ignored him and drank down the rest of his bourbon.
"What are we going to do with Michael when he does get here?" Az asked, handing his own drink to Luc, rather than getting up to pour another.
It was a good question.
Luc didn't want to kill his brother and he was positive his father wouldn't appreciate that after the way he handled the whole Cain and Abel thing. But he couldn't allow him to walk free, especially without knowing what it was he wanted the tablet for. If he intended on using it, there would be no stopping him while he was still roaming around, and according to Uriel, he did intend on using it.
Without killing him, Luc had only one option.
"I do
n't think I have a choice."
Az sat forward and dropped his feet to the floor. "The box?"
Luc nodded. It didn't make him happy to cage his brother in the Hell box. It was torture to be trapped in there, but it would hold him. It was designed to hold an archangel, Luc included. Their father had the damned thing created with the Hell Tablet and Luc was pretty sure Az was the only other living being that knew of its existence. He was the only one Luc trusted enough.
"Are you sure that's the only way?"
"Unless I want to murder him… which I do not."
"I think we need to get you a public relations manager, maybe someone like Olivia Pope. People should know you're not the dick they think you are."
"Are you saying you'd kill him?"
"I'm not saying I'd want to, but if it's him, or everything else, how do you choose one person?" Az shrugged, seemingly not bothered by the scenario. Taking a life, especially his own brother, would take a tremendous toll on Luc's conscience. Despite the bad rep, he wasn't evil.
"I think the box makes more sense." It wasn't a great alternative, but it was the only one he had. It would keep Michael from hurting anyone and it would keep the world safe. It would also give him time to figure shit out and decide what should be done long-term.
Now he just had to wait for Michael to show up.
Thank You for Reading!
If you enjoyed this, or any of my books, please take a moment to leave a review. They are so helpful in getting the word out there and helping others decide if a book might be worth their time. If you have any suggestions, ideas, problems, or just want to say hi, please feel free to look me up on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
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Books by LJ Baker
Ages 13+
Save Me (Life After the Outbreak, book 1)
Find Me (Life After the Outbreak, book 2)
Hold Me (Life After the Outbreak, book 3)
Stand Alone Books
Time Curse
The Clinic
18+ Only!
Undeniable (Bound Together, book 1)
Inevitable (Bound Together, book 2)
Unavailable (Bound Together, book 3)
Incapable (Bound Together, book 4)
Intolerable (Bound Together, book 5)
Unbearable (Bound Together, book 6)
Taking Chances (Learning to love, book 1)
Wrath (Seven Deadly Sins, book 1)
Gluttony (Seven Deadly Sins, book 2)
Greed (Seven Deadly Sins, book 3)
Sloth (Seven Deadly Sins, book 4)
Lust (Seven Deadly Sins, book 5)
Acknowledgments
If you happened to read the dedications in this series, you might wonder why they're all quotes. Darren Shan quotes, to be specific. Oddly, no one has asked me about that so far, so I'm assuming no one is really wondering, but I'm going to say a little something about it anyway.
My daughter, Rachel, had a favorite book series, that she would try to get everyone to read. Of course I read them, after much harassment, and understood her love for the series. When she died, I used one of the quotes in her eulogy and it stuck with me.
"Real life's nasty. It's cruel. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins."
For a long time, I couldn't write. Just being in my office reminded me of her and made everything too difficult. Eventually, I got to a place where I could write, in bits and pieces, and this series was born. She would have liked this story and these characters, so I've dedicated the whole thing to her, to her love of Cirque Du Freak, and to the struggle to come back from the ashes, even when bad things happen.
Oh, and read the books. Darren Shan is awesome.
Of course I also need to thank my youngest daughter, Jennylee, who begrudgingly beta reads, so blame her if you find a typo, and the rest of my family who will never read this book. I love the idiots, so they get a thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L J lives on the Jersey Shore with her husband, bratty kid and two crazy cats. Though writing has always been her first passion, she got a degree in psychological counseling and worked in the mental health field for a while, which she finds very helpful in dealing with her crazy family. She is a lover of all different types of music and books, switching between genres so wildly it sometimes makes people wonder if she has multiple personalities. She is most likely to be found writing romance stories of all kinds (contemporary, erotic, new adult, young adult, fantasy, paranormal, etc.). When she's not writing, she prefers to spend her time reading, taking photos, watching way too much television, or spending time with her family.
She would love to hear what you think of her work or answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to visit her and say hi.
Facebook.com/AuthorLJBaker
Twitter: @AuthorLJBaker
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www.lj-baker.com.