I opened my mouth to speak. I wanted to tell her the whole truth now. This felt like the right time to do it, but I hesitated. It might be the right time, but it was the wrong place. “We do have a lot in common. I already care a great deal for you, Beatrice.”
“And that surprises you,” she deduced.
“Yes,” I confessed. “I’m not used to letting people get close to me.”
“Neither am I,” she replied. “This has been a strange year for me. I’ve made more friends this year than I have in the last decade.”
“I’m glad you’re opening yourself up to others,” I told her. “Actually, part of me doesn’t want to share you with anyone, but I suppose it’s good that you have friends.”
She laughed. “If I didn’t have friends, we never would have met. It was Persephone who dragged me off to The Cauldron.”
“For that, I am eternally grateful to her,” I stated. “Ah, there’s our food. You’re right about how fast they are.”
“Thank you for trying all these places with me,” she said with a smile.
“Thank you for taking me to them,” was my response. “I was doubtful at first, but I’m enjoying your choice of restaurants.”
“So, food trucks the next time we go out?” she asked.
“If I must,” I replied with a sigh. In truth, I’d do anything to see Beatrice smile.
Chapter 31
Beatrice
“Everything looks perfect,” I assured Persephone when she moved the throw pillows around for the seventh time. The crazy witch had gone out and bought throw pillows to impress her mother! And that’s not all. She’d done something much worse. She’d met me at the diner where I was having lunch with Dev and insisted we go shopping for throw pillows together. Now, I knew what Hell was like.
“I never should have told her about Dev,” she muttered as she paced the room. Her nerves were frayed. I was certain it would be easier when her mom finally arrived. She’d been delayed at one of the transport tubes, giving Persephone more time to arrange the damn throw pillows and put out the guest towels. The last had come as a shock to me. We had guest towels. Who knew?
When the doorbell rang, Persephone froze. She simply stood there, staring at the throw pillows.
“Are you going to answer that?” I asked.
“What if she tries to make me go home?” she asked.
“You are an adult,” I reminded her. “Plus, your mom is great. You’ve said it yourself dozens of times. There is no reason to be afraid of her reaction.”
“I’ve never heard her as upset as she was when I mentioned Dev,” she whispered.
“It’s going to be fine,” I assured her on my way to answer the door. Someone had to let her mom in, and it obviously wasn’t going to be Persephone.
The woman on the other side of the door launched herself at me. I had no time to defend myself from the hug. Dear goddess! What was wrong with these people?
“You must be Beatrice!” she exclaimed, rocking back and forth with me in her arms. “I’ve heard all about the horrible things that have happened to you, but it’s okay. I’m here now.”
“Okay,” I squeaked, not sure how to respond to this level of affection. When I’d thought no one could be worse than Persephone, I’d been mistaken. The woman hugging me was the spitting image of Persephone. They could pass for sisters.
“Mom,” Persephone interrupted. “Beatrice is still getting used to hugging, so you need to go easy on her.”
“Oh!” her mom exclaimed, releasing me and taking a step back. “I hadn’t even considered that.”
“Come on in,” I told her. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” I hesitated, not sure what to call her. Persephone hadn’t told me her mother’s name.
“Call me Demi,” she said as she made her way into the apartment. “Oh! I love these throw pillows.”
Persephone gave me an I told you so look.
“You didn’t need to come out here early, Mom,” Persephone began nervously.
“You don’t want me here?” Demi asked.
“Of course, I want you here,” Persephone assured her. “I was excited about you coming in a couple of weeks.”
“She freaked out and started cleaning like a crazy woman when she found out you were coming today,” I added, leaving out the throw pillow shopping.
“You don’t need to go to any trouble for me,” Demi insisted before stopping to consider what she’d said. “That sounded ridiculous, didn’t it? Of course, you’re worried about proving that you’re doing fine on your own. It’s only natural.”
“I want you to be proud of me,” Persephone told her.
Demi moved across the room to hug Persephone. “Of course, I’m proud of you. Look how much you’ve accomplished. I’d rather you weren’t out here, but I can’t keep you in a bubble forever. It was a mistake to hide you away as long as I did.”
“Why didn’t you want Persephone around other witches?” I asked. My friend didn’t understand her parents’ reasoning. She had only a vague idea of why they felt they needed to isolate her from the preternatural community.
“I don’t need to tell you that there are a lot of dangers in the world,” Demi began. “Many of them you won’t understand until it’s too late.”
That answered absolutely nothing and made me wonder if Demi was hiding something. There was no time to ponder her words before she was on the attack regarding Dev.
“You both need to stay away from angels,” she told us. “No good can come from involving yourself with a fallen angel.”
Persephone blew out a frustrated breath. “They aren’t all bad. I’ve met Dev, and he seems nice. Rainer Vigil has stopped by Bliss several times, and he’s also very nice.”
“Rainer Vigil?” Demi screeched. “You’ve been spending time around one of Lucifer’s closest friends? Next thing you know, you’ll tell me you’ve met Lucifer.”
“I’ve never met Lucifer,” Persephone assured her. “I only see Rainer at work occasionally. I also saw him at The Cauldron the night we met Dev.”
“Hanging around with Dev could get you into trouble,” Demi stated. “What’s his full name? If you tell me, I can find out more information about him.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “He introduced himself as Dev, and I never asked if that was his full name.” Fallen angels didn’t have last names, and while Dev was likely short for something else, I didn’t see any reason to find out his full name. For all I knew, he could hate the name, or it could be difficult to pronounce.
Demi sat on the sofa and pulled out her tablet. “I’ll look up all the fallen angels who might go by that name. You can pick out your Dev from their photos.”
“You have a fallen angel database?” I asked.
“Yes,” Demi replied. “I have files on every angel.”
“Why?” Persephone asked.
“They’re a danger to you,” Demi replied.
She turned the tablet toward me. The page was filled with images but no names. “These are all the fallen angels who might go by Dev. Lucifer’s also on there, but obviously you aren’t dating the devil.”
“That’s him,” I said, tapping the screen.
All the color drained from Demi’s face. “You’re joking, right?”
“No,” I replied. “Why do you think I’m joking?”
“That’s definitely Dev,” Persephone agreed.
“That’s Lucifer,” Demi breathed out.
“Which one?” I asked.
“Your Dev,” was her barely audible reply. “You are dating Lucifer.”
No one spoke. It wasn’t possible. There had to be a mistake.
“It can’t be,” I argued.
“She’s right,” Persephone agreed. “There’s no way Beatrice is dating Lucifer.”
“I stole Lucifer’s car,” I added.
“You stole Lucifer’s car?” Demi screeched.
“It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds,” I insisted. “Dev can’t be Lucif
er. Why would Lucifer date someone like me?”
“Why did you steal his car?” Demi pushed.
“There was a good reason,” Persephone explained.
“There is never a good reason to steal from Lucifer,” Demi argued. “This is bad. This is very bad.”
I was still certain she was mistaken. My mind was racing over every detail of my dates with Dev, trying to figure out some way to prove Dev and Lucifer weren’t the same fallen angel.
“This is still fixable,” Demi said in a calmer voice. “You’ll end things before he figures out you’re the one who stole his car. It might be best to hide you at my place for a few months.” She gave me a wobbly smile. “There’s no reason to panic. You’re family now, so we’ll take care of you.”
“I am?” I asked.
“Of course, you are,” Persephone assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. When I looked at her, I could see it in her eyes. She believed her mom. She believed I was dating Lucifer.
“Oh, goddess,” I uttered. “I’ve been dating Lucifer. I told Lucifer I stole his car.”
“We’ll pack your things now,” Demi insisted. “Which room is yours?”
I said nothing, just gestured to my room.
“It’s going to be okay,” Persephone told me, her arm still wrapped around my shoulders.
I nodded, unable to speak. I’d finally met a guy I liked, and everything between us was a lie. I didn’t know if he was playing games with me or if he was trying to punish me for stealing his car. Whatever the reason, my shock quickly turned to anger.
“That lying bastard,” I hissed.
“We should do something horrible to him,” Persephone added because she was a great friend—the kind I could count on to bring a tarp and shovels if I asked her to.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I want to end things. Tomorrow, I’ll have him come over here and tell him it’s over.”
“You’re going to break up with the devil?” Persephone gasped.
“I may punch the devil in his lying face,” I grumbled.
“I’m sorry he hurt you,” Persephone said quietly.
I didn’t want to think about how he’d hurt me, but it was hard to avoid. This was what I got for getting attached to a virtual stranger. We’d had four dates, if you counted the night we met at the club. “I was a fool for letting him get this close to me,” I whispered.
“No,” Persephone told me. “He was a fool for hurting you. Now, let’s go stop my mom before she has your whole room packed up.”
I nodded, and we went into my room to convince Demi I didn’t need to go into hiding. Something told me it was going to be a long night.
Chapter 32
Lucifer
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was bothering Beatrice. All her responses to my texts had been one or two words long. She’d insisted she didn’t have time to talk on the phone. Beatrice was avoiding me, but I had no idea why. At least, I was seeing her today. This was a big day for us. I’d find out if Beatrice could accept me for who I was. If I was lucky, I’d be able to convince her to have round the clock security. Even after I located her brother, it would be safer.
I stood outside her door, took a deep breath and hesitated. My friends would laugh their asses off if they saw me acting like a nervous twit. My phone buzzed as I was about to knock, and I looked down to find a message that made my blood run cold.
Hades: Zareya and the warlock escaped the demon realm.
Lucifer: How? There’s no way out of that sector without the help of a guard.
Hades: The warlock killed one of the snitches and took his form. He also killed one of our demon guards using an angelic weapon.
I cursed under my breath. New plan; I needed to tell Beatrice who I was and get her to stay with me until it was safe. I might also need to find a safe place for her friend. I didn’t know if Desmond had any idea who her friends were, but Beatrice wouldn’t want me to take any chances with Persephone’s safety.
Lucifer: Send Rainer and Xavier to look for him. They can bring some demon guards.
Hades: Want me to contact the prissy angels?
Lucifer: No. We still have no idea who we can trust. One of them is working with Desmond and Zareya. Until I know who it is, we trust no upside angels.
Hades: Got it. When will you be back?
Lucifer: Soon. I’ll be bringing Beatrice with me. I may also have her roommate with me.
Hades: Okay. I’m going to question some prisoners about Desmond and Zareya’s escape.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and knocked. As soon as Beatrice opened the door, I knew something was seriously wrong. She looked tired and sad.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“No,” she replied. “I’m not okay.”
“Can I come in?” I asked. She was still blocking the entrance to her apartment, so I wasn’t certain of my welcome. Barging in wasn’t the best way to start this conversation.
She let out a frustrated breath and stepped back. “I guess you should come in. My neighbors don’t need to hear this.”
I stepped inside. When I reached for her, she took a step back. “Don’t touch me, Lucifer.”
Shit! This was going to make it harder to convince her to go with me, but I was certain she’d see reason. Yes, she thought I was an asshole for lying to her, but she’d have plenty of time to get over it when I got her to safety.
“I was going to tell you today,” I began. “That’s what I wanted to talk about.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. I should trust the devil to tell me the truth. Clever trick with the name—Dev, short for the Devil.”
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. “I know you’re upset, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get you to give me a chance. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” she asked, “What makes you think you have the power to hurt me?”
“We need to talk,” I told her. “There’s a lot going on. Your brother has escaped, and he may know you were seen with me.” He’d gotten help from an angel, so it was possible that angel was Michael. “I need to get you back to my place where I can keep you safe. Once we’re there, you can scream at me, or even hit me, but we don’t have time to do this here.”
She hadn’t interrupted me. That had to be a good sign.
Chapter 33
Beatrice
It took me some time to process all he’d said. My brother was out of the demon realm. That meant he was going to come after me. It wouldn’t be that easy for him to find me. He had no idea where I lived or who I spent time with. I wasn’t the only one in danger. He’d wanted Julia dead before, so he was likely to go after her again. I needed to warn her.
“Beatrice,” Lucifer began softly. “We need to go.”
I glared at him, nearly trembling with rage. “Go?” I asked.
“To my place,” he replied patiently. “We’ll talk more there.”
I shook my head and stepped back when he reached for me. “There’s nothing to talk about. I trusted you, and you made a fool of me. Everyone around us knew. They all watched me drag you off to dive restaurants. I almost took you to a food truck. You’re the fucking devil!” I shouted. “I’ll bet you got a good laugh at my stupidity.”
“It’s not like that, Beatrice,” he argued. “I didn’t want you to think of me as Lucifer. I wanted you to see me as a man. It was always my intention to tell you. I really was coming over here to tell you today. I wanted to tell you yesterday but not at that diner.”
“I don’t believe you,” I ground out. “You’ve lied to me about everything. From day one, you lied about who you are.”
“We can’t stay here, Beatrice,” he began urgently. “It’s not safe.”
“I told you about me stealing your car. I confessed to you. Is that what this is about?” I asked. “Are you punishing me for stealing from you? Did you think it would be fun to make me look like an idiot in front of everyone? As if I’m no
t already an outcast, you had to make me into a joke, too.”
“Punishing you?” he demanded, sounding angry. “I didn’t even know you’d stolen my car when I told you my name was Dev.”
“Then what was your intention?” I asked. “Why would you care how I see you? If this wasn’t some joke, and you weren’t trying to punish me, what did you want?”
“To make you mine,” he ground out. “I want you with me always.”
I shook my head, backing away more. “That is never going to happen. Just leave.”
“No,” was his reply.
“This is my home,” I reminded him. “You have no right to be here.”
“I don’t want to force you to go with me,” he stated.
“Good,” I snapped. “If you leave, you won’t have to force me to go with you.”
He let out a frustrated sigh before speaking again. “Be reasonable, Beatrice. You’re in danger. While you may be mad at me now, you’ll get over it. We’ll talk more, and things will be fine.”
“Get this through your head.” I bit out each word. “I am not going anywhere with you. Not now. Not tomorrow. Never!”
I must have lost my mind. I was standing there, arguing with Lucifer. Twenty-four hours ago, if someone had asked me if I’d be willing to stand up to someone this powerful, I’d have told them no and called them crazy for even asking. I should be terrified, but I wasn’t. I was furious.
His blue eyes darkened until they were nearly black. “You are going with me,” he practically growled. “I don’t care how angry it makes you. I won’t allow you to endanger yourself. Gather up what you need. We’ll figure out how to keep your roommate safe once you’re at my place.”
“You bastard,” I hissed before racing into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me.
Lucifer beat on the bathroom door. “Beatrice! Don’t shut me out like this!”
I said nothing, knowing I wouldn’t be able to hide in here long. He’d lose patience. I was surprised he hadn’t already broken down the door. Lucifer likely didn’t have many people refuse to follow his orders, certainly not low-ranking witches.
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