“That woman intends to use my future husband as a sacrifice.” Her tail whipped back and forth and thunder rumbled in the distance.
I watched the dark energy around her flare while the lights above us dimmed. “You used to cry and make me take bugs out of our apartment in a scrap of paper rather than squashing them.”
“That was back when I had a soul,” Lisa said. “Now I have a groom to save. So are we going in there together or do you want me to handle it on my own?”
“We’re going in there together.”
She pushed the door open. Inside, two demons stood guard over Valerie. They turned to us, their eyebrows raised.
“Out.” I jerked my head toward the hallway.
“But your father—” the younger of the two demons started.
“Do I look like I’m in the mood to be argued with?” I made my eyes flash black.
“No, Your Highness, but…” He looked over at the older demon, his eyes wide.
“I’m not my father,” I said.
“Oh be gone already,” Lisa said and snapped her fingers in his direction. The two demons in front of us disappeared in identical puffs of brimstone.
“Well that makes things simpler.” I sauntered into Matt’s living room and leaned back against the island that separated it from the kitchen. I crossed my arms and made a show of crossing my ankles. My gaze traveled over my arch nemesis.
She was sitting upright on the couch, her chin raised and her eyes blazing. Her hands were clamped down on her knees and I could see that her ankles were pressed tightly together. The bonds woven around her caused the air to shimmer like an oasis in the desert and the garlicky smell of pure fury rolled off of her.
“Far be it from me to judge.” I gave her my bitchiest smile. “But the look of total failure doesn’t seem to suit you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Valerie sneered. “I’m not telling you anything, you worthless bastard of the Devil.”
“First,” I replied, “my father recognized me as his own. Second, my parents would be married right now if you hadn’t stolen my brother and made them postpone their wedding. So if I were you I would be very glad that it’s me who came in here and not the bride. She’s pissed, and let me tell you, my mother is not a woman you mess with when she’s pissed. My dad won’t even cross her. Third, telling me you aren’t going to tell me anything might be the most clichéd thing I’ve ever heard come out of someone’s mouth. It screams cartoon villain. Now, try again.”
“Go to Hell.”
“Been there.” Lisa inspected her fingernails and then yawned. “Done that. Planned on leaving with a T-shirt, and walked out with a husband.”
Valerie gave her a vicious grin. “Not yet you haven’t.”
Lisa’s eyes flashed red as dark power flared to life around her. She smothered it, but clearly Valerie had gotten to her. Unfortunately, for the nephilim sitting across from us, that probably wasn’t a good thing.
“Oh, you’re going to tell me where Tolliver is.” Lisa slinked into the living room and sat in the easy chair across from the couch, acting like this was something she dealt with every day. “The only question is, how much fun am I going to get to have with you before we get to that point?”
“You can’t do anything to me,” Valerie said, directing her rage at me. “Not beyond what you’ve already put me through in your attempts to destroy my son.”
What I had done to destroy her son? Hello? Someone was four or five beers short of a six-pack, wasn’t she?
“You were the one who did that.” I glowered at the madwoman in front of us. “You sent him to be attacked by feral sprites, not me. You sent him to his death.”
“Sacrifices had to be made.”
The madness rolled off of her in an almond-scented cloud. I sniffed, trying to find the lower, flowery notes of regret or sadness, but couldn’t detect them.
She felt nothing when we talked about her son and his death. He was nothing more than a pawn for her to use as she saw fit and, when he quit being useful, she sacrificed him.
“Besides, I couldn’t have my own son doubting my rule in such a blatant fashion. The others were beginning to talk because of his dalliance with you.” Her scent flared to a bitter burnt toffee smell, intermingling with the madness.
He wasn’t toeing her party line so she had him killed? She couldn’t be happy to just have him out of her hair? No, she came into our homes and destroyed him instead. Then she thought she was going to walk away from this without any lasting consequences. Well, she could think again. I might be the Devil’s nice daughter but nice was relative, and she’d worn out my last nice nerve.
“Well, so you know, I intend to inform every single one of your followers that he died trying to save me,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “What?”
I couldn’t help but wonder how she had planned on explaining the cold-blooded murder of her own son. Had she even cared about it before now? She’d probably intended to let them believe I’d killed him for the fun of it. Or because I was bored. Or any other reason she thought might fire them up so they would be ready for war against all demonkind.
“He almost killed himself to save me,” I repeated. “Now, do you want to take a guess on how fast I can turn your sacrificial lamb into a martyr? Then what happens? A martyr of your own making is a tough act to follow. Ask the Romans. Oh wait, you can’t. They’re all dead.”
“My son wouldn’t dare,” Valerie gasped, her mouth hanging open. “He would have never given himself for you.”
“Believe it.” He’d been stupid. Foolish. And utterly without fear the entire time. Not that I was going to give her the comfort of knowing that.
“He wouldn’t.” She glared at me and the smell of almonds filled the room, saturating the air around us like a cloud of nasty smelling perfume.
“Because she’s a demon?” Lisa looked up from her fingernails and glanced first at Valerie and then at me.
“No, because he’s a coward.” Valerie was so angry the hairs on her arm were standing on end. “My youngest son is nothing but a coward. He feared the coming war and ran from it like a child. He ran from his duty and hid behind a demon’s skirts. His death at your hands will make him the hero he would have never been in life.”
“But he didn’t die by my hands.” I tried to keep my face emotionless and my tone dry. It wouldn’t do to let her see she was getting to me. If I wanted to succeed in finding Tolliver, I couldn’t let go of the upper hand. Besides, if Lisa could control herself right now, with her fiancé’s life on the line, so could I. “He died by his own hands. He rushed into your pack of sprites and fought them off, alone, to save me. That sounds like bravery to me. I wonder what your followers would think.”
“They’ll never know,” she said, the madness causing her eyes to glow a brilliant gold color instead of their normal hazy green. “They’ll believe whatever I tell them, and I’ll tell them that you dragged him into a pit of imps and let them tear him limb from limb. There’s only you to say otherwise, and who do you think they’ll believe? A demon or me?”
“There’s only one problem with that,” Lisa said. “You’re here and your poor, pathetic followers are not.”
“You can’t keep me trapped in an apartment in the mortal realm forever. People will begin to talk. The police will come. Then how will you explain what you’ve done to me?” Valerie tried to lean forward but the bonds held her in place.
“We have no intention of keeping you here. You’re right—someone would notice. Besides, you’re too much of a nuisance to keep next door.” Lisa relaxed into the easy chair like they were having a discussion over where to have lunch and not about the fates of two men.
“Then what’s the point of your threat? It’s not like you can send me to Hell. There are other demons besides Borisiphan who are corruptible. I can raise an army,” Valerie boasted. Her voice grated with triumph at the thought she had bested us somehow.
“Probably no
t.” Lisa crossed her legs and let the right one swing back and forth like the pendulum of a clock. “Not for anything you’ve got to give away at least. No, we won’t keep you in Hell because we don’t like you and we don’t want you there. Hell’s too good for trash like you.”
“Trash?” Valerie asked, her voice feral. “You, a demon, are calling me trash?”
“You’re a crazy nephilim who hides inside a reality bubble because you’re terrified of a bunch of mortals.”
“People fear what they don’t understand,” she sniffed. “Once we’ve taken our rightful place everything will be revealed, and they’ll come to understand our dominion over them.”
“Um, no.” I shook my head. “I don’t know how we haven’t gotten this through to you yet, but you’re not going to have control over anyone. Ever again. The Angale are never going to control the Earth. You thought your son was a coward. But he was a realist, desperately trying to escape the insane fantasies you spun inside your cracked out mind. Like the fantasy where you kidnapped the Crown Prince of Hell and thought you’d get away with it.”
“Okay.” Lisa popped out of her seat, cracking her knuckles. “I think I’ve had enough of Crazy Time with Valerie. It’s time to play a new game. Let’s play Fifty Ways to Torture the Nephilim. I bet we’d be good at that game. What do you think, Faith?”
“Oh, I’m sure we can come up with something inspired.” I glanced at Lisa, who’d started pacing, and then back at Valerie. If we were lucky, Valerie would start spilling and we wouldn’t have to actually try hurting someone else. Because, no matter what Lisa might think, there was a difference between being soulless and committing torture, and I wasn’t quite so eager to hop over that big, fat line. “We work in a children’s hospital and people do seriously sick shit to their kids sometimes. Some of the stuff we’ve seen is bound to come in handy on occasion.”
“Now.” Lisa stepped closer to Valerie and pointed at her nose. “The rules are simple. I’m going to beat the Hell out of you for no reason whatsoever. For as long as I want. And when I get tired of it, Faith will take over.”
“How is that going to get me to tell you where the demon is?” Valerie asked.
“It’s not, but you said you had no intention of telling me that. So there’s no point in trying.” Lisa shrugged and gave Valerie a bone-chilling smile.
“Besides, we’ve already got a way into the Angale compound.” I hoped she trusted me enough to go along with my lies.
“No, you don’t,” Valerie said, her upper lip curling into a sneer.
“Oh. But we do,” I replied. “See, while we’ve been distracting you, the rest of my father’s forces have been burning your compound to the ground and taking your followers prisoner.”
“You have no way into the Angale compound. With my son dead, the only person who could take you there is me.” She gave me a smug smile, her eyes twinkling with self-satisfied madness.
“Nope.” I looked at Valerie, the smile still on my face, and wrinkled my nose at her like an annoyed teenage babysitter trying to keep her patience while dealing with a naughty two-year-old. “We’ve got your stepson, and let me tell you, he was more than willing to help us out. Especially with the deal my father agreed to.”
“Deal? What deal would your father strike with Levi?”
“Well, you inspired it, actually,” I said. “The Angale need a leader and you know what’s better than a Plain Jane old messiah? Or a martyr?”
“What?”
“Someone charismatic. Someone who’s been touched.”
“Touched?”
“By God,” I explained. “Levi was a nephilim with no powers, the weakest among your group. To suddenly appear with all of your powers…”
Valerie swallowed, her eyes filled with doubt. “The Alpha wouldn’t dare.”
I faked an incredulous laugh. “He’ll take all of your powers and more. He’ll give them to Levi and let you take his place inside the Grey Lands. He wouldn’t even hesitate. Now, I’ve told you everything, so let’s quit talking and get back to the game. Lisa? If you’d like to do the honors?”
“Gladly,” the demoness said. She curled her fingers inward, toward her palms, letting the nails transform into razor sharp talons. “Last chance to play nicely. Tell us where exactly to find my future husband.”
“You don’t scare me,” Valerie said, her voice trembling, and the sour notes of fear mingled with the almond scent of her madness.
“She is a walking cliché, isn’t she?” A cool, mocking voice came from the doorway. I spun and found my father’s former consort standing there with her hands on her hips and a mocking smile on her face. Lilith was dressed in black linen drawstring pants with a red, kimono-style top wrapped around her curvy frame. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun at the top of her head.
She tucked a stray lock behind her left ear and sauntered into the room and turned to Lisa. “And you, my little dove, you’ve got to learn to control your temper. Otherwise, you’ll kill my son by your second wedding anniversary. What have I told you before? Clawing someone’s face off is always your last resort in any situation.”
“If I keep my temper much longer, I won’t have a second wedding anniversary,” Lisa pointed out, her voice brittle.
“True, but you haven’t gotten anything out of her yet. Have you?”
“No.” Lisa retracted her talons and shuffled over to the chair she’d been sitting in earlier, plopping down like a pissed off teenager.
“Well then why don’t you let me try?” Lilith sat on the coffee table, in front of Valerie so that their knees touched. She reached for the silver crucifix Valerie had around her neck and lifted it with her finger, giving it the once over before dropping it. “Children. What can you do? So temperamental.”
Valerie sneered at Lilith, her eyes glowing, and dampened power crackling around her in waves.
“Now,” Lilith continued, “you and I are going to talk. Mother to mother.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” Valerie struggled against her bonds, trying to pull away from Lilith’s touch.
“I think you do.” Lilith leaned toward Valerie so that they were almost close enough to kiss. “Since you’ve taken my son.”
“That sounds like your problem, Daughter of Lust, not mine.” Valerie jerked her head back and her eyes were filled with fire.
“Oh good, you know who I am.” Lilith crossed her arms and gave the other woman a vicious smile. “That will make things so much easier.”
I glanced at Lisa. Lil had always been nice to me, but I couldn’t claim to know her very well. Lilith had, obviously, kept her distance from me and Hope when we were kids. Not that I could blame her. Watching the man you were totally devoted to constantly make up and break up with someone like Mom had to be sheer torture. Why in the name of Evil would you want to add insult to injury by getting close to the other woman’s kids?
“Everyone knows who you are,” Valerie said, her lips curling up in disgust. “From what I understand, most men know you quite well.”
“None of that now,” Lilith wagged her finger under the other woman’s nose and kept her voice still upbeat. “We don’t want to start this off by insulting each other. It will only make negotiations so much more difficult in the long run if we’re both working from hurt feelings.”
“What negotiations?” Valerie asked.
“You have taken my son,” Lilith said. “I want him back.”
“Right now, he’s the only thing keeping me here and not in some type of banishment in Purgatory. Or worse.” Valerie laughed. “What makes you think I’ll give him to you?”
“You’re going to give him to me because I have your children.”
“You have my coward of a son. What good will that do? Keep him. He’s served his purpose to me. I have no more need of the boy.”
“You misunderstand me.” Lilith shook her head. “I didn’t say I had your son. I said I had your children. All of them.”
“How?�
�� Valerie asked, the scent of desperation rolling off her in waves of burnt cotton candy.
“It was easy. All I had to do was wait. While everyone else was out running around, looking over hill and dale for my son, acting like a bunch of novice succubi in a strip club, I’ve been waiting. I knew without you there to hold the Angale in with an iron fist, someone was going to take a chance at freedom.” Lilith sat back and rested her weight on her palms. “You should have expected it really.”
“They wouldn’t.”
“They did.” Lilith shrugged.
Lisa’s eyes were as wide as mine. Lilith had just waited in Biloxi for someone to appear out of thin air? They would have given off an energy signature, so she would have felt them the minute they stepped out of the reality bubble. She could’ve phased right to them and watched them go inside. Why the Hell hadn’t we thought of that?
“If you had a way in, why send this one?” Valerie jerked her head at me. “Why send my son into an ambush for no reason?”
“That wasn’t me,” Lilith said. “That was all Tolliver’s father. Men never listen. Not your son. Not his father. Not my son and most definitely not his father. Waiting is a concept that is beyond their ability to understand. Much better to rush in and see what happens. But you and I know better, don’t we?”
“We are nothing alike,” Valerie spat.
“No, we’re not.” Lilith shook her head. “But right now, we’re in the same place. That’s why I know you’ll tell me what you won’t tell them. They’re just silly girls without children of their own who think a little physical pain is the worst you can take. I know better.”
“What are you going to do?”
“It’s not what I’m going to do. It’s what I’ve done.” Lilith rested her elbows on her knees. “I’ve taken your grandchildren. Every. Single. One. And once I had them, their parents came stumbling after. They aren’t as willing as you are to sacrifice their young for your cause. Now, if you want them back, you’re going to tell me where my son is.”
“Never.”
“Then I’m going to start by taking the souls of your grandchildren,” Lilith said.
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