“We’ll begin training tomorrow after you’ve had a chance to rest,” Bastien told me.
“Thank you.” I swallowed in an attempt to bring my emotions back under control, but it was hard. I looked again at the people in the room, including my nephew and my son, remembering all they’d done for me. I wouldn’t be alive now if not for them. “I can’t thank you all enough.”
Once everyone had left, I spun around to face Lucifer. “Why didn’t you tell me about Kassiel?”
He let out a frustrated sigh as he moved behind the bar. “As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been slowly doling out information about your past lives to not overwhelm you. When you walked into my penthouse and asked me to find your friend, I couldn’t exactly say, ‘hey, I know we just met, but we have three sons together.’”
Three... Yes.
I remembered now. In the back corners of my mind, I’d known I had children, but now the feeling inside me sharpened, and with it came two other names: Belial and Damien.
“Where are they now?” I asked. Belial was the oldest, born during my original life as Eve. Damien came second, when I was Persephone, and Kassiel was the youngest. They each had centuries between them, but that was fairly normal since having a child as an immortal was difficult and rare.
Lucifer scowled and poured himself a drink. “I haven’t seen either of them in years.”
“Why not?” I sat on a barstool and watched the amber liquid pour into his glass. “I’ll take one too.”
Lucifer arched one of his perfect, dark eyebrows, looking every inch the handsome devil he was. “I thought you didn’t drink.”
“That was back when I thought my parents were killed by a drunk driver.” As soon as he poured me a glass, I downed it and set the glass down, feeling the burn in my throat. Not that it would affect me now that I was an angel again. And if there was ever a time for a drink, it was now.
Lucifer looked amused as he poured me a second drink. “Damien lives in Faerie and acts as a spy in High King Oberon’s court. We pretend to be estranged so Oberon will trust him, but he secretly reports back to me.”
“Sounds dangerous.” I bristled a little, wondering how he could put our son in such danger.
“It was his idea.” He lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug. “Damien can handle himself. We made sure of that.”
I stared into my glass, reminding myself that my sons were not boys anymore, but ancient, powerful men in their own right. How strange to realize your own children were older than you were—at least in this body.
“And Belial…” Lucifer finished his whiskey and slammed the glass down on the counter. “I don’t know where Belial is. We haven’t spoken in centuries.”
Centuries? How was that possible? I vaguely recalled that our eldest son had always had a difficult relationship with Lucifer, though the details were still fuzzy. I hoped more of them would come back to me soon. “And Kassiel? What’s he been doing all these years?”
“He’s been working as a spy among the angels for me for some time,” Lucifer said, practically swelling with pride for our son. “He recently helped take down a secret society of angels bent on sending all demons back to Hell permanently.”
A smile lit up my face upon hearing of our son’s accomplishments, but then it dropped when I remembered there should have been a fourth child. Our first and only daughter. I quickly looked away before the emotion could grab hold of me again.
Lucifer slowly walked around the bar, then put his arm around me, drawing me against him. “I know. I mourn her as well.”
I let him comfort me, putting my head on his chest as I thought about the little girl that should’ve been. The pain haunted me as if it had happened yesterday. When I looked up at Lucifer I sensed he felt the same grief, though he was much better at hiding it.
Unable to help myself, I reached up and touched his jaw, slowly rubbing my fingertips across the dark stubble. That light touch seemed to ignite something inside him, because his eyes suddenly blazed just before he lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine. Fire coursed through me as his mouth claimed me, reminding me he was my mate and we were meant to be together. That I was his, always his, for all eternity.
My body begged me to surrender, to lose myself in him, but somehow I managed to pull back. Our eyes met, and I felt short of breath, my blood racing with desire. Lucifer’s lips were parted slightly, practically demanding I kiss them again, and it took every ounce of willpower not to close the gap between us. The bond between us was strong, drawing us together at all times, and we’d been through so much together, it was natural for us to want to find comfort in each other again. But I wasn’t ready to be with him. Not yet. He still had a lot to answer for, and I still had to figure out who I was, both with and without Lucifer.
“I’m going to bed,” I said.
“Yes, you are,” Lucifer growled. “With me.”
I hated how sexy he was when he was arrogant and demanding, and I hated how much I desperately wanted to give in to him. But I wouldn’t. I refused. “Not a chance.”
The look he gave me was absolutely smoldering. “I’m tempted to haul you over my shoulder and carry you back to my bed, but I’ll give you tonight to rest. But that’s it. One night.”
Heat pooled between my thighs at his words, despite my objections. “And then?”
Darkness gathered around him as he gave me a villainous smile. “And then I’ll remind you that you’re mine.”
11
Hannah
The next day, Bastien joined me just after breakfast to begin my training, and I suggested we head outside onto the balcony since it was such a nice day. You’d never know it was November in Las Vegas, with those perfect blue skies and the warm breeze. My angelic side wanted to let my wings out and preen in the sun like a bird, but I restrained myself.
We took seats at a table near the infinity pool, with a view of the famous Vegas Strip below us. Bastien’s sharp eyes focused on me, and I had a feeling he never missed anything. “We’re going to start by learning about auras,” he said. “In your position you’ll need to be able to discern truth.”
I nodded, eager to learn—or remember, rather. “I can already tell if someone is lying. Even when I was a human I...felt things. Like a gut instinct. I just didn’t know what it was then.”
“That was your Ofanim powers coming through even though they were suppressed. Now you must do it with intention. Viewing auras allows you to see the truth about someone even if they don’t speak. Do you remember how to see them?”
I filtered through my memories, but nothing came to mind. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, but I shook my head as frustration prickled through each of my nerves. “No, I can’t seem to bring the ability to mind.”
“That’s understandable after what you’ve been through. The memories you’ve lost and regained.” His voice was calm and level, like a professor giving a lecture. “When I look at someone’s aura, it’s like instead of smelling or tasting, there’s another sense. You simply need to turn that sense on.”
“But how?”
“It’s like examining the light around us in a different way, and bending it to our will.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant but I tried again. Nothing worked. It was like I was blocked somehow.
After a few minutes of failure, he sat back and stroked his chin while he considered me. “I suppose we could try a trick they use to teach the new Ofanim at Seraphim Academy, though it seems rather silly to me.”
“I’m open to anything at this point,” I said.
He let out a sigh, as if the idea was distasteful to him. “Very well. First, close your eyes. Then imagine you have a pair of sunglasses, perfectly shaped for your face.”
“Sunglasses?” I asked with a laugh, but I did as he said, picturing a pair of black shades in a slightly retro style, the kind you’d wear while sitting at the pool and sipping a margarita.
“Yes. Now hold them in your hands and pretend t
o put them on your face, imagining that lens going in front of your eyes and how it changes the way you see the world.” He spoke slowly, and I did what he said. “When you open your eyes, you will now view the world through the lens of truth.”
The whole thing felt ridiculous, and I was about to laugh it all off, but when I opened my eyes, everything had changed. It was as if my eyes had relaxed behind the pretend lenses, allowing me to truly see.
Bastien’s bright aura circulated around his body, the color predominantly ice blue, like a frosty winter morning, with a ring of white light shimmering around the edges. Other colors swirled throughout the aura too, but there wasn’t a speck of darkness there.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“Yes, most of them are. Can you see the bright light around my aura? That tells you I’m an angel.”
I nodded slowly as it began to come back to me. “Demons have a ring of darkness.”
“Indeed. And do you remember what the other colors mean?”
“They give you a hint about personality. Yours is predominantly blue.” I spoke faster as I remembered. “You’re calm and thoughtful. Intellectual. But there’s a thread of red throughout too—you’re in love.”
He cleared his throat and looked away. “Very good. Now I want you to tell me if I’m lying solely by looking at my aura. My favorite food is broccoli.”
His aura didn’t change, just continued to swirl with bright beautiful colors, and I had to laugh. “True. But seriously? Broccoli?”
“It’s versatile,” he said with a slight shrug. “My right hand is dominant.”
“Also true.”
“I grew up in Georgia.”
His aura became murky and dim as he spoke the words, and I nearly jumped out of my chair. “False!”
“Correct,” he said with the faintest hint of a smile.
The success emboldened me, and we continued on for a few minutes, before Bastien decided we could move on. Since I was having trouble controlling my powers of light, we worked on that next. My emotions seemed to trigger it, and Bastien helped me remember how to summon light when I wanted, and how to keep the power contained when I didn’t.
We kept going until lunchtime, and by the time Bastien stood to leave, I was well along the way to being able to control my Ofanim powers and feeling a lot more confident in myself as an angel. He promised we’d meet again tomorrow, when he’d help me remember some other Ofanim powers, and I found myself looking forward to it.
* * *
After my session with Bastien ended, I got a text asking me to meet Olivia at the Ambrosia Cafe, one of the restaurants in the hotel, and I headed down to join her for lunch. I hadn’t seen Lucifer all day, but that suited me just fine at the moment, although my pulse raced when I thought about what might happen tonight.
Olivia looked as gorgeous as she did when I saw her yesterday, even in casual jeans and a black t-shirt, and her innate succubus allure made numerous heads turn as she waited outside the restaurant for me. She greeted me warmly, and then the host seated us in a private booth in the corner, which I had a feeling was reserved for VIP guests. Like the owner’s woman.
“Thanks for inviting me to lunch,” I said, after we were seated and had ordered some food.
Olivia smiled at me across the table. “I thought you might like to talk about what it’s like to straddle both the angel and demon worlds. Kassiel told me a bit about what you’ve gone through, and it sounds like you might need a friend who knows about being stuck in the middle.”
“I would love that. This is my first life as an angel, and I’m not sure what the demons will think of me being Lucifer’s mate. Especially since as Haniel I fought in the war on the other side.” I played with my fork idly as I thought back on all my lives. “Although I also fought on the demons’ side as a Fallen, and spent many lives as Lucifer’s mate in Hell. But I’m not sure if the demons will see it that way.”
“I understand. Both angels and demons had a hard time accepting me at first too. Even now, I’m constantly torn between both sides, never fully belonging on one or the other. My loyalties are always divided, because that’s the essence of who I am. Half angel. Half demon. And in a way, you’re the same. You may be in an angel’s body now, but you remember being other people in the past.”
“Yes, that’s exactly it.” I let out a long sigh, feeling a little lighter. “It’s nice to talk to someone who gets it.”
“You and I are probably the only two who could understand,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll admit, I’m selfishly glad we met just so I could have someone to vent to about it.”
I chuckled at that. “Lucifer said you’re working as a liaison between the angels and demons?”
She twisted her mouth a little before she spoke. “Yes, I’m trying to keep the peace between them, but it takes a lot of time and effort to overcome thousands of years of hatred. Both sides believe the other one is the villain, but we’re hoping to change that.”
“Yes, I remember that from this life. Before I knew who I was, I was convinced that demons were evil and that Lucifer was, well...the devil. In every sense of the word. Only once I met him and began remembering my other lives did I see how wrong I was, and I realized I’d thought the same thing about angels when I was a Fallen. I urged Lucifer to end the war, but I died before I could see it come to pass.”
Olivia’s eyes soften. “But it did come to pass. Lucifer and Michael signed the Earth Accords over thirty years ago. I’m sure you had something to do with changing Lucifer’s mind about angels.”
“Perhaps,” I said, just as the server brought our fancy salads along with some breadsticks. “I also vaguely remember being Persephone and spending some of my time ruling with Lucifer in Hell, and the rest of my time in Faerie. That was a struggle too, but at least demons and fae weren’t at war then.”
“No, the fae have always managed to stay neutral, although in my opinion, they’re really trying to manipulate both sides for their own gain. I wouldn’t be surprised if the High King has plans to move on Earth someday.” Olivia paused and her cheeks colored. “Sorry. I hope that’s not offensive, since you were a fae once.”
I waved a hand. “It was long ago, and you’re not wrong about the fae. Even among their own courts, their intrigues are legendary. Let’s just say I didn’t struggle too hard when Hades captured me and took me to the underworld.”
“I bet. I mean, who could resist Lucifer? Or his son, for that matter?” Then she slammed a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. “Oh shit, I am so sorry. I completely forgot that you’re Kassiel’s mother. You just don’t look anything like him in this life, and um, wow I have really messed this up, haven’t I?”
Her embarrassment and awkwardness made her so much more relatable, and it only made me like her more. “It’s okay. Really. In fact, maybe you can tell me about Kassiel. How did you two meet?”
She seemed relieved, and then launched into a story about how she’d pretended to be a full-blooded angel to attend Seraphim Academy, the school where angels went to train, in order to find her missing brother. There she met her brother’s friends, Callan, Bastien, and Marcus, along with Kassiel, who was one of her professors at the time. She explained that Kassiel had been sent there undercover on a mission for Lucifer, and was also pretending to be an angel. Together they all found Olivia’s brother in Faerie and uncovered a vast conspiracy of angels trying to send demons back to Hell, led by the former Archangel Azrael, who was now in Penumbra Prison. I listened raptly as she described how my son had helped take down Azrael’s secret society, and how Lucifer had orchestrated their release when they were all sent to Penumbra Prison. My heart swelled even more with pride for my son...and for my mate. Despite once being the number one enemy of the angels, Lucifer had helped them on numerous occasions in the last few years, and now was working directly with Archangel Gabriel—Olivia’s father—to make sure the two sides remained at peace.
“Thank you for telling me
your story,” I said, as we were finishing up our meal. “I had no idea about any of that.”
“It’s why we were happy to help Lucifer when he asked us to resurrect you and why we’re eager to remind you about your angelic side now. We owe him a lot, and we also want to make sure the treaty stands between angels and demons.” Her voice softened. “Until recently, I was forbidden to even exist, but now I can hold a privileged position in both societies, and have angel and Fallen lovers. I will fight to keep that peace however I can.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Can I ask about that?”
“About having four mates?” Olivia laughed. “Of course. I’m surprised it didn’t come up sooner, especially since Kassiel is one of them.”
My cheeks heated. “Sorry, am I that obvious?”
“No, I’d want to know too, if the situation was reversed.” She met my gaze and lowered her voice. “As part Lilim, I have to feed on the sexual energy of multiple people to survive. I tried once to do it with fewer people, and it only ended up draining them of life. Four seems to be the perfect number to keep all of us healthy and happy, and if none of the guys complain, I’m certainly not going to either.”
I considered her words as we headed outside the restaurant. “Do you know Asmodeus? He recently fell in love with a human friend of mine and gave up immortality to be with her.”
She smiled, but there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. “Yes, he’s my half-brother actually. Mom—Lilith—told me she’d turned him mortal, and I couldn’t believe it at first. I was planning to go visit him once we were done helping you.” She sighed, her voice dreamy. “I hate that he’s going to grow old and die, but it is rather romantic he gave everything up to be with her. And honestly, probably a lot less work than managing four mates. Sometimes it can be a lot.”
I chuckled softly. “I can’t even imagine. One Lucifer is already enough for me.”
More than enough...and I had a feeling he was going to prove that to me tonight.
Devilish Mate: Claimed By Lucifer Book Two Page 7