"Thank you for coming." I leveled my gaze at each of my Archdemons, who inclined their heads slightly in return. Even though I'd been born as an angel in this life, they'd all accepted me as their queen over these last few months, and I appreciated their loyalty. With their acceptance, the other demons had fallen in line too, and no one had questioned my position so far. “Has anyone learned anything regarding the whereabouts of Pestilence?”
Romana growled a little at the mention of the man who killed her mother. Like her brother, she had black hair, stony gray eyes, and a slight French accent, and she wore a skintight bodysuit. “No, nothing. My gargoyles have been searching for him, but he must be laying low and recovering his strength after his attack on you.”
Zel leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Do you think he plans to free Famine and Death next?"
"It's unclear what he wants, other than Hannah," Lilith said with a slight shake of her head.
"I've recently learned that Fenrir and Nemesis still plan to release the other Horsemen," Baal said, as he ran a hand through his long black hair. His British accent made me think of Lucifer with a pang in my chest, though Baal's was much more formal, to go with his antiquated black suit. Baal had been spying on the imps and the shifters for us, pretending to be their ally in this conflict, even though it was risky. "Though their attempt to overthrow Lucifer was thwarted when he became War, they’ve regrouped and decided on their next steps.”
“What is their plan now?” I raised an eyebrow. Of course they had a plan B. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Nemesis and Fenrir.
Baal turned his icy blue eyes on me. “They’re going to Faerie to release Famine in the hopes of taking you down. They have an issue with you becoming our queen, as you can probably imagine."
"No surprise there," I muttered.
"They'll have an issue with anyone sitting on the throne who isn't one of them," Zel said with a snort.
"Yes, and if somehow they did succeed, they would turn on each other next," Baal said. "They have no loyalty to each other either."
"Do you know if Belial is working with them?" I asked, though I was almost afraid to hear the answer.
Baal shook his head. "No, I haven't heard them speak of him lately. I don't think he's involved with them anymore."
That was a relief. Perhaps there was still some hope for my son.
Samael steepled his fingers. "We've already been working with High King Oberon to protect Famine's tomb in Faerie. Should Fenrir or Nemesis arrive in that realm, we'll be notified immediately."
"We must be prepared to do battle against not one, but potentially three Horsemen," Romana said with a slight growl. "And if the fourth one is freed, we are all doomed."
The thought of fighting Lucifer made my heart clench, but of course she was right. I had no idea if there was anything left of my mate in there now that War had possessed him, though I refused to give up hope. I pressed my hands against the table and addressed the others. "We're doing everything in our power to prevent that outcome. We have a tomb prepared to hold Pestilence, should he return here. War is trapped in Heaven, and all the keys to that realm have been hidden."
"What if he escapes?" Lilith asked softly, with a touch of sadness.
I swallowed hard. "I'll try to save him, however I can. And if I can't...then I'll stop him. Do not worry. I’ll do whatever has to be done.”
Silence fell upon the table as we all looked at each other with grave expressions. None of us wanted to take down Lucifer, but we all knew it might have to be done to stop War. I'd been preparing myself for the horrible possibility for months now. Would I kill Lucifer if it was the only way to stop him? Yes. But I'd do everything in my power to find another way first.
The meeting closed out with more general demon issues, and when the Archdemons left, I breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to the penthouse to relax. As I entered, my first instinct was always to wonder what Lucifer would think of the changes I’d wrought in his absence. Nothing major, just a touch of my own style here and there. A few lush plants and more color, especially greens and blues, with comfortable pillows and throws draped across the furniture. It was a lot more soothing now, which both the baby and I desperately needed during these trying times.
I trailed my fingers over the fronds of a fern as I headed straight to the library. It had long been my favorite room, but now I glanced at the huge pile of books I’d been studying each night, and even my soul sighed. It was a mammoth task, but it was for Lucifer. For him, I’d do this every night for the rest of my life.
I opened my notebook and glanced at the latest I’d learned about the Elder Gods and the Four Horsemen. None of it seemed very hopeful. The Elder Gods couldn’t be destroyed because they were ancient and primordial, representing basic components of the universe such as light and darkness, death and life. Just as one could never completely eliminate pestilence, war, famine, and death from the world, so too could those Elder Gods never be truly defeated. But they weren't all-powerful. For one thing, much like the fae, they couldn't lie. Of course, they were probably as tricky as fae too. Or even worse.
For another thing, outside of Void they required host bodies if they wanted to be corporeal. In addition, the Horsemen required a sacrifice from that host in exchange for giving them all the powers of a god, although I wasn't sure if that was true of all the Elder Gods. Pestilence required a sacrifice of the heart, which Adam had given when he'd killed his lover Belphegor. War needed a sacrifice of the mind, and it seemed he had taken Lucifer's memories of me as his payment. Famine supposedly asked for a sacrifice of the body, while Death needed a sacrifice of the soul—whatever that meant.
Not for the first time, regret and guilt squeezed my chest for trapping Lucifer in Heaven, but I'd had no other choice at the time. I couldn't let him come to Earth, not once I saw that War had taken over and turned my mate into someone else. Someone I didn't recognize...who didn't recognize me.
We were running out of options and out of time. At some point, we'd have to stop at least one of the Horsemen, if not all of them. We had the tomb in my garden, taken from Stonehenge and repurposed, but we weren't sure if it would truly hold an Elder God for long. It might contain Pestilence for some time, but what of the others? War was still out there, and Famine might be released soon. We might be able to defeat them—but if Death was released, I feared we would be completely screwed.
I flipped open one of the old tomes that described the Elder Gods during the ancient times when all the different realms were connected. In those days, Elder Gods often fought and defeated each other. They couldn't be totally destroyed, but they could be subdued and removed from their hosts, which gave me some small amount of hope, although it was mixed with a heavy dash of terror.
I was starting to think the only way to save Lucifer was for one of us to take control of another Elder God. Of course, that would require a sacrifice, and there was no guarantee whoever did it would be strong enough to not be consumed by the god in the process. Or that they wouldn't need saving, once they too became a monster.
No, there had to be another way to get through to Lucifer. I just needed to keep reading through all these books, and surely I would find something. I had to.
I was the only one who could save Lucifer from himself.
I sighed and got up, stretching my aching body, then headed back into the main part of the penthouse and to the kitchen to grab myself something to eat. I had a feeling it would be a long night, and I was starving again. As I opened the fridge and began scanning the shelves, something caught my attention, something tugging against my soul, and I turned around.
With a boom that seemed to shake the entire building, the huge windows overlooking The Strip burst in, raining glass all over the penthouse. Instinctively I threw up a wall of darkness woven with light to protect myself from the blast, and when I lowered it, my mouth fell open. Framed between jagged shards of hanging glass was my mate, the person I most wanted and m
ost dreaded to see.
I scrambled back toward the other side of the room, my voice trapped in my throat, preventing me from screaming for my guards. This couldn’t be happening. It was too soon. We hadn’t worked out a plan yet.
Lucifer's black wings spread wide, and anger and hatred burst out of his skin with an ominous red light, the same color as his eyes. Eyes that fixed on me with such fury it made my hands tremble and my pulse spike.
Lucifer had arrived—and he looked like he wanted to murder me.
4
Lucifer
I roared, making the walls shake as I landed inside the penthouse. My throne room, now defiled by the blond woman in front of me. How dare she lay claim to my seat of power and then turn it into a fucking garden. Everywhere I turned, there were more flowers, and the air smelled of nature. I could almost hear the plants growing. Another reason to end her. Slowly. Painfully. While she begged for mercy on her knees.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" I asked, as I stalked across the room. The pull toward her was irresistible, and I devoured the sight of her full hips, heaving breasts, and lush lips. I sensed her fear, and it was intoxicating. Damn right she should fear me. All living things should. "You locked me in Heaven and now you claim my home as your own?"
Even with terror coursing through her veins, she stood straighter, defiantly staring back at me with those magnetic blue eyes, while her hand lingered protectively over her belly. "No, Lucifer. I live here—with you. This is our home. Don't you remember?"
"Liar!" I yelled.
Her eyes widened like she knew what I was about to do before I conjured a sword made of hellfire and shadows. It was darkness wreathed in red fury, and power coursed through me when I held it over her. But as I looked down at her face, that beautiful face that had haunted me for months, my sword never fell. My grip tightened around it, but I couldn't deliver the killing blow.
Something stopped me from ending her. And worst of all, she knew it.
Instead of screaming in fear and running away, she stepped closer, so close I could smell her. Flowers, vanilla, and something else, something primal and all feminine that made my cock harden.
"Lucifer, put the sword away," she said. "Remember who you are. Remember me."
"I know exactly who I am," I growled. "And you will die."
"No, I won't. You can't kill me." She put her hands on my shoulders, and the sword I held vanished like smoke. "You won't."
I wrapped my hand around her throat, but my fingers wouldn't tighten. Instead my grip became more of a caress, and she sighed and closed her eyes. As if she liked it. How could she possibly crave my touch? And the more important question—why did I crave hers even more?
"Who are you, woman?"
She reached up and stroked my face tenderly, as she looked at me with something I didn't understand. Her touch was a bolt of electricity that stormed through me, lighting me up in a way the anger and the hatred didn’t. "I'm Hannah, your mate. Your queen. From the dawn of time, we've been bound together by fate. You sacrificed your memories of me when you became War, but I know, deep down, the man I love is still in there."
She was wrong. I was Lucifer and War and there was no room for love in my wrathful heart. Especially not for an angel. Yet her touch stirred something in me, and my hand slid from her neck down to her breasts, while I watched her lips part with a soft gasp. At the sound, my other hand grabbed her hip possessively and pulled her against me, before I realized what I was doing.
Then she was in my arms and my mouth was on hers, my lips rough and demanding, crushing hers as I stole her breath. My tongue stroked the warm, wet softness of her mouth as I deepened the kiss further, backing her against the wall, one arm wrapped around her, one hand resting on her hip. Everything about kissing this woman felt right, and I couldn't get enough of her. From the way she kissed me back and clung to my shoulders, she felt it too. How?
I didn’t know. Didn't care. I had to have her. My cock demanded to be sheathed inside of her, and I would pound her hard until I had answers. I nudged her legs wide, sliding a hand between her thighs, finding her wet and ready. She gasped and arched against me, and I let out a low hum of satisfaction. Soon I'd make her scream my name.
I ripped her loose dress down the front, exposing her bra and panties, but then I saw the fullness of her belly and paused.
Fuck. The woman was pregnant.
My hand came to rest across her abdomen and I felt the life growing inside of her. It called out to me, filling me with an unmistakable truth.
Mine.
The woman carried a life. And not just any child, but one my blood recognized as its own.
Impossible.
I stumbled back, forcing my eyes up to her face. "How?"
She looked almost sad as she stared back at me. "It's yours, Lucifer. But you know that, don't you?"
"It can't be. I would never breed with a filthy angel!"
She sighed and reached for me again, but I drew away. I couldn’t trust her. I didn’t know her. She was nothing to me. Yet somehow she carried my child within her. What. The. Fuck.
"You can fight this," she said, stepping closer to me. "Fight it for me. For your daughter. For us."
Daughter? I didn't know what she was talking about, but something wasn't right about this. Conflicting thoughts and emotions warred for control in me, making me unable to tell what was true or not. She had tricked me somehow, confusing my thoughts, and I had to get away to make sense of it all.
My wings snapped out and I let the familiar anger and hatred fill me. Yes, that was better. That was real. That was me.
Without another glance, I launched myself out through the broken windows, the taste of her still on my lips. I couldn't kill the woman, not while she carried my child.
But I would return.
5
Hannah
Damn, I almost got through to Lucifer.
I stared through the shattered windows where his red glowing wings had carried him into the night. He'd come here to kill me, I had no doubt about that, but he couldn't do it. Even though he didn't remember me, he'd felt the mate bond thrumming between us, pulling him toward me until it was impossible to resist. When he kissed me, I felt my Lucifer shining through, and I knew he wasn't all lost. He could still be saved—but I had to do it quickly before he started another war between angels and demons, or something worse, something I couldn't even fathom.
There was only one way—I'd have to use Famine to take War down.
The penthouse door burst open and Theo ran inside, followed by the other gargoyles in my guard. I hastily grabbed my ripped dress and tried to cover myself up, but my hands trembled and my heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear Theo's words.
“My queen, are you all right?” Theo had his sword out and he gripped my elbow protectively, ready to guard my body with his own while his gargoyles scoured the penthouse and took to the skies to search for the threat.
“I’m okay,” I said, trying to pull myself together as I looked down at the glass all over the floor. Those poor windows had been replaced more times than I could count at this point. “I'm not injured. Just shaken, that's all."
"Who did this?" he asked.
I hesitated, but there was no hiding this from Theo or anyone else in my inner circle. "It was Lucifer."
Theo swore under his breath in French. "He escaped? Where did he go?"
"I don't know."
Azazel flew through the front window, a murderous look on her face. “I’m going to kill him,” she muttered as she landed and her wings disappeared. She took one look at me in my ripped dress and narrowed her eyes. "What did he do?"
"Nothing. I'm fine." Lifting my still-shaking hand to my lips, I ignored the slight sting his rough kisses had produced. There was no denying how much his touch had turned me on, and that had a lot to do with why I was still trembling. I'd missed Lucifer so much over these last few months, and with these pregnancy hormones raging inside
me, I'd been unable to stop my body from reacting to him. Even now, need pulsed between my thighs, begging for him to return and finish what we started.
Zel didn't look convinced. “The baby?”
I rubbed my bump and was rewarded with the familiar feeling of her rolling over. “She’s fine too. He didn’t hurt us. He never would.”
Zel crossed her arms. "We don't know that for sure."
"We'll double our guards immediately," Theo said, his head bowed. "I apologize, my queen. This should never have happened. I'll investigate immediately why my gargoyles weren't here to defend you."
I waved his apology away. "As impressive as your guard is, I don't think any of them could have stopped Lucifer tonight. But I nearly got through to him, which means there is hope."
Zel's face softened. "Hannah, I know you think that, but—"
I held up a hand to stop her protest. "I will find a way to save him. Call a meeting immediately with all my advisors. We have a lot to discuss and only a short time to develop a plan."
Less than an hour later, I sat in a rocking chair Zel had turned up with one day for the nursery, which had once been my bedroom in the penthouse, and then my office. She’d given no explanation, but the chair was plush and comfortable, and I’d loved sitting in it ever since. It had been a sweet gesture on her part, and it was the only thing in this room so far. I hadn't decorated the nursery yet—mainly because I kept stupidly hoping Lucifer would do it with me. Maybe such hope was foolish, but I couldn't allow myself to give up on it. If I did, I would truly sink into despair, and I'd had enough of that already in all my lifetimes.
Infernal God (Claimed By Lucifer Book 3) Page 2
