Grace and Glory

by Armentrout, Jennifer L.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Way to throw me under the bus and back up, son.”

  “Wait. He’s your father?” I asked. Did that mean I was also related to Roth?

  “Not in the sense you’re thinking,” Roth said. “He created me.”

  “Does that not make me your father? As it makes God mine?” Lucifer challenged. “I’m just a more hands-on parent. Unlike You-Know-Who.”

  Roth shook his head. “Not this conversation again. Please.”

  “Now that you’re here, have your plans to remove Trinity from the equation changed?” Zayne pulled us all back on track. Again. And man, it was nice to have him around to do that. “Because the last thing we need to be worried about is demons trying to retrieve her for you.”

  “I won’t send any more after her.” Lucifer turned to me. “Unless we somehow fail in stopping Gabriel. Then all bets are off.”

  Zayne opened his mouth, but I held up my hand. “Agreed.”

  His head shot toward me. “We do not agree with that.”

  “I just did.” I spared him a brief glance. “Look, if all of us combined can’t stop Gabriel, then there is no other option. It’s as simple as that. We can’t allow him to open the portal. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  Zayne’s jaw hardened in a way that told me there would be nothing simple about that.

  “She’s smart. I like her,” Lucifer commented, and I resisted the urge to take a step back. “Anyway, I’m here to help now, so me trying to kidnap you is water under the bridge. No harm. No foul.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” I muttered under my breath. “But yeah, whatever.”

  One side of Lucifer’s lips curled up as he stepped back, taking in our group. “Don’t worry, my newfound friends. I’ll save the day. I’ll even save Heaven,” he said. “Now, the problem is the problem we’re going to create when we kill Gabriel, but that’s not going to be my problem.”

  “Wait,” I said. “What problem?”

  “Cross that bridge later.” Lucifer waved my question off. “There’s something I need to do real quick.”

  Lucifer vanished.

  Like there one moment and straight-up gone the next.

  Slowly, I turned in a full circle, finding no sign of him. My heart started thumping.

  “Please tell me,” Zayne began, “that he just likes to make himself invisible to mess with people and that he didn’t just disappear.”

  Roth sighed as his head fell back. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”

  * * *

  Standing in the kitchen of Roth and Layla’s place, I mentally prepped myself for the last thing I wanted to do. And that was saying something since there were a whole lot of things I didn’t want to do at the moment.

  But calling Nicolai and letting him know that Lucifer was MIA topped the list of I don’t wanna.

  I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Zayne and Layla. They were in a darkened sunroom off the kitchen, talking to one another. I squinted, trying to see their expressions, but it was no use. At least it no longer looked like Layla was crying, so I hoped that was a good sign. My gaze lowered to the thick, dark mass coiled around Zayne’s leg.

  Bambi.

  The moment we walked into the McMansion, Bambi had peeled herself off Roth’s arm and all but attached herself to Zayne’s side. When I left the sunroom to give Zayne and Layla some privacy, the familiar had her diamond-shaped head resting on Zayne’s knee and was staring up at him with a look of pure adoration.

  I guessed I was no longer her snuggle buddy.

  A moment later, a small reddish blur scampered across the kitchen and into the sunroom. A fox. Layla’s familiar, to be exact. His name was Robin, and he was a hyper little thing, running from one corner of the house to the other. According to Roth, it was a baby...familiar.

  I wanted to pet it. Just once. On the top of its furry little head.

  Sighing, I returned to staring at the blurry contact on my phone.

  “You can do it.” Roth bent at the waist and leaned against the counter. “I believe in you.”

  “Shut up.”

  His golden eyes glimmered with amusement as he looked up at me. “Rude.”

  “If you knew there was a chance that Lucifer would up and disappear, that should’ve been the first thing out of your mouth,” I shot back.

  “Not like it would change anything. No one would’ve been able to stop him. Stop procrastinating and give them a much needed heads-up.”

  Swallowing a mouthful of curses, I called Nicolai. He answered on the third ring.

  “Trinity? Was just getting ready to call you.”

  “You were?” I winced, hoping it wasn’t because Lucifer had already done something to catch their attention.

  “Yeah, got good news. We’re able to get the stones from Yellowstone.”

  “Stones?” Roth murmured.

  “Really?” That was great news. “So that just leaves...?”

  “The onyx and tourmaline. Hopefully we’ll hear something soon about them,” he said. “So, what’s up?”

  “Well,” I said, drawing the word out. “You got a moment?”

  “I’m on the phone with you, so yes.”

  “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t busy,” I said, and Roth raised an eyebrow at me. Flipping him off, I turned away from him. “So, I’m just going to say it.” I cleared my throat. “Roth and Layla were successful—well, I guess successful would be considered subjective and would depend on whether or not you were on board with the idea of bringing Lucifer into the fold.”

  “I still haven’t made my mind up when it comes to that,” he replied flatly.

  I doubted what I was about to tell him was going to push him toward Team On Board. “So, Lucifer did come topside, and good news is he did agree to help. Was actually pretty enthusiastic about it.”

  There was a pause and then Nicolai said, “Okay?”

  “But we, uh...” My entire body and brain cringed. “We sort of lost Lucifer.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t freak out—”

  “Don’t freak out? Are you kidding me? You lost Lucifer, and you’re telling me not to freak out?” Nicolai shouted from the phone. “How in the world do you even lose Lucifer?”

  “Well, it’s easier than you’d think. He did that really annoying demon thing and popped out of existence.”

  “Don’t be a hater,” said Roth.

  Nicolai sounded like he was trying to take several deep breaths. “Are you legitimately telling me that Lucifer—the Lucifer—is out there, roaming around because you all lost him?”

  “I wouldn’t say we lost him—”

  “You just said you lost him!”

  “Okay. Bad word choice. We just misplaced him, but we’re going to find him.” I hoped we found him. “And he seemed pretty calm for, you know, being Lucifer, and all, so I don’t think he’s going to cause much trouble.”

  “You seriously think Lucifer, who hasn’t walked Earth in how many years, isn’t going to cause trouble?” Nicolai asked. “Are you high? Am I high?”

  The corners of my lips turned down. “I’m not high, and hey, at least I’m not calling to tell you that we’ve jump-started the biblical end times.”

  “Yet,” he growled. “You’re not calling to tell me that yet.”

  He kind of had a point there. “Look, we’re going to find him. I just wanted to give you all a heads-up in case you happen to run into a hopefully fully clothed Lucifer to not engage. Okay? So, I’ve got to go and find him now.”

  “Trinity—”

  “Got to go. Going to be very busy,” I rushed on. “Stay safe!” I hung up, barely resisting the urge to throw the phone across the room. Instead, I silenced it and placed it facedown on the counter before Nicolai could call back, because if I couldn’t see t
hat he was calling me, then I could pretend that he wasn’t.

  “That went well,” Roth commented.

  I turned to him. “How long would it take for us to know if we jump-started the apocalypse?”

  His brows rose as he scrunched his hand through his hair. “Hard to say. I doubt there’s an exact time limit, but we’ll know if it happens.”

  “Do I even want to know how we’ll know?”

  He snorted. “You know you do.”

  I sighed. I did.

  “If we’ve kicked off the big end times, you’ll know because they’ll show up.”

  A shiver tiptoed down my spine. “And who exactly is ‘they’?”

  “The Horsemen.” Roth smiled tightly. “They’ll ride. That’s how you know.”

  “Oh.” I almost sat down on the floor. “Okay. I’ll keep an eye out for some dude on a white horse.”

  “Actually, what you’ll be keeping an eye out for is the opening of the Seven Seals. War isn’t riding the white horse. He comes with the second Seal. Then Famine with the third. The fourth Seal is the real fun one,” he explained. “That brings out Pestilence and Death. A two-for-one special. Then things really get fun.”

  I stared at him.

  “We’re talking judgments, mark of the beast, tribulations, fiery pits and general chaos.”

  I blinked slowly.

  “Then, you know, God will be like ‘Daddy’s home,’ and kick ass or something.” Roth shrugged. “Or so they say.”

  “Well, this has made me feel so much better about things. Thanks for that.”

  “You’re welcome.” Roth looked over his shoulder, into the sunroom. “I’m glad they’re talking.”

  “So am I,” I agreed softly. “For a moment there, when you first showed up, I thought you would go at Zayne.”

  “I didn’t know what he’d become. He didn’t feel right.” Roth faced me. “Now I know.”

  “Now I know why you made your snarky little comments about Wardens,” I said.

  A quick grin appeared. “I haven’t seen an angel Fall. Ever. And the only ones I ever knew were the ones who’d already been stripped of their wings, and sure as Hell didn’t have their grace.” A certain sense of knowing filled his amber gaze. “How was he when he first came back?”

  I exhaled raggedly as my attention returned to the darkened sunroom. “Not particularly good.”

  “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

  “There is. Maybe I’ll tell you about it once we find Lucifer,” I told him. “What do you think he’s doing out there?”

  Roth bent, picking up what look like a dog toy shaped like a fudge bar. “Knowing Lucifer? He’s probably looking for the oldest nearby church and currently terrifying hapless priests while simultaneously causing the One up there to lose His mind.”

  I considered that. “Well, I guess he could be up to worse things, right?”

  “Right.” Roth pushed on the center of the bar, and the toy squeaked.

  “We need to get out there and find him.” I dragged a hand over my face. “Especially before he decides to get more creative with his time.”

  Without any warning, Layla’s fox shot across the counter, snatching the toy out of Roth’s hands. Robin jumped to the floor and took off, the toy in his mouth, squeaking away as he rushed into the living room.

  “I really want to pet him,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it. He’s a bit nippy. What were you—?”

  Focused on Roth, I didn’t see Layla coming until she plowed into me. I squeaked, sounding like Robin’s toy as she wrapped her arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” My wide-eyed gaze swept through the room, meeting Zayne’s.

  He smiled.

  “You know what.” She squeezed harder.

  “I don’t,” Roth observed.

  “Trinity brought Zayne back after he Fell. She used the Sword of Michael on him, and brought him back,” Layla said, pulling back. She clasped my arms. “I’m sorry for being so standoffish when we first met. I was being a bitch, but Zayne’s important to me. He’s always been, even when he didn’t want anything to do with me, and I didn’t know you and—”

  “It’s okay. I wasn’t exactly friendly myself,” I admitted. “And you really don’t need to thank me. Zayne did the hard work with the whole getting his Glory back and then Falling thing.”

  “I know what you did couldn’t be easy.” Layla shook me. “I can’t even think about what I would’ve done if it had been me who had to do that. You had to be terrified, and the fact you still did it says a lot about you.” Her pretty face started to crumple again, and the next second, she had her arms around me. “Thank you.”

  Zayne started forward, catching Roth’s gaze. The demon prince grinned as he came around the counter. “Come on, shortie.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he tugged her back. “I think she knows how grateful you are without you squeezing out her insides.”

  Zayne came to my side, curling his arm around my shoulders. He dipped his head and kissed my cheek. “You look so comfortable with hugs,” he murmured.

  “Shut up.”

  He chuckled, kissing my temple. “Sounded like you called Nic. How’d he take the news?”

  “Oh, you know, amazingly well. Very level response—”

  A knock from the front of the house interrupted me. I glanced to Roth. “Could we get lucky and that’s Lucifer?”

  Roth snorted. “Doubtful.”

  “I’ll get it!” Cayman’s voice carried from somewhere in the house.

  “He’s been here the whole time?” I asked.

  “He’s been upstairs, soaking in the tub,” Layla said, leaning into Roth. “It’s Tuesday. ‘Me time’ always happens on Tuesday evening.”

  I shook my head. “You’d think he’d make an exception.”

  Cayman appeared in the doorway, a greenish-blue clay mask slathered across his face. “Someone is here to see you—all of you,” he said. “Not me, because I have nothing to do with you all apparently losing Lucifer. Heads-up, he’s not happy.”

  I stiffened. Who would even know all of us were here and that we’d lost Lucifer? It couldn’t be Nicolai. I doubted he knew where Roth lived.

  I felt Zayne stiffen beside me at the same time a strange shiver of awareness skated over my skin.

  A man entered the kitchen—a man who was nearly as tall as Lucifer. Dark-haired and bearded, he had a glacial gaze that sent a chilled warning down my spine. So did the fact his features were clearer to me—like with Zayne and Lucifer. He wasn’t a demon, but power radiated from this man—the final kind of power—and my grace kicked at my skin.

  Roth stepped forward. “To what do we owe the unexpected and questionable honor of your presence, Grim?”

  Grim.

  Grim.

  My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I realized I was staring at the Grim Reaper.

  The Angel of Death.

  27

  If a year ago, anyone told me that I would meet both Lucifer and the Angel of Death in one day, I would’ve laughed straight in their face.

  But here I was, staring at the Grim Reaper, otherwise known as Azreal.

  And I wasn’t laughing. Not at all. This angel didn’t answer to Heaven or Hell. Or maybe he answered to both. I had no idea, but he could end any of our lives with just the snap of his finger, and I was talking the final kind of death that ended with the destruction of the soul.

  “Cute,” Grim replied to Roth. “Do you think I want to be here?”

  “I’m going to go with a no.” Roth idly crossed his arms.

  My brows knitted. Was it just me or did Grim have a... British accent?

  The Angel of Death’s head tilted in Layla’s direction.
“Nice to see you again.”

  Layla gave a short, awkward wave that I felt in every part of my being.

  “What in God’s green Earth have you all done?” he demanded as I saw Cayman slink from the room. “You brought Lucifer topside?”

  “You have to know why,” Roth stated. “And you’re not going to ask where he is?”

  I really didn’t think it was wise to bring up his absence, but what did I know?

  His lips thinned behind his trimmed beard. “I know he’s not here, which is what you should have expected the moment he got topside.”

  “We’ll find him,” Roth replied.

  “Damn straight you will,” Grim fired back. “Because everyone who is anyone knows Lucifer is on the field, and you know what that means?”

  “End of the world, Bible-study-style. Ironically, I was just having that conversation. We’re hoping that God realizes what we’re doing and doesn’t go end times on everyone,” Roth told him. “And by the way, finding Lucifer was what we were about to do before you interrupted.” Roth smirked even as Grim’s eyes narrowed. “Just saying, but since you’re here, I’m sure you could just tell us where he is.”

  “I know exactly where that prima donna is and you also know that I cannot say anything.”

  “Why not?” I blurted out, and those cold, cold glittering eyes swung toward Zayne and I. Yikes. I resisted the urge to take a step back. “I mean, that would be really helpful, uh, Mr. Grim—er, Mr. Azreal.”

  “Mr. Grim?” Zayne whispered under his breath.

  “You can just call me Grim,” he stated. “And to answer your question, the moment Lucifer reached this realm, the potential for the good old end times became a possibility. Meaning, I cannot interfere even if his presence has nothing to do with what will come to pass.”

  That...sounded as stupid as any other angelic rule, so not entirely shocking. Something else did occur to me, though. “So does the rule against taking up arms against another angel also apply to you?”

  “It does.” His gaze shifted to Zayne, and I tensed. “You slipped right through my grasp, didn’t you?”

  “I did.” Zayne didn’t sound remotely concerned, considering the Angel of Death could try to take his grace and his wings.