Grace and Glory

by Armentrout, Jennifer L.

Dez turned to me. “And I have something for you. It’s a just in case measure. A tracer. Gideon thought it would be a good idea since there’s been attempts to grab you. I just need something of yours that you always have on you.”

  “My phone?” I glanced over at Zayne. His features were hard, but he nodded. I pulled it out and handed it over to Dez.

  He looked over the phone, and then popped off the case. “It’ll still work behind the case. Here it won’t be so noticeable.” His gaze shot to Zayne as a low rumbling sound came out of him. “Hey, man, I know you don’t like the idea of someone grabbing her, but this is a good idea.”

  “I know it is,” Zayne bit out. “And you’re right. I don’t like the idea of someone grabbing her.”

  “Neither do I.” I took my phone back, slipping it in my pocket. “But thank you. This is smart.”

  “No problem. Hopefully it doesn’t become useful.”

  As Dez walked out, I turned to Zayne. “I can’t believe the angel blades are missing.”

  His jaw was still set in a hard line. “Me, neither, but I also don’t see how it could be one of the Wardens.”

  Rubbing my temples, I cursed under my breath. “Well, at least we still have Lucifer.” I dropped my hand, twisting toward Jada. “Uh...”

  “We know,” Jada responded. “We heard all about you bringing him in.”

  “And losing him,” Ty added.

  “I wouldn’t say we lost him,” I clarified. “We misplaced him for a short period of time, but we found him.”

  Jada shook her head. “If my father found out about Lucifer, he’d definitely flip.”

  I was willing to bet Thierry was already flipping out.

  My phone dinged from my back pocket. Pulling it out, I quickly read the message. “Hey.” I looked up at Zayne. “Roth says that Lucifer already has someone who may know where Bael is holed up.”

  His brows lifted. “Damn. He works fast.”

  “That he does.” I shoved my phone back in my pocket. If Lucifer had found someone, we needed to get over there ASAP. I hated to cut and run on Jada and Ty.

  “Lucifer,” she whispered, shaking her head again. “I can’t believe you all are working with the Lucifer.”

  “Yeah,” Zayne said. “Neither can we, so when this is all over, we’re just going to pretend like it never happened.”

  I cracked a grin. “Sounds like a good plan.”

  “What...what is he like?” she asked, and then cringed. “I can’t even believe I’m asking that.”

  “I don’t think anyone can blame you for being curious.” Zayne smiled at her.

  How did one describe Lucifer? “He’s, um, he’s unique.”

  Zayne snorted.

  “Unique?” Ty repeated.

  I nodded. “He’s not what you’d expect and in a way totally what you’d expect from Satan. He’s kind of a mess.” An idea struck me—a way we could find out who it was that Lucifer had wrangled up and spend time with my friends. “Do you all want to meet him?” I offered, hopeful. “You would be safe. Or should be. I mean, he hasn’t seriously threatened us or anything.”

  “He hasn’t seriously threatened you guys?” Ty glanced between Zayne and I. “What did he do? Casually threaten you all?”

  “We kind of had words,” Zayne explained. “But things are fine now.” He paused. “Sort of.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Ty mumbled.

  “So? You guys want to come with us? He’s at Roth’s house.”

  “The one who is the actual Crown Prince of Hell?” Jada said.

  I nodded. “And Layla will be there. She’s part Warden and...yeah, so she’s also Lilith’s daughter. And yes, the Lilith. Also, Cayman may also be there. He’s—”

  “Let me guess,” Ty interrupted. “He’s also a demon.”

  “Middle management level, basically. Man, we have weird friends,” I said.

  “That we do,” Zayne agreed.

  I sighed. “Either way, if you guys don’t want to, totally understandable. I can catch up with you all afterward.”

  Ty dragged his hand over his head. “Yeah, no offense, but I’m going to have to pass on that and take Dez up on his offer.”

  Jada looked over at Ty and then back to me. “This probably has ‘bad life choice’ written all over it, but yeah, I do want to meet him.”

  30

  Ty wasn’t at all happy about Jada’s choice. He reminded her that her father would lose his ever-loving mind if he found out, which was true. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the rather warranted meltdown Thierry would have, but Jada argued there was no reason for her father to find out. I also agreed with that. Ty tried to put his proverbial foot down, and that didn’t end well for him. They argued. It was awkward, but Jada won out in the end, and Ty was going to have a lot of making up to do later.

  “I kind of feel bad,” I said, looking back at Jada as Zayne guided the Impala down the road leading to Roth’s place. “I probably shouldn’t have made the offer to bring you here.”

  Jada waved it off. “Ty will get over it. Besides, he really wanted to scope out the city with Dez. I think he has a friend crush on him.”

  I started to laugh, but a sudden tingle of awareness forced me back around. We weren’t nearly close enough to Roth’s for me to be picking up on him.

  “You feel that?” Zayne asked, and I nodded.

  Jada leaned between the two seats as Zayne rounded the bend in the road. “Holy crap,” she breathed. “How many demons did you say lived here?”

  My eyes widened as I took in the front yard of the McMansion. There were demons everywhere. Sitting on the steps. Sprawled across the lawn. Lining the driveway. Some of them looked human. They could be Fiends, demons like Cayman who were more like middle management or Upper Level demons. Others were definitely not rocking human skin...or human heads, apparently, because some had two or three.

  “Oh my God,” gasped Jada. “What is that?”

  I looked out the passenger window, spying a crimson-hued creature no bigger than three feet. I saw horns and a tail. “I have no idea,” I whispered. The thing looked like a cartoon demon. “It was so not like this when we left this morning.”

  Zayne slowed as several of the larger demons started paying attention to us. He glanced in the rearview mirror. I followed his gaze, seeing that several human-looking demons had ended up behind us. “Jada,” he said. “It’s probably best you stay in the car.”

  Leaning back, I reached for my daggers to hand them over to her when I heard, “Hey! Get away from that car. Now! Shoo!”

  Recognizing Layla’s voice, I tipped forward and squinted. I caught a glimpse of platinum blond hair and then the sea of demons parted, shuffling back from the driveway on two and four...and eight legs.

  “Is that...a giant spider?” Jada whispered. “If it is, I’m going to catapult myself off Earth right now.”

  I stared at the thing that looked very much like a spider half the size of the car scurry around the side of the house. “I’m getting in line with you.”

  Layla started toward us, stopping short when the red-skinned, cartoon-looking demon hopscotched across the driveway. She threw up her hands in obvious frustration.

  “Am I hallucinating?” Jada asked.

  “Honestly, there is no other explanation for any of this.” I shook my head.

  Zayne rolled down the window as Layla’s face appeared at his side. “What in the world is happening here?”

  “The worst block party ever?” she suggested, shoving her hair back from her face. “They started showing up like an hour or so ago. Apparently they sense Lucifer’s presence, and everyone who is all like ‘Hail Satan’ is showing up.” She glanced in the back seat and did a double take. “You’re a Warden.”

  “I am,” Jada replied tentatively.

  “Jada, meet La
yla,” I jumped in. “She’s from the Potomac Highlands community.”

  “And they let you leave?” Surprise filled Layla’s tone.

  “Well.” Jada drew the word out.

  “Are they dangerous?” Zayne cut in. “Causing any problems?”

  “Not really.” Layla’s brows pinched. “But I would definitely pull the car into the garage so one of the demons doesn’t end up sitting on it. Or eating it.”

  Zayne stared at her. “If one of them eats my car, I’m going to kill them.”

  She grinned. “We’re not letting them in the garage or the house, so your precious should be safe. I’ll go open it.”

  Layla turned then and started back to the house. “You need to stay out of the driveway. If not, you’re going to get hit and no one will care.”

  There were some grumbled responses, but the demons scattered as Layla jogged back into the house.

  “I have seen a lot of weird things,” I said. “But this is superweird. It might even top the list.”

  “But at least they’re all dressed.” Zayne shot me a grin.

  “Those little red things aren’t,” I pointed out. “I don’t even know what kind of demon they are.”

  “I think they’re sprites?” Zayne said. “I’ve never seen one before.”

  I watched the red demon hopscotch along the driveway. “Is the one, like, four years old?”

  “I...I kind of think it’s cute,” Jada admitted. “In a weird, demonic way.”

  One of the garage doors shuddered opened, and Zayne carefully guided the car forward, eyeballing the demons the whole way. I didn’t think he breathed until the Impala was parked inside.

  Layla waited for us at the door. “Normally our house is nothing like this,” she said the moment we joined her. “I know that may seem hard to believe, but we usually don’t have demons everywhere.”

  Jada nodded. I thought she was handling all of this extremely well, but she’d always been curious. “It’s okay,” Jada said, smiling. “Except for the giant spider thing outside. That’s not okay.”

  “I know, right?” Layla’s wide eyes swung between Jada and I. “I asked Roth what that was, and you know how he responded? He said it was just a house spider.”

  “A house spider?” I exclaimed. “For whose house? Godzilla’s?”

  “Exactly.” She led us through a short, narrow hall. “He then proceeded to tell me that there were even bigger spiders.”

  “I would literally set myself on fire if I saw a spider bigger than that,” Jada said, and I shuddered.

  “But what is it doing here?” I asked as Zayne curled his fingers around mine. “Did it come up from Hell?”

  Layla glanced back at me. “I don’t know if you want to know that answer.”

  “I kind of do,” Zayne said.

  “Supposedly it’s been living in the subways,” she answered. “Eats the LUDs.”

  “I am never getting on the subway,” I told Zayne. “Ever. I don’t care. Nope patrol right there.”

  “Noted.” He shot me a grin. “But hey, at least it’s eating the LUDs.”

  “It needs to do a better job at that,” I muttered. “So, Lucifer was able to find someone? He stopped watching Supernatural long enough for that?”

  “Yeah, and that has made him testy.” Layla walked us through the kitchen and toward another narrow hall. “Which is why we’re in the sitting room. The floor is tile in there.”

  I didn’t have to ask why tile floor was important, because I saw enough of what was going on in the sitting room. A human male stood in the center of the room, trembling. Thin rivets of blood ran out from the sleeves of his suit jacket, dripping onto the floor. The back of his trousers looked damp, and I had a feeling that wasn’t blood.

  Lucifer stood in front of him, arms crossed over his bare chest. He seemed unaware of us as we entered the room, wholly focused on the man. I gave a quick glance around the oval-shaped room. Roth and Cayman were standing on the opposite side, the latter chowing down on a slice of pizza.

  Jada came to a complete stop, her eyes widening as she stared at Lucifer.

  “Now, Johnny-boy, you’ve been so helpful with just the littlest motivation required,” Lucifer said, his voice wrapping around the room like cool silk. “And I really don’t want things to get ugly in front of my new friends. Johnny-boy, say hello to my new friends.”

  The man gave us a shaking glance. “H-hello.”

  Zayne’s hand slipped free from mine. “What are you doing to this man?”

  “Ah, don’t worry, Fallen. Johnny-boy here was always destined to come face-to-face with me.” Lucifer smiled, and there was a catch in my chest at how stunning that smile was. “It’s just happening sooner than later. You see, Johnny worked very closely with one Senator Josh Fisher.”

  My gaze flew to the man. I hadn’t seen Fisher’s ghost since the night outside the church.

  “Johnny-boy has already told us the names of every living person who was working alongside Fisher to aid Gabriel. They are being dealt with.” Lucifer lifted a finger, pressing it to the man’s cheek. “You don’t want to be dealt with, now do you, Johnny-boy.”

  Smoke wafted out from the skin under Lucifer’s finger. The smell of charred flesh filled the air as a slice of skin burned off. The man jerked, letting out a low whine.

  “Jesus,” Jada whispered, and I bet she was regretting her decision to come here.

  I was starting to regret this decision.

  “As if,” Lucifer replied, falling onto the chair by the window. “I’m nothing like that whiney, all talk and very little action golden Boy.”

  Jada sat on a couch, I think so she didn’t fall down.

  I turned to him. “Did you, like, know Jesus?”

  Those unfathomable eyes met mine as he hooked a leg over the arm of the chair. “Who do you think was whispering in Judas’s ear?”

  My eyes widened.

  The corners of his lips curved and spread in a slow smile.

  “Man,” I whispered, sitting down beside Jada. “You are so creepy.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That wasn’t a compliment,” I murmured. “But whatever.”

  Lucifer refocused on the man. “What I need to know is, where is Gabriel?”

  “I don’t kn-know.”

  “You don’t?” Lucifer tilted his head to the side. “What about Bael?”

  “I d-don’t know where either of them are now. They were at that h-hotel. The one the senator was s-staying at,” the man said in a rush. “But they’re n-not there any longer.”

  I wisely kept quiet as Lucifer studied the man. “What you’re saying, then, is that you’re virtually useless to me?”

  “N-no! I’m not saying that all,” the man was quick to respond. “I don’t know where they’re at, but I know they’re planning something.”

  “Really?” Lucifer replied dryly.

  The man nodded. “Yes. They have this portal—”

  “You’re boring me.” Lucifer snapped his fingers.

  The man’s skin—it just peeled right off his body, exposing muscle and bone.

  “Oh my God!” I jumped up, losing my balance on the cushion. I tumbled over the back of the couch while Jada remained frozen. Zayne moved incredibly fast, catching me as the man went down in a twitching, strangely bloodless heap of raw...raw meat.

  Layla gagged as she clamped her hands over her mouth.

  “Don’t!” Cayman pointed at her. “Don’t make that sound. I’m a—” His shoulders heaved as she gagged again. The man had stopped moving. “I’m a sympathetic puker.”

  “Oh my God,” she gasped. “The smell—”

  “Stop!” Cayman cried.

  Layla pivoted, rushing from the room.

  “Well, he’s superdead.” Roth pinned a glare on Luc
ifer. “Nice work.”

  “What? He can’t...oh, yeah. He wasn’t already dead.” Lucifer shrugged. “My bad.”

  “How do you forget he wasn’t already dead?” Zayne’s chest rose with a deep breath. “I mean, really? I want to know.”

  “Well, I was kind of lying. I didn’t forget.” Lucifer picked up the remote. “He was just seriously boring me, and the last episode of Supernatural ended on a major cliffy.”

  I stared at him and then spoke a sentence I never thought I’d ever have to say. “You can’t peel the skin off people just because they bore you.”

  “I can’t?”

  “No!”

  “But I just did.” Lucifer looked over at Jada. “Didn’t I?”

  I snapped out of my stupor. Pulling free from Zayne, I planted myself between Jada and Lucifer. The devil’s smile kicked up a notch. “What good is he to us if he’s dead?”

  “What good was he alive?” Lucifer rose from the chair with the grace of a trained dancer. “He told us all he knew, which was the names of the other humans. They, too, will be questioned.”

  “By peeling off their skin?” Roth asked.

  “If need be.”

  I shook my head as a demon appeared in the doorway. He gave off major Upper Level vibes as he strode into the room. He didn’t even look at us as he picked up what was left of Johnny-Boy and carried him out of the room.

  The smell was slow to follow.

  “I’m getting some air freshener,” Roth grumbled, stalking out the room. “And disinfectant.”

  “Do you think any of the names he gave you will know where Gabriel or Bael is?”

  Lucifer appeared to consider that. “I’m going to be honest with you all. Like I always am,” Lucifer said, and I fought to not roll my eyes. “I may have overestimated in my earlier confidence when it comes to rooting out their location. I have serious doubts that anyone knows where those two are. So, whatever plan you have to draw him out better work.”

  And with that, Lucifer sauntered out of the room.

  “What was your plan again?” Cayman asked.

  “Draw him out by challenging his ego,” Zayne explained.

  “There is plan B,” I reminded him.