He hated to admit it, but Uriel was right. They were running on fumes because he wanted to visit certain packs in the states and get the feel of the land here. But his head throbbed and limbs trembled with the effort to contain his energy in this realm. Shit, how long had they been going like this? Three days? Four? Six?
He’d lost track. Uriel was right, they needed sleep. “Where to?” Lucifer headed back to his Miss Fortune.
“Gabe said we can stay at one of his places.”
Lucifer slid into the car and cocked his eyebrow, “Why is he being so generous?”
“You know how he is.”
Yeah, he sure did. Guilt tended to make Gabriel two things: Generous and furious. “Is there something he should feel guilty about regarding me?”
Their seatbelts clicking into place was incredibly loud. “He’s probably realized how stuck you really were down there and how much it’s sucked this whole time.” Uri’s jaw clenched a few times. “He’s been scared shitless of losing his wings too. Maybe he’s reflecting on the fact that you lost yours long ago and he might be next?”
Now Lucifer felt sick. He was damning his brothers, wasn’t he? He could only hope that if they split the time and power equally, they wouldn’t suffer the same fate with their wings as Lucifer. Clearing his throat, he dropped the car into first and slid back onto the road. “Which way from here?”
“Up this road about six more miles.”
Uriel warned him ahead of time that Gabe’s place was one he’d never used before and thus, it didn’t have a portal to Hell installed. No biggie. Lucifer could put one in once they secured the area.
They pulled up to an older house with a tiny porch and chipped paint on the front door. Smells tickled Lucifer’s nose from the front wrap-around porch. Paint, wood, animal, leaves…
Uriel fumbled with his key ring, found the right one, slammed it in and unlocked the door. “Welcome to your new home, Lucy.” Uriel stepped inside and flipped on the foyer light.
A growl, low and menacing, brought their attention to the staircase. Standing at the top with his head down, teeth bared, and hackles raised was a—
“Uriel,” Lucifer’s heart slammed into his chest. “You wanna tell me why the fuck Gabriel abandoned an ancient wolf inside this house and didn’t tell us?”
“Oh shiiitttt.”
Lucifer saw a bright light lean over the railing. “It’s been a while, Lucy.”
Lazarus. Lucifer nearly dropped to his knees. He never thought he’d see Laz again. Not after…
“Yeah, it’s been a while.” His gaze swung back to the large wolf. “Does he belong to you?”
“No.”
Leaving Uriel behind in the foyer, Lucifer climbed the steps slowly, cautiously. For some reason, he felt happy seeing the wolf. So crazy right? It had been so long since he’d touched one. And this old guy was ancient. His species extinct. Whatever divine light had been bestowed upon the creature lengthened his life, but hadn’t healed his wounds. The poor thing was ten kinds of jacked up. Scars all over his face, blind in one eye, and his black fur was dotted with grey patches. But that fire in his glare? That was one-hundred percent protectiveness.
Lucifer reached the top step and raised his knuckles for the wolf to scent his hand.
The beast stilled. Then he licked his chops and barked viciously. Lucifer didn’t cower. There was only room for one alpha in this house and it would be the Devil. Best this wolf learned that now.
Jesus, what the fuck was Gabriel doing with this thing? Was Lazarus here to watch over it while Gabe was in Hell?
The wolf’s head dipped lower as he growled again. Lucifer kept his dominance, and his patience, while the animal sniffed every inch of Lucifer he could reach. Before long, the wolf started wagging his tail. Lucifer smiled and playfully riled the beast up until the wolf barked excitedly and ran circles around him. Christ, this wolf was huge. His tail hit Lucifer’s thigh and it damn near felt like a baseball bat whacking him.
“Anam!” a woman shouted from a room down the hall. “Damnit, leave Laz alone!”
Lucifer dropped his hand and stood to straighten his shirt. “You’ve got company?”
Lazarus looked down at Uriel and shook his head with a frown. “You’re a fucking fool, Uriel.”
“I know,” he rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the ground. “Fuck, I know.”
“What are two talking about?”
“Laz,” the woman’s voice became clearer as she stepped out of her room. “I need you tell me what I’m supposed to—” Her voice died as she stepped into Lucifer’s view.
Holy Mother of the Unholy.
Lucifer tensed so quick his spine cracked. Their gazes locked. Lucifer lost his breath.
The woman’s toned body registered first. Next was her dark hair. Lucifer’s heart hammered into his throat, trying to explode.
“Lucy.”
He stumbled back at the sound of his name coming from those lips. Those perfectly, enchanting lips. His heart beat faster, trying to bolt like horse right out of his goddamn body.
This wasn’t possible.
Lucifer stared at the female slowly approaching him. Her wings were sloppy and feathers stuck at odd angles with four bright red feathers that damn near glowed like a banked fire.
She moved with grace. Her Angelic eyes were so bright, they could have blinded the sun itself. Her cheeks were rosy, the vein in her neck fluttered wildly with her pulse as she took another step closer.
“Oh God, I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered with an ache in her tone.
Lucifer stiffened. Her voice. Her motherfucking voice…
This woman sounded and looked so much like Eve, he almost believed it was really her.
But all her features were a little off. This woman’s hair was too dark, her body too curvy, the height she’d nailed, but those wings? Nope. This was a fucking trick. Had to be.
It wouldn’t be the first time Michael used a doppelganger on Lucifer.
She was a poor excuse for an Eve. And now that he thought about it, that fucker standing with his arms crossed wasn’t Lazarus either - he’d have never come to help now.
This was all an illusion. Another trick of Michael’s. Two people scooped up and morphed to look like those from Lucifer’s haunted past. Uriel was just too stupid to see the truth staring him so blatantly in the face.
“You’re not her.” Lucifer snarled. “Just like that wasn’t my darling you sent that day to snatch the book, you fucking cunt.”
This was a malanum in a corpse that only bore a resemblance to as his long-lost Eve. Her wings were fake too – the color so off it was comical. His Eve had dove gray wings. This set was ill-kept and the color of iron. Plus, Eve never had red feathers in her wings.
Michael thought he could crush Lucifer with the ghosts of his past? Fuck that. The Devil would crush this imposter to bone dust.
Fury kicked the Devil into high gear. A roar erupted from his lungs and he ran at her. Not giving her a chance to fight back, Lucifer squeezed her throat and ignored the familiar scent of flowers wafting from her skin. He felt sick smelling it and his wrath spiked to a new level. Squeezing her throat, Lucifer wanted to rip her pipes out.
Her cold, slender fingers wrapped around his arms. The chill of her touch pissed him off even more.
“Lucy,” her eyes watered.
In the back of his mind, he heard the other two Angels yelling. Someone kept yanking him back. Something pierced his thigh. No pain registered. All he knew was hate and malice and fury. With a cruel smile, he knew just what he was going to do to this piece of shit Eve lookalike.
He had a special place in Hell designed for ones who pissed him off the most. The cliff right next to MacKenzie, Valor’s brother, would be perfect to chain this bitch up to and punish for all eternity. Lucifer’s grip heated, the scent of burning flesh made his mouth water. Lucifer slammed her against the wall and whispered darkly in her ear, “You’re coming back with me.
”
He opened a Hell hole with a flick of his free hand. Grip firm around the woman’s throat, he leapt back and caught nothing but air in his triumphant freefall.
But their connection snapped the second he started the descent back to Hell. Lucifer no longer had a hold of her. Like a barrier shield slammed between them, the Eve imposter remained in the human realm and Lucifer screamed with his arms stretched out like he could somehow snag her by the hair and still manage to take her down with him.
The woman vanished from view and Lucifer crash-landed into Hell’s prisons. Stunned, he roared with enough fury to blast a dozen malanum with his power, wiping them entirely from existence... and damning himself even more.
Chapter 7
Eve heard many sounds that, to this day, echoed in her memories and contained the power to wake her from a dead sleep. The screams of a witch burning at the stake. The agonizing roar of a warrior’s last breath as he bled out on the battlefield. The shrill of a scorned lover as she tossed herself off a cliff. The ragged torment that wailed out of a woman’s mouth when she was surrounded by men who torched her village and prepared to decimate all she had left.
But none of those prepared her for Lucifer’s mighty roar. The instant he fell into that Hell hole and lost his connection to her, the sheer force of fury that ripped out of that Angel’s throat was terrifying.
And to make it worse – the look of loathing and hate in his eyes the second he saw her was something no amount of Holy Water could dilute or erase. With her gaze still deadlocked on Lucifer, Eve watched him fall until he vanished into Hell’s darkness.
It was terrifying.
Heartbreaking.
Sickening.
Barefoot, she walked over the Hell hole as if it was nothing more than a thick pane of black glass.
“Laz,” her voice cracked. Her eyes stung. The handprint around her neck burned. “You did this on purpose.”
He relaxed against the balcony and didn’t say a word.
“You asshole!” Eve thrust her palm up and broke his nose instantly.
The Golden-winged Angel’s head snapped back, “Oomph!”
“Why didn’t you tell him?” she screamed.
“Why didn’t you?” Laz countered. Blood poured from his nose, landing all over his fancy suit and onto the hardwood floor. “You’ve had lifetimes to tell him, Eve. And you knew he was coming. I warned you.”
Eve screamed in his face until she ran out of air. Uriel rushed up the steps to try and defuse the situation. She wasn’t going to let him. “Fuck you too, Uri! You brought him here!”
“Gabe said it was safe to! He didn’t tell me you were going to be here.”
“He didn’t know,” Lazarus reset his nose.
“But you did.” Eve cracked Laz again and rebroke it.
“Damnit, Flower. Stop!” Lazarus turned away from her and reset his nose again.
Hearing his cartilage crunch triggered Eve in a bad way. The sound always reminded her of the day she was eaten by wolves, bite by bite, until Anam finally stopped the pack from finishing her off.
Eve refocused. “What do we do now?”
“We wait until he returns,” Laz said calmly.
No way would Lucifer come back here. He didn’t want to see her. Jesus fucking Christ, he just tried to kill her! Of all the ways she imagined their reunion to go, this was not even close to being it.
God, so much hate burned in Lucifer’s eyes. So much fury. So much power. He wasn’t the same Angel at all.
Not that she blamed him one bit for evolving.
Besides, Eve was the pot to his kettle. “He’s not going to come back.”
“Now who’s the fool?” Uriel brushed the hair from her face. “Lucifer will not focus on anything else until he sees you again. You know that. Deep down, you know that, Eve.”
Yeah, she did. Part of her couldn’t wait for him to hunt her down. Another part of her said she was no longer worthy of the chase.
“He’s not good, Eve.”
“What’s that mean?” The fuck did Uriel mean Lucifer wasn’t good? All Lucifer could ever be was good. He was the only good one in all of Divinity, even if no one ever admitted it. “Explain.”
“He’s,” Uriel’s brow knit together, “changing. Morphing. Bad things happened and he’s suffering greatly.”
“You failed him,” she jabbed a finger in Uriel’s pec. “You guys had one goddamn job, Uriel, and you failed it.” God, she wanted to punch him in his sexy mouth. Shaking her head, Eve backed away.
How hard could it possibly be to make sure Lucifer never suffered? To keep him happy? To keep him safe and well? She could have done all that blindfolded with both hands tied behind her back.
“You and the others were only ever supposed to make sure he had everything he needed so this would never happen.” Eve slapped Uriel across the face. “I hate you for this.”
She turned and stumbled down the stairs on sloppy legs. In a ripped-up t-shirt and leggings, she left the house barefoot and slammed the door.
Uriel trembled with the need to chase after Eve.
“Let her go,” Lazarus said for the third time in ten seconds. “She’s got to work this out on her own. You’ll only confuse her more.”
“Confuse her?” Uriel felt insulted. “She’s not confused, she’s…” shit, he didn’t know what to call Eve right now.
“That female is the most self-destructive creature I’ve ever known.”
“Is she going to try to kill herself again?” That’s all Uriel could think about – her natural reaction to reach Lucifer was to always try… one… more… time.
“No,” Laz sighed. “She’s going to harm herself in another way.”
“Fuck,” Uriel dropped his ass onto the top step and gripped the sides of his head. “I can’t believe this happened.”
“Timing is everything.”
“Well this was the worst timing ever.”
“Says you. I say otherwise.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tossed up a shit-ton of prayers to the powers that be for a little bit of guidance. Uriel didn’t know if he should flip Lazarus the bird and go after Eve, or drop into Hell and try to explain things to Lucifer.
He owed them both. And he couldn’t choose which one of them was more important to go to first. Eve was a tough bird; she’d be okay on her own. Like always. Keeping his eyes shut, Uriel thought back to the first time he saw her after the fall of the Brotherhood…
The terrain was sandy and hot. The air barely moved. It had been a long time since he walked the human realm, but something compelled him to explore the place lately. He’d been on a journey with no compass, no cares, no path to follow or goal to reach. He just… walked. Put one foot in front of the other and ignored the blisters burning his feet.
Lips cracked, tongue like sandpaper, he supposed he was atoning. A form of self-flagellation, desert style. About two days ago he’d passed a village. Water was there. Food and shade were offered by all. Uriel refused all of it because his instincts kept tugging him towards the barren landscape.
The heat. The loneliness. The nothingness.
Lucifer was a mess in Hell. Alone, he was trying to keep the realm secure while his grief did a job on him. They’d lost Eve. Not even a bone fragment was found and her loss was a gaping hole inside Uriel, Lucifer, and… he suspected Gabriel and Constantine too. Trapped in Hell, Lucifer couldn’t run from his grief, and that set off the guilt the other three Angels had because they were free and he wasn’t.
That’s why Uriel was here. His guilt brought him to a place of suffering and unmerciful heat. A Hell on Earth.
A shadow appeared from the sky. Like a huge vulture circling him, Uriel flipped the fucker off and kept walking through the burning sand. Once in a while, he got the urge to do this… to search blindly for meaning. His purpose wasn’t enough. Ushering souls from Hell to Heaven was his purpose, but it gave him no joy. Not like the kind he briefly experienced when it was him, his bro
thers, and Eve back in paradise. God, that was so fucking long ago.
He was going towards a scent. It was so fragrant. So familiar. Uriel knew it was a mistake to put himself through this torture again. You don’t accidentally run into the ghosts of your past, they had to find you. Seek you out. Hunt you down.
Why hadn’t Eve found them? Had her soul vanished into an unreachable, undetectable realm? Uriel wasn’t going to rest until he found out.
Living without her was unbearable. Lately Uriel took a page from Gabriel’s book and decided to let his guilt eat away his good judgement and he’d been reckless. Pushing his limits and not caring of the consequences. He also took a page from Lucifer’s book and followed his instincts often. That’s why he was following this scent trail. Even knowing deep down it would lead to nothing but disappointment and fresh heartache, Uriel had to follow it.
Constantine, flew in circles to keep an eye on him. Con was becoming his goddamn shadow lately. Maybe he needed company. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was here for the same reason. Uriel headed towards the mountain to his left. A slight breeze kicked up sand and Uriel inhaled the scent it carried. So fragrant. So familiar.
His heart started racing. Climbing up the sandhills, he started to panic. That scent. That scent! Constantine slammed down twenty feet in front of him and Uriel nearly ran him over.
“Eve!” he pushed past Con. “I smell her. I smell her!” Hope was always the last thing that dies in a warrior. Uriel’s hope was breathing a death rattle now.
His body lit up, his wings stretched and he took flight. Keeping within range of that scent, he inhaled deeply and found the source by days’ end.
It came from a mound at the foot of a mountain. The sky was lit by a billion stars, the moon cut in half and glowed with a halo. Uriel slammed down on the ground about ten feet away from the mound. “Eve.”
His hope was sky high, like someone breathed life into him again. The scent was so heady, it made him dizzy. “Eve!”
He stepped closer to the mound and realized what it was a second before he was bitten.
Raise the Dead Page 5
