Chapter 26 Lucifer
LUCIFER
Five figures waited on the roof of Rowan’s building rather than the four Luc had expected. He cut a sidelong glance at Onyx.
Onyx shrugged. “Nico didn’t say anything had changed. Damn vampire.”
Luc landed first, Onyx and the five other demons close behind him. It was good that Onyx, Ash, and Dante had brought their own allies, and that Valac’s crew weren’t the only fallen Eternals joining them, considering they’d been hunting Luc, Onyx, Ash, and Dante not long ago.
Luc hadn’t had much to do with Lillian, Maxwell, Pamala, or Ren over the centuries. Ren, he hardly recognized, so she must have kept to herself. The other three had never liked him, but hadn’t been as vocal about it in the Realm of the Damned as Valac.
He wouldn’t hold it against them. How else had he expected demons to react? He’d never desired a court of pleasers or favor seekers, same as he’d never wanted to be worshiped by witches on Earth.
Not that Luc held it against anyone who’d tried to get close to him in Hell either. How much could he judge them for siding with evil when he was that evil? They’d all had to survive the best they could. At least now, they were all free.
It was time for everyone to start over. Even if the masses hated him, the team currently standing at his side believed he could change, and maybe that was all it took to turn the tide of hate.
Rowan approached, his stride unfaltering. “You’re early. Good. Let me introduce an additional supporter, Catalina, a lone witch whom I’ve known for decades.”
Luc held out his hand to the woman, and she shook it. “You’ve agreed to come with us knowing you might never return to Earth?”
Catalina looked about fifty, gray streaking her dark brown hair, and showed no sign of hesitation or unease. “It’s important for a witch to join you, and I’m no more afraid of being stuck in a gateway for eternity than in the Realm of the Damned. Witches deserve to be free.”
“You do,” Luc agreed.
A flutter of wings announced Valac’s arrival. He landed on the roof, followed by Isaac and his five companions. Everyone was here.
Luc nodded to Valac, who returned the gesture. “It’s time.”
He could have spent years gathering support, recruiting more demons, more witches, more vampires. He could have arrived at the gateway with an army. But a show of force risked sending the wrong message.
They weren’t aiming to fight, only to demand what was right. There was no reason to delay, and they needed to act soon. Luc had freed the demons, and witch souls deserved the same. The longer Luc waited to make that belief known, the more he risked his demands being misconstrued as a scheme.
“Ready to go for a ride?” Valac asked Rowan, flapping his wings.
Rowan let his fangs drop. “More than ready.”
Valac scooped the vampire into his arms, and his companions did the same for Rowan’s coven members and Catalina.
Luc’s heart skipped, and he caught Ash’s eye. “Ready?”
“For this? Never. But let’s go.”
Onyx patted Ash’s shoulder. “It’s just the gateway, not home. You’ve got this.”
Ash smiled tenderly at Onyx. “Thank you.”
Dante gazed at the pair of them with naked affection. He’d always had the biggest heart, more capacity for love than anyone Luc knew. His dark gaze fell on Luc, shifting slightly but not going cold. “We’re on your side, Luc.”
Luc’s fire sparked. “You really trust me with this?”
“I do. Now, lead the way.”
The outer gateway was unnaturally silent. The stillness should have been unnerving, but it wasn’t. It was calm brought to life, an emotion turned physical.
Luc had been in the gateway once before, but hadn’t stopped to take it in. Screams of rage had followed him out of the Eternal Realm. He’d flown from the council’s wrath as fast as he could, gladly leaving the half-realm behind without a backward glance.
Today, he led their group through the mist and over a rolling field, warily taking it in. All Luc could see was the grass below. It swayed without the help of any wind, creating a soothing shift of undulating greens while the distance remained shrouded in white fog.
As they moved, the mist parted, becoming thinner and revealing more of what lay ahead, but never clearing enough to give a wider sense of their surroundings. Magic fizzled in the air. It guided Luc along with each wing stroke and prevented him from veering off in any other direction.
“We’re so close to home,” Ash murmured. “I can feel it.”
“Me too,” Onyx whispered back. “It’s familiar even after all this time.”
A strong pull tugged on Luc’s chest. Unlike the mating connection, which was as much a part of him as his wings or eternal fire, this pull was external.
The magic of the gateway wasn’t the only thing guiding him. The Eternal Realm was beckoning. Home called.
All the demons must have felt it, but what about Rowan and his followers?
Luc glanced over his shoulder at Valac and Rowan. It was impossible to tell what the vampire was thinking with his impassive face, but he didn’t seem to be having any adverse reaction to leaving the Human Realm. Catalina also seemed fine.
Finding the half-realm might not be possible without eternal magic—or the magic of a human soul unbound from its body—but the gateway didn’t seem to be harmful to living, non-Eternal beings. Rowan and Catalina seemed to belong here as much as they belonged on Earth.
A low, melodic hum caught Luc’s ear, steadily growing louder until it became a pleasant background melody. The tugging on Luc’s soul seemed to pulse in time with the sound, the two feeding off each other and amplifying his urge to move forward.
To get closer.
Beside him, Onyx rubbed his chest. “It sucks being this close. Fuck, I knew it would be hard, but somehow, not like this.”
Luc had never truly missed home. He hadn’t considered the Eternal Realm home in two thousand years.
Being banned enraged him on principle, but returning had never been the plan.
Even when he’d believed he’d failed and would never find his mate, Luc hadn’t longed for ‘home.’ How could he long for such a controlling place?
Onyx wasn’t the same. He’d never wanted to leave, and still, he’d chosen to stand at Luc’s side.
Luc brushed Onyx’s wing with an outstretched hand. “I’m here for you no matter how hard it is. You can do this.”
Onyx’s cheeks flushed—rosy rather than lavender since his horns were hidden—and a tiny smile pulled at his lips. They stared at each other for a long moment. Onyx cleared his throat. “I know.”
“Good.” Luc’s heart clenched, and he flew on.
In the distance, an archway became visible, its gray stone glimmering in the sun. The mist cleared, and a winged figure appeared beneath.
“Stop!” the Eternal’s voice rang out, echoing as if they stood in a vast cavern rather than an open field.
Luc flew forward until he was close enough to see who it was. “Hollis, we’re here to speak to the council.”
The Eternal, Hollis, growled. He was tall and slim, his green wings in perfect complement to the grass surrounding them. Gray-green horns stood tall in his black hair. “Lucifer. Here, after all this time. Leave now.”
Luc landed, and everyone else followed suit. Onyx, Ash, and Dante stood closest, at his side as if they’d never left it. Ren, Lillian, and Maxwell crowded behind, obscuring Valac and their unexpected guests, who were hidden by illusions.
Hollis marched forward, leaving the gateway. Not that it was unguarded. Even if they overpowered Hollis, none of them would get through. Magic sealed the Eternal Realm from everything outside it.
Luc met Hollis halfway. “I can’t leave until I speak to the council. I’m not here to demand entrance. All I ask is that you call a representative to talk with us.”
“What good will that do? You shouldn’t be here at all.” Hollis’s stern features pulled tight, and he glanced around, warily taking in their group. Was he nervous? Afraid?
Hollis hadn’t been a close companion of Luc’s, but they’d known each other and been friendly. His presence at the gate was better luck than if any other guardian had greeted them.
“I have a message. If you’d like to hear it, I’ll oblige, but I’m not leaving until I know it’s been passed on and someone from the council comes to meet me.”
Hollis’s lips pressed together in a tight line.
“I don’t want to hear it. That’s not my job.
I can’t let you in, and nothing you say will change that.
” He scrubbed a hand over his face like he was tired.
“I have to report this regardless of your message. The council will know you’re here.
We have a special spell for you and everything. ”
“Oh?” Luc snorted. He wasn’t surprised.
Hollis shrugged, seeming to relax a fraction. “Your arrival constitutes an emergency, but what the council does once I sound the alarm is out of my hands.” He snapped his fingers. A red puff of smoke appeared and popped with an echoing boom.
Hollis glanced over his shoulder into the mist obscuring what lay beyond the archway. There seemed to be no immediate reaction.
Luc’s pulse thrummed. This was it. His confidence threatened to waver. “You don’t seem too upset to see me,” he ventured, hoping to distract himself from his growing unease.
Hollis scowled. “What you did was wrong, but I can’t pretend seeing you isn’t a welcome break in the monotony. No one believed we’d see the Fallen again.”
Onyx stepped forward. “So, in other words, you missed us. How sweet.”
Hollis cocked his head, brow furrowing deeply as he inspected Onyx. “I’m sure there are more than a few Eternals who’ve missed you.”
Onyx’s tone turned unreadable. “My absence has been a great loss, I’m sure.”
“I wasn’t being sarcastic.” Hollis stepped closer. “Are you all right? What happened to your horns?”
Onyx sniffed. “Nothing. You can retract them, you know.”
Hollis’s eyes widened. “Why?” He touched one of his horns protectively.
“Hollis!” a voice boomed, and he flinched, whipping around. “Get back from there!”