Chapter 42
Iwoke up on the sectional at Lucifer’s place in just a sports bra.
I was smashed between Celix and Nero and I could tell Nero was using his magic on me.
Someone had rubbed something that smelled like spices on me and I was stiff and sore as fuck.
Kujo was sitting across from me with his elbows on his knees staring at me like he was trying to read my mind and Satan and Wrathhog were pacing.
There was one particular person who should be here and wasn’t. Lucifer was still gone. I remembered being in incredible pain and then blacking out.
“Shit, you didn’t bring me home and leave Lucifer there, did you? I just got stabbed.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Wrathhog said.
“You didn’t get stabbed. Your wings are coming in very early. My kids are half demon, half angel and their wings didn’t come in this early. Kir’s mom was mortal, so your wings aren’t coming in this soon because Lucifer is your dad. What do you know about your mom’s side of the family?”
“Hold the fuck up. It’s been decades of waiting. Aren’t you going to pop the devil out of a box for a family reunion since you said he never would have abandoned us if he had the choice?”
“Whoever took him knew we were coming and moved him. I’ve already called demons I trust and they are searching the house for bugs and cameras.
It could be one of Lucifer’s servants. I didn’t know he was sneaking off to have a relationship with a mortal.
Abaddon didn’t, either, and if he was going to tell anyone, he would have told us. Someone found out.”
“Well, fuck. I’ve liked the people I met so far. Do I need to beat anything out of someone? Did you grab the imps you knocked out? Maybe I could hit them until they say who hired them.”
“You aren’t doing a damned thing, killer,” Kujo said.
“The salve I made and Nero’s magic are the only thing keeping you from feeling like two gigantic wings aren’t trying to burst out your back.
When they do come out, you have to leave them out for a few days.
It takes a while to learn to hide them and the bones aren’t quite set yet.
Your wings will deform and you won’t be able to fly if they get damaged while they are new.
You don’t want that and no one wants that for you. You’re on the bench for a while.”
I didn’t flip him off or snap at him because he was right. Kujo was looking out for me and he wasn’t even being a dick about it. He’d actually helped me with the salve he made. I could follow instructions and I really wanted my wings.
“I prefer killer over princess, baby girl.”
“If I start calling you killer, will you stop calling me baby girl?”
“I could be persuaded.”
“Anyway, I hate losing,” Satan growled. “It was pretty lucky Kujo managed to see through Enochian warding. Whoever has Lucifer is going to double the spells to try to prevent that from happening again. And your wings really shouldn’t be coming in right now.
It’s leaving you completely vulnerable when you can’t afford it and we’ve all been around long enough to know it shouldn’t be happening this soon. ”
“I got my period and boobs really early. Maybe it’s related,” I said.
Wrathhog started laughing and Satan cleared his throat like even fallen angels who were thousands of years old got uncomfortable with periods.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. Angels and demons aren’t the only magical creatures from other realms having children with mortals. You could have something extra in your lineage.”
“Yeah, no. Mom was magical because all single moms are magical. She raised a kid who could be difficult as fuck sometimes into a functional adult with absolutely no family or support system. And I had to watch her waste away and die of cancer before my eyes because she didn’t have magic to save herself.
Her parents died when she was a teenager, so magic didn’t save them, either. ”
Yeah, I wasn’t entertaining this. Watching the strongest woman I knew die was the worst thing that ever happened to me.
My mom had been away at the school when her house got robbed.
The robber didn’t know anyone was home and murdered my grandparents.
As far as I knew, they never even caught the guy who did it.
I might be the child of a fallen angel, but my family were just humans.
They didn’t have a drop of magic to save them from the shitty parts of humanity like crime and cancer.
When Mom got sick, I hadn’t known about any of this and I couldn’t have healed her.
I couldn’t have even healed her right this minute if she were still alive.
I thought my dad was some deadbeat, so when she got sick, I didn’t even know he had family that might have cured her since he was missing.
It was fucked up, and I’d managed to avoid thinking about it until my wings started coming in early and everyone started throwing theories around.
“Maybe leave it, yeah?” Kujo asked. “Getting wings as a half breed is painful enough without bringing up painful memories of losing her mom.”
“Thanks.”
Kujo got up and gave me a small pot.
“I made this for you. It helps half breeds when their wings come in. My mother refused to get it for me when mine came in, but I learned the recipe just in case I heard of another Cambion with parents like mine.”
I wasn’t in nearly as much pain as before, but I vividly remembered how bad it was before I blacked out. The fact that Kujo’s mom just let him go through that when there were options pissed me off.
“If I ever meet your mom, I’m going to kick her in the vagina and she has to pretend she’s not mad about it because of my father.”
Kujo just grinned at me like a psychopath.
“I want front row seats to that, killer.”
“So, anyway, if we are not discussing possibilities as to why Sydney’s wings are coming in this early, we need to talk strategy and protection.
Seers are wildly unpredictable. They can’t control what they see and no one has managed to figure out where the visions are coming from to find out why they get them.
“Enochian warding is powerful and if the spell is to prevent someone from finding something, it’s generally impossible to find.
But like I said, seers are unpredictable, and no one knows where the visions are coming from.
Kujo is our best bet at locating Lucifer again, but whoever knew we were coming probably knows we found Lucifer because of Kujo and it stands to reason that however they got this information, they’ve managed to find out Sydney’s wings are coming in.
They are going to strike to take you both off the board. ”
“Wonderful,” I drawled.
“So, what do we do?” Celix asked. “We don’t know who is passing information or how.”
Yeah, because I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of servants, but I understood this was one of the better jobs for lower demons, so I didn’t make this a shitty job for anyone or cut anyone from the staff.
We weren’t braiding each other’s hair, but I’d spoken with all of them and I didn’t think any of them betrayed us.
I just really didn’t know anything anymore.
“You should come stay at my place,” Satan said. “I’ve got plenty of guest rooms and my wife loves to entertain.”
“I’ll stay in my old room until we figure this out and we can do cousin things like talk about boys and do each other’s nails,” Wrathhog said.
“You don’t like boys,” Satan pointed out.
She just shrugged.
“Same concept if you are into girls. Sydney doesn’t strike me as the type to give a shit.”
“Oh, no, I want all the girl drama.”
“Um, I have to be there to help with the pain, but I would also like the girl drama. You can do my nails, too,” Nero said.
“Celix can hang out with me and get drunk,” Kujo said.
We all turned to look at him because did he really need to be drinking right now? He just shrugged.
“I talk more in my sleep when I’m drunk, apparently. I don’t even want to be a fucking seer, but I’m the only one who can locate Lucifer.”
“I’ll watch over them,” Satan promised. “No one in Hell is dumb enough to stage an attack at my place. And my wife has my blessing to use her magic if anyone comes over and tries to mess with shit, so Nero has that, too.”
Yeah, I felt somewhat better, but I was in a position where I couldn’t fight and I hated it.