6. Nero
Sydney probably looked powerful and beautiful, exploding Kujo’s family. I wasn’t the only one who wished I’d been conscious for that. Celix probably would have puked, but Kujo should have at least had that satisfaction.
What were they doing in there? I was good at girl time and I was worried about her. Winged demons weren’t born with wings thanks to Lilith. It would damage our wings and it wasn’t fair to our mothers who were already pushing a whole baby out.
I remember when mine came in, though they didn’t remotely look like hers.
She managed to cut the painful waiting time in half, but it was always heartbreaking when someone’s wings got damaged and they’d never fly.
Some of the upper demons shat on any demon it happened to, like their kids weren’t at risk too.
Sydney had way too many people after her. Kujo too, now that everyone knew he could see through Enochian warding. I hesitated for a second because I didn’t really trust that Satan could save me if I used my magic on an army of Furies. It could have cost me Sydney and Kujo.
Never again. Satan had given me permission more than once. He didn’t need to do it again. That was why I didn’t think he was the one who kidnapped Lucifer and betrayed us. Yeah, he was massive and strong, but he wasn’t immune to me. Satan had Wrathhog start teaching us how to kill an angel.
I didn’t need pressure points. I could influence emotions.
I could inflame lust, but I could also just make someone happy.
It was why Abaddon surrounded himself with my kind.
I could also completely overload certain emotions and fuck someone up, which was why Asmodeus and the rest of the Fallen had forbidden that kind of magic.
The door finally opened, so I guess girl time was over. We all tried to rush in and got wedged in the doorway. Why was Kujo stepping on my tail? He didn’t even like her. He’d been downright rude even when she gave him a promotion and got him out of a job he hated.
“Wow, I don’t know if that’s desperate or I should high-five you, Sydney,” Wrathhog drawled.
“Maybe we should oil them up. It would be hot, and they’d get unstuck.”
I had no problem with that. A little oil in the bedroom was hot. Kujo and Celix weren’t remotely into men, so they probably wouldn’t enjoy that as much as Sydney or I would.
“Get off my tail, you menace.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have put your tail under my foot.”
“I’m fond of that tail and the things it can do, so you’d better not damage it,” Sydney said.
“You’re going to have to step off my tail and get us unstuck because if I do it, you may break it.”
“And then I’ll break your nards again.”
“You leave my nuts out of this,” Kujo said, stepping off my tail and lunging until we were unstuck.
“You guys are still babies in terms of a demonic lifespan, but you’re both way too old for that,” Wrathhog drawled.
She didn’t have to tell me that. I hadn’t embarrassed myself in front of a girl like this since I was a very young demonling. Why was Kujo rushing in to check on her when he’d been a dick to her thus far?
“You okay?” Celix asked.
I would have been the first to ask that if not for fucking Kujo.
“Had some wing lessons, did some girl stuff. Right as rain. Someone has been trip-trapping in Lucifer’s secret passages.
That’s how someone knew Kujo found Lucifer and we were going to get him.
It was how they got the jump on Satan. I only know the basics of magical blood locks, but they can’t be picked. ”
I knew the concept, but that was a rich people thing. They were expensive because of the metal and magic used to make them. No one in my neighborhood could afford them either. She was right, though. They were impossible to get into if someone wanted you out.
“I can,” Kujo said. “My mother’s, anyway. You can keep anyone out unless they share your DNA. It was a whole thing. She brought in countless demons to keep me out, and they couldn’t do it.”
“Shit. That was the part I couldn’t figure out. It’s one thing trapping an archangel, and it’s entirely another getting their blood without them escaping. Especially if Lucifer’s child was involved. That has to definitively answer the question about the Fallen sharing DNA.”
“It’s more complicated with angel blood,” Satan said.
Sydney shrieked and then flipped him off.
“You really need to wear a bell.”
Did she just flip off the devil?
“Noted. Any time I’ve needed access to one of the other princes' secret rooms, they had to let me in. It was always Asmodeus because we thought he was up to something. With angels, we either have to be magically allowed or you have to have blood. I had to tell Asmodeus he could open it or I’d get his blood whether he wanted me to or not. ”
“How would they get his blood without him overpowering them and escaping?” I asked.
I’d never met Lucifer, but I’d seen the photos and read the legends.
He was only slightly smaller than Satan, and he was enemy number one during their rebellion.
He had all the choirs of angels after him and he still managed to survive.
Even with an Enochian warded cage, I couldn’t imagine keeping him contained this long.
We needed to read his diaries more, but if he’d known about Sydney, he would have fought like fuck to get out and keep her safe. Kir was way before my time, but even I knew Lucifer was never the same after.
“Probably drugs and someone who’s known him since the beginning of time.
Sydney might not have met him, but she’s good at sussing out weaknesses and exploiting them like he is.
He was captured during the rebellion. They didn’t kill him right away because they thought a public execution would end the rebellion.
He manipulated them into slipping up and escaped.
Anyone who fell with him would know that story.
I’m guessing that’s what the imps are for. ”
“Explain,” Sydney said.
“They are dumb as rocks, but no one can manipulate them because they are just constantly pissed off. They hate nice things, so you can’t bribe them with money.
They love getting drunk or high, but each individual imp has a drug of choice.
They expect everyone to know theirs, and if you offer the wrong one, they won’t work with you at all,” Celix said.
That about summed it up. There were countless ways to get drunk or high in Hell if you wanted to. You could even combine them if you were creative. There was basically no way of knowing who preferred what by looking at them, but the imps were literally smooth brained and expected everyone to know.
“Sorry, but Lilith seems really cool. Why would she make imps?”
“Mammon called her a whore one day. I don’t even remember what was going on. He was in a bad mood because Asmodeus called him a prude, so he took it out on Lilith. She made a bunch of them and let them loose in his yard. They breed like bunnies and became a bit of an invasive species,” Satan said.
So, that was why we were stuck with them. I had to get a shot once because one of them stabbed me with a dirty broken bottle because I didn’t have any drugs on me when I was trying to get home from the pub.
“Would Mammon have befriended the little menaces and used them to stage a coup?” Sydney asked.
“I don’t think so. He’s a follower, not a leader.
Mammon regrets rebelling and he probably never should have joined us, but Lucifer is charming with a magnetic personality.
He got swept up in things. He was also pretty good friends with Lucifer, Abaddon and I before all this.
After Lucifer got kidnapped, he started hanging out with Asmodeus and I happen to know he can’t stand him. Asmodeus bullies him.”
We couldn’t rule him out. I didn’t think Satan was playing us, but we had to suspect him too.
We had to look at all of them.