30. Sydney
Well, this was the least pretentious dinner party I’d ever been to, and I didn’t want to throat punch anyone at the table like when I got dragged along to something with my ex’s coworkers. I loved Lilith’s place, and the food was fantastic.
But onto this big plan. Kujo was our only hope of finding Lucifer and he’d only just started seeing things.
Whoever took Lucifer was going to double the Enochian warding, which might make it impossible for him to see anything again.
And even if we did find him, I couldn’t see any way to fix anything here without a fight.
“So, a lot of my spells have been lost since I left. And for what it’s worth, I knew my wing spell was going to work on you because we used it on Kir.
I just wasn’t quite ready to deal with airing that secret in front of the other Fallen, mostly because there would be tantrums among my enemies and hurt feelings with my friends. ”
I shrugged. I wasn’t mad about that. I would have done it without spilling that secret. Lilith didn’t want to hurt me. As soon as she saw my picture and realized who I was, she came here to help. Now that I knew she and Lucifer were secret lovers and lost a child, I trusted her even more.
“I get it. One of those men could have killed your son. One of them probably did.”
It made more sense than some random angel discovering him on the mortal realm and doing it.
Someone had insider information and they only could have gotten that in Hell.
Someone had been playing a very long game, and I was certain the person who murdered Kir was trying to get rid of Lucifer. When that didn’t work, they took him.
“You keep sneaking looks at me and I’m guessing it’s not because I look amazing in this suit,” Kujo said.
And fuck him because he did. And then he opened his mouth when I was being insecure about my tits and said the most perfect, panty dropping thing ever. Wrathhog dressed them up like really hot, anatomically correct Ken dolls and every last one of them looked fantastic.
“Lucifer and I dealt with Kir in different ways. Lucifer went to a dark place that involved drinking and picking fights. Punching things and getting drunk isn’t my style. I was more interested in finding out who did it and getting revenge.
“I threw myself into writing spells and potions. I tried potions that could force someone to tell the truth, but I could never quite get a recipe right that worked on angels. Mostly, it just got them high and if you think some of them are annoying now, you should see them stoned.”
“Really?” I asked. “I pegged a few of them as being a lot more tolerable on something herbal that would dislodge the sticks in their asses.”
“Trust me, that is not the case with most of them. So, I started working on spells that would boost a seer’s magic.
But seers are rare and no one really knows where their visions come from.
Certain beings have always been blind spots for seers and I hoped to create a spell that could boost their abilities to see through whatever magic protects them from visions.
“I eventually gave that up because I didn’t think it was possible to see something angels didn’t want you to see, but Satan told me about Kujo.
I did, however, come up with a spell that opens the third eye a little faster.
It skips the weird dreams when the gift first starts to manifest and lets the visions come in like that magic has fully developed. ”
“You don’t have to,” I immediately said.
Because Kujo didn’t want to be a seer. He’d said it on more than one occasion and Nero and Celix also said he didn’t want it.
He didn’t have much choice in the matter and it was going to happen whether we did this spell or not.
Kujo was probably our best shot at finding Lucifer, but I also wasn’t going to force magic on him because it made things easier.
“No, I’m going to do it. I didn’t want it because I knew what my stupid family would do and they didn’t disappoint. You blowing them up was just a bonus because now the rest of them won’t get any ideas. But say I do find him and we manage to get Lucifer back.
“He’s only been gone forty-six years. Things got shitty long before that happened.
We’ve got demons with mangled wings who will never fly because the other Fallen think they are the only beings who deserve wings.
The upper demons sitting pretty need someone to shit on to get their minds off the fact that some of the Fallen think they are vermin.
How exactly do you plan on fixing that without a war in Hell? ”
That was a damned good question. I’d never lived through a major world war, but I’d seen enough of them to know that throwing magic, angels, and demons into the mix was going to get ugly.
Lilith tossed her hair over her shoulder and practically vibrated with power.
“I am the Mother of Demons. I defied my creator, ran away from the man I was made to serve, and lived to tell the tale. My demons might have sworn fealty to a Fallen angel in my absence, but Mommy’s home.
This place was my sanctuary and protection when I was being hunted.
I left, but they at least know I don’t smile to their faces while loathing them behind their backs. They will follow me if I ask.”
The one person I looked to for answers was Kujo. He hated everyone on principle. There were probably many demons who hated how things were in Hell and had someone they blamed for it. Would Kujo follow Lilith? That was my litmus test.
He knew what I was asking without me having to utter a word and gave me a small nod. Demons would follow Lilith over any of the Fallen.
Just fuck me if I actually knew how to deal with the Fallen when they didn’t seem to want to hold each other accountable.