35. Sydney
Iknew this didn’t make much sense, but some of my favorite things in this world were fist fights, fucking, and reading. I had layers. I could never find that shirt on Etsy, though. Pity.
One thing I could appreciate about Lucifer’s gigantic house was the enormous room meant for sparring.
We couldn’t start fighting right away. Lilith found out someone was trip trapping in Lucifer’s secret passages and decided to come help, yet again.
She told us Wrathhog never would have been able to show me how to re-key those locks because Lucifer and Lilith figured out a bunch of blood magic together and didn’t teach it to all the Fallen.
She also threw the ultimate wrench into everything.
Lilith told us Lucifer didn’t trust his brothers long before Kir was murdered.
Well, he trusted a few of them, but not all of them.
The only people who could have been watching us and attacked Satan would have been someone Lucifer trusted enough to let in.
And it would have been someone he trusted to not revoke access after his son was murdered.
“So, Satan and Abaddon,” I said. “Because those are the only two I trust.”
I didn’t want it to be either of them. I liked Wrathhog, and I knew she loved her dad. She’d be gutted if it was him. Satan and Abaddon had also been decent to me since I got here. I didn’t want to think that was a lie, but who else could it be?
“Not just those two. I don’t know what happened after I left, but Mammon and Lucifer used to be friends.
It wasn’t the same kind of friendship he had with Abaddon and Satan.
Mammon used to keep his thoughts about women to himself around Lucifer.
They used to stay up at all hours talking politics, philosophy, science, you name it.
“Mammon is a Cherubim. They aren’t fat little cupids like mortal realm depictions.
Mammon’s real visage has four wings and four faces.
He chooses to appear how you see him. Cherubim are typically allowed in spaces other angels aren’t, so they pick up all kinds of things.
Mammon passed vital information to the rebellion.
When he’s not being an asshole, he’s actually brilliant and fascinating to talk to. ”
Ah. That asshole. Somehow, I didn’t think we’d be sitting down to any type of stimulating conversations any time soon. He wasn’t as openly antagonistic as Asmodeus, but he made no secret he hated me and wanted me gone.
“I don’t think it’s Mammon,” Kujo said. “He’s utterly lost his shit over your shirts and that mouth. Whoever did this has gotten away with murder for thousands of years and kept Lucifer in a cage for forty-six years. If I was the one who did this, I wouldn’t make it that obvious.”
“It could be him,” Celix said. “Keeping secrets is an enormous burden. If someone is doing this alone, they have no one to talk to. They’ve gotten away with it this long, but they made a huge mistake.
They grabbed Lucifer and didn’t pay attention to his lover.
I’m guessing whoever cursed Sydney’s mother didn’t know who Sydney’s father was or Sydney wouldn’t be here. ”
“It’s like what we said. No one knew Lucifer had a kid out there.
No one even knew he had a lover on the mortal realm.
Someone would have brought you both here or killed you both.
Sydney being here was a fuck up. Trying to take Kujo out of the equation was a massive fuck up and made Sydney stronger.
Insisting Sydney deal with the breach was a fuck up because it ended up on mortal news where Lilith could see her picture and realize who she was.
It’s all starting to crumble. Of course, someone is going to start getting sloppy,” Nero said.
Yeah, those were some good points. Why Mom and not me too?
I’d moved out and married when she got sick, but we were still close and kept to our traditions when I was growing up.
We did horror movies and comfort food several times a month.
If I got in a fight with my ex, I was over at her place bitching while she backed me up, even if I happened to be wrong that time.
When my magic started showing up, I thought it was perimenopause. Mom had already gone through menopause when she got sick. She would have told me if she got magic powers because I might get magical powers. Her angel blood must have been to diluted, but why curse her?
“You’re going to drive yourself insane with all the what ifs.
I don’t know who Lucifer gave access to his secret passages to.
I’ve been gone from Hell a very long time.
It was too painful to come back. Lucifer never visited me either.
Satan did plenty of times and brought all of his kids.
I knew what Lucifer was up to because of Satan’s visits, but Satan shared his business like I was just his good friend because he didn’t know the truth about us.
The people Lucifer would have given access to when we were together could be very different now.
What matters right now is changing the locks. ”
“Cool, but I have zero control over my magic. I may blow the place up.”
“I believe your Fury helped with that when you were most likely to blow my house up.”
I looked at Kujo because credit where credit was due. I needed some kind of intervention after finding out someone cursed my mother.
“I never thanked you for that.”
“Say less. Nero, Celix, and me will always be there when you need us. Re-key the locks and then we’ll see if you can drop me when I know you’re a black belt. And I happen to know nut sack kicks are forbidden in karate, so we’ll play by the rules this time.”
Lilith cocked an eyebrow at me.
“You assaulted a Fury in the testicles when you don’t have functioning mental shields yet?”
I shrugged.
“Sometimes I am full of rage and poor decisions. Obi Wan me and teach me some magic.”
“Well, it’s a blood spell, so you’re going to need some of your blood.”
I’d never needed to spill my blood for anything, but I also wasn’t a complete moron like the people in movies I watched that did this.
I cut the top of my forearm instead of the palm of my hand.
I did not need a gaping knife wound on body parts I’d be using as weapons or what I needed to hold weapons.
Yes, it looked badass to slice your palm open and squeeze your blood over a magical chalice, but it also looked like a good way to end up with some painful wound in your gut that took forever to kill you.
No thank you.
“What do I do know?”
“Magic is about intent. You’re going to add your blood to the black salt and the line the door with it. Then you’re going to put your intention into it and who exactly you want to allow in the secret passages.”
“What if I just want it to me Nero, Celix, Kujo, and me?”
“That’s probably safest until you know who your enemies are.”
So, that was what I did. And nothing exploded. The black salt with my blood briefly shimmered white and then the spell was done.
Score one for me.