45. Sydney
Kujo was looking at me like the hamster that lived in my brain just crawled out of my nose and introduced herself, but I had a plan. What was the point of being super into an incubus and a Felid demon if I didn’t use all their assets.
“Let’s let my dad out of the naughty corner and discuss this new development.”
Because I could see where Mammon could have been telling the truth.
When we found Lucifer’s diaries, they were covered in forty-six years of dust. Satan said Abaddon and his lovers designed most of the security in Hell.
They were both suspects, but they assured me no one was watching us through the security system.
However they were getting intel had to be through the passages.
Mammon could have gotten that tidbit about me being a little more angel than I was supposed to be from lurking in the passages, but I locked the passages.
He had no way of knowing Lucifer told me about his trauma during their rebellion or that Lucifer originally suggested my other angel ancestor was Seraphim.
At least, I couldn’t see how Mammon would have known any of that. This could just be kismet. I needed more information. We gathered back in Lucifer’s living room. And damn, angel magic was really weird because Lucifer filled out again when we weren’t looking.
Lucifer also didn’t go to the naughty corner, he’d apparently gone to his kitchen to make sandwiches. Which was fair. I didn’t like doing what I was told either and I could always eat. Lucifer needed calories, and he made enough for everyone.
I wasn’t mad, but Lilith grabbed a pillow off the couch and beat the shit out of the devil with it.
“You could have ruined everything, you absolutely shit!”
“Lilith! My house has your wards and Enochian wards. I came up with new ones after Kir because I didn’t want anyone to sense I was home. You can’t see in the kitchen from the front door, but I can hear everything. I also need food to regain my strength.”
“Listen, I’m new to all this magic stuff. What do the folks who actually know how to use their magic think?” I asked.
Because I grew up with a single mom and didn’t have to deal with mommy and daddy fighting. Lucifer and Lilith were very old exes, but I didn’t want to get in the middle of that fight either.
“His mental shields were locked up. I couldn’t sense his emotions, but his body language was tense, like he was actually afraid of Sydney.”
“His scent changed too,” Celix said. “He really is scared of her.”
“I read his aura,” Lilith said. “It agrees with both of you.”
“It also tracks with the Mammon I know. On paper, he’s dealt with what happened to him, but he’s also never been in the same room with a Cherubim or Seraphim since we rescued him.
That was who he spent the most time with before he joined the rebellion.
If he says he’s getting small Seraphim vibes off of you, then he probably is.
He’s probably right too. I have no idea how it’s possible since they never leave home, but that has to be it. It also makes you insanely powerful.”
“Or he could be afraid because he found his stupid cage turned to ash and realized he probably shouldn’t be a dick to the person who could touch a cage like that and look that fucking hot answering the front door not that long after.
She’s not scared of them. She wasn’t scared of us when we thought we were fetching a Cambion child.
She punched a Fury in the dick without a drop of magic in her veins.
Whoever did this should be pulling their nuts up and groveling,” Kujo said.
“It’s possible, but I’m also much older than all of you.
The kind of man who would do this isn’t afraid of anything.
He knew exactly how to trip Lucifer up and after forty-six years, all Lucifer has been able to figure out is that whoever this was might feel a little sad about it.
That person isn’t going to get scared because Sydney shouldn’t have been able to destroy that cage and make an obvious mistake by coming straight here,” Lilith said.
“Excuse me, what?” I asked.
My mom didn’t have stories about me sticking forks in the outlet for shits and giggles when I was a kid. I did a lot of dumb stuff, but not anything that was going to kill me or permanently maim me. Now that I had wings, I could cross cliff diving off my bucket list.
“The cage should have seriously hurt you,” Lucifer said.
“The men behind you were moving to stop you. I didn’t say anything because it seemed like your magic was guiding you and you weren’t totally all there.
You wouldn’t have heard me if I ordered you to stop and our magic rarely steers us in the wrong direction.
Lilith and I both knew what was happening and that you could do it. ”
“You risked her like that?” Kujo growled.
Yeah, Kujo went from being a total nard to looking like he was willing to fight the devil for letting me touch that cage. I wanted to keep him too, so I decided to step in.
“No, they are right. I didn’t know it at the time, but I could just feel I was supposed to touch the cage. I wasn’t really aware of anything else going on in the room. If one of you had touched me, I might have done something I regret.”
Which I didn’t want. I didn’t want to hurt anyone I cared about and I was terrified that might happen.
“You won’t. Our magic is destructive, but it’s also intuitive.
We can wipe out entire villages and spare who we like.
Fraternizing with mortals was frowned upon and it was never explained to us why.
It’s because if we love someone, our magic just reacts and won’t hurt them.
I don’t even know if the angels who didn’t fall have figured this out yet. ”
I mean, that made me feel loads better, but Nero and Celix had their chests puffed up and Kujo was looking at me funny. I didn’t know what the problem was. That meant I wasn’t going to explode their heads like a grape.
“What?” I demanded.
“You love us,” Nero sang.
Which I guess was fair, and I had no problem profusely telling any of them that when I was ready, but I wasn’t quite there yet. Thankfully, Lucifer decided to swoop in and save me.
“So, Lilith is right and I have a plan. It would be highly suspicious to knock on my front door right after I escaped. Which is why I don’t think it was Mammon.
He’s a lot of things and I agree he needs to deal with some things, but he’s never been stupid.
I’m going to be back to full strength in about a day and we’ve got Lilith here.
“Lilith is going to plan one of her epic dinner parties and everyone is going to get invitations hand delivered on my personal stationery. I can fight with my fists and my wits. I know how to discombobulate anyone so that an incubus can get a read on them. Are you comfortable with that?”
“Yeah,” Nero said.
“Is our first daddy daughter bonding going to be discombobulating some angels?” I asked.
Lucifer just gave me an evil grin.
Oh, it was so on.