48. Sydney
Iwas relieved when Nero pulled us aside and ruled out Mammon, but said we needed to go back to looking at everyone. I didn’t want it to be Satan or Abaddon. They were decent to me and I didn’t want to be that person who fell for it. Wrathhog was also my friend, and I didn’t want it to be her dad.
I’d mostly been sitting here with my stomach in my butt after Mammon revealed he actually couldn’t stand Asmodeus, Belphegor, and Beelzebub and was only always around them because he was undercover.
I didn’t particularly care for Mammon but I believed him.
They didn’t do it, but they were the type to try to figure out who did to profit from it.
That left Satan and Abaddon again and Celix was staring pretty hard at Abaddon.
Abaddon was the least worried out of anyone here and seemed like this wasn’t that kind of dinner party.
I was actually less worried about the Beast of Eden than I was about meeting the Prince of Wrath right now. Satan was pissed.
But Satan had been the most active with helping me and shielding me from his brothers.
When I asked for Wrathhog, he could have lied and just never asked her.
I never would have known. There would have been no way to fact check it outside of asking Wrathhog and it would have been easy for him to keep us apart.
But he actually asked her and encouraged her to teach me how to fight an angel because he knew I’d need it.
If he wanted my secrets, he could have plucked them out of my head because I had no mental shields.
Satan didn’t just tell his daughter to teach me.
He told her to teach those closest to me and I knew what that meant now.
And incubus and a Fury who also knew what pressure points could disable an angel was very dangerous.
But he’d done it anyway, and he’d done it because he cared about my father and was trying to protect me. That left Abaddon and I needed to play this carefully. We’d been worried about secret passages and who might be creeping around in there, but the answer had been right in front of our faces.
“Satan, you’re the one who always handles the breaches, right?” I asked. “You only took me because they tried to force me to do it on my own. You were looking out for me.”
Lucifer straightened because he knew I was up to something and Satan frowned because he didn’t know what I was doing.
“I’ve always looked out for you since I found out you existed. I took you because they were trying to make you and honestly, I thought the zombies and machete thing was amusing. I also thought you’d have a good time. And yes, I always handle the breaches.”
“Mmhm. And if you need to leave Hell, who would you tell so they could handle it if it happened while you were gone?”
“Don’t,” Abaddon said softly.
“Well, Asmodeus, Belphegor, and Beelzebub won’t.
They think it’s not our problem once they are gone and the souls will just burn out in the mortal realm without a body.
They don’t care about the chaos it would cause on the mortal realm.
I thought Mammon decided they were better friends because he didn’t tell me what he was up to, so I couldn’t ask him.
Abaddon is the only one I can ask in that situation. ”
“Yeah, and when you asked him to step in because we were making a trip to a volcano, did you happen to mention it was because Kujo was getting visions and we were going to collect the devil?”
Lucifer’s wine glass shattered, but Satan hadn’t quite connected the dots.
“Yes, because—you utter fuck! You were the only person I told because we spent so much time trying to find him together. You sent the Furies after my child.”
“And mine,” Lucifer said. “Tell me, was this my only child you’ve hurt?”
Lilith had told me enough about my father that I knew being kidnapped and kept in a cage my entire life just pissed him off.
But hurting his kids? The only reason he hadn’t attacked Abaddon was because he needed to know about Kir.
And I didn’t blame him. Lilith and Lucifer deserved to know who murdered their son.
Abaddon wasn’t fighting. The Beast of Eden showed no signs of poking his head out. He just looked defeated and maybe a bit relieved?
“I loved Kir like he was also mine. Do you remember how I helped teach him to fight when he was younger? When he said he wanted to go to the mortal realm on his own and you were going to let him, I didn’t trust the rest of our family. I thought I could just keep to the shadow and protect him.
“You know what he was like. He was the son of the Lightbringer and he just shone too brightly.
The humans flocked to him just like the demons did and the other angels noticed.
It was just two of them because they thought they were dealing with your average Nephilim.
But all your spawn look exactly like you and they instantly knew who his father was.
“Kir was trained enough to handle two angels, but when they realized they were dealing with the Son of the Morning Star, they summoned more. Kir couldn’t handle that many without help and all he had to help him was a Fallen angel who had zero control over their rage. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
I couldn’t speak for Lucifer, but I knew exactly what happened. Abaddon tried to protect Kir and lost himself. He hurt Kir when he stopped being able to tell friend from foe and he was still gutted about it even now.
I looked around the room. Satan and Mammon just looked sad. Lilith was pissed. Belphegor looked like he was just waiting. Beelzebub was still eating like nothing was going on. Asmodeus had this look on his face like he was hoping they’d kill each other. My father just looked…confused.
“Kir was crucified. That wasn’t your style. Where were the bodies of the rest of the angels? The Beast of Eden has a very distinctive kill style.”
“I promise, he wasn’t. When I came back to myself and realized what I’d done, I panicked and I was grieving. I wasn’t in my right mind. I staged the scene. Kir was already dead when I put him up there. I’m so sorry, brother. I thought you figured it out. It was why I kidnapped you.”
“You used Kir’s face. You want to tell me you loved Kir? That you love me? Why did you use his face?”
Because yeah, that was fucked up. That made the rest of his story not make sense. Literally, everything he did was wrong, but wearing my dead brother’s face? I wouldn’t do that to someone I hated, much less someone I professed to love.
“I don’t think he did,” Lilith said. “You didn’t shapeshift. You used my fear potion, didn’t you? Sydney, I have a potion that if you slip it to someone, they see their darkest fear. Lucifer, it would have been so easy to put it in your food and water since it only takes a drop.”
“That’s ridiculous. Kir isn’t my darkest fear. My brother tortured me with his face.”
Losing Kir was his darkest fear. I didn’t need to be an incubus to read Abaddon’s body language. He didn’t shapeshift. He took that potion. This wasn’t some vast conspiracy where he was plotting to takeover Hell. It was an angel who made a mistake and just kept panicking.
“Ah, fuck,” Kujo said, tensing.
Celix caught him before he could face plant in his soup.
“Before you do anything, brother, let’s wait. This one is going to be a powerful seer. Abaddon has confessed to everything, but Kujo wouldn’t be getting a vision right this minute unless it was important,” Satan said.
“I’ll have my justice,” Lucifer swore.
I had no doubt. I also had zero doubts that in the years since Abaddon murdered my brother, he figured out how to control the Beast of Eden because he didn’t look like he intended on fighting.
Things were about to get insanely violent and I had no idea what Kujo was currently seeing.