5 ONE FELL SWOOP #2
He decided his safest course of action was to play dumb. His knowledge of her identity was his only possible advantage right now.
She clasped her hands at her front. “My name is Sunshine.”
Great, so she didn’t care if he knew who she was. There went his advantage.
She stood at the edge of the sigil, just far enough away that he couldn’t reach her. Not a hair was out of place on that head of silky straight hair, even after their fight. Her white dress was unwrinkled, her smile sweet and polite.
Damn her for being beautiful. And damn him for still noticing, even after finding out what she was.
“I know who you are, Raum. And I know who your brothers are as well.”
It was meant to be a threat, but she couldn’t pull off threatening to save her life. With that sweet countenance, it was more like she was introducing him to her grandmother.
But she didn’t have to look threatening for the threat to be there.
She was a fucking angel. She had the ability to teleport, which gave her a serious advantage over him—one of the many bullshit ways the whole “battle between Heaven and Hell” had never been a fair fight to begin with. And he was trapped in a sigil.
“Asmodeus, Belial, and Mephistopheles,” she went on.
“And a new addition: Mishetsumephtai. You’re closest to Mephistopheles, who goes by Meph.
Meph has a relationship with a blood-born witch named Iris, and her twin sister Lily has one with Mishetsumephtai, or Mist. And Asmodeus, or Ash, has a human girlfriend named Eva.
” Sunshine continued to smile, but her gaze sharpened ever so slightly. “Or should I say half human.”
She knows about Eva. Raum’s blood went cold.
The angel knew what Eva was, which meant she knew Eva was Dan’s daughter. That meant she knew Dan was a big-time rule violator, harboring his forbidden half-angel offspring and throwing his support behind a group of rogue demons.
“What do you want?” he asked, abandoning all pretense. “Why am I here?” He didn’t ask what he really wondered— Why am I not dead? —because he didn’t want to give her any ideas.
She shifted on her feet and twisted her hands. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she appeared nervous. It was so at odds with the current power dynamic, he figured he was imagining it.
“When you and your so-called brothers escaped your duties in Hell—”
“They’re not my so-called brothers. They’re my brothers.”
“Demons cannot reproduce, and therefore they can’t have siblings. Only humans can.”
“Brothers are related by blood. We did a blood ritual and shared blood. So we’re brothers.”
“That’s not how brothers work.”
“Why not?”
She opened her mouth and closed it again.
“This is irrelevant,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Regardless of the legitimacy of your brotherhood, you are living on Earth against the rules. If Hell finds you, you will face severe punishment. If Belial resists and attempts to gather forces in support, it may set off an underworld war of epic proportions. If Heaven catches you, on the other hand, you will simply be dispatched. The chance to eliminate five greater demons of such power is one we are rarely offered, and it will be taken.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
But she was driving home how fucked he was. She was reminding him what would happen if they were caught—after having already caught him.
But she hasn’t killed me yet. It had to mean she needed him for something, which meant there was a chance he could bargain his way out of this.
“I know everything,” she said. “I’ve been watching you for the last three weeks.
I should have gone to my superiors the moment I realized who you were, but by staying to observe, I learned far more than I would have otherwise.
I learned about Daniel’s transgression and his forbidden Nephilim child. ”
“I get it. You want something. What is it?”
She blinked those big dark eyes. “You’re very direct.”
“Considering my life is on the line, yeah, I’m not into small talk. Cut to the chase.”
“Very well. You are correct: There is something I need, and I want you to help me get it. If you do, I will agree not to reveal knowledge of your whereabouts or the existence of the Nephilim female. If you don’t, I will, and you will all lose your lives.”
His heart sank like a brick in the ocean.
No matter what she wanted him to do, he was going to have to do it.
Fucking angels. She stood there with that innocent little smile, threatening him with the worst kind of blackmail.
At the end of the day, the servants of Heaven were just as self-seeking and underhanded as demons, only they did it under the guise of being the “good guys.” At least demons owned their evilness. At least they didn’t pretend to be anything other than what they were.
“And what do you want?” Raum asked through gritted teeth.
“You must agree to the deal first,” Sunshine replied.
“Not until I know what it is.”
“You have no choice. You will not let your family die.”
He bit back a curse. Damn her for being right. His only hope was to bluff his way through this.
“I’m a demon, remember? I don’t give a fuck about anyone but myself. Yeah, I live with them, but only because it’s convenient. I’d rather they not die, but I don’t care enough to make a deal with an angel without knowing the parameters.”
Sunshine studied him, her head tilted. She looked like she didn’t believe a word out of his mouth.
“Very well,” she said, surprising him. “Recently, a grimoire was stolen. I was charged with retrieving it for safekeeping in the Empyrean Library.”
Raum stilled. No way— no fucking way —she was after what he thought she was. The world was not that small.
But apparently, it was.
“Originally in the possession of a blood-born witch, the book was taken by a demon called Murmur, and it was brought to Hell. As you know, I cannot use my teleportation abilities in the underworld. I need help collecting it, and who better to aid me than another demon?”
She was smart to seek help. Angelic powers were useless in Hell, and she would stick out like a sore thumb on her own. Another angel would be just as incongruous. Blackmailing a demon into helping her was clever, and if he wasn’t so pissed off, he might have been impressed.
“If I do this,” Raum said, “you have to vow to leave us alone forever and never tell a soul what you know.”
“I’m willing to agree to that.”
It was a start, but it wouldn’t be enough. Almost no bargain was completely unbreakable. There was usually a hidden way out, an overlooked loophole. And Raum couldn’t take that chance. Not with Eva and his brothers’ lives on the line.
Immediately, his mind started reeling with plans.
Sunshine was after The Book of Gamigin , currently in the Necromancer’s possession. Raum had also wanted it to use as leverage against Murmur until Bel made him scrap the idea.
But now he was thinking …
He knew angels. Sunshine might swear never to reveal their location to anyone, but even if he got her this book and sent her on her merry way, it was only a matter of time before she showed up with her next form of blackmail.
Finding a way to get rid of her permanently was the only solution.
Angels were extremely difficult to kill, but it wasn’t impossible. Just like demons, to deliver permanent death to an angel, they had to be beheaded and the pieces of their body incinerated. The catch was that they had to be beheaded with a consecrated weapon and cremated with heavenfire.
While being in Hell increased a demon’s power, angels couldn’t teleport or use their healing abilities.
One might think the underworld would be the ideal place to attack, but unfortunately, consecrated weapons had no power either, which meant no matter what you did to an angel in Hell, they wouldn’t die.
So, the killing had to happen on Earth … where an angel had full access to their abilities.
The other catch was that demons couldn’t handle consecrated weapons—it felt like sticking a hand straight into a bonfire—and only a rare few knew how to draw the Empyrean sigil to summon heavenfire.
Even fewer could actually make it work. It was generally accepted that demons couldn’t use Empyrean magic, but there were always exceptions.
In this case, the exception was Belial.
Since Bel was actually a fallen angel, he was immune to consecrated weapons, and he was capable of summoning heavenfire—albeit with difficulty, since he was very much a demon now.
And there was a way around the teleportation problem too. Angels could be trapped within a special type of Sheolic—that is to say, demonic—sigil. It was so complex and difficult to cast that most demons weren’t capable of it, but again, Belial was.
And Belial really hated angels.
If he arranged things just right, Raum was pretty sure he could pull this off.
He would agree to help Sunshine steal the book, and then he’d find a way to destroy her and take it for himself. Murmur would swear to anything to get his precious grimoire back, and there would be no more angels that knew where he and his brothers were hiding.
Two birds, one stone.
He was rather fond of birds and would strangle anyone throwing stones at them, but the saying worked in this case.
First, however, he had to cover his bases. And no one was better at hashing out the terms of a contract than a demon.