15. Gray
The silence was deafeningafter Luke’s dramatic departure.
I released Mébh, and she stood staring at the spot Luke had disappeared.
“He is being tortured for his misdeeds and will be for another several thousand years, I assure you,” Lucifer explained. He had shifted the majority of the way and used some crazy mojo on Luke, but then again, he was the Prince of Hell, and it was his job to punish damned souls.
“Good,” Mébh growled between gritted teeth. She was still furious, but her rage was controlled. I was proud of her for that.
Her face fell and her mood seemed to shift from fury to sadness. “Are you alright, princess?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s just I thought my mother was alive all this time, but I don’t know what I expected. I never guessed she may have found her mate and stayed with them. It still hurts that she left me, her infant daughter, behind, but it was clearly for the best. I wasn’t killed in the massacre.” Her multicolored eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
“I am truly sorry, Mébh,” I said softly.
She wiped at her eyes and then found mine with renewed determination on her face. “Luke said Molly was part of the reason my mother left.”
“I am pretty sure he was blowing smoke up your ass. He was trying to hurt you by causing mistrust between you and your sister,” I explained. I’d seen it in his mind.
She shook her head. “I’m sure my sister knows more than she is willing to tell me. She always said Mhari had most likely died as a lone wolf.” She looked stricken. “Do you think Molly knows Luke killed her?”
“I highly doubt that.”
“She knows something more, though. I have to ask her.”
This would be a perfect opportunity to return Mébh to her sister at Polaris headquarters so she could ask her what she knew, but all I felt was a hollow ache in my gut. I wasn’t ready to let her go. The little vixen had crept under my skin, despite my best efforts. She had taken hold and grown roots in my cold heart and brought happiness and excitement back into my life. “Then I’ll find a way around Nicodemus to take you back to Molly, so you can ask.”
Her expression brightened, and a smile formed on her lips. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. Her words of thanks were muffled. I took her in my arms and just breathed in her raspberry-evergreen scent. She was so much smaller than me, but somehow fit perfectly within my arms.
I felt Lucifer’s eyes on me and spied into his mind. I’d been reading it off and on this entire meeting. His thoughts were genuine. He was doing this all as a favor to me. Why, though, I had no idea. Now he addressed me within his mind silently. “She’s special, isn’t she?”
I raised my eyebrows as if to say, “So what if she is?”
He cocked his head to the side as he studied me. “Grayson.” There he went, using that name again. “She’s your mate?”
I gave an imperceptible nod that I knew he saw.
“You’re not exactly known for your monogamy,”he said offhandedly.
I bared my fangs at him.
“Just stating a fact, but I am happy for you. You deserve this. When I found my boy, I didn’t believe I was a Daddy worthy of keeping him. It doesn’t matter that we are fallen angels. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Falling itself doesn’t tarnish or sacrifice one’s soul, Grayson. Fully mating will give you what you need.”He fluttered his wings ominously. “Not to mention more power.”
“Why are you helping us?” I asked out loud, making Mébh pull back from my chest and look around toward Lucifer. She wasn’t privy to the private chat we’d just been having, but the question was a fair one for both of us.
“I know what’s happened to you. To your mind. I had the pleasure of interviewing Lethe before putting her in solitary confinement at the bottom of the cage. And I am one demon she didn’t wipe memories from.”
I was in Lucifer’s face so fast. “Lethe is here?” I growled. “Conjure her up like you did with Luke. Can she reverse the mind fuckery she did? Plus, I have a few choice words for that bitch!”
“I will not. Her powers are gone in death, so even if I could bring her up, she wouldn’t be able to fix your mind. She burns in solitary and will for at least another millennia or two,” he stated emphatically.
I snarled, clenching my fists in anger.
“I am one of very few demons she didn’t wipe memories of you from. I know who you are, Gray, or rather, who you are supposed to be.”
I spied into his mind. “Lethe really fucked him up. He is a shell of the demon prince I knew.” I abruptly left his mind. I wasn’t a prince, and I damn-well knew I was a shell of myself. It wasn’t like I appreciated the reminder.
“I am not a prince. You must have me mistaken for someone else,” I snapped.
Lucifer sighed. “If you’re just going to pull things from my mind, then fine.” He nodded at Mébh. “Take her to Shoal.”
“Are you crazy?”
“No. I am not. Take her to Shoal.”
I gaped at him. “Go to the place where I am a wanted demon? Lethe’s old army commander, Nicodemus, will find us. I refuse to let that happen.”
“I am well aware of Nicodemus’s feeble struggle to maintain power over all the regions in Shoal.” Lucifer rolled his eyes. “My suggestion is to hide in plain sight. They have been searching for you on Earth for months now. They won’t expect you to come back home.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Shoal is too dangerous!” I thundered.
All through this meeting, I’d been trusting Lucifer more, but now he was talking utter nonsense. Go back to Shoal? Take my mate to the one place I could so easily be tracked and found and forced into slavery again? No thank you.
Mébh was looking between us both, her brow raised.
“I once owed another demon prince a favor. He helped me through a rough time in my matehood.”
My mind replayed the memory of him and me sitting at a table, chatting during a feast. More details slowly unfolded this time, as I was somehow able to remember more. Lucifer had sought my advice on what he should do about his new boy toy. But this boy was different from all the others Daddy Lucifer had before. This was the happiest I had ever seen the Prince of Hell. The way he spoke about this one was different, and I’d told him as much during the meal. They fit one another completely and I’d suggested he fight for it since I’d never seen him so hung up about a boy before. Clearly, he had taken my advice, and Lucifer was now mated from it and sporting the giant wings he did not have before.
“I am simply trying to return the favor. Consider us even.” Lucifer clapped his hands twice and everything around us disappeared.
Dread settled over me as I stared around into the whiteness surrounding us. We were in no-man’s-land between dimensions. Fuck Lucifer for kicking us out of Hell. I didn’t even know he was capable of booting beings out of his realm, but the Hell prince was mysteriously powerful.
“Where are we?” Mébh asked curiously, also looking around.
“Limbo. It’s between the dimensions.”
“I was afraid he’d sent us directly into Shoal, but that didn’t seem right.”
“He isn’t that powerful. Here, give me your hand and we will go back to Maui and make a plan from there.”
Mébh reached out and clasped her little palm in my big one—so perfectly we fit. I pictured our Hawaiian hotel room and tried to release myself. Nothing happened. My ability to mist was being blocked.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t we misting?” Mébh asked, looking up at me with concern.
“I can’t.” With a heavy sigh, I realized Lucifer’s game. If I wanted out of limbo, I had to take us to Shoal. “Misting to Shoal is our only option,” I explained with dread.
Mébh’s multicolored orbs filled with a fear that matched my own.
“It’s going to be okay. I’ll mist us in and then mist us back to Hawaii from there.”
She hesitantly nodded.
I grasped her hand a little tighter and pictured the forest in Shoal, someplace far away from demonic civilization. She would be safest there for the moment I needed between mists. The whiteness around us began to dissolve into black, and when the blackness cleared from my vision, I found us standing in the blue-tinged forest with orange peeking through in the distance from the perpetual volcano, just as I’d pictured. Hellfire met my nose.
Darkness was falling and a red full moon was rising in the sky to the east. Mébh froze next to me as she stared at it, and a ripple seemed to travel over her. “Wait, it’s not supposed to be a full moon for a couple more weeks,” she said, panic in her tone and her eyes blown wide.
“The moon phases are different here, and that’s not even the same moon as on Earth. I didn’t even consider it. Will it hold the same power over you?”
“I don’t know, I—”
Her words were cut off by her own groan as she doubled over, grasping her midsection.
I knelt next to her. “What’s happening?”
“She’s. Rising.” Her voice was pain filled and distorted.
Suddenly she threw back her head and howled. Both the gold eye and her blue one gleamed. She flashed me a view of her growing fangs, and my body reacted instantly, something like a possession coming over me. It tightened with renewed need, my cock thickening fast as the demonic darkness inside me awoke. She tore away, slid from my grasp, kicked off her heels, and bolted from sight, her red dress flowing out behind her as she ran.
There was no doubt in my mind, no hesitation whatsoever, despite the fact that I innately knew going after her would end in me claiming her completely. The chase had begun, and it was time to make her mine.