Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
SIN
The next day, things were business as usual.
We’d given everyone time to acclimate after the return of Sunday and Pan, much to Chaos’s absolute annoyance.
If War’d had it his way, we would have taken a half-hour fuck break for the reunited mates and then gotten down to strategizing.
There was a reason we didn’t put him in charge.
“So let me get this straight,” Asher said, his focus trained on Lucifer, who was lounging in a chair like a king on his throne. “You just expect us to believe that you’ve switched sides and the horsewomen are now our only enemies?”
“Yes.”
“How stupid do you think we are?”
“Very,” he drawled, “and dare I say, not very trusting. You should speak with someone about that.”
Several members of the Hades Society took offense at once.
“Luc,” Merri chided. Mmm, she was so cute when she was scolding someone.
“Hey now, asshole. We’ve been running this show just fine without you.” This from Asher, while Kingston shot to his feet.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Kingston snarled, not his usual happy puppy self but full-fledged alpha wolf as he stared daggers at the Prince of Darkness. I guess being called dumb was a sore spot with him.
But it was Lilith whose voice rang out and drew our collective attention toward her. “Lucifer, you are doing a terrible job of gaining our trust. If you don’t behave, we will have to lock you up again. This time with stronger chains. We have witches on our side, you know.”
Luci’s expression darkened, but he didn't say anything.
Lilith’s focus turned to Kingston, judgment written all over her face. “And you. I thought you knew better than to let him get to you. You’re playing right into his hand, Mr. Farrell.”
I thought for sure the wolf would have a response for that, but he just shot her a mulish glare and righted his seat before sitting back down.
“He’s feeling extra protective right now. He does this every time Sunday gets knocked up,” Moira explained under her breath, catching me staring at him curiously. “You can’t so much as sneeze in her direction without him wolfing out on you.”
“I don’t blame him. It’s the literal devil after all,” I whispered back.
Gavin stood and commanded the attention of the room.
“The knowledge we’ve gained from Sunday and Pan’s unfortunate kidnappings is the only silver lining to this difficult experience.
But we must use what we’ve learned to our advantage.
We know who we need to stop. We know it’s not Lucifer, and now he is joining our cause. ”
“We’ve stopped them before, but it clearly didn’t work. They keep coming back, like fucking cockroaches,” Remi complained, frustration making his tone harsh. “I thought we killed Pesty.”
I understood the sentiment, but weirdly, the dig felt personal.
Remi’s eyes met mine and he shrugged, adding, “No offense.”
“Some taken,” I said, but with a smile, so he knew there wasn’t an actual issue. It seemed like the sort of thing you needed to establish when you were a horseman.
“Yeah, Sunday ran War through with Gabriel’s fucking flaming sword, and she still didn’t die,” Kingston said.
“My sword,” Michael interjected. “My sword that Gabriel stole.”
“I borrowed it. For the greater good.”
“Fat lot of good it did,” Kingston muttered.
“We’ve been over this. They can’t be killed. They’ll always come back.” Gabriel sounded exasperated, and I couldn’t blame him.
“It would seem you’re not quite as skilled at delivering your messages as your title suggests, brother,” Michael said. “They don’t appear to have stuck.”
“And that is my fault how, exactly? I delivered the message. Job done.”
“Yes, well, how successful is it when the message doesn’t stick?”
“Nowhere in my job description does it mention ensuring comprehension.”
“Leather feathers has a job description?” Remi asked no one in particular.
Lilith rolled her eyes. “Will you two kindly shut the fuck up? We have bigger issues to deal with than your massive egos.”
“So if I understand this correctly, what we’ve essentially learned is that instead of just having to deal with one horsewoman this time, we have to deal with all four simultaneously,” Alek said, bringing us back around to the real issue.
“Precisely,” Gavin said.
“How are we supposed to do that when we barely survived facing off against one of them at a time? I mean, we had multiple deaths in our collective groups the last time. I doubt Gabriel is going to bring everyone back again.” Alek looked to the angel for confirmation, but he refused to confirm or deny the statement, which did not fill the room with anything resembling relief.
I exchanged a glance with Chaos. Was this a good time for us to chime in?
Did we have any secret knowledge that might be relevant here?
As far as I knew, there wasn’t, but I was also the youngest. And as Grim loved to remind us, he’d forgotten more than the rest of us ever knew.
I didn’t want to let anyone down, but I wasn’t sure there was a simple answer to the Novasgardian’s question. We were sort of created to be eternal.
“What about a cage like the one Lucifer was locked in?” Caleb offered.
“How incredibly rude of you to mention my trauma so carelessly. I suffered. Did I mention your religious trau—” A gag appeared in Lucifer’s mouth, muffling his words.
Alek snickered. “You’re welcome.”
“We could reopen Tartarus. Lock them away with the Titans.” Hades’s brow furrowed as he paced back and forth. A little bark of protest came from the portal where Kiki and Asshole watched on.
“Boss, you can’t do that. What if the Titans escape? It took ten years to get them in there.”
“If you would—” Gavin got cut off as Thorne offered a suggestion of his own.
“There’s a prison at Blackthorne Manor we could repurpose.”
“Wasn’t it destroyed?” Moira asked.
The vampire shook his head. “The prison is deep underground. The walls are fortified to contain vampires suffering the madness of sun sickness.”
“I’m sensing a theme,” Remi said with a laugh. “But burying them alive is only going to hold them off for so long. Eventually they’ll escape, unless someone knows of some spell to contain them for eternity.” He said this while looking pointedly at Moira.
“Why is it always my job to save the day?”
“I might have—” Gavin tried again.
“Because you’re our resident witch, Elphie,” Kingston said. “The ace up our sleeve. The silver lining to our storm cloud.”
“The wind beneath our wings,” Remi offered.
“Yeah, what he said.”
“Everyone shut up!” Gavin bellowed, the veins in his neck sticking out and his eyes blazing with rage.
“Sorry, Daddy G,” Remi murmured.
Gavin didn’t acknowledge him; instead, he opened the book in his hands. “I found a passage in the Book of Lilith that talks specifically about unmaking immortal beings.”
It was as if all the oxygen was sucked from the room as all eyes snapped in his direction. The angels in particular looked aghast, which made sense since it would apply to their kind.
“Auntie Lilith, is it true?” Merri asked. “Can immortals be unmade?”
Lilith shrugged. “I’ll be honest, I don’t remember everything I wrote down in there. It was so long ago, and at the time, I was simply documenting information. It doesn’t mean I have personal knowledge of the what for and how of the matter.”
“You mean the knowledge you stole from me,” Lucifer muttered, the gag now hanging around his neck like a damp cravat.
“You deserved everything you got,” Lilith spat.
“Mommy and Daddy are fighting,” Remi sing-songed.
“If the goal of this little meeting is to build trust, then I suggest you tell them the truth, Lilith. Tell them what you did. Go on. Confess your sins. We have a priest here to absolve you and everything.”
“You first,” Lilith snarled.
“I’m not the one who wrote a fucking tell-all book like some jealous, spurned lover.”
Lilith made to rise, but Kingston caught hold of her pants and tugged her back down. “Careful, you’re playing right into his hand,” he mocked.
“If you’d care to keep that hand, I’d suggest you let go of her right the fuck now,” Crombie snapped, the scent of ozone flooding the room.
“She started it,” he grumbled.
“Lilith,” Lucifer crooned. “You won’t want me to tell this story the way I remember it. Trust me.”
All eyes were on the succubus, and we waited with bated breath. This was better than a telenovela. Adam and Eve? Old news. But Lucifer and Lilith? That was a story no one knew, and everyone wanted to learn what really went down between the OG power couple.
“The reason I don’t remember the details is that I put it all in the pages of the book. Not because I wanted to, but because it was too much to carry in my head.”
Lucifer let out a dark chuckle. “And tell them why.”
She sat silently fuming, so he stood and walked to the center of the room for all to see.
“I see my darling ex is as stubborn as ever. Allow me.” He swooped his arms out as though spreading magic across the room. “Once upon a time, there was a woman made by God to be the companion of his first human creation.”
“W-we already know this s-story, bud,” Ben said. “Adam and E-eve.”
See.
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. It all started with Lilith. Adam’s first wife.”
The angels shared a look and settled in like they were prepared to be here a while. Lilith huffed, but didn’t chime in, granting Lucifer the floor for now. I was seated between Malice and Grim, but neither of them so much as feigned breath, so I assumed they were as in the dark as the rest of us.
“The relationship itself matters not, although I think it’s worth noting that it was doomed from the start. Adam was a sniveling worm of a man who did not appreciate having a strong, independent woman as a partner.”
“Fool,” Crombie muttered, taking Lilith’s hand in his. Her posture softened as she granted him the barest hint of a smile.