Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
L ucifer drove while Bianca called her coven to cast the amulet finding spell. He had bitched at her about not being able to fly because she was with him, but he kept two salient details out of his complaining. One, he couldn’t access his wings with his power bound, and two, Lucifer liked driving.
He’d designed his chariots around his love of speed. Driving her car, however, was less of a thrill. Normally, when he came to earth, he chose something sporty and wickedly fast.
She hung up on her last call. “They’re all coming to my house.”
“Yay.” He deadpanned. Haglette’s coven were his favorite humans. Not. Speaking of favorite humans. “Including Weaz-adj?”
“You’ve called him that before.” Bianca’s striking eyes gleamed with laughter. “What does it mean?”
It would be his pleasure to explain. “Weasel adjacent,” he said. “As in a being possessing all the poor qualities of a weasel and none of their redeeming characteristics.”
She laughed, a rich, throaty sound that came from her center and crinkled her eyes. “It’s almost like you know him.”
“I know him as much as I care to.” He added a theatrical shudder. “I have no idea why you allow your sister to consort with him.”
She wriggled in her seat. “Carmen is an adult now. I can’t tell her what to do.”
“Please.” That was a good one. “You have no trouble telling me what to do.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“You can stand up for yourself.”
True that. “And Carmen can’t?”
“She’s…impressionable.” She turned her head and stared out the window. “And there are other…factors involved in this.”
“You could advise her,” he said.
Bianca cleared her throat and fiddled with the radio. “She wouldn’t listen. Who does when they have a crush on someone?”
Lucifer smelled deception. “What other factors?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She blushed. “I don’t believe in judging other people’s choices.”
Now he knew she was yanking his chain. Other factors, hmm?
And then he reached an impossible, outlandish, barely worth considering conclusion. He snapped the radio off. “Tell me I have this wrong.”
“Hey!” Bianca scowled. “I like that song.”
He stopped her hand on the radio button. “Tell me it’s not true.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.” Sniffing, she sat back and folded her arms.
He could warn her not to even try lying to the father of all lies, but where would be the fun in that? “Tell me you and he did not…” He could not even say the words.
Bright red, she snapped, “It was a long time ago.”
Dear angels above and princes below. This time his shudder was real. “How long ago?”
She muttered something.
Lucifer caught it anyway. “Six months!” This information was casting her in a whole new light. “Had you suffered a brain injury? A traumatic life event?”
“I was dickmatized,” she yelled.
“More like lobotomized.”
“Dickmatized,” she repeated. “Dazzled by his dick. Flattered by his attention.” She huffed. “Only the dickmatized part turned out to be not so much. He’s long on promises and short on delivery.”
This was too good to gloss over, and he enjoyed seeing her rattled. She’d certainly shaken him up in their short acquaintance. “You mean to tell me, that in addition to his personality, he has a small dick?” Oh, hells, he had to laugh. “What could he possibly offer a woman like you?”
She growled. “He’s handsome. I don’t get a lot of attention from men who look like Christen. And I was going through some stuff.”
“Life threatening, I hope.” That Bianca would even consider Weaz-adj as a partner blew his mind.
“Hey!” She scowled at him. “Stop being so fucking judgy. And it didn’t last long.”
He’d seen this play out in the earth realm before. Women like Bianca being dragged down by a man so far beneath them it was ludicrous. “He probably thought he’d won the lottery when he got you. He must have been devastated when you left him.”
More muttering from her and this time he didn’t catch it. “What was that?”
“He broke up with me,” she yelled.
And Lucifer’s amusement fled. He’d never had a high opinion of the intelligence of human males, but this was unfathomable. “That piece of shit broke up with you? Why?”
“Why are we talking about this?” She compressed her lips and looked weary.
Had he wounded her? Even worse, had Weaz-adj wounded her? That made him want to rip the fucker apart even more. He studied her face out of the corner of his eye. “We are talking about this because I find it unbelievable that a strong, determined, clever, and beautiful woman such as yourself would ever deign to let that piece of human waste anywhere near her.”
Her head whipped around, and she blinked at him. “Is that a fucked-up kind of compliment?”
“Perish the thought.” He would neither confirm nor deny her accusation. “And although I intend to make you pay for summoning me and binding my powers, that does not make me blind to what you are.”
She took a deep breath. “Thanks?”
“You’re welcome.” He cleared the sudden tightness in his throat.
The remainder of the drive to Bianca’s house took place in silence.
Judging by the number of cars in her driveway, the coven had already gathered. Just what he’d always wanted—a room full of fucking witches.
* * *
Bianca suppressed her surge of irritation as Christen threw open her front door. “You made it,” he declared. “At last.”
Walking beside her, Lucifer growled. “I can make him disappear.”
“That would upset Carmen.” But it was a tempting offer.
He glanced at her. “It wouldn’t upset you?”
She snorted. As much as it chewed her ass, she agreed with Lucifer. Although, she had no idea what to make of the complimentary things he’d said about her. Lucifer growling threats, she could handle. Lucifer saying nice things made her go squishy inside. And that scared her far more than any of his promises of retribution.
“Everyone’s already here. Except you.” Christen brought her right back down to earth with a bump.
Lucifer loomed behind her like the world’s meanest bouncer. “Move.” He glowered at Christen. “Before I make you.”
Christen sniffed. “You’re very rude.”
“I’m fucking Lucifer.”
So true, and even more satisfying, and Bianca couldn’t hide her smirk. Not that she tried.
Stepping into the house, she was hit by a barrage of questions about Leona, Emma, and Ethan.
Lucifer let the chatter continue for a while before he cleared his throat. His sheer presence brought silence to the room.
He turned to her. “Bianca, if you would?”
It was the politest kick up the ass she’d ever received. “Right.” She raised her voice to make sure everyone heard her. Everyone being her and the remaining witches. “First things first. Emma and Ethan are safe, and that’s all I can say about that.”
Christen opened his mouth.
Lucifer scowled.
Christen snapped his mouth shut.
“I asked everyone here because we need to track the amulets,” Bianca said.
Patty fist pumped. “Taking action! I’m all about it.”
Christen whispered in Carmen’s ear, and Carmen raised her hand. “Um…Bee, how are we going to do that?”
“Magical signatures,” Lynn said, and when everyone turned her way, she blushed.
Bianca gave her an encouraging smile.
“Each amulet will carry the magical signature of the witch who made it.” Lynn’s voice gained strength as she slipped into her comfort zone. “We can track our witches by the amulets they made.”
“And then what?” Christen ducked behind Carmen.
Lucifer smiled. “And then I step in.”
* * *
Lucifer looked around the burnt-out shell of the house in an Ottawa neighborhood and cursed his brother. Wrath had no fucking finesse. In trying to extract Eddie from the demon meeting Wrath had attended with Shade, Dee, Daniel, Sophia, and Eddie, Wrath had gone nuclear and destroyed the building. Sophia’s host had done a good job of the cleanup, and from the outside, the house looked fine. But Wrath’s power surge had wiped out the inside and incinerated any trace of the demons that had attended the meeting.
Along with fixing Wrath’s mess, Sophia’s host had wiped any memory from witnessing humans, so that avenue of investigation was shut as well. He was reliant on Bianca, who was busy laying crystals around the debris littered floor. Inactivity chafed him.
Her coven had done some of their hocus-pocus crap and imbued the crystals with tracking spells. He kicked an empty soda can and sent it clattering against the wall.
Starting, Bianca glared at him. “Do you mind? I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Light some candles. Burn some fucking herbs.” They’d already wasted hours at Bianca’s house getting the crystals spelled. Through the window, the sky pearled with the oncoming dawn. “How do these crystals work again?”
“Each crystal has been imbued with the energy of a missing witch.” She cleared away trash and placed another crystal. “They will pick up on that witch’s energy and act like a homing signal.”
If that even worked. Witches, in his experience, weren’t good for much. Other than rudely summoning unsuspecting hell princes. He’d like to go back in time and wipe from creation the first witch who’d figured out how to summon.
Bianca sat cross-legged in the circle of crystals and closed her eyes.
Since that first witch had stumbled on how to summon hell princes, every few decades another witch gave it a whirl.
I want to stay young and beautiful. Poof! Summon a hell prince.
I want more power. Poof! Summon a hell prince.
I want to live forever. Poof! Summon a hell prince.
All except Bianca. Yes, she’d summoned him, but not for herself. Still, she had stopped him from getting his first solid piece of information on Ashe, and he owed her for that bit of impertinence.
They always summoned him. He hadn’t considered that little ball-kicker when he’d allowed humans to consider him the king of hell.
Bianca’s magic stroked over his senses like a gentle breeze.
His power stirred in response. Well now, that was a welcome development. One he intended to keep to himself. With nothing to do but watch Bianca crystal sing, he explored the power trickle. The crystal in the amulet had cracked, and more of his power was leaking through. Like water against rock, his power was eroding the crystal and widening the gap.
Bianca was frowning as she hummed softly to the crystals.
Patience had never been a habit he practiced or desired. He paced closer. “Is it working?”
“Shhh!” She cracked one eyelid and glared.
Ugh! He went back to the view of daylight breaking over an uninspiring suburban street. A front door opened three doors down. A woman in natty exercise gear checked her watch as she approached the sidewalk. Then set off at a jaunty jog. Now that was more hell than anything he could conjure.
He itched to hurry Bianca along, but suspected that would earn him another hushing, which shouldn’t bother him. She was human, and a witch, and he was the hell prince guarding pride. He should march over there and let her know who was in charge.
A middle-aged man in a suit left his house with a large travel mug in one hand and his eyes glued to his phone.
Maybe he should get one of those cell phones. He liked the idea of having his horde instantly at his beck and call. His imagination conjured up tableaus of demonic Zoom meetings. Would he be able to convey enough menace virtually? Then again, his horde was pretty much at his beck and call anyway. Until recently, that was. Still, he liked human technology and the gadgets they created.
A soft crystalline chime brought his attention back to Bianca.
One of the crystals glowed a muted mint green.
That had to mean something good.
Sweat beaded Bianca’s forehead as she continued to hum. Frown lines creased her brow.
A blue crystal flared, then stuttered, and lit up again. Much paler than the green crystal but still alight.
Bianca opened her eyes. “I’ve got something.”