Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
S ooo, this was Bianca’s life now. On a long and boring road trip with a hell prince and an archangel. Her Corolla would never be the same again. Neither would she, but that was a thought rabbit-hole for another day.
After an argument about whether Raphael or Lucifer would drive—huge surprise, Lucifer won—she’d relegated herself to the back seat. Neither one had asked if she might like to drive, and she was past caring.
Carmen had let slip in her conversation with Raphael about a lake cabin Christen’s family owned. And that was enough information to get them road tripping. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen if they were wrong about where Christen had gone.
Taking advantage of the backseat, she stretched her legs out. “So, why aren’t we doing that quickie distance thing you do?”
Raphael’s head shot around, and he stared at Lucifer. “Quickie distance thing?”
“She’s human. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Lucifer scoffed.
Was he looking guilty? “Yes, I do.” She shifted to stick her head between their seats. “It’s that thing where he squashes distance and time and you’re almost instantly where you want to go.”
Raphael stared at Lucifer with hard eyes.
Lucifer kept his gaze on the road and cleared his throat.
Oh, this was too good an opportunity to let pass her by. Lucifer was in tro...o..uble, and she dug the hole deeper. “Yup. He did it twice. Once when we went to Toronto, and then when we left Toronto.”
“You compressed?” Raphael’s tone was slow and measured. Kind of like when your mother asked a question before she went nuclear. Not her mother, but other mothers, when reacting to something they couldn’t believe their child had done.
Lucifer mumbled something.
“I beg your pardon?” Raphael leaned his ear closer.
Lucifer was gonna ge…e…et it.
His gaze crashed into hers in the rearview mirror and promised retribution.
Bianca was so over getting that look. At this stage, she was in such deep crap with him, she’d never see daylight again. She held his gaze as she said, “Is that what you call it? Compressing? Does that work on time and distance?”
“Yes.” Lucifer growled.
She grinned at him. “Can all of you do it?”
“We are both owed an explanation,” Raphael said. “But mine comes first.” His eyes gleamed molten gold, and his perfect bone structure was locked into harsh lines. He looked every inch the avenging archangel.
“Time was of the essence,” Lucifer said. “It was necessary.”
“Compressing is strictly forbidden in front of humans.” Raphael started glowing, and his head brushed the roof.
“None of them saw.” Lucifer also got glowy and growy.
Raphael’s voice grated. “You can’t be sure of that.”
Bianca suppressed the chirp that she was human, and she’d seen it. She wasn’t that much of an instigator. Okay, she totally was, but these two were starting to make her concerned for her car’s structural integrity.
“You can’t know that,” Raphael said.
“I do know that.” Lucifer’s jaw clenched making that sexy muscle tic in his jaw. “And who are you to sit there and speak about what is prohibited?”
Raphael frowned. “Eh?”
“Indeed.” Lucifer’s eyes gleamed as he went on the attack.
Master table turner move he’d just pulled.
“Are we going to continue to pretend that one of your lot did not sire a Nephilim?” Lucifer drawled.
Oh shiiit! This was getting juicy.
“That has absolutely nothing to do with this current conversation.” Raphael looked aghast.
Point to Raphael for holding the line.
“Only because you say it doesn’t,” Lucifer countered.
Classic Lucifer move, obfuscation.
“You compressed when you had a human with you, on the earth plane,” Raphael yelled. “That is forbidden.”
“One of you fucked a human,” Lucifer yelled back. “And when last I checked, that was also forbidden.”
“The two are not related.”
“Only because you’d rather not talk about one.”
“I…you…” Raphael growled. “Pull this car over. I need to kick your ass.”
Bianca abhorred violence, but these two would be evenly matched.
“No,” Lucifer said. “We don’t have time for what we both know would end in a draw.”
She’d called it.
Raphael opened his mouth. Then shut it again. “True.”
“And my point is this.” Lucifer simmered down with him and adopted a reasonable tone. “The circumstances we all find ourselves in are unprecedented, and we are all stepping over the line. We might not succeed if we don’t.”
“You try explaining that to Gabriel,” Raphael grumbled.
Lucifer shrugged. “Don’t tell her.”
Raphael gaped at him. “I can’t not tell her.”
“Why not?”
Bianca would like to hear the answer to that too.
“Because…well…it’s not done.” Raphael had stopped glowing, which Bianca took as a good thing for her Corolla. “And Gabriel will find out. That angel has a way of knowing everything.”
Bianca used to have a kindergarten teacher like that. She would know, just by looking at you, what you’d done and how many cookies you had in your pocket.
Lucifer snorted. “Only because you tell her everything.”
“I do not.” Raphael folded his arms.
Lucifer glanced at him and smirked.
“Okay.” Raphael stared out the window. “Maybe I tell her a lot of things. Most things.” He spread his hands, palms up. “I can’t help it. It’s in my nature.”
“Fair enough.” Lucifer nodded. “Just like rule bending is in mine.”
They drove in silence while Bianca burned to ask a slew of questions.
Lucifer broke the silence. “So who do you think it was?”
Yes! What Bianca had been dying to know.
“Hmm?” Raphael kept his gaze averted, but he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Sophia’s the world’s oldest virgin,” Lucifer said. “So that rules her out.”
Raphael whipped his head around and stared. “Really?”
“You didn’t know?” Lucifer chuckled. “How did you not know?”
In Raphael’s defense, that had floored Bianca. Sophia was so gorgeous it wouldn’t have occurred to her that she hadn’t gotten her a little something-something.
Raphael looked indignant. “I didn’t ask.”
It wasn’t the sort of thing anyone had the right to ask. Good job, Raphael.
“She’s been in love with Shade pretty much since they came into being,” Lucifer said.
That was sad, and Sophia was so sweet. It sucked for her that Shade was in love with Eddie.
“I did not know that either.” Raphael shook his head. “Does everybody know this?”
Lucifer chuckled and stared at him. “Now they do.”
“Huh?”
After a short pause, Raphael said, “I doubt it would be Gabriel.”
“Why?” Lucifer smirked. “It’s always the most publicly law abiding that are the biggest rule breakers.”
As proven by nearly every politician. Although she wouldn’t go so far as to say all law-abiding people were big secret rebels, but she got what he meant. Solid point to Lucifer.
“Sure.” Raphael grinned and laughed. “But she’s so…Gabriel.”
“Right.” Lucifer shuddered. “She probably has a rule book for fucking.”
“And a spreadsheet to measure performance.” Raphael snickered.
Talk about eye openers. Bianca was watching two immortal beings gossip and cackle like seventh graders.
“It’s obviously not me.” Raphael pressed a hand to his chest.
Lucifer’s answering grin was pure mischief. “How is that obvious?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“You know me so well.”
They both laughed.
“Which leaves Cassiel, Azrael, Ramiel, or Michael,” Lucifer said.
“Ramiel despises humans.” Raphael grimaced.
Well, that would get good old Ramiel struck off her birthday card list.
“He despises Nephilim as well.” Lucifer tapped a long finger on the steering wheel. “Do you think maybe he’s protesting too much?”
“Right.” Raphael’s eyes widened, and he nodded. “Like being so vocally anti-Nephilim keeps everyone from suspecting him.”
Or more like another male who liked to play without taking any responsibility.
Lucifer glanced at Raphael. “By that reasoning, we need to take a long look at Michael as well.”
Raphael huffed. “No. He despises humans as much as you do.”
Ouch! Real, live human sitting right there and listening to them. It shouldn’t have stung as much as it did, because Lucifer had never been secretive about how he felt about humans. She still wanted to smack the back of his head. With something heavy.
“I don’t despise humans.” Lucifer’s gaze met hers in the rearview mirror, and he winked. “Just human witches.”
Prick ! She made a face at him. “As much as I’m enjoying this gossip fest.” Or she had been until they got to the last part. “Can I go ahead and assume we’re not doing the time squishy thing?”
Raphael turned to her with an apologetic expression. “Correct. Even if it wasn’t forbidden.” He punched Lucifer’s shoulder. “We need to know where we’re going to do it, and we need to have been there before.”
They were doing this the human way then, which meant… “Road snacks!”
“Eh?” Lucifer frowned.
He may despise humans, but he had a crap ton to learn about them. “We need to stop for road snacks.”
“Absolutely no?—”
“Yes!” Raphael tapped out a drum tattoo on the dashboard. “Let’s get road snacks.”
And they did, which made the journey slightly more bearable.
By the time they stopped for the night, however, even Raphael’s good nature was wearing thin.
Lucifer strode from the motel reception to the car holding up a key card.
“Ummm…” Bianca motioned the card. “I hope you have more of those in your pocket.”
“One room,” he announced and pulled bags from the trunk.
He had to be shitting her. Bianca planted her feet and folded her arms. “Nope.”
“Come on.” Raphael nudged her. “It’ll be fun. Like one of those things girls do on television. They put on sleep clothes, eat snacks, and watch movies.”
“A sleepover,” she said. “And I’m not doing that with you two.”
“One room.” Lucifer tapped the card on her nose. “Because you are a powerful witch, and powerful witches are being hunted. This way, I can keep you safe.”
She’d been so concerned for Emma and Leona she hadn’t considered her position as precarious. Not one to give in easily, particularly not to him, she groused, “I thought you hated witches. Why would you want to keep one safe?”
He grinned down at her. “That stung, huh?”
“No.”
His grin widened. “I’ve made an exception for you.” Grabbing their bags, he turned and marched away.
“He’s right.” Raphael flung an arm around her shoulders. “One room makes it easier to watch over you.” His expression turned endearingly earnest. “And I vow to you, you have no reason to fear for your virtue.”
Gah! He was so sweet, deluded, but sweet.
“All right.” She wasn’t going to be stubborn when her life could be at risk. “But I pick the movie, and we raid the minibar.”
Chuckling, Raphael walked them after Lucifer. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
* * *
Lucifer could have warned Bianca that Raphael was a lightweight, but where was the fun in that? Two mini bottles of vodka, and the archangel was passed out on one of the two queen beds. No way Lucifer was sleeping on the uncomfortably looking, hideously green velour upholstered couch, so he’d have to move him before he and Bianca went to sleep.
At the moment though, he was deriving too much enjoyment from a tipsy Bianca.
She’d washed her makeup off and was dressed in black leggings and an oversize black T-shirt with elemental symbols on it. With her elegant shape, he’d love to drape her in silks and velvets. She had a timeless beauty that would age gracefully.
She wriggled beside him and giggled. “This is my favorite part. Watch this, Rafe.”
“He’s sleeping.” They were propped side by side against the headboard watching some movie Bianca had insisted on downloading. About witches—imagine that!
Before Raphael had nodded off, the two of them had been providing a running commentary through the movie and the one before. Also featuring...wait for it…witches.
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh.”
“What’s your favorite part?” Lucifer missed her smile and wanted it back. He hadn’t been watching the movie, more watching Bianca watch the movie.
She shrugged and flushed. “It’s silly.”
“Tell me.” Without her prickly edges, she was enchanting.
Her lovely face lit up. “Really?”
“Really.” Her unfettered joy tugged at some part of him and made him want to share it with her.
She took a deep breath and her eyes sparkled. “Well, they make these margaritas and dance.” She giggled. “It’s happy. Rafe would like it.”
“He would.” He smiled at her.
Her eyes were the most compelling shade of indigo. He could drown in them. “This is your favorite movie?”
“One of them.” She wriggled. “But I know you don’t like it.”
“No?”
She leaned closer, almost overbalancing, and whispered, “It’s about witches.”
“Witches?” He pretended to shudder. “Terrible things.”
“Hey!” She bumped his shoulder with hers. “Not all of them.”
“No.” He tapped his chin. “Emma is very sweet.”
“There ya go.” She raised her glass in a toast. “To Emma.”
He raised his and clinked. “To Emma.”
“And.” She waggled her forefinger at him and canted close enough that her nose nearly bumped his. “To you not really hating witches.”
He was about to tell her that would never happen, but then he stopped. He didn’t hate all witches. Time hung suspended between the laughter in her eyes and the tilt of her full mouth. One particular witch came to mind who he didn’t hate at all.
He might have forgotten to breathe.
The thing that had been jabbing at him since she’d summoned him floated to the surface. She was human and a witch, but she drew him to her. Her siren song lay in her indomitable spirit, her fearlessness, her sharp tongue, and her keen wit. Here was a woman worthy of a partner to match her strength.
She stilled, and her eyes widened. Her breath caught, and a delicate flush rose on her petal-white skin.
He had to taste her, draw her essence and light into the cold, dead parts of him.
“Lucifer?” she whispered.
Seeking the connection, he dipped his head to hers. “Hmm?”
“You look like you want to kiss me.”
“Because I do.”
Her lips parted. “Oh.”
“Is that an oh yes or an oh no?” His entire being hinged on her answer.
Bianca raised her mouth to his. “Yes.”
“Wah!” Raphael shot up from the bed beside theirs.
The moment shattered, and she pulled back with a gasp.
“Did I miss midnight margaritas?” Raphael demanded.
“I can rewind.” Bianca hid her blush behind fiddling with the movie controls.
And Lucifer ground his teeth. He’d missed so much more than midnight margaritas.