Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
B ianca sat in the passenger seat feeling like she was submerged in water. Sights, sounds, and smells were all distorted and happening in distended time.
On a peripheral level, she was aware of Lucifer doing that time compression and also that she was in shock. Her rational brain questioned why now? Why was she checking out now? She might have pursued that line of reasoning if her growing panic had allowed it.
“Bianca?” Lucifer stopped the car outside the theater. “Haglette?”
“I want to go home.” She stared at the ornate Edwardian fascia of the theatre—red brick, iron scrollwork, cream columns and arches. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble to build such an elaborate building in out-of-the-way Clayton, Ontario. “Why did you bring me here?”
“We need to check in with Shade and Eddie,” he said.
“Christen’s dead.” Even saying the words felt alien, as if the past few hours had happened to someone else.
He took her hand. “Haglette, I?—”
“Don’t call me that.” She snatched her hand away. She needed distance between them. On this crazy journey, she’d forgotten who he was. What he was. Ripping Christen’s head off had been a stark reminder. This was Lucifer. Not a charming television character, or even a grisly horror movie demon, but the Lucifer. The one and only. The prince of hell.
He wasn’t her friend. He wasn’t her teammate in their insane mission. And he definitely wasn’t a being she should even consider getting close to, or kissing, or maybe more. When Christen had broken up with her after a few toxic months together, she’d sworn she would make smarter choices in the future. Boy, had she blown that promise to herself. Not merely blown it but smashed it to smithereens and capered through the debris. Christen had been a mistake. Falling for Lucifer would be more akin to a fucking disaster.
The plan had been so ridiculously simple: summon a hell prince; get him to help them find the missing witches. It had gone wrong from the first moment. She should have come clean to Eddie and asked Shade or Wrath to help her and her coven. A simple request for assistance. But nope! She had to do it her way. Had to shoot for the grand prize of compelling Lucifer to do her bidding. It was laughable how many times in her life that her way had turned into the hardest way. You would think she had learned her lesson by now.
Lucifer walked around the car and opened the door for her. “Raphael will meet us here.”
She hadn’t seen Raphael since she’d climbed into the car outside Christen’s cabin. Not that Christen would have much use for his family cabin now. And she still had to tell Carmen that Christen was dead.
First things first, if they were already at the theatre, she could check on Emma and Ethan. She unraveled her stiff limbs and climbed out of the car. It was like she had aged years since they’d left the cabin.
“Bianca.” Lucifer shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry you had to see what you did. I know it’s difficult for you to understand why I acted in that manner.”
“It’s not that.” She crossed the parking lot and stopped at the door. The image of Christen being decapitated would haunt her. “Not only that.”
Fathomless eyes hard to read, he studied her.
“It’s all of it.” Unable or perhaps unwilling to get into all her reasons, she opened the door and stepped through. The familiar smell of makeup, sweat, and air conditioning wrapped around her.
Low chatter from the greenroom broke the silence. A stagehand dressed all in black threw her a quick smile before disappearing through the door to stage right. And even now, the show must go on.
Aware of Lucifer behind her, she took the stairs up to the living quarters.
Dee appeared in the kitchen doorway. She tensed when she caught sight of Bianca. “Hi. When did you arrive?”
“Just.” Lucifer took the question for her.
Bianca owed Dee an apology too. She had misled her and withheld the truth. Later she would talk to Dee, but now she doubted her ability to be coherent. “Are Emma and Ethan okay?”
“They’re sleeping.” Dee jerked her head toward a closed door. “Eddie’s running the show tonight, but I know she wants to talk to you.”
Well, with the way her day was going—hell her life—that couldn’t mean anything good. “Did something happen?”
“I’d prefer if Eddie and Shade told you.” Dee’s closed expression gave nothing away.
“But the children are safe?” Bianca had to know that much.
Dee nodded. “Would you like something to drink while you wait?”
“Got any wine?” Lucifer sighed.
“All right then.” Dee chuckled. “I was thinking coffee or tea, but judging by the way you two look, wine it is.”
“Lucifer.” Daniel came up the stairs. His smile of greeting was as warm as ever but looked a little strained. “Bianca.”
“Raphael is on his way,” Lucifer said.
“Good.” Daniel nodded and rocked back on his heels. “I think we can avoid a full gathering for now.”
Whatever had happened must be bad for Daniel to even consider asking for a full gathering. Oh smashing! More craptastic news.
Lucifer followed Dee into the kitchen. “Any word from Wrath?”
“Yes.” Dee handed a bottle and a corkscrew to Daniel. “Wrath is putting together an army in hell. The other hell princes have turned what’s left of their hordes over to him.”
Lucifer handed her a glass of wine before accepting one for himself. “All of them?”
“Except Belle.” Daniel gave Dee a glass of wine but poured himself water. He caught Bianca looking and grimaced. “I’m on watch while Sophia is on stage.”
Everything she was hearing only confirmed what Bianca must do. She was way, way, waaahay out of her league. Now that she’d made sure Ethan and Emma were safe, she needed to step back into her lane. She had been kidding herself by believing the coven could look after them. They hadn’t been able to look after any of the dead witches.
“Belle refused her army?” Lucifer frowned.
“Not exactly.” Shade joined them. “Wrath wasn’t able to talk to her. She’s surrounded her demesne with some sort of impenetrable mist.”
Lucifer gaped at him. “Why?”
“Who knows why Belle does anything.” Shade shrugged. “Did Dee tell you what happened?”
“We’re waiting for Eddie,” Dee said in a no-nonsense tone and took a seat at the small kitchen table. “I imagine she’ll want to ask Bianca some questions.”
“Right.” Shade gave Bianca a questioning look. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“Not really,” Lucifer said.
He had no right to answer for her, so she scowled at him. “I’m fine.”
“I beg to differ.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Dee glanced between them. “Oh-kay. No tension here.”
“Well, this might help.” Daniel bravely stepped into the building friction. “Chris has taken Patty, Lynn, and your sister to a safe house. The guardians are watching them. We also sent out a warning to all other covens we’re aware of.”
“Good.” Bianca was a coward because now she had an excuse not to tell Carmen about Christen right away. But she also had driven off with Raphael and Lucifer and never considered the danger to Carmen. How could she have been so fucking stupid and selfish? It was her job to keep Carmen safe, and she’d gadded off without a second thought. She might have no power to influence all the other crap swirling around, but Carmen was her responsibility. She had been since their mother had brought Carmen home from the hospital. “Can I see them?”
“I’m afraid not.” Daniel grimaced. “But I can get a message to them.”
Letting Carmen know about Christen in a message was wrong, so she shook her head. As much as she wanted to see for herself that Carmen was okay, those dead witches in that abandoned bunker were a visceral reminder of the stakes. “Let them know I’m safe. And thank you for taking care of them.”
“We should take you to join them,” Daniel said.
“Bianca stays with me,” Lucifer snapped.
Staying with Lucifer and getting even more attached to him was the last thing she needed. “No. I mean, I can take care of myself.”
Lucifer growled. “No.”
“What no?” Bianca didn’t understand him. A handful of days ago, he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
Dee’s eyes glimmered with mischief as she said, “Bianca can stay here. What’s one more person at this stage?”
“We’ll speak about this later.” Lucifer glowered.
“Did you find Christen?” Shade also looked like he was barely containing his laughter. “Carmen said you’d gone looking for him.”
Her news would deal nicely with Shade’s fit of giggles. Bianca took a seat at the table. “We found him all right.”
“And?” Shade looked at Lucifer.
“There was a complication.” Lucifer finished his wine.
“When the fuck isn’t there?” Dee rolled her eyes.
“A surgat demon had gotten to him first,” Lucifer said.
Shade inhaled sharply. “Shit!” His face softened as he turned to her. “I’m sorry, Bianca. That’s a horrible fate for anyone to suffer.”
“It’s fine.” Bianca went for airy but ended up sounding hysterical. “Lucifer ripped his head off.”
Silence bellowed through the kitchen.
“Um…that is…unfortunate.” Daniel looked pained. “But it really is the only way to deal with surgat possession.” He cleared his throat. “Because the…er…thing is that once possession has occurred?—”
“Christen was the walking dead.” Bianca spared him the necessity of further explanation. None of this was Daniel’s fault, or even Lucifer’s.
No, the problem here was all her and her stupid desperate need to be valued—loved even. Not that love and Lucifer should ever share a thought bubble. She’d wanted to be needed and loved by her coven as their savior and had dragged them all straight to hell in the process. Christen hadn’t even wanted to summon a hell prince, but she’d insisted. Then she should have stepped back and let Lucifer handle things, but Saint Bianca had taken over and charged in to help. Jesus, her medals for bravery must be in the mail. She needed a subject change. “When is Raphael getting here?”
Lucifer gave her a loaded look. “He just arrived.”
* * *
His haglette was doing those human cogitations that invariably led to a load of erroneous conclusions. That she would barely glance in his direction was an excellent indicator that he was tangled up in her in mental meanderings.
Humans! Infuriating species. It boggled him how they’d been gifted the ability to reason, and after all these centuries, still hadn’t developed the knack for it. Setting his haglette straight, however, would have to wait until this meeting was over.
Once Eddie had shut the theatre for the night, they all gathered in the greenroom. The news about Emma was concerning. It also raised more questions. The child had power and plenty of it. Her healing compulsion would need to be monitored. Witches with a healing compulsion had often been driven straight onto a sacrificial stake. In Emma’s case, keeping her on the earth plane may not be the best option.
Belle’s behavior also troubled him. Hell knew Belle liked to keep to herself, but this was extreme, even for her. He didn’t like it. “We need to check on Belle,” he said.
“Wrath can’t penetrate the mist,” Shade snapped. The hell prince of lust was being particularly testy. If Lucifer had to bet on the cause, his money would be on the sexual heat radiating between Shade and Eddie.
“What are you thinking?” Raphael, always sensitive to his moods and thoughts, turned to him.
“I’m thinking there’s a reason we’re being kept out of the sloth demesne, and that reason could turn out to be vital in this war.”
“Right.” Raphael sat back and nodded. “I’ll contact Gabriel. If any being can get through that mist, it’ll be Belle’s archangel counterpart.”
The good news was that Raphael had found the grimoire in Christen’s cabin. So sure he wouldn’t be discovered, Christen, aka Weaz-adj, hadn’t even bothered to hide it well.
His haglette was insisting she be the one to use the grimoire, which was fine, because he’d be right there beside her when she did. Regardless of whatever bullshit reasoning she was inventing to get away from him.
She only had herself to blame. She’d summoned him. She’d made him part of her problem, and now they were bound together tighter than any blood oath could achieve until this was over.
Raphael postulated she was overwhelmed by what had taken place since his summoning. That the surgat demon had been her final straw. Raphael also said Lucifer should give her time and space to process.
Bianca was in danger. As much danger as Emma was. He didn’t trust Chris Fellows and those pathetic guardians to take care of his witches. So, Raphael and his suggestions could fuck right off.