Page 95 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“A man named Belphegor? I never heard of him, but apparently, he’s a big deal demon, too.”

“You’ve never heard of Belphegor?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’ve heard of Lucifer, Satan, and what’s his name”—he snapped his fingers to help him remember—“Beelzebub. After that…” He shrugged.

Now the big question was: What didIremember about Belphegor? Oh—it hit me. No wonder Mr. Middle Management had time to play snake in the hole with my cousin. He wasn’t in a hurry to get work done. Sloth. Belphegor’s sin was sloth. Sweet.

“Okay, I think he’s one of the tamer rulers of Hell. I’ve never met the man, but I don’t think he’s one of them that Luc has a problem with.”

“Who does Luc have a problem with?” Shafira asked.

“Well, Connor said Satan is a nasty piece of work and both he and Luc agree that youdon’twant to mess with Leviathan.”

“Leviathan?” Karro asked.

I nodded. “His quadrant is the oceans. All the oceans. But we don’t have to worry—we aren’t going in the water at all.”

“You know what would be nice?” Shafira asked. I shook my head. “If we could get out of this dampness. It’s frizzing my hair.”

“We have a long way to go.” I replied, as I thought that was her way of spurring us on.I got you, Shafira.Closing my eyes, I focussed in on Connor.

“Simone?” he asked again.

“It’s me, babe. I’m still coming.”

“Not until… I get… my hands on you…” He tried to laugh, but it came out so frail that tears wet my eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’m in need of a little sexual healing.”

“I’m in need of healing, period.”

Dammit.

“Connor,” I said softly.

“Hm?”

“Don’t die.”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

We walk forever—hour after hour in those damp catacombs. I craved the sun of the Western Australian desert. I craved just about any sun about now. My skin felt pasty and my clothing clung to my body. But worst of all, I needed to get to Connor. It started getting harder to home in on his location about two hours ago. That meant our connection was growing weaker. Only one reason for that, and I couldn’t get myself to even think the words.

Connor had to be okay. Hehadto be. I wouldn’t accept anything less. And with keeping us cloaked while trying to keep my internal GPS locked on my mate and walking swiftly enough to actually get us to South America, my energy stores were spent. Hardcore spent. At least I knew where we were heading.

I started to panic when I couldn’t feel him. It was like his signal was there and then it was gone.

“Connor?” I sort of shrieked, but I shrieked in my head. “Connor, talk to me.”

“Sorry…” His word slurred. I was losing him.

“Swear to God, Connor Baghest, if you die on me, I’ll kill you!” My lip began to tremble and that just pissed me off more. I hated feeling fear. I hated feeling sad and I hated crying because of any of those. I was a badass woman—no, I was a badassLiliumwoman.

It took a bit to get him back but then—whoa!I felt him. Like, I really felt him. This tunnel would lead me to my Connor. I stopped to fill in the other two. “We’re almost there. He’s going to be sick. I have to get him out. You’ll need to have my back.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to get him out andyouhaveourbacks?” Karro asked. “You’re Lilith’s granddaughter.”

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