Page 53 of The Morning Star
“No. I’ve got an idea for a backup plan, but I’m basically just going to teleport in there and handle it solo.”
He turned to face me, setting Lux down to put both hands on my shoulders this time. “Let’s wait until any advance is halted, and we have them in place, then we can go in as a unified force.”
A unified force of angels, bailing my sorry ass out once more.
“No. I’m the Iblis. I’m going in and I’m going to handle this myself. This is my responsibility. Let me do my job.” I looked past Gregory and up the stairs. “Where the fuck is Gabe? I texted him twenty minutes ago.”
“He’s with his choir, keeping the demons from sweeping into Arizona.”
Oh, fuck me. Was Nyalla out there too? Asta? Was I really the only fucking member of the Ruling Council that was left out of the loop here? It made me even more determined to handle this situation on my own, to prove to them all, and especially Gregory that I was really the Iblis.
“Go on then,” I told him. “Get out of here. I’ve got to put my contingency plan in place, then I’m going in. Go lead your Grigori and your siblings. I’ve got this. I’ll be back by dinner.”
His spirit-self caressed mine, brief, but full of affection, full of love. “Cockroach, I know you don’t believe this right now, but my faith in you is absolute. It’s my trust in your chaos that allows me to loosen my hold, to let a little bit of control slip, to know that with you the journey may be excruciatingly painful, but the end result will be worth every bit of pain. It is through my trust and faith in you that I am the angel you know now and not the angel you first met in Pennsylvania in the werewolf’s house.”
“The one that was on fire?” I teased, unable to stay mad at him for long.
“Because you set it on fire,” he countered.
“No, it was that fuckhead rogue angel of yours, not me. He was the one blasting holes in walls and setting fire to the kitchen.” One of the archangel’s eyebrows went up and I couldn’t help a grin. “Okay, so maybe some of the fire was my fault.”
“You’d ripped the dead werewolf’s arm off and were smashing it against the wall, screaming curses at the top of your lungs.” He smiled as if this were one of his fondest memories.
“And you scared the fucking shit out of me, throwing me against the wall and poking around my spirit-being without even buying me dinner first.”
“Your human toy shot me in the head with his little cannon.”
“And you didn’t even flinch.” Good times. Now I was smiling as well.
“I loved you then,” he told me. “From the moment I saw you smashing that bloody arm against the wall, I loved you.”
“Liar. You wanted to kill me. You beat the crap out of me, called me a cockroach, and branded me, binding me to you.”
“Yes, well love at first sight to an imp not even a thousand years old was a bit of a blow to my pride.” His dark eyes warmed as they met mine. “And as I recall, that binding went both ways.”
“Surprised you with that one, huh?” I’d been terrified of him, turned on by him, awestruck and fascinated by him. Love? Love had come soon after that. Maybe love had been there all along and pride, that always-elusive sin as far as I was concerned, had hidden it from me.
Lux made a gagging noise from the sofa behind us, and Gregory and I laughed. I reached out to touch his arm, my spirit-self joining just along the edges of his own.
He leaned forward and kissed me. By the time he pulled away, I was wishing I could just blow up the entire West Coast and be done with these demons.
Samael. The thought of him was the equivalent of a very cold shower.
I leaned forward against him and felt his arms surround me. Lux appeared in the middle between us and made a happy little squeal at the double-hug. “Soon. Until then, go manage the perimeter, and I’ll go deal with the demons. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you.” And then he was gone. I shivered, suddenly cold with the absence of his heat against me. Lux snuggled closer, as if he too felt the loss.
Samael. I’d need to hurry up and get a move on, to find some way to kill him before Gregory and his brothers found out. If the Ancient was as powerful as Doriel said he was, if he’d truly brought an army to destroy the world as he’d said, then I’d need to use more than brute force, I’d need to use all the sneakiness and trickery of an imp.
And I’d need to call in a few favors too.
Chapter 17
It had been a while since I’d been to LA. Back when I’d first started this crazy extended vacation away from Hel, I’d begun in Vegas, then had to leave due to some unfortunate trouble with Dar and his side business involving stolen Betamax VCRs. Strange that LA and strong-arming drug dealers had been less dangerous than hijacking trucks of electronics. LA was where I’d discovered a love of cocaine and high-priced hookers. It’s where I’d become one of the most feared beings in the barrio.
It’s where I’d Owned the soul of Samantha Martin. I’d found her at the home of a dickhead drug dealer who owed me money and product. He and his cronies were out, but sprawled across the floor, bleeding and dying I’d seen a girl of no more than eighteen. She’d been repeatedly raped, and injected with something far from pure. It was clear that dickhead and his buddies expected her to be dead when they returned, and if she wasn’t dead they’d probably take another go with her and continue on until she breathed her last.
She’d looked up at me, her face bruised and battered, the pupils of her eyes blown out with the drugs. “Take me,” she’d said. And I’d known exactly what she’d meant.
