Page 100 of Demon's Heart
In the living room, Ash had repositioned Harper on his lap and Onyx was perched on the back of the couch, his bare feet on the cushions. Ollie couldn’t bring himself to disentangle from Dante’s side and sit, so they stood by the TV.
Dante didn’t seem to mind, rubbing his hand back and forthover Ollie’s lower back as he said, “We’re ready to make our move against Lucifer.”
Ollie’s heart clenched.
Harper visibly stiffened. “Like, ready, as in now? Tonight?”
“If we all agree,” Ash said, and Dante and Onyx nodded.
Everyone seemed to look at Ollie.
He only had eyes for Dante. “I know we talked about it, but are you sure it’s safe? I don’t need this for my sake. Not like I did before. I’d rather you stay here, in this realm. I mean, there’s got to be other ways to manage my fear. I am doing better, and you’ve all said now that we’re mated, Lucifer won’t attack like that again.”
Dante cupped the back of Ollie’s neck, grip warm and tender. “You’ve done so well acclimating to all this, but nothing will be completely safe as long as Luc is free. He’s hurt you and Harper, and knowing he won’t kill you any more than he’d kill me isn’t enough. Harm isn’t only physical. And what if we do nothing, and he hurts someone else next time? How much of that will be on us? It doesn’t feel right.”
“But is it safe for you to go down there?” Ollie glanced around at the other demons. They could be hurt or captured. Could they still get back to this realm if Lucifer imprisoned them?
“It’s as safe as it’s going to be,” Ash said. “Going off what we’ve heard, there seems to be several factions of demons standing against Luc. He doesn’t seem to have allies. If he did, he wouldn’t have come to the Human Realm alone, so even though we’re going into his territory, we’ll have the upper hand.”
“We need to take advantage before he can turn the tables on us,” Dante added. “Then, once Luc is imprisoned, we can try and fix the rest of his mistakes.”
“Fix them how?” Ollie asked. Wasn’t punishing Lucifer the end of it?
“We aren’t the only demons who deserve freedom,” Dante said. “We couldn’t free anyone else before, but once Luc is subdued, we can steal some of his power and destroy his containment spell completely, freeing everyone.”
“Everyone?” Harper caught Ollie’s eye, seeming to read his mind. “Won’t having so many demons in the Human Realm be dangerous?”
“Dangerous, how? Magic has already infected humankind. The greatest damage is done.” Dante sounded regretful even though it had been over a thousand years and not his fault. “Demons aren’t any worse than anyone else, no less moral than any other group. And I can’t sit here with my mate, knowing they’re all trapped and kept from theirs.”
“I get that.” Harper shifted to sit up straighter. “It’s still going to be a huge change for the magic community.”
“It will be,” Onyx agreed. “But it’s the right thing to do. We can’t shy away from change because it’s hard.”
He was right. They couldn’t enjoy freedom at the expense of others.
“We aren’t freeing everyone tonight,” Dante reminded them. “Working out how to extract Luc’s magic will take time. Meaning we can prepare and get the word out that change is coming. We’ll do this right.”
“Yeah, we don’t want to upset every single witch and vampire on Earth,” Onyx said, but Ollie couldn’t tell if he meant it tauntingly or not.
“Okay,” Ollie said mostly to himself. He had to step back and see the situation objectively, not through the cloud of his growing unease and personal desire to keep Dante close. “So, tonight, you’re going to take Luc by surprise, imprison him, and come back home?”
“Yes.” Dante cupped his cheek. “And we’ll keep you somewhere safe while we’re gone.”
“What do you mean? Shouldn’t we stay at the apartment?” Harper glanced around as if he expected to see his protections broken.
Ollie didn’t want to leave home any more than Harper seemed to. “We’ve been safe here up until now.”
“Yes, but not if something goes wrong. Luc knows where you live. It’s better if he’s unable to find you,” Dante said, and understanding dawned on Harper’s face.
But something going wrong wasn’t an option. They’d said the odds were good.
But they couldn’t let confidence make them careless. If Dante, Ash, and Onyx didn’t return, nothing would stop Lucifer from breaking into the apartment eventually.
“What about the nature reserve?” Ollie asked. He’d be comfortable waiting at Dante’s house. Harper too.
Ash hummed agreeably. “That would be safer.”
Dante shook his head. “Unless Maxwell and Lillian decide to tell Luc they got past my counterspells and discovered I had the whole area protected. They could trade the information for power or safety or change sides for any number of reasons. In that case, Luc will know exactly where our mates are. All he’ll need to do is bring a few demons to help break in.”
