Page 49 of To Crave Deeply
“That’s odd,” I muttered as I read the notification.
“What?” Alec asked curiously.
“Lori’s tracker has lost its signal. Torsten’s has gone, too.”
“We are in Hell; the signal down here is pretty sketchy. Maybe they’re just in a bad area?” Alec theorised, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad had happened.
We caught up to Michael and he led us down a series of corridors that twisted and turned in all sorts of directions. This place was a fucking maze, and I was too preoccupied over Lori to really concentrate over where we were going.
The archangel finally walked through a large set of double doors, and we entered a grand sitting room. It was spacious and overly decadent. The sofas were crushed velvet, there were accents of gold filigree everywhere, art hung on the wall, and everything screamed that it was there purely to show status or elicit pleasure.
I instantly knew these were Lucifer’s private quarters.
“Wait here,” Michael requested before disappearing into another room.
There was a low whistle behind me as Alec looked around the room. Fenris and Saskia fanned out to explore their decadent surroundings before collapsing unceremoniously into one of the ridiculously expensive-looking sofas.
I was too edgy to relax. I wanted to know why we were here and where the Hell Lori and Torsten had gone to. I was also worried about my team. My guess was that Lucifer needed us to do something for him, something that he couldn’t do himself, and it worried me that we were in no fit state to go off on a mission. We were all too distracted, me probably most of all, and that was a dangerous position to be in. My team placed their lives in each other’s hands, and it was only going to lead to disaster if we couldn’t focus long enough to get through whatever task Lucifer needed help with.
Elissa had elected to stay behind and watch over Cassian. I still had that shitshow to deal with and I had no idea how I was going to fix it. At least he wasn’t roaming around the basement as half a dragon anymore. That had been a fucking nightmare, and at one point I was worried he’d forgotten how to shift back. He’d taken to pacing down there. Just constantly walking back and forth as if he couldn’t figure something out. I knew how he felt. I couldn’t figure anything out. Not why he came back, or why Camael was stealing magic users, or how Lori was going to get Iveri out of her body, or if that was even possible. God, my head hurt.
“What am I doing here?”
I flinched at the voice behind me and turned to find the red headed witch, Lori’s best friend, glaring at me with her hands firmly settled on her hips. She looked pissed.
“Rae?” How the Hell did she get here?
She must have sensed my confusion because she held up her left arm and showed me the inside of her wrist. There was a small red mark, almost like a pinprick on her skin and I knew it instantly.
“A Devil’s Mark? Lucifer must be in trouble if he’s relying on old tricks to summon witches,” I remarked.
Rae frowned. “I was in the middle of finally having a conversation with a witch who wasn’t too terrified to talk to me when this appeared on my skin and then poof! I turned up here with you lot.”
“Did you learn anything?” I asked.
“Nothing good. Since Iveri’s visit to the Witch Queen, she’s locked the borders to Strigavallis. No one in or out.” She pursed her lips. “There’s something more to the Witch Queen’s involvement. I just can’t seem to figure out what. And I’m not going to if I’m stuck here. What is going on?”
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Saskia chimed from her spot on the sofa, her bright eyes twinkling with mischief.
“I’m sure we will all find out soon enough,” I growled, trying to keep a tight leash on my command.
“Where’s Lori?” Rae asked as she stepped closer to me, suspicion narrowing her eyes until they were two determined slits of bright green.
“I don’t know.”
All eyes turned on me with the revelation. I didn’t miss the way Fenris’ left eye twitched. He was trying to hold back whatever emotion was buried beneath the surface, but I knew him well enough now to recognise that little tell of his.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Fenris asked slowly, his buried rage creeping through the layers he hid it behind.
Alec chuckled, but it was a nervous laugh. “Her tracker signal disappeared when we arrived but it’s no biggie. The signal down here can be patchy at the best of times.”
Rae eyed me suspiciously. “But you don’t believe that, do you?”
I wanted to say no, but I didn’t want to give rise to the fear that I already saw lurking in her eyes. Thankfully, I was saved from answering the question by the entrance of the King himself.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” he said grandly as he strolled into the room. He lacked his usual spring in his step and his back was stiff, like he was uncomfortable. I could tell he was troubled and in pain. There were black marks under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept for days and he looked like it was taking all his strength just to remain upright.
This was not good. I couldn’t deal with the fallout of Hell breaking apart, and why the Hell hadn’t the Upper Realm intervened yet? Didn’t they realise what was happening?
