Page 48 of To Crave Deeply
And then there was nothing left but the dust from her bones and the quiet hatred of my creations as they watched the scene before them.
They stood there and watched my rage burn. The only sound in the room was the roar of pain I unleashed at the loss of my brightest star, and I knew it would haunt me forever.
MICHAEL – Present Day
“Selene was right,” Lucifer muttered. “I would regret it. Still do, to this day.”
“You can’t keep punishing yourself. Regret is a long road to madness and suffering, and dwelling on the shadows of the past will only darken your future.”
He cracked a smile and chuckled softly. “How did you grow to be so wise?”
“With practice. But seriously, what are you going to do now? You’re in no fit state to go after Iveri, and we need to get a witch down here to strengthen the wards.”
He sighed wearily but nodded in agreement. His gaze turned pensive before a smile curled about his mouth. “I think I know just the team for the job.”
Chapter 17
JASPER
I stepped out of Fenris’ portal, wondering what the Hell had happened now. It wasn’t every day that I got a summoning from the Devil himself. Lori was supposed to check in, but I just figured she’d forgotten in her joy at finding Lucifer awake. I had felt her happiness and love for him through our bond and it surprised me, but it only made me feel happy for her. I expected my inner beast to feel jealousy or anger at our mate loving someone else, but he just purred in contentment, happy that she was happy.
I couldn’t wait to see her. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something not quite right. I could sense that the Under Realm was weaker, as if there was less power in it. Lucifer must be fading if Hell didn’t feel quite as oppressive as it used to.
“Alec, does this place feel different to you?” I asked, a wariness in my voice.
He came to stand beside me and cast his eyes around the place. We’d materialised on the edge of Under City, the home of most of Hell’s inhabitants and Lucifer’s palace. The thing was a huge black mark on the landscape, sitting atop a hill in the centre of the city. You could see it from every point in the city, which I guess was the point of the monstrosity.
“It’s quiet,” Alec replied as he turned to look at me. “Too quiet. It feels empty.”
That’s what I had thought. But with the demon activity increasing topside, and the numerous attacks on the rise, it wasn’t hard to understand why Hell was feeling empty.
I led my team through the city and up to the palace, careful to take note of all my surroundings. It felt like we were being watched, but I couldn’t tell where from. It was just that instinctual feeling that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention.
Despite my worries, we reached the gates to the palace and found Michael waiting for us.
“What’s he doing here?” Saskia whispered as she came to stand by my side, clearly as on edge as me about this whole thing.
“No idea, but let’s not wait too long to find out.” I walked towards the archangel and extended my hand in greeting. “Hello, Michael.”
He returned the handshake, but his expression was serious. Fuck, this was not a good sign.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice. Please follow me.”
The angel turned and led us through the large black doors and deep into the belly of the palace. Alec walked beside me, and I could tell he was happy to be home. He was a Hell Hound and had worked as part of the soul retrieval team when he was here. He had never really explained why he had left Hell in the first place, but that was a running theme with the people in my team. I seemed to collect people who were runaways, like Fenris and Alec, or people who needed somewhere to hide, like Cassian and Saskia. Perhaps I should find these things out before they came and bit me in the ass.
I tapped Alec on the arm and pulled him into step beside me. “Alec, is there anything I need to know about why you left Hell?”
He blinked in surprise. “Why?”
“Because not only are you part of this team, but you are also a friend and I’d hate to— Why the hell are you looking at me like that?” His grin was wide and there was a major level of disbelief in his eyes and, were they glistening? “Oh, god. You want to hug me, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I really do. Lori must be good for you. You’ve never asked me that before, and you’ve certainly never called me friend. And no, there’s nothing you need to worry about here in Hell. I left because I finished my contract with the soul retrieval team, and I wanted to do something else. I have no skeletons in my closet. None down here, anyway.”
I sighed. That answer would have to do. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about him down here as well. That was certainly a load off my mind.
There was a ping from my comm device, and I brought it up to look at it.
Signal Lost.
