Page 43 of Anarchy
“I’m guessing all of you feel the same way considering everything we’ve seen since we got here. But I’ve gotten to know Reyson, and he gave me a second chance at life. I get what Lilith said about why she hadn’t stepped in on your behalf before. Akul and his wife did a lot of nasty shit when their way of life was threatened. So many demons and many innocent Hellhounds would have died if this whole unfortunate situation hadn’t kicked the door open for Lilith to get involved.
“Iknowshe’s going to pull this off. This is going to be a new age for Hellhounds. Don’t be scared to try new things like food. Don’t be afraid to say you don’tlikesomething. You don’t have to love everything you try, but it shouldn’t stop you from having experiences. Life is way too short to keep doing something you dislike. Not when you will have options now. Fall in love. Eat whatever you want. Overthrow the patriarchy just because if you like. Butlive.”
Duke beamed at Felix.
“You sound like May. At night, when we were in the basement on our mats, she’d tell us things were going to be different one day. If Oscar heard her, he’d get her beaten, but she never backed down or changed her story. She was usually his target.”
We all knew what that meant when it came to Oscar. She let it happen, so it didn’t happen to one of the other female Hellhounds. She didn’t fight back, even though she could have easily killed Oscar because Akul would have punished all the other Hellhounds in front of her before he killed her.
May was probably one of the bravest people I knew. I was so glad all her dreams about things being better one day were about to come true.
I just seriously hoped someone wasn’t about to beat it out of Akul that he was working with more demons because I really didn’t feel like dealing with their wives again.
32
Gabriel
Lucifer was just weird. Enough time had passed that no one really associated my family or me with all the stories about him. Even the supernatural community believed he was ruling over the demons in Hell and handled the deals that were being cut. Fuck, even I kind of believed that.
In a way, I guess I kind of blamed him for the deal my ancestor made that seemed to dictate my entire life five hundred years later. I knew now he wasn’t running anything in Hell. He was kind of the third wheel for Lilith and Samael. Lucifer honestly seemed a little lonely and happy to meet me.
I hesitated when he wanted me to leave with him. Some of that had to do with lingering resentment, but a lot of it had to do with us being needed. Kaine probably should have handled the interrogation for both of them since no one was letting Reyson melt their brains for the answers, but they were all trying.
I knew that wasn’t my forte, even if there were spells in my grimoire that could have assisted with that. But, no, all those Hellhounds just looked utterly lost. They looked like they were trying to have hope but didn’t want to have too much. It was like they thought not even Lilith and Reyson could change their fate.
Ripley said something to me when I hesitated that made me say yes. Lucifer had been looking at me with puppy dog eyes every time we were in the same room. He might be this ancient angel with an epic backstory, but he might actually need this moment with me more than the Hellhounds needed me right now. So I agreed to leave with him.
His estate was right next door to Lilith’s. We walked over in silence, and he didn’t say much when he let me inside. I looked around. There wasstunningartwork all over the walls and beautiful sculptures everywhere. I could appreciate it as a painter. I strolled around his sitting room, taking them in.
“Who is she?” I asked.
They were all the same woman. She was lovely and whoever painted her did so with loving detail.
“My witch wife. The one who broke my heart and stayed behind with my children to stick it to my creator. I got why she did it. She was always stubborn and before her time when it came to causes. I’ve always wanted to go back. I wanted to see if what she always wanted came true. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger if it was. My creator is petty and famous for grudges.
“I’ve spent all this time here painting her and my children and wondering if my legacy lived on. I wasn’t expecting you to end up in Hell, but Lilith always says everything happens for a reason. I can’t help but think fate involved you in this so we could meet. You look like me. I know you don’t owe me anything, and you have every reason to despise me, but I was hoping you could tell me about my family.”
Yeah, I could do that. And if Lucifer was an artist, we had something in common.
“I paint too. I learned how to do magical painting in high school. We found a lot of Dorian’s decoy paintings, and I could decode them. I didn’t know it was around his neck this entire time.”
Lucifer beamed at me.
“I’d love to see your work.”
I could do that too. I opened my phone and flipped to the gallery of my artwork. I offered Lucifer my phone, and he just had this look of wonder on his face as he flipped through the photos.
“This is amazing. Are these magical?”
“Most of them. Some of them are just sketches because I was in the mood to draw.”
“I see how that lovely witch looks at you. Hold on to that one. If you can get her to sit for you, paint her. Capturing her beauty in a painting is like bonding.”
Was I getting advice about women from Lucifer himself? It honestly wasn’t bad. I had no intention of ever letting her go.
“My grandmother was a Morningstar. She kept her name and gave it to her children. She was the one who taught me how to paint. She said many people in our family history were artists.”
“That makes me happy. Have there been any angels in the bunch?”
