“Wasn’t like I was going to kill you,” Lucifer said. “They were only going to bring you to me.”
“What he’s failing to mention is that without demonic blood, you wouldn’t have survived very long in Hell,” Roth clarified.
I crossed my arms as I stared at Lucifer.
Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Way to throw me under the bus and back up, son.”
“Wait. He’s your father?” I asked. Did that mean I was also related to Roth?
“Not in the sense you’re thinking,” Roth said. “He created me.”
“Does that not make me your father? As it makes God mine?” Lucifer challenged. “I’m just a more hands-on parent. Unlike You-Know-Who.”
Roth shook his head. “Not this conversation again. Please.”
“Now that you’re here, have your plans to remove Trinity from the equation changed?” Zayne pulled us all back on track. Again. And man, it was nice to have him around to do that. “Because the last thing we need to be worried about is demons trying to retrieve her for you.”
“I won’t send any more after her.” Lucifer turned to me. “Unless we somehow fail in stopping Gabriel. Then all bets are off.”
Zayne opened his mouth, but I held up my hand. “Agreed.”
His head shot toward me. “We do not agree with that.”
“I just did.” I spared him a brief glance. “Look, if all of us combined can’t stop Gabriel, then there is no other option. It’s as simple as that. We can’t allow him to open the portal. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Zayne’s jaw hardened in a way that told me there would be nothing simple about that.
“She’s smart. I like her,” Lucifer commented, and I resisted the urge to take a step back. “Anyway, I’m here to help now, so me trying to kidnap you is water under the bridge. No harm. No foul.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I muttered under my breath. “But yeah, whatever.”
One side of Lucifer’s lips curled up as he stepped back, taking in our group. “Don’t worry, my newfound friends. I’ll save the day. I’ll even save Heaven,” he said. “Now, the problem is the problem we’re going to create when we kill Gabriel, but that’s not going to be my problem.”
“Wait,” I said. “What problem?”
“Cross that bridge later.” Lucifer waved my question off. “There’s something I need to do real quick.”
Lucifer vanished.
Like there one moment and straight-up gone the next.
Slowly, I turned in a full circle, finding no sign of him. My heart started thumping.
“Please tell me,” Zayne began, “that he just likes to make himself invisible to mess with people and that he didn’t just disappear.”
Roth sighed as his head fell back. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”
* * *
Standing in the kitchen of Roth and Layla’s place, I mentally prepped myself for the last thing I wanted to do. And that was saying something since there were a whole lot of things I didn’t want to do at the moment.
But calling Nicolai and letting him know that Lucifer was MIA topped the list of I don’t wanna.
I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Zayne and Layla. They were in a darkened sunroom off the kitchen, talking to one another. I squinted, trying to see their expressions, but it was no use. At least it no longer looked like Layla was crying, so I hoped that was a good sign. My gaze lowered to the thick, dark mass coiled around Zayne’s leg.
Bambi.
The moment we walked into the McMansion, Bambi had peeled herself off Roth’s arm and all but attached herself to Zayne’s side. When I left the sunroom to give Zayne and Layla some privacy, the familiar had her diamond-shaped head resting on Zayne’s knee and was staring up at him with a look of pure adoration.
I guessed I was no longer her snuggle buddy.
A moment later, a small reddish blur scampered across the kitchen and into the sunroom. A fox. Layla’s familiar, to be exact. His name was Robin, and he was a hyper little thing, running from one corner of the house to the other. According to Roth, it was a baby...familiar.
I wanted to pet it. Just once. On the top of its furry little head.
Sighing, I returned to staring at the blurry contact on my phone.
“You can do it.” Roth bent at the waist and leaned against the counter. “I believe in you.”
“Shut up.”
His golden eyes glimmered with amusement as he looked up at me. “Rude.”
“If you knew there was a chance that Lucifer would up and disappear, that should’ve been the first thing out of your mouth,” I shot back.
“Not like it would change anything. No one would’ve been able to stop him. Stop procrastinating and give them a much needed heads-up.”
Swallowing a mouthful of curses, I called Nicolai. He answered on the third ring.
“Trinity? Was just getting ready to call you.”