He watches me for a few minutes but then shuts his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly. I take the washcloths into the bathroom, rinse them off, and go back, repeating the process over and over until all the blood has been washed away.
Grabbing all the dirty towels and Lucas’s bloody jeans, I quickly carry them to the laundry room and then go downstairs into the kitchen for a drink of water. Out of curiosity, I open the fridge and find that it’s been cleaned out.
I look in the freezer next and smile when I see several frozen pizzas and two tubs of ice cream in there, and I know I didn’t buy those. And there are new bottles of wine in the wine chiller.
Eliza is a softie after all.
I down a glass of water, go to the bathroom, and then go back to Lucas. He’s still dead asleep, looking peaceful. I carefully peel my blood-soaked jacket and shirt off and sit on the edge of the bed, taking his hand.
Goosebumps have broken out over the flesh on his arms for the first time since he was a human. The lump is back in my throat, and I have to swallow hard to push it back down.
I try to untuck the blankets but stop, not wanting to disturb and wake him up. I have no idea if there are extra blankets in the linen closet. Vampires don’t get cold unless the temperature has dropped enough to freeze them—like literally freeze them.
I look anyway and find the electric blanket we used to use neatly folded on the bottom shelf. I plug it in and cover Lucas up. I tuck him in and kiss his forehead. He doesn’t even move.
“I love you,” I whisper. “And I swear to you, I’ll find a way to break this curse.”
Exhaustion hits me hard, and I want nothing more than to fall back onto the bed with him. I stand, stripping out of my bloody jeans, and pad into the bathroom. I twist my hair into a bun on the top of my head with magic and turn on the shower.
I get in before the water has warmed up and quickly wash the blood off my body, not wanting to be away from Lucas any longer than I have to. I towel off and go back into the bedroom, letting out a breath of relief to see that Lucas has moved a bit, getting more comfortable.
I wrap the towel around my body and get into bed next to him, climbing under the warm blanket. I snuggle as close to him as I can without hurting him and let sleep pull me under.
But the second I fall asleep, he’s there, standing at the foot of the bed.
“Hello, my little niece.”Chapter 6I shoot up, hand going to the towel that’s wrapped around me at the last second. “What are you doing here?” I whisper-yell, glaring at Lucifer—my uncle—as I try to figure out if I’m dreaming or not.
He told me I’m visiting him in Hell through some sort of weird astral projection or something, yet that doesn’t make sense. And I’m not convinced at all that I should trust him.
Though he sent me Scarlet, who I needed to defeat a powerful demon.
He taught me a two-word exorcism that works like a fucking charm.
And he hasn’t tried to use me to get back on Heaven’s good side.
“Is that any way to greet your favorite uncle?” He steps out of the shadows and adjusts the sleeves of his suit jacket. He’s dressed in all back today, and his eyes shimmer.
“You’re my only uncle,” I spit.
“I’m not.” He crosses the room and sits on the window seat, looking out at the city for a moment. “But I’m guessing dear old Dad didn’t tell you about the rest of the family, did he?”
I take in a shaky breath, remembering that there are other archangels. I’m not a churchy person and have no idea how many there really are—or if what we know is even true.
“I’m taking your silence as a no, you don’t know anything about your family.”
“All I know is they want to kill me. I don’t need to know anything else.”
“Oh, but you do. Because the more you know about someone, the more of an advantage you have over them.”
“Why are you here?” I ask again.
“I heard your prayers, asking Michael to help you.”
“You can hear prayers?”
He shrugs. “Only when I want to listen. We’re related, Callie. You’re easy to pick out from the masses.”
I tighten the towel around me, not sure how to feel about it. We are related, though the way he constantly stresses it makes me uneasy.
“He didn’t come, did he?” Lucifer looks at me sympathetically. “Funny how we’ve all dealt with abandonment from our father and yet he took how long to come back into your life?”