Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

The figure rose and turned, and Eve's breath caught. From the back, she'd thought it was a demon taking human form, as they often did. But then she saw his face, the faint glow of his skin and his eyes.

An angel, she thought. He really is an angel.

An angel with a ruined face. That's what made her breath catch. Lucifer's skin was pitted and scarred, some of them white with age, others angry red. Only the skin around his eyes was untouched.

"Lucifer," she murmured.

He smiled and it was a strange smile, not what she'd expect from either angel or demon. There was no anger in it. No outrage. No arrogance. And that's what really threw her off balance. All lord demons were arrogant, and the same could be said for most angels.

She stood there, gripping her sword, her rehearsed speech flying from her mind.

"She needs you," Eve blurted at last.

"I know."

"Hope, I mean. Your daughter. She--"

"I know."

He glanced back toward the pool. Kristof took a step closer and nodded. Eve followed and saw what he did--that it was a scrying pool, and in its depths was Hope, in a wheelchair, bound and pregnant.

Eve spun on Lucifer. "And you're just watching? Your daughter--and your granddaughter--are being threatened. Threatened with death if you don't come, and you sit on your mountain and watch?"

"Yes."

"You--"

"What else would you have me do, Eve?" Lucifer said. "Go down there and give Gilles de Rais what he wants? Do you even know what he wants from me?"

"No idea."

A faint smile. "Then that makes two of us. I suspect, like your father and Asmondai, he only wants me to side with him as a figurehead. A mascot, even. De Rais's people know my name, as they do not know the names of a legion of other demons. If the mighty Lucifer bows to him, it will prove he is all powerful. His followers will fall in line. They'll help him release that virus. Is that what you want?"

"No. I want you to stop him."

"How?"

She stepped toward him, sword glowing as she clenched it. "How?"

"Yes, how. You know my daughter. What are her powers?"

"Visions. She's a chaos bloodhound."

The barest hint of a smile. "An apt description. Yes, that's her power. That's mine, too, on a much

greater scale, and without the side effects she suffers. When I was cast out, they stripped me of my angel powers and gave me that. So tell me, now that Hope is in serious danger, how can her powers help her?"

When Eve didn't answer, he said, "They can warn her, but it's too late for that, just as it was too late for me to warn her. As for offensive powers, she has none. I have none."

He looked into the pool. "I could go down there and possess Jasper Haig, but he's trying his best, and I couldn't do better. I would possess Gilles de Rais if I could, but it turns out his experimentation with immortality has made him impervious to that. I could possess my daughter, but that would do little good, except to save her from her fear. I would do that--I would gladly do that--but she stands more chance of surviving without me in her head. She's bright and resourceful, as is everyone else trying to help her." He glanced at her. "As is your daughter. Which is your primary concern."

Eve didn't argue. She wanted nothing to happen to Hope--or anyone else--but she wouldn't lie. Savannah was her priority.

"Nothing I can do will help my daughter or yours," he said. "I can only watch and have faith in my child." He met her gaze. "Do you have faith in yours?"

"Yes."

"Then do not waste time haranguing me. Your place is down there, with your child. Mine is here, watching mine."