“Give the other demons a warning: there will be no new ruler of Hell. Any demon who tries to sit on the throne will have me to answer to.” My eyes flash blue. “Now go forth and obey your Queen.” The demon shimmers away, dissipating through an air vent in the room.
“I told you royalty suits you.”
I whirl around and see my uncle standing in the doorway. “Lucifer! Thank God!” A big smile splits my face.
“You might want to rephrase that,” he says with a wink and comes into the office.
I go over and throw my arms around him, so relieved to see him I’m feeling emotional. “What are you doing here?”
“Cleaning up your mess—again.” He pats my back. “Calling demons from Hell like that is something only I should be able to do.” Letting go, his eyes meet mine. “And now you.”
“That was probably a pretty dumb thing to do, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to. I was so angry.” I blink away tears and look at Ella and Scott on the floor. “Are they dead?”
Lucifer follows my gaze. “No, want me to kill them?” He holds out his hand, ready to snap his fingers and send them down to Hell.
“No,” I say quickly.
“You were angry enough to do this kind of damage but want them to live?” He looks around the room. “And mad enough to accidentally summon a demon.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I did something, uh, drastic out of anger, though summoning the demon was the first. Where did it go?”
Lucifer shrugs. “Wherever it wanted. Maybe it’ll deliver your warning, maybe it won’t. You’ll look good on the throne, but you do have a lot to learn. You need to add a little pain to your demands.”
“I…I don’t…” I shake my head. “The others will be able to find me?”
“If I don’t distract them, maybe. They’d have to detect that a demon was pulled straight from Hell first, which isn’t easy to do. I’m familiar with it, so I felt it right away and knew it was my favorite half-human. Now,” he says and claps his hands together. “How should we punish them? This one is going to be fun to play with when his soul goes to Hell. You’re sure you don’t want me to send him now?”
“I want you to,” I admit. “But don’t. It’s…it’s wrong.” I feel like I’m forcing myself to say it, but it is wrong. “I’m kind of surprised he has a soul. I thought maybe he sold it to you in exchange for political power or something.”
“Many have, but not this one.”
I’m all shaky, with half of me trembling from seeing Lucas get arrested for doing nothing, and the other half is vibrating with power, which again, felt so damn good to wield. “My mother,” I rush out, brain needing to think about something else for a hot minute to avoid being overwhelmed, but I picked the wrong subject for that. “Did she sell her soul? Tabatha told me she was excommunicated from her coven for practicing dark magic. Is that true?”
“Yes,” Lucifer says and gets a distant look in his eyes. I’ve only seen this expression on him once before, and it’s the most raw and real he’s presented himself. “She did not sell her soul, but she did practice dark magic. Devil-worship, as it was often called back at that time.”
“Was Michael sent to save her from…from…”
“From me? Yes, he was. He was sent to save several souls, but I never made a deal with your mother, Callie, and I want you to trust me on that.”
“I do trust you,” I say honestly. “Do you know why she practiced dark magic?”
“What is dark to you wasn’t dark to your mother. She saw things differently, and that’s what drew many people in, including Michael. He fell in love with her, and she changed him. For the better, if you ask me.”
“You helped them hide me,” I say, but there’s question in my voice.
“I did.”
“Why?” I whisper.
“Because they asked me to,” Lucifer answers.
I inhale, soaking in all the information I can about my mother. “Did Michael really love her?”
“Yes, he did very much.” He holds out his hand. “Now, you want to go bust your vampire out of jail? We can play a little good cop, bad cop, and I’ll let you be the bad cop. No, that’s lame. Bad cop, worse cop is much more entertaining. Though if we’re being cops to the other cops, it loses most of its appeal.”
“I don’t really care, as long as we get Lucas back. He did nothing wrong.”
“He’s a vampire, and in the eyes of many humans, just being different makes you wrong. If I’d done what I wanted, if I’d been able to remind humans they were created in our image, kept them in their places, maybe they would treat each other better.” He points to Scott. “Being this fucking guy doesn’t make you better than any other human on the planet. But us, my dear niece, we are better. And once his soul goes to Hell, he’ll be a fun one to punish.”