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What a twist of events. I could barely get a grasp on one thing before everything changed and left me struggling to get a grip on the new reality laid out before me. One thing remained constant throughout all this—Makeysha. I had a distinct feeling that her theory of believing in ourselves was going to be our saving grace.
Right now though, I couldn’t quite believe that just like that, Lucia had retrieved Caesar, the First Wizard. If I’d known it was going to be that easy, I’d have asked Makeysha to use her for Lasander. This did, however, bode well for our trip down to Hell.
The wizard standing in front of me was rather unremarkable to say the least. He looked like a weedy teenage geek. Soft brown hair flopped over his forehead, skimming the tops of his thin framed glasses. Grey eyes stared back at me, no emotion flickering through them at all. His slight build did little for him, but he had good dress sense. He looked every inch the cool dude in his black and white striped cotton shirt, faded denim jeans, and smart brown leather shoes.
“Lucia tells me I am to help you,” he said, his voice sounding like my brother’s when he was thirteen.
“It would be most appreciated,” Makeysha said.
“If I do, it is only because I see Lucia as someone I can trust.”
Ouch. I frowned at him. “How are we supposed to trust you if that’s how you view things?” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s your decision to make. I’m not the one asking for help.”
Wow. This guy liked to play hard ball. I decided to go straight for the jugular and ask the one burning question behind all of this. “Why? Why are you helping Lucifer anyway? You do know he’s going to destroy this world? That includes all of the animals that you profess to love and adore.”
“Lucifer has made no threats to this world. I am unclear where that rumour has come from. As far as I am concerned, I am helping a greater power achieve his aim. By doing so, I am receiving something that I greatly want, too.”
This was interesting. The First Creations were getting something in return for their labour. I had assumed up to this point it was purely because they were Lucifer’s creatures that they were helping him.
“And what is that?”
“My parents, our parents...” he motioned between him and Lucia “...back together.”
“What?” Makeysha said. “Your parents back together? Is that what he’s promised you?”
Caesar nodded. “Yes. When he ascends to Heaven, he will repair the rift between the angels, reuniting all of our parents once more.”
“Why does he want to do that?” I asked.
“Because he knows how much pain we’ve been in,” he replied. “How much our parents have suffered because they cannot be together. You haven’t felt it yet, the completed connection between two souls, but when you do, you’ll know how my parents felt and why I want to help them.”
“What if we could help you?” Makeysha said. “Would you help us then?”
“Lucia has asked me to help you, so my help was never in question. I’m not sure exactly what you think you’re going to be able to achieve. This hole between the angels needs a higher being to fix it.”
“I disagree,” Makeysha replied. “Lucifer is using you. He’s emotionally blackmailing you to get what he wants.”
“Does it really matter if the end result is what I want?”
Makeysha pursed her lips and sighed. The wizard had a point. From his perspective, he was getting what he wanted, regardless of the cost or manipulation at his expense. He didn’t care. All he cared about was getting his parents back together.
“But you’re all so powerful,” Makeysha said, after a minute of silence. “You’re First Creations. You could do this on your own.”
Caesar gave an unnerving smile. It lacked warmth but was full of amusement. “We’re not powerful because we’re First Creations. We’re powerful because we’re the offspring of soulmates.”
A lightbulb went off inside my head. All these years we’d assumed their power came from Lucifer, when in fact, it came from their very DNA, from their parents coupling. This was big news. And setting off alarm bells as to why Lucifer would want to reunite soulmates.
Makeysha gasped. “What are you saying? That if your parents had more children, they’d all be as equally powerful as you?”
Caesar nodded. “Yes. They wouldn’t have the diverse gifts that Lucifer graced us all with, but they would have the same power. No one really knows in what form though. Would they be born angels, or would they be humans with super powers?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m curious if I do say so myself.”
“What does he want?” Makeysha said. “What is he planning to gain by creating all these powerful beings?”
“He’s essentially a mad scientist. He’s curious. The magic he touched us with has affected us all in so many different ways, he wants to experiment some more.”
“Experiment,” I said. “Seriously? This world isn’t a lab for some arch angel mad scientist.”
“Why do you care?” Caesar said, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Because everything and everyone in this world deserves the right to live.”
He tweaked the edges of his mouth up in a sly smile. “Why don’t you repeat that to yourself the next time you squash a spider?”
I faltered, feeling like I’d just been hit with a baseball bat. Seconds ticked by until I found my voice. “What?”
“Your fear of spiders drives you to kill them, does it not? Have you considered that Lucifer perhaps fears humans?”
Makeysha looked at me, her eyebrows raised and an amused smile tugging at her pink lips. “You’re scared of spiders?”
I scowled at her. “They have eight legs. That is not normal. The fact they can run with all eight of them at the same time is just...” I shuddered, then started scratching my arms “...they’re all kinds of wrong.”
She laughed. “I can’t believe a badass supernatural hunter is scared of a teeny tiny spider.” She clutched at her belly as she doubled over in laughter. “This is brilliant.”
“Now is not the time to be discussing my phobias,” I snapped. I turned back to Caesar. “Why would Lucifer be afraid of humans?”
“Think about it. He’s spent years festering and boiling in his own bitterness and rage. He doesn’t know love, compassion, and kindness anymore. Humans express that every minute of every day, despite what they do to each other. They’re a threat to his emotional state of mind.”
“What you mean is, he’s jealous of them.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so.”
“What you’re telling me is he basically wants to get rid of anything happy or loving.”
Caesar nodded.
“So what makes you think he’s going to help your parents rekindle their love?”
Realisation spread over his young face like wildfire. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. After several minutes of waiting for his reply, he simply said, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“Excellent,” Makeysha said, clapping her hands together. “Are you still willing to help us now?”
Caesar, his features paling by the second, nodded.
“What can you control?” I asked. “With your wizard powers.”
“Anything that isn’t human.”
“Would that extend to demons?”
He nodded. “I helped Lucifer create his realms. He used me to keep the demons at bay whilst he worked.”
“This gets better and better,” I said, smiling at Makeysha. “And sacred animals, like unicorns, would you be able to control them?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Right,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Let’s get this show on the road then.”