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“Val tells me Chris is finally awake,” Damian said, staring me down from the end of the bed. “He’s a lucky man. If I had my way, I would have toasted your ass until there was nothing more.”
“Great,” I said, but nothing escaped my lips.
“Fuck you,” Lucifer growled and fought against the chains.
“You’re power doesn’t work here.” Damian offered with a voice dripping with sarcasm. He gave Valerie a quick nod. She stepped in with a needle and the burn of whatever she plunged into my arm made me wince.
Lucifer glared. “You don’t have the will to destroy me,” he said, his voice heavy with whatever drug Valerie fed us.
“She might not have a choice. Regardless of how much she loves Chris, if we can’t make him whole, I get to have the pleasure of making sure you can never come back.” He pointed at me before crossing his arms. The sadistic smile that formed sent a shiver down my spine.
I think my body broke out in goose flesh, but Lucifer just sneered at him.
The drugs rendered both of us a mass of heavy limbs and lax muscles. When Lucifer couldn’t form a coherent sentence, they unbound his arms and legs and carted our body up to a living room that looked out at a sun-drenched back yard. The barren trees in the distance gave me an indication of the passage of time from the August heat I last experienced to what looked like late fall in New England.
They tied me to the chair and set up the familiar salt ring. My head lolled.
“Bitch, you are going to regret this,” Lucifer slurred and Valerie glared at him.
The doorbell rang and Damian stepped away leaving me with Valerie. I watched her as she stood with her back to me. Her reflection told me more than I really wanted to know. I recognized the pain in her scan of the yard and when she refocused on my reflection, she stiffened.
Before she could turn and address me, Tom stepped in the door with Raven and her infamous bag of tricks. I actually smiled at the welcomed sight. I didn’t know if I’d survive this, but I was sure whatever was coming was better than living in this mental prison.
Raven didn’t waste any time. She pulled out the crystals and pulled out a compass, which was a new edition since the last time I played exorcist. Using the compass, she set the stones in the proper places. Raven glanced around at the group.
“I don’t know if this will work. It’s meant for exercising a demon, not an angel, and I’m afraid these hexes aren’t going to do a thing.” She nodded to the symbols above the doorways and continued, “Those will trap him here, so you’d better make sure you do your magic and turn his black spirit to ash.”
Damian nodded. “That’ll be my pleasure,” he said and Lucifer laughed.
“You don’t have the power,” he growled, forcing my head upright against the liquid muscles.
“That’s where you’re wrong. Who the hell did you think Chris gave all his power to before he made the deal?” he asked and his lips formed a smile that scared the shit out of me.
That tidbit shocked both of us, sending a fiery strip of electricity up my spine, but for very different reasons and I kept my reasoning under wraps. The element of surprise is always a good thing to have when you’re on the devil’s hit list.
Doubt sank into my bones and I tried not to revel in Lucifer’s budding fear. There was too much at stake for me to fuck up right now.
“Bullshit,” he finally whispered and Damian gave him a grin that called his bluff.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Raven turned to Valerie. “I need your blood,” she said and Valerie didn’t hesitate. She didn’t even wince when the knife opened her palm. What surprised me was when she held out her hand to Damian. He glanced at it and then back at her.
“Please fix it,” she said and understanding smoothed the lines on his forehead. He dipped down and placed a kiss on the wound. Light sparkled and Valerie winced. Her calico eyes shifted and then settled back in place and I knew it was all a ruse—an expertly played snow job.
Lucifer bought it and for the first time in his existence, he squirmed. I started chuckling and a little of it bled through. Enough to pull everyone’s attention.
Tom signed. “Love you, bro. Just hang tight and we’ll get you back.”
I forced a nod to come through. Even though his thoughts were clear, his eyes held doubt. Tom’s conviction wasn’t as solid as it had been with Raven’s demon banishment.
Raven turned to the group and picked up the brew she’d concocted. Her hands trembled as she turned toward the king of hell masquerading as her brother-in-law. I wanted to say thank you, even if this didn’t work, but she started her magical chant. This time she didn’t fling the mixture; instead, she dipped her finger in it and started drawing on my face, as if she was applying war paint.
She didn’t stop there, on my chest she drew a hex and covered my arms with streaks of the mixture. Curiously, my skin bubbled under the brew but it didn’t hurt. At least, not at first. As the group chanted and she loaded my exposed skin with the bitter smelling liquid, it started to burn.
Both Lucifer and I gasped as it flashed over, turning my skin into a molten-lava relief map of pain. The urge to flee overwhelmed me even though I knew I should try to hold on for as long as possible. Lucifer had the same idea, but he had more willpower than I did, and more of a marriage to my cells than I, even though he had only been an inhabitant of my body for a small sliver of time.
We bellowed as the burn increased to an inferno. I caught sight of Tom looking like a deer in the headlights as his gaze moved from one spot to another above me. The indecision in his gaze told me more than I wanted to know. Lucifer must have fashioned his ghost in the same form as mine and Tom didn’t know which one to pick.
He had a fifty-fifty chance and when he stepped in, I said a small prayer through the throws of pain. Unfortunately, the gods must not have heard it because he grabbed Lucifer, pulling him back down into my useless shell of a body.
I tried to get back, but the bubble of protection Damian and Valerie set up was impenetrable and the pain escalated to the point I couldn’t voice Tom’s mistake. I screamed and writhed and then everything turned white.