Page 64 of Widow

Chapter 15

Kai

Watching Ric and Lia the night before made me realize two things: I would do anything for that woman, and I liked to watch. Maybe this foursome we had going on would work.

I looked at Lucifer, who walked ahead of me along the edge of the mountain. He had finally given in and put on tactical pants and boots. After seeing him in suits all the time, he looked odd, but in a good way.

"Do you think you could put in a good word for me if I were to appeal my Fallen status?" We had been silently walking up until this point. We were looking for the pathway that led through the mountain range.

He slowed until we were in step with each other. "Have you tried to appeal before?"

"No. I've had no reason to." I shrugged and kicked a rock on the ground. Sure, it had sucked at first, but if anything, I was one of the few fortunate Fallen.

Lucifer watched me out of the corner of his eye and ran a hand through his hair. "I can if that's really what you want. You have a good life as a Fallen. Why go back to the confines of being a guardian? If I had the choice..."

He had a point. If I were to get my wings back, which was pretty unheard of, I would be back to conforming to angel rules. Did I want that?

"Immortality. That's why."

He snorted. "Immortality is overrated. I was ready to go when I threw all of my light energy at Lilith. Yet, here I am." He held his arms out. "In all my fucked-up glory."

"We’re all fucked up a little, aren't we?" I laughed. "Do you think Lia will be okay after all of this?"

I tried to keep thoughts of her dying out of my head. The probability of it was higher than I'd care to admit. If she became an angel, she would forget us. If she went to hell, well, I didn't think there was any coming back from that.

"I hope she's okay after all this. It was hard when I lost Lily when Danica was born." He cleared his throat. "Then, having to see her again and kill her..." He shook his head.

Lucifer stopped as we came to a three-foot-wide gap in the rock. I looked down the path and cringed. I didn't like the looks of it; it was too narrow.

He turned to look at me. "Maybe I should go after the shaman alone. I can fly over the range and scope things out. If this path is booby-trapped, all three of you will be dead."

"Lia is not going to be happy if you go off on your own. We're supposed to do this together. Plus, don't you have a history with this guy?" I put my hands on my hips. It was times like these that I really wished our cell phones worked here. Ric would back me up that going off on a solo mission was an idiotic idea.

Lucifer could easily just have taken off and left us behind, though. I was actually a little surprised he hadn't already.

"Now I know what he's capable of, I'll be able to handle him. Besides, it will help me to face this. I need to move on and get over it." He rubbed his jaw and sighed. "If I'm not back in twenty-four hours, you need to get back to the castle and get help."

He had to be kidding me. If he thought I was going to let him go off by himself after a deranged magic user, he had another thing coming. As I considered how I could stop him, he put a hand on my shoulder.

I turned my head to the side and looked at it and then looked at him. I didn't know Lucifer that well, but in the last few days, we had become closer than I had to anyone in a while.

"There's really no other way. Time is running out for Lia." His eyes smoldered, and then he surprised me by pulling me into a hug. "Take care of her if something happens to me."

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing's going to happen to you. Just hurry up and find him and get back to us."

Lucifer nodded and backed away. His wings spread and he shot into the sky. I hoped he knew what he was doing.

* * *

I got backto the cave quickly. I knew Ric and Lia were going to be pissed at me for letting Lucifer go. It wasn’t like I could stop the guy. If I had tried, he would've pulled some archangel shit on me.

I looked in the cave and found no one; even Picard was gone. I wasn't about to start shouting their names. Who knew what was lurking out there in the forest? The fact that we were in some world that was supposed to be Earth said enough.

I moved towards the trees and stopped at the edge. I squinted into the darkness. There was a large white blob that sparkled in one of the trees. It was extremely out of place amongst the blackened branches.

Branches that were devoid of any light. If Earth ever transitioned over to the dark side, would everything turn just as black as Inferna? I shuddered at the thought.

"What the fuck?" I murmured as I slowly approached the tree the mysterious object was hanging in.

---