Page 90 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“What?” My brows shot up, and I stared at him in utter puzzlement, trying to catch up with what was happening here.

“Apparently,” Lucifer said as he fastened the second sword in a sheath at his back, “I have a house to clean up.” His fathomless black eyes met mine, and he inclined his head. “And you’ll join me.”

My mouth agape, I watched him extend his blood-dripping wings, his power such a force in the room that it burned my skin.

“Come, girl.” He clucked his tongue at Vengeance. “What do you say—want to rip some demons apart?”

Vengeance scampered over to him and yipped in excitement.

“Yes?” crooned Lucifer. “Want to shred some wings and tear off a couple of limbs?”

The hound grew even more enthusiastic and danced in a little circle, which, given her size, resulted in her shoving the dilapidated furniture to the walls.

“Good girl,” Lucifer purred and scratched her middle head. Then his gaze slammed back into mine, a truly diabolical grin stretching his lips. “Let’s go bathe in blood.”

CHAPTER 27

Zoe

With the sun warming my wings, I soared low over the rows of single-family homes in the quiet residential area. Next to me flew Haniel, and spread out in a formation that deliberately seemed random, my entourage followed as well. In order not to draw unnecessary attention, three of my guards kept a larger distance, while one was always closer by. They all continuously scanned the ground and sky to make sure no one could sneak up on me.

I sighed as I beat my wings to catch the updraft better. While I loved flying, it sure dampened my enjoyment of it when I had to do it for weeks in a row. When there were larger crowds, I’d sometimes get down to the ground and just mingle and walk among the humans, sending out my energetic feelers to see if I could sense anything, but other than those instances, or thetimes when I washed up and changed clothes, I was pretty much in the air without pause.

We’d gone over Newark and Jersey City and the surrounding outskirts, but now, after two and a half weeks, I’d moved on to the other side of NYC and started canvassing Long Island. Being a densely populated area—something like several millions—it made sense to check here next.

Not that I held much hope of finding anything.

Of findingher.

The more I looked and the more I ceaselessly flew over street after street, checked school after school, the more my faith began to crumble that this would someday lead to success. It honestly seemed so pointless. I kept imagining that I’d maybe already passed Lilith’s reincarnation but hadn’t felt anything becausethe whole energy-radar thing didn’t work.

There was no guarantee that it would! Nobody knew if that was even possible! I only had Lucifer’s belief to go on, and given his general state of mind and emotional volatility, his word didn’t inspire confidence. He was clinging to the desperate hope that this would work, because admitting that it was all wishful thinking without basis in reality would make the house of cards that was his mental health collapse completely. So, of course,hewould believe in my ability to GPS-track Lilith’s energy in her reincarnated form. He had no other choice.

Me, on the other hand? I was getting crankier by the day because I was looking at possibly years, maybe even decades of this incessant searching as my life’s new purpose, and the thought made my soul weep. Because while I loved a good people-watching session as much as the next gal, observing humans going about their day got real old, real fast. Especially because I wasn’t even allowed much leeway in how I spent my time here on Earth.

As per Lucifer’s decree—and Haniel’s pointed reminder—I was supposed to keep searching the entire time. It wasn’t as if I could really enjoy all that Earth had to offer, no. Not like I could plunk my butt in a movie theater and watch the latest blockbuster, or lie on the beach and read a good book, or go to a Taylor Swift concert.

That would be time wasted that I could use to look for Lilith.

And given how fucking large Earth was, and how many people lived here, and therefore how much I’d have to fly around and check, it would take forever to cover the entire planet and the whole of the human population. Which in turn meant that I had no time to waste.

There was no room to rest and relish, not an hour available for side quests. I had to stay on the move constantly, and the only moments when I could slow down and recover were during that one week I got to return to Hell.

It was a grueling pace that left no space for the finer things in life, and it was suffocating me more and more each day. I was bored out of my mind. There weren’t enough impressions to keep my brain engaged, and I could only listen to so many podcasts while flying.

Because, yes, I’d pilfered some rich dude’s phone and earbuds and given him the mental suggestion to not report them as stolen and keep his phone contract running so I could use it to at least have some music and stuff to distract me during my search. He could easily afford a new one.

I was all caught up on the History Channel’s episodes dating back years, and I’d listened my way through numerous True Crime podcasts, too. I’d also enjoyed shows on ridiculous facts of history and odd scientific discoveries and inventions. I was afraid I’d soon descend into the weirder depths of available podcast shows.

To think that I was looking at—very likely—a human lifetime ofthis. Years upon years of ceaseless searching for three weeks straight, followed by one week of vegging out in Hell, only to start back up again. Ugh.

Shoot me now.

“There’s a playground up ahead,” Haniel said, pulling me out of my sullen rumination.

I squinted at the spot he indicated. “Right. Well, let’s go check.”

It sure felt just a tad creepy to be scouting playgrounds as a nonparent, and I was infinitely grateful for my demon ability to remain invisible to humans. Just the thought of people seeing me skulk around the edges of a play area and surveil the kids was making my skin itch with discomfort and embarrassment.

---