Page 37 of All's Hell That Ends Well

For the briefest moment, I thought I saw unbidden amusement lighten his eyes before his features were dark and brooding once more. “You will have to canvass the more populated areas slower and more thoroughly. Make sure you mingle in crowds or fly closely over them. Take special care to check the places where humans store their children.”

“You mean like schools and daycares?”

“Yes. Those.” He made a dismissive gesture.

“Do demons not have schools?”

“What would we fill them with?” Lucifer asked me pointedly. He waved in a big circle. “The manifold children of our kind?”

I scrunched up my face. Come to think of it, I had yet to see a single demon child. In my entire year down here before I ascended, I hadn’t met any kids, not even adolescents.

“We are not like humans,” he said with a bit of a sneer, “to reproduce at the rate that mortality demands. When you have a race whose individual members can live for eons, would you think it wise to bestow upon them the fertility seen in shorter-lived species?”

“Probably not,” I murmured.

“God may have been wrong about many a thing,” he said, swirling the content of his glass, “but in this, there is reason.”

Wait, was I actually having a nontoxic conversation with Lucifer, and one where he showed signs of rational thinking?And he hadn’t threatened or insulted me in more than five minutes. I’d call that a win.

“Haniel will be your escort,” he said, bringing the topic back to my mission. “He’s waiting for you at the New York gate. Gilarion will lead you there. Take these.”

He snapped his fingers, and a table loaded with weapons appeared.

I raised my brows. “Do you expect me to be attacked?”

“None of my demons go to Earth unarmed.” Black fire flared in his eyes. “That has always been true, and even more so now.”

I pressed my lips tightly together. Yeah, I could see that. If I were him, I wouldn’t trustanyoneanymore.

Without another word, I took the weapons. Two short swords, perfectly balanced for my height and weight, a small crossbow that I could strap to my thigh, and about half a dozen daggers with sheaths that I fastened to any available limb.

Finished, I lifted my gaze and cleared my throat. “May I visit my loved ones on Earth, Your Grace?”

Why not take a chance to ask him again? He’d been in a permissive mood earlier.

“No. Focus on the search.” He tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair. “For now.”

Wrestling my anger down, I latched on to that small sliver of hope. I’d gotten him to make a concession for me once already. Azazel was surely right—Iwouldbe able to squeeze more out of Lucifer. I just had to be strategic and smart about it.

“Yes, Your Grace,” I said and bowed deeply.

With a last look at my hound, who currently sported a wide doggie grin on all three of her heads while she enjoyed Lucifer scratching her ears, I turned and walked out.

Gilarion gave me a deep bow and led me through the hallways.

Just before we left the private wing, I had the misfortune to run into Samael, yet again. I inwardly cringed when I spotted him a few paces away, this time without his cronies as company. Wanting to avoid any contact with him, I swerved to give him a wide berth—the corridor was certainly big enough to let me skirt around him with ample space—but he had the audacity to snatch my arm and bring me to a stop.

Gilarion halted as well, shifting his weight while looking to the side. No help coming from that dude.

I raised my brows and ostentatiously lowered my gaze to where Samael’s hand was wrapped around my elbow.

“If I were you,” I said, lifting my chin to look him in the eye, “I’d remove that hand, unless you’d like your father to remove it for you. With a blade.”

Safe to say I was fully banking on being able to wield Lucifer’s vested interest in me remaining unharmed like a weapon in these halls.

Samael’s red-tinged gaze bore into me. “I am not hurting you.”

“What part of ‘She is not to be touched’ did you not understand?” I asked with bared teeth.

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