Page 14 of By An Angel's Grace

“My point stands. You’re here, and these demons are following your orders.”

Lucifer waved a hand, and the circle broke, the remaining demons drawing back to watch the conversation warily. “So, how did you figure it out?”

“Ten demons and a handful more hidden around the area?” I was guessing on the latter point. “When you could have brought any number?”

“Granted.”

“Second, your Fallen Angels... they have bows, but they’re just guarding you.”

“You’ve used demons as shields before.”

“And you, and they, couldn’t really care less about killing a demon or three. You’ve sacrificed seven so far just for a show of force.”

“And?”

“And you had her brought here, not Hell, and not some more secure location.”

“Who needs secure? Or numbers. You may be a fighter, God’s chosen soldier when that little mess went down, but I’m still a higher order than you. If we fought, even without demons or Fallen, you’d lose. Remember how badly Michael beat you when you challenged him?”

“And that fight cost Michael plenty. And win or lose, it’d cost you.”

Lucifer frowned, and the Fallen with him tensed. Then he waved a hand dismissively, instead of going for his sword with it. Just in case, I kept my own sword ready, and kept a wing curled protectively around Adelaide. “Any other points to make unraveling my scheme, hm?”

“This just isn’t your style. I believe you when you say you want revenge and want to hurt us, but not like this. This is a distraction. You want a conversation. You just wanted to have it when you had some leverage.”

“You catch on quickly. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

“You have me here – for the moment. You only have so much time before Gabriel figures out where we’re at. So, I repeat, what is it you want?”

“One, I want you to know that your ex-girlfriend is a massive pain in the ass.”

I nodded. “Her stabbing me in the back and sending me to Hell because it fit her visions of what needed to happen kind of drove that point home, yes.”

“Visions she doesn’t receive any more, which is bad enough.”

I nodded. Once again, it made sense he’d mix in honesty. While what he’d really wanted was to find out what Iaoel knew about regaining the piece of Hell that had been taken from him, he’d also thought he was gaining her gift for prophecy in seducing and corrupting her. “Bad enough? But the bigger point is?”

“Perceptive. She’s still as dedicated to following them as ever.”

“Which means that she’s still absolutely positive she’ll be responsible for your redemption, and return to the fold of God’s Grace,” I said.

He nodded, and I had no doubt the snarl on his face was quite genuine. “I keep telling her that what she saw, when she saw me kneeling before the Throne was the past, not the future.” It was the vision that had led her into contact with Lucifer in the first place.

“But she refuses to believe it.”

“Exactly. And when she’s not driven by a vision...” he started.

“Then she acts like an angel of the host. What, you figured that just because she has disdain for humans, and she was willing to betray me and turn me over to you, that she’d changed?”

“Those were among her better traits, admittedly.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “And after having to work with Addy, some of that disdain has even died down a bit?” It was a wild guess, but seemed reasonable under the circumstances.

Lucifer didn’t share in the smile. “She fell. Her wings went black. She’s not deluding herself. Not anymore. What purpose is there to acting like she’s still an agent of God?”

“He works in mysterious ways.” I had no love anymore for Iaoel, but could appreciate her zeal, anyway.

“Oh for fuck’s sake. It’s pointless. She fell. She’s part of my host now.”

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