Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Blinking back tears, I look at Lucas. We’re buried so deep in this mess I don’t know how I’m going to dig my way out. Lucas is a Horseman. He’s here on borrowed time. The magical cages won’t hold the demons forever, and we need to put them back in their boxes so to speak. And those boxes are in Hell.
“He was able to put Uriel on Famine.” A single tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away. “I know it won’t last forever. Uriel is too powerful to stay bound like that for long. And once he’s out, he won’t be happy. He knows the truth about me, my father, and still has a personal vendetta out for Lucifer.”
“And he knows about Juliet,” Lucas says, deep voice cutting right through me. “The offspring of a nephilim wouldn’t be permitted to live either.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I say, voice wavering as I look at my friends’ faces. “Everything is so bad right now. The Horsemen alone are a huge threat. They need to go back to their cages that were forged in hellfire. It’s the only thing strong enough to hold them back. Without a rider, it’s the best chance we have at keeping Famine away.”
“You never found out if they can even be killed?” Nicole asks, already afraid of the answer.
“Lucifer doesn’t know how to kill them. He doesn’t even know who created them. The best thing is to lock them up again. They’ve been locked up for thousands of years and only escaped during an uprising, which seems to only happen once every three thousand years or so,” I say with forced laughter.
“Okay,” Ruby says, surprising us all. “Let’s figure this out. First things first: our mission is to kill Paimon. The Horsemen and Uriel are contained by Osiris for now, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“And this demon Drea, did she give you her name?”
“Or’dreaxth,” I tell her. “And she drew me her sigil so I can summon her.”
“Why is she willing to help?” Evander asks.
“You’ll love this,” Lucas says, joining us at the table. Juliet is starting to settle back down in his arms. She’s dressed in a yellow onesie with ruffles on her toes and she looks ridiculously cute. This isn’t the world I want her to grow up in. She’s to fight low-level demons only. “She wants to be able to continue slow-burn torturing humans on earth and not be Paimon’s captive.”
“I guess if I was a demon I’d want the same,” Nicole says with a shrug. “Right?”
“Yeah,” Evander agrees. “And I actually feel better hearing you say this demon doesn’t want to save the earth because she loves puppies and rainbows. It’s more believable knowing she’s doing it to keep playing crazy.”
“Right?” I lean back in my chair and take another bite of pizza.
“Did I miss the part where you explained how Lucas is here?” Nicole asks, tilting her head to the side as she looks at him. Right. The last they knew, he was in the Underworld, suspended in time while I tried to figure something out.
“Osiris,” I say, unable to keep the smile off my face. “He let him come home.”
Kristy fidgets in her chair. “Are we really going with the assumption he’s a good guy? Good God? Whatever he is.”
“He’s shown us no reason not to trust him,” I say. “He’s helped me out and wasn’t holding Lucas prisoner. The deal he made with Lucifer was for all four horses, because he wanted to make sure no one got them. I really don’t think he’s on some weird power kick or anything. If he was, I think he would have tried something already.”
“I don’t trust him.” Lucas side eyes me.
“You don’t trust anyone,” I say back.
“He wants to marry my wife. I don’t just not trust him, I don’t fucking like him.”
I press my lips together and just nod. “I don’t like the situation, but he doesn’t want to marry me like that. He won’t touch me.”
“No, he won’t put a fucking finger on you. And he’s not marrying my wife. You are mine, Callie. Even a symbolic marriage isn’t happening.”
“I agree with Lucas on that,” Ruby says, wiping her hands with a napkin so she can open the demonic encyclopedia. “Historically, you’d marry two houses so others would know two different families or areas or countries or whatever were joined. Unless you send out supernatural wedding invites, who’s even going to know?”
All I can do is shake my head, because I don’t know. Signing a contract or something should be sufficient.
“I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about him,” I start. “I really should tell him to invite me to dinner before he proposes, right?” Lucas doesn’t think my joke is funny. “And I actually never asked him if he’s able to do his little sad teleportation trick from his hell into another. I probably should.”