“We shall speak another time, granddaughter,” Lucifer said. “But I warn you—do not trust whatever he tells you. He has his own agenda.”
“Like you don’t?” I said.
There was a faint pop, and Lucifer disappeared.
I gave Puck a speculative look. “Did you really come to ask for a favor, or did you just want to give Lucifer a hard time?”
Puck winked at me.
I stood up, pulling the blanket tight around my shoulders. “Next time you want to tweak the Prince of Darkness, leave me out of it. I’ve got enough troubles.”
“Yes, you do,” Puck said, sobering. “Indeed you do.”
“What now?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“There’s something coming,” Puck said.
“There always is.”
“And even you will not be able to stop it,” Puck said. “I came to tell you that if you need assistance, you need only call for me.”
“And owe you some other favor in return?” I asked. “No, thanks.”
“You may change your mind,” Puck said. “Remember my offer.”
“How can I forget?” I muttered.
He laughed, and disappeared as Lucifer had.
I stretched, wincing as the scabs on my back twinged. Nathaniel had tried to heal them, but they’d refused to be closed magically, and Jude had ended up pouring disinfectant in them and covering them with gauze.
“You’ll always have scars there,” Nathaniel had said, and touched my cheek as he said it.
“What’s another couple of scars?” I’d replied.
The scars on the outside don’t come close to the ones on the inside, anyway, I thought, and went back into the house.
As I climbed the stairs I could hear the sound of Nathaniel and Jude arguing, and entered the living room to see them playing Monopoly with Samiel, J.B. and Beezle.
I stood in the doorway and watched for a while, happy that we were all safe, and sad because the person I most wanted there was missing.
Beezle flew away from the game for a moment and landed on my shoulder.
“I know you think you made some necessary choices,” he said in an undertone. “But you should think about the lines that you’re crossing. Remember that Lucifer’s kingdom lies where there are shades of gray.”
“I’m not going dark side,” I said, stung.
“And I’m not so sure about that,” Beezle replied, and flew back to the game.
I headed for my bed, and sleep, and tried not to be troubled by what Beezle had said.
I woke up to Beezle patting my cheek insistently.
“What?” I grumbled, rolling over in bed. “Didn’t I earn a day to sleep in?”
“Get up,” Beezle said. “You’ve got to come and see this.”
The urgency in his voice finally penetrated the fog of sleep. I rolled to my feet, following Beezle into the living room.
Jude, Samiel and Nathaniel stood in front of the TV, their eyes grave. They cleared a space for me so I could see.
At first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. A reporter’s voice came intermittently over the images, but the camera kept jiggling everywhere, and it was hard to see exactly what was going on. People were screaming and running, but I couldn’t see what they were screaming and running from.
Then the camera finally stabilized, and I realized what I was looking at. It was live footage from Daley Plaza, and the camera was shooting the action just in front of the Picasso statue.
There were vampires everywhere, and the sun blazed down on the plaza.
“Gods above and below,” I whispered. “Azazel’s formula worked.”