“Yeah, about that...” Gali looked at them carefully. “Y’all don’t seem as freaked out as I thought you’d be.”
“Oh, I’m freaked out.” Bonbon grinned a little unsteadily. “It’s just that your family seems to be a contingent of bad bitches, and that kinda makes me feel better about the odds.” Her grin faded a bit. “I mean, they also seem to have some actual magic? Which is a whole separate mind-fuck if I think about it too hard.”
“Like I told you, stop thinking.” Oriak? smiled faintly at Gali. “I’m not so freaked out. I’m Nigerian.” She shrugged like that explained it all, and Gali made a mental note to pick upthatline of conversation at a more convenient time.
“I’m sorry I lied to y’all, even if it was by omission.” She reached out and grabbed their hands. “I’ve never had friends like you in my life, and I wanted to do everything I could to hold on to it, but all I did was jeopardize it. I’m gonna make it up to you, though, once we get through whatever’s about to go down here.” Gali paused and frowned. “Which I still can’t believe Nana Darling brought you around for.”
“Well, I’m glad she did so we could see you,” Bonbon replied. “And look, we love you, Gali. Is your family strange as fuck? Yeah, sure. Is this thing with the Devil/Helel guy low-key terrifying? Absolutely.” She squeezed Gali’s hand and smiled. “Am I still glad to be your friend even after you did some magic shit on me? Surprisingly yes.”
“Very generous of you,” Gali sniffled.
“What can I say? I’m a philanthropist.” Bonbon’s eyes lit up. “Also, this is marvelous material for my next book. A little paranormal horror for the gyaldem.”
Oriak? made a face. “Isn’t all horror paranormal?”
Bonbon gave her a disappointed look. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
They bickered gently as Gali stared at them both. It hadn’t felt possible, but for a moment, it was as if they were back in the world they used to be in, the same banter and everything. Gali felt a wave of gratitude crash through her—that her family had pushed her beyond her fear and now she was here, with her friends, not hiding parts of who she was, and somehow, it felt like they would be okay. She pulled them into a tight hug, and when her quiet sobs broke against their cheeks, Oriak? and Bonbon simply held her even tighter, like they never planned on letting her go.
14.
Lucifer
Lucifer turned in a slow circle, but the foyer remained both silent and empty, with no sign of Galilee. The front door hung open, which was a rather obvious sign, but he widened his perception beyond the mortal senses anyway, just in case. She hadn’t returned to his room upstairs, and indeed, her scent led him out of the house and into the grounds beyond, where it tangled with other threads, curious in their difference but clearly familiar to her.
It seemed that her family had arrived sooner than he’d expected, which was mildly impressive. Someone among the Kincaids wasverygood at tracking. It was a detail worth noting. Tracking entities from Hell was a deeply specific skill set, and if things went well, perhaps he could do business with the Kincaids down the line. It was an optimistic and possibly delusional view on the future, but Galilee felt like a beginning, and Lucifer was choosing to hold on to that, rather than the ends his princes were painting for them. Somehow, he would find a way to fix the hellgate, once the angel behind its impairment was identified and dealt with,andhe would keep Galilee safe.
No matter what the others thought, there was no need to bring in Heaven. The rage that filled Lucifer was eternal, bitter, and cloying, andit was all Heaven’s fault. Humans told many lies about him, using him as a foil for their own wickedness, painting lurid pictures of his Fall, but truth be told, Lucifer was just a manager, and he still worked for God. Stripped of his glory, steeped in quiet smoke and retired sulfur, he had one job and that was Hell itself. Should the hellgate break, Heaven would in fact have grounds to mete out a judgment upon him. They had probably been waiting eons for an opportunity like this.
Lucifer left through the front door and followed Galilee’s trail down to the gardens. Archways of blooming jasmine and honeysuckle trailed above and around him, their tired blossoms carpeting the ground underfoot. Levi’s words kept playing in his head like a haunting.The girl is a distraction.There was too much truth there because she was, she certainly was, and the extent of it bothered Lucifer. Galilee had smelled dangerous since the moment he met her. It had always felt like she didn’t know the full breadth of it, but despite her lack of interest in the hellgate, the timing was still too much of a coincidence to brush off. Something felt coordinated, but he was missing a piece and so the final picture kept dancing out of focus. At least with Galilee, he could seek some truth from the Kincaids, who had conveniently brought themselves into play, but this was all larger than the Kincaids, larger than Galilee herself.
The breach in the hellgate had happened while Galilee was screaming his name in his arms, her soft body writhing in his bed. Leaving even a glimmer of residue at the scene was either sloppy or the mark of someone confident that they’d get away with their plan. Had they known Lucifer would be distracted, drowning in Galilee’s thighs while his hellgate was being compromised? Everyone seemed to think that his attraction to Galilee made him less of a threat. Lucifer would’ve brushed it off because he was who he was, but as the dusk approached, Levi’s words still danced around him. They sang like a bloodred warning, words spilled over a strategy table as a quiet battle raged.
The girl is a distraction.
Lucifer cursed into the fading light as an uncomfortable possibility sidled up his spine and sank its talons into his mind. What if Galilee was simply a trap? His lover was a weapon, that much was clear, but her innocence spoke only forhermotives. She didn’t even know what she was, and she seemed to have been conditioned away from finding out. A weapon was just that—a weapon, and it could be wielded by someone else. Galilee didn’t have toknowshe was being used for it to be effective.
The thought clawed painful grooves into Lucifer, but it wouldn’t let go. Galilee was too perfectly crafted for him and even against him. As temptation, she had been incredibly effective—Lucifer had followed her like an animal incapable of any thought beyond lust from the moment she’d entered his path. If she had been meant as a lure, the implications were too many to untangle in that moment, not when he still needed answers as simple as what shewas, but Lucifer’s heart sank to even consider what it would mean. Not for him, but for her, to be used like that. He gritted his teeth and stroked his form under his skin as comfort. If someone had played them both, he would hunt whoever it was to the ends of the earth and make them suffer for tainting the sweetness of everything he’d shared with her.
Lucifer turned a corner in the garden, and there she was, the girl who burned him so perfectly, locked in a tight embrace with the two human friends they’d left frozen in her apartment. Several feet above her head, her swarm of bees flew in a churning halo. A cluster of armed Kincaid women stood to the side, and all of them were watching Galilee except for a barefoot girl in white overalls with cowries swinging from her short plaits. She was watching Lucifer’s approach, her lips slightly parted and her eyes glinting. Galilee’s grandmother stood next to her, silver hair tight to her scalp in cornrows, gaze fixed on her prodigal grandchild. A few of the Kincaid women flanked the rest, guarding them from the forest they must have walked out of. When one saw Lucifer, her arms were already lifting as her eyes widened, bringing up her crossbow. She tookher shot without raising an alarm, and the woman in overalls took one step to her left, reached out her hand, and caught the bolt from the crossbow in midair. Blood dripped out from her hand, and the grandmother whipped her head around, her nostrils flaring.
“Celestial!” she cried, but then she caught sight of Lucifer, and all the color drained from her face.
Lucifer sighed and stopped walking, holding his palms up. “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “I mean you no harm.”
All the Kincaids looked in his direction and immediately raised their weapons, taking aim.
It was of no consequence. Instead, he wondered why Celestial had shed her own blood to stop the bolt from hitting him. It was a debt now, a small one, but a smart move if her goal had been to protect herself.
Galilee peeked out from her friends’ hold. “Luci?” She sounded so anxious, and her eyes darted between him and her family, like she was still worried he would hurt them.
Lucifer smiled at her, leaving his hands up, even though his palms burned for the want of laying them on her skin. “Galilee.”
Her friends stepped back to give her space, and Oriak? glared at him while wrapping Bonbon in her arms. “I should have shot you twice,” she hissed.
A woman in a white linen dress hovered just behind Galilee’s shoulder, a shotgun balanced against her hip. She radiated a motherly hostility that was echoed to various degrees by all the other Kincaids, and Lucifer made a note to ask Galilee what happened to the Kincaid men or what had happened to her father, if she had one. Celestial’s hand was being bandaged swiftly by their grandmother, who was watching Lucifer out of the corner of her eye.
Galilee’s mother stepped forward, the skirt of her dress fluttering around her knees. “I’m Collette,” she said, far more politely than the look in her eyes. “We’ve come to take Galilee home, so don’t even think about getting in our way. You’ve done her enough harm.”
