Her eyes cleared and she bared her teeth at me. “Spawn of Satan.”
“Yes, that’s already been established,” I replied with an impatient wave of my hand. “You were right, but where did Satan go with Gage and Bailey?”
“When we go to town, I’d like to ride the pony,” she said and turned away from me. “Play some games as we do, eat the food,allthe food. Hungry. When the trucks come, will they take me too?”
“Mother, please, where are they?” I implored.
She stared at the screen over my shoulder. “I’d like to go to town to play the games and hear the music before going with the trucks.”
“Mother—”
“Devil’s eyes! Rotten seed.”
She lifted her hand to slap me again, but I caught her wrist before she could. I held on when she tried to jerk it away from me. “No!” I hissed. “I no longer fear you, and I won’t allow Kobal to kill you, but you willneverhit me again.” I wanted to tell her she could never speak to me like that again, but I didn’t think she knew half the things she spewed from her mouth anymore.
When she jerked at her hand again and sulked like a petulant child, I released her and rose. Kobal’s eyes remained fixed on her before sliding to me. “I will find your brothers,” he vowed.
“But what will Lucifer do to them before then?” I asked. “Because of me, because ofthem”—I thrust a finger at Raphael—“Gage and Bailey might be suffering right now!”
Kobal took my hand and rested it against his chest. “Iwillfind them.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady the riotous sway of my emotions. If anyone could find them, it was Kobal, and I knew he wouldn’t rest until he succeeded in freeing my brothers from Lucifer. My mother said the rest of the town was dead, but I held out hope we would be able to find and free them too. I couldn’t think about everything that could happen to them before then; I’d go insane if I did. I had to stay focused on what I could do now. It was the only way to get through this.
“We’ll find them,” I whispered.
“Yes. Now it’s time to leave here.”
“The voices told me to find the soldiers and give you to them,” my mother whispered as we walked toward the doorway. “I went to town and played the games!” She clapped her hands again, and when I glanced back, she was wiggling back and forth in her seat. “Can I play them again when you go to town now?”
I froze when her words sank in. My abrupt stop halted Kobal. “I know where they are,” I said.
“Then we will go there,” he promised.
I tried not to shove him out of my way in my rush to get to my brothers as I followed him out the door. Running headlong at Lucifer was a surefire way to have everything implode on us though. Lucifer wouldn’t kill my brothers, but he would use them against me, and he would be willing to maim them.
When we exited onto the porch, I turned to two of the men standing guard with Bale, Lix, and Verin. Calah and Lopan stood at the foot of the stairs.
“My mother is inside. Take her back to the vehicles and keep her safe until we return,” I instructed the men.
Kobal stiffened beside me, but before he could protest, I turned to face him.
“She was unable to handle what the angels did to her and she broke. She will sit in there until the house falls around her, but she will not die, not anymore. It’s no existence for anyone to live, and no matter how horrible she was to me, she doesn’t deserve that fate. We will find somewhere at the wall, away from us, where she can reside. I don’t ever have to see her again, but I won’t leave her to this. I would never forgive myself if I did.”
“She wouldn’t do the same for you,” Kobal said.
“I know, but I’m nothing like her.”
He bent to kiss my forehead. For a second, I allowed my eyes to close as I savored the warmth of him. “No, you’re not,” he murmured.
“Lucifer must be ended,” Raphael said when the guards slipped inside.
“He will be,” Kobal replied.
“Oh, of course he must be,” Caim retorted sarcastically. “Do me a favor, Raphael. The next time you talk to Saint Michael, or I meanSinnerMichael, tell him he can go fuck himself from me.”
Caim spun away from us and went down the steps so fast, his feet didn’t touch them. Tilting his head back, he pointed a middle finger to the sky. “Fuck you, Michael!” he bellowed before pointing both his middle fingers at the sky. “Fuuuuuuuckyooooooou!”
The humans and demons closest to him exchanged confused looks before edging away from the irate angel who stormed toward Lisa’s house before spinning back toward us. I was so focused on Caim that I didn’t notice the shadows circling across the ground, until Kobal stepped protectively in front of me. The hounds in the clearing all crouched low, their hackles rising as they stared at the sky.
