“Oh, you believe my actual father is dead,” she breathed as realization settled over her.
“I do. When Mac said you had siblings I’d thought there was a chance, no matter how small, Bale’s vision could have been wrong about you being the last of Lucifer’s line, or that you were not who we sought, but I don’t believe so now.”
“You will leave my brothers out of this!” she spat at me. “They have never shown any differences.”
I lifted a hand to calm her as her fury beat against me. “They will remain safely where they are. This has come from your father’s line if they show no differences.”
She gazed at me for a minute, her expression unreadable as she tried to process this information. “I never knew my father, but I always believed he was out there, somewhere.” She dropped her head into her hand. Finally, she shook her head and focused on me once more. “If you can open and close gateways to Hell why can’t you close this gate?”
“The gateway the humans tore into our world is unnatural. The gateway Lucifer opened into our world wasn’t natural either, but it was much smaller and my ancestor was able to control it. I have managed to close the gateway the humans created more than it was originally, but I cannot shut it completely.”
“But Lucifer only opened the gate before; maybe he can’t close it, which means I couldn’t either.”
“Maybe not,” I replied. “But you may be one of the most powerful beings on this planet. Our main focus is for you to develop your powers before we take you to the gate and see if it can be closed.”
“And if it can’t?”
My teeth ground together so forcefully my jaw ached from the pressure. Part of the plan had always been to take on Lucifer, if it became necessary, but I would find a way to keep her protected. “Then you may be capable of destroying Lucifer.”
She looked as if I’d slapped her. The color drained from her face so fast I thought she might pass out. She inhaled sharply and her hands flattened on the table. Wordlessly, she slid into the chair. Her gaze focused on the tent wall behind me, before shifting to me. “How is that possible?”
“It’s the combination. Youdopossess the abilities of all three species.”
“I seem to be leaning more toward the demon side,” she murmured. “Nothing I can do is truly angelic.”
“As far as we know, but we could discover more, and youwillbecome more powerful and better able to handle those powers. It is possible you could walk in all three worlds, but we won’t know until we are at the gateway. If you are capable of entering and withstanding Hell, then you could take Lucifer on, if you become proficient enough with your abilities. The main focus, after we develop your powers further, will be trying to close the unnatural gateway.”
Her fingers drummed on the table. “What abilities does a human have?”
“They have the ability to one day enter the other realms as a soul. The ability to let love and hate fuel their actions and drive them to feats they never believed possible. There is more power in a human than they realize. You do not possess all the abilities of angels or demons, but your combination is rare, and it may be what we need to defeat Lucifer.”
Her fingers slid to her neck and she fiddled with her necklace. “What more canyoudo?”
“You haven’t scratched the surface of the things demons are capable of, or yourself, I’m guessing. With time, you will learn more.”
“How do youknowI’m the only offspring left? There could be dozens, maybe even a hundred or so, fallen angel kids running around out there.”
“Humans are known for many things, including being afraid of things they don’t understand, especially people who are different from them. Not all of the offspring would have had your eye color, but all of them would have been different in some way, even if it was only in a small way. Think of the witches who were slaughtered, the people who were burned at the stake over the centuries for being different. Some of them actuallywere. Most of the angel lines were lost in this way over the years.”
She rubbed at her temples as she bowed her head. When she looked at me again, shadows marred underneath her eyes. “What do you expect me to do to close the gate?”
“I do not know. Perhaps your instinct will take over and you willknowwhat must be done when we get there.”
I didn’t know what kind of reaction I’d expected out of her, but her eyes remained unwavering on mine. She didn’t say a word, yet I could almost see the thoughts tumbling through her mind. I listened as the seconds ticked into minutes on the clock in the corner.
“And what if it doesn’t?” she finally inquired.
“We will figure that out when we get there, but this is the closest we’ve ever come to having a possible way to shut the gate down and saving the human species.”
“But if the gate is shut down, and you haven’t been able to defeat Lucifer before, how will you do so now? I’m thinking he’s not going to give up even if the gate is closed.”
“If we can draw him out beforehand, then with you, the weapons the humans possess, and the demons who will join us at the gateway, we have a chance of being able to defeat him. We’ve never had the human weapons on our side before; they won’t kill him, but they will slow him down, and we’ve never had your abilities before. This battle will be different. If he doesn’t come out, and you can enter Hell, we can go after him.”
She looked as if I’d just dropped a bomb onheras she blinked at me, opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. More minutes ticked by before she said, “So, you plan to fight Lucifer on Earth?”
“Yes, if we can.”
“Nothing could possibly go wrong with that,” she muttered.
