“I am Live, your Halfling, Kyrene’s Halfling as well. You will do as I have bartered and go with your Chosen.” A shudder wracked her small frame.
“I agree to your proposition.”
“No,” I roared, my eyes begging her not to agree, knowing it was too late. Where was my own mother? She could save them all without this tiny scrap of a being offering up her existence to Satan.
“Why, Live?” I felt as if a thousand chains held me in place.
Live walked up to me, not an ounce of fear on her face. “My name is Live because nobody thought I would survive. I remember my mother’s words to me.” She leaned up on her toes. “You shouldn’t be alive. Since you live, that is your name, demon. Then she tossed me into a pit and left me. When Kyrene found me, I was a few days old. She made sure I had the things I needed to survive. I am Live, nothing else matters. Now, let them go, or the deal is off the table.”
“Be gone, Creed, and know if I find you back here, you will be mine.” Satan waved his hand, already dismissing us.
Live’s clear blue eyes flashed triumph as she smiled at me. “Goodbye, Creed. Be well for both of us.”
“I’ll get you free, Live. I’ll find your mother and make it so.” It was a vow I would keep.
The dark look Satan sent my way would have wilted a lesser man. I raised my middle finger, backing toward Raina and the others. I felt her reaching out to me many times during mybattles. I didn’t want her to feel the pain I’d been in through our bond.
A bright light burst into the dark chamber, scattering the carcasses of the dead. “You dare try to harm my child, Lucifer?”
My mother floated above the ground, her form almost too bright to look at. The sound of shattering stone had my head whipping toward the throne, only to stare at the remains of what used to be part of Satan’s solid black chair. The arms had been turned to dust from where my father had squeezed too tightly.
My mother’s wings spread out, creating a barrier between Satan and us. “Live, come here, child.”
Satan raised a black claw, his power raising the temperature. “She has made a bargain with me, and we have agreed.”
“Since there is no contract signed, no blood has been spilled or given to seal the deal, she is still free. Come here, Live.” The command was followed by my mother’s will being forced out, and Live was moved by an unseen hand.
“You knew if you harmed my Creed, I would have the ability to do unto you what you’ve done to him. You’ve harmed him by killing his sibling. Now, I will take him and his sibling out of here without recourse. Good day, Lucy.”
Black smoke boiled from all around the dais where Satan lounged, but he didn’t say a word. I saw the hatred burn in his black eyes, then he sat back with a heavy sigh. “This is not over, my dear.”
“Of course, it isn’t. Good and evil will always battle, but the good will always prevail. However, you mess with my son again, and I’ll bring down a contingent of angels, the likes of which you won’t survive, and my son will sit on that throne. Remember that the next time you get a hair up your…you know what.”
She raised her golden wings, and then we were no longer in Hell, but back in the Fey world, with Live at our sides. Thefemale had long, silver, blonde hair that reached her ass, with silver eyes. She was hauntingly beautiful.
“Mother, what the Hell were you thinking, showing up there? He could have trapped you there?” I pulled my mother into my arms, careful not to hug her too tightly.
“My sweet child, always worried about hurting me,” she whispered, patting my back.
I lifted her off the ground. “You are much frailer than he and I, of course, I worry.”
Looking over my shoulder, she winked, then sent me flying through the air, her wings carrying us. “I am no delicate freaking flower, Creed.”
I was pretty sure I was going to hyperventilate or pass out. Probably both, as I watched mother and son fly off. I’d endured the trauma of seeing the man—or demon, or whatever you wanted to call Creed—beaten so severely I was sure he’d be killed, only to watch him come out the victor time and time again. And if that wasn’t enough, his bastard of a father upped the stakes and was ready to consume his soul in order to set us free, and Creed was going to do it, the sacrificial asshat.
Goddess, I loved the man.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Live whispered.
I jerked at the husky words spoken next to me. Looking up, I was startled at the beauty that was Creed’s half-sister. No way could I call her a Halfling. Kyrene must’ve had some good qualities to her since she did raise the younger woman—demon, or whatever Live was. As I continued to stare at the odd silver eyes, I realized I hadn’t answered.
“Yes, it is. I mean, a freaking angel in real life.”
Live nodded. “Creed is half angel, you know.”
A blush stole up my neck, heating my face. I’d done all kinds of dirty things with an angel. Holy shit, was that even a legal thing to do?
“You’re thinking naughty things, aren’t you? Don’t deny it. I’ve seen more than my fair share to know when someone is or isn’t.”
