Page 81 of Dancing With Demons

I clutched my head, choking on a sob. “R-right now? But I don’t—”

“Make it four weeks, Enrique,” Lucifer called. “And drop someone particularly ornery and unpleasant down there with her.”

“Angel!” I blurted, latching on to the first thing that came to mind, and the last thing I read. “The hallow of the air is an angel!”

“An angel?” Lucifer hissed. “Are you certain?”

“I’m sure.” The words were tumbling out of my mouth. “I need the feather of a real angel. Not a kicked-out-of-heaven reject like you!”

“Hmm.”

Everything stopped—my breathing stopped—as he pondered.

“Well.” Lucifer broke the silence. “It makes sense. An angel feather is an item of untold power, and untold power is what we’re going for here.”

“Send her back.”

He laughed. “Slow down. You haven’t told me how you plan to acquire one yet.”

“Acquire one?” I straightened, drawing back from Ronin. “You mean an angel feather? How in the fuck should I know!” Suddenly, I was screaming all over again. “You’re the fucking angel, you fucking fuckwit! You’re the all-powerful devil who can hop between worlds! When do you get off your ass and do something!”

Lucifer laughed his wings off. “Someone’s tetchy. Maybe that’s why you’re getting it all wrong. The gates are closed for me too, Charlotte. I can only return to earth when I’m summoned by a witch, and I can’t get into heaven at all. And even if I could, I wouldn’t,” he dropped. “I don’t do... legwork.”

I’ve never wanted to wring someone’s neck more.

“Collecting a feather from the Air Hallow is your task, and I want a concrete plan on how you’re going to make it happen, or Dora’s going to have a very bad time of it over the next five weeks.”

I gritted my teeth. The bastard was going up. “Are you going to return us to earth so that we can—?”

“Nope.”

You monstrous beast. Out loud, I took a deep breath, untangled from Ronin, and then said, “Fine. If you can’t bring me an angel, I’ll just bring an angel to me.”

“Bring an angel... to you?” Was it my imagination, or did the king of lies, tricks, and being-a-piece-of-shit sound stumped? “What in the hell does that mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” I replied, injecting my voice with confidence I didn’t feel. “I’ll lure an angel to hell and get them to give me their feather.”

He laughed out loud. “Lure an angel to hell? Has the heat gone to your head, darling? That’s impossible.”

“A couple of weeks ago, you thought the power of the All Hallows was impossible.” That stopped his laughter cold. “When are you going to learn to stop underestimating an Avos witch?”

He paused a beat. “How?” Lucifer demanded. “Tell me exactly how.”

“Give. Me. My. Sister. Back.”

Lucifer snarled. “You’re not the one in a position to make the demands.”

“Aren’t I? If I’m not, then you can be the one to do the legwork,” I rasped. “Because if you ever pull this shit again— If you ever kidnap and threaten my sister again, I’ll kill myself.”

“What!”

“What?!” Ronin belted, grabbing my shoulders. “What are you saying!”

“Save your idle threats for someone who believes them,” Lucifer said, recovering fast.

“It’s not an idle threat. Now that I know heaven and hell are real, and that I can reincarnate myself into a new, cushy life on earth—death isn’t half as scary as it was before,” I crowed. “Right now, I’ve got everything to gain from my death, and you’ve got everything to lose. You need a living Avos witch to get your hands on the All Hallows, and that’s the one thing you won’t have.”

“You won’t do it!” Angry Lucifer was coming back fast. “You’d never leave your sister in danger.”