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Azazel was the last to switch. I hated to be the pot that called the kettle black, but his shifted form was hideous. Truly, it drew every gaze in the room. He had long, curled horns that sprang out of a goat’s head. The long fangs protruding from his mouth gave him a perilous edge. His eyes were milky white, glowing with an opalescent radiance that captivated me. The rest of his form looked human, with normal arms, hands, and legs, and his wings reminded me of feathered marble, with the swirls of gray and black weaving through the dull whiteness. He closed them, looking at all of us. But rather than stay silent and embarrassed like me, he spoke first.
“Before anyone makes jokes, this is what a shifted fallen angel looks like. It’s part of the ‘shame’ aspect of the punishment. My eyes glow like this because I have the Sight. Any questions?” he asked.
“Yes. Is that why Lucifer is depicted as a goat sometimes?” Diana asked. “Is this ashifted form common among all fallen angels, or is it unique to you?”
“There aren’t that many of us, actually, maybe a handful? Most angels who are exiled get their wings ripped off, and are doomed to a mortal life. So from what I know, yes. It’s a standard thing,” he answered with a gentle tone, despite how prickly his posture was. His eyes locked with Diana’s, and something unspoken was said between them.Something about the way she smiled at him seemed to make him relax.
“I would never make a comment about how any of you look,” Nonna said, sweeping her gaze at all of us and letting it linger for a few extra seconds on Azazel and me. “The only thing that matters to me is how you treat my granddaughter. As long as you’re all good to her, I have no problems.”
“Thank you for the sentiment,” I said.
“Okay, has everyone gotten a good peep at each other? We need to hurry this along because we’re about to hit midnight. That’s prime witching time,” Desmond pointed out. We all nodded, and he started chanting the spell.
Prince of Darkness, we summon you
Our intentions are pure and true
Grace our circle, as we hold hands
Lucifer, your presence we demand
We all joined in on the second chant, making sure to pronounce each word clearly. Thankfully, Desmond wrote the spell in English instead of Latin, so it wasn’t too hard to say. We spoke at a measured pace, not rushing through the words. By the fourth time we chanted the spell, the lights in the room cut out, leaving us in the warm, golden, flickering light of the candles. A rogue wind wound its way through the room and tickled the back of my neck. The temperature skyrocketed, and the room became flame hot. I could feel the sweat rolling down my back but continued chanting. Something was happening here, and we needed to follow through.
A tall blaze of fire erupted in the middle of the circle. The flames shot out toward us, but were blocked by the line of salt surrounding it. Everyone around the circle sat with gaping mouths and shocked expressions on their faces. Diana gazed into the flames, trying to see the black mass within them. The flames extinguished, and a holographic, translucent version of Lucifer appeared in the middle of the circle. I had never seen Lucifer in real life, and only knew his face from the guys’ memories and pictures I had seen of him. He stood at least six and a half feet tall, with dark, wavy disheveled hair. He looked forty at the oldest, although he had gray around his temples and in a wisp at the front of his head. He wore black jeans, a white t-shirt, and no shoes. His face commanded attention, not due to how attractive his angular, masculine features were. No, he drew focus because of how calculated he stared at us all, like he was trying to remember and break us down piece by piece. His roguish handsomeness didn’t hit the same way Bash’s or Ares’ did. It just made him look fierce, menacing even. Like he could cut through you without moving a muscle or giving a single fuck about the pain it caused. When his gaze fell on Diana, his entire face dropped, and he backed away from her, all the way toward my side of the circle.
“No,” he said, his medium-toned voice regal sounding even in his panic. “You aren’t supposed to find me.”
“Well, I need to. Shit really hit the fan,Dad,” Diana said. “I’m not safe.”
Lucifer looked around the circle, his eye landing on Ares. Ares had said he met Lucifer a few times, so maybe he recognized him? He opened his mouth to speak again, but the connection started to fizzle out.
“Hell’s Kitchen, 2010!” he shouted, right before the connection was lost. His form fizzled out, leaving only the scorch marks on the wooden floor behind.
Diana shot up, running into the middle of the circle. She only stood there for a moment before Desmond pulled her back out again. “Diana, no. You never run into an active summoning circle. The magic in there stays active even after our hands are broken. It needs to be cleansed before it’s safe.”
She shrugged out of his hold, whipping around in a state of panic. “Is he dead?! He looked like a ghost!”
“No, he’s not dead.Belissima. The dead cannot be summoned via blood magic–you use a séance for that,” Nonna said. “My guess is that he’s being held somewhere or trapped so that he cannot physically travel. He did send his consciousness, though, which makes me think that whoever cast the magic to keep him there isn’t as powerful or skilled as they think they are.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Desmond agreed. “Hell’s Kitchen 2010…”
“That was the year of the first Hellfest. Remember, they opened the portal in this little hole-in-the-wall bar there, and it took you to this party spot in the Catskills?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that. I had to leave my cabin for a month because there were so many stragglers in the woods,” Azazel said through a laugh.
“We need to find him!” Diana shouted. “I can jump us back in time, and we can try to find out what the fuck happened and free him.”
“Hold on, hold on,” Oisín said as he rounded the circle to stand next to his sister. “Diana, that may not even be Lucifer. Nonna and Desmond could absolutely be right…but they may also be wrong. Someone could have magically rigged that to happen if anyone summoned Lucifer, to trap anyone looking for him.”
“Yeah, honey, your dad has a lot of enemies. I say before we do anything, we consult with Michael. They may have been together around that time, and he could shed some light on whether or not he was even at Hellfest.”
“Okay,” she sulked, hugging Nonna and her aunt. She walked toward the door with a defeated look on her face. “I’m beat, so I’m going to bed. Goodnight, everyone.”
“I’ll fade you to your room,” Bash offered, taking her hand and disappearing.
As upset as she was about not taking immediate action, Oisín had a point. We needed to sit and talk about everything and make a plan before we potentially jumped into a trap.
Chapter 24
