“I understand.” She folded her long, elegant hands in front of her. “The master said you would be. He also said to tell you she is not here.” She motioned the palace with a graceful sweep of her arm. “You are, of course, welcome to search without challenge.”
Like he was going to take her word for it. Search, Wrath did, every inch of the place, and taking savage delight in leaving destruction behind him. He was looking for any clue to where Lucifer might be, or where he’d taken Eddie. It took him late into the night to finally admit the palace was clean of any trace of Lucifer or Eddie, or any hint of where they might be now. There was also no glimmer of Lucifer’s energy signature that was more recent than a week.
He took one of Lucifer’s chariots, again without opposition from the palace staff, and used it to search Lucifer’s demesne. Passing time pressed at him, but he didn’t trust anything where Lucifer was concerned. His brother was tricky and smart, and just because Wrath couldn’t sense the fucker, didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding somewhere. Finally, days longer than he would have liked, he had to admit defeat and turned the chariot back to Shade’s hell gate.
A week after he’d left Haziel with Ava, he was spat out into the basement of the Paradise Theatre, more pissed off than ever and thoroughly frustrated. He half expected Haziel to be waiting for him. Instead, Daniel appeared at the door moments after Wrath’s arrival. “Did you find Eddie?”
“No.” Failure made Wrath grind his teeth. His search had taken too long, and he’d returned here, hoping that Shade had found her while he’d been gone. Time they didn’t have, and Eddie didn’t have, was ticking by while Lucifer led the dance. “And I didn’t find any trace of Lucifer either.”
Daniel nodded his understanding and led the way out of the basement of the theatre. “Shade is not back yet.”
“Have you heard from him?”
Daniel nodded. “He checks in daily. The hounds picked up a trace of her a few days ago, and he’s following.” Daniel’s expression gentled. “But they haven’t found her yet.”
Worry whipped his simmering anger into rage. He pressed the agonizing possibilities of what was being done to his daughter into a mind box. “Is Haziel here?”
“No.” Daniel stopped and looked at him. “Isn’t she with you?”
“Wrath?” And, of course, his catastrophe of a journey wouldn’t be complete without Rosabella waiting at the end of it. She leapt into his path as he stalked across the corridor toward the stairs leading to the living quarters.
“Where is she?” Rosabella scanned the area behind him. “Where is Eddie?”
Wrath didn’t owe her any explanations, and the rush of anger he experienced as he looked at her took him by surprise. Brushing past her, he took the stairs two at a time. It had to be his constant worry about Eddie making him terse with Rosabella. Rosabella had been…was the love of his life. He stopped when he reached the upper level and turned. “I’m sorry, Bella. It was a waste of time.”
“Wrath.” Rosabella shrieked and clapped both hands over her mouth. “You can’t tell me that. Where is my daughter? Why haven’t you found her?”
“Our daughter,” he snarled before he could stop himself. Taking a deep breath, he gentled his tone “She is our daughter.”
Paling, Rosabella took a stair down and away from him. “Well of course she’s our daughter. That’s what I meant to say.” Tears swam in her eyes, the same color as Eddie’s. “You have to find my baby girl.”
“Wrath?” Dee appeared from the kitchen. “You didn’t find her?”
“No.” He hated giving Dee his bad news. “I searched the entirety of Lucifer’s palace and his demesne, and she wasn’t there.” Grim anger hardened in his gut. “And neither was Lucifer.”
For an awful moment, it looked like Dee might burst into tears, and then she took a deep breath and regained her stoicism. “You think he’s got her on the earth plane?”
“Lucifer has Eddie.” Rosabella wailed and wrung her hands. “You have to stop him.”
Only Dee’s genuine upset stopped him from asking Rosabella firmly to modulate her tone. Her hysteria wasn’t helping the situation. He kept his attention on Dee. “I saw Mammon while I was in hell as well, and she hasn’t heard anything either.”
“You saw Mammon?” Rosabella ran up the stairs and stopped in front of him, so close he could smell her shampoo. It was the same one Eddie used and his heart clenched. Where was his daughter?
Rosabella’s eyes glinted at him viciously. “Why did you see Mammon? She has nothing to do with this.”
Wrath got the nasty feeling he was missing something because now Rosabella looked pissed off. “Haziel suggested that Ava might know something. If there’s something going down in hell, Ava almost always knows.”
Rosabella narrowed her eyes, her lips thin. “Are you sure that’s the only reason you went to see her?”
And Wrath was caught gaping like a trout after a fly. He glanced at Dee but her look of disgust aimed at Rosabella didn’t make things any clearer. “Why else?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Rosabella tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Maybe renew an old acquaintance. Don’t think for a second I’ve forgotten who Mammon was and what you had with her.”
As he had left Ava for Rosabella, her anger baffled him. “What?” Stepping around Rosabella, he couldn’t formulate words that made sense. He’d gone to hell to find their daughter. Why the fuck would he be there to start his relationship with Ava again? “Haziel suggested it. It was a good suggestion.”
“Who’s Haziel?” Rosabella forced herself between him and Dee. “Was she the angel I saw here watching you?”
“She’s a seraph,” he said. “Ramiel’s second.”
“Where is Haziel?” Dee frowned and looked behind him.
Rosabella scowled at him. “And that’s all she is?”
“Yes.” He looked at Dee for help. Given how Rosabella was behaving, no way in creation was he admitting to liking Haziel. His conscience tweaked as he thought about how he’d left her.
“Stop it, Rosabella.” Dee’s voice sounded tired and strained as she stared at her daughter. “We need to concentrate on getting Eddie back.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Rosabella wailed. “Don’t you think I spend every waking moment in torment about where she is?”
“Honestly, Bella, I haven’t got a fucking clue what you think.” Sighing, Dee turned and went back into the kitchen. She grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped the cap and handed it to Wrath. “Shade hasn’t found her either.” She got herself a beer and propped her hips against the counter. “And I don’t know if it’s related, but Bianca has disappeared.”
“Bianca?” He propped his hips against the kitchen counter and let the bitter bite of hops slide down his throat. “Who the fuck is Bianca?”
“Bianca?” Rosabella squeaked from the hallway. “Who’s that?”
“She’s a member of the theatre group.” Dee flitted a significant look in Rosabella’s direction and he got it. There was more but she wouldn’t say so in front of Rosabella.
Rosabella flounced into the kitchen. “I want a beer too.”
