“As far as we know they did.” So many totally plausible reasons for absences. “That’s why we never thought to report anything. Everything made sense, and it’s summer, so people go places.”
He was looking at her as if he doubted her sanity. “And?”
“They didn’t come back.” Bianca’s stomach ached as the anxiety about her coven members escaped the tight leash she kept on it. Panicking accomplished nothing. “None of them. Recently, the disappearances have escalated and there aren’t any even decent excuses for them.”
“Haglette.” He shook his head at her. “Call your human authorities and release me. This is not a matter for a hell prince.” He took a deep breath, as if reaching for patience. “There are bigger matters at play, and you need to unbind me so I can deal with those. I empathize with your problem, but I have more important things to deal with.”
“Firstly.” She held up a finger as she reached for patience. Strategy, strategy, strategy. “Don’t call me that pejorative name. It’s not cute. It’s demeaning.” And now came the truly tricky part, which given all that had transpired between them thus far, was saying a lot. “And I know all about your important matters.”
He scoffed. “I doubt th—”
“I know about the weakening seals.”
Lucifer went so still she couldn’t be sure he was breathing.
“I also know about the demon rebellion and Eddie being abducted.” And whilst she was being honest, she might as well make a clean sweep. “And the horsemen.”
His jaw muscle flexed. “How?”
“Is that relevant?” She went for nonchalance. “Let’s take it as read that I know and move on, shall we?”
“How do you know?” Granite jawed, eyes flinty, he was an intimidating sight.
“Patty,” she said. They’d discussed how much to tell him before the summoning. Patty had given her permission to reveal the information if necessary, and the way he was glaring at her made it very necessary. “Her gift is precognition.” In the spirit of making a clean slate, she added, “And listening to what happens around her.”
Patty could give the intelligence service pointers, and as for seeing the future, Patty was the real deal.
“Patty has been busy.” A hint of a smile softened his lips.
Bianca breathed an inner sigh of relief and shrugged. “It’s when we found out what had happened to Wrath. About his power being taken that the pieces started to fall into place.”
“Explain.” He nodded at his glass and Bianca refilled it.
“The amulets they used on Wrath and Eddie.” She pointed to the one around his neck. “They sound very like the one you’re wearing.” Minus a few pertinent details. “They are witch made,” she said. “Our coven makes them from a spell we found in an ancient grimoire.” Before he could speak, she hurried on. “I think there’s a link between my vanishing witches and those amulets being used by the rebel demons.”
Lucifer dropped his head and stared at the amulet. “That is the thing you’ve said that makes the most sense to me.” When he looked up again, anger tightened his features into a beautiful, terrifying mask. “Witches are always seeking to steal and use power that is not their own.”
Now that was unfair, and she needed to set him straight. “They were originally made to store magic. Our magic.” His low opinion of witches didn’t surprise her. On the whole, witches got a bad rep. “They were designed to be a storage device or a battery that meant we could store our own magic for when we needed it. We discovered by accident that they could also store another witch’s power.”
Lucifer stared at her as he mulled her words over. “So they draw power from one being and can be used to transfer it to another?”
“In theory yes.” He was getting the picture now. “Obviously you would need another witch’s consent before you drew her power into the amulet.”
“Obviously.” He sneered.
“So Patty and I were thinking. If you could draw a witch’s power into the amulet, why not a Nephilim or a hell prince. The rebel demons are powerful, yes? More powerful than they should be.”
He frowned and nodded. “Yes.”
“It’s not hard to connect the dots. Someone is using our witches to make the amulets, then drawing power from one being and passing it to another.” Her throat dried as she got to the final part of her explanation. “The trouble is, creating the amulets drains a witch of her power, and it takes a while to replenish it. If someone is forcing witches to make the amulets, and not giving them time to recover, they are endangering the lives of those witches.”
“As you know so much, I’m sure you already know which demon is leading this endeavor,” he drawled, but the tension in his body radiated.
“Ashe is currently the most visible leader,” she said. After losing Shade, Bianca had done her research on the best hell prince to summon. “And I know what he is to you and that you’re trying to find him.”
He scowled. “I was doing just that when you dragged me away with your summoning.”
“I can help you find him.” She rushed into the loaded silence. “I know how to track him.”
His gaze narrowed on her. “Tell me.”
“Ashe is using the amulets. Each amulet carries the aura of its creator. I can track the auras of my coven members, and that will lead us to the amulets, and to Ashe.”
Lucifer was silent for so long that she finished her wine and topped them both up again. Her hands shook so badly she slopped a regrettable amount on the floor. She’d taken her shot. The rest was up to him. The coven could track Ashe, but once they’d found him, he would be too powerful for them. They needed to hell prince to deal with a high order demon who was hopped up on stolen Nephilim power.
“Haglette.” Lucifer raised an eyebrow and dared her to protest the name. “If you can do what you say you can, you may have won yourself a reprieve.”
All the air rushed out of her body and relief made her dizzy, but she still had to close the deal. “You’ll work with me? You get Ashe, and I get my witches back.”
Smirking, he pointed to the amulet. “But in order to be able to help you, I will need my powers back.”
“I’ve thought of that.” She was way ahead of him. She and Patty had prepared for this contingency, researched and developed a foolproof plan.
Lucifer chuckled. “Of course you have.”
“I will remove the amulet.” She held up a hand to stop the victory celebration brewing in his dark eyes. “But I don’t trust you not to force me to track the amulets anyway and disappear after Ashe. I need to guarantee that our partnership benefits both of us.”
“Partnership?” He grimaced and shook his head. “I never thought I’d see the day when I willingly entered into a partnership with a witch.”
“And I never saw the day I’d be sitting in my living room making a deal with the devil.”
And Lucifer laughed. Not a snicker or a scoff, but a full-throated bass roll of contagious amusement.
He wouldn’t be nearly as amused by the next part of this negotiation. “I will remove the amulet if you give me your blood oath.”
“Blood oath?” His laughter disappeared as suddenly as it had begun. “You know about blood oaths?”
Not many did.
“You’ll have your powers, but your oath will bind you to helping me,” she said.
He shook a finger at her. “You know, haglette, I almost admire you.”
“Gratified, I’m sure.” But his statement caused a weird little warm glow in her chest.
He surprised her with a husky chuckle. “You’ve done your research and prepared well.” When he wasn’t using that nasty feral smile, the real one was distractingly beautiful.
“You give me your blood oath that you won’t harm anyone involved in summoning you tonight.” You had to be specific with blood oaths. “And that you will work with me to find my witches and deal with Ashe, and I’ll release you from the amulet.”
