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.”
“Let’s bargain.” He grinned.
Oh, boy. She was about to make a deal with the devil. That hadn’t worked out well for a great many humans. Still, some fiddle player in Georgia had made good, so why not her? “Make me your best offer.”
“I give you my blood oath that no harm will come to tonight’s little summoning party, and you give me my powers.” His eyes glittered.
They were closer than she’d dared hope. “The deal is worthless to me without saving my missing witches.”
“If the amulet leads me to Ashe, I will rescue your witches,” he said. “And I will spare all in the summoning party but the idiot.”
“The idiot?” He could be talking about her.
He sneered. “I think you call him Christen.”
Tempting, so tempting, but deep down she was a nice person. “The entire party or no deal.”
“All right.” He growled. “The entire party. But once you do the tracking spell, I leave you. I work alone, and a human would only slow me down.”
She raised a brow at him. “I could be very useful in finding the amulets.”
