Christen, Patty, Lynn, crystals, and knitting went flying. Carmen thumped into the door and dropped to her butt.
And a naked Lucifer popped out of the hell gate like a cereal box surprise.
Chapter Two
Bianca could do nothing but stare at the summoned hell prince lying naked on his stomach, limbs splayed like he had been tossed there.
“The amulet,” Patty rasped as she spat skeins of duckling yellow wool out of her mouth.
Brain fuddled and fritzing on and off like a faulty light bulb, Bianca blinked. She’d been prepared for the naked thing, but this was a lot of muscled and sculpted flesh spreadeagle in front of them. She’d heard Patty, and somewhere beyond the high-pitched ear whine and soup brain, she knew she had a meaning, and an important one.
“Holy shit,” Christen murmured. “It actually worked.”
“He’s naked,” Lynn whispered.
Carmen knee scuttled toward Christen. “Are you all right.” She started patting him down like an anxious mother. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I lift weights,” Christen said, gaze locked on Lucifer.
“Bianca,” Patty snapped. “Get the godsdamned amulet on him before he comes to.”
The amulet! Comprehension caught up with her hearing, and Bianca scrabbled in the pocket of her black maxi skirt. Her fingers closed around warm metal, her thumb brushing the activated crystal. A metallic taste coated her tongue as she experienced the disconcerting magic embedded in the thing. The amulets were created from an old magic guarded by generations of witches. Magic almost as ancient as the summoning spell, and all kept in their coven grimoire.
Lucifer groaned and a full-body shiver rippled through him.
Carmen squeaked. “He’s waking up.”
“Amulet!” Patty yelled.
“Bianca,” Lynne called. “He’s waking up.”
“He’s going to kill us.” Christen wailed.
And Bianca darted forward and dropped the amulet over Lucifer’s raven-black, disheveled head. Then she took a large step back and dug her nails into her palms. Reading about a thing in a grimoire was entirely different to experiencing it firsthand.
Stilling, Lucifer turned his head. His lack of motion pulsated with force.
Christen pointed at her. “She did it.”
Obsidian black death-ray eyes locked on her. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that, witchling.” His finely wrought lips compressed into a vicious line. “You’re going to pay for all of this.”
Well, that didn’t sound promising. Bianca’s back hit the wall as she stepped as far away from him as she could.
Lucifer, hell prince for pride, and according to rumor, self-styled king of hell, rose to his full height. And it was an imposing height. He topped Christen by a good few inches. He also looked like he might have another set of inches on Christen in other places, but she was trying not to stare at those.
Nestled between Lucifer’s defined pectorals, the deep red crystal in the center of the amulet glinted. She was betting her life, and the life of everyone else in the room, that the damn thing actually worked.
Lucifer’s eyes flashed retribution as he squared his shoulders and surveyed everyone. Frowning, he fastened his broad hand around the amulet. The crystal flared and pulsed. “What is this?” Lucifer looked to her.
“An amulet,” she whispered.
Christen pointed. “She put it on you.”
“You will regret that.” The crystal flared, and Lucifer jerked, his knees crumpling beneath him. He barely got a hand down fast enough to stop his face from smacking the floor.
Whelp, that answered her question about whether it worked or not. Bianca breathed a tiny sigh of relief. “It drains your power.” She found her voice, albeit a shaky version, hidden behind the waves of terror currently turning her into a wobbling blancmange.
Lucifer scowled at her.
“But don’t worry,” she said, putting as much reassurance as she could into her voice. “As soon as we take it off, your power will come back.”
He growled. “Take it off now. I command you.”
Some primeval part of her wanted to obey. Even power bound, Lucifer was still a six foot plus, muscular package of pissed off. Bianca swallowed hard before she said, “No. We can’t do that.”
“Tell him why.” Carmen pressed a whimpering Christen between her and the wall behind them. “Then maybe he won’t be so mad.
Bianca wasn’t willing to lay money on their reasons for summoning him placating him.
“We?” Lucifer studied the others.
Lynn gave him a small finger wave. “Hello. We’re a coven.” She blushed brick red to her hairline. “I think we should give him the pants we brought.”
“Not so fast.” Patty had her gaze stuck on his ass. “We don’t want to get too close in case he’s mad.”
Bianca wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt as those onyx eyes fastened back on her and beamed death and dismemberment.
Oh, he was definitely mad. “Take. It. Off.”
“Should we knock him out?” Christen peered over Carmen’s shoulder.
If Christen thought that, he was welcome to step right up and give it a go.
Lucifer’s head snapped Christen’s way, and Christen ducked out of sight behind Carmen.
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” Bianca was amazed that her voice didn’t shake. Somebody needed to take control. Her money would have been on Patty as their most senior coven member. Patty, however, was still locked in an ass thrall while simultaneously trying to peer past Lucifer’s hip for a full-frontal view.
As the one standing directly in front of him, Bianca commanded her eyeballs not to drop south. Anymore. “We need your help.” Her voice wobbled, and she cleared her throat to steady it. Those eyes of his were extremely intimidating. “We summoned you because we need your help.”
Lucifer glowered. “And you thought a forced summoning, followed by whatever this is—” he flicked his long, elegant fingers over the amulet “—would persuade me to help you?”
It was a fair question. “Would you have agreed to help us if we’d asked?”
Lucifer scoffed.
And there was her answer. As she hunted for a compelling case for him to help them, her gaze made a break for it and landed on his navel. She toed the track pants she’d brought with her closer to him. “Here. You might want to put these on.”
