“Oh, peppermint tea,” Raphael said from the kitchen. “I love peppermint tea.”
“Really?” Carmen giggled. “It’s my favorite.”
The door to the spare bedroom was the first they reached at the top of the stairs and was locked. Of course it was. If she’d been the plucky sort, she’d have been able to produce a hair pin from her stylish updo and pick the lock. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an updo or any idea how to pick a lock.
The murmur of Raphael and Carmen’s voices drifted up the stairs.
Lucifer jiggled the door handle.
“It’s locked,” Bianca whispered.
“Is it?” One dark eyebrow shot up and Lucifer opened the door.
“Huh.” Bianca stepped into the room. “Nifty little tri—what the fuck.”
Photos everywhere. All over the walls. In frames on the desk. Even the screensaver on Christen’s desktop and all of her.
Lucifer shut the door behind him and took it all in.
“It’s me,” Bianca said unnecessarily as she struggled to process. “They’re all of me.”
“Indeed.” A muscle ticked in Lucifer’s jaw, and his eyes were doing that scary thing again.
“Christen despises me. He broke up with me.” Bianca couldn’t get her mind to slow down and stick on a thought. There were photos of her walking down the street, in the grocery store, stepping out of her front door. She felt shocked, sickened, violated and angry. So very, very angry.
Lucifer approached the wall opposite the desk. He ripped photos down. “He’s obsessed with you.”
“What are those?” Bianca tried to snatch the photos out of his hand. Who the fuck even printed photos these days?
“Never mind.” Light flared and ashes drifted from Lucifer’s palm. “You don’t need to see those.”
An awful suspicion burgeoned in her mind. “Was I naked?” Her voice grew shrill in her panic. “Has he been taking naked photos of me?”
She lunged for the wall, but Lucifer blocked her. “He will pay for this.” His voice deepened with menace and vibrated from his big chest. “But you don’t need to see how much of a degenerate he is.”
Raising one hand, Lucifer flashed a super bright light through the room.
Bianca blinked the black spots out of her vision.
It was all gone. Ashes floated in the air and settled on the beige carpet. Little square scorch marks pocked the walls. Even the blackout curtains and the desk were gone. “What did you do?”
“He had no right.” Lucifer growled. “And he will pay.”
Humans were scum. Rage that would have made his brother proud pounded through Lucifer. Over the centuries, he’d seen humans descend to depths of depravity and evil he could not have imagined.
Humans had invented their notion of hell and the devil and used it to explain away their worst actions. If they could blame an external force, then they never had to be accountable for the fact that hell existed amongst them and within them.
He’d certainly borne silent witness to worse iniquities than he’d seen in this room, but this hit him like a personal affront.
The fucker had been stalking Bianca. Taking photos of her going about her day, and photos of her sleeping, changing, showering. Invading her life from the shadows and violating her.
He cupped her elbow. “Let’s go.”
Bianca was paper-white and shaking. He didn’t want her subjected to any more of this fuckery.
Up until now, Christen had irked and annoyed him. He’d found the prick laughable and pathetic, but now…
Lucifer had to pause and breathe deep before he leveled the house.
Now, he wanted to wipe Christen from existence. Viciously and permanently clean the earth plane of the stain of his existence.
But first, he had to see to Bianca.
“I don’t understand.” She allowed him to lead her from the room. “Why?”
Her fragility tugged at him and made his chest ache. Trying to lend her strength, he pulled her into his arms and held her.
“You’re hugging me again,” she whispered against his chest.
Her weight resting against him grounded Lucifer. “You’re imagining things.”
She wouldn’t allow him to hold her for much longer, so he took what she’d give in greedy gulps. He craved soothing her, erasing the vile intrusion. “We will find him,” he promised.
Raphael appeared on the stairs. He glanced at Bianca, and then looked at him.
Lucifer shook his head. He couldn’t explain now, or he’d lose his tenuous grip on his rage. Bianca needed him to stay calm. “Carmen?”
