“Yes.” Raphael smiled his lovely smile.
Lucifer made a big impression on human females of all ages. It he’d gone to hell, did that mean he wouldn’t be back?
Emma took a deep breath. “Okay then.”
“Okay?” Bianca squeezed her little hand. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” Emma’s eyes were wide and frightened, but she raised her small chin. “Then you and Lucifer can get back to finding my mother.”
“I promise.” Bianca crossed her heart.
Lucifer had no business going back to hell when they still had a job to do. He’d made promises to both her and Emma. He didn’t get to walk out on those promises.
“Why did Lucifer leave?” Emma asked the question Bianca would love to hear the answer to.
“He had some…er…things to take care of.” Raphael kept his gaze trained on the grimoire.
Wuss.
Bianca kept her tone with Emma upbeat. “Ready?”
Emma nodded.
Taking Emma’s hands, Bianca reached for her magic.
Raphael glowed like the archangel he was as he provided the jet fuel.
Bianca started the incantation.
Pearly light bands shot from Bianca’s hands to Emma’s.
“Oh!” Emma giggled. “That tickles.”
Doing magic with an archangel assist was so much easier.
Light bands swirled up Emma’s arms and encircled her chest. Churning, they grew thicker and brighter until they sank into Emma’s torso.
The drop in Emma’s magical signature was immediate.
Emma rubbed her chest. “It does feel weird. Like there’s a blanket inside me.”
“Your magic is still there.” If it was her, Bianca would need the reassurance, so she gave it to Emma. “And we’ll remove the binding as soon as it’s safe.”
Emma took a deep breath. “I think I’ll go and find Ethan now.”
“Okay, sweetie.” Bianca stood as Emma left the kitchen. Then she turned to Raphael. “He left?”
Raphael rubbed his nape and squirmed. “Of course he did. He’s pride.”
“And?’ Bianca needed a better explanation than that.
Raphael blinked at her. “Pride doesn’t handle rejection well.”
“I never—”
“Didn’t you?” Raphael left her standing in the kitchen with too many questions and not enough answers.
Chapter Thirty
Raphael blinked at her and frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
Bianca had hoped he wasn’t going to be difficult, but she’d come prepared before running him to ground in the theatre parking lot. “I need you to take me to hell.” She’d spent a good portion of the night stewing about everything. Trying to sleep on the greenroom couch had been a challenge and left her with too much time for thinking.
Enough time, in fact, for her to acknowledge the embarrassing reality that she’d had a meltdown with Lucifer. In her defense, there had been a lot of violence and death to process. Her feelings and thoughts had jumbled and fixed on Lucifer as the cause.
“I can’t take you to hell.” Raphael folded his arms.
With his shoulders stretching the seams of his pale blue button-down and those molten golden eyes, it was an intimidating look. Unfortunately for Raphael, she had experience. Not only had she seen Raphael’s soft underbelly, but she’d also faced down Lucifer in a temper. “Why not?”
“Mortals are not allowed in hell,” he sputtered.
He was going to have to do better than that. “Eddie went.”
“Eddie is Nephilim.” Raphael glowered.
“But Dee isn’t, and she went.” Bianca had him there, and they both knew it.
Raphael stared around the empty theatre parking lot as if searching for inspiration. The cool, clear morning obviously gave him nothing because he huffed. “No.”
“Then I’ll ask Shade to take me.” It was a bluff, but he didn’t know that.
“Shade is needed here.” Raphael threw an arm out in a silent plea for her to be reasonable.
Bianca had guessed he’d go that direction. “But Wrath isn’t. I could ask Eddie to ask him.”
Loose gravel crunched under his Oxfords as Raphael closed the distance between them. “Be reasonable, woman; there’s a war in hell. Wrath needs to concentrate on that.”
“Exactly!” Bianca snapped the jaws of her trap shut and poked him in the rock-hard chest for good measure. “Everyone else who could take me is busy or needed elsewhere.” She batted her lashes. “Except you.”
He opened and shut his mouth. Then growled at her. “The end of days is upon us. I don’t have time to play cupid with you and Lucifer.”
Her and Lucifer? The combo caused a major flutter in her chest. “This is not about playing cupid.” However delicious the idea. “This is about playing our part in the crisis.”
A sprightly breeze toyed with Raphael’s shirt. “How is that?”
“Lucifer is looking for Ashe.” She pointed to herself. “I have a way of finding him, or, at least getting close to whoever is taking the witches.” Bianca went for the kill shot. “Lucifer promised Emma he would help find her mother. He owes that child.” She layered on the guilt. “That child who has gone through an ordeal no child should suffer.”
