Bianca lurched free of the connection, and her magic recoiled like a whip.
She had a glimpse of her kitchen table, and then everything went black.
Lucifer caught Bianca before she hit the floor. Fury nearly burned through his skin. “What the fuck were you doing?” he yelled at Shade.
“Like you care.” Shade was holding an ashen Eddie. “You left.”
Lucifer had certainly tried to leave. He hadn’t lasted a day and had come through the hell gates five minutes before Shade’s panicked call had reached Sophia.
Bianca was so pale and limp in his arms. He checked for a heartbeat, and his own heart only started again as he detected the thready murmur. She was alive.
He strode through to her bedroom with her. Wrapping her in her quilt, he cradled her against his chest.
They’d almost fucking lost her. He’d almost lost her.
Shade and Eddie hadn’t been strong enough to break the connection between Bianca and whatever had held her captive on the spirit plane.
Lucifer was shaking, and he tightened his grip on Bianca.
“What was that?” Raphael looked grim as he spoke to Shade.
“No fucking idea.” Shade hustled Eddie to the door. “But I’m not waiting here to find out if that thing can find us here physically.”
Lucifer and Raphael had arrived at Bianca’s cabin and merged their power with Eddie and Shade’s. It had been enough for Bianca to break free, but Lucifer didn’t want the credit for saving her. He didn’t deserve it. He should have been here before she cast the spell.
“We need to get her safe,” his voice was hoarse. Inside, he felt raw and exposed. He’d almost fucking lost her. There would be time for questions and recriminations later. After he’d gotten her safe.
“Will she be okay?” Eddie peered at Bianca in his arms.
Raphael locked up Bianca’s house and joined them.
“Yes,” Lucifer said, because he wouldn’t allow her not to be.
Shade drove, and Lucifer counted Bianca’s inhalations and exhalations.
“What was that?” Raphael asked from beside him.
They’d all experienced that thing that had latched on to Bianca’s magic.
“It wasn’t Ashe,” Shade said.
Linked with Bianca, they’d all seen and heard what she had.
Eddie’s voice shook. “I think we’ve just met the one Ashe called master.”
“I certainly fucking hope so.” Shade shook his head. “Because if that’s not the master, then we’re in even deeper shit than any of us imagined.”
“She can’t stay on this plane,” Raphael said. “It knows where she is, and it will come for her.”
“Where?” Lucifer snapped. “Hell isn’t much safer.”
Raphael hummed. “Heaven.”
“What?” Shade glanced at him.
“Heaven.” Raphael’s voice firmed as he warmed to his idea. “We move all the witches there. It’ll be easier to protect them while we hunt that thing down.”
Lucifer didn’t like the idea, but it made sense. The full angelic hosts could look after his haglette until he found the thing that had tried to take her from him.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Bianca blinked the room into focus. Her body ached like she’d gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson, and her head pounded like a sadistic construction worker was jackhammering her brain.
Voices murmured behind the closed door, and sunlight peeped through drawn blinds opposite the door. She was in Dee’s room at the theatre, lying on Dee’s bed. The bedding smelled of lavender and laundry detergent.
She’d no idea how she’d gotten there. She’d been at her cabin with Shade and Eddie. She’d cast the tracking spell and found Leona. Fear spiked her pulse. That thing had locked on to her, and she hadn’t been able to break free.
The door opened, and Lucifer strolled in carrying a tray. “Good. I’m glad to see you’re awake.”
When locked in that strange, overwhelming power, there had been a moment when she’d sensed Lucifer and Raphael’s power join the merge. “How did I get here?”
Her last conscious interaction with Lucifer had her on her guard.
“I carried you here.” Lucifer put the tray on the antique chest that functioned as Dee’s bedside table. “I have apple juice, ginger tea, and toast.” He gestured the tray. “Also, Dee sent Tylenol in case you had a headache.”
Bianca sat up and took the juice and Tylenol. When her head stopped hammering, she’d get to what Lucifer was doing there. “Thanks.”
Her stomach didn’t feel ready for the toast, but she took a careful sip of the juice.
“Haglette—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You’re angry with me.” Lucifer perched on her bed.
She didn’t feel well enough to deal with him now. She’d had enough Lucifer induced emotional whiplash to last a lifetime. “Are Eddie and Shade okay?”
“Eddie and Shade aren’t human.” With knowing dark eyes, Lucifer watched her. “And they are fine.”
“Good.” The tart sweetness of the juice got a thumbs up from her parched throat.
Lucifer tilted his head. “You should not have attempted that spell.”
“I had to find Leona.” Some of her resentment leaked into her tone. He had no business telling her what she should and should not do. He’d been the one to say their arrangement was over. Well, she was going to do the clever thing for once in her life and believe him. “I was keeping my promise to her children.”
