Thirteen
Page 100

“No idea.”
A faint smile. “Then that makes two of us. I suspect, like your father and Asmondai, he only wants me to side with him as a figurehead. A mascot, even. De Rais’s people know my name, as they do not know the names of a legion of other demons. If the mighty Lucifer bows to him, it will prove he is all powerful. His followers will fall in line. They’ll help him release that virus. Is that what you want?”
“No. I want you to stop him.”
“How?”
She stepped toward him, sword glowing as she clenched it.
“How?”
“Yes, how. You know my daughter. What are her powers?”
“Visions. She’s a chaos bloodhound.”
The barest hint of a smile. “An apt description. Yes, that’s her power. That’s mine, too, on a much greater scale, and without the side effects she suffers. When I was cast out, they stripped me of my angel powers and gave me that. So tell me, now that Hope is in serious danger, how can her powers help her?”
When Eve didn’t answer, he said, “They can warn her, but it’s too late for that, just as it was too late for me to warn her. As for offensive powers, she has none. I have none.”
He looked into the pool. “I could go down there and possess Jasper Haig, but he’s trying his best, and I couldn’t do better. I would possess Gilles de Rais if I could, but it turns out his experimentation with immortality has made him impervious to that. I could possess my daughter, but that would do little good, except to save her from her fear. I would do that—I would gladly do that—but she stands more chance of surviving without me in her head. She’s bright and resourceful, as is everyone else trying to help her.” He glanced at her. “As is your daughter. Which is your primary concern.”
Eve didn’t argue. She wanted nothing to happen to Hope—or anyone else—but she wouldn’t lie. Savannah was her priority.
“Nothing I can do will help my daughter or yours,” he said. “I can only watch and have faith in my child.” He met her gaze. “Do you have faith in yours?”
“Yes.”
“Then do not waste time haranguing me. Your place is down there, with your child. Mine is here, watching mine.”
He turned back to the pool and crouched again, staring into its depths. Eve turned to Kristof. He dipped his chin. Telling her Lucifer was right. There was no divine intervention here. It was up to them—to Hope, to Savannah, to all of them.
 
 
FORTY-SIX
 
As Adam and I finished securing Severin and Sierra, Elena and Clay burst into the room. They were still dressed in the guard uniforms, but their glamours were gone, snapped by Lucas so they wouldn’t be shot by the Cabals.
“There’s a door to the auditorium right there,” I said, pointing. “But it’s sealed. It’s made of the same stuff as the doors at the lab. Adam couldn’t incinerate it and Jeremy couldn’t bust it down.”
“But I can burn the walls,” Adam said.
“Find a good spot,” Elena said, kicking Sierra aside as she crossed the room. “We need to come out in the wings, where Giles won’t see us. Or he’ll use that.”
I followed her finger to the screen. Giles stood beside Hope. His right hand gripped a knife, hidden, out of sight of the audience.
“Son of a bitch,” I whispered.
“No worries yet,” Elena said. “He’s playing it cool and—” She stopped and sniffed. “What’s that?”
Clay inhaled. “Some kind of chemical.”
A clang in the ventilation system. Then a slow hiss.
“Shit!” I said. “What the hell is Lucas doing?”
“Lucas is doing nothing.” His voice came over my earpiece. “Like the laboratory the auditorium is engineered to release that. Someone activated it trying to open those doors. You need to get in there. Now.”
Adam raced to a spot along the front wall. I kept my gaze fixed on the screen. It didn’t take long for someone in the auditorium to smell the fumes. And it took only about two seconds more before that someone ran for the nearest door … and found it still sealed shut.
People stumbled from their seats, running for the useless exits. Giles shouted at them to remain calm, then turned on Jaz. “Finish it.”
“I’m trying, but it’s a very involved process that cannot be rushed and—”
Giles lifted the knife. “Lucifer! I know you’ve heard us. I know you’re there. Now get your ass out here or I’m going to slice your bitch daughter from throat to belly!”
That’s when the audience screaming started for real. I looked at Adam. He was leaning against the wall, fingers splayed.
“I’m trying,” he said, as if he could feel me watching him.
“I know.”
His power was like mine—if you use a lot, you need to rest and let it recharge. It was low now from the fight with Severin and Sierra.
Clay was trying to bust down the door while Elena rapped along the wall, searching for an another spot to break through.
I turned back to the video screen. Jaz had stepped in front of Hope, blocking her from Giles. Hope was wriggling in her bonds.
“Get out of my way,” Giles said.
“You’re not touching her.”
Giles lunged, knife flashing toward Hope’s leg. Jaz wasn’t fast enough to block the blow. Hope convulsed with pain and shock as Giles backpedaled, the knife blade slick with blood.
 
“Lucifer!” He flicked the blade, spattering blood. “Will a lord demon let me kill his child so easily? All you need to do is come out and face me.”
I could barely hear him. Pandemonium had erupted in the auditorium—people passing out from the gas and being trampled by others. The fumes stayed at the rear, not affecting the people on stage.
“Lucifer! Do not test me, demon! I have done worse than this to get what I wanted.”
No response except more screams from the audience.
“Lucifer!” Giles shouted, veins popping.
He wheeled on Jaz, who stood between him and Hope.
“Get out of my way, mortal,” he snarled.
“Not a chance.”
“Move now!”
Jaz’s face rippled. The wrinkles smoothed out, the angles of his face softened. In less than a minute, he was Jasper Haig.