Eli stood next to Jared, appearing impervious to be a part of yet another quarrel between Hell and the Ryels. He was the only one besides Eden unaffected by the presence of the King of Hell. “Good day, all,” he said, cupping Jared’s shoulder.
Jared relaxed, as did his wife.
“She’s mine, Eli!” Lucifer seethed.
“If she belongs to anyone, it’s me,” I said. The excruciating pain just from speaking forced a groan from my throat.
“Suck it up, buttercup,” Eden said. “We have two large rooms and a staircase to go. Or, I can carry you.”
“Absolutely not,” I said, disgusted at the thought.
My father’s eyes rolled back in his head, and a collective moan began to sweep up from the floor as if he were torturing the entire Underworld. His head stretched from one side to the other in an unnatural way until he finally clenched his fists and shook them next to his face, screaming once more to the back of Eden’s head. “Did you hear me, you wretched bitch?”
Nina had to hold Jared back this time.
Eden caught my gaze and shook her head once, warning me not to react.
Eli held up his hand. “Now, now. We can all agree that all belong to the Creator,” he scanned Lucifer, “even when we misbehave.”
A sword appeared in my father’s hand, and before anyone could react, Lucifer buried it deep in Eli’s chest. Eli’s torso concaved, and he looked down at the enormous sword protruding from his body.
Jared’s eyes bulged; his mouth fell open. Claire sprang into action, and Bex used his body to shield Allison before the humans even knew what had happened.
“Children misbehave,” Lucifer hissed, yanking the sword from Eli’s rib cage. “I am no child.” He caught Claire midair, holding her by the throat, her feet dangling several feet from the ground. Lucifer looked up at her. “This feels familiar somehow. Shall we open your skull again?”
“No!” Ryan said so loud his veins bulged from his forehead and neck. He shook while he spoke, his skin bright red. The volume was impressive for a human.
Nina cried out and covered her mouth, but her hand fell away when she realized there was no blood saturating Eli’s shirt where the sword had entered. Eden watched it play out as if she were watching television, interested but unfazed.
Eli righted himself, fixing his torn Oxford. He wasn’t hurt, but he was annoyed, rare for the highest-ranking liaison of Heaven. He pointed at Claire, pulling her without touch from Lucifer’s grip and setting her gently on her feet next to Ryan.
“Lucifer, Satan, Abaddon, Beelzebub, Belial, Apollyon…” Eli listed slowly. My father winced with each. “Prince of Darkness, Fallen Star, Morning Star, Tempter, Beast, Dragon.” Eli spoke louder with each name. He walked toward Lucifer, who recoiled. “In the name of the Most High,” Eli quieted, “you will listen.”
A beautiful echo followed his words, but it was also fearsome, as if they had come straight from God.
Lucifer’s breath was labored, his shoulders sagged. He dropped the sword. The heavy iron fell through the wooden floor, disappearing as quickly as it had materialized.
Jared’s hands were perched on his knees as his head fell forward. “I thought,” he said, breathing hard, “I thought you were gone forever. I thought it was…”
“The sword? You mean Gehenna,” Eli said, flattening his ruffled, torn shirt with his palms. “If it were, I’d be ashes, and by the hand of the Creator so would Lucifer.”
“Thank God,” Jared said, standing.
“Gehenna?” I said, the word feeling familiar on my lips. My memory returned. It was a fabled sword that could kill immortals. “It was destroyed on the last day of the war, wasn’t it?”
Jared began to answer but was interrupted.
“Twice now Heaven has spared her life,” Satan spoke. “The Balance has been broken. Over and over you…” his neck stretched, and his eyes rolled in their sockets as another moan ripped through him, “…lie.”
Eli arched a brow. “Did you just call the Almighty a liar, Lucifer?”
Lucifer groaned again, his body bending in ways that would break a human’s every bone.
“What’s happening to him?” Ryan asked.
“He’s being punished, and he’s fighting it. Elsewhere,” Claire said.
“Elsewhere?” Ryan asked.
“It’s making his existence on this plane weaker,” Eden said.
“So let’s kill him,” Ryan said, pulling his sidearm and pointing it at my father’s head. His thumb pulled down the hammer, and it clicked.
“No,” Eden commanded. “No.” Her voice was softer this time.
“She’s right,” Eli said. “Put it away.”
Ryan did as he was told, not that he had another choice.
Lucifer took a step forward, tired but refocused. “If not her, then who? She must be punished!”
Eli nodded. “Very well.”
“No!” Eden said, covering my body with hers. She looked up at Eli. “Not Levi. I’ll go.”
“Eden, stop!” I said, grabbing her wrist. “You’re not doing this to me again. To us again.” I gestured to her family, and her gaze panned to everyone staring at her in horror.
Tear-glazed eyes stared into mine. “Levi, I’m not losing you again, either. There has to be another way. Think of another way.”
Eli grinned. “Levi is right. You’re off limits, toots. The Lord God won’t allow that gaffe again.”
Eden looked down at me, her mind traveling through every variable and avenue. Her eyes closed tight, and I realized it wasn’t alternate outcomes she was thinking of. She had sensed my brothers coming full speed to our plane before I did.
Eden’s face turned severe. “Send them back, Lucifer!” she demanded. She looked at Eli. “There are humans here! Send them back!”
The walls rattled, and an orange glow warmed the windows. The back door cracked, and then something from the other side blew through it, sending splintered wood into the dining room.
Cassia stood, looking particularly gruesome and intimidating in as mundane a setting as the Greys' dining room.
Lucifer smiled in satisfaction, drunk from the growing fear in the room.
“Eden,” Eli warned.
She looked down at me, her breathing faster than before. “I won’t let them take you.”
“Eden,” I said, shaking my head once. “Let me do this.”
“They’ll kill you, or worse—let you live.” Her voice broke.
“This is from the top,” Eli said. He held up one finger, pausing for a moment before nodding and speaking again. “Levi stays. He is Bex’s Taleh. To hand him over would be to also give you Bex’s life, and both would be at your disposal.”
I looked up at Eden, who breathed out a sigh of relief. Tears spilled over her cheeks. She wiped them quickly, glaring at Cassia.