Page 121 of Bellamy

“Not now, asshole,”I told my sin.

“You can be useful by staying here,” Galen told his husband. “Keep Clara company, and make sure she doesn’t stir up trouble.”

“As if.” Clara scoffed, but lines of worry wrinkled her brow. She now stood beside Gray, and he clung to her. “You boys better be safe, or I’ll show you just how troublesome I can be.”

“The fate of humanity relies on our actions tonight,” Lazarus said, voice loud enough so everyone could hear. The sun was at its peak, high in the clear blue sky. A rare cloudless day. “We must stop Belphegor from freeing Lucifer at all costs. And if we can defeat Asa in the process, it will bring an end to this war.”

“Killing two birds with one stone,” Daichi said.

“More like two serpents.”

One of Lazarus’ angels landed in the grass, white wings tucking behind him. “I just received news from the scouts. Belphegor and the other Fallen just left the underworld.”

“What of the son of Lucifer?” Lazarus asked.

“He’s with them.”

“Freely or forced?”

“Freely,” the angel responded.

“Blinded by his ego and greed,” Phoenix said. “Knowing Belphegor, he more than likely concocted a story about needing another weapon or arcane item before Asa could begin his reign of terror.”

“A shield.” The angel nodded. “The scouts heard them speak of it. Allegedly, it’s the shield of Lucifer.”

“The Morningstar carried no shield,” Lazarus said. “None of our weapons could kill him. A shield was unnecessary.”

“If Asa carries a fraction of each of our sins like Pen mentioned,” Castor said, “then Greed would make it hard for him to resist the temptation of a shiny rare item.”

Alastair nodded. “Pride would blind him to the fact that his closest advisor had the balls to deceive him.”

“Wow.” Raiden blinked at our eldest brother. “You just said balls.”

“Wipe your mouth,” Alastair said. “You have crumbs on your lip.”

Titan smiled at Raiden before averting his gaze. The two of them hadn’t said a word to each other this entire time. But I sensed the desire between them, mainly coming from Titan.

“Ready yourselves.” Lazarus released his wings. The sun reflected off the white feathers like freshly fallen snow. “It begins now.”

***

Lazarus was the only person in all of the realms who knew the location of Lucifer’s cage. Not even we knew, which considering how both Castor and I had been captured and mind-fucked by Belphegor, that was a good thing.

“Is he in a crypt somewhere deep below ground?” Phoenix asked as we walked through a forest outside of Dunkeld in Scotland. The eight-hour time difference from Echo Bay made it close to midnight here. The moon shone brightly, the light reaching us even through the thick foliage.

“No,” I answered. “After we sealed him in his cage, Lazarus hid him within a tear in the veil. He’s not in a physical place in this world or any other. He exists in a rift between them.”

“I understand.” Phoenix nodded. “Okay, no I don’t.”

I smirked.

“The location of his cage shifts too,” Lazarus said from ahead of us. Like us Nephilim, he had an impeccable sense of hearing. It had gotten me and my brothers into a lot of trouble when we were younger. He’d heard everything; every time we’d backtalked under our breath or plotted to play pranks on him. Just us being boys. “It changes every few days, moving along the ley lines. Tonight, it’s here in this woodland.”

“Ley lines?” Sirena asked. “I’m not familiar with the term.”

“Lines of supernatural energy that connect to powerful places all over the world,” Lazarus explained. “The points at which the lines converge is called a nexus. The concentrated energy within these nexuses can be harnessed. I used the energy to seal Lucifer, along with the power from the full moon.”

“And our blood,” Alastair said.