Page 4 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse

A knot made entirely of anger wound itself around my throat. That voice belonged to Josephine LeBeau, the former director of the League of Demon Hunters, the woman who had tried relentlessly to make me fail by inflating my ego, making me believe I wasmore.

As ludicrous as it sounded, Drevan said she was working forThe Man Upstairs.Because apparently,just as Lucifer was allowed to enlist Drevan to save the world, God was allowed to form his own doomsday team, which seemed to include LeBeau and now this Jophiel guy.

The last time I’d seen the evil woman, I’d been at Bryant Park, getting ready to quell Jell-O Boy for a second time. She’d urged me to humiliate Darrold Grant, then disappeared.

Many times, I had thought of all the lies she had fed me.

I believe you can be a great hunter.

You are extremely talented with the Queller.

The Delegacy will be impressed with you.

You’re ready.

Many times I’d daydreamed about punching her straight in the teeth and watching her spit them out one by one. And now, she was here, within my reach, and she was torturing Drevan. At once, I felt ready to barge in there, but…

Now, I was outnumbered.

But who was with her? If she’d been working for God himself, did that mean that… He was here? I shook my head. No, that wasn’t possible, was it? God didn’t just up and leave heaven, just like Lucifer didn’t leave hell. Right? The king of the underworld had sent his son, so maybe God had sent his?

Witchlights!Did that mean Jesus was here?

Oh, stop it, Lucia! Quit all the nonsense and do something. Anything.

“It’s what I’ve been telling him,” Drevan drawled. “Huge waste of time, but he won’t listen.”

They ignored him.

“I think we’re going about it the wrong way,” LeBeau said.

“Then, pray tell, what would be the right way to go about it?” the man asked.

“Perhaps… there’s someone he cares about?”

The man laughed, a deep chuckle that echoed through the cavernous halls. “Drevan cares only about himself.”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t be so sure. Did you see that twitch of his eyes when I said that?” LeBeau sounded intrigued.

“Twitch?” The way the man said the word made him sound as if LeBeau was talking about metaphysics or something just as hard to understand.

“Yes,” LeBeau said. “It makes me suspect there’s something or someone we can use against him.”

A long silence followed as whoever LeBeau was talking to seemed to ponder. At last, he said, “What could that possibly be? I doubt it is anything material. Lucifer, perhaps? Lilith? One of his many brothers or sisters?” The man huffed. “It makes no difference. They’re in hell. We can’t get to them.”

“I don’t think it’s his family since they’re safe where they are,” LeBeau contemplated. “Yet, that twitch.”

“You think it’s someone here?”

I imagined LeBeau nodding. “One of his demons, perhaps…”

I glanced back the way I’d come.Phenog!

The man laughed. “Drevan doesn’t care about lowly hell dwellers. Trust me, I’ve seen firsthand how expendable they are to him. And it couldn’t be a human. He hasn’t been here long enough to form an attachment.”

“There is someone…”

A gasp rushed up to my throat. I pressed a hand to my mouth. My racing heart would’ve sped up even more if it’d been possible, but it was already beating out of control. So instead, it crawled to a stop, depriving my limbs and brain of oxygen. I felt woozy.