Page 57 of Wicked Believer

And that maybe, for him, that’s what his love truly means.

Chapter Twenty

Lucifer

The moment I’m certain Charlotte is asleep and will likely stay that way for some time, thanks to a fresh glass of wine and a few painkillers I ordered Ramesh to leave at her bedside, I pop down to Hell.

To summon my ruddy siblings.

They appear among the black obsidian walls of my throne room seconds later. Az is naked from the waist down; Mimi’s in a lush, pima cotton bathrobe, the accompanying silk eye mask askew on her face, making her look particularly perturbed that I interrupted her beauty sleep; and Bel’s in a skintight wetsuit, his damp hair still dripping. The rest are, thankfully, fully clothed, but simply have the gall to look annoyed with me.

“What the fuck, Luce?” This from Envy. Leviathan. Or Levi, as we call him.

The middle child among us. And always the most eager to thwart me.

He’s wearing a thin gray hoodie, loose jeans, and a VR headset that, unfortunately, makes him look like the quintessential tech bro.

But I don’t have time for any of his bullshit this morning.

There is no universe where all this isn’t connected—my Father’s apocalypse, my Mother’s meddling, Michael and the Righteous, Astaroth’s and my legions’ rebellion, and now this.

“Which one of you did it, humph?” I snarl, my eyes turning serpentine. My forked tongue flicks across my lips in fury as I glance at each of the faces about the room.

Mammon’s mouth pinches into a thin white slash as she snaps her eye mask onto her forehead, sighing annoyedly. “Well, it would help if you bothered to tell us what you—”

The sight of my true angelic features silences her.

Or what Hell has no longer decayed away ...

Eyes all around. Wheels upon wheels of horror.

“Well, which one of you? Which one of you useless, pathetic, parasitic cretins intended to kill her?”

“Hey now, I resent that.” This from Az. He glances down at his chipped nail polish like he’s particularly bored with this whole thing. “I’ve always considered myself smarter than you, actually. Though Mammon’s right, if you bothered to give us a hint, maybe we—”

I clench my fist, his voice cutting off from where I’ve used some of my power to choke him.

This is my realm. My domain.

And here theywillbow to me.

Like it or not.

Az stumbles slightly, his face turning red before I abruptly release him, sending him sputtering and sprawling onto the floor. When he regains his composure, he glares up at me, his eyes shooting daggers.

But he doesn’t dare speak over me again.

Bel shakes his head like a wet dog, drops of water flying everywhere. “Some unknown human actress who looks like Charlotte showed up dead at her designer’s studio this morning.”

All eyes turn toward him.

One of my brows lifts, my irises narrowing to serpentine slits.

“What?” Bel shrugs dismissively. “It was all over the news at the marina.”

Mammon steps forward then, stripping off her eye mask, her jaw clenched. “You mean to tell me that you interrupted my beauty sleep and dragged us all down here all over that skinny little bitch you’re keeping?” She sneers, her gaze raking over me as if she’s disgusted by what she sees. “I won’t be able to get the stench off for weeks.” She sniffs her robe, wincing, before she lifts her hand as if she means to snap herself topside.

But the movement yields nothing.