Page 73 of Wicked Believer (Original Sinner #2)
Chapter Sixty
Charlotte
“We have to go after her!”
Lucifer shakes his head. Azrael’s just summoned him and his style team from upstairs. “I shouldn’t have to tell you all the reasons that is not a good idea right now, Charlotte.”
Azrael steps between us, acting as a sort of immortal buffer between Lucifer and me. “That blade can kill you as much as it can her. Allow me to—”
“No,” Lucifer and I say in unison.
At least he and I can agree on that.
If Azrael were to be killed, regardless of the fact he was the one who initially put the blade into play—something neither of us seem to have any plans of telling Lucifer yet—Lucifer’s lack of power would no longer be shielded from the other Originals.
And with me still having no idea how to use my powers or any of the other abilities Lucifer’s finally disclosed that God’s redemption gifted me, I’d basically be a sitting duck for Michael or another one of his siblings’ taking, and then . ..
Chaos would ensue.
We all know it.
“I’ll go.” Lucifer brushes off the lapels of the Armani tux he’s wearing. “I may no longer have my power, but I’m more than capable of offing a pathetic little human in other ways.” He unbuttons the coat of his tux to reveal the loaded gun he’s apparently now started carrying.
So, his suspenders really were a shoulder holster after all.
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
An immortal with a loaded gun.
What could possibly go wrong?
I only started to realize over the past several days, when Lucifer began joining us in the training room, that he’s just as much of a trained celestial warrior as Azrael is.
But that still doesn’t make this a good idea.
“You don’t know who he might be working with,” Azrael counters. “He may not be acting as a free agent.”
The Righteous . Or worse, Michael.
That seems to go without saying.
Lucifer’s eyes narrow, like he’s two seconds away from throttling Azrael.
“Then I’ll go,” I say.
Lucifer and Azrael turn in unison and snarl at me.
Clearly neither of them would ever allow me to consider it.
“You have to be on the red carpet in an hour, diva,” Xzander chimes in as he passes by in a flurry. I don’t have time to break his fashion-loving heart and tell him how absolutely insignificant that is compared to the celestial magnitude of what we’re discussing.
I’m not sure he or any of the humans in the room have been able to follow any of this.
The humans in the room.
I’ve chosen a side, placed myself on the immortal end of the celestial divide.
There’s no going back now.
“Even if that were important, there’s no one better suited to this than me,” I argue.
“I know Ian, or at least I thought I did, and I also know Jax, and whatever other celestial might possibly be up to this ...” I shoot a reprimanding glance toward Azrael.
I may not be willing to out the role he played in all this—that reckoning is between him and Lucifer—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him stop me from protecting my friend. “You’ve trained me. I—”
“You can barely hold a sword with two hands,” he growls back.
My lips settle into a thin line, and I breathe through my nose as I try to find my patience. Is this our first fight?
And does that apply to only two or all three of us?
I don’t have the time to consider it at the moment.
For all that I love him, Lucifer has the audacity to look nearly as bored with this as his siblings were with my PR proposal. “We’re wasting valuable time entertaining this foolish line of thinking. Perhaps I can—”
“No,” Azrael and I say.
For a moment, Lucifer looks like he’s considering obeying it.
Mine and Azrael’s combined command.
Oh, that is a whole other can of worms I cannot begin to get into right now.
Do I like the idea of Lucifer submitting to Azrael and me?
Of our dynamic going both ways?
Am I actually a switch ?
Unpacking that will take a whole lot more therapy than even mine or Lucifer’s bank account can handle.
I sigh, already exasperated. “Look, we all go together or none of us goes at all.”
“ After the CFDA Awards,” Xzander shouts unhelpfully from across the room.
“We don’t have time to—”
Lucifer gives me a pointed look. “He has a point, darling. If you and I don’t show ...”
The whole city will be on high alert, and our absence will be broadcast on live television, so any chance we have at stealth will be ruined.
“Fine. We’ll all go together after the awards,” I snap.
I’m not sure how I’m going to keep my cool in front of the paparazzi.
But if I plan to be leader of Team No Apocalypse, Lucifer’s queen, and I’m giving whatever this little triad between Lucifer, Azrael, and I might be a chance, well ...
I better start figuring out how to check my anxiety in the face of impending doom.