Page 82 of Wicked Believer (Original Sinner #2)

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Charlotte

I glance at my hands, only vaguely aware I just used them to nearly blast my soon-to-be Mother-in-Law in two, all the anger building up inside me over the last several weeks coming out in one enormous rush. But I can’t even consider that right now.

My heart races at the sight of my fiancé.

“Lucifer,” I breathe, an odd mixture of fear and warmth expanding inside my chest.

My devilish savior.

Lucifer descends the center aisle of the stadium seats, his footsteps echoing despite the thousands of black-eyed people that silently trail him, at the ready.

His legions. Thousands of them.

All brought topside to protect me.

I can hardly comprehend what I’m seeing.

“I believe you and I have a few scores to settle, Mother.”

“Lucifer.” Lilith’s voice takes on a nervous edge, like she’s desperate to placate him.

My devil of a fiancé certainly knows how to command a room.

My heart flutters, the heat in my body rising in admiration as his gaze flicks toward me.

Go, he sends down the line of what’s left of our connection. Get out now .

I give the barest shake of my head.

The choice is mine.

And I’m not leaving here without Jax.

The hellfire in Lucifer’s eyes turns molten, and I know that the next time he has me alone in the playroom, he’ll punish me for risking myself like this.

I press my lips together, suppressing my coy grin.

I look forward to it.

Slowly, I inch toward Jax, trying not to draw Lilith’s attention. Michael is still too busy trying to undo whatever bind Lilith’s placed on him, which appears to have stymied him in more ways than one and Azrael is working hard not to draw any further attention to himself.

“I only ever had your best intentions in mind, sweetheart,” Lilith says, placing her hands over her chest as she makes her plea.

“You know better than anyone what your Father’s like.

It’s high time He get a taste of His own medicine.

Locking my babies away, siphoning my power, and now abandoning us all?

Well, you might see where I thought having you take His place would be a better—”

“Enough, Mother,” Lucifer growls.

And to my shock, Lilith falls silent in deference to him.

I can see the way she might have once catered to her cherished baby boy, spoiling and doting upon his every need.

I roll my eyes. No wonder he always expects to get what he wants.

“If you so much as lay a hand upon Charlotte, I’ll throw you back into the Abyss and lock you in the cage Father put you in, and you will never lay eyes on a single one of your grandchildren.”

Lilith’s lip quivers. “You wouldn’t.”

Lucifer’s nostrils flare, the expression he gives her loud and clear.

Try me.

Lilith begins to tremble, her hands clenched into fists as the ground gives a sudden lurch, nearly knocking me and everyone else in the room off our feet.

The blade falls from my hand, clattering to the floor, but I can’t even consider how I’m going to try and reach it as time and space start to warp around us unpredictably.

My eyes fall to the Goddess’s face, and I realize, it’s ...

Lilith’s tears.

Fuck my life.

One streams down her face, its descent distorting reality until we’re all being molded and crushed at the edges. Pressure erupts inside my skull, the pain causing an earsplitting ringing.

“Lucifer.”

I’m uncertain how to put a stop to this, how to end this hell, but somehow amid the chaos of it all, I know if that tear falls, reality will rip. Like a black hole. A fissure.

A tear in the fabric of the universe itself.

“I won’t let him do that.”

Abruptly, reality rights itself, and I realize only as I bring my hand to my head, still in a haze, that the tender words came from me.

Lilith looks to me, a terrifying bit of hope in her eyes.

“Charlotte,” Lucifer growls, as if to say Let me handle this .

But I’m not about to let him make her cry once more.

“I won’t agree to him keeping you from your grandchildren.”

I meet Lilith’s eyes, and for the first time, I see what connects her to me.

Her subjugation. The abuse.

I know what it’s like to feel as if your power has been stolen from you completely.

“I understand why you did it. Played Michael and Lucifer. Why you want vengeance against God. Truly I do.” I nod as she slowly faces me. “You want what’s best for your son, for your children, and He took that from you. Made you feel powerless.”

“Yes,” she whispers, her eyes clouding with white, a bit of her divine form unleashed. Though her expression is full of adoration, like she couldn’t be prouder of what she created, and it ...

Terrifies me.

My pulse thrashes in my ears.

But I am no one’s celestial plaything.

Not even Lilith’s.

“But I can’t allow you to end humanity like this.”

“We can restart,” she says, reaching out as if to take my hands in hers. “You, me, Lucifer. Build anew.”

And, for a moment, the offer is ... strangely tempting.

I’ve spent so much of my life seeing the brokenness of this world. The worst humanity has to offer.

But I have to believe there’s beauty to be found in it all too.

Beneath the rubble.

“I can’t let you do that.”

She smiles softly. “My prophecy says otherwise.”

“About that,” Lucifer interrupts as if he intends to tell his mother exactly how he feels about her “quaint little prophecy.”

But I won’t risk him upsetting her again.

“Later,” I say, shooting a tense look at him.

He and several of his demonic army have drawn so close to Lilith now, they could reach out and touch.

And I can feel Azrael’s chilling presence looming behind me.

“Time to get out of here, little siren,” he whispers into my ear.

But Lilith and I are both an equal distance away from Jax, and the Holy Lance still lies at my feet.

I shake my head.

I can’t leave without her.

“Your prophecy was wrong,” I say to Lilith. “I won’t allow you or anyone else to control me.”

Lilith’s lips quirk. The smirk she gives me is so reminiscent of Lucifer, I can’t seem to breathe.

What have I gotten myself into?

But then Lucifer appears just behind Lilith’s shoulder. “ Now , Charlotte.”

Chaos erupts inside the sanctuary.

I lunge for the blade, intending to use it against Lilith, just as Lilith throws herself at Jax, narrowly escaping Lucifer’s grip.

Lilith and Jax vanish in a flash, the chair Jax was still tied to taken with them.

There and gone in a blink.

A sudden incapacitating fear takes over me. Like there’s not enough oxygen in the room.

“No. No, no, no, no, no.”

I can’t lose another friend.

Can’t allow anyone else to die because of me.

Lucifer is crouched at my side seconds later. “Take her,” he orders, and I realize from where he’s looking overtop my head that he isn’t speaking to me.

Azrael.

The cold brush of Death’s grip circles my wrist, just as I realize—

The blade.

I missed it, my hand knocking it askew by several feet.

It lies on the floor on the other side of the stage, where Michael now stands unbound, at the ready. He bends down and picks it up, chuckling.

“Go!” Lucifer shouts, and this time, I know better than to disobey him.

I’m wrenched backward, my body being sucked or dragged in a way that’s a thousand times worse than traveling through the ether. The next thing I know, I’m lying on the floor in Lucifer’s office, someone else’s blood—Ian’s, my brain identifies—completely coating me.

Once again, the dress I’m wearing is ruined, and considering this one was on loan from Xzander’s latest contribution to the Fashion Institute, this seriously can’t become a habit.

I sit up, swaying slightly as the full gravity of what just happened settles into me.

“Jax.”

I scramble to my feet, desperately searching around myself like I might find some way to get to her.

But there’s nothing.

Azrael’s at my side a moment later, gripping the sides of my face with both hands as he kisses me. The feel of his lips on mine calms me. Helps me find my center.

“You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re safe now,” he whispers against me.

And it’s only then I realize I’m trembling.

“Jax. Ian. He—”

“I know,” he says, holding me tight, refusing to let me go. “I know, baby girl.”

And the Holy Lance. Michael.

“Lucifer.”

A fresh round of panic shoots through me.

Azrael pulls me into his chest, cradling my head to keep me from trembling. “He’ll be fine. He always is,” he whispers feverishly.

My thoughts take a dark turn as I survey Lucifer’s office. It’s completely unchanged. Though my entire world has just been knocked on its side.

“We’ll find her,” Azrael says, knowing exactly what I need to hear. “You have my word.”

I nod weakly, still in shock. I’m uncertain if there’s anything else I can do at this point.

I can’t face Lilith on my own. Even if I knew how to find her.

I was a fool to think I could.

“You saved me this time.” Azrael tips my chin toward him, the intensity in his eyes softening. Like he can see I need the reassurance that I didn’t totally fuck this whole thing up.

“Can you even die?” I ask, my voice hoarse and thready.

He tilts his head from side to side as if to say more or less. “In a matter of speaking. But it takes a lot to destroy me.”

“A lot meaning someone like Lilith?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The image of her furious tears comes to mind, making my knees feel weak.

No wonder Lucifer asked Azrael to protect me.

He’s basically the celestial version of bulletproof.

“Do you think Lucifer will manage to—?”

“Get the blade?” Azrael finishes.

I nod meekly.

“I don’t know.”

Slowly, I ease away from Azrael, turning to look out the window as I consider Jax’s fate.

I have to believe Lucifer will help me save her, that he’ll do whatever it takes.

“What was Lilith talking about when she said I should ask you what the end of God would mean?” I whisper, despite my hands still shaking.

Azrael scowls, like the idea of sharing that makes him uncomfortable, but still, he answers me. More readily than Lucifer ever would. “God put a little of Himself into all of you. Human souls are contingent upon His existence, which means if He’s destroyed, then ...”

“No more God, no more souls?” I ask.

His shrug isn’t nearly as uncaring as he wants it to be.

“So, Heaven and Hell would be ...”

“Empty,” he says.

My stomach roils.

At least in Michael’s apocalyptic nightmare, we’d all get a decent shot at an afterlife.

But in Lilith’s?

Nothing.

Just endless nothing.

I shake my head. I can’t allow that to happen. I can’t just stand here and allow myself to break.

I have to do something.

“What time is it?” I glance to the clock on the wall. It’s nearly 10:30 p.m., which means ...

I’m already late for Sloth’s after-party.

True celebrities never hurry, Charlotte.

Lucifer’s advice from when we attended the Met Gala comes back to me.

Arriving fashionably late tonight is for the best, obviously.

It’ll take a long, hot shower to get all this blood off. Thank goodness it isn’t mine. Though the sight of Lilith feasting on Ian ...

A shiver runs through me.

And Jax . . .

I shake it off.

I have to stay focused. I have to do anything that might help me gain a better chance at saving her. Starting with returning to my original plan.

More celestial favors in my pocket, more of the Originals indebted to me.

I’m getting used to this whole staring-down-impending-doom thing.

“Azrael, I need you to take me to the penthouse and then drop me off at Sloth’s after-party.”

“In the Hamptons?” He quirks a brow.

I give a quick nod. “When Lucifer returns, tell him I’m safe and I’ll be back at the penthouse sometime in the morning.”

Azrael’s brow furrows. “He won’t like that.”

“He doesn’t have to.” I shrug, rising to my feet. “I’m in charge of my life now. Remember?”

I’m going to do whatever it takes to stop the apocalypse and save my friend.

Come hell or high water.

Azrael shakes his head. “I’m starting to understand why he wanted to keep you under lock and key for as long as humanly possible.”

“Well”—I smile up at him, holding my arm out like he’s my date and he’s escorting me—“good thing for you and Lucifer that I’m no longer human, then.”