The fucking monster laughed, shaking his head with glee. Lanier went red with rage, and I fought the urge to go to him, knowing that Lucifer would immediately see it as a weakness. We couldn’t afford that.
“And Quint?” I asked, keeping my face straight, attempting to hide my emotions.
Lucifer smiled at me, his eyes shining. “Of course, Quint, my flesh and blood. There’s not much to tell there; you know how he came to be. The important part is that the four of you are descendants of The Kingdom’s most lethal Death Angels, and there will be war! One that you will lead together, just like we did way back when.” He clapped his hands and looked at each of us with twisted joy in his eyes. A fucking game. This was a game to him.
“War?” I asked, my head spinning. “Who the fuck is Michael?”
I looked to the guys—all of them had matching expressions. Rage, confusion, fear. All of us were on edge, listening to the Devil speak and searching for any sign of manipulation while knowing that he was telling the truth. He was too happy, too excited. His glee screamed the truth.
“Michael is the Death Angel who sent me here, dear girl.” Lucifer smiled and held out his hands. “The only Angel who had the power to defeat me.”
“And he’s my father?” I questioned, feeling sick.
“Oh yes, he is. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss,” Lucifer chided. “We are here to talk about your next steps. Darlings, you are not simply Nephilim. You are Death Angels. The Elite.”
Lanier cursed under his breath, Quint put his head in his hands, and Cabe hadn’t moved since he heard the word sister.
“There were five of us, back in the day, before Michael defeated me and I fell into Hell. And now, there are five of you,” Lucifer continued. “Though one of you is missing. You should probably find her.”
Her.
What the fuck?
“You’re telling me we’re the Elite Angels?” Lanier snarled. “I don’t fucking buy it, they’re just a rumor.”
“Did you or did you not drink Anna’s blood?”
The color drained from his face. Quint had been right all along.
“That’s what I thought. And you.” He looked to Cabe. “You calm her storms, yeah?”
Fuck me.
“Exactly,” Lucifer nodded. “Yes, you are the Elite, and you will continue to get stronger. I don’t sense all of your power yet, Annalise, or yours for that matter, Lanier, but don’t worry. It will come.”
I swallowed, the tornado of emotions swirling in the room had my head spinning, my throat dry. “How the fuck do you know all of this?”
Lucifer grinned. “Well, The Maker planned it, obviously. He was the one who asked me to sire Him a child, just like He did with the other four Death Angels. Of course, they didn’t know His end goal like I did at the time. To me, it was the perfect plan. I get the war I was looking for, and someone else gets to fight it for me. On top of that, I got Hellfire out of the deal. A child in exchange for a separate realm so that my Demons can go Topside? Fuck yeah, I’d give Him a child. The others agreed out of duty and devotion, not having any clue that they would be damning their children to lead a war between Angelus and Hellfire in order to save the Humans. It was genius really.”
All of us were stunned silent. The knowledge that our parents willingly gave our fates to The Maker without questioning what we would be born to do? That shit was a slap in the face.
Lucifer didn’t care as he continued, “Let’s talk about AK for a moment, get that out of the way. Alias, please come and explain yourself.”
My throat closed; breathing became too hard.
He was a part of this all along, he knew what I was when…
“I am your Guardian.” His voice threatened to split me in half. Deep and commanding, rough and feral, but underneath it all was the man who held me, bleeding and broken, after a session with my foster father. The man who put me back together after I swore that I’d officially fallen apart. “All of you. I have watched you all since you were born, made sure that no true harm came to you.”
“No true harm?” Cabe shouted, finally breaking out of his staring contest with the table. “Anna was beaten for nine fucking years!”
It felt like a knife had been shoved into my stomach as the words flew from his mouth. They sounded worse when someone else said it.
“The Maker is delightful, yeah?” Lucifer laughed, clapping his hands. “Such a ruthless God, He is. You all had to be broken, one way or another. Quint spent two hundred and seventy-six years alone, Lanier watched the man he believed was his father get torn apart and murdered on his front lawn, and Cabe was forced to see a girl he couldn’t have, every day for eleven years. He fell so in love with her that he never found peace, spending his time searching for a ghost. And Annalise? Well, she was beaten to a pulp every week for nine years. Sounds like the perfect way to create a group of monsters, yeah? Beat ’em up, rough ’em down, then give them more power than they know how to handle, and surely people will die. It’s brilliant really.”
I wanted to fucking smash something. I asked, “If this was The Maker’s plan, why are you telling us about this?”
Lucifer laughed. “Why do you think I had the boys searching for you? Why did I ask them to keep you safe? Well, because I was bored, and I wanted to be the one to tell you! Just had to get a hold of you before The Maker could, so I made sure to start the search a good amount of time before your Transition. I knew where you were, of course, thanks to AK, but the boys didn’t need to know that. I knew they’d find you in time. The look on your faces, it’s all truly priceless.”
Fuck. Me.
He got to us before The Maker could. I wasn’t sure that a meeting with The Maker would have gone any better, but it certainly would have been more pleasant, probably without the crazy laughing and obvious game play.
He chuckled, running a big hand across his handsome face. “But don’t worry, there’s more.”
“Hold on,” Alias interrupted, his voice strong. “Annalise, look at me.”
I couldn’t, I didn’t want to.
“Don’t fucking talk to her,” Quint snarled, and I closed my eyes.
Weak. I was so fucking weak.
Fuck him, fuck him, fuck him.
“Annalise,” AK said softly, ignoring Quint.
I looked up and into his eyes, swallowing all the emotions I held deep within myself. He was so beautiful it hurt, physically, emotionally, even mentally. Seeing him again was like ripping open a sealed wound. The scar was there, but I didn’t feel it unless it was poked. Now it was open and bleeding, and I was a fucking wreck.
“I couldn’t interfere, I couldn’t step in. I was given orders, but I did what I could to help you after Brinley left.” He struggled to get the words out. He was a giant, standing at six foot seven, his muscles big enough to snap a Human in half. If I had met him knowing what I know now, I never would have believed he was Human. The man standing before me was dangerous, powerful, leaking his energy into the room and drowning me in it. Once, he was my safety net. My security blanket. Now he was only my pain.
“I don’t give a fuck, Alias,” I snapped. “You’re dead to me.”