He hesitated. “It’s up to her, but I know what she’ll say. Eden?”
“Yes?”
“Your grandmother is Cambion.”
“Yes. You sort of let that cat out of the bag with my mother present, remember? My mom didn’t speak to my dad for three days after that.”
“But … how does she hear the tag? Typically Cambions don’t have those senses. She seems to know a lot more than she should.”
I waited a beat. “Maybe you should ask her.”
Levi shook his head. “She scares me. You ask her.”
“Your father is Satan, and my grandmother scares you?”
Levi frowned. “If I said yes, would you think less of me?”
I turned toward Petra’s door and stared at it for a full minute. “If I asked you to pray with me, would you think less of me?”
“You won’t.”
I sighed, grabbing his hand. “Pray with me.”
His brows pulled together, and the tears forming in his eyes made them glisten in the low light. He had to swallow his sorrow before he spoke. “I don’t know how.”
“I’ll show you.” I closed my eyes and squeezed his fingers. “Father God, hear our prayer…”
Chapter Twelve
Levi
Although it was my idea, the thought of allowing my mother to die didn’t feel real. I concentrated on the after, in Heaven where she would never be at my father’s mercy again. Still, I had a lot of life left, and I wanted to spend it with her. I wanted her to see my wedding, my children—if any of that were even possible. No matter how many times I had tried to find a different end, her sacrifice had, ironically, the best possible outcome.
“Levi?” Eden’s soft fingers touched my forearm. “My father will be pulling into the drive any minute.”
I took in a deep breath, filling my lungs and yet not feeling like I was getting any air. The demon was still growling, preparing for a fight. My mother held her fist to her mouth, coughing. She knew why. We all did. The tag was putting pressure on her airway to warn us to change course.
“Grandmother?” Eden called.
Just a few seconds passed before we heard Cynthia’s heels clicking down the hallway. “Yes, dearest?” she said.
“I need you.”
Eden’s simple sentence created a ghost of a smile on the old woman’s lips.
Eden began to speak, but she paused. Jared was arriving with Nina, and the rest of the family, including Allison, was seconds behind. “Can you help?”
Cynthia nodded once. “I’ll help Agatha get the room ready,” she said, walking back the way she came. “Agatha?” she called.
Jared closed the front door, and then he was next to his daughter in the hallway just outside my mother’s room.
“What’s going on, Levi?” he asked.
I felt sick. Her death was approaching fast, and saying it aloud to Jared made it more real. Too soon. “Mamá came to warn me about my brothers. She’s in danger.”
“I can feel it,” Bex said, standing next to Jared. He looked to his brother. “She’s been tagged. Seems like it’s been with her for a very long time.”
Jared sighed. “She can’t stay at the house if she’s tagged, Levi. We’ll have to move her to a safe house. Let me think on it.”
“We already have a plan.”
Jared’s brows pulled together. “Why do I feel like I’m not going to like it?”
“We’re going to extract it so Petra can go to Heaven when she dies,” Eden said in the language of Heaven. I could feel the demon getting frustrated by his inability not to listen in.
Jared shook his head, answering her the same way. “She’s not going to Heaven, Eden.”
“She will with a sacrifice,” Eden responded.
Nina didn’t understand the language and looked to her husband for answers he couldn’t give.
“It hurts the Others to listen to our language,” Jared said. “It’s best if we speak this way. I’ll explain later.”
Jared thought for a solid minute, shaking his head as he ruled out each idea. Bex was trying to come up with something better, too.
“I can’t let her leave. She can’t stay. She’ll die out there anyway without Levi. And when she dies, she’ll go to Hell,” Eden said.
Bex blew his hair from his face. “Damn.” He looked to Jared. “They’re right. I don’t see another way. Do you?”
“No,” Jared said. He led the way to Mamá’s room, heaving a deep, somber sigh. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this.”
“He did it,” I said, unable to hide the angry shaking in my voice.
“Wait,” Nina said, recognition in her eyes. “What about Eden? Will she be held accountable?”
“It’s possible,” Jared said.
“Then no,” Nina said, stopping in her tracks. The whole group stopped with her. “There has to be another way.”
“Trust me, Mom,” Eden said. “Please?”
Nina’s eyes glossed over, and she hugged her daughter. “Eden, please don’t—you promised.”
“And I’ll keep it,” Eden said, rubbing her hand up and down on her mother’s back. “I’ll do whatever it takes. Do you trust me?”
Nina nodded, and after some hesitation, she let her daughter go.
Eden took my hand, and we continued down the main hall toward my mother’s room. She stopped just as I reached for the doorknob and leaned her shoulder against the wall. “You should talk to her alone.”
I scanned her sweet face and kissed her temple before stepping inside alone, closing the door behind me.
Mamá was sitting in a cushioned chair in the corner, reading something on her cell phone. The sunlight poured in from the blinds, creating a thousand tiny dust motes all around her. Other than the fact that she was a Queen of Hell, she seemed angelic. She’d draped a baby blue blanket over her legs as she rocked back and forth in her bare feet, her naturally bronzed skin darker from the Florida sun. The sight of her nearly sent me back into the hall. How can I tell her? My mother was strong, but the idea I thought was perfect moments ago now seemed selfish as I looked into her eyes. How could I be part of any plan that allowed the light to leave them?
“What is it, son?” Mamá asked.
My throat felt like it was closing as I tried to speak. “I just spoke with Eden. We have to keep you close to protect you.”
“So I’ll stay here?”
Her relief broke my heart.
“When you came back, Mamá, Lucifer sent someone to watch you.”
She stared ahead at nothing, recognition lighting a fire in her eyes. She was angry, but not surprised. “A tag.” She crossed her arms, indignant. “Of course he did. If I stay here, how…?” She trailed off.