His brows lifted. “Damn. He works fast.”
“That he does.” I shoved my phone back in my pocket. If Lucifer had found someone, we needed to get over there ASAP. I hated to cut and run on Jada and Ty.
“Lucifer,” she whispered, shaking her head again. “I can’t believe you all are working with the Lucifer.”
“Yeah,” Zayne said. “Neither can we, so when this is all over, we’re just going to pretend like it never happened.”
I cracked a grin. “Sounds like a good plan.”
“What...what is he like?” she asked, and then cringed. “I can’t even believe I’m asking that.”
“I don’t think anyone can blame you for being curious.” Zayne smiled at her.
How did one describe Lucifer? “He’s, um, he’s unique.”
Zayne snorted.
“Unique?” Ty repeated.
I nodded. “He’s not what you’d expect and in a way totally what you’d expect from Satan. He’s kind of a mess.” An idea struck me—a way we could find out who it was that Lucifer had wrangled up and spend time with my friends. “Do you all want to meet him?” I offered, hopeful. “You would be safe. Or should be. I mean, he hasn’t seriously threatened us or anything.”
“He hasn’t seriously threatened you guys?” Ty glanced between Zayne and I. “What did he do? Casually threaten you all?”
“We kind of had words,” Zayne explained. “But things are fine now.” He paused. “Sort of.”
“That’s reassuring,” Ty mumbled.
“So? You guys want to come with us? He’s at Roth’s house.”
“The one who is the actual Crown Prince of Hell?” Jada said.
I nodded. “And Layla will be there. She’s part Warden and...yeah, so she’s also Lilith’s daughter. And yes, the Lilith. Also, Cayman may also be there. He’s—”
“Let me guess,” Ty interrupted. “He’s also a demon.”
“Middle management level, basically. Man, we have weird friends,” I said.
“That we do,” Zayne agreed.
I sighed. “Either way, if you guys don’t want to, totally understandable. I can catch up with you all afterward.”
Ty dragged his hand over his head. “Yeah, no offense, but I’m going to have to pass on that and take Dez up on his offer.”
Jada looked over at Ty and then back to me. “This probably has ‘bad life choice’ written all over it, but yeah, I do want to meet him.”
30
Ty wasn’t at all happy about Jada’s choice. He reminded her that her father would lose his ever-loving mind if he found out, which was true. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the rather warranted meltdown Thierry would have, but Jada argued there was no reason for her father to find out. I also agreed with that. Ty tried to put his proverbial foot down, and that didn’t end well for him. They argued. It was awkward, but Jada won out in the end, and Ty was going to have a lot of making up to do later.
“I kind of feel bad,” I said, looking back at Jada as Zayne guided the Impala down the road leading to Roth’s place. “I probably shouldn’t have made the offer to bring you here.”
Jada waved it off. “Ty will get over it. Besides, he really wanted to scope out the city with Dez. I think he has a friend crush on him.”
I started to laugh, but a sudden tingle of awareness forced me back around. We weren’t nearly close enough to Roth’s for me to be picking up on him.
“You feel that?” Zayne asked, and I nodded.
Jada leaned between the two seats as Zayne rounded the bend in the road. “Holy crap,” she breathed. “How many demons did you say lived here?”
My eyes widened as I took in the front yard of the McMansion. There were demons everywhere. Sitting on the steps. Sprawled across the lawn. Lining the driveway. Some of them looked human. They could be Fiends, demons like Cayman who were more like middle management or Upper Level demons. Others were definitely not rocking human skin...or human heads, apparently, because some had two or three.
“Oh my God,” gasped Jada. “What is that?”
I looked out the passenger window, spying a crimson-hued creature no bigger than three feet. I saw horns and a tail. “I have no idea,” I whispered. The thing looked like a cartoon demon. “It was so not like this when we left this morning.”
Zayne slowed as several of the larger demons started paying attention to us. He glanced in the rearview mirror. I followed his gaze, seeing that several human-looking demons had ended up behind us. “Jada,” he said. “It’s probably best you stay in the car.”
Leaning back, I reached for my daggers to hand them over to her when I heard, “Hey! Get away from that car. Now! Shoo!”
Recognizing Layla’s voice, I tipped forward and squinted. I caught a glimpse of platinum blond hair and then the sea of demons parted, shuffling back from the driveway on two and four...and eight legs.
“Is that...a giant spider?” Jada whispered. “If it is, I’m going to catapult myself off Earth right now.”
I stared at the thing that looked very much like a spider half the size of the car scurry around the side of the house. “I’m getting in line with you.”
Layla started toward us, stopping short when the red-skinned, cartoon-looking demon hopscotched across the driveway. She threw up her hands in obvious frustration.
“Am I hallucinating?” Jada asked.
“Honestly, there is no other explanation for any of this.” I shook my head.
Zayne rolled down the window as Layla’s face appeared at his side. “What in the world is happening here?”
“The worst block party ever?” she suggested, shoving her hair back from her face. “They started showing up like an hour or so ago. Apparently they sense Lucifer’s presence, and everyone who is all like ‘Hail Satan’ is showing up.” She glanced in the back seat and did a double take. “You’re a Warden.”
“I am,” Jada replied tentatively.
“Jada, meet Layla,” I jumped in. “She’s from the Potomac Highlands community.”
“And they let you leave?” Surprise filled Layla’s tone.
“Well.” Jada drew the word out.
“Are they dangerous?” Zayne cut in. “Causing any problems?”
“Not really.” Layla’s brows pinched. “But I would definitely pull the car into the garage so one of the demons doesn’t end up sitting on it. Or eating it.”