Lucifer flinches at the name Mara and taps his chin. He looks at Milcom, who looks ashamed. What the fuck is going on here?

“When you find Mara, you are to capture her and bring her to Hell. Her soul is not to be destroyed. She is to be brought to me intact. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Lord,” Asmodeus and I both say in unison.

Lucifer goes to leave the meeting before he stares at the back of Milcom’s head. “Milcom, a word please?” The demon follows Lucifer out of the room while Lilith and Toth both portal out of the meeting space.

“Well, that was weird,” Asmo says, and I nod in agreement.

“Let’s get out of here.”

He clasps my shoulder again and we both portal back to the bungalow. My thoughts are rampant. Before, he didn’t care what happened to the demon causing havoc. Now it seems everything has changed.

“We need to figure out who Mara is,” I say, and Asmo rolls his eyes.

“No shit.”

Chapter 7

I wake up feeling like absolute death. It’s like I barely slept at all even though it’s almost noon. A warm body is next to mine, their hand perched on my waist, and I spin around to see Stevie. Her cheeks are red and it looks like she’s been crying all night.

I’m not even sure how I got into the bed.

“Stevie?” I croak. Her eyes flicker open, and she quickly wraps me around in a tight hug.

“Thank the fucking moon. You scared me.”

“Sorry,” I murmur, tightening our embrace.

“What are we going to do, Blair?”

“I’ll handle it, Stevie. First things first. We both need to wear our necklaces I enchanted last summer. They won’t allow anyone in the coven to mess with our minds. Besides that, there’s no way they can do what they want to accomplish unless it’s a full moon. So, for the most part, we’re safe for now.”

“For now,” she says, glaring at me.

“If you think I’m going to let them hurt you…”

“No, I know, Blair. There are just twelve of them and two of us.”

“I think we need to figure out why they were trying to sacrifice me and make it so whatever they were after can’t happen. If not, I’ll wind up murdering them all. More than likely, they’re all scared shitless right now and will leave us alone for a while.”

“You’re so sure?” No, I’m not sure, but if I spend too much time thinking about what happened to me, I’ll spiral. Right now isn’t a time for spiraling. I need to exhaust this energy elsewhere.

“I’m sure,” I kiss my cousin’s cheek as I get up to make my way to the bathroom. “I’m going to go fuck up some people’s lives and then work at Hex for a few hours. Stay here if you don’t feel safe. The wards will protect you.”