“Is there another Lucifer I’m unaware of?” I asked, looking around the room. “Yes, the Lucifer.”

“You can’t be serious,” Danika whispered.

Dez stopped moving. “You’re totally serious.”

“She is,” Zayne confirmed.

“In my defense, Roth came up with this idea during the Zayne is dead phase of my life. Now whether or not that had anything to do with me agreeing with this potentially very bad idea is totally up for debate.” I lifted a hand when Nicolai lowered his head from the other side of the island. “And look, there is no way that Zayne and I can defeat an archangel—”

“Well, we don’t know that for sure,” Zayne cut in. “Since there’s never been a Fallen and a Trueborn teamed up against an archangel. But YOLO, right?”

My lips thinned.

“I am...actually speechless,” Dez said, shaking his head. “I honestly don’t know what to say. Roth and Layla are seriously trying to recruit Lucifer? The only thing in this entire world that I can think of that is worse than an archangel hell-bent on destroying mankind.”

For someone who didn’t know what to say, he sure had a lot to say.

Danika appeared to blink slowly. “I think I need to sit down.”

“You are sitting down.”

“Oh.” She swallowed thickly. “All right, then.”

Frowning slightly, I wondered if she was okay.

Nicolai finally found his voice, which led to the same questions Zayne had when he first learned of the plan to bring Lucifer into the mix. Were we out of our minds? Would this kick off the biblical end times? How could we control him? All valid questions.

“What will we even do with him once he’s topside?” Nicolai demanded.

“Ehh,” I said. “Haven’t gotten to that point yet.”

He stared at me.

“Mainly because we’re not even sure if he’s going to be game to play,” I reasoned. “And because I’ve been kind of busy with this one.” I jabbed a finger in Zayne’s direction. “So, I haven’t had a lot of time to really think the whole thing through.”

Zayne snorted from behind me. “Thinking things through would’ve come in handy, especially since Lucifer is also out looking for Trin. He sent Ghouls and an Upper Level demon after her.”

Dez came forward. “That’s who sent the Ghouls?”

I nodded. “What can I say? I’m popular.”

Zayne tugged gently on the bun. “That you are.”

“Why is Lucifer looking for you?” Nicolai demanded.

“Not sure,” I said. “Maybe he’s just looking to expand his friend circle?”

“I know I don’t have a whole lot of experience with demons,” Danika said. “But I cannot imagine having Lucifer looking for you is something good.”