“You speak to me about striving for more? Of pride?” Gabriel thundered, and I mean, he kind of had a reason to be dumbstruck. “You? You, who wanted to rule beside God?”

“So? I still see nothing wrong with that. What I wanted was the power due to me and for that I was cast to Earth.” A glow began to seep through his skin. “But I was never barred from the Heavens. Tell me, brother, when was the last time you were able to enter the Heavens? When is the last time you spoke to God? Heard the divine Voice? I hear it now. Do you?”

Wait. What?

“Lies,” Gabriel hissed. “You do not hear the divine Voice.”

“Believe what you will, but I’m going to kill you tonight.” Lucifer’s eyes briefly closed. “Know that I will mourn you deeply, if only for a few moments.”

My brows lifted. Moments? He would mourn him for moments? Ouch.

Gabriel drew back as if slapped. “So be it, Satan.”

Crimson streaked across Lucifer’s eyes. “Oh, no, you did not just call me that.”

The archangel flew back, lifting his arms. “I knew you would come to me, child of Michael, this very night.”

My head snapped his direction as tension crept into my muscles.

“So, I’ve prepared my own gift for you,” he continued. “It’s a shame, though, that you will have to witness so many of those you care for perish.”

Movement on the ground drew my gaze to the areas alongside the home. From this distance they were nothing but blobs of different colors and shapes, but I saw enough to know they were demons and there were many.

“How many?” I asked Zayne.

“Hundreds,” he answered, looking across to Lucifer. “That’s a lot of demons mad at you.”

“There will always be demons unhappy with the rules,” he replied. The ever-growing mass continued to bulge out from the house. “Gabriel knew you’d have time to prepare if you learned,” Lucifer answered. “He really did know we were coming tonight. Someone betrayed you.”

Pressure clamped down on my chest. Someone most definitely did.

“I cannot help but think of those angel blades,” Zayne commented.

“Same,” I whispered, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “How many of your legion were you able to wrangle?”

“Enough,” Lucifer answered.

“And when are they going to get here?” Zayne asked.

“Hopefully soon.”

“Kill the Fallen,” Gabriel ordered. “The nephilim must be alive.”

“I’m kind of disappointed.” Lucifer pouted. “What about me?”

There was no answer as a wave of demons burst forward, most on the ground but some in the air. A few looked like imps, but others... Their wings gleamed white in the moonlight.