Madame Silenda’s cool eyes, one blue, one yellow, looked me over. “In bed or on the floor?”
The thought of being in bed with either of them- or I supposed both, since they were fused together- kicked the nausea into high-gear.
“On the floor.” Azazel shifted casually, but the tiny movement blocked most of me from view. “She’s my pupil, and I’m searching for the biggest, meanest motherfucker of a sorcerer you have here.”
Oh god, what was he getting me into?
Mister Celamentum’s smile widened. “Besides yourself?”
Azazel inclined his head ever so slightly.
“You always had a talent for finding the gifted ones first,” Celamentum said thoughtfully. “Some think it a little uncanny.”
“I’m a motivated teacher.” Azazel glanced down at me.
“Motivated… or opportunistic?” There was something a little too knowing in Madame Silenda’s mismatched eyes. I wondered how many people knew that Azazel would hunt down what he wanted, no matter the cost.
The Watcher just smiled thinly. “Opportunity is when Lady Luck knocks on the door of preparedness. I’m always ready to answer.”
Despite his light tone, his hand had crept to the small of my back, and his fingers pressed into my waist.
“We wouldn’t begrudge you what you’ve found.” Celamentum looked over me ruefully for a last time. “Though I wish our procurers had been a little faster.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. All those demons who had been racing out to the crater when I first fell… if Belial hadn’t taken me first, this is the kind of place I could’ve ended up in. Not as a fighter, but as a delicacy of flesh for warped demons like Celamentum and Silenda.
Not for the first time, I said a silent thank you to the prince who had saved me from that fate, pain stabbing my heart at the thought of him.
“Do you have a sorcerer here who fits our needs?” Lucifer asked, his tone light.
Mister Celamentum let out a deep belly-laugh, throwing his head back. “Do I? One of Azazel’s former pupils is here. Come.”
We followed him around the balcony and down a set of winding stairs. Despite their mixed bodies, Celamentum and Silenda moved smoothly, gracefully cutting through crowds and navigating the steps.
The entire time, I tried not to look at the massive eyeball rolling in the middle of the floor. Just because Azazel said it was remains didn’t bring me comfort. It didn’t look quite as dead as I usually liked remains to look, and the enormity of it gave me a headache.
We passed through a small lounge. Some of the demons watched us pass, their eyes gleaming with curiosity, but I forgot all about them when we reached a small fighting ring.
A gilt fence separated the ring from the lounge, and a long bar and polished stools lined the edges. Several identical demons in pure-white suits were already sitting there, silently drinking whiskey. A male with graying hair and scarred face watched from the opposite side with interest as we approached.
“So where’s this former pupil?” I asked Azazel, already rolling my shoulders in anticipation.
Celamentum opened the gate to the ring. “My dear angel, you’re standing right next to him.”
I glanced up at Lucifer in surprise. “I thought-”
Lucifer’s mouth flattened. “Clever.”
“Besides your former master, you would be the biggest, meanest motherfucker gracing my home at the moment.” Celamentum waved a hand, ushering us into the ring. “Don’t go easy on her. We do love a good show.”
I stepped into the ring, licking my lips with nervousness, and Lucifer followed me in. Celamentum closed the gate, and he and Silenda settled themselves on several barstools, accompanied by the ominous creaks of straining wood. “Have a seat, Azazel. Let us catch up on old times while your two protégées beat the piss out of each other.”
The Watcher settled next to them, his violet eyes burning. I doubt this is what he had intended, but… I did have yet to test myself against Lucifer, an idea that was a little too appealing for my own good.
Lucifer brushed back his hair and smiled at me.
“He’s right,” I said, flexing my hand in anticipation of my magic. “Don’t take it easy. That’s not what I came here for.”
“If you insist,” he murmured, and clenched his fists.
Brilliant light spilled between his fingers, like he held a dying sun cupped in each palm.
My own dark fire came roaring to life, prickling my skin as thorny whips spilled from my hands. I swallowed hard, hating the idea of hurting him, but if Lucifer could survive the might of the angels unscathed during the Apocalypse, well… I was likely to be about as deadly to him as a mouse to a cat.
I had all of two seconds to reconsider before his wings snapped out, blotting out the sight of Celamentum, Silenda, and Azazel, and he barreled forward.
The wind of his passage battered me as I ducked aside, just barely missing his fist. His light crashed into the bar outside the gate, splintering wood and sending out flares of light.
The man drinking alone was only inches from the destruction, but he raised his hands and clapped politely, picked a shard of wood out of his drink, and tossed the rest of it back.
“Oh, don’t hold back!” Silenda shouted, sounding enthralled.
Lucifer hadn’t held back, so neither would I.
I sent my thorns snaking after him. They wound up his arms and legs, digging into his wings, and I clapped my hands together, summoning an ebony spear.
This time it was longer, just a touch straighter. Belial would be proud.
Lucifer laughed and flexed his arms so his muscles popped, and the thorny vines dissipated and died under the light spilling off his skin.
I threw my spear. The second it left my palm I was summoning another, ripping it out of the aether of magic by sheer force.
Lucifer ducked easily, his smile becoming a grin. The spear sailed over the heads of the white-suited
