Which is what would start happening if Luke prevented the demons from possessing people for too long.
“But how did they die?” I asked. “You said they shifted into human form; then what?”
“Then”—Luke swallowed roughly—“they shriveled up and turned to dust.”
Luke pulled out his cell phone and brought up a few pictures to show us. There were shots of a man's dehydrated corpse; sunken eye sockets and tight, leathery skin like a mummy. Then there were pictures of piles of dust in the shape of a body.
“This isn't possible,” Azrael whispered.
“I know!” Luke shouted. “It simply can't happen!”
“Dad, calm down,” Azrael laid his hand on his father's shoulder. “We'll figure this out. Our people are safe for now, and we'll do whatever we have to do to keep them that way.”
Luke hung his head and cried; just wept like a broken man. Azrael gave me a horrified look before he pulled his father into a hug. I was as astounded as Az; I'd never seen Luke this way. In fact, I doubted that anyone had ever seen Lucifer Morningstar like this. Maybe Holly had; back when Luke decided to surrender to Jerry and become the Devil in order to save his friends. But I had a feeling that Lucifer had faced that decision bravely; knowing it would save the people he loved. This was the opposite; he was faced with the possibility that he wouldn't be able to save anyone.
“Alan and Mark were my friends,” Luke sobbed. “I've known them since I first joined the pantheon. For them to be taken in such a way—without even the chance to fight back—is horrifying.”
The Devil found something horrifying. Whoa.
“Could this be an exorcism gone wrong?” Odin asked.
“No,” Luke said as he sniffed and eased out of Azrael's arms. “Exorcism simply releases a demon's soul, and the soul is pulled straight back to its body. The possession is a type of astral projection; it can only be done on a believer. The demon convinces its host that it doesn't hold the power to expel it, and then human will takes over and holds the demon soul captive. If an exorcist intervenes—which is usually the case—the priest convinces the possessed human that he or she has been saved, and the human will releases its hold on the demon. If one of my demons are gone too long, I just call them back using our link.”
“Did you try calling Mark and Alan back?” Azrael asked.
“I was too late with Alan, but I tried with Mark,” Luke said. “I couldn't find him.”
“You couldn't find him?” Odin asked in surprise.
“His soul wasn't there,” Luke whispered.
“Let's think about this another way,” I suggested before Satan started sobbing again. “Forget the fact that they were astral projecting at the time; what could do that to a demon? What could do that to any of us?”
“Make us look like a mummy and then turn us into dust?” Luke asked. “I have no fucking idea.”
“Dad!” Azrael gaped at his father.
The Devil never cursed.
“I'm sorry,” Luke said and sighed. “I'm distraught, but that's no excuse for foul language.”
“It's fine,” I said. “The children are upstairs; swear all you want.”
Luke smiled wanly at me.
“The only time I've ever seen anything like this is...” I let the sentence trail off as my attention turned inward.
“Yes?” Luke urged.
“It was in one of those altered timelines; the ones we just experienced because of Aion,” I said. “I had taken Blue's magic and became the Vampire Goddess.”
“Why do I find that so sexy?” Azrael asked as he blinked in surprise.
“It was, kind of,” I admitted.
“You killed Blue?” Odin asked, and then prompted. “And then what?”
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I killed Blue's priests too, but I didn't do it physically; I just cut them off from the magic. They died like that.” I pointed to Luke's phone.
“Cut off from your magic,” Luke murmured thoughtfully. “That would explain why I couldn't find Mark.”
“Vampires are technically demigods,” Odin said with squinty-pensive eyes. “They're dependent on their god for magic; as the Froekn and Intare rely on Fenrir and Vervain for theirs.”
“Intare don't die like that,” I said. “Neither do Froekn.”
“They might if you killed them by cutting off their immortality,” Luke said. “But I feed my demons; I would never do that to them.”
“Not when they're possessing a human, you don't,” Azrael reminded Luke. “That's the one time that they gather energy for themselves.”
Luke went very still; his gaze unfocused and the area around his eyes twitchy.
“Dad?” Azrael asked.
“During possession, my connection with my demons is at its weakest,” Luke said. “I sustain their bodies for them while their souls wander; this divided attention thins my bond to their souls.”
“It looks as if someone has found a way to exploit that weakness,” I pointed out.
“But why?” Azrael asked. “Why kill demons?”
We all looked at him with bland expressions; even Luke.
“Yeah, all right,” Azrael huffed. “But only humans think of demons like that; the Gods know that Demons are just Atlanteans—no different from themselves.”
“Then it's either a god who wants to hurt Luke,” Odin said.
