From across the house came the faint sound of my phone ringing, saving me from having to answer Jophiel. I set the coffee mug down and hurried to the guest room just in time to see Brandy’s name flash across the screen.
“Hey Brandy.” I glanced at the hallway, out where Jophiel was, and decided to step onto the balcony. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Good, actually. How are you though? I’ve been texting you, but you haven’t answered. I got worried and had to resort to actually using my phone to make a call, ick.”
I laughed, and it was so nice to have a moment of levity after the events of the last few days. Damn, I missed Brandy and her cheerful, stubborn exuberance. No matter how much life shit on her, she always found a reason to smile.
“Things are…complicated,” I admitted. “I’ve learned a lot of things over the last few days that have made me question my entire life.”
“What sort of things?”
I leaned against the balcony railing and stared across the bay covered with wispy fog, while the cool air tickled my hair. “Things like I’m supposedly Lucifer’s soulmate. And I’ve lived hundreds of lives before this one.”
“What? Like some reincarnation thing?”
“Exactly like that. Lucifer finds me in each life, but our happiness never lasts.”
Brandy let out a low whistle. “That’s some deep shit right there.”
“No kidding. I’m at my sister’s house now. Which is also complicated.” I blew out a breath, suddenly really tired of my problems. “Tell me what’s been going on with you. Did you get home safely? How’s Jack? And Donna?”
“They’re both good, and yes, I got home fine. Lucifer made sure of that. He also paid all our bills for this month and the next, to cover the time off we both had to take from work. I could hardly believe it.”
“I had no idea.” I pressed a hand to my chest as the longing for Lucifer became so strong it actually hurt. It was just like him to do something like that, without even telling me.
“I thought I was done with demons,” Brandy continued. “I told myself it was for the best, too. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Mo, I mean, Asmodeus. Then he showed up at my front door in the middle of the night. He said the two of you talked, and then he got in his car immediately to come see me. So whatever you said to him, thank you.”
“I just told him he should talk to you. The rest was all him.”
“And we did talk, and so much more…” She giggled, like she was sharing a naughty secret. “Let’s just say the Lilim’s reputation as sex demons is well-deserved. Then he went trick-or-treating with me and Jack. Can you believe that?”
It was hard to imagine Asmodeus going trick-or-treating with a little kid, but it definitely proved he cared a lot for her, and made me like him even more. “Asmodeus said there might be a way for you to be together?”
“He told me the same thing, but it sounds dangerous. He’s gone back to Vegas to speak to his mother about it.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “It’s crazy but…I think he’s the one. Maybe this soulmates stuff is actually real. I mean, I never in a million years would’ve guessed I’d fall for a demon, or that they even existed, but here we are.”
I stared across the bay, though my heart was somewhere else entirely. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“Do you?” Brandy asked. “Because if so, then what the fuck are you doing at your sister’s house?”
I bit out a laugh at her bluntness. “Like I said, it’s complicated.” I closed my eyes as my voice lowered to almost a whisper. “He's the devil, Brandy. Red eyes. Black wings. Hellfire. The actual devil.”
“Well, no man is perfect.”
“I’m serious. I've... I've seen him kill people.”
She was silent for a moment. “Did they deserve it?”
I chewed on my lip as I considered. “One was involved in your kidnapping. The others tried to kill me.”
“Then you have your answer. He was protecting his family in the only way he knew how. Just like you did when you came to Vegas to find me.”
“That’s not really the same thing…”
Her voice softened. “Hannah, you have the best heart of anyone I know. Follow it, and I know it won’t lead you astray.”
My throat choked up a little at her kind words. Jophiel may call herself my sister, but Brandy was the one who’d always been there for me and never kept secrets. She was the true sister of my heart. If she thought I should give Lucifer another shot, even after knowing everything we did about demons, then maybe I wasn’t crazy for wanting the same thing.
“I love you,” I told her, my pulse racing faster as I made my decision. “And I’m going to follow my heart. Back to Vegas.”
“I love you too, and you better call me and tell me everything that happens.”
“I will, I promise. Say hi to Jack and Donna. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
“As long as Lucifer keeps paying your bills, it’s not a problem,” she said, with a joking tone. “But seriously. I won’t ever forget what you did for me. I’ve got your back, no matter what happens.”
“Thanks, Brandy.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up, promising to keep each other updated. I wanted to hear what happened with Asmodeus too, and if they found a way to be together. But first I had to get back to Lucifer. I wasn’t sure about much of anything anymore, except that I only felt like myself when I was by his side. Maybe he was a villain to the rest of the world, but to me, he’d always been a hero.
I went inside and put back on the sparkling black gown and
