15
"Let's get going!" Gabriel's cheery voice dragged me from the best dream. I'd been in Abaddon, in my palace, surrounded by Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer—and baby Ariel. We'd been passing her around and generally spoiling her rotten. Each of us had told her how much we loved her.
When my eyes opened, I realized tears had been pouring out of them. I sat up to find Lucifer had already left the bed.
"Hey," Gabe said. "What is this?" He sat down and wrapped his arms around me.
"Ariel," I said. "I dreamed about her."
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "There's nothing else I can say."
I nodded. I knew what he meant. He couldn't fix things. He daren't say things would get better. We weren't sure they would. We weren't sure we'd ever fix any of our current problems. We might have to come to some sort of terms with them eventually.
I stiffened. Not yet. I wasn't ready to give up, not by a long shot. And when it came to my baby girl, I wouldn't be giving up at all. Ever.
They'd have to kill me to get me to stop.
Gabe pulled back when he felt my body language shift. "Better?"
No. I shook my head. "Not better. But I'm determined to fix this, so crying in bed does nobody any good."
The sun wasn't quite up yet, but since we were an hour behind Mary, it would be dawn at her place. Still, it was a rude time to surprise someone, but we didn't have any time to waste. Every moment Ariel spent in that realm was a much longer period of time and she grew older. And probably more scared of us.
I was still naked from the night before, but it wasn't anything Gabe hadn't seen. I waved my hand and clothes formed on my body. "Let's go."
He saluted me and led the way down the stairs where Michael and Lucifer lounged in the kitchen eating something that smelled amazing.
Michael held out a coffee in a to-go cup and a breakfast sandwich. "Eat on the run?"
I eagerly gulped down the sweet, hot drink and took a big bite of the sandwich. "Fanks." I held out my elbow and Luc rolled his eyes before grabbing it.
Gabe and Michael disappeared before we did, but when we appeared on Mary's doorstep, they were already knocking. Nice.
I continued stuffing my face and gulping down coffee while we waited on the sweet, old witchy lady to open her door.
She did several minutes later in a dressing gown and with a sour expression on her face. "How did I know?"
She shook her head and sighed, but still stepped back so we could walk in. "What now?"
I swallowed the swig of coffee in my mouth. "Didn't you say you know a spell to steal someone's powers?" I asked.
"I do," she said. "It's forbidden amongst those of us with power to use it unless three or more come together and agree. We generally only use it if someone abuses their power to the point of no return."
"You earthly witches are more organized than I thought," I muttered.
"We had an idea," Lucifer said. "We went to Purgatory. We found the angel."
Mary nodded and walked into her bathroom. "Keep talking."
Michael continued for Luc but raised his voice. In a few moments, we heard the unmistakable sounds of Mary having a morning tinkle. I stifled a giggle. She probably wasn't thinking about the fact that our hearing was extra sensitive when she'd left the door open so she could hear us speaking.
Michael talked over the sounds of her bathroom time and managed to keep the amusement out of his voice. "He got some info from Raphael. Ariel is insanely powerful. More than any of us."
The sounds of running water started as she washed her hands. Well, at least she was clean. I smiled at Gabe, who looked like he was about to lose it. Lucifer shot us both a sharp look and we schooled our features as Mary shuffled back through the hall. "I'm going to let Jellybean out. Open that door, he's gotta pee."
I stepped back and opened the front door, and sure enough, in a few seconds, my big goofy Jellybelly came bounding through the house. He stopped and waggled his whole body to greet all of us, then after snuffling his wet nose all over my arms and hands he shot out the door.
"Hang on," Mary said. "He'll be right back."
"You act like you're used to him," I said. "You've only had him what, less than a day?"
She chuckled. "Honey, I have an affinity for animals, didn't you know? I keep a tight lock on it because otherwise, I'd feel the emotions and pains and joys of every bird in the sky or worm in the ground. But I let him in."
"And?" I asked. I was intensely curious why he hadn't gone nuts like the other demons.
"And that dog is loyal to you, Miss Queenie, like no animal I've ever seen. Once I explained he was just visiting me, he was happy as a clam. As long as he knew you were coming back for him."
"He's that aware?" I asked, aghast. What had he overheard?
What had he seen? Ew.
"He is. But it's okay, most animals are. They just can't communicate it to humans."
Jellybean came running back into Mary's apartment and sat beside me, looking up at me with soulful eyes.
I leaned over and hugged him. It wasn't hard, given how enormous he was. "Thank you for being loyal to me, Jellybean. I love you."
He whined and wiggled against me. "He loves you, too," she said. Then she clapped her hands. "Now, why do we need to steal power? You going after Raphael's power?"
I stared at her in shock.
Why in the fuck
