“So it was a reflex? A useful one, at that.” He met my gaze. “So do it now.”
“Do what?”
“Turn incorporeal again.”
“I can’t. Don’t you think I’ve tried since then?”
“I could try to kill you. It worked the last time.”
I held my hands up. “Whoa, now, let’s leave that to plan B.”
“You agreed to submit to me,” Lucifer pointed out.
“And I will, but you’re asking me to do something I don’t know how to do. I think you picked the wrong person for whatever it is you’re looking for.”
“I am an excellent judge of character. I have followed you since the night you tried to contact that spirit, when you reached somewhere you shouldn’t have, have seen glimpses of what you’ve done, of what you’re capable of. I have no doubt you can do exactly what I want.”
“Well, unless you have a how-to guide for it, I’m open to suggestions.”
Lucifer sat back. “I would normally suggest relaxing. Often fear and other emotions can keep a person from accessing powers they have.” He said emotions as if it were an entirely inconvenient fact he was above.
“Are you telling me it’s performance anxiety?”
Ah, there was that wonderful annoyance in his expression again. “Ambrosia can help when a person is unable to control their feelings.”
“There is no way I’m having any of that.”
“I believe you offered compliance.”
“I didn’t realize that meant ingesting that disgusting substance.”
“You argued less when you thought I might demand you sleep with me.”
“Sex is sex. I can get through that no matter how gross I find the partner. Consuming weird corpse plants is something else.”
“I don’t think I appreciate the way you refer to sex with me.”
“Typical man. Even the king of hell can’t let it go if someone doesn’t want to sleep with him.”
He reached into the box one last time and pulled a small metal orb. “Our deal requires your submission to my requests. Since you are unwilling to do as I ask, the next step is to use ambrosia to relax you and try again.”
My stomach churned because I couldn’t stop thinking about those plants, about the way that hand, buried under the dirt, had moved. The thought of consuming that in any way made me sick. “I’m going to be honest and say I don’t think I could even swallow that if I wanted to.”
“Lucky for you, swallowing isn’t necessary.”
I went to make a joke back, but he took that moment to hold the orb in front of me and twist his thumb across the edge. It clicked and a green powder sprayed into the air in front of me.
I jerked backward, but he brought the orb with me. My nose burned even after I tried to snort, to clear anything from my nostrils.
It didn’t work, and that same clouded-thoughts feeling I’d had after drinking last time came back.
It might have been a different delivery method, but it sure as fuck was the same sensation.
I twisted my head, and this time Lucifer allowed it.
He tossed the orb into the box. “That will work through your system quickly. Powdered compressed ambrosia is far more potent than the sort you drank in that bar.”
“Of course you’re the sort of a person who drugs someone against their will.”
“I have been exceedingly patient with you. You offered me one night of submission, one night where you will do as I ask. Instead of that, you have complained and fought me. I am well within my rights to forfeit your deal. Do you understand what that means?”
Honestly, right then I didn’t. I was pretty sure I was at the point where I was amazed by the size of my own hand, so contractual consequences weren’t something I was grasping.
Thankfully, he didn’t require an answer. “You were given your team’s life. I can take that back should you push my patience much further.”
That woke me up, even past the still-creeping haze from the ambrosia. I had no doubt Lucifer could and would do exactly as he claimed.
“I’m cooperating,” I said, dizziness swamping me. It was good I didn’t have to walk because I was pretty sure I’d end up flat on my face. “But even with your gross plant powder, I’ve got nothing for you.”
“We will give it time to work.” He rose, grabbed a water from the bar area, then set it before me. “While we wait, I am curious…why are you trying so hard to solve this issue with the spirits?”
“I live in the world, don’t I? It sort of is my issue.”
“I have seen humans from the start, and if there is one thing I have learned, it is that they are more than willing to sit back and let someone else take the risk. So, Ms. Harlin, what is it that makes you feel this is worth you risking yourself for?”
My words felt liquid, as if they sloshed around in my head then poured from my lips. It seemed the ambrosia was good for more than just trying to get some power of mine to work. It also made me answer questions I had no business answering. “You ever wonder where you fit into the world?”
“No. From the start, I have always known exactly where I belong.”
“Well, aren’t you lucky? Most of us don’t get that.” I shifted and leaned backward, the room spinning. I’d sure had a larger dose than the last time.
“It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
When I fell over toward Lucifer, he set a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back the other way.
“The reality is that knowing where you belong does not mean a person is content there.” He took another drink as if watching a show. “How are you feeling?”
“Pretty damn good.” And…I was.
It was better than the alcohol, as if it reached my bloodstream faster, as if it smoothed over edges the alcohol left sharp. “So, you going to let me in on your little plan?”
“Why do you think I have one?”
“Because I know your type.
