Last Rite (25 page)

He locks me in His gaze and His energy fills me, making me feel like all my insides are vibrating to His unique rhythm. The pendant vibrates to that same rhythm, and I bring my hand up and press it harder into my chest. I’m struck by how different this Lucifer feels. Nothing like the Lucifer from Luc’s apartment. Could it be that when I met Him in Luc’s apartment, He just became what I expected Him to be? What if
this
is the real Lucifer? What if everyone is wrong about Him?

I look into His eyes and something nags at the back of my mind. Even though I know my purpose now, what I’m meant to do … even though it’s staring down at me, waiting for the promise that will start the change … something doesn’t feel right.

I slide to the door. “I’ll come right back. I promise.”

As He lets me go, an electric charge pulses through me, and all the hair on my body stands on end. “Go. But don’t let them make you question what you know to be true.”

Gabe explodes into the living room just as I push through the door into the hall. He sees me and strides across the room. I almost don’t recognize him. His eyes are sunken hollows, his arm is in a sling, and he’s bleeding.

Angels don’t bleed.

Oh, God. What did I do?

Everything inside me goes cold and I feel like I’m suffocating. I glance back over my shoulder toward the hall, not sure what I’m expecting to see there, not sure what’s real anymore.

“Frannie—” Gabe starts, but Grandpa cuts him off. He stares at me as though I just materialized out of thin air.

“When did ya get here?” He turns away from the door as Luc steps through and closes it behind him.

I move slowly toward him, confused. “A while ago. You made me a sandwich. Remember?”

He shakes his head slowly. “I don’t…” but trails off, his brow creasing deeply.

Luc steps past Gabe, his expression intense. His eyes flick beyond me, to the door of my bedroom. “Frannie. Are you okay?”

I nod, still staring at the bloody bandages on Gabe’s shoulder.

Luc looks me over. “Did Matt hurt you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“You’re lucky, Frannie,” Gabe says, his voice measured. I can see behind those tired eyes how mad he is, and I don’t blame him.

I move closer. “No one wants to hurt me. I know what I’m meant for now.”

The anger in his eyes mixes with dread and fear. “He’s been here. You’ve seen Him.”

I nod, even though it wasn’t a question.

He draws a sharp breath and holds it for a second. “Your tag. You haven’t … done anything…?”

Luc is watching the exchange warily, his expression guarded.

My heart races. I need to make them see that everything is okay. Better than okay. I know my purpose now, and as long as Lucifer trusts me, I think I can pull it off. “No. But don’t you see? This is it.”

Gabe charges past me, not even hearing my words, and slams the bedroom door back. I cringe, expecting … something, but instead, he turns back to me. “We need to get you out of here.”

I step up next to him and peer into the empty room. Relief sweeps through me at the same time as I feel a tug of disappointment in my gut.

Gabe strides out of the room and I follow.

Grandpa is standing near the couch looking at me in total confusion. He steps forward and slides an arm around my shoulders pulling me to his side. We sit together on the loveseat. A wary smile pulls at his mouth. “Anything ya wanna tell your old grandpa?”

I shrug. “You really don’t remember talking to me before?”

“He was possessed.” Luc’s voice comes from the corner, where he’s leaning against the hearth.

Everything inside me goes cold. “Possessed?” But then I remember the hint of brimstone I caught and the way his voice seemed to change, and something in my gut tugs tight. “Oh, Grandpa. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come here.”

Grandpa squeezes my shoulder. “Don’t ya even think that.”

But I can’t help thinking that. No matter what I do, where I go, I put everyone in my path in danger.

Luc sees it in my eyes. He always does. “It’s not your fault, Frannie. Ed is fine. He doesn’t even remember it.”

I want to scream, but then a sense of relief settles over me as I realize they didn’t hurt him. Whoever possessed Grandpa didn’t hurt him or me.

’Cause of Lucifer
.

At the thought, understanding dawns.

You belong with me. I will always keep you safe.

Those weren’t Grandpa’s words. They were Lucifer’s.

A flash of fury streaks through me like a red-hot meteor.

It was
Him
.

How could He! Grandpa is old. He could have killed him.

The next thought hits like a swift kick to my stomach.

Matt
.

He was in on it. He left me here with Lucifer, never intending to come back. He never wanted to help Maggie. His only plan was to get me to his boss.

He has your best interest at heart. He’s trying to do the right thing by you.

Lucifer’s words run over in my mind, and I feel my head spin. I close my eyes against the wave of dizziness.

Luc shrugs away from the wall. “Frannie,” he says. “What is it?”

His words wrench me from my thoughts and I realize how cold I feel. I’m sure I’m paper white. I pull my eyes from him. “Is Maggie okay? My family?”

“They’re fine. Faith is with them,” Luc says, earning a pained glance from Gabe.

Gabe slides into the couch across from us, and looks at me out from under thick, white lashes. “What did you mean, Frannie, when you said you know what you’re meant for?”

I breathe back my fury and look up at him. When I think I can talk without my voice shaking, I start slowly and watch his face. “So … you know I’ve always believed I was supposed to be some kind of diplomat—to help people communicate and bring opposite sides together.” I hesitate and Gabe nods for me to continue. I swallow hard and bite my cheek, unable to look at him as I finish. “What if the sides I’m supposed to bring together are Heaven and Hell?”

Grandpa’s grip on my shoulder tightens slightly as he stiffens, and I so wish he wasn’t here—that I hadn’t come here and made him part of this. I glance up for Gabe’s and Luc’s reactions. They share a wary glance.

“If there’s anyone who could do it, it’s Frannie,” Luc says with a flick of his eyes toward me.

“How do you figure?”

Luc lifts a framed picture from the hearth and gazes down at it. “She may be Nephilim, but a part of her belongs to Hell. It always has.”

19

Revelations

FRANNIE

My mind reels. Grandpa sits on the loveseat with me in stunned silence as Luc explains.

“So, Frannie and her sisters are unique,” he finishes. “Gus wasn’t just any demon, so it stands to reason that Hell’s claim to Frannie would be strong. Which explains a lot, if you think about it.”

I
have
thought about it. As shocking as the fact that Grandpa—and therefore me, my mother, and all my sisters—is part demon is, I keep going back to what Lucifer said.

No single being is all evil.

I think for an instant about telling them, but I’m not ready to share that yet. I need to figure out what it means—how I can use it. I’m not sure how, but I know this is it. I can feel it. This is the answer to everything. Maggie, Taylor, Matt. I can fix it all.

Gabe lifts his head from where it rests in his palm and stares Luc down. “We have to get her out of here.”

“No!” I say, more forcefully than I mean to.

He turns his wary gaze on me. “You can’t believe anything He’s told you, Frannie.”

I throw my hands up in exasperation. “What could be bigger, Gabe? Can you think of any bigger use for my Sway? This is it—the thing I was meant for. You’ve always said I could change the shape of Heaven and Hell.”

He stands abruptly. “Not like this.”

Luc pulls himself to a stand. “Think about this for a second, Gabriel. Frannie might be right.”

“You’re not serious!” Disgust twists Gabe’s face. “You’re supposed to love her. How can you just give her up to His control?”

Luc looks for a second like he’s been punched in the stomach. His face pulls into a grimace but then clears. “This isn’t easy for any of us.” His eyes flit to mine then back to Gabe. “But can you imagine if Frannie can bring Him down? It will make Rhenorian’s uprising look like a sandbox scuffle.”

My stomach lurches. “I’m not bringing anyone down,” I say through a dry mouth. “That’s not what this is about. He wants to change … to come back to Heaven. I just need to negotiate a truce.”

“A truce,” Luc repeats warily, his eyes piercing me.

Gabe sinks into a chair and looks up at me. “You’re not suggesting—”

“I shouldn’t even need my Sway. It just makes sense. What greater good could I ever do than … what…? Abolishing Hell, I guess. If I could convince … Him … God … to let Lucifer come home, then everything will be fine—how it was before He fell.”

“Everything was not
fine
before He fell, Frannie,” Gabe says, his face set and his jaw clenched.

“How do you know? You told me you were created
after
the War.”

“I was, but it was called
the War
for a reason. The War was a culmination of a struggle that started much earlier, the root of which was power and pride. Lucifer has had too much power for too long. He’s not going to willingly give it up to return to the fold.”

My mind races and I feel myself bristle. I don’t want to use my Sway to convince them. And I shouldn’t have to. This makes sense. Why can’t Gabe and Luc see that? I can make this happen—no more Hell. This is what I was meant for. It’s the only logical thing. I fix Gabe in a hard stare. “I think you’re wrong.”

Everyone, even Grandpa, looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

Luc steps forward and very slowly lifts his hand to touch my arm. My breathing becomes uneven as he looks hard into my eyes and sweeps my hair back behind my shoulder with his other hand. “Don’t do this, Frannie. Please. He’s dangerous. You can’t seriously believe He’s going to change.”

Everything in me clenches into a hard ball, partly in reaction to being this close to Luc and partly in response to his words. “
You
changed,” I finally say and spin from the room, my heart aching.

LUC

She has a point.

I watch her hurry from the living room and realize I want to believe her. Frannie changed me—everything about me. Could she do the same to Lucifer? I pull a deep breath before turning to Gabriel. “Is it possible?”

He shakes his head as her bedroom door closes, his gaze still trained on the empty hall. “I don’t know.”

Ed, who had been uncharacteristically quiet up until now, looks at Gabriel in stunned disbelief from where he sits on the loveseat. “What’s she talkin’ about—negotiatin’ a truce?”

I shake my head, not able to conceive what that would even look like.

“Frannie is far more than she appears,” Gabriel answers, and I can see him considering the possibility.

But if she tries and doesn’t succeed, I’m not sure any of us would survive it. Gabriel’s troubled eyes find mine, and his expression is pained as he comes to the same conclusion I’ve drawn.

“It’s ’cause of me bein’ from Hell,” Ed says.

I sink into the loveseat next to him. “No,” I answer, even though it wasn’t a question. “And you’re not really from Hell, Ed.”

“May as well be, for all the help I am to Frannie.”

I rake a hand through my hair. “You might be able to get her to listen.”

He stares at the floor and shakes his head. “You know she doesn’t listen to anyone.” His eyes lift to mine. “But what if she’s right?”

“She’s not right,” Gabriel interjects, pulled from his own musings. But he doesn’t say it with any real conviction.

Ed looks between us.

“Why would she be so convinced that Lucifer wants to return to Heaven?” Gabriel asks himself more than us.

I look hard at him. “You’ve heard of the silver-tongued devil? We’re talking about the original. He can make almost anyone believe almost anything. He can’t influence the celestial, but he’s had eons to practice on mortals, which, despite her potential, Frannie still is.”

“She wasn’t ready,” Gabriel says, his voice heavy. “We didn’t have enough time.” He looks up at me, desperate. “She’s not blocking Him.”

My heart squeezes into a hard knot.

Gabriel rips the sling from his neck with a wince and tosses it to the coffee table. He circles his shoulder as he massages it, looking weary. “How did this happen? She was tagged.
Shielded
. He shouldn’t have been able to get to her.”

There, the fault lies with me. “The Mage. I’m sure he led Lucifer in. All He had to do was lure Frannie away from your protection. He did that by using Maggie as bait, obviously. And here we are.”

Ed glances toward the hall. “So, what do we do now?”

I fix Gabriel in a meaningful stare. “Pray for divine intervention.”

FRANNIE

I pace through the room and head straight to the window. Everyone keeps telling me Maggie’s okay, and I want to believe them, but until I can talk to her …

I’m totally torn between going home and staying here. Actually, I’m totally torn over a lot of things. Lucifer was here, and the way we left things, I’m pretty sure He’ll be back. I’m also pretty sure I can’t run from Him. And I’m not sure I want to. I don’t think He’ll hurt me. Maybe I can ask Him to call Hell off my family. Desperation takes hold and I look over my shoulder at the closed door and consider climbing out the window again.

No. I couldn’t do that to Grandpa. Besides, I’m pretty sure Gabe would smite someone if he came in here and I was gone.

I pace my room, trying to calm down, but my breathing and heart rate just get faster. I can’t stand waiting around. I pace another circle then give up. I fling my door open and march down the hall. “I’m going home,” I announce. “I need to see Maggie.”