Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(108)

And my mouth closed because there are some things that do not require comment.

Halfer stopped, his body primed with tension. “My crimes?”

Lucifer regarded him with obvious distaste. “Yes, Brixalnax. Do you really think you were able to capture an angel? Only one demon has ever captured an angel before. It was long before your petty existence began. Would you like to know how that turned out?”

I raised my hand. “I totally would.”

Lucifer Morningstar utterly ignored me. “The angel allowed himself to be captured, and he created havoc down here. Your angel was almost surely a spy. Do you think I have no plans I would like kept from the enemy? Do you think I plot and commit atrocity after atrocity so you can fall into an angel’s trap and screw everything up?”

I decided to hold my tongue and attempt to look very non-threatening, but inside I was totally pointing and laughing. Oh, I was probably still going to be tortured for eternity, but it looked like old Brix would be there beside me. I certainly wasn’t about to point out that Felix allowed himself to be captured for love rather than tactical reasons.

“I was very clever in my capture,” Halfer argued, trying to find a way out of this situation. “I came upon him unawares.”

“He is never unaware.” Lucifer scowled. He was really good at scowling.

Halfer’s eyes narrowed to black slits. “How can you know that, My Lord? You were not there.”

“I know that because I was an angel, you idiot.” Lucifer’s eyes brimmed with red fire. They were endless, those eyes. They seemed to get bigger with every word he said. “We’re only safe from their awareness on this plane, yet you offer one room and board. Then when the angel escapes, you choose to break our contracts with the vampires by killing a companion. You killed a companion, a soft, fuzzy little blood bucket. How is that supposed to help anything?”

“You don’t know her, My Lord,” Halfer explained hurriedly. “She looks like a bimbo, but she’s actually quite formidable in an obnoxiously lucky way.”

I could have argued that luck had nothing to do with it. I could have proclaimed that I was a badass who killed when I needed to and had beaten back not one, but two of this plane’s bad boys. I could have said all those things, but I was far too busy making my hazel eyes really wide and doe-like. I gave Hell’s leader my best “I’m not quite following this conversation” look.

Lucifer waved off that line of thinking. “Bah, her only value is to the vampire master she feeds. The vampires are serious about their precious blood, and even a weak vampire could cause trouble between demon kind and vampire kind, but you had to kill the bloody Nex Apparatus’s companion. Do you have any idea what he was about to do to you? He is pivotal to everything that’s about to happen on the Earth plane, and you turn him against us?”

“I did not know of your plans, My Lord.” Halfer got to his knees, his head bowed.

“And I did not realize you required a daily update in order to follow my rules.” There was a certain finality to his words as though judgment had already been passed. “I’m not going to kill you, Brixalnax. I’m going to let Mr. Donovan handle it. Perhaps if he’s busy hunting you down, he won’t turn his rage on my smaller soldiers. I cast you from Hell, Brixalnax.”

Halfer’s head came up. “My Lord, I have served you for centuries.”

“And you failed me today,” Lucifer replied with no mercy. “You’ll wake up on the Earth plane and your powers will be diminished. You may keep your strength and your present form, but I suggest you run because I have no doubt there will be an angry vampire on your heels. If I were you, I would hope Mrs. Donovan survives.”

“I’m alive?” I asked, finally piping up because I was pretty damn sure I was dead. I’d felt the enormous loss of blood, and I knew I had stopped breathing. I’d done the whole “watching my body from above” thing.

“Even now your husband is attempting to revive you. I can’t promise you it’s going to work, but shoving your soul back into your body may be the jolt of energy you need.” The Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar, rolled his eyes and waved his hand. “Now be gone, you annoying children. I’ve spent enough time on your foolishness.”

Lucas Halfer looked at me with hate in his soon-to-be mortal eyes. I knew without a doubt he would be coming for me. “I’m going to kill you, bitch.”

“Not if I kill you first,” I replied, and then I was shoved back into my broken body.

I came to myself in a roar of pain, but I barely managed a whimper. I went from feeling perfectly fine to horrific agony all in an instant, and the forceful change caused my body to jerk. I struggled to open my eyes as I tasted blood on my lips. It was that rich, velvet of Daniel’s. I forced my tongue to lap it up.

“That’s right, baby,” Daniel said, his voice past desperation. He held his wrist to my mouth, and I felt his tears hit my forehead.

I was lying with my head in his lap, and I could feel the blood running down my cheeks. Later, I understood that Daniel had been trying to get me to take the blood for several minutes with no luck. It ran out of my mouth, and Marcus had tried to get him to give up. Daniel simply opened his wrist over and over, refusing to admit that I was gone.

“Drink, Zoey,” he whispered, getting his head as close to mine as possible. “Come back to me. Don’t you dare leave me.” His free hand caressed my face as though to reassure himself that I was still warm and alive. “I’m so sorry I left you. Please forgive me.”