Infernal Games by Jenna Wolfhart

23

The silence of Az’s apartment pounded against my eardrums. The quiet was intentional. The walls were thick and soundproof, and we were several dozen stories up in the clouds. Up here, the frantic hustle and bustle of New York was nothing more than a whisper.

But it made my thoughts too loud.

I curled up on the couch and watched Az pace in circles. Anger and despair rushed across his face in waves. He looked ready to throttle someone, and then he looked crushed. On and on and on it went until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Az,” I said softly. “We need to make a plan. Let’s call some of the others here. They might be able to help us come up with something.”

“The others?” He barked out a bitter laugh. “The others are gone, Mia. He took them from me.”

“No.” I pushed up from the sofa and stepped in front of him. He ducked around me and kept pacing the floor. “He’s hidden them somewhere. Probably in Manhattan. If we put enough heads together, maybe we can come up with something. Track them down before our time is up.”

“What heads?” he asked, his voice as sharp as steel. “Valac is gone. Caim is gone. Bael is gone. Phenex is—”

I motioned toward the door as a knock echoed through the penthouse. Az furrowed his brows as I strode over to it and let out guests inside. Serena, Priyanka, Ramona, and Piper poured inside with pizza, beer, and Hendrix.

Az looked dumbstruck as they set up camp in the middle of the living room. Hendrix waddled over to the kitchen to poke around, and the girls spread a subway map across the coffee table. Serena had even rustled up a whiteboard that she propped up in front of a lamp. As I settled onto the floor beside her, she gasped and buried her face in my hair.

“Mia.” Her cheek pressed against mine, damp with tears. “I swear to god, if you ever run off and do something stupid without me again, I will track you down and absolutely obliterate you. I have claws. I will use them.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pulling back. “Things have gotten a little out of hand.”

“I mean...” She blinked at me. “Understatement of the century.”

“Multiple centuries, it turns out.”

She cocked her head. “What does that mean?”

“I’ll explain later,” I whispered. “Right now, we need to focus on why I called you over.”

When Az and I had returned to the penthouse, I’d sent out an SOS to the girls. They’d been more than eager to help, especially when they learned of the demons’ fates. We might not have the experience of the Legion when it came to mystery solving, but we had something just as important. A lot of love and determination.

We immediately go to work, pouring over the map Priyanka had found at the club. The one Valac had spent all those years on, detailing every corner, every building, every room inside this crazy city.

It was...a lot.

“So.” Priyanka glanced up from the section she was studying. “What are we thinking? Could he have hidden them close by?”

“It sounds like something he would do,” Piper said with a nod, her blonde bob bouncing on her shoulders. “You know how much he likes to play games. It’d be like hiding them right under our noses.”

“But surely that’s too easy.” Serena frowned. “Wouldn’t he expect us to start looking in Hell’s Kitchen?”

“He wouldn’t expect us to look in Hell’s Kitchen,” Az said with a growl, stalking over to where we’d set up shop “Because he knows I have no choice but to acquiesce. Searching for the Legion is completely pointless. We won’t find them unless Lucifer wants us to find them.”

“Fuck Lucifer,” Priyanka said with a shrug. “Maybe it’s time he doesn’t get what he wants.”

“She has a point.” I dropped my chin onto my knees and wound my arms around my legs. “Just because he tells us to jump doesn’t mean we have to jump.”

Az shook his head and stormed away. The door of his bedroom slammed behind him, reverberating through the silence. With a soft sigh, I stood and brushed the pizza crumbs off my jeans.

“I should go after him.” I nodded toward the maps. “You three see what you can come up with.”

Pri peered up at me with a sad smile. “I’d say he’ll be okay, but I worry that’d just be a lie.”

“I won’t let it be,” I said firmly, following Az’s footsteps to his room. During the time that I’d known Az, he’d put so much on the line to protect me, to keep me safe. It was time I repaid the favor and did the same for him. I’d do whatever it took to get his Legion back.

I pushed the door open and closed it as quietly as I could. Az stood beside the window, curtains thrown back. He stared out into the darkness of the night. It was late enough that some of the high-rises had gone dark, but the twinkle of the city still lit up his room like stars.

“I know you’re hurting right now, but I won’t let you give up.” I joined him by the window and dropped my head against his folded arms. “You’re Asmodeus, the First Prince of Hell. If anyone can take on Lucifer, it’s you.”

“You really believe that. Don’t you, Mia?”

“I’ve seen what you can do.” I turned to him. “If you used those shadows against him, you could win.”

He frowned. There was little hope in his expression. “Did it ever occur to you that Lucifer’s powers are even worse than mine?”

My stomach flipped. “Sure, but—”

“I’ve failed them.” His voice was pained.

The door suddenly flew open, and the thunder of footsteps followed. A tornado of muscles, sweat, and blood hurtled into the room and slammed right into Az. I stumbled back, mouth dropping when I caught sight of Caim’s familiar head of long dark hair. He clutched his arms around Az, nearly choking all the life out of him.

“Caim?” Az’s voice came out a whisper at first. And then he wrapped his arms around Caim’s back and roared. “Caim!”

I pressed my hand to my mouth, overwhelmed by emotion. Tears poured out of my eyes, my chest shuddering. The relief I felt wobbled my knees, and I had to sit hard on the bed before I tumbled to the floor. I’d had no idea how terrified I’d been until Caim strode in with his big smile and boulder biceps.

“You’re okay,” I whispered, terrified to believe it. Maybe this was another trick. Lucifer could have gotten to the fae and made someone else look just like our Caim.

But no, Caim couldn’t be faked. He was too much personality in that massive frame.

He pulled back from Az and held out an arm. I leapt to my feet and joined the hug, leaning into the both of them. We formed a circle, shoulder against shoulder, thigh against thigh. All the hope I’d had was suddenly magnified.

If Caim was safe, maybe we really could do this.

As if reading my mind, Az stepped back and dropped his fisted hands to his sides. “Where are they? Is Lucifer there with them? How easily can we get them out of where he’s holding them?”

Caim winced. “You’re not going to like this...I have no idea. When the vamps jumped us at the warehouse, we fought like hell. Managed to take out a few of them. Phenex was on the warpath. But one of them sneaked up on me and hammered my face with a massive plank of wood. When I woke up, everyone was gone, and there was a letter left for me.”

Az’s jaw rippled with anger. “Where’s the damn letter?”

“It’s gone. Burned up as soon as I’d read it.”

“Damn witches,” Az cursed. “What did it say?”

“Same thing I’m guessing Lucifer told you, judging by your reaction when I walked through that door.” Caim sighed. “He’s taken the Legion. If you and Mia don’t go your separate ways, he’s going to destroy them.”

Az growled.

“What’s going on out there?” Caim jerked his thumb at the door. “Looks like Legion 2.0 with all the maps and beer.”

“They’re trying to help us find a way to get the Legion back,” I said softly. “We thought we might be able to figure out where Lucifer is hiding them.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “I see.”

“And now that you’re here, you can help.” I paused halfway across the floor. Az and Caim hadn’t moved from their spot beside the window. “Aren’t you coming? We don’t have much time.”

Az and Caim exchanged a weighted glance and then followed me back into the living room. We all settled into our roles, scanning the maps, looking at Valac’s notes. Lucifer had visited New York on at least three dozen occasions during the past several decades. He never stayed long, so it was easy to track his assets and the buildings he owned.

After several long hours, the midday sun poured into the quiet penthouse. I could barely keep my eyes open, and the girls weren’t having an easier time themselves. When I’d nodded off for at least the fifth time, Az finally gathered me into his arms and carried me into his bedroom.

“We need to keep looking,” I whispered, too tired to raise my voice any louder. “We need a list of places to check...”

“You need to sleep first, Mia.” He gently lowered me onto the bed and climbed in beside me. With a sigh, I curled up on his chest, giving up the fight to stay awake.

“I don’t want to sleep,” I whispered as my eyelids grew heavier than an elephant’s feet. I’d definitely been awake for over twenty-four hours, and not a single one of them had been relaxing.

But if I slept, I’d lose the last hours I might ever spend by Az’s side. I wanted to squeeze out every last drop of time we could. In my past life, I could have fought against sleep for days. No such luck now. I might have a little magic in my veins, but I was still one-hundred percent human.

“You can’t keep going like this, Mia.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “At least sleep a few hours. Then, you can pick back up your notepad and pen. You can scribble away your plans as long as you’d like.”

“Not as long as I’d like,” I pointed out. “We don’t have much time.”

“Sleep, Mia,” he whispered.

I opened my mouth to argue. As tired as I was, I couldn’t ignore that we were both in his bed. And there was no telling what would happen tomorrow. Or...later today, actually. Maybe this bed should be used for something else other than sleeping.

I reached toward him.

But he’d done that damn thing to me again. The one that made me rest.

The shadows of the past filled my mind.