Hexed (23 page)

David parked in front of her apartment building. “So. Now what?” he asked.

Kiss
me
, she thought.

Lucifer pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to focus. “Now we find the book,” she said.

“How? We don't know who mugged you.”

“Whoever he was, he came to Olivia's house looking for it. He knew she had it and that I came to get it from her. So chances are he knows someone Gina knows. Someone who knew about the book and what happened at the Worcester House. So I want to talk with her friends again. Maybe I missed something, some clue that will lead me to him.”

“Gina's dad might have caught him already.”

“I hope not,” Lucifer said. “He's the only human link we have to Gina and I'm afraid Buck would probably kill the guy if he ever found him.” Lucifer gathered up her damp clothes and opened the car door. She said, “I have to run up and get some clean clothes and a pair of shoes. You mind waiting?”

“Not at all.”

Lucifer stepped out of the car but turned back before closing the door. “I might be a while. So, you can come up if you want.”

It didn't occur to Lucifer what she had done until they were halfway up the stairs to her apartment. She just wanted him close because she was afraid that he would leave if he waited in the car. However, inviting him up to her apartment might give him the wrong impression. But David was nice. He wouldn't think that's what Lucifer meant. Would he? He was a high school senior, handsome, star athlete with a beautiful girlfriend. Even though Lucifer didn't know anything about dating or boys or sex, she knew that it was foolish to believe David didn't have at least
some
experience with girls.

Lucifer kept running the possible scenarios through her head. What would she do if he did think that's why she invited him up? What would she do if he didn't?

She stopped in front of her door and gritted her teeth. Lucifer was preoccupied with David when she should be thinking about helping Gina. She had to get her back from the fabled city of Witchdown. Daydreaming about a boy wasn't going to help her with that. She had to stop. It was time to get serious.

But what if he wanted to get serious?

Just
stop!

“Lucifer? You all right?”

She looked back at David. “Huh?”

“You've been staring at the door for a while. Just wondering if you're going to open it.”

“Oh, yeah.” Lucifer fumbled through her trick bag for her keys. She turned the lock and said, “Don't touch anything. Most of the things in here are a bit dangerous.”

After they stepped inside, Lucifer became acutely aware of just how strange everything must have looked to David: the lack of furniture, the overabundance of books, the ancient artifacts, and a handful of stuffed animals, each marked with various symbols on various appendages, strewn about in a chaotic system that Lucifer had to admit she only pretended to understand. Lucifer thought to ask David to sit down since she assumed that's what hosts were supposed to do, but there was nowhere for him to sit other than her leaky beanbag chair. She had never had company before, so there was no need to waste money and effort on nice furniture. One of the only benefits of not having any friends.

Lucifer draped her clothes over the horns of a Culler Demon skull she had slipped over the head of a punching dummy. “I'm going to take a quick shower. My skin is itching from the saltwater.”

David nodded, seemingly too distracted by the wealth of curiosities Lucifer had throughout the apartment.

After Lucifer quickly rinsed herself off, she threw on a pair of worn-in jeans and a faded T-shirt with the British Union Jack across the front. As she dried her hair, she stepped into her bedroom and said, “You really don't want to touch that.”

David looked back at her like a toddler caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was holding a bedsheet in one hand and standing in front of Lucifer's standing mirror: the doorway into the Aether.

Lucifer wasn't sure what she was expecting when she came out of the shower, but it was obvious that David wasn't planning on anything physical happening between them. Though part of her was relieved, part of her was a little disappointed.

All of her was thoroughly confused.

“I was just going to see if I was the fairest of them all,” he said, flashing his crooked smile. Lucifer didn't need a magic mirror to tell her that, yes, he was indeed the fairest of them all.

“Ha ha, funny,” she said. “But unless you want to talk to the Keeper of Secrets, you might want to take a step back. That's a portal to the Aether.”

David took two steps back, his smile gone. “What do you mean, ‘portal'? You're saying this actually goes to other dimensions?”

Lucifer took the sheet from him and draped it over the mirror. “No, just the Aether.”

“That's the place where the war took place. The one you were telling me about.”

“Yep. That's the place.”

As Lucifer finished toweling her hair dry, David said, “And the Harlot, the Keeper of Secrets lives there.” The way he said it made the hair on the back of Lucifer's neck stand up.

“Yes,” she said, not bothering to hide the edge in her voice.

He turned to her and pointed to the mirror. “Lucifer, if the Harlot knows everything, we can ask her how to get to Witchdown.” The look in David's eyes turned Lucifer's stomach. She had seen that same look a hundred times, that hunger for impossible answers. It was the same look gamblers had when they were convinced the next turn of cards or spin of the roulette wheel was going to bring them the fortune they so desperately needed to turn their lives around.

“No, David.”

“No? Lucifer, she could tell us what we need to know.”

“Yes, she could. But not for free. See, that's the trick with the Harlot. She sells her secrets to anyone willing to buy them, but the price is always too high. Always.” She grabbed a pair of sneakers and slipped them on. “Besides, I already asked her.”

“What did she say?” David asked.

“Nothing. I didn't pay. I told you, the price was too high.”

“I can get us money, Lucifer,” he said. “I have some saved, and my parents will give me a loan. Hell, I'll start a Kickstarter if I have to.”

Lucifer needed to nip this in the bud. She had seen countless people give away too much for too little too often. She wasn't about to let that happen with David. “Listen to me,” she said. “The Harlot doesn't take money. Why would she? She has no use for it. She takes other things. It could be a kidney, a favorite memory, or your ability to use verbs. Whatever it is, it's something that you're going to miss.”

“What was the price, then?”

“David—”

“Tell me, what did the Harlot want?”

“My emotions. All of them. I would have had to give up all my feelings. Forever.”

David stood in silence as the lustful look in his eyes slowly dwindled. Lucifer was thankful he was smart enough to know just how awful paying such a price would be.

“David,” she said. “We don't need to ask the Harlot because we already have the answer. That's why we summoned the Witch of Cape Vale. The book will tell me how to get to Witchdown. I find the book again, I'll get Gina back.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You have to trust me, David. This is my world. I know what I'm doing.”

He stared at the covered mirror for a moment before nodding in acquiescence. “Where do you want to start?” he asked.

“Isis. She blew me off pretty hard when I talked to her at the mall. I'm sure it was because I was the one who shinned her boyfriend in the balls, but I don't want to take any chances. Can you take me to her house?”

“Yeah, but she won't be there. She'll be at Ethan's house. They drive to school together. At least I assume she'll be there. She and Ethan are on-again off-again every few months. Right now I'm pretty sure they're on-again.”

She tossed her trick bag over her shoulder. “Let's go.”

Ethan's place was modest compared to the larger homes in the tiny subdivision, but a half-finished addition sticking out of the side of the house indicated that its modesty would be short-lived. When Lucifer and David reached the front door, David turned the handle and walked inside.

“What are you doing?” Lucifer asked.

“Ethan's a good friend of mine. I'm practically family. Come on.”

David led her through the house into a back den where Ethan sat on a leather sofa, eyes glued to a nature program on the widescreen TV in front of him.

“Hey, Ethan. Is Isis with you?”

Isis walked into the room from a hallway on the far side and said, “Uh, not for long if he keeps acting like an ass.”

David leaned over to Lucifer and whispered, “And about to be off-again.”

Isis looked at Lucifer with absolutely no expression before smiling at David. “Hi, David.”

“Hey, Isis. Got a sec?”

Isis glared at Lucifer. “For you, David, yes. Her? Hell no.”

“Ethan, have you seen my briefcase anywhere?” a voice shouted from upstairs.

“It's on the kitchen table, Mr. Sinkowicz!” Isis shouted back.

“Thank you,” the disembodied voice responded.

“Hey, Ethan. David's here. Ethan!”

Ethan yanked his gaze from the TV and said, “Why are you shouting? I can hear you. Damn, girl, give a guy a chance to respond.”

Isis rolled her eyes. “All morning like this.” Isis turned to Ethan as he walked over. “Did you hear your dad shouting at you?”

“Oh, I've been tuning him out since I was twelve. What's up, brah,” he said as he gave David a bro-hug. When he saw Lucifer he said, “What's nut-punch devil skank doing with you?”

Lucifer chuckled. “I was in a band called Nut-Punch Devil Skank once. Had to break up when the accordion player left, though.”

Ethan mockingly sneered before turning to David and asked, “How's Gina? Hear she's got the plague or something.”

“She's . . . getting better.”

Lucifer turned when she heard footsteps. Ethan's father walked into the den and said, “Ethan, I'm heading to work. Don't be late getting to school or I'll—”

Lucifer went at the man with a spinning back-fist that connected right on his chin. Ethan's father fell into a heap at her feet. Ethan was on her in an instant, putting her in a full nelson and dragging her away from his father. “What is your issue, bitch?”

Lucifer brought her heel up into Ethan's groin. When his grip loosened, she spun out and drove the flat of her palm into his solar plexus. All the air went out of his lungs, and Ethan fell to his knees. But as soon as Ethan was down, Isis was on her back, clawing at her hair.

“Keep your hands off my boyfriend you filthy—”

Lucifer grabbed Isis by the shoulder joint and tossed her head-over-heels on top of Ethan, who was struggling to catch his breath. Isis yelped when she landed. She and her on-again off-again boyfriend were tangled in a terribly unflattering arrangement. David lunged forward and grabbed Lucifer by the shoulder but let go and put his hands up when she readied to put him down as well.

“Whoa, whoa, Lucifer, be cool! What's gotten into you?”

Lucifer turned and saw that Ethan's father was gone. She broke into a run, but David grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. “Lucifer! What the hell are you doing?”

“David, that's him!”

“Him who?” David asked. “What are you talking about?”

“That's the guy who mugged me!” Lucifer pulled her arm free and started running down the hallway. “Ethan's father has the book!”

CHAPTER 21

Lucifer was out of the house and running just as Ethan's dad was backing his car out of the driveway. The tires screeched, and thick billows of blue smoke rolled into the front yard. Lucifer ran into the smoke and made a beeline for the silver sedan. It was a Mercedes-Benz with way more power than anyone ever needed in a car, and Ethan's dad was whipping every horsepower it had into a frothing stampede. The tire smoke stung her eyes, giving her a painful reminder of what Ethan's dad had done to her. But this time, the pain was bearable. Nothing was going to stop her getting her hands on him and that damn book.

A mail truck skidded to a halt just as the Mercedes-Benz backed out into the street. Ethan's dad accelerated, fishtailing the back end of the car into a pickup truck parked on the side of the street before screaming down the block. Lucifer didn't lose stride as she ran out into the middle of the street, chasing after the swerving car.

Ethan's dad was around the corner and out of sight in a matter of seconds, but Lucifer didn't slow down. She could hear the roar of his engines echoing through the neighborhood. She cut across a perfectly manicured lawn and parkoured over a redwood privacy fence, using the car's roar to guide her. She passed two gardeners bent over a flower bed and rolled through a gap under a row of hedges to find herself back in the middle of the street. She ran, ignoring the honking and yelling behind her. She didn't care how much she slowed traffic. She was going to catch this guy or get run over trying.