He tilted his head, and Lilith caught a glimpse of a starburst tattoo on his neck. She realized she was holding her breath.
“What, music? Like a band?” She shook her head. “No. Not that it’s any of your business.” This guy was invading her turf, interrupting the only real time she had to herself. She wanted him gone.
“What do you think of The Devil’s Business?” he asked.
“What?”
“As a band name.”
Lilith’s instinct was to get up and walk away, but nobody ever talked to her about music. “What kind of band is it?” she asked.
He picked up a carob leaf from the ground and studied it, twirling its stem between his fingers. “You tell me. It’s your band.”
“I don’t have a band,” she said.
He raised a dark eyebrow. “Maybe it’s time you got one.”
Lilith had never dared allow herself to dream of what it might be like to play in an actual band. She shifted her weight to put more space between them.
“My name’s Cam.”
“I’m Lilith.” She wasn’t sure why telling this boy her name felt so monumental, but it did. She wished he weren’t here, that he hadn’t heard her play. She didn’t share her music with anyone.
“I love that name,” Cam said. “It suits you.”
Now it really was time to leave. She didn’t know what this guy wanted, but it definitely wasn’t anything good. She picked up her guitar and got to her feet.
Cam went to stop her. “Where are you going?”
“Why are you talking to me?” she asked. Something about him made her blood boil. Why was he horning in on her private space? Who did he think he was? “You don’t know me. Leave me alone.”
Lilith’s bluntness usually made people uncomfortable. But not this guy. He laughed a little under his breath.
“I’m talking to you because you and your song are the most interesting things I’ve stumbled upon in ages.”
“Your life must be really boring,” Lilith said.
She started to walk away. She had to stop herself from looking back. Cam didn’t ask where she was going or seem surprised that she was leaving in the middle of their conversation.
“Hey,” he called.
“Hey what?” Lilith didn’t even turn around. Cam was the kind of boy who hurt girls foolish enough to let him. And she didn’t need any more hurt in her life.
“I play guitar, too,” he said as she started back through the forest. “All we’d need is a drummer.”
Cam watched Lilith disappear into the woods of Rattlesnake Creek, suppressing an overwhelming urge to race after her. She was as magnificent as she had been in Canaan, with the same bright, expressive soul shining through her outer beauty. He was amazed, and massively relieved, because when he’d discovered the shocking news that Lilith’s soul was not in Heaven, as he’d expected, but in Hell with Lucifer, Cam had imagined the worst.
It was Annabelle who’d finally told him. He’d gone to her thinking she could slip him some details about Lilith’s state in Heaven. The pink-haired angel had shaken her head and looked so sad when she pointed down, way down, and said to him, “You didn’t know?”
Cam burned with questions about how Lilith—pure, kind Lilith—had ended up in Hell, but the most important one was this: Was she still the girl he loved, or had Lucifer broken her?
Five minutes with her had brought him right back to Canaan, to the breathtaking love they’d once known. Being next to her had filled him with hope. Except—
There was something different about Lilith. She wore a razor-sharp bitterness like a coat of armor.
“Enjoying yourself?” The voice came from somewhere above him.
Lucifer.
“Thanks for the glimpse,” Cam said. “Now get her out of here.”
Warm laughter shook the trees. “You came to me begging to know the state of her soul,” Lucifer said. “I offered to let you visit her—but only because you’re one of my favorites. Now why don’t we talk business?”
Before Cam could respond, the ground dropped out from underneath him. His stomach hurtled upward, a sensation only the devil could trigger, and as Cam plunged down, he pondered the limits of angelic strength. He rarely questioned his instincts, but this instinct, to love Lilith and be loved by her again—powerful as it was—would either require the devil’s clemency or would pit Cam directly against Lucifer. He unpinned his wings and looked down as a blue spot grew and sharpened beneath his feet. He landed on a linoleum floor.
The forest and Rattlesnake Creek were gone, and Cam found himself standing in the center of a food court in a deserted mall. He folded his wings against his sides and took a seat on a stool at an orange laminate table.