“So why didn’t you? You would have been away and free.”
“My freedom isn’t worth anyone’s life but mine.”
That confirmed she wasn’t aware of the trail of spontaneously combusted corpses she’d left in her wake. How would she take the news?
“Let me go,” she said. “I won’t do anything bad. I just want to live a little before…”
“You stole some gold.”
Guilt flashed in her face. “Is that what this is about? Does my lord Asmodai want his gold back? I still have most of it, but I only took a little.”
“It’s demon gold, Shera.”
Her brows drew together. “Demon gold? What does that mean?”
“It’s not meant to be used outside the Abyss. If it’s used by humans they…” There was no easy way to say this. “They spontaneously combust.”
“I think I would have noticed.”
“It doesn’t happen until they try to use the gold.”
“I don’t believe you.” She tugged her hand free. “It’s some trick to make me feel bad.”
“Do you have my phone?”
She gave an abrupt nod, then opened the drawer in the bedside table and gave him his phone. He switched it on, flicked through the news releases, and handed her the phone, displaying the report of the latest “arson.”
She stared at it for long moments, horror sliding over her face. She touched the screen with her fingertip, then looked up at him, her eyes tragic. “All of them?”
“Eight that I know of.”
“Oh God.”
Before he could stop her, she dropped the phone, jumped to her feet, and ran from the room. Carl raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t think she’d go far, but as the front door slammed he pushed himself out of bed and crossed to the window overlooking the beach. Shera ran to the edge of the water and sank down, hugging her knees to her chest and staring out to sea.
He picked up the phone and stood where he could keep an eye on her while he called Ash.
“Why aren’t you back here?” Ash demanded. “Two goddamned days. Where the fuck have you been?”
“How about I don’t bring her back?”
“Not. An. Option.”
“Why not? Just let her go.”
“I can’t. She bears my household sigil.”
“And that means…?”
“Look, I’ve decided not to do it from now on, but right now, all the household slaves bear the sigil. It ties them to me.”
“Not telling me anything useful here. Get to the point.”
“If they stay away more than thirty days they…die.”
Carl shook his head. “Well, I think you’ve fucked up your chances of caring-employer award. Can’t you do some mojo stuff and get rid of it?”
“No. They’re born with it and they die with it. Only way out of that is if someone voluntarily takes the sigil from her.”
“And I bet there are people queuing up to enslave themselves to you,” Carl said, not trying to hide his sarcasm.
Ash ignored the comment. “So if she doesn’t come back, she dies. And that is really not an option.”
“How sweet, but why do I get the idea there’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Let’s just say that her father would not be happy if she dies.”
“Her father?”
Ash took a deep breath. “Her father is…”
“Will you get to the fucking point?”
“Lucifer.”
The blood drained from Carl’s head. “Holy shit. Tell me you are kidding.”
“Nope.”
Carl sank into the seat behind him. This was bad news. Even if she didn’t know about it, latent powers could emerge at any time, often triggered by stress or change of circumstances or…
“Shera was born during the last demon wars,” Ash said. “Her mother had an off-on relationship with Luc for a number of years whenever he stayed at my place. She loved him, but once he left, he forgot about her.”
“Nice guy.”
“He’s fickle—that doesn’t make him evil.”
“Are we talking about Lucifer, here?” Carl could hear the disbelief in his voice. “The devil?”
“Don’t believe everything you hear. But when he didn’t come back, Shera’s mother took it badly. Slit her wrists and threw herself off the tower.”
“So,” Carl said, “there’s a lot of latent power in there somewhere.”
“Maybe, but honestly, she’s never shown any signs… I’m sure it will be all right.”
Carl wasn’t. “I take it he knows?”
“Yes, I told him recently. He offered her a home, and he’s going to be seriously pissed if he finds out we’ve lost her.”
“And we wouldn’t want to piss off Lucifer.”
“Exactly. Luckily, he’s not around right now, so we have a chance to sort out this clusterfuck before he gets back.”
Carl stared out the window at the woman on the beach. As he watched, she swiped a hand over her eyes. Was she crying? Lucifer’s daughter. Un-fucking-believable.
“So, you’ll bring her back.” Ash said.