Demon Angel

nosferatu desired a home—they had been hunted endlessly on Earth by demon and Guardian, and their rejection Above and Below had been their greatest Punishment, even greater than the curse upon them physically—Lilith could not imagine Lucifer allowing the nosferatu control of that much territory. A small slice of it, perhaps, but not all that Belial had claimed.
    And why the transformation to day walking and resistance to sunlight? It would not make a difference Below.
    But it would in Caelum.
    Michael glanced at her; shaken, she lowered her gaze. Her psychic blocks were in place; he probably couldn't read her. Lucifer might have been able, but his attention was focused on the Guardian.
    "Belial is strong," Michael said. "I do not think he will fall easily."
    Lucifer laughed, as if to convey how little the Guardian's opinion mattered. "I will succeed."
    "Will it be as successful as your rebellion?" Michael said, his eyes glinting with mockery. "In your arrogance, you give too much away."
    "Then Belial will have time to contemplate his imminent and inevitable destruction, and his extended torment will prolong my enjoyment."
    Lilith bit her lip, but looked up in dismay when Michael said her name.
    "Of course, Lilith plans her own rebellion."
    "I am meek," she said quickly, flexing her talons. "Never rebellious."
    "Hugh will not break; and, already, he manipulates you," Michael continued, still speaking to Lucifer as if she were not there. "Certainly you realize it was his intention that you should send her back to Earth, knowing you would choose to cause her the most pain by fulfilling the bargain? Truly, you do exactly what the human has desired."
    Lilith sucked in a sharp breath.
    She felt Lucifer's anger, quickly suppressed. Of course, he would never admit to being surprised or lacking knowledge. "Yes, I'm aware of his puerile attempts to manipulate me. But he has broken—has lost his humanity. My Lilith knows this well; it was that which led to her death." He rose to his feet, stood before Michael. "And what was it that broke him? That girl, and thinking that she had been killed. Easy enough to arrange like circumstances."
    Wrong, Lucifer. Lilith smiled to herself, though she betrayed it by neither thought nor expression. It hadn't been that Savi had been shot; it had been the decision he'd made, that he'd no longer hold an ideal over human life. It had been reclaiming his will, his freedom—and his break had come from knowing that the only way to give Lilith hers was death. He'd nearly destroyed himself when he'd slain her.
    "And your halfling will exacerbate his grief and bring about his death?" Michael shook his head. "He will find a way to save himself, do not doubt it. He has thwarted her before; he will again. Even human, he is stronger of mind than she. He is stubborn, and cannot tolerate failure in himself."
    "A delightful flaw," Lucifer said.
    Lilith clenched her fists, glaring at the Guardian. "One I shall happily use against him."
    "Do you think so, daughter?" The demon's voice was soft. But though he probably would have liked nothing better than tossing her in the Pit, Lilith had already told Michael she was returning to Earth to fulfill her bargain. If Lucifer changed his mind now, it would appear he had not known of Hugh's manipulations.
    Michael smiled, as if realizing Lucifer's difficulty. "She is your last halfling; therefore, I suppose she is the best of that failed experiment? I offer a wager. Your halfling's skills against my former pupil's resistance to them."
    Lilith's lips parted in shock. Was he mad?
    "What are the terms?" Lucifer asked, his eyes gleaming. "Do you wager your sword?"
    "Should Lilith be the direct cause of his death, through whatever skills she employs personally —she cannot instruct a nosferatu to kill him, a more capable demon to torment him, nor manipulate another human into killing him—I will open Caelum's Gates to you and your kind for eternity. If she fails, you close Hell's Gates to Earth for five hundred years."
    "It won't require skill," Lilith said dryly, though her heart pounded. "In sixty years I can jump out of a closet at his retirement home and induce a heart attack."
    "And it must be done within the next fourteen days," Michael said. "Furthermore, you must discontinue the rituals until the end of the wager; his grief acts as an outside influence. The nosferatu must be dependent upon you for knowledge of how to perform the ritual; refuse to do it, and