Demon Angel

line between weakness and full paralysis, and they didn't know how long the effects would last. "Axe," he said finally, and then lowered the edge against the demon's throat. More venom on the blade, but if Hugh used the weapon it wouldn't be to slow him down. "If you move anything but your mouth, I'll take off your head."
    Lilith lifted her foot, stepped onto Beelzebub's stomach and crouched. She held the crossbow between her knees, tipped down so the bolt was aimed at his heart. "We need information," she said. "And it's going to be very simple—you answer our questions, or you die."
    His burning red gaze moved between them. "Kill me. You will anyway."
    "It's true I have not forgotten what you've done to me," Lilith said. "I'll slay you if I can… unless we strike a bargain. I don't kill you, and you answer our questions truthfully."
    Hugh ground his teeth together, but remained silent.
    "It is not equal."
    She smiled. "You aren't in a position to bargain for equality. You have ten seconds to decide, or I kill you anyway. Starting… now."
    At three seconds, Hugh signed, He is too afraid of Lucifer, or that we will be able to stop the nosferatu with what we learn. There is no point in this .
    You have no stomach, Guardian , she signed back with a scowl. "Eight," she sang out, "nine…"
    "You do not kill me," Beelzebub growled, "and I answer your questions."
    "Done," Lilith said, and she glanced at Hugh, her eyes bright with gratitude. They hadn't planned on pricking his vanity with that short exchange, but it had worked. "Why do you need Hugh to be a part of the ritual?"
    "Let me up first. I have agreed to answer."
    "But you did not agree to stay in this room, and letting you up was not part of the bargain." Lilith smiled. "You don't do this very often, do you?"
    Beelzebub's eyes flared at the insult. "The book is an offense to the Morningstar."
    "Yes, but that is not why you need him for the ritual. You must answer the question asked."
    "But I did not say truthfully."
    Lilith's jaw worked, and though she hid her frustration well, Hugh knew she was berating herself for her carelessness in the bargain. A result of the quickness with which she'd had to make it, and an easy mistake, but not one she would take lightly. Hugh could read truth—and there had been truth in the response about the book—but Beelzebub had twisted the bargain so that the question had to be asked perfectly. And without knowing Lucifer's plan, Lilith did not know the questions to ask.
    Hugh did. "Is it because my blood resonates with Caelum's Gate?"
    "No."
    "Lie." He glanced up at Lilith, saw her surprise and the subtle tightening of her mouth. He shouldn't have kept it from her, had hoped it wouldn't be true—hadn't even thought of it before she'd recalled him to the resonance with the Gates. "The ritual couldn't grant access through the Gates, because it requires self-sacrifice in the process of saving the life of another," he said aloud, thinking it through. "So Javier, Ian, and Sue… have any others been taken?"
    "No."
    Hugh nodded—that was truth and in keeping with the wager. "Yet you fought Guardians, must have had their blood. Is it necessary to take it from a human?"
    "Yes."
    "Truth," Hugh said. "Do I have to submit to the ritual willingly?"
    Beelzebub's hand clenched. "No."
    "Lie." He felt Lilith's gaze on him. "Another bolt through his left arm; he can move his fingers. Do they need Lilith's blood to get through Hell's Gate?"
    "No." He smiled tightly as she aimed and fired, his fangs gleaming. "I will enjoy tearing you both apart."
    Hugh glanced at Lilith as she reloaded the crossbow. "That was truth. Only ask questions he has to answer yes or no; be as specific as possible."
    A long process, but Lilith was able to tease out the details of the ritual; she'd been correct in most of it. The nosferatu drank simultaneously, so that there would be no betrayal or inequality among them. One was chosen randomly to receive the full transformation; the others took sips to increase their resistance to sunlight and the daysleep. The bodies had been used to fuel the investigation against Hugh, but the nosferatu had reclaimed them for their cache, so there would be no decay in the symbols. There was no evidence that the body's decay would weaken the transformation, but they did not completely trust Lucifer's ritual.
    Impossible to narrow down the location of the nest, however, except that it was in the Inner Sunset district. No use asking