Demon Angel

in his grip.
    Lucifer stumbled back.
    She wrapped her arms around Hugh's waist. He blinked, looked down at her. His eyes were glassy, his breathing shallow. "Get him to a hospital, now," she said when Selah appeared beside them. Lilith could not go, could riot teleport—her anchor was too strong. She would have to follow.
    Selah touched Hugh's hand, and they disappeared.
    The Doyen stared at Belial for a moment, then slowly nodded. He turned to Lucifer. "You will close the Gates upon your return; you have twenty-four hours."
    Kneeling beside Sir Pup, she looked up and met her father's startled gaze. "I lied," she said. "You'd better run, Daddy."
----

CHAPTER 40
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    "Agent Milton!"
    Lilith glanced up from Sir Pup's harness. Detective Preston walked quickly across the federal building's lobby, his hand raised as if hailing a cab. When he saw that he'd caught her attention, he lowered it and increased his pace.
    Detective Taylor remained near the elevators.
    "I don't know yet that I am still 'agent,'" she said. "But I imagine you are here to determine that."
    Preston shrugged. "Just here for our debriefing with Jorgensen and Bradshaw." His gaze fell, and his tree trunk of a throat worked as he swallowed. "I thought Michael had been able to reattach his heads."
    Lilith looked down. Sir Pup grinned at her, panting as furiously as any normal dog. It was easy to return the grin now; until Taylor and Bradshaw had returned to the warehouse, each laboring under the weight of the hellhound's massive heads— before Michael had located the symbol Lucifer had carved beneath his stomach that had prevented his healing—she hadn't been able.
    "Michael did. This is the form he takes in public." Her teeth clenched, but it was not so difficult to add, "Thank you for your help that evening. And I'd appreciate it if you'd extend my gratitude to Taylor, as well."
    "Yeah." He scratched his chin, studied her. "After Lucifer appeared in front of us and"—he made a chopping motion with his hands—"I've decided you aren't so bad. No offense, but she may take a little longer to come around."
    "She may have the right idea."
    "Maybe." His lips twitched before he turned his wrist, glanced at his watch. "We've got to get up there. Good luck, Agent Milton."
    "Thank you," she said, and it fell effortlessly from her tongue.
    Lilith waited until they disappeared into the elevator before urging Sir Pup forward to the next. That was not so easy; she'd have relished Taylor's discomfort. But as the next car stopped at the lobby and opened, a wicked grin spread across her mouth.
    She'd been rewarded for waiting, after all.
    "Good morning, gentleman. You look as ridiculous as always in that toga, Michael." She stepped inside, Sir Pup following at her heels. Rael moved uneasily to the side.
    The doors closed. The hellhound shifted, filling up most of the elevator with his huge form. He turned his left head toward Rael, let his tongue loll.
    The demon flattened his back against the wall, smoothed his hand over his tie. "We have something to discuss with you, Lilith."
    "Do you?" She looked at Michael; a half-smile curved the Doyen's hard mouth. "Have you apologized to him about the fingers?"
    "I did not cut them off," Michael said softly. His obsidian gaze held a slight warning—one Lilith willingly heeded.
    She wasn't about to let any demon have knowledge of Colin's anchor to Chaos. The amputation had been extreme, perhaps, but after Selah had failed to bring the vampire back from the Chaos realm, Lilith had wanted the Guardian to have the strongest possible link to locate Rael and Belial in Hell.
    Lilith simply hadn't known enough about teleporting; and she couldn't have asked if anything less than body parts would have sufficed without exposing her plan.
    Hugh had told her afterward that a drop of blood would have done—unlike teleporting to Chaos, Selah could go Below without an anchor. The blood only gave her a specific location.
    "Any apology I give would be false," Lilith said. "I enjoyed it too much."
    "It hardly matters," Rael said weakly, wiggling his fingers. Sir Pup pressed his flank against the demon's chest. "They healed."
    "That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Lilith said. "I hope whatever it is you want to discuss is half as good."
    Not everything could heal.
    The scars on Hugh's chest were still livid; like she, he would always wear the mark. But it was hard to accept that she'd been the one to put it there.
    But she had