Demon Bound

fucktard?” Lilith lifted a hand. “Don’t answer that. Obviously, yes. But what did she think it would accomplish? Did she even choose a side, or just decide that killing off the enemies of one group would mean only friends were left, holding hands and singing?”
    “According to Michael, that’s exactly what she hoped would happen.”
    Her mouth fell open. “I was joking.”
    Jake fought the urge to jump when Sir Pup licked his hand. “That’s because you’re evil,” he said, shoving his fists into his pockets. “What’s a joke to you is serious to someone who’s all good inside, with marshmallows and roses coming out her ass.”
    Lilith turned her dark gaze on him. “I forget sometimes why I like you, puppy. Then you remind me.” She used her wineglass to point at Drifter. “So Anaria decided to wipe out a random army to stop a war—and likely had some plan to stop all wars in the same way: by getting rid of one side, so there weren’t any enemies left. Disregarding, for now, the sheer impossibility of that—what would be the point?”
    “Seems her idea had two parts to it. First was getting rid of fear, desperation—whatever drives people to do whatever puts ’em in Hell.”
    “Treating the symptom rather than the sickness.” Hugh pinched the bridge of his nose. “People are the cause of that fear and desperation, not just the reaction to it. She could stop wars, but she couldn’t root out what drives people to fight—on a large or small scale. Everything might look better on the surface for a while, but human nature isn’t going to change.”
    “Well, that ‘better for a while’ is what allows her the second part. For a while, maybe you’ve got less hatred and cruelty—and fewer humans heading down to the Pit.”
    Lilith choked. “To weaken Lucifer?”
    “That’s what she figured.”
    Jake frowned. “How’s that work?”
    “Burning doesn’t just cleanse them, puppy. It leaves the . . .” Lilith rubbed the tips of her fingers together, as if trying to mold a word, a description. “Stain. The dark energy.”
    She didn’t look satisfied with that, but Jake nodded. “The ash. The evil shit that’s left when the rest is released.”
    “Yes. And that energy, that power, belongs to Lucifer—or whoever rules Hell. It allows him to shape his cities, to fortify his magic, to strengthen his lieutenants. It feeds him. So, when Hell runs low on humans, Lucifer isn’t as strong.” She let out a short laugh. “Not as strong . . . but the difference wouldn’t mean anything to most of us. But to a grigori, who he’s taught to use magic, and who might be supported by the nephilim? There, maybe he’s got something to worry about.”
    “And so would the rest of us,” Drifter said. “Because the other half of that is, if she succeeds, that means there’s someone on the throne who doesn’t have to follow the Rules. And if she doesn’t have to, then the nephilim don’t. So she’d be getting rid of the Pit, freeing humans to live in Hell—and using the nephilim on Earth to keep more people from heading on down.”
    Jake shook his head in disbelief. “It’s the same flippin’ thing Lucifer was doing with the grigori, except he was hoping they’d become asshole tyrants. But Anaria would be doing it for the people’s own good—and instead of ten, she’d have a hundred.”
    “More than that if she got around to creating new ones,” Drifter pointed out. “And with them, maybe no more wars, poverty—”
    “No free will,” Lilith interrupted darkly.
    “And that’s the sticking point, isn’t it?” Hugh said. “For Michael—and it is for me. How have those in Caelum responded?”
    Drifter ran his fingers up and down his suspenders before just letting his hands sit at his waistband. Jake knew him well enough to see he was weighing his words—and was reluctant to say them.
    “They’re splitting along the same lines as they did when Michael told us Lilith would be in charge of SI,” he finally said. “There’s some who don’t question him. There’s others who are uneasy and looking to see why and how, but are willing to accept his decision if it all works out to the good. There’s some who just don’t see beyond the ‘demon’ part. And there’s others I can’t read at all and who aren’t saying much. But the worrisome thing is: they’re splitting.”
    Hugh smiled slightly. “It is to be expected. But it does not necessarily follow that the division