Lucifer Reborn Dante King (books that read to you txt) 📖

lowered the first guard back to his feet, sputtering and coughing as the bands of darkness left his nose and mouth. I let Oni keep holding the second guy back, though, just in case.

Lilith watched with an arched eyebrow as my wings slid back into the hollow between my shoulders. Just like before, they left tears in my robes but nothing else save for smooth, untouched skin. I was getting used to that, too.

“This young man attacked me,” Doris said, finding her voice now that the violence was over. “I want him disciplined!”

“Then file a complaint,” Lilith purred, glancing at the ruined stack of forms behind her. “Just make sure you get all of those filled out first.”

Doris turned around, her face going sour. “I won’t forget this.”

“I’m sure,” Lilith said, another heavy sigh wracking her frame. “Luke. Why don’t we go for a walk? There’s obviously something on your mind if you’re accosting my security forces.”

The last of my rage faded. I looked over at Christina and Mareth, both a little ashamed of the looks on their faces and savoring it a bit. The mix of fear and longing when I went over into full-on demonic savage mode was definitely something I could get accustomed to.

“Just us?” I asked, wary. “One of my friends is already missing, Lilith. I’d rather not let the rest of the group out of my sight.”

“‘Friends’,” Lilith said wickedly, making air quotes with her fingers. “If that’s what you want to call them…” She paused, thinking it over. “Fine. Have them follow us at a respectable distance. And please tell your muscled friend to put Fernando down. I can’t afford another demonic Workman’s Comp claim…”

As it turned out, Lilith knew a shortcut to the green. It made me wonder what kind of other secret passages and hidden tunnels might have been built into the Academy—and whether they had anything to do with Maddie’s disappearance.

Outside, a few groups lounged and played sports out on the green. A pair of demonic co-ed’s having a late-night picnic scattered as Lilith trampled right through their spot, treating them with no more regard than she would an anthill. Heads turned up and down the square, watching me walk with the Headmistress with more than a little jealousy. Every demoness here wanted to be Lilith, and every male demon wanted to be with her. It made me realize what a power couple the two of us would make—there was just the little matter of her being married to the fucking Devil…

“The goblin who ran into me as I was taking my evening constitutional through the student commons didn’t have much time to explain what was going on,” she said, stepping around a rock in the path. “He just shouted something about an ‘Archlord candidate’ causing an incident down in the Subspace Commission offices. Of course I knew it had to be you. Whatever is the matter?”

I’d cooled down considerably by this point, but the thought of Maddie made my vision momentarily flash red. “I’m assuming you heard about the visitor I accidentally brought to the Academy?”

“The mortal?” Lilith’s eyes widened a touch. “I thought she was torn to shreds.”

Jesus, I thought, a little taken aback. And that didn’t bother you? Every time I started thinking of Lilith as just a very attractive woman, something came around to remind me she was an amoral monster. Still hot as Hell, though.

“Christina and I saved her,” I said, shaking my head. “I tucked her in my subspace for safekeeping—”

Lilith’s face lit up. “Your subspace is large enough to live in? How wonderful! That’s a very rare privilege—normally only granted to demons of very great power.” A naughty look spread across her face. “You’ll have to let me see it sometime.”

Another flash of that vision rocked my mind. Lilith upside down, her ass in the air as my tendrils put her through a one-man gangbang. I shook my head to dismiss it. I hadn’t found the room where the vision took place yet, but it definitely wasn’t my subspace.

“That’s not the problem,” I said huskily. “She’s missing. Maddie’s gone, and I have no idea where she might be. If she shows her face in public, demons are going to rip her apart…”

Lilith just laughed. “Young man, you should have come to me. Honestly, going to the bureaucracy is a sucker’s move. Nothing in Hell ever gets done by the book—you of all people should understand that. If you’d just visited my tent, we could have come to some sort of...mutually agreeable arrangement.”

It was another attempt to hit on me. I allowed it this time, though: anything that got me closer to Maddie was just fine with me. Okay, maybe it was a huge ego boost to have Lucifer’s wife flirt with me, too.

“You can help me, then?” I asked. “Give me an idea where I should start searching?”

Lilith sized me up for several more steps. I could see in her face she’d already decided to help me—this pause wasn’t about that. More like she was deciding what to ask for in return for the favor. Considering the number of ‘jokes’ about sex she’d made while we walked, I had some idea what she might demand from me.

We were nearly to the end of the green when she glanced behind us. Christina, Mareth, and Oni followed a few steps behind, like Lilith had requested. Both of my women craned their necks, trying to spy on the conversation. For his part, Oni kept his head on a swivel, scanning the area for any potential threats.

“Have you bound my niece yet?” Lilith asked in a too-casual tone. “She seemed so eager for it the last time we met….”

“Was she?” I didn’t remember Mareth making any overtures in that direction—not in front of Lilith, in any case. She’d been nothing but prickly to