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“Eden, baby, are you sure?” The softened tone of Lulu placated the part of me that felt overly protective.
“Yes!” She swatted away all the hands reaching for her — including mine. “Look… this is all a bit crazy, and I get that, which is one of the reasons I didn’t want to stay here. I knew all this craziness might spill over into your lives. I’m married to a demon and a witch is after him… or us. I’m not a hundred percent sure on that part.”
“A witch!” Catalina pressed her fingers to her brow, her chest and both shoulders in quick succession. “A demon and a witch.”
“Eden, what were you thinking?” Lulu’s face fell.
“I wasn’t!” she yelled before she puffed her cheeks up with air and rubbed a hand over her brow. “I was drunk! It was silly! No one thinks, ‘Hey, you know what would be fun? If we summoned an actual demon just to see how that will spice up our lives!’ We all thought it was ridiculous.”
“Clearly, you were wrong,” Lulu chastised.
“Clearly!” Eden shook her head. She let out a long breath before she turned to look at her grandparents. “I’ll make sure I clean everything up, okay? And for the next little bit, until I figure all this out, I’m going to keep my distance. I know you’re both disappointed in me, but I can’t undo it. I’m sorry.”
The hardness on their faces melted away slightly.
“Eden,” Catalina began. “We’re just surprised, that’s all. This is all a lot to take in, and it’s hard for us to know you would do something we’ve repeatedly told you not to do. We always told you to walk with faith and I know these days your faith has been shaky but this is—”
Eden’s eyes hardened. “I don’t need you to preach to me, Abuela.”
Catalina’s arms crossed over her chest and her hip cocked as she narrowed her eyes. “Eden, I know you are not taking that tone with me about faith right now when you are standing next to a demon. One you married, no less.”
Her frustration was fuel that prevented a being with fire in their blood from remaining calm. I stepped between them, my eyes hard as I looked down at the women I knew I would never be able to harm with anything more than my words. “Your faith would not hide you from me or any demon.”
“Says you!” Lulu argued.
“Yes. Says me.” What a ridiculous argument. As though the lips from which the words came would somehow make them less true. “A demon who has never encountered a faith that meant anything to me.”
Neither one of these women would back down.
What a bizarre concept. That words and ideals could somehow be a sword and armour. That they could battle anything besides my patience. It was clear to me there was no use arguing. The disagreement between the women touched a nerve in Eden. I felt the way her heart beat low in her chest, a sad rhythm so unlike the ones I’d come to know. The breath expelled from her lips was tired as she pinched the space between her eyes and shook her head.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be gone in the morning.”
“We could go now.” I held out my hand, offering her a retreat from a battle she hadn’t the strength to fight. One it was clear she’d fought time and time again, the chinks in her armour showing the strikes she’d taken. “If you so choose.”
“Eden, that’s not what we want,” Catalina’s words were less than reassuring. They still held the weight of conviction in them. “We just want you to realize the path is always steadier beneath your feet when you walk with your hand in the Lord’s.”
“Right. Noted.”
“Eden!” Lulu’s voice wasn’t the masked disappointment Catalina’s was. It was hard. A warning. “We’re not finished.”
Her eyes held a sadness that broke my heart as she looked at her grandmother. “Yeah, I know.”
She took my hand.
There was something that bloomed in my chest with her hand in mine. She gifted me something she held just before me all this time, taunting me. It filled me with something I couldn’t identify as I tightened my hold around her hand and brought her home.
27
EDEN
It had been a long time since I had to argue religion with my grandmothers. It made me feel so small. How could I argue with them about something over thirty percent of the world agreed with?
As my feet set down on the familiar hardwood floors in my bedroom, I sighed in relief.
Asmodeus stood across the room. He leaned back against my dresser making the mirror shake. His reflection shimmered, showing me his red flesh and towering horns before it showed me the man who stood with me now. With eyes that looked too deeply into the parts of me that felt vulnerable and raw.
I cleared my throat, running my hands over the back of my neck as I dropped my eyes. There was something about his gaze that burned me. It pulled at the knot in my stomach and made the key in my chest itch.
