Page 20 of Demon Demands

Normally the vampire was a nosy asshole, so it was shocking for him to not want to be a part of whatever was about to be said. Forcefully dragging the grumpy mage behind him was even more out of character for him.

As he passed me, I caught him aggressively whispering to a snarling Palmer, “Shut the fuck up. I’m trying to help you.”

That was something to revisit later. I focused my attention back on Lucifer, watching dread and unease play across his features.

“Lo,” Lucifer began slowly. “My darling monster. I did something when you were young, and I may have misjudged the repercussions of my actions.”

Sloane rolled her shoulders back, narrowing her eyes at her grandfather.

“Elaborate,” she demanded. “And don’t twist your words, Lucy.”

He sighed, holding decades of secrets in that single sound. “I was given a special power by God before I was cast from Heaven, one that God couldn’t take away from me. It has an angelic name, but it translates to the gift of gifting.

“When you were but a babe, I gave you a power that many had been seeking from me. I thought I was hiding it, but I don’t think I did a very good job. I should have told you sooner, but I suppose now is better than never. I think, maybe, it will help you piece together some of your problems. With yourself and the unseen force you’ve been fighting.

“The power that I gave you is the gift of mimicry. You didn’t gain powers from your Druid mate, you’ve been subconsciously copying his affinity for earth manipulation through your bond. It’s the reason why your wings are modeled after that of an angel, why your demon resembles Lilith’s, and the reason you were able to see the things that your dragon friend can.

“With a little more training, you could use that power to mimic so many others, but not all of the copied powers become a part of who you are. You’ve been doing this your whole life, and I know it’s been a source of confusion. I am sorry for that, but not for bestowing it to you.”

Lucifer paused, his eyes meeting Sloane’s for the first time since he’d said her name. She shook her head as she digested his words, and he held out a hand, silently asking her to let him continue.

“When God gave me this curse — because it was never meant to be a gift — he did so with stipulations. I can not give for purely selfish reasons, such as to only help myself. And the gifts I give can not be used for selfish reasons or in corrupt manners. Yet, somehow you’ve found a loophole. I think it’s because when you use this gift, your corruption comes with self sacrifice, protecting the people you care about. I haven’t seen you tap into it when you fight for other reasons.

“Thousands of years ago, Raguel came to me. He wanted the mimicry for himself, but I couldn’t give it to him. He was filled with vengeance and anger. He hated me because he wasn’t chosen by God to wield such responsibility, and then he began to slander and blackmail me for refusing to give him what he wanted. It didn’t take long before the angels started turning their backs on me, casting me out and turning me into the first fallen angel in their history. Those petty reasons led me to meet Lilith, the mother of demons, and together we started to bring order to the chaos of the Underworld. You know the rest of that story, my darling monster.

“After hearing Sam and Charlie recount your fight with Kadence, I knew I needed to tell you everything. I thought some of your troubles with fighting her was that you were seeking revenge. You were doing good for vampires as a whole, yes, but you also had selfish reasons. Sam then explained some of the laws of Vampyre to me, and I realized that you wouldn’t have been able to use mimicry in the fight. Even if you could have, you wouldn’t have been able to copy her because her unnatural abilities came from drug use. Mimicry only mimics natural powers.”

“What? What drug use?” Sloane demanded again.

We were all stunned by what Lucifer had told her, but his insinuation that Kadence was using the drug we had been trying to stop… was appalling.

Had she not realized what it would do to her? The vampire bitch losing her mind to madness would make sense as to why she suddenly thought she could boot Nate and Sloane from their positions, though.

“When Charlie and I searched her office, we found evidence that Kadence had been using that drug,” Sam snapped his fingers as he thought. “Does it have a name?”

“The files on it are labeled SEF47. So no, not really. Can we just continue to call it that drug or dumb shit supes use to gain more power and move on?” Sloane sarcastically questioned.

“Yes, well, it’s not important now. She’s dead,” Lilith waved her hand dismissively, and I realized where my Kitten had learned some of her mannerisms from.

Lilith had an air of nonchalance around her that wasn’t easily achieved. Her permanent boredom made her appear unfazed by everything Lucifer had just dropped on Sloane. The tender squeeze she gave my mate's hand spoke differently to me.

Lilith didn’t know all of Lucifer’s secrets.

“And what of Satan, Lucy? Why has he been trying to destroy you? And why is Hannibal really after you, Papi?”

It was Sam’s turn to sigh, and just like his father, the sound carried so many burdens behind it. “Hannibal wanted Amelia, but your mother only had eyes for us, for her mates. He ran after we figured out that he’d killed Vixen, Jack’s mother, and he hasn’t been spotted until recently. Hannibal has been hiding for two decades.”

“And Satan has been working with Raguel for as long as I can remember. I made him my second-in-command so that I could feed him false information. He attacked Lil when she was pregnant with our first child,” Lucifer admitted solemnly. “I exiled him to the deserts of Lilk, but I should have killed him for what he did. That’s been my biggest regret.”

“So, they’re all working for Raguel then? Kelvin, Kadence, the fae-mage who’s stalking me, whoever is pushing that fucking drug through the shifter population, Hannibal, Satan. All of them.”

Sloane pulled away from Lilith to run her hands through her hair, tilting her head to the left as she thought through her own questions. “Raguel is trying to not only destroy Lucy, but his family and the entire supernatural species, because why? He’s mad that he didn’t get what he wanted? That’s fucking life.”

Lilith kissed Sloane’s cheek as she took her place by Lucifer’s side. “People always want what they can’t have, darling. You’re old enough to know that by now. It doesn’t matter if they’re demons, angels, humans; they will always envy what others have.”

“Lil is right, and what Raguel wants… I had it. Now you have it. There’s only one way that he can take the mimicry power from you, Lo.” Lucifer gazed at Sloane before turning his bright blue eyes onto me. “We need to get the angelic tomes back from Hannibal. The four that he stole from your parents, Stone. They hold the magic to pull that power from Sloane, and that will kill her. The warped angelic magic won’t just take her power away, it will strip her of her true immortality, thus stripping her mates of the immortality that her bond offers.”

“Fuck my life right now,” Sloane whispered to herself, scrubbing her hands over her face aggressively. She propped herself against the table beside Vaughn, putting her forehead on his shoulder.