I reached in farther and he grabbed my arm, fighting the agony I was putting him through, stunned.

He was even more stunned when I ripped him out of my husband’s body. Reyes crumpled to the floor, unconscious as I held his father. Lucifer was massive, his body taking up half the room, part demon, part grotesque, but a part of him was still an angel, too. The beautiful being he once was had become a shell filled to the brim with hatred, judgment, and indifference. Evil.

He was struggling to breathe under the pressure of my hold. “How?” he asked, his voice straining.

“Honey,” I said, mocking him, “I’m a god. That shit works on everyone.”

I looked to the side. The hounds had moved back, given me room to work. I leaned over Reyes, placed one hand on him, used his power, his key, to open the gates of hell.

Lucifer fought me, but it was like a gnat fighting an eighteen-wheeler. The gate opened, and with one last gesture—my sauciest wink—I tossed his ass off our plane.

The gate closed and I collapsed across Reyes, petting his hair, begging him to be okay. Just then, Beep started crying, and I rushed to her, relief flooding every nook and cranny of my body because she was okay. I took her to Reyes as he stirred. Osh had knelt beside him, too. Then Garrett and Artemis joined us.

Reyes opened his eyes and turned onto his back. I touched his face. Smiled. Told him we were okay. But the turbulence in my husband’s eyes left little doubt that I was wrong.

16

EARTH: THE INSANE ASYLUM OF THE UNIVERSE.

—T-SHIRT

“But I don’t understand,” I said as Osh and Garrett helped Reyes to his feet. He swayed a little, then repeated the words he’d ripped straight from my worst nightmare.

“We have to send her away. Now.”

“You mean, we’re going away with her like we’d planned. We’re taking a helicopter to that island.”

“The island doesn’t matter anymore.” He strode to the kitchen as we followed.

“I saw his plans,” he said. “My father’s. We— We have no choice.”

He started throwing things in a bag, Beep’s things, her bottles and formula.

“I saw his plans. He will not give up until she is dead.”

“But I’m a god,” I said, arguing with him. “I know my celestial name. Surely between the two of us, we can protect her.”

“You don’t understand. You are his plan. You are the beacon of light that is going to lead his soldiers right to her.”

“Yes, demons. We’ve handled them before. We can do it again.”

He stopped just long enough to tell me, “Not his demons. Not this time. Demons from other dimensions. Stronger. More powerful.”

He made a call while ordering everyone around us to do this or that. They helped him pack Beep up. But I just wanted answers. I seemed to know everything I’d ever wanted to know, but suddenly it all meant nothing.

“So we fight them. Like always,” I said when he got off the phone.

“He sent a group to lead them.”

“Okay,” I said, needing more.

“Gods from another dimension, three of them, and their dimension makes hell look like a water park. They are ruthless and powerful beyond belief, and they are more potent than even you.”

“There is no such thing,” I said, my temper flaring. The earth quaked beneath our feet.

He took hold of my arm to calm me. “More potent. Not more powerful. Not even close, but you have distinct disadvantages. You care about those around you. They care only about the destruction of anything and everything standing in their way.”

“The gods of Uzan?” Osh asked, paling before my eyes.

Reyes offered a curt nod.

“Here? In this dimension? They’ll destroy it.”

“Exactly. They’ll destroy everything on earth to get to her. My father is not going to give up until our daughter is dead. And your light, the same light that is a beacon of hope for the departed, is now a death sentence for our daughter. That is how they will find her.” He forced another blanket into an already bulging backpack. “He planned for this, Dutch. All of it. He set this in motion centuries ago, from the time the prophecies were first written.”

“If he wanted her dead so bad, why didn’t Denise kill her when she had the chance? She could have done it at any time.”

His mouth thinned. “He wanted to do it himself. At first. Now he doesn’t care.”

“This is insane,” I said, scrubbing my face with my fingertips, unable to believe what was happening, but he kept working, ignoring my ideas, promising me we’d come up with our own plan once Beep was safely away. “Is this because you can’t trust me? Because of my impulsive nature?”

“No, though it would serve you right.”

I couldn’t argue that, and I knew he wouldn’t even consider such a move if there were any other option. “Surely, we don’t have to send her away this minute.”

“What do you think he was waiting for?” Reyes asked, facing me head on. “Lucifer, as he spoke to you, drawing out your conversation, stalling.”

“The gods? They’re already here?”

“They’ve been here, waiting for word from my father.”

“But how? How can Lucifer command such beings?”

He went back to work. I wasn’t even paying attention to what he was packing. “He doesn’t command them, but you don’t get to be the king of hell and not make a few nasty friends. We fought alongside them more than once.”