“I would assume that would be a difficult feat,” Ethan surmised.
“Yes,” Satan agreed, “but not impossible.”
“Grandpa said there are three empty spaces,” I lied, not wanted to reveal that I’d read that fact in the book. “Do those True Immortals exist yet?”
Satan gave me an odd stare for a moment and then shrugged. “Possibly, but I’m not quite sure. No one is. It is something we are all trying to discover. The worry is that the new Immortals could tip the balance.”
“And that would be bad.”
“Very.” Satan’s pacing stopped and his hand went back to his hair. “Losing any one of the True Immortals would upset the balance. Those ramifications would not just be felt in Heaven and Hell . . . they would decimate your world as you know it. This is far bigger than a missing Sword.”
“Why in the hell are we the only ones looking for it?” I was shocked. I would think everyone would be freaking out . . . not eating pancakes and making lunch dates.
“No one else knows yet,” he said and sat back down.
“Your mother and father know,” I told him.
“Yes.” He nodded wearily. “But God and the Angels don’t.”
“What about the Woman?”
He stared at the ceiling lost in thought for a moment and then rejoined us. “No one knows where she is.”
Now there was a story I was sure I wouldn’t be privy to. “How do you know one of them didn’t take it?”
“Because every time it’s gone missing, it’s some idiot in Hell trying to overthrow me.” He heaved a put upon sigh. “As much as I love deception and liars, it does get exhausting.”
I rolled my head and tried to piece together what he had said and I realized it was a whole bunch of nothing. “Do you have any leads? I don’t even know the territory here. How do you expect us to find the damn thing?”
“I know it’s in Hell. I can feel it and I am sure that someone very close to me is the culprit.”
A chill tickled my spine and I hated Hell just a little more than I did seconds ago. He was asking me to destroy a Demon close to him or, God the pansy ass forbid, a family member.
“No,” I said. “I won’t kill anyone that’s not trying to kill me or Ethan or . . . ” Shit. My reasoning didn’t hold up. I would kill someone trying to kill Dixie, Grandpa, Gigi, and even the Devil himself. Was it the pregnancy hormones or was I losing it?
“It has very little to do with an individual life, Astrid. It has to do with the delicate balance of good and evil. Without it, none of us exist.”
“So if we don’t get it back, the world will end,” I rolled my eyes and in frustration picked up my napkin again. I’d try for a simple fan this time.
“I’m disappointed at your simplistic thinking,” he tsked. “Of course the world wouldn’t blow up and be over. It’s far more insidious than that. It would slowly morph into a place so filled with confusion and the inability to distinguish right and wrong, it would implode upon itself eventually. Most likely during the lifetime of your son.”
That gave both Ethan and I huge pause, but how was I to be sure my uncle wasn’t lying? “I would think all that debauchery would make you happy,” I snapped.
“Then you don’t know me at all. While I might lack in morals, I am not an evil man.”
I snorted.
“Yes.” He grinned at me. “Some may disagree with my self-assessment, but I speak the truth . . . this time. I am simply the keeper of those who choose the dark side. I do not force or coerce man to do evil. He doesn’t need my help for that. I do thrive on it and punish it, but someone has to or the balance would be broken.”
“He makes perfect sense,” Ethan said.
I shot him a surprised glance. “You think we should do this?”
“Honestly, I don’t think he’s giving us a choice.” He said exactly what I had started to think. “But I do think we cut a bargain with him. I don’t trust that he will let us leave even if we find the Sword.”
“If we do this, what do we get in return?” I asked Satan, who was very aware Ethan and I could communicate telepathically.
“What do you want?” he asked, back in his element of wheeling and dealing.
I thought about it carefully. Wording was important. My Uncle was a master manipulator and I was not . . . What could I get that would be beneficial to my world and my child in the long run that wouldn’t fuck up the balance?#p#分页标题#e#
“Well, I want my natural hair color back.” I heard Ethan drop his head back and moan.
“I’m not done yet,” I hissed and elbowed him. “We want to go home with no strings attached. You have to give us back our weapons. You will visit your mother on a regular basis—meaning weekly. You will delve into the minds of those Demons that my father ruined and if they seek forgiveness, you will end them.”