Revenant(99)

Revenant thought Reaver’s head was going to blow off. “Tell me,” Reaver growled. “And don’t leave anything out.”

Blaspheme shared the information she’d apparently gotten from her mother earlier, and the longer Reaver listened, the more Rev could feel the fury building in him. His brother was a bomb with a lit fuse, just waiting for someone to throw it. Revenant had a feeling that Raphael was, very soon, going to experience an explosion.

Good. If Reaver could take care of the angels’ UG embargo, Revenant could concentrate on what to do about getting Satan off Blaspheme’s back. Unfortunately, there was no easy solution to that.

Blaspheme definitely had to perform the Pruosi spell, but as long as Raphael was alive and Satan was still looking for her or her mother, she was in danger. What if one of them caught Deva and tortured her into revealing her daughter’s location and new identity? Revenant didn’t trust the fallen angel’s ability to stand up to the kind of torture either of the assholes could dish out.

Frustrated, he thumbed through the Pruosi book, hoping a miracle would jump out at him. Something that would save Blaspheme without her having to lose everything. Maybe there was a spell that would trick Raphael out of Heaven. Or bind Satan’s ability to spy on Revenant. Hell, at this point, he’d be happy tossing the Dark Lord into a bottomless pit and —

He broke off as a thought occurred to him. Could it be so simple?

“Revenant?” Blaspheme rested her palm on his shoulder. “What is it?”

Turning his head, he kissed her hand before flipping to the page he’d merely glanced at before. And there it was. The crazy ramblings of a Pruosi demon whose words had been made immortal between the pages of the Daemonica itself.

They try, one after another, to send the beast into the abyss. Failure to them all, but the one who holds the key.

It was a long shot, completely insane, but at this point, that was all he had.





Twenty-Nine





As Revenant contemplated the logistics involved in his long shot of a plan, Blaspheme put her head together with Eidolon and Reaver over the angel situation outside UG. A few minutes later, Eidolon’s blond brother, Wraith, sauntered into the cafeteria.

“Yo, Blaspheme. Your mother is standing just inside the ER doors and taunting the angels in the parking lot. I like telling angels how douchey they are as much as anyone, and she’s got some righteous zingers, but they’re going to start throwing vehicles at the building if you don’t stop her.”

Blaspheme groaned. “I’m on it.”

With Blaspheme gone, Rev figured it was a good time to have a chat with his brother. Naturally, Reaver gave him the evil eye as he approached.

“I think I’ve found a way to eliminate a few of our problems,” Revenant said. “Namely, Satan, Gethel, and Lucifer.”

“I’m listening.”

Revenant glanced around the cafeteria, which had filled to capacity with patients and staff who were freaked out by the angel presence outside the hospital and clinic.

Rev didn’t trust any of them, except, maybe, Eidolon. Revenant didn’t like the guy, but he had to admit that the doctor ran a tight ship and seemed to value his family, friends, and employees. No wonder Blaspheme liked working here.

“Meet me at Megiddo.” He flashed away, materializing at the same time as Reaver on the Israeli hilltop.

“Why here?” Reaver asked.

Revenant looked out over lands that had seen battle after battle over the course of thousands of years. Fitting, perhaps, that Revenant and Reaver, who had done nothing but battle each other, were here now for what Rev hoped would be the last time.

“Because it’s time I answered your question,” Rev said, “and this was where you first asked it.”

“And what question is that?”

“You asked what happened to our mother.”

“And you said you killed her.” Reaver rubbed his chest, and Revenant wondered if he felt the same ache Rev did when he discussed her. “But you never said why or how it went down.”

Revenant closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself to go back to that awful time and place. To his credit, Reaver didn’t rush him, merely waited in silence. Finally, Rev opened his eyes and looked his brother in the eye. He deserved that, at least.

“I told you I was separated from our mother and taken to slave in magma crystal mines, yes?” At Reaver’s curt nod, Rev continued. “Ten years later, I was taken to Satan. Filled with lies and half-truths. Promised power and influence. Once he felt I was loyal to his cause, he sent me to fetch our mother from the dungeon where she’d been kept for two decades. I didn’t know what he was going to do to her, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. She knew it, too.”