Embrace The Dark (Her Elemental Dragons Book 5)(38)

I grabbed the plate from her hand, annoyed at her words, but also hungry. Did I need protection from Lucifer or from her? Jo—Jophiel—wasn’t even my real sister, and she’d lied to me for years.

“Is anything about my life real?” I asked, as I sat at her round breakfast table.

Jo took a chair across from me. “Our relationship is real. That’s never been fake.”

“But you’re an Archangel!” I sputtered, then glanced around the house, which was like something out of an HGTV show about mansions I could never afford. “I’m only realizing now how little I knew about your life. How separate you kept me from it. How you knew all this time I was Lucifer’s mate and didn’t tell me.”

“Only to keep you safe.” She spread her hands out on the table. “Hannah, I had to keep my life separate from yours to protect you. If you came to visit me, for example, you might attract the attention of others in the supernatural world, which I knew could lead Lucifer and Adam to you. But if you went about your life believing you were an ordinary human, you’d remain hidden.”

I was getting tired of everyone knowing the truth except for me and using the excuse of trying to keep me safe like it absolved them of all their crimes. But at the same time, maybe I was alive now because of Jophiel’s actions.

“What about the accident? My parents?”

Jophiel’s face turned pained. “Your parents are dead. I didn’t lie about that.”

I sensed that was true, at least. I took a moment to eat some of my food, which was delicious. I wondered if Jophiel had really made it. I’d never seen her cook before.

“You can stay with me as long as you like,” Jophiel continued, a smile lighting her face. “Now that you know about the supernatural world, I no longer have to hide things from you. I can tell you all about your life as an angel. Oh, you can even meet my sons!”

I nearly choked on my bacon. “Sons?”

She nodded, her eyes proud. “Yes, I have two of them. Callan and Ekariel. Callan is the son of Archangel Michael and Ekariel is the son of Archangel Azrael, though I hope you won’t hold that against him…”

The more Jophiel talked, the more I felt like she was a stranger, and like my entire life was a lie. The only thing that felt real anymore was the time I’d spent with Lucifer. How did that make sense?

I pushed my plate away and buried my face in my hands. “All I want is to go back to my old life of a week ago, when I was just Hannah who worked at a flower shop and lived in Vista. Hannah, who didn’t know about angels and demons and past lives, and had no one trying to kill her. But that’s impossible now. There’s no forgetting this.”

Jophiel rested a light hand on my back, as if to comfort me. “Actually, it is possible. I can remove your memories and make you forget all of this ever happened. I could hide you from both Lucifer and Adam. You could go back to being an ordinary human again who knows nothing of the supernatural world.”

I looked up at her. “How?”

“It’s one of my angelic gifts.”

The idea was tempting, but only for a second. I shook my head with a sigh. “No, I don’t really want to forget. I don’t think it’s possible to run away or hide from this anymore. This is my life, my curse, and my fate. I have to accept it. Somehow.” I drew in a ragged breath, but then sat up straighter. “And I will. Eventually.”

“And then you’ll die again and start all over,” Jophiel said, her voice sorrowful. “I don’t want to lose you, Hannah. I realize you feel like you don’t know who I am anymore, but to me, you’re still my sister and I love you.”

I started to say the words back to her too, but I couldn’t get them out. I didn’t know how I felt about anything at the moment. Especially her.

From across the house came the faint sound of my phone ringing, saving me from having to answer Jophiel. I set the coffee mug down and hurried to the guest room just in time to see Brandy’s name flash across the screen.

“Hey Brandy.” I glanced at the hallway, out where Jophiel was, and decided to step onto the balcony. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Good, actually. How are you though? I’ve been texting you, but you haven’t answered. I got worried and had to resort to actually using my phone to make a call, ick.”

I laughed, and it was so nice to have a moment of levity after the events of the last few days. Damn, I missed Brandy and her cheerful, stubborn exuberance. No matter how much life shit on her, she always found a reason to smile.

“Things are…complicated,” I admitted. “I’ve learned a lot of things over the last few days that have made me question my entire life.”

“What sort of things?”

I leaned against the balcony railing and stared across the bay covered with wispy fog, while the cool air tickled my hair. “Things like I’m supposedly Lucifer’s soulmate. And I’ve lived hundreds of lives before this one.”

“What? Like some reincarnation thing?”

“Exactly like that. Lucifer finds me in each life, but our happiness never lasts.”

Brandy let out a low whistle. “That’s some deep shit right there.”

“No kidding. I’m at my sister’s house now. Which is also complicated.” I blew out a breath, suddenly really tired of my problems. “Tell me what’s been going on with you. Did you get home safely? How’s Jack? And Donna?”

“They’re both good, and yes, I got home fine. Lucifer made sure of that. He also paid all our bills for this month and the next, to cover the time off we both had to take from work. I could hardly believe it.”

“I had no idea.” I pressed a hand to my chest as the longing for Lucifer became so strong it actually hurt. It was just like him to do something like that, without even telling me.

“I thought I was done with demons,” Brandy continued. “I told myself it was for the best, too. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Mo, I mean, Asmodeus. Then he showed up at my front door in the middle of the night. He said the two of you talked, and then he got in his car immediately to come see me. So whatever you said to him, thank you.”

“I just told him he should talk to you. The rest was all him.”

“And we did talk, and so much more…” She giggled, like she was sharing a naughty secret. “Let’s just say the Lilim’s reputation as sex demons is well-deserved. Then he went trick-or-treating with me and Jack. Can you believe that?”

It was hard to imagine Asmodeus going trick-or-treating with a little kid, but it definitely proved he cared a lot for her, and made me like him even more. “Asmodeus said there might be a way for you to be together?”

“He told me the same thing, but it sounds dangerous. He’s gone back to Vegas to speak to his mother about it.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “It’s crazy but…I think he’s the one. Maybe this soulmates stuff is actually real. I mean, I never in a million years would’ve guessed I’d fall for a demon, or that they even existed, but here we are.”

I stared across the bay, though my heart was somewhere else entirely. “I know exactly how you feel.”

“Do you?” Brandy asked. “Because if so, then what the fuck are you doing at your sister’s house?”

I bit out a laugh at her bluntness. “Like I said, it’s complicated.” I closed my eyes as my voice lowered to almost a whisper. “He's the devil, Brandy. Red eyes. Black wings. Hellfire. The actual devil.”

“Well, no man is perfect.”

“I’m serious. I've... I've seen him kill people.”

She was silent for a moment. “Did they deserve it?”

I chewed on my lip as I considered. “One was involved in your kidnapping. The others tried to kill me.”

“Then you have your answer. He was protecting his family in the only way he knew how. Just like you did when you came to Vegas to find me.”

“That’s not really the same thing…”

Her voice softened. “Hannah, you have the best heart of anyone I know. Follow it, and I know it won’t lead you astray.”

My throat choked up a little at her kind words. Jophiel may call herself my sister, but Brandy was the one who’d always been there for me and never kept secrets. She was the true sister of my heart. If she thought I should give Lucifer another shot, even after knowing everything we did about demons, then maybe I wasn’t crazy for wanting the same thing.

“I love you,” I told her, my pulse racing faster as I made my decision. “And I’m going to follow my heart. Back to Vegas.”

“I love you too, and you better call me and tell me everything that happens.”

“I will, I promise. Say hi to Jack and Donna. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”

“As long as Lucifer keeps paying your bills, it’s not a problem,” she said, with a joking tone. “But seriously. I won’t ever forget what you did for me. I’ve got your back, no matter what happens.”

“Thanks, Brandy.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up, promising to keep each other updated. I wanted to hear what happened with Asmodeus too, and if they found a way to be together. But first I had to get back to Lucifer. I wasn’t sure about much of anything anymore, except that I only felt like myself when I was by his side. Maybe he was a villain to the rest of the world, but to me, he’d always been a hero.