Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Zoe

W ith the sun warming my wings, I soared low over the rows of single-family homes in the quiet residential area. Next to me flew Haniel, and spread out in a formation that deliberately seemed random, my entourage followed as well. In order not to draw unnecessary attention, three of my guards kept a larger distance, while one was always closer by. They all continuously scanned the ground and sky to make sure no one could sneak up on me.

I sighed as I beat my wings to catch the updraft better. While I loved flying, it sure dampened my enjoyment of it when I had to do it for weeks in a row. When there were larger crowds, I’d sometimes get down to the ground and just mingle and walk among the humans, sending out my energetic feelers to see if I could sense anything, but other than those instances, or the times when I washed up and changed clothes, I was pretty much in the air without pause.

We’d gone over Newark and Jersey City and the surrounding outskirts, but now, after two and a half weeks, I’d moved on to the other side of NYC and started canvassing Long Island. Being a densely populated area—something like several millions—it made sense to check here next.

Not that I held much hope of finding anything.

Of finding her .

The more I looked and the more I ceaselessly flew over street after street, checked school after school, the more my faith began to crumble that this would someday lead to success. It honestly seemed so pointless. I kept imagining that I’d maybe already passed Lilith’s reincarnation but hadn’t felt anything because the whole energy-radar thing didn’t work.

There was no guarantee that it would! Nobody knew if that was even possible! I only had Lucifer’s belief to go on, and given his general state of mind and emotional volatility, his word didn’t inspire confidence. He was clinging to the desperate hope that this would work, because admitting that it was all wishful thinking without basis in reality would make the house of cards that was his mental health collapse completely. So, of course, he would believe in my ability to GPS-track Lilith’s energy in her reincarnated form. He had no other choice.

Me, on the other hand? I was getting crankier by the day because I was looking at possibly years, maybe even decades of this incessant searching as my life’s new purpose, and the thought made my soul weep. Because while I loved a good people-watching session as much as the next gal, observing humans going about their day got real old, real fast. Especially because I wasn’t even allowed much leeway in how I spent my time here on Earth.

As per Lucifer’s decree—and Haniel’s pointed reminder—I was supposed to keep searching the entire time. It wasn’t as if I could really enjoy all that Earth had to offer, no. Not like I could plunk my butt in a movie theater and watch the latest blockbuster, or lie on the beach and read a good book, or go to a Taylor Swift concert.

That would be time wasted that I could use to look for Lilith.

And given how fucking large Earth was, and how many people lived here, and therefore how much I’d have to fly around and check, it would take forever to cover the entire planet and the whole of the human population. Which in turn meant that I had no time to waste.

There was no room to rest and relish, not an hour available for side quests. I had to stay on the move constantly, and the only moments when I could slow down and recover were during that one week I got to return to Hell.

It was a grueling pace that left no space for the finer things in life, and it was suffocating me more and more each day. I was bored out of my mind. There weren’t enough impressions to keep my brain engaged, and I could only listen to so many podcasts while flying.

Because, yes, I’d pilfered some rich dude’s phone and earbuds and given him the mental suggestion to not report them as stolen and keep his phone contract running so I could use it to at least have some music and stuff to distract me during my search. He could easily afford a new one.

I was all caught up on the History Channel’s episodes dating back years, and I’d listened my way through numerous True Crime podcasts, too. I’d also enjoyed shows on ridiculous facts of history and odd scientific discoveries and inventions. I was afraid I’d soon descend into the weirder depths of available podcast shows.

To think that I was looking at—very likely—a human lifetime of this . Years upon years of ceaseless searching for three weeks straight, followed by one week of vegging out in Hell, only to start back up again. Ugh.

Shoot me now.

“There’s a playground up ahead,” Haniel said, pulling me out of my sullen rumination.

I squinted at the spot he indicated. “Right. Well, let’s go check.”

It sure felt just a tad creepy to be scouting playgrounds as a nonparent, and I was infinitely grateful for my demon ability to remain invisible to humans. Just the thought of people seeing me skulk around the edges of a play area and surveil the kids was making my skin itch with discomfort and embarrassment.

I landed on a stretch of lawn a couple of yards away from the play structures that were being swarmed by about a dozen children ranging in age from toddlers to older elementary school kids. The sun was glinting off drops of water left from the recent rain shower, the air rife with the damp smell of wet earth and cut grass. Parents sat on benches near the play structures, chatting with each other or shouting something at their kids.

Haniel touched down next to me, and like me, he folded his wings away—after stretching them wide for a moment. Yeah, all that flying sure was hard on our muscles. Up above, the shadows of my entourage flitted across the sky, some higher, some a bit lower. Shemyaza landed on the other side of the playground and immediately scanned the area for any threats.

Like the rest of my guards, she took her job of protecting me quite seriously. We hadn’t seen any signs of anyone following us, and except for the occasional angel or demon flying about in the distance, we hadn’t run into anyone else either.

Still, they were all vigilant.

A tabby cat trotted over to me and rubbed itself around my legs, and with a smile, I bent down to pet it. Fascinating how most animals were able to see us even in our hidden form, when we escaped the notice of humans. Cats were the most adept at this.

It had to look strange for the people here that this cat was winding its body around nothing?—

Ping.

My heart stuttered. My breath caught in my throat.

Whipping my head up, I stared straight ahead, at the playground…where a gentle pulse of energy came from.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

The cat forgotten, I slowly moved forward, each step measured while I listened to that soft thread of sensation in my chest and gauged the direction it came from. My breaths shallow, I adjusted my route every few seconds when I thought the feeling got stronger or weaker. I navigated through parked strollers, evaded running children, my eyes roaming the area as if the source of the energy might be visible through some spark or glow.

Peripherally, I was aware of Haniel following me at a respectable distance, of Shemyaza taking note of my behavior.

It wasn’t a strong pull, not like a magnet, or as if someone yanked on a rope tied to my spine. More like a gentle knowing, a subtle sense of belonging, a familiarity that drew me. I knew this energy. Had felt it before. I’d carried a part of it inside me for eight years now.

I came to a stop in front of a large play structure with a twisted slide and knotted ropes leading to the upper platforms. And there, underneath the roof of the structure, a few feet above me, stood a girl.

I held my breath.

I was so bad at guessing kids’ ages, but I thought she was six, maybe seven, years old. Dressed in a pink and violet combo of pants and a T-shirt embellished with glittering sequins displaying a unicorn, she brushed a strand of her sleek black hair behind her ear, her slender brows drawing together in a frown. Her brown eyes, slightly tilted upward at the corners, roved over the spot where I stood, without seeing me, and then she rubbed one hand over her breastbone…as if she, too, felt a pull there.

My lips parted, and I sucked in a breath.

“Lilith,” I whispered.

The girl twitched as if she’d heard me. She examined the area even more thoroughly where I lingered invisible, and then she tilted her head.

Her image blurred, hot tears filling my eyes.

This was it. This was her . It was really Lilith, reborn in a new body, a new life, but her soul was the same. I felt it.

My throat closed up as I stared at her through the veil of my tears, my chest drawing so tight. I couldn’t even parse all the different layers of emotion that choked me. I only knew that it was enough to make me sway on my feet.

It was real. It had actually worked. I’d found her. All the things Lucifer had said, his stalwart belief that this would come to pass, it had all turned out to be true. Here she was, standing in front of me, the continuation of that kind and gentle soul that had been my friend. She wasn’t truly gone; her essence lived on, not entirely erased from this world.

Deep, bittersweet happiness tinged with sadness swept over me. Despite the relief I felt at having found her, I understood that this wasn’t the Lilith I’d known—would never again be the friend I’d lost. Even if she did remember at some point, this girl in front of me was her own person, with experiences that had and would continue to shape her in a different way than the woman she’d been in her previous life.

Tangled within that net of joy and grief was the sudden rush of excitement and anxiety at the thought of what this meant for Lucifer. Of how this would change things. Of the chain reaction of events this would trigger as soon as I told him.

I felt like quoting Gandalf when he said that things were now in motion that couldn’t be undone.

“Is this her?”

Haniel’s quiet question yanked me out of my thought spiral. I sucked in air, blinked my tears away, and nodded.

He loosed a breath and then went down on one knee and bent his head. Bowing before the girl that carried Lilith’s essence.

The move startled me. I stared at him in utter bewilderment before my brain caught up. Through everything that had happened, all the strife and stress and the changes to the realms, I’d forgotten that Lilith had held the highest rank in Hell next to Lucifer. And despite the conspiracy to murder her, there’d been countless demons who’d respected and deferred to her. She’d been their queen for thousands of years.

Across the playground, Shemyaza studied the scene, then her eyes widened, and she, too, went down on one knee to pay her respects to the reincarnation of the highest lady of her realm.

Swallowing past the knot in my throat, I closed my eyes and inclined my head. Lilith had asked me not to bow to her, seeing as she’d considered me her friend, and I would honor her wishes even now.

“Liliana!” a woman shouted from behind me. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

I glanced at the little girl again, who came down the slide and was now running over to the woman who’d called out. She grabbed the drink her mom held out and took a long sip while they both turned to leave. The girl—Liliana—looked over her shoulder as they walked, her eyes once more tracking to the spot where Haniel and I stood. Her gaze didn’t focus on us, though; she couldn’t see us.

It was clear, however, that she sensed our presence.

Goosebumps rose on my arms, and I shivered.

“Shemyaza!” I shouted.

A second later, my guard landed next to me. “My lady?”

“Watch her,” I rasped with a nod at little Liliana. “Take another guard and follow her home. Make sure she’s safe. Station the guard with her, and then come to Hell and report to me at His Grace’s palace.” I rubbed over my breastbone, my chest pinging with a sharp ache. “I’m going to tell him.”

“Yes, my lady.” Shemyaza gave a sharp nod, then signaled to one of the low-flying guards above us.

Before she turned away, I grabbed her by the front of her tunic, my power rising in my veins. “Swear to me right here and now that you will not harm her, nor let any harm come to her.”

Shemyaza and the other guards were Azazel’s most trusted warriors, and their loyalty should not be in doubt. But Lilith and Lucifer had both trusted Destatur and Enaia, and it had cost Lilith her life and Lucifer his sanity. A spoken oath was unbreakable, the magic inherent in promises and vows the only kind of security that was foolproof.

To Shemyaza’s credit, she didn’t seem offended by my display of doubt. Inclining her head, she intoned, “I swear I will not harm the girl, nor let any harm come to her. You have my word that I will keep Her Grace’s reincarnation safe and require the same promise from those who would guard her.”

A prickle between us indicated the magic settling over the vow she’d just made. She was oath bound now.

“Thank you,” I muttered, releasing her tunic.

With a bow, she extended her wings and then launched into the air to join the other guard, flying low as they followed the little girl and her mother.

Blowing out a breath, I turned to Haniel. “Let’s go home. He needs to hear about this.”

“And Hell willing,” Haniel muttered as he unfurled his wings, “it will return His Grace to his former self.”

“Yeah,” I said softly, unable to voice the doubts in my mind.

Because a quietly nagging part of me had stopped believing that Lucifer would ever be the same as he’d been before Lilith’s death.

And an even quieter part of me thought that might not be the worst thing at all.