24. Azazel

Ifelt Diana's exasperation through our soulbond. She wouldn't admit it, but she probably wanted some time alone to unwind and think about everything she learned. Instead, Lucifer and Ares were waiting for us.

"Did your lesson with Tempus go well?" Lucifer was all business, his tone of voice curt.

"I'm back in one piece, so I'd say so," she deadpanned. "Did you come here to ask me that, or is something wrong?"

"You need to come with us, Little G. We have some news that we want to discuss with you first before we call an inner circle meeting…"

The four of us faded to an empty conference room somewhere in the compound. Marilyn was waiting there for us, sipping from a mug. Michael sat on her left, his face lined with worry and his shoulders tense.

"Mom?" Diana immediately hugged her mother, then took the empty seat to her right.

"I'm fine, Di. Michael, Lucifer, and I were talking about something, and we need to talk to you about it." Her tone of voice was deceptively calm and even, the kind a mother used to calm a young child down.

The rest of us took seats, and Lucifer immediately took Michael's hand, then mine. He spelled the entire room to be sound and fade proof, locking it down completely from the inside.

"When you were in equilibrium, were you conscious?" Lucifer wasted no time with preambles or explanations.

"Not really, no. There would be times where I felt like I was in total darkness, then I'd hear Zaz's voice, but it was far away and muffled as if I was underwater. I think I was trapped in my psyche, but because my body was basically frozen, it wasn't active."

"Marilyn and I met Ares and Luci on our tour, and we all ended up talking. I asked her questions about what her experience in equilibrium was like, and she said something that struck me as odd. Marilyn, can you tell Diana what you told me?"

"My experience was the same as yours, except every now and then I'd see the face of a man through a window—almost like a portal? He was older, handsome. He never talked to me, only watched me. He wore a red, hooded robe, and sat in a room filled with mirrors."

The whole room went dead silent. Not a word or a breath. I could barely hear Diana's heartbeat, and I had superhearing. Without asking, I took Marilyn's hand, because I had to know. I needed to prove my hypothesis wrong.

My eyes rolled back into my head, and everything went white around me.

Marilyn's past. Show me something, come on, I begged the universe. My visions weren't always precise. I saw what I was meant to see, and often couldn't direct or control them. But I hoped this time would be different.

After several tense moments, I saw the portal Marilyn described, through her point of view. On the other side of it was a room filled with mirrors, lit by flamed sconces that gave off an eerie glow in the darkness. A figure stepped up to the opening…cloaked in blood red. As soon as I saw the olive skin tone of the hands lowering the hood, my breathing failed me. I felt as if I was choking. When Red unveiled his face, he smiled at her, but said nothing. He just watched her. His face was deceptively sweet and stoic, without an ounce of evil. Like he was a protector watching over her.

I immediately let go of her hand to break the flashback. My vision slowly came back to me, but it was blurry, like it usually was when I had a clear view. Diana wrapped me in her arms, and I sat down, taking her with me.

"Are you okay?! You stopped breathing. You were gasping for air." She pushed my hair back and touched my neck, then my face.

"I'm fine," I panted out, trying to catch my breath. "It's Red. He was visiting Marilyn's psyche while she was in equilibrium. Ares, take my hand and broadcast it so everyone can see it."

By the time everyone saw the flashback, I was able to breathe comfortably again. Marilyn's distraught face came into focus as my vision came back in full.

"So that's the man who's after my daughter and wants to oppress the supernatural world?" she spit.

"Yes, Mom. That's him. I can't believe he violated your psyche that way…" Diana looked like she was about to be sick. "How could he even do that? He isn't an incubus…"

"Yeah, but he could have employed one," Marilyn suggested.

"That's the throne room in Hell…" Lucifer paced around the conference room as he thought aloud. "I had spies tell me he had left hell after his initial confrontation with you, but he could have moved back there…"

"That depends on how old that flashback was. I have no way of telling if it was recent or not." I carded my fingers through my hair, trying to pinpoint any clues that would indicate a certain time period.

"Was he showing her that room on purpose? He knows Feathers has the Sight, and that we'd eventually connect the dots. He loves fucking around with us. Or was it truly a slip on his part?" Ares added.

"We need to find out if he's in Hell with his army, or hiding somewhere else, and the only way we'll know is if we gather more information. Or invade Hell and find out…" Diana said.

"Damon!" Lucifer shouted. "We were supposed to pay that fucker a visit, but then got caught up in other, more important goals—" he glanced at Marilyn with an uncharacteristic intensity. "We need to pay him a visit and get some information out of him. Then we make a plan."

"F-I-L, I say this with love, but we've tortured him for months and kept him on the brink of death… What makes you think he'll talk?"

"Because I'm the one who's going to torture him now. I'll rip that piece of shit to shreds and season the grounds of Hell with his remains. Fuck him," Diana seethed. "How dare he and Red go anywhere near my mother!"

The ground below her started to shake slightly, and Marilyn took her hand. "Di, baby, calm down. Earthquakes make me nauseous." Diana frowned, and her mother gave her a side hug. "Don't be ashamed, Angie was telling me how she had a feeling you'd be powerful because of the epic showdown you all had at the house."

"Yeah, we just want you to save all your anger and retribution for Damon, so please don't cause any natural disasters, okay?" Michael teased her.

Diana couldn't laugh, and she tried to smile, but her face was beat red. She got up, and shook her limbs out, but that didn't help. Steam billowed from her ears and her mouth and the quaking intensified. Fuck, she could send this whole room crumbling in a matter of seconds if she didn't get a hold of her emotions. Maybe if she expelled her magic in another way, she'd calm down? It was worth a try.

"Angel, can you turn into an animal for me?"

She scowled at me but complied. Her body vibrated, and a few seconds later she morphed into a raccoon. I picked her up and ran my hand over her silky fur.

Ask her to turn into another animal. I'm trying to expel some of her magic,I explained to Ares.

"How about Feta? He's so busy roaming the compound I barely see him anymore," he said.

Diana jumped free from my arms and morphed into the spitting image of Ares' huge, black dog, weird ears and all.

"Oh my brimstone, this is so cool!" Marilyn exclaimed. "Lucifer, she had to get this from you. Can you turn into humans too, Di?"

Diana jumped onto her hind legs, then morphed into Marilyn. The real Marilyn cackled, clapping her hands in appreciation. "Bravo! Oh! Turn into Lucifer!"

"No, don't—" Lucifer said, but not quick enough. Diana morphed into a mirror image of the man standing before her, designer suit and all.

"I'm Lucifer Morningstar," she said in his voice, "And I'm the Prince of Darkness. I strut around the compound barking orders at everyone, because I'm a control freak."

Michael burst into a fit of laughter, and so did I. It was a dead-on impression and accurate assessment.

"Okay, that's enough. You're fine now and there's no risk of you destroying the conference room," he groused.

"Thank you, I feel a lot better. Okay, let's get this fucker to talk." Her determination was admirable, but we had to get everyone on the same page first.

"Ares and I will gather the other boyfriends. Michael, can you drop Marilyn at her barrack and grab Oisín?"

Marilyn rose from her chair and gave Lucifer a hug. "Be careful. I still have questions you need to answer."

We all faded our separate ways, and Diana brought us to a random, doorless hallway somewhere in the compound. I had never been here before, but she seemed to know it well enough. She sat down on the floor and took deep breaths.

"Getting ready?" I asked her, sitting next to her.

"Yeah. I need to make him crack. There's no room for failure."

I grabbed her jaw, bringing her mouth to mine for a quick kiss. She deepened it, invading my mouth with her tongue in an anxious frenzy. When we parted, I gave her a cozy grin.

"Diana, what did I tell you? You're a big, bad Morningstar—anything but a failure. You're going to crack that asshole like a nut," I assured her.

She leaned her head on my shoulder, her skin burning hot from her fire magic.

"I'm going to make him wish he never crossed my path. He'll regret the day he ever targeted his baby sister, and I'll make his mistake an example for the world. You don't fuck with Diana Morningstar without consequences."