Engulfed

Dante was in the process of chugging down another Budweiser when Charlotte came charging out of the rows of bookcases and skidded to a halt beside the dinner table, eyes wild. She seemed to be trying to say something, but no sound came out. She just stood there with her mouth gaping open and closed. Drew and Ileus exchanged nervous glanced while Henry and Rico looked baffled.

"Wait, I know this game!" Dante said cheerfully. "Fish!"

"I really doubt she's trying to play charades, DeMarco," Drew muttered.

"Luci-Luci-"

I Love Lucy? What?" Dante squinted at Charlotte.

"Lucifer, dumbass!" Charlotte shouted.

"What about him?"

"He was here!"

"I'm pretty sure we would have known about that, somehow. Are you sure you weren't just having another demon-induced wet dream or something?"

"He was here, you jackass." Charlotte glowered at him. "Where's Azlynn? I need to talk to her, right now."

"She's been off playing Nancy Drew since before dinner."

"Lucifer could not have been here, child, relax," Ileus said, peering at Charlotte over the tops of his glasses. "This library is heavily protected with angelic wards, and we would all know about it if Lucifer had risen from Hell."

"Look, I know what I saw," Charlotte snapped. "He was here; he talked to me. He was wearing a black suit and he had horns and a tail. He was here, okay? I need to tell Azlynn."

"It must have been a projection of himself," Ileus said, frowning. "Seals are being broken; perhaps his cage has weakened enough now that he is able to push his powers through to this world and manifest an image of himself. The way she described him is his favorite glamour to use."

"I'm going to assume that this is bad news?" Dante guessed.

"It's very bad news. Another seal must be broken. I need to contact the angels at once and make sure they're aware of this." He hurried off.

"So what exactly did Lucifer's hologram say to you?" Dante asked.

"He said that he wants us all to ally with each other," Charlotte said. Dante blinked. "Say what now?"

"He said Ted betrayed him, so he wants Ted dead just as much as we do. He said we should help each other since we want the same thing."

"We definitely do not want the same thing," Dante said. "We pop Luci's cage and it's bound to be a problem, whether we have a common enemy or not."

"By the sound of it, we don't need to pop his cage," Drew said grimly. "It seems like it's on its way to popping anyway."

"I'll say this right now," Dante declared, "I don't care whose enemies are whose, we will never ally with Lucifer. At least I won't."

"But what if-" Rico began.

"What if nothing," Dante snapped. "It's not gonna happen. I won't let things get to that point."

Rico was silent.

"So let me get this straight; every time one of these seals is broken, Luci gets closer and closer to skipping merrily through the daisies with the rest of us, right? How many seals are there?"

"Well, we don't know," Drew said. "You'd have to ask Ileus or Azlynn that one."

"Well the point is, we have to stop Teddy bear from popping anymore seals."

"And exactly how do you plan on stopping him from doing that?" Charlotte asked flippantly. "We don't even know where he is."

"Then we get him to come to us."

"We need to find the Mezzosphere," Charlotte argued.

"And we can't do that if he breaks anymore seals and lets Lucifer out, can we? The question now is, how do we get Ted to come to us? What do we have that he would want?"

"I have twenty bucks," Rico said, earning a snort from Drew and an eye roll from Charlotte. "All in ones," Rico added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"We need to find Azlynn and talk to her," Charlotte interrupted. "As in, right now."

"I thought you were over your Azlynn obsession?" Dante questioned, arching his eyebrow.

"I am," Charlotte grumbled. "But Azlynn needs to know about this. She knows more about all of this than any of us do."

"If we could just think of something that he would want..." Dante muttered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. A thought flittered across his mind, and he stiffened. He shook his head emphatically. "No, no. Nevermind, forget I said anything."

"What?" Drew asked. "What is it?"

"I told you, forget it. It's a stupid idea."

"You thought of something, didn't you?" Drew pressed. "What is it?"

Dante folded his arms across his chest and stayed stubbornly silent.

"It's not just something Ted would want. It's something that's important to you too, isn't it?"

"Shut up Drew."

"There are only a couple of things I can think of that you would get so defensive about. And I'm pretty sure Ted has no interest in the Charger."

"I'll go back to Hell myself before I let him have a chance." Dante pressed his lips into a hard line.

"Guys, Lucifer also said that Azlynn was busy dealing with her own 'personal Hell.' I think that maybe she's in trouble, and we should find her," Charlotte said, looking worried.

Dante was on his feet and charhed off into the rows of books without saying anything. He heard the others stand up and run after him.

"Where are you going?" Drew called. Dante didn't reply; just kept moving swiftly through the giant library, searching for Azlynn. He was starting to grow frustrated and wondered if she had left the library, until he felt a rough vibration shudder through the floor, and then he heard the screaming.