Ethereal

Nina's POV

Interview With The Devil.

I was going to write a book that would knock Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire off its pedestal. That's what I decided half way to Fairfax. We were somewhere in its borders, or nearing.

Interstate 66 or whatever.

My butt was sore from sitting in the same place for almost an hour. Seriously, I was afraid to breathe wrong. Call me a big fat scared sheep. The guy sitting beside me had a very lethal Dagger in his power, not that he needed it to finish me. I wasn't like, well, pretty much all the supernaturals out there.

Psychics had leftovers from Nephilims' Angel blood. We didn't get super-healing. Only mind-related abilities. We should call ourselves The Supernatural Wannabes.

I sighed—whoops.

"You're awfully quiet," a gray eye snuck a look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're scared."

I giggled. Good Lord, I actually giggled. Slapping a hand over the hysterical nonsense, my eyes scrunched tight. Please stop, for everything that's sacred... Nope. No stopping this.

"Are you having a breakdown?"

Pulling myself together, I looked at his profile. There was still a slight demented smile on my face.

"You say that like I'm supposed to be all gooey and okay. Like being in a car with the Devil isn't reason for me to be scared."

Cracking a smirk, he leaned back, driving with one hand.

"Oh, Nina. If I wanted you dead you would be dead." Lux tilted his head and my shoulders jumped. He laughed. "I'm not going to toss you out the car, really."

Didn't make me any safer.

"I know there are things you want to ask." My lips thinned. "I've lived for millennia. I can tell what people are thinking. It's called being observant."

Millennia.

I couldn't wrap my brain around that. It felt impossible, even with what I was, with what Cam and Phill were, to believe such thing was possible—to have lived for so long.

I bet it got real boring. And lonely... I bit my lip.

"You said you could see and hear everything Cameron did when he was in control... Can he?"

"Yes," he answered in a monotone. For a nano second there was silence. "This is still his body. His soul is deep rooted here. He can feel, see, hear anything. He just can't move a muscle."

In the fight with Uriel... he'd felt it? Everything? I put a hand over my stomach, shutting my eyes, easing the pain I imagined he'd felt during and after the showdown. Lucifer had been knocked out a whole night.

Telling myself not everything was about Cam, I made a giant leap for another question.

"Is it true that Uriel killed Nephilims?"

"Yes."

I turned my eyes outside the window.

"How doesn't Michael know?"

"It's simple. He likes to think there are no limits to what he can do—but there are. He's not God, and if it weren't for the Virtues—who spy and report back to him—Heaven would have more like Uriel. But even those spying Angels have their limits. They can't spy on beings with a higher amount of Power."

"They can't... follow people just because they're stronger than them?"

He sputtered a laugh. My gaze shot over the gearshift.

"Virtues don't 'follow' people, little one. They almost never leave Heaven. Their ability allows them to enter a deep trance and see into any life they want." Creepy alert. "See, Angels are divided into categories. Archangels, Dominions, Virtues and Authorities. You can call Authorities Heaven's Infantry, Virtues are the protection, the Dominions have mixed jobs. Many make up the Court—they decide punishments for those who violate rules. Those rules apply to Angels and their descendants." He spied a look at me. "But the supreme judge has a last say in things—that's another one of Michael's jobs. And why Cameron hasn't been dragged into some confusing-torturing-existence."

My throat ached as I took a breath. What did he mean by confusing-torturing-existence?

"I killed Zadkiel, though, and Romeo... huh... Sucked the other dude's soul out—"

"He ate it. Turning the Angel into a Ghoul." For some reason, those words brought a smile to his lips. "I know. The Court cares only about why the Angels were eliminated. The reason why they were sent to Earth was to haul Cameron's ass back home. Santa could've killed them and they'd still pin it on him."

"That's wrong."

"Many things in life are." He said flatly.

I frowned, refusing to believe Angels—the supposedly good guys—were that cruel.

"Angels—"

Turning his head so fast, Lucifer's ablaze gaze caused me to shrink into the car's door.

"You humans are all the same," I didn't even think to protest with 'I'm not human'. "You have this naive preconception that Angels are pure, incapable of doing wrong. They're just pretty boys and girls with blue eyes and blond hair. How could beings that majestic be cruel? You might want an update. Because I was the 'most radiant', 'the light bringer', 'the most beautiful'—like all your stupid texts say, and I fell."

There was a little pride as he said it, that he'd fallen.

"Preconceptions are misleading. Originally, there was darkness. Then came light. It was the same for every being that's ever been born. We all come from darkness and into the light." Lux stilled the muscle jumping on his jaw. "Everyone is capable of evil, girl. Angels are no exception."

Feeling cornered in my seat, my fingers curled in. The more I wanted to deny his words, the more I felt them sink in as belief. A teensy part of my blood was angelic, which by normal standards of right and wrong, should mean I was a better person than regular humans.

That wasn't true.

I'd killed two people. Helena—granted she'd been responsible for my family and the twins' deaths—and Zadkiel. And... about two hours back I'd almost slit Sam's throat.

There was nothing that made me better than humans—or Vampires. I thought of V. She was a Vampire and I knew she'd never killed. Phillip had helped her control the cravings, but I couldn't imagine what hell she went through everyday having to listen to hundreds of heartbeats.

It would be so easy for her to jump any person and blame it on her new nature. A means to survival.

I'd wanted to kill Sam out of anger. Because it would be easier. One less problem on the list.

Shuffling through a dozen other topics, I blurted the stupidest thing.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What did you do? Before you made it your life's mission to spread sin and suffering across the land."

The corners of Lux's lips curved. And holy momma it read bad news with a slice of catastrophe on the side.

"Most times I was bored out of my mind." I cocked my head, eying him, waiting for him to share about 'the other times'.

Didn't happen.

I wondered if boredom had been a catalyst for what happened to him. Who knew what living for so long did to your mind?

After a few minutes in silence, I fell back on the primary question.

"Okay. Why did Uriel kill Nephilims? They were Team Angel, right?"

"Not all of them. Not every Nephilim had the desire to fight someone else's battles or being disposable. Archangels have several jobs, like Dominions, they too have a place on the Court. Michael holds top on the judge table, next's Gabriel—was Gabriel—after comes Raphael, in last, comes Uriel." A sudden wave of emotion twisted Cameron's features. It was gone too soon for me to speculate on what it had meant. "They're also in charge of their own... army. Like Generals. They were the ones sent out to train Nephilim. Long story short, Uriel thought Nephilims who didn't want to live for what they were created, shouldn't get another breath."

A spot between my breasts hurt. Fear spiked as I couldn't keep Adriel's words from haunting me.

I never understood why half-breeds weren't dealt with. They're abominations. All of them.

A soft sigh left me. I thanked whoever for sending Raphael to teach Cam and Phill how to be fully functioning Nephilims. I had a sneaking suspicion Cameron—at least—wouldn't have lived longer than a day with Uriel in charge. He hated being the clean-up boy.

Couldn't say I blamed him.

Anger spiked Lux's voice, "She blamed me, my Fallens, for what happened to the Nephilims. Since war between us was never far, Michael didn't have trouble believing her."

After what felt like five years and fifteen minutes of stretched out silence, we finally drove into Fairfax. The Camaro 2.0 rode down Main Street and surprise hit me when everything here seemed not so different from back home. Not because of the shuffled snow on the road sides, because there were small brick buildings, old but not exactly falling apart, pubs and restaurants that presented a homey exterior like the Lighthouse. There were infinitely more, though. Fairfax was twice Haven Hills, if we didn't count the abundant woods.

My stomach curled every time the car kicked faster, speeding through a red light. I couldn't tell if my tummy got all tangled in sad blues because of our speeding or because this was such a Cameron-thing to do.

A deep flush crept over my cheeks and parts of my body that hadn't been touched for a while. I remembered one time when I'd offered to drive, we'd been heading for the first Hell Gate, and he... He didn't want to waste time stopping to switch places. Cameron had picked me off my seat, settled me between his legs...

Eyes rushing to the guy beside me, I froze my thinking. It was so not the time or place to get into steamy memories.

"Is there some Witch store around here?"

I kept in a shriek. We'd been too close to a mailbox.

"No, someone is going to deliver what we need. This was a... personal request." Right. Because he was King of Hell. He could get service anywhere.

"Must be nice..." Lux spared me a questioning look. "Getting everything you want all the time."

He chuckled. A deep, rich-dark-chocolate chuckle. It rattled my core.

"It runs in the family."

My eyebrows popped. Yeah, I thought. The guys I'd met from their family had some factoids in common. Their undeniable God-kill-me-I-must-be-dreaming looks, smoldering charm, sexy dimples and mystery.

While Raphael and other Angels, even Cambions, I'd seen had been breathtaking in a way that made you wonder if you'd cracked your skull open, the twins and Lucifer... there was something more.

Alluring.

Could just be me, because if I remembered correctly, Lux told me women from my family always warmed up to him.

Gah.

So yeah, maybe it was in my genes. Whatever he'd meant by warm up.

The Camaro slowed to a stop under a large tree, beside a bush with tiny red fruits. Lucifer climbed out, and I pushed open my door, guessing we'd hit stop on our little quest. We were parked in front of a slim stone pathway. Some stones were missing, others cracked. It lead into a garden, big enough to have ten dogs run free and still have space for puppies. Only the house and lawn had seen better days. Grass was yellow and withered, like it hadn't seen rain in months. The white paint was peeling from the boards and house windows.

As we neared, I saw one of the porch stairs was cracked and glass on the door was shattered. On the side of the house, garbage bags were torn open and as wind shifted, I caught a whiff. I curled a hand not to hurl.

It smelled like a dead animal. Or what I imagined something dead would smell like.

Just who in hell's bells were we meeting?

Not bothering with knocks or call-outs, Lux turned the knob after we walked up the unsafe porch. Weariness set off an alarm in my brain.

"Come on in." He gestured with a hand. There was a tease to his tone. "Spiders won't bite you. Promise."

The eww meter had just been set higher. I hated spiders with a capital H.

Stepping inside, I took a long breath, hoping the door wouldn't slam behind us.

It didn't.

Lucifer's eyes flicked right, where a stairway was.

"Sounds like we're crashing a party," Cameron's facial lines pulled into a frown. "How fun."

A party?

There was no time for me to ponder what he meant, Lux was on the move, going up the stairs slowly. I cringed with each step I took, the whining of the wood making me grab the dusty banister.

On the second floor, there were three doors. Two were wide open. One was a bathroom, the light was on—oh my God.

There was someone—a girl—in the bathtub.

Lucifer cocked his head, angling his body on the frame so he was leaning in.

"Hey toots," she giggled. Water sloshed as she moved. "Oh my... you are so pretty! Look at that hair—it's so long and beautiful. Like... like the color of autumn leaves! Not yellow or brown." I blinked several times before finally getting Bath Girl was talking and looking at me.

She giggled once more. A big fit.

"Is he going to do you next? 'Cause I'd be up for doing it with you."

Heat swamped my face. It was safe to say she played ball for the other team. Not once had she glimpsed at Lucifer.

With a tight smile, he stepped forward, shadowing me, "Sorry, hon, she's taken."

"That don't mean nothing," there was a thick accent and another row of giggling. "We can all still have fun." She jiggled sitting up further, her breasts played peek-a-boo.

A groan built up.

Why was Cameron—Lucifer—seeing boobs all the time.

"Maybe some other time," his voice came out sultry, the kind that would make you do any bad thing.

He whirled fast, going around me to the closed door—and now that I saw beyond the girl in the tub, I actually heard.

There were noises—moans—coming from the locked bedroom.

The Devil was obviously okay with ruining those happy sounds. He kicked open the door.

Jinkies.

A musky smell rolled up with something I knew, better than the first, crashed into my nose. More giggles came from behind us, where the bathroom was, but all I could do was stare. It was sick fascination, really. My teenage head thought it was hot, while another part of me, a part I should really listen to more often, told me to burn my eyes.

Girly mind won.

White bed sheets were covered in fluids. Only not all of them were uncolored wet patches. Some were very much colored—red.

It was blood.

The couple on the bed murmured among themselves. The boy's back was to us—he was on top—straddling a very naked woman. And I was looking a very buck naked dude.

Locks of brown hair dangled over a set of pale, gray eyes.

For several moments, I wasn't sure how to react. My body turned statue and my mind drifted back almost two months. When I'd first seen those sharply cut cheekbones, the acute chin that jutted out every time he gave an order, the plump mouth—the whole set.

It hadn't been more than a month ago that we'd returned from Hell but damn, Romeo's hair had grown out, the soft locks tickled the tips of his shoulders.

He looked like I'd seen him last. His lips did. There was blood smeared across them, along with a few bloody prints on his chin, neck and...

I stiffened.

This was Romeo—I was standing there with a naked guy. I wanted nothing to do with his cleanly cut, rock-hard abs that put six-packs to shame. But with his privy parts hanging out in the open it felt like the better place to stare.

When Cameron was back he'd have some choice things to say.

"There's something called knocking." He drawled lazily. The Brit-accent poked a wound in my chest. "And you've brought company with you. Lovely."

Lucifer didn't say a word.

Romeo rolled to the side, exposing the naked female. She looked around with blue eyes, dazed. Disgust pooled as I saw a slim cut across her shoulder.

"Looks like you've been busy," Lux stepped further into the room. No idea why, but I did the same.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Lucifer let out a low whistle, a smile pulled at Cameron's lips. It made me sick to see Cameron's face lit because of another girl, only this one was sitting on a chair, paler than paper.

Very much dead.

A hand smacked my mouth. Her eyes were wide, unseeing. There weren't cuts on her—she was fully clothed. Her head was angled wrong. I'd seen Cam's head like that, when he'd gotten his neck broken.

A shudder tiptoed my middle back.

"God..."

Romeo chuckled, "Big Guy's definitely not here, Blondie Bear. Just the opposite." His gaze fell on Lucifer who's smirk got blown out of proportions. "I was doing an experiment with her. It proved inconclusive. Oh, well." He shrugged, like he'd been a scientist experimenting on lab mice. "She's looking a little green..."

Boxers hit him in the face. He tugged them off eyeballing his boss.

"It's still weird," he muttered slipping the black things on. "Every time I look at you I still think it's him. It's weird." He repeated.

"He's locked up tight." Lux crossed his arms.

A smooth smile shaped the Cambion's lips, "Messed with him yet?"

Lucifer snorted and my jaw clammed shut. There wasn't really a way of knowing if Lucifer was picking Cam apart or not. I liked to think if Cameron's soul was in pain... That I'd know. Because there'd been times when I felt things—things that hadn't been mine to feel.

Had to be the Twin Flame factor.

"You're drinking blood," I finally spoke. "Why?"

Cambion's had an immortal soul—since they consumed their mortal parents' soul at birth—they didn't have a Vampire's need.

"It's an acquired taste, love. Like Pork Rinds." Couldn't say which one was worst. "I'm sure Kate wouldn't mind sharing with you, if you want a sip."

Bathtub Girl—Kate—laughed loudly strolling in. Naked. Water dripped from the tips of her hair, landing on the carpet, trails ran down her skin.

I fought off the need to blindfold Cameron.

She curled a piece of my hair around a finger, getting her face up close and personal. She was pretty. Probably older two or three years, and she smelled like male shampoo.

I knocked her hand aside.

Her brown eyes jumped with surprise and excitement. Red rimmed eyes. On top of all the blood sharing, sex and whatever dark hidden fantasies she'd played out, she was high.

"She's feisty," giggle. "I like her. Can we keep her?"

Romeo was halfway through saying 'yes' when Lux said, "No. I need her. Maybe after, if she wants..."

Slitting my eyes at him, I sidestepped Kate, who now headed for the bed. The blue eyed girl took her in, smiling.

"You're sick, you know that?" I felt my nose wrinkle as my eyes swiped the room once more. A bloody cutter sat on the bedside, pills of X or something alike, too. "Rory was right about you. You're nothing but a mons—"

Romeo sprang, like a rubber band snapping, I faltered a step. My shoulders jumped when I hit Cameron's taut chest, an arm latched around me and suddenly I was staring at Lucifer's leather clad back.

He had Romeo by the throat.

"Bad Romeo," he hissed, slamming the Cambion into a nearby wall. Lucifer tilted his head. "I've allowed your recent behavior in light of what happened, but touch a hair on her head and you will regret it. You know I lie about a lot, but never about my threats."

With a final snarl and shove—cracking the wall's plaster—Lucifer threw Romeo onto the floor. Romeo half-sat, coughing for breath, looking up at Satan through hooded eyes.

"You should really watch your words." He eyed me over a shoulder, then, gunmetal eyes traveled to Romeo. "Where's what I need?"

Romeo was out the door faster than any human could track and a full minute passed until he came back. Seeing he was carrying my mountain backpack—the one I'd had in Hell—shocked me. It'd been lost when we were thrown in the dungeon.

"Lost and found," he swung the bag my way. I caught it. "Dug it up after the Rebel attack. Couldn't find anything else."

I remembered the contents well. The clothes weren't really important. But I had an Azure Dagger stashed away and a book on plants and herbs and their Magical use.

No way was I thanking him, though. Not because he'd just tried to maim me, but for everything on the list. Leading us into a trap, torturing Phillip, killing Rory.

If this was his miserable way of grieving her, it sucked. Plus, she was dead because of him. He'd put her in that crossfire.

"Here's what you want." He handed a vial, with what I assumed to be Osha, avoiding my eyes.

It was the whole thing—flower and root. It had parsley-like leaves and umbels of white flowers. The leaves bases, where they attached to the root crowns, had a reddish tint. The root was dark, chocolate-brown, with wrinkled outer skin.

There was something else in Romeo's hand. A small black velvet sack. He handed it out to Lucifer, who was staring at the bag like it was Pandora's box. The ever present gleam in those metal irises had melted, leaving a distant look.

After a breath, Lucifer pocketed the little bag, eyes sheltered.

"What about my body?" His voice was sharp.

Romeo was unfazed. How long had they known each other?

"Somewhere safe under Marx's preservation spell." Marx. Could be the Witch who'd put the seal on Cam's soul. "And it'll stay like that until you say otherwise. I always do as asked, Lucifer." My limbs locked in place. I swear the room went five degrees colder once he spoke his name.

Lips tipped at the corners, "That's why you're my favorite." Ooh. "Have you talked to Azazel?"

Romeo's face grew somber.

"No. I haven't checked in since coming back—that was two weeks ago. As far as he can tell, none of the Rebels used passageways. They... They walked through the front door." Wow. I'd never seen the place we'd been held in—from outside—but for the Rebels to simply march in...? "They could've walked inside Domain easily, but Imperial? It's crazy." Lucifer was quiet. His jaw locked. "Also... They left. After crashing the ritual. Cameron exploded the Portal—taking a few out—but the rest left."

"Like their only purpose was to stop the ritual," Lux murmured. "How curious."

"No one knew about the ritual, not what it was for. Just me and you." The Devil nodded. I shifted, this had to be the most awkward situation I'd ever found myself in. "Or they wanted something. Someone."

Both guys turned to me. Cheese-Louise.

"What?" I clutched my bag closer, preventing their laser-eye like vision to harm me.

"What? You do remember being kidnapped, brainwashed and nearly killed, right? Me saving your life?" How could I forget. "They wanted you very badly. For what exactly?"

His question had me reaching into a less happy place. Right before Lyra had worked her Magic on me, twisting my thoughts, Helena had said...

A breath escaped me.

"They wanted my help. They wanted my help finding someone. I... I don't know who." Worrying my lower lip, I remembered Raphael's message from Michael. He also wanted my help finding a weapon. What if... "Helena said I was the only one who could do it. She... She'd known about me, what I could do. But she couldn't find me, not until I moved to Virginia..."

"Because of the cloaking spell." Lucifer finished. I looked at him, heart pounding. "I wasn't lying about me and your family. We have... ties. After your grandmother's generous help—" She'd apparently predicted me and Cameron meeting. Something the Devil needed for his Hell escape. "I repaid her by ordering a Witch to put a cloaking spell over San Diego. To keep anyone in your family safe."

That was... I swallowed, having no words.

Smoothing his longish hair, Romeo turned for the bed, finished dealing with us. Nice.

Lucifer turned a heavy glare his way before placing a hand on my back, pushing us out the bedroom. Once we made it through the dumpy house and were walking for the Camaro, Lux side-glanced me.

I hurried for the car, tossing my backpack and jar into the backseat.

The driver's door slammed.

"Helena told me they have eyes and ears everywhere." I didn't know why, or where that came from. Lucifer started the engine, I eyed as Cameron's hands moved over the gearshift. "Maybe someone in Imperial is one of them."

"They better not be, unless they want to spend eternity being tortured." The chill in his voice swept over me like a ghost. "This Helena... Was she in charge?"

"I think so. Felix—the one you killed—and everyone seemed to follow her orders. Why?"

The lines of Cameron's face were hard. Few minutes later, he shook his head. Locks of hair fell forward, shadowing his eyes.

Burying myself into the comfortable leather, I shoved away the squeezing in my heart.