Of Light And Shadows

Chapter Thirty Five...

The crest was warm around Jia's throat when she woke in the middle of the night. She'd never gotten round to giving Lucifer it back after discovering she had Demon blood. It had become a comfort to her somehow, a constant reminder that he was never far away if she needed him. She hadn't seen him for days, though she knew she could call him to her at any time.

She traced the pointed star on its long chain absently as she blinked away her sleep, wondering why it was warm when all she'd been doing was dreaming. She sighed and turned over, scowling into her pillow as she remembered the reason her dreams made Lucifer walk away angrily. Evan had kissed her and she'd let him, like an idiot.

Jia, come here. The words whispered through her mind and she felt compelled to obey. She recognised the warm red of Lucifer's thoughts flickering in her mind. He was summoning her. She knew she could ignore it if she really wanted to, but she was already swinging her legs out of bed and standing. 

She took one step forwards and found herself in the study, appearing directly in front of him. The lamp was on and a low fire was burning in the hearth. Jia looked up at him to see dark circles under his eyes.

"You've not been sleeping again."

"I've had other things to do."

"You just got off of bed rest. Have you slept at all since?" He didn't answer but the look on his face said he hadn't.

"I found Abaddon." Her admonishment died on her tongue. "Or I found his associates, at least."

"What do you mean?" she asked. "His politician friends?"

"Not quite." He took her arm and towed her to the sofa. "When my father mentioned that Abaddon had been sent to the human world to monitor the spread of the Vampire virus it didn't sit right with me. Satan doesn't care about the spread. It also didn't make sense that a politician would be chosen to monitor it when they're a public figure. If Abaddon were ever caught trailing and studying the Vampires he'd be ousted from his job."

"He loved that job more than anything," Jia agreed. "No way would he risk it to track a Vampire."

"Exactly. So I started snooping." He passed a tired hand over his eyes. "You won't like what I found."

"I'm assuming it was pretty bad if you needed to summon me in the middle of the night."

"Abaddon isn't the only Demon in a position of power in the human world." Ice pooled in her stomach. "I searched the region around your home first, then spread to the rest of the county. Every major city I searched had at least one representative from this world hiding as a human or Lotura."

"How do you know?"

"I can tell when someone is one of us even through a photo," he answered. "Their disguises are clever. Hair dye, contact lenses, some of them even filed down their teeth, but it isn't enough to hide them from me."

"Why would the Demons want to get involved in human world politics?" she asked. Lucifer chewed his lip thoughtfully and the sight of his elongated incisor trapping the skin reminded her of Evan's face after he kissed her. Shame heated her cheeks and she looked away quickly, hoping the low light and the flickering shadows cast by the fire would hide it.

"I think my father has plans that we don't want to see come to fruition." His fists clenched in his lap. "I should have guessed he was up to something when he started harping on about marrying me off."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. He has eyes everywhere in the human world. Everywhere I searched, I found a Demon. He's already in control of this realm and he's a power hungry maniac. My guess is that he plans to make a move on the human realm and the only one capable of stopping him is me." Jia watched the emotions flit across his face before her own eyes widened in realisation.