Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“You’d have to find them first.” He held out his hand and the patch appeared above his palm, gently floating in the air. “And although this tells you quite a bit about them, it doesn’t tell you enough. It certainly doesn’t tell you who they are.”
“Wait, what?” I surged. “Did you say that patch tells me quite a bit about them? How? What does it tell me?”
“It tells you,” he relayed, voice calm, “that whoever wore this patch is a student of Abaddon Academy, and that’s where they took her.”
I blew back, eyes as wide as my hanging jaw. “A... student?” I croaked. “You mean a child?” My mind rebelled thinking those oversized, powerful beasts were children.
“I do not mean a child,” he corrected, cutting my horror off at the knees. “The attendees of Abaddon are adults by human and demon definition. Demon children are wild, chaotic, uncontrolled, dangerous creatures. Only a fool would put dozens of them in a room together. They’d kill each other, their instructors, and level the school within an hour.
“No. Demons do not attend school until they’ve grown up enough to master control of themselves and their magic, and when they have, the school they attend is Abaddon Academy.” He flung the patch at me. “But since the school is constantly and relentlessly under attack, all students have to wear that patch somewhere on their person, or it’ll be assumed they’re an intruder. This is why logic dictates they took your sister directly to campus after snatching her. Anyone suspected of being an intruder is killed on sight,” he said. “They couldn’t take that chance, so they wore their patches while doing the deed. Otherwise, why wear something so identifiable?”
I nodded slowly. “You’re right. That does make sense. But why take her to this place at all?”
He shrugged. “I can only speculate, but Abaddon Academy is considered neutral territory within hell. If they have plans for her that they can’t have connected to their people, they’d carry them out there.”
“Plans?” My throat closed up. “What plans could they possibly have for Dora!”
Lucifer’s gaze was steady. “Once again, I can only speculate, but whatever those plans are, I can assure you your sister won’t like them.”
I shook—tears filling my eyes. “Be honest with me,” I whispered. “Is my sister d-dead?”
He smiled at me. “I don’t know. My father is the all-knowing one, and he didn’t see fit to pass down that particular trait.”
“But what are the chances!” I burst out. “What are the plans? What would a demon want with a human?”
“If you want the list, very well. There are a number of demonic spells and rituals that require human sacrifice,” he bluntly dropped on my head. “Everything in hell is—for all intents and purposes—dead. Even the beings walking, talking, and existing are dead. We do not have the thing that makes someone truly alive. Only the inhabitants of this world do.”
It took me a second to get it. “A soul,” I breathed. “That’s why mine is worth something to you.”
Lucifer inclined his coiffed head in agreement.
“So,” I tried to speak without trembling, and failed. “You think my sister has been... sacrificed.”
“No,” he replied, snapping my head. “It is a possibility, but no, I personally don’t. If your sister was your brother, my top vote would be sacrifice, but since you human females provide another valuable use to demons, and you’re so hard to come by, I’d wager they won’t kill her until they get a few uses out of her.”
“Uses?” I shot up, then fell right over. I was still too weak from seeing his true form to be jumping around. “Are you talking about—about—?” Pitching off the couch, I vomited right on the carpet.
“That’s right,” he chirped. “They’ll be making use of her warm, tasty womb if they’ve got any sense in their head.”
“Holy fuck, no!”
“There won’t be anything holy about it,” Lucifer mused, peeling my lips back from my teeth. “It’ll be filthy, horrid, and very much non-consensual.”
“But why,” I screeched. “You just said there are demon children. They can reproduce with their own fucking kind! Why do they need my sister?!”
“I also just told you how valuable souls are to demons. Demon spawn are soulless, but a half-human, half-demon bastard is not. Demons use souls to power their most dangerous spells and rituals, but imagine how much more powerful they’d be if they were already born with that little magical battery in their chest.
“Beneath your feet, a constant and relentless war for power rages. A House with human hybrids on their side is ever closer to winning that war.”
I cried—right there on the floor in my sparkling dress covered in vomit, I cried. “Oh, Dora,” I sobbed. “What have they done to you? I’m sorry. I’m so s-sorry.”
“Do not despair just yet, darling.” A strong, spine-chilling finger tipped my head. “I haven’t given you bad news. I’ve given you hope.”