Page 64 of Fallen Demon

We walked together to the gate, where Tanner and Jasmin were left behind.

“Good luck,” the king of the underworld said.

“It’ll all work out,” Jasmin added.

At first, both of them talked about coming with us, but after some discussion, we all agreed that exposing the rulers of the underworld to the angels wasn’t a good idea. Tanner seemed to hate that he had to stay, but he knew what was at stake. He needed to stay alive to protect the underworld.

We met Abbie outside the gates.

“I was certain Maggie would have come this time,” Lacey said.

“She tried, but as the next in line to take over the hall if something happens to me, I forbade her,” Abbie explained.

“Nothing will happen to you,” I said. Lacey nodded in agreement.

The demon hunters Ava, Harvey, Doreen, and Andre joined us. I had met all of them before, and knew Ava and Harvey had been engaged for about two years now.

“Erin and Rey apologize for not being here,” Ava said, sounding bored. “They had other stuff to do.”

“The stuff is actually a call from Archangel Rhodes,” Harvey explained.

“A call?” That piqued my interest.

“Yeah, he sent a couple of messages to reschedule the meeting,” Doreen said, “but Erin and Rey keep inventing excuses. He then asked for a call.” I couldn’t help but stare at her beautiful auburn hair.

“If Rhodes insists, they will set a meeting date for two months out,” Andre said. He was a handsome black man, built like a wall and with long dreadlocks.

“By then we should have all of this solved,” Zad said. “Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” I muttered in agreement.

Aspen arrived soon after.

“Thank you for coming,” Rage told him.

“Part of my work,” he said, though he didn’t sound excited. I had seen Aspen do this before, where he created portals for us. That had to get old fast.

Aspen opened a portal and gestured for us to get through. I went in first, and I took in the view. We were atop a hill overlooking the Colorado River. My friends, along with Aspen, stepped through the portal. He had agreed to stay with us since we would need him when it was time to come back, and we didn’t know when that would be.

The plan was for us to get the dagger, lure Levi, turn him, and go back to the underworld.

“This place is beautiful,” Lacey said, taking in the view.

I nodded. “I washed out after jumping from the cliff somewhere along this bank.” I pointed to the river. “Two Mojave kids found me and called their elders.”

I hadn’t revealed all the details of where exactly the dagger was. I had told them to come along with me. And they did.

It filled my heart that they trusted me this much.

“You were taken in by the Mojave people?” Farrah asked.

“Not exactly.” I jerked my chin to the opposite side of the river, toward the desert and the mountains in the distance. Joshua trees were the only green thing around. “Come on. It’s not far from here.”

We walked inland for about fifteen minutes and saw absolutely nothing but the bleak, but beautiful landscape. Everyone was quiet, but I could sense their restlessness in the air. They wanted to know exactly where we were going.

“Please, tell me you didn’t stash the dagger under a rock,” Ava said. She was joking, but there was a little uncertainty to her statement.

“Well, the thought did pass my mind when I was being dragged away from the river.” I chuckled. “But no.”