Azazel’s bond, the sense of comforting, all-encompassing darkness he gave off.
I cracked one eyelid, and there it was: thin and shimmering violet, extending over my shoulder and into the ceiling overhead, leading towards the bedroom.
His emotions were unclear to me: he was dreaming, his emotions sliding from one to the other and back again. Here and there was a slight ripple of worry and anger, but then his thoughts would go dark again, leaving his connection as calm as a still lake.
What did someone like Azazel dream of?
Azazel? I thought his name with all my might, holding onto the violet links in my hand. I probably looked like a crazy person, standing there with my hands up in the air, but there was a sudden shift in his emotional climate: from the depths of sleep where his emotions were hard to control and vague, to his usual iron control.
The air in the arena shivered, and Azazel stepped out of thin air, perfectly dressed and looking nothing like he’d just been completely unconscious.
His arms were wrapped around me before I even lowered my hands. “You called for me?” he asked, his voice soft in my ear. I felt warm lips brush my cheek as I turned to look up at him.
“It’s an emergency, Azazel,” I said. “We need to get Belial and meet in the war room.”
He nodded, his lips tightening, and stepped out of existence again.
Tascius took my hand as I plunged into the corridor, heading for the meeting room we’d christened the ‘war room’. It wasn’t large, but it had a table and enough chairs for everyone to sit and discuss our next move.
I forced myself to slow down a little. Fortunately, my memories remained clear for now. I still had the image of the landscape around Lucifer imprinted in my mind.
“Is he helping you at all?” I asked my large friend, dropping my voice to a near-whisper. “Or is he just being a pain in the ass?”
Tascius flicked his silver braid over his shoulder. “A little of both, if we’re being honest.”
Behind us, Michael told Haru a dirty joke and cracked up laughing.
I rolled my eyes skyward. Maybe I should’ve left him in the Pit.
“There’s so much I don’t know,” Tascius said. He moved his hand up to wrap his arm around my shoulder instead, conscious of the bandaging. “If it helps, I’m willing to suffer him.”
“Good, because we’ll probably need it.” I scowled as I shoved the war room’s door open. If we had to cross that abyss of darkness to reach Lucifer and Vyra, we needed an archangel’s light on our side.
I’d barely pulled a chair out when Azazel rematerialized along with Belial. The Watcher was already sitting, but Belial stumbled and almost ran into the table.
“Fucking space-time warps,” he muttered, and came to sit on my other side, his brows still pulled in a scowl. “Azazel, you interrupted a meeting with Adranos and Lucifuge Rofocale. It’d better have been worth it.”
I wrapped my hand around his and he pulled it into his lap. “It’s worth,” I told him. “Trust me.”
Michael sat in a chair, legs spread wide and holding another bottle of whiskey, and Haru, as usual, leaned on a wall. The kitsune wasn’t one for sitting down; if he wasn’t pacing, he was standing at the very least.
All eyes were on me.
I looked at my Watcher across the table. “Azazel, this is likely going to be your forte, but I want everyone in here to hear it. I went into the Chainlings’ temple tonight and managed to make contact with the Chain.”
Deep interest flickered in his violet eyes. “What was it like?”
“Terrible,” I said, but I couldn’t remember exactly why. Besides Lucifer’s location, I had only a vague sense of despair and unease about everything else it had shown me. “But I saw Lucifer. And I mean exactly where he is right now.”
I described flying over the Fields of Asphodel, the dark sea, the void of light and color that had seemed endless… and finally, the jagged mountains covered in a soft fall of ash.
Azazel sat straight up when I mentioned the ash and withered trees.
“His soul-bonds were still in effect, yes?” he asked, his voice clipped. It was easy to see his mind was already racing, far beyond this room to look at the bigger puzzle pieces around us.
“They were crimson,” I said quietly. “And looked painful.”
Azazel gave me an apologetic look. “Did he see you?”