my hands. Ezekiel began to shout. "Genevra! No!"
Interesting reaction, that. "What? Were you fond of her?" I asked. Affecting a false attitude of sympathy, I tutted at him. "Sorry for your loss."
She wasn't dead. She was safe and sound in the stall.
"She was my sister," Ezekiel sobbed. Real tears flowed down his cheeks.
Uriel looked at him, moving his eyes since I had the rest of him bound too tight. "Shut up your sobbing," he snarled. "That's what they want."
Lucifer chuckled. "Don't worry, Ezekiel. I'm sure she'll eventually be able to redeem herself and be reborn. Maybe you'll see her again."
"She was pregnant," Ezekiel yelled. "You are demons at heart, aren't you?"
Lucifer smiled and leaned forward. "Are you just now realizing that?"
"You know, Ezekiel. I can help her," I said. "I can make her time in Abaddon comfortable."
I leaned forward beside Lucifer. "Or we can make it pure Hell."
As I spoke, I lowered my voice and put just enough power to give it weight but not enough that he'd know I was influencing him. "Tell me what I want to know, and Genevra will get through this."
He couldn't nod his head, but he looked up and his eyes darted from me to Lucifer repeatedly. "Do you promise?"
"I promise, if you tell the truth, I will do everything I can for Genevra." I spoke the truth. I'd make sure she had her baby, then she'd be given every chance to redeem herself in Abaddon. That was the best thing anyone could do for her, give her the chance to avoid being a demon. A rebirth would be far preferable.
"Fine." He closed his eyes and a few more tears leaked out.
"Keep your mouth shut," Uriel snarled. "You'll ruin everything."
Straightening up, I waved my hand at Uriel and transported him into the stall with Genevra. Behind the ward where Ezekiel couldn't hear him.
"How do I know you won't kill me when I'm done?" he asked.
"I haven't read your aura," I said. "Did you know I can do that? Didn’t you know that I can see right through you?”
I released the hold on his head. He wiggled around when he realized he could. "No," Ezekiel said. "I didn't."
"Come on. Let's go somewhere more comfortable to talk." I said.
"I'll stay with Uriel," Gabe said.
14
I moved me, Lucifer, Michael, and Ezekiel to my living room. Then, I unbound Ezekiel, all but his hands. As long as my magic was around his hands, he couldn't disappear from the living room. He was tied to me for the time being. He sat on the couch and looked at us in wide-eyed fear.
"Would you like something to drink?" I asked. "This doesn't have to be an unpleasant experience. But I'll know if you lie. I haven't read your aura, because if I do, and I find you've done horrible things, I can't let you go. But at the moment, I don't know what sort of angel you are. How pure or corrupted."
He nodded. "Yes, I understand. If I give you what you want, you'll let me go?"
I nodded. "And Uriel. I'll wipe your memories of ever having told us anything. Of ever being trapped. Then, I'll let you go."
He hadn't asked for a glass of water, but Michael brought him one anyway. Ezekiel took it in both hands, still bound together with an invisible tether. He gulped down half the glass, then handed it back. "Okay," he said. "Genevra recruited me to help. Not many people know she's my sister. Different moms," he explained. I didn't care about that, but I'd let him tell the story at his own pace. I hoped to get more details that way.
I knew Lucifer agreed because he was the one that taught me to interrogate that way. Let them speak freely until they run out of steam, then ask questions after.
"Raphael contacted Genevra through some guy that knew them both."
Probably that asshole I'd killed. The pedophile. Ugh.
"Raphael has said over the years that Heaven would have better recruitment if the people knew the truth about Abaddon. He thinks they need to know the evils of demons so that they will be led to be on the side of heaven." We knew he wanted the gates of Abaddon opened, but not why. This was some of the info we needed. "He wants Hell on earth and for demons to be hunted and killed by angels and humans, and then no more demons would be created. He cast the spell on Lucifer so that he couldn’t