die. He doesn’t want Lucifer back in Abaddon. He wants the walls and wards weakened so demons can escape until he can bust the gates of hell wide open."
"And create Hell on Earth," I whispered. "To turn every living soul against Lucifer, Abaddon, the Fallen, and demons. And me."
Ezekiel nodded. "Exactly. He wants there to be only Heaven and Earth."
I rocked back and sat on the coffee table. "I knew he wanted to open the gates. That much has been obvious. But to eradicate Abaddon?"
"What about our daughter?" Lucifer asked. "What could she have to do with this?"
"Raphael never told me specifically. But he did say that the spell for opening the gates required your blood. He managed to get some from you, but apparently, it needs your angelic blood, but if you're killed, you could stop him. So, he thought he was screwed until he found out Constance or Lilith. She was pregnant. So, he wanted to see if the baby's blood would do the trick."
I gasped, horrified at the thought. "Is he going to kill her?"
"I doubt it. It shouldn't take much blood. He's an angel, still. I've never known him to hurt a child." Fresh sobs burst out of his mouth. He covered his face and sucked in deep breaths until he calmed. "Not like you hurt Genevra and her poor baby."
Rolling my eyes, I sighed, exasperated. "I did her no lasting damage. That was my blood. She's bound up in the corner of the stall where you couldn't see her."
As Lucifer and Michael chuckled at my creativity, Ezekiel's jaw dropped. "They're going to kill me."
"Nah," I said. "I meant what I said. "I'll send you back. We're keeping Uriel. If Raphael thinks anyone blabbed, it'll be him."
Ezekiel laughed, but the sound was choked and more like panic than humor. "He's in another realm," he said. "I don't know how to get to it, or if you even could. But he's been planning this for hundreds of years. He recruited me and Genevra nearly two hundred years ago."
I had to let my mind wrap around that one. He'd been planning and waiting for our next Earth cycle. That was the only explanation. He'd thought having Luc as a human would've given him the perfect scenario to complete his plans.
"Why does he need Ariel?" Lucifer whispered. He had his gaze honed in on Ezekiel. "If he just needs a bit of her blood, why not take it and be done?"
Ezekiel shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I wish I had a better answer for you."
I studied the young angel as he spoke. "He means that."
Luc looked at me and nodded. He was well aware of my ability to get the truth. "Opening realms without a key or doorway takes years. We'd need to find a Relic or someone that knows where the realm is to force them to help us get in."
"We don't have that kind of time," Michael whispered. "We've got to get you to Abaddon within days. Possibly within hours."
My heart sank. I knew what was coming. They were going to pressure me to abandon the search for Ariel and focus on trying to get us back to Abaddon. On the one hand, it could be helpful to be in our true forms. Lucifer having his power back couldn't hurt, for sure, and even though I was almost at my normal level of ability, the human body fettered it because I had to keep a layer of protection running throughout it so that my magic didn't burn the body to a crisp.
Leaning close to Ezekiel, I flooded his mind with power. He had no mental blocks up like his sister had. I couldn't read his thoughts, but I was able to manipulate his emotions the way I had Genevra to make her scream. "Ezekiel." He snapped his gaze to me. "Is there any more knowledge that would benefit us to know?" I layered the desire to tell the truth and an urge to please me into his brain.
He shook his head. "Nothing I know of. Uriel might know more."
Uriel's mind wasn't so easily broken. We didn't have the time it would take to wear him down. He was an Archangel of the first order, making his betrayal all the more devastating.
I wasn't good with memories, but Michael was. "Can you wipe his memory?" I asked. "Leave him blank for a good three days, then we'll drop him back where we found him."
"Raphael will know we had