Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,7
the human realm to a place that should have been nothing but safety, and instead, he’d lost his life within days of arrival.
Journey had no doubt that they’d learn the identity of the perpetrator, but for now he was just going to be happy that he had some information about Cipher.
Feeling hope for the first time in months, he flashed himself to Sheoul-gra’s landing pad, and then he found Hawkyn and their brother Maddox exactly where he thought they’d be.
In the kitchen scarfing the Red Devil’s Food Cake their sister Suzanne had promised to deliver this afternoon. Maddox had crumbs all over the front of his navy Rick and Morty T-shirt, and Hawkyn had smeared frosting on the sleeve of his leather bomber. Those two didn’t need a table, they needed a trough.
“Yo,” he called out. “I got a lead on Cipher.” He skidded to a halt in front of them as they shoved their faces full of cake.
“Holy shit,” Maddox mumbled through frosting. “You serious?”
Journey reached for a plated slice. “I was checking in on Declan while he was meeting with some DART colleagues, and they were talking about the increase in Unfallens being dragged to Sheoul.”
Hawkyn drained a can of cola in half a dozen swallows and popped a perfect two-pointer in the nearby garbage pail. “DART is a demonic activity response organization. They fight demons. Why would they even care about angelic issues?”
Maddox gave Hawk a “duh” look. “Maybe because Declan’s married to a Memitim?”
“Yeah, I get why he would be concerned, but what about the others?”
“Arik was there,” Journey explained. “Reaver told him that Bael captured an Unfallen who worked in Sheoul-gra.”
Hawkyn let out a nasty curse. “I knew it. That bastard.”
“Bael?” Maddox let out a low whistle. “No one was tighter with Satan.”
“Top tier evil,” Hawkyn acknowledged. He turned back to Journey, his emerald eyes bright with hope. “Did Arik say anything else? Did he have a name?”
“No, but it has to be Ciph. No other Unfallen who worked for Father has gone missing.”
“That’s awesome.” Maddox reached for the black leather duster and weapons belt slung over the counter. “Let’s get him.”
“Easy there, Quick Draw.” Hawk shot Mad a “you’re kidding, right?” look. “Do you know how big Bael’s territory is? Even if we could access that part of Sheoul, we don’t know where Cipher’s being held.” He dug his phone from his jacket pocket. “Although I do have a crude map of Bael’s prison region somewhere...”
“You sure Cipher’s being held?” Journey hated to even suggest it, but he’d seen what being exposed to evil did to people. “He could be with Bael voluntarily.”
The temperature in the room dropped so low that Journey could see Hawkyn’s breath as he lifted his gaze from his phone’s screen.
“Cipher would never betray us,” he said, his voice going as low as the temperature. “If he could be here, he would.”
Hawk’s faith in his best friend was admirable, but Journey wasn’t so sure it was deserved. When an Unfallen entered Sheoul, the act completed his fall from Grace, allowing evil to fully penetrate. No matter how decent Cipher might have been as an Unfallen, evil was now a part of him. His new wings would be formed with it. His powers and abilities would all be tainted by it.
But to what degree? That was always the question when it came to fallen angels. Most had malevolence seeping from their pores and they were giant, radioactive dickbags. But a few, usually those who were only recently fallen, weren’t half bad. Maybe if they got to Cipher in time, they could save him from the worst of it. Or at least hold it off for a few centuries.
“Okay, man.” Journey held up his hands in a defensive gesture. “Take it easy. I just wanna address the big, awkward demon elephant in the room, you know?”
Hawkyn glared, but a moment later was back on his phone. “I’ve got the map, and I think I have a file that can help us.” He tapped on his phone as he spoke. “Last year Cipher probed the personal networks of about a dozen of Azagoth’s enemies to look for back doors into their security systems and tech.”
Journey nodded excitedly, knowing where this was going. “I helped him with that. Bael was one of the targets.”
“Tell me you guys breached his shit,” Hawkyn said.
“We did.” Journey grinned at his brothers. “Boys, I think we can help Ciph.”
Journey dove into his cake with an enthusiasm that had