The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,72

the one with the most."

"Shit," I breathed. "And the more they bring in, that means the more we have to take out. Is there any way to stop humans from leaving Earth?"

Uriel and Luke shared a glance. Luke shook his head, then Uriel sighed. They didn't need to say a thing for me to realize this was bad news, and yet I had questions. Lots and lots of questions.

"Why can't we just make a veil around that plane?" I asked. "I mean, I did it on Vesdar. It can't be that much harder on Earth, right?"

"It kinda is," Luke said. "Could you make a veil? Yes. The problem is that you can't make an exclusion. Humans don't wear their seals, and the only way to learn them is to touch them and figure it out. That is slow and tedious. So you have two options. First, you could make a veil that anyone could pass through and then exclude the angels. In that case, you're doing nothing to stop humans from being pulled out. There are dozens of angels on Earth right now. It is entirely possible that they could push you into the veil the same way you push angels. They wouldn't even need to leave."

Yeah, that didn't sound good. "And second?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Second," Luke said, "you could make a veil that blocks everyone from passing through. In that case, the angels try to send the humans through the veil, pushing them the way I mentioned, and the humans hit the barrier and die. Knowing angels, they wouldn't stop. After all, what are a few human deaths? They would simply try to find a loophole, adjusting their technique, or even make efforts to break the wards. Either way, each time they tried, who knows how many humans would die for it?”

"So, wait." I pressed both hands to my face, trying to wrap my mind around this. "You're saying that there's no way to make an effective Earth veil? Like, at all? Why can't I just push all of the angels off the world and then protect the humans by locking them in?"

"Permanent gates," Uriel said, dropping that out like a bomb.

My head jiggled from side to side in a silent refusal. "What are you talking about?"

"The portals you mentioned," Luke said. "You don't think Gabriel came up with that idea just for you, do you? Sia, there have always been permanent gates. There will probably always be permanent gates. Some of them have been damaged. Many have been lost and forgotten, while others are no longer safe to use. Still, even a pinhole is enough to allow aether to leak from Earth into Angelis. How do you think we keep the plants growing?"

"They!" I said again because I really wanted to break the habit of Luke grouping himself with Michael's pals. "So you're saying that even if I make a veil, these permanent portals could be fixed, reopened, or whatever else and used again? You're basically saying that this is a no-win situation. That I can't do anything to stop them?"

Uriel moved closer to grab my hand. "No, that's not what we're saying. Instead, we're saying it won't be easy. If this means so much to you, then we will find a way to stop it. I will be more than happy to help in any way I can, but I ask for one favor. Can we please take Kacira with the other slaves?"

I nodded, because there was nothing else I could do. "Of course."

Uriel pulled a long breath. "Okay, then I'll use this order as an excuse to make a headcount at all of our facilities. That will give us a good idea of how many locations we will have to remove slaves from. It will have to be fast, though, Sia. Once a large group of slaves disappears, the angels will scramble to figure out what's going on. This is not something you'll be able to do subtly."

"A full-out assault," Luke mumbled. "Hit one location, slip the slaves out, and then move right on to the next."

"Exactly," Uriel said. "While I'm at it, I'll see what I can find on the permanent gates. Don't expect much. Like Lucifer said, many of them have been lost. Typically, when a gate is not active, it shrinks down to the size of a pinhole. That means you have to be in exactly the right place to find them, and sometimes we forget where that place is. But,