The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,74

problem was that I didn't know what day it was, or if the church would be open. It wasn't exactly like I’d been a good Christian girl. For most of my life, angels had freaked me out. But when we reached the door and I tried it, it opened easily. Inside, the heat had been turned up. I breathed a sigh of relief as warmth began to remove the chill of the wind from my skin, and then I gestured to the sides.

Angels were everywhere. Paintings of them hung on the walls. Granted, they were the human-idealized version - which was nothing like the real thing. Closer to the far end where a preacher - or was it a pastor? - gave a sermon were the statues. Some were tucked nicely into alcoves and were no more than a foot tall. Others were concrete things that stood 3 to 4 feet high. And of course, at the very back, was the life-sized cross with a resin man hanging from it. Placed conspicuously on either side were two more angels. Those things had caused me nightmares for a long, long time.

"This is it," I told Luke.

"For some reason, I'd envisioned a whole lot more marble," he said. "Maybe I spent a little too much time in Catholic churches."

"And I’ve really only seen them in the movies," I teased. "But this means you can find it now, right? So, since we’re already on Earth, do you think I could ask you for a favor?"

"Of course," he said, looking at me with concern as if he'd heard something in my voice. "Sia, what’s going on?"

I turned back to the door, and lowered my volume to just above a whisper. "I was hoping we could stop by your place, and maybe make a quick trip to the store."

He followed me, but from the look on his face, I knew he didn't understand. "Okay?"

"I kinda want to get a pregnancy test," I told him.

He pushed open the door, and the moment we were outside, he hooked his arm around me and stepped into the corridor. Without giving me the chance to think about it, he just pushed, carrying us both to his place. Like we always had before, we stepped out into the yard, just feet from the porch. Together, we both jogged up the steps, and Luke produced keys to open the door.

As soon as we were inside, he spun to face me. "You just had your period, so why do you want a pregnancy test? What is going on?"

"It's theoretically possible to have periods and still be pregnant," I said, reaching up to drag my hand across my eyes. This was not really what I wanted to talk about. "I just… Luke, I screwed up. I fucked three different guys and didn't even know my birth control had run out. For all I know, I could be pregnant right now and not have a clue who the father is. I just… I really need to do this so I can stop thinking about it, okay?"

"Then we'll do this." But he grabbed my arm before I could move. "It doesn't matter whose it is. If you ever get pregnant, then it's yours - and thus, ours." He pulled in a deep breath and leaned a little closer. "And if any of those demons has a problem with that, then I’ll say it's mine. This time, another time, or a million years in the future. That offer stands, Sia. You are my legion. We are forever."

"Promise?"

His hand slipped down to find my palm, and he squeezed my fingers gently. "I give you my word," he said. And for Lucifer, that wasn't something he took lightly. "Now, I want you to go upstairs, have a shower, and put on some clean clothes. There's no way I'm letting you out of the house looking like that."

I squeezed his hand back. "Thank you." And I almost left, then had one more thing to ask. "Is there any way we can keep this between us?"

"Yeah," he said. "I get it."

That was all I needed to hear. Flashing one last smile, I jogged up the stairs, heading for Nick's room. Well, our room. Then again, the last time I’d lived in this house, I'd only had one boyfriend. Now I had four. Technically three boyfriends and a best friend, but we all knew I really had four. As I headed into the bathroom and started the hot water, waiting for