A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums (Lilith and Co. #1)

Chapter 26

Chapter

Twenty-Six

W e thanked Victoria for her help and really, the fastest way for us to get to Satan was through manifestation, but Connor insisted that we get to the closest portal so we didn’t drop in somewhere that might get us killed before we could react.

His plan made more sense.

I closed my eyes, manifesting us to the closest portal in Satan’s quadrant, which, you know, given we were in England, wasn’t that far. The math mathed, right? Given the extended history of warfare in the country alone, not to mention Europe as a whole—no one but Satan could’ve controlled this quadrant.

Our feet touched ground at the far end of an archeological dig not currently in progress next to a large stone that concealed the both of us. The holes of the dig had been covered up by large plastic tarps, probably blue. The sun just started to peek above the horizon line, causing half of the tarps to fall into shadow and the others—well, it blinded me to look at them. Sunrises here were beautiful. I took a minute to enjoy the sight, a reminder of what we were fighting for. Not that Satan could control the sunrise, but our ability to enjoy them.

It hit me right then that my shop had been closed for an extended period of time. Customers had no idea that I was fighting to save them and were probably plenty pissed that they couldn’t get their herbs and stones. Despite our circumstances here, I felt the need to shoot off a text to my employees telling them I’d been called away on an emergency and forgotten to contact them. If they wanted overtime, open the shop every day until I got back.

“You’re texting now?” Connor asked accusingly.

“My girls. My store. It’s been closed and I needed to—” I stopped trying to defend myself, letting my shoulders fall instead. I thought he’d make some sort of crack at my expense, but instead, he pulled me into his arms, placing a kiss to the top of my head. God, I loved when he did that. I felt safe. I felt loved. I felt… happy. In a time where I should’ve felt anything but, Connor made me happy.

He held me a few beats before saying, “We’ll get you back to your store.”

Connor got it. He got me. Now, I’d never tell him, but right here, right now, I decided the universe had gotten it pretty right pairing us together. Whatever deal Lilith made to make this happen, I owed her big time, too.

“Right,” I said, pushing back from my mate but not letting him go completely. “Let’s go bust some heads.”

“I was thinking capturing Satan and forcing him to talk might be the better strategy here.”

“Semantics.”

As he laughed at me, I dropped a cloak around us. Connor pushed on the large stone and it made no noise as it scraped across the ground to reveal the entrance. We moved as a seamless unit down into the portal. Since I’d asked for one that would bring us to Satan’s headquarters, the stone stairwell led us into Hades.

I’d snuck through this office space twice before and still disliked it just as much. Sad. Beige. Fluorescent lighting. Shivers always accompanied thinking of the poor demons who suffered this place day in and day out while Luc had people laughing and lounging in the big common room. Luc’s half-walls of fire gave an exciting flair. Nothing exciting happened here. Or at least no good excitement. Satan seemed the type to tear apart an unsuspecting demon just for shits and giggles.

We stopped in the middle of the hallway until Connor got his bearings. “Not the usual way I get here.” Made sense. He turned us to the right and there—the office of the Goodfella came into view.

I cracked my knuckles, getting ready to manifest us inside the office when the door opened and a man in a tie, button-down, and suit pants stepped half out of the room. He stopped and turned back to whoever was in the office. It wasn’t Satan. No one would dare speak to Satan in that tone—not if they wanted to live.

The man walked out without shutting the door, his whole body tight. He was not happy. Connor and I moved into the office where a woman had her ear pressed against the receiver of a beige, corded desk phone straight out of the 1970s. A closed door came into view behind her desk and I knew in an instant that was Satan’s office. She had her mousy, brown hair pulled back in an extra-tight bun and she wore a blouse and a herringbone pencil skirt. She clicked her blood-red nails on the desk as she appeared to be waiting for someone to answer.

Finally, she spoke. “Please tell Mammon that Satan isn’t in. He’s been called away on important business.”

Important business? You mean like hitting covens and killing hundreds of witches? I looked at Connor. He nodded once and clicked the door shut as I dropped the cloak. She gasped as anyone would then narrowed her eyes at my mate. She tilted her head, pulling her eyebrows together.

“Connor Baghest? Is Lucifer here?”

“No,” he growled.

The woman hung up the phone, taking a step back to put more distance between them. “Wh-What’s going on?”

“Where is Satan?” Connor demanded.

“He’s been called away.”

“To where?” he barked and she straight up jumped.

“What’s his game?” I asked and she finally turned to look at me, startling as if she’d just now noticed my presence.

She cocked her head giving major haughty vibes, hand propped on her hip. “What are you?” she asked.

Really? She had a very pissed-off, menacing Connor baring teeth at her, looking a minute from going full-on death hound on her ass and that was what she chose to ask?

“You don’t talk to her. You address me. Where is Satan? You’ve got two seconds.” Connor’s eyes started to glow red and oh, man —shit was definitely about to hit the fan.

Her face went completely ashen, zombie gray. “He got called away,” she replied. “Things have been happening—things he hasn’t approved.” She finished fast. Well, this was a new development.

“What things?” Connor roared. “Where is he?”

The woman threw up her hand as if that would stop my mate from ripping her throat out. “He’s taking a meeting… at a place called Monnie’s. I don’t know it. I can try to find out where it’s located.”

“No need.” He turned to me. “Simone.” I used my Lilium magic to make sure she couldn’t move or speak for at least an hour. We didn’t need her warning Satan. Then I took Connor’s hand, cloaked us again, and manifested us the hell out of there.

We landed by the big, green dumpster behind Monnie's Bar.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered to Connor. “I thought Luc was with us.”

“There’s no way he’s involved.”

“But this is his territory.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“ Shit —we left Shafira and Karro with him.”

“They’ll be fine. He’s not involved.”

“Connor, you know I think the world of him, but this is a bit too sus. Who’d dare hold a meeting in Lucifer Morningstar’s quadrant without his approval?”

“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out.” Connor started stripping off his clothes. I bent to pick them up as he dropped into his hound form. The giant dog still took my breath away. I draped a cloak around us and we snuck into Monnie’s through the back door. We entered the kitchen area, which appeared cleaner than I’d expected it to be. Somehow, given it’s role as the hangout for all the bad men in Luc’s territory, I’d expected dirty dishes piled up in the sink with food rotting on the plates and flies buzzing around. But no, it looked like a clean, up-to-date bar kitchen. Who knew?

Focus, Simone. We walked through the kitchen to emerge behind the bar. A hallway sat across from the bar. Signs pointed out the restrooms. Instinctively, I felt like that was where we needed to be. With Connor at my side, we headed in that direction. The door at the end of the short hallway opened up and ooh—that man gave me the willies. That man being Satan himself, looking every bit as menacing as the last time I’d seen him. The scar that ran along his face appeared thicker, deeper now. As if all his stress manifested through that ugly feature.

“See that it doesn’t,” Satan said to someone and clearly, we’d missed a large portion of the conversation. The door opened wider and Connor snarled and barked, gnashing his teeth. Both Satan and the other man turned to see where the sound was coming from.

Connor charged and it took everything to keep up with him. The man was fast in his hound form. In the melee, I didn’t notice Satan slip away, but he did because when we reached the office, Satan was gone.

Our timing— perfect . I dropped the cloak and Connor changed back to a man. “ Damien, ” he snapped and he lunged, capturing the guy I assumed to be Damian as he tried to escape. When would these guys learn? Connor was not a man you pissed off or played with—well, unless your name was Simone Lamia. How I enjoyed the perks of being me.

A third man, the other man still left in the room, whom I assumed to be the owner of Monnie’s, sat behind a desk. His eyes darted back and forth between us. I used my magic to ensure neither bad dude could leave, before handing Connor back his clothes.

“What in all of Hades were you doing meeting with Satan?” my mate asked as he dressed, and I really thought it behooved the man to answer. Unfortunately for this Damien, he thought with his bravado rather than his head.

“The world is changing,” he replied, sneering in a way that was just asking to get his head torn from his nasty demon body, and Damien reminded me of a reptile when he spoke. Like the equivalent of a human gecko. I disliked the man on sight.

“Not today,” I said and the man glared at me.

“You think you know—you’ve got no clue, girlie. Either of you. No amount of bitches— oops! I mean, witches are gonna keep us from turning the Earth into a literal devil’s playground. Watch your back, girlie. They’re all coming for you.”

Connor moved so quickly at his threat, I didn’t have time to react. He used his bare hands to rip the demon in two. Blood and guts spurted and spilled all over us and the desk before it all disintegrated into ash. I didn’t even have the chance to vomit, it went that fast. So I conjured up a breeze to brush it away.

Then Connor turned to the man still stuck to his seat. The man’s eyes went huge. “I have nothing to do with this.” The man sniveled. “When the leader of Hell calls a meeting, you don’t argue.”

“He’s not the leader,” Connor snarled. And I got it but this wasn’t helping.

“Why did they call the meeting here?” I asked.

He turned his head to me. “Because of Lucifer. It’s his quadrant.”

My stomach dropped and I felt all kinds of nauseous. “We have to get to Shafira and Karro,” I said.

“We need the amulet,” Connor returned.

He was right. I could drop Luc with my Taser fingers, but to end this, we needed to unite Lilith’s blade.

“You’ll forget all about this meeting the moment we leave,” I said to the man, manifesting that into reality. He neither nodded nor shook his head—more he sat in his chair staring at us like he’d missed our entire exchange. I grabbed on to Connor and popped us out of Monnie’s.

We touched down in the field next to Lily Joy’s cottage, the place I’d last seen my dear cousin. The house looked empty. I ran for the front door, using magic to push it open. “Lily Joy,” I shouted. “Lily Joy, it’s Simone and Connor. We’re back.”

Nothing. No one. Abandoned.

“Where could she have gone?” My heart hurt. “I feel like we take one step forward and fifty-seven steps back.”

“She’s okay. I know she is. Lily Joy is a powerful Lilium. But we don’t know where she is or what we’d be landing in if you manifested us to her. We want her unhurt, but the world needs you alive, babe. We can’t risk it.”

“Don’t be logical with me, Baghest. I’m not in the mood.” I made the sorry attempt to lighten the atmosphere. It didn’t work.

“Let’s go upstairs and get your backpack.”

“What if it’s not here?”

“I highly doubt demons searched the place after we left. Their mission was to kill us. We got away. They were scrambling.”

That gave a little comfort, given how things kept going from bad to worse and I had no idea what came after worse. I didn’t want to know. What I wanted and what I got always seemed to fall at the far ends of the spectrum from each other. Pulling up my big-girl panties, I marched upstairs to the bedroom Connor and I had shared while staying here.

I immediately saw my backpack squished between the bed and the bedside table, where I’d stuffed it before all literal hell had broken loose and I sighed all the sighs. Every single one. The universe allowed us to take a big step forward. Thank you, universe!

Connor made it into the room right behind me, but I’d already bent down to retrieve the pack. I could be quick too, when I needed to be. With Connor next to me, I crawled onto the bed, leaning back against the pillow to open the pack, reaching inside to find the amulet. I pulled the ruby-red gem out, holding it protectively in my hand—not that I thought Connor would try to take it, we just had no idea when some janky demon might appear out of the floorboards and snatch it after catching us unawares.

At this point, we couldn’t discount any scenario, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

“It’s hard to imagine that little thing will kill demons as powerful as the leaders of Hell.”

“Hades might be a nicer place to work, then,” I replied.

He shrugged. “I guess depending on who you work for. I know there’s a high rate of job satisfaction in Asmodeus’s quadrant—and I’ve always enjoyed working for Luc.”

We both fell silent. Luc. How could he have been involved? It didn’t make sense. The man had far too much pride in the Hell he’d built.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“He’s not involved. He’s not. He’s being set up. You know Luc has the most territory. It’s a perk of creating the realm for yourself.”

“You have to be prepared if he is involved?—”

“He’s not ,” Connor snapped.

I wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning my head on his bicep. “I have to get ahold of Sim. We need to meet. We need to join the hilt of Lilith’s dagger and the amulet to activate it. Then we need to end this.”

The grimoire poked painfully into the skin of my back in this seated position. I reached behind me to pull it from the waistband of my jeans, dropping it on my lap.

“So much trouble for this thing,” I said, casually flipping it open. And it appeared Lilith answered me in the form of an entry not there before. “‘Once the witches be slain, the world shall crumble in pain.’”

“I think your grandmother heard you.”

“I’m sure she did.” Then I looked to the ceiling as if she hovered above me—ridiculous, I know. “I didn’t say I was quitting. I just said it’s a lot of trouble for a little book.”

More words appeared on the page. My grandmother, it seemed, had a flair for the dramatic. “‘With your family you will overcome, without them, evil will overrun,’” I read to Connor. Then I looked up to the ceiling again. “I got it the first time. Your little rhymes don’t make me like it any better.”

“Simone,” Connor replied in his gentle voice. Yes, his gentle voice.

“What? I don’t like being pressured. I know I have the entire fate of the world in my hands. She could’ve killed Adam years ago and been done with the man. Instead, she drops this on me and I’m supposed to be happy about it? I’m tired, Connor. I’m tired and people die when I make mistakes. I feel old—like I’ve aged five hundred years in the last week.” I slapped the book shut, swiping it from my lap to land on the bed next to me.

“We’re not going anywhere right now. You need to rest.”

“Connor, that’s not?—”

“I know what you meant. But you still need to rest and this way, you can try to contact Sim.”

My shoulders slumped. “Okay.”

“Babe?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m here. You can’t carry it all—give some to me. My shoulders are strong. Let me do some heavy lifting for you.”

Stupid, hot tears leaked from my eyes. “You are so getting laid when this is done. Spectacularly. Spectacularly laid, Connor Baghest.”

He leaned in to kiss me, snatching the grimoire from the bed as his lips pressed to mine. He dropped the book into the backpack without missing a beat. After pulling back, he helped me lie back onto the bed. Connor still kept one arm looped through the backpack straps as he held me.

With his warmth to my back and his arms protecting me, I let myself succumb to the sleep weighing my eyes closed. I started to dream of Connor and me back home packing to go on a beach vacation. I had no idea if Luc would allow Connor to take a vacation, but we deserved one and I could be pretty convincing when I needed to be. But as we packed the last bag into my Jeep, I felt myself lifting up from the ground and I realized that the astral projection just started separating me from my body without me even trying.

The door appeared, floating in front of me. It opened the moment I approached and I glided through. Wherever they were, it appeared to be night. The entire room cloaked in blackness.

“Sim?” I whispered, which yes, I know—ridiculous. Madigan wouldn’t hear me if I spoke in regular tones. I couldn’t help it, though. Whispering seemed somehow more respectful. Whatever. Moving on.

His eyes opened and he sighed, pushing up from his body to join me hovering over the bed. “Hey, sis. Are you okay?”

“I’m ready for this to be over.”

“Before you showed, I was dreaming about Madi and me packing for a beach vacation. How great would that be?”

I startled. “Packing for a beach vacation?”

“Yeah…” He drew the word out. “You don’t like the beach?”

“I—yeah, I love the beach—it’s just, I was having the same dream. Packing up my car for Connor and me to take a beach vacation.”

“That’s odd. We’re fraternal, so we can’t really chalk it up to being a twin thing.”

“No. Maybe it’s a reward for a job well done?”

“I’m down with that.”

“Where are you now?”

“Back in Michigan. Northern part of the mitten. I grew up about three hours south of here. I had a foster dad who wanted all the kids to learn how to hunt. He’d bring us here. Seemed safe.”

“You grew up in Michigan, too?”

“ Too ? You mean Lilith placed us that close to each other and we never met. Damn. I can’t believe my sister was so close yet we both had to grow up alone.” He shook his head. I got that.

Damn was right. Okay, I’d have to unpack all that later—like once the world was safe. Right now, work.

“Listen, I’ve got the amulet and the grimoire. There’s so much going on, but here’s the condensed version. Someone, probably the demon responsible for this whole thing—we think it’s Satan—brought Cain, Adam’s son, forward in time. Why? I don’t know yet. But new pages have been appearing in the grimoire and we need to meet up. I need you to head for the witches’ archives so we can join the dagger and try to end this.”

“That’s the condensed version?”

“I know. The safest place for us to meet is the Knap of Howar. That’s where the archives are located.”

“Knap of Howar? Sounds old.”

“And crumbling. There’s a little entry connecting two larger crumbling rooms. It’s hidden from people walking up because of how it’s situated. I need you to say: Cuir isteach mar chara. Can you remember that?”

“ Cuir isteach mar chara ? Yeah, I can remember that. A keen memory is one of my abilities. What does it mean?”

“Basically, ‘open up and let me in.’ I don’t know the exact translation. But a stairwell will open up out of nowhere and that will take you down to the archives. Madigan needs to be holding you, your hand, or shirt. The door will close behind you. The room will give you whatever you need if you’re hungry or tired. But don’t let anyone hear the password.”

“What about Lily Joy?”

“I’m trying to locate her and I hope to Lilith that she’s safe, but you and Madigan are part of this in a way that not even Lily Joy is. So please, be careful and get to the Knap of Howar.”

“I’ll get us there.”

“Can you do two days? I don’t think we can wait much longer.” I manifested him money, exactly as I had the first time we’d met. “There’s a private side to MBS Airport in Saginaw.”

“I know MBS.”

If anything, that made life a little bit easier. “Get to hangar nineteen. Inside, there’ll be a plane and a pilot waiting to fly you to Scotland.”

“How do you know there’s a hangar nineteen?”

“I don’t. But there is now. I’ve thought about trying to manifest you and Madigan here, but I’ve never done it remotely before and my powers—I don’t know if I’m strong enough. I scramble a hangar, oh well. I scramble you and Madigan…” Not a thought worth thinking.

“I have to get home first. I need the hilt.”

“And the book. Please don’t forget the book.”

“I won’t.”

“Repeat the directions for me, then.”

“Hangar nineteen. MBS. Private plane. Scotland. Knap of Howar. Cuir isteach mar chara .”

“Right. Okay, be safe, brother. I’ll see you in two days.”

“Two days,” he replied as I started to drift back through the door.

The door clicked shut and then disappeared. I drifted down into my body, very aware of my surroundings. Connor watched me with concern. “You find Sim?” he asked.

“I did. We’re meeting at the witches’ archives in two days.” I sighed. “I should manifest myself to them and bring them here instead of making them get there by themselves.”

“Simone, babe, he’s got power and you have to let him do his part. You can’t keep taking everything onto yourself. He’ll get them there. Let him get them there.”

“But I know I can get it done.”

“Not if you make yourself sick and right now, we don’t have a witch to heal you.”

Why in times like this did he have to make sense? “I manifested him money to help.”

“I trust my sister. I trust your brother. You’re not alone.”

“Connor?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“I have to find Lily Joy. I’m going back under. You have to be prepared to bring me back if necessary.”

His whole body went rigid. “You think she’s in trouble?”

“I don’t know. But I have to find her. I have to help her. You heard Lilith. The family has to be in on saving the world. She’s family.”

“Do what you have to do. I’m awake.”

I leaned in to press a kiss to his furrowed lips. “We’re going to the beach when this is done. You, me, Sim, and Madigan. A long beach vacation. I will end Luc if he tries to stop you.”

Connor rolled on top of me to press a longer, lingering kiss back. Then with my eyes still closed, I started concentrating on finding Lily Joy. It took me manifesting the astral projection this time rather than it happening naturally. I floated through the door, but instead of finding my cousin, my spirit zipped through the sky at breakneck speed, finally plunging me down into the water of probably the Pacific Ocean. Instinctively, I gulped a large breath before my head went under, which was dumb because I didn’t need to breathe. My body lay in a comfy bed back in England next to Connor. Still, I held my breath until my chest burned and I let it out. The bubbles from my exiting air must have hit a sensor because a door opened. It opened without any water rushing inside. A forcefield?

My spirit passed through and the door slid shut again. I continued down into Hades. This had to be Leviathan’s quadrant. Lily Joy slept on the ground leaning against the largest tank I’d ever seen in my life, containing a giant squid that would’ve made Captain Nemo pee his pants. As I watched this monster sleep, I thought maybe Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea might’ve been more of a biography than a fantasy novel.

As I floated down toward Lily Joy, the squid’s eye popped open and it made this horrendous sound. Who knew squids even made sounds? It began to glow a bright red and the energy in the room turned hostile.

Lily Joy’s eyes popped open, and she gasped. “Simone?” she asked, rubbing at her eyes.

“Are you hurt? Are you trapped? What can I do?”

“You’re floating,” she said.

“My body is with Connor. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Leviathan offered me sanctuary.”

“Leviathan? He’s… He’s…”

“A really nice guy. Did you know it’s all an act? He’s an introvert who prefers to spend his time with his pets. Apparently, he’s surly to everyone else to keep them away and keep them from trying to take his territory.”

I didn’t know how to feel about this. Both Luc and Connor had said I didn’t want to deal with Lev. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Leviathan?”

She nodded. “He’s willing to help us. His pets are at our disposal should we need them. He just doesn’t like confrontation himself. He wishes he was a go-getter like Luc, always willing to help to make himself look better with the ladies—Lev’s words, not mine.”

“You’re on a nickname basis with one of the kings of the underworld?”

“Two if you count Luc. But I can tell you that Lev hates the idea of Hell taking over. He says they have a good thing now and wants no part of it.”

So we had Leviathan on our side? This war just kept getting weirder and weirder.

“I need you to get to the Orkney Islands. Knap of Howar. It’s important. Can Lev help you get to the Orkney Islands?”

“It’s islands. I’m sure he can.”

“Great.” That was a load off. “Sim and Madigan are meeting us in two days. If I had my body, I’d manifest you there right now, but given my current state, I don’t think it’s possible.”

“No biggie. I’ll be there as soon as I can—oh, don’t tell anyone else about Lev. It would upset him. He likes his privacy.”

“My lips are sealed.” I could’ve cried from relief.

“Do you know what happened to Daniel?”

“Daniel would be?”

“The hellhound who helped me escape. We got separated after he helped me find a place to rest. He showed up the day the demons attacked. He was very intense and spoke very little—he generally acted like every breath I took upset him, but he helped me, so I want him to be okay.”

“No. Sorry. I have no idea, but I’ll ask Connor to keep his ear to the ground. I have to go now. I’m starting to wake up.”

“See you soon, then.” She smiled up at me as I bent my energy in to hug her. I fizzled in and out a bit when we touched. Ask me if I cared. Hugging Lily Joy meant everything in this moment. Sooner than I wanted, I let her go, zipping back to Connor the exact way I’d gotten here, but in reverse.

My spirit reentered my body and my eyes popped open. Connor had been shaking me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Another coven was hit, but Victoria had already gotten the witches out.”

“How do you know?”

“You got a text from Agatha.”

“Agatha? Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“She’s my friend. She helped us. We have to make sure she’s okay.”

“Not arguing with you, babe,” he replied, handing me my phone. “Do what you’ve got to do.”

We’d come a long way from him trying to control every move I made. Better for him.

I popped off a text to Agatha.

And I waited…