Premonition of Peace (Her Immortal Monsters #3)

Chapter 24

twenty-four

LUCIFER

Never did I think I’d find myself drinking with another man that shared my little witch’s heart. We’d sat in silence, staring at each other.

“Well, I don’t like this much.”

August barked out a laugh and held out a glass. “Nat will be pleased we can agree on something.”

“We agree that Marcel is baggage,” I said, sipping the liquor slowly.

August nodded. “Not untrue,” he began, “but I’m fairly certain that’s not something we should share with her. Also? Doesn’t matter. Nat loves him.” He side-eyed his cat, who had curled herself up in a chair. “So does Estrid, who is generally a good judge of character, but we’ll see if she’s lost her touch.”

“At least you aren’t bonded to him,” I muttered.

“That was all you, my friend.” He raised his brows, gesturing his hand in my direction. “And not a bad move in Nat’s eyes. All the same. You saved him, and you weren’t wrong about a piece of her dying with him.”

“I’m aware I was right.”

“That’s not how I phrased it. I said you weren’t wrong,” he said in a flat tone.

“You don’t like me,” I stated plainly, taking a long sip and feeling the delicious burn. Not that whiskey would do much for me, but it gave me something to do instead of thinking about my little witch in bed with Marcel.

“What tipped you off?” he asked sarcastically. When I didn’t answer, he sighed. “What’s to like, Lucifer? You ruined this city. I know who you are and what you’ve done. I know how you are.” He quieted a moment, contemplating if he was going to speak again when he opened his mouth and then shut it again. After some thought, he finally added, “I also know you’re Nat’s familiar. I also know that you saved someone she loved, and oddly enough, not for your gain—which might be the first time you considered someone outside of yourself. I’m not sure if you’re clued in to how relationships work, but we call that ‘growth.’ Look it up sometime.”

“How old are you?” I asked, flicking off a piece of imaginary lint from my trousers.

“Are you attempting to play the elder card here?”

I hummed noncommittally. “I’m nine thousand years old, August. I’m guessing you aren’t quite up there yet.” He shook his head while watching me with slightly narrowed eyes. “Mmm. It’s a long time. I’ve been a possessive demon the entire time. I don’t have to like you to make this work. It might take a while for me to get used to sharing what’s mine.”

“Ours.”

“If she accepts your aurae bond,” I said, smirking. August twisted his lips.

“You know, you and Marcel both have something in common too.” He waited a beat as I looked at him in question. “You’re both assholes who think they know what Nat wants.”

“I suppose only you know what she wants, incubus?”

He shrugged. “I do because I ask her. That’s called ‘communication.’ You can look that one up too.”

While he was insulting me, he was also correct. I would never admit such a thing to the likes of him, but his connection with Nathalie was strong, and it was likely due to his . . . communication . She may not have realized it yet, but she was going to accept the aurae bond. I saw the look in her eyes when she was with him. What he made her feel. I saw how she lost herself in him when they fucked. Each and every time they were near each other, there was an electric current in the air.

And I hated the bastard for it.

“So where does that leave us?” I asked, cocking my head and raising my brows. I gestured and him and then myself. “You hate me for what I was, I hate you because you take Nathalie away from me, and I don’t like sharing.”

August leaned back, crossing his leg and rested his ankle at his knee. “For some reason completely unknown to me, Nat loves you. You are also what she wants. She sees something in you that I don’t. Not yet, anyway.” He inhaled, long and deep before exhaling. "Ultimately, that’s good enough for me.”

I stared in shock, blinking a few times to process what he’d said. “Are you proposing a truce?”

“Sure,” he said, crossing his arms and lifting a shoulder. “Jealousy will run rampant, but life will be easier if the four of us get along. And if that makes her happy . . . The kid has a lot of work to do, so the best I can do is tolerate his presence. I’ve had some practice since he moved in.” He looked down the hall, a frown forming between his brows. “Which reminds me . . . now that he’s alive and well, he needs to move the hell out.”

I laughed, then quickly realized that meant Baggage would be moving in with me. When August saw my face, he grinned. “Hmm. Maybe we should find him somewhere else to live. Away from me. And you, of course.”

“I’m happy to pay for the apartment.,” August said.

I nodded. “I’m more than content to find one for him, with Nathalie being so busy.”

“ Far away from her apartment, naturally.”

“Naturally.” I waved my hand in agreement.

A brief moment passed between after we spoke back and forth. A shared understanding.

“Why, Lucifer,” August said smoothly, with a hint of humor in his voice. “Did we just become friends?”

My laugh was cut off when a sudden, overwhelming wave of fear crashed through me. I clutched my chest as it threatened to take the air from my lungs. The intensity bowed my body back first, then I doubled over. In the next instant, there was nothing—no fear, no emotions at all. Just a terrifying void.

August flew off the couch, his glass falling to the floor and spilling the amber liquid. “What’s wrong with her?”

I met his eyes, wild with anxiety and dread, likely mirroring my own. I didn’t waste time explaining. Lunging forward, I grabbed August by the arm and pulled him with me through the veil. The transition was seamless, a blur of light and energy, and we appeared in Nathalie’s living room. August stumbled forward, before righting himself.

“Jesus-fuck, I feel like I just died,” he coughed out.

“Nathalie!” I shouted. August reoriented swiftly, calling for her just after I did.

Panic fueled my movements as I ran towards her bedroom door, my mind racing with possibilities. August ran down the hall to search the other rooms. Bursting into the bedroom, the door smacked against the wall and bounced back violently. Marcel was pulling on pants while he looked around, confused.

“Where is she?” I demanded, my voice tinged with fear. “Where’s Nathalie?”

“I don’t know! She was right here—” he cut off as he looked at the empty space next to him, then seeing the bathroom light off with the door open. “Fuck! We went to sleep, and she was in bed with me. I never felt her leave.”

“I felt her emotions,” I explained quickly, turning around to exit the room and find something that could tell me where she went. “She was terrified, and then there was nothing. Fucking nothing! We need to find her now .”

“Her car keys are still here,” August growled, taking them off the hook and throwing them against the wall.

“So is her phone,” Marcel said, holding it as he came out the bedroom. His eyes darkened. “I can scry for her with my magic. I just need her hair.”

He immediately headed for the bathroom, but I paid him and August no attention as my eyes focused on the deadbolt on the front door. Unlocked. The bomb Piper had placed was deactivated. She was here. In the building.

Scanning the room, I saw a furled piece of paper that looked out of place. Parchment. I picked it up, taking in the message.

Rooftop.

~K

Without a word to the other two, I tossed the note back on the counter and pulled myself through the veil.

The scene that greeted me stole my breath away.

Sasha’s lifeless body lay on the ground, a massive pool of blood spreading around her. A clean line across her throat.

Katherine was cradling an unconscious Nathalie, her face a mask of worry and guilt. Rage flared up inside me, burning and uncontrollable. I disappeared and reappeared several feet ahead, grabbing the twin by the throat and lifting her off the ground. Her panic flared as she gurgled, trying to breathe. I brought her close to me, knowing an inferno blazed in my eyes as fury coursed through me.

“What did you do?” I snarled, my voice echoing across the rooftop. Kat’s eyes widened in terror as she clawed at my hands, gasping for breath.

“It was The Morrigan!” she choked out. “Not me!”

“I saw the fucking note. You signed it.” She slapped at my hands as her face turned red, her legs kicking wildly as I squeezed harder.

“I swear.” Her words were strained and cut off with a strangled wheeze.

I let her drop to the ground, and she rolled to the side, forcefully inhaling and coughing, trying with desperation to fill her lungs with precious oxygen. I knelt beside her, glancing at Nathalie for a moment—laying prone, pale and fragile. My heart clenched painfully at the sight. I turned my gaze back to her twin, demanding answers.

“You have ten seconds to tell me what happened before I kill you?—”

A metal door slammed against the wall and two sets of heavy footsteps sounded. Marcel and August finally made it onto the roof, their expressions a mix of the same horror and anger I felt.

“Kat, what the fuck?” Marcel bellowed as he came to kneel next to me, his hand immediately stroking Nathalie’s hair out of her face and feeling for a pulse. “What the fuck did you do?”

“For gods’ sakes, I didn’t do anything,” Katherine said through a cough, her face contorting. “The Morrigan took over my body.”

“Explain. Now,” I growled through clenched teeth.

Katherine struggled to catch her breath, bent over at the waist, her hands on her knees, before she started speaking. “I was in my hideout, a small apartment no one was supposed to know about. Someone knocked at the door, and when I opened it, Sasha was there. She grabbed my face, and everything went black. When I came to, I was conscious but trapped inside myself, like I was in the backseat of my own body.”

“How did you end up here?” August asked, standing over Kat and shaking with unbridled rage.

“The Morrigan set the trap for Nathalie, but I couldn’t do anything to stop her, okay? Backseat. I literally watched it all happen, and there was nothing I could fucking do, you get it?”

I pointed to Sasha. “And this?”

Kat narrowed her eyes at me, even as they filled with tears, she glared at me just as angrily as I glared at her. “I didn’t do anything, you delusional asshole! I wouldn’t hurt my sister, and I have no reason to kill Sasha.” She rubbed her throat, turning her head to stretch. Bruises were beginning to take shape on her delicate skin. “The Morrigan taunted Nathalie. Sliced her open knowing there was nothing Nat could do, then told her how she was going to fuck you for the immortal aurae bond,” she said, pointing at August. She looked at me. “Said fucking you was going to be a victory.” She waved her hand haphazardly. “Said you’d be the ones to kill me, thinking I’d hurt my sister”—she gave us a dirty look—“seems like she was on the money with that part of her plan.”

“How are you here now?” Marcel asked, extending a hand to Kat and pulling her up. I refrained from slapping him away until I had all my answers.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Nathalie did something I couldn’t understand. Shears appeared out of thin air, and she cut the air. Nothing was there. Then she just collapsed as I felt The Morrigan leave my body.”

August and I looked at each other, both understanding exactly what that meant. “She cut The Morrigan’s thread to Kat,” August said quietly.

“And it tied to hers,” I finished.

“Fuck!” Marcel yelled, running his hand through his hair as he started pacing.

Katherine’s brows shot up in surprise. “She found the objects of fate?”

“Wait,” August said, holding his hand up for us to stop talking. “The Morrigan needs Kat to die before she can fully take over Natalie, right? We just need to keep Kat alive.”

“Easier said than done,” Marcel grumbled.

“You have no idea how many people want me dead,” Kat said in agreement. “And even then, I’m still mortal.”

Completely ignoring the other three, I gently lifted Nathalie’s head onto my lap, my hands gripping either side of her head as I tried to concentrate. I’d never forced my way into her memory loci on purpose, but this was the perfect time to try.

I’d told her to escape into her loci. To find safety there if this happened. I also warned her that The Morrigan could find her way there as well. For once, I hoped I was wrong. The space around me grew silent and I could feel the others watching me, their curiosity and concern palpable.

“What are you doing?” Marcel asked, his voice tight with anxiety.

“I’m trying to reach her mind,” I replied, my eyes closed in concentration.

“You can do that?” August asked incredulously.

“It’s weird. The familiar bond. I can connect with her mind.” I measured my next words, balancing guarding Nathalie’s privacy while still giving necessary information. “She organizes her thoughts in one space, with all her memories filed away. That has to be where she went. I’m going to try to push into her mind and see if I can find Nathalie and help her. Now shut up so I can focus.”

I closed my eyes tighter and took a deep breath, pushing myself into the mental connection we shared. At first, nothing happened, and I started to fear that I couldn’t find her loci on purpose. That I could only get there when it was pulling her, thereby calling out to me as well. But then, the familiar sensation of slipping into Nathalie’s loci washed over me, and I felt myself slide into her mind.

But everything was wrong.

I stood outside of the house she’d built, where all her inner-Nats lived.

A scream rent the air, coming from inside, and I thundered up the porch steps. When I grabbed the doorknob, it jiggled but wouldn’t turn. The metal began to burn, searing into my palm and burning my skin. I yanked it back and then banged on the door, throwing myself against it, but it wouldn’t budge. It didn’t crack. Nothing. The powers of an immortal demon couldn’t even break it down. I couldn’t make a dent.

“Nathalie!” I shouted, desperation seeping into my voice. I could hear voices and more screaming on the other side. I called her name, over and over while I kept trying to bust into the house. I called the other Nats, yelling for Peace or Ann—any of them—but there was no response.

A nauseating resignation took hold of me. There was nothing I could do. I pulled out of her mind, snapping back to reality and facing the others.

Three sets of expectant eyes held my gaze, waiting with bated breath.

“I can’t reach her,” I said, my voice hollow.

A familiar presence appeared, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

“Ronan,” I said flatly. “What are you doing here?”

His features held a darkness there that answered my question when he looked at Nat’s prone body. Scanning each of us, he landed on Kat, and he narrowed his eyes. “You’re alive.”

Kat stood up, blocking her sister’s body. As if she could protect her from The Harvester. “I am.”

Ronan’s gaze shifted between them, then to me. “You know why I’m here.”

I sighed, feeling my insides clench. “She made a deal with you, didn’t she?”

He nodded, the muscle in his jaw clenched.

“No.” Marcel stepped forward, and August grabbed him by the collar, pulling him back.

“While I don’t share his idiotic approach,” I said, kneeling down by Nat, stroking her hair, “he’s right. No.”

“The Morrigan is in here, is she not?” he asked.

“She is, but Kat is alive. I’m assuming the deal you made included Katherine’s death first?”

“It did.”

“Then wait.”

His brows lowered. “Until when?”

August stepped around Marcel, also blocking him from Nathalie. “We’ll know if it’s her when she wakes up. Lucifer is her familiar. He’ll know. The aurae bond is almost solidified between us. There’s a strong semblance of a bond connected between us already. I’ll know.”

“And you know what I have to do if it’s not her.” Ronan looked down at Nat, then back to me. “And anyone that tries to stop me.”

“Where’s Piper?” I asked.

“Don’t make me kill you now,” he growled.

August stepped between us slowly, turning to face Ronan. “Why did she make a deal with you?” My brother glared at August. “She came to you about this. And if you’re here, she called out to you somehow when The Morrigan took her. So tell me what she said.”

“I don’t owe you any answers,” he said.

“No, but you will have to answer to me,” Piper said, appearing behind him. A part of me smirked, but I schooled my features. Piper was pissed, and I was not stepping into that marital trap.

Ronan’s eyes closed in frustration as his mate came around, kneeling beside her best friend. “Spit it out, Ronan. Tell me why you’re here. Tell me why I didn’t know about it.”

He sighed, crossing his arms. “We agreed that if The Morrigan took her, I’d end it. She didn’t want you to know because you’d try to stop it.”

“You would kill my best friend to save me and the kids,” Piper surmised. Her tone was resigned, but there was a pain behind it she couldn’t hide.

“That’s why I would do it, yes. Without question.”

“And what was Nathalie’s reason?” August prompted.

Ronan looked at each of us there—Piper, August, Marcel, Katherine, and me—“To save everyone she loves.”

A piece of my heart began to fracture. I didn’t know something could hurt like this. Nathalie kept this from me. Always trying to fight battles on her own. Always one foot in the door and one foot out. If she made it through this, we’d have to work on that communication thing August was going on about.

“I won’t let you take her soul,” I said, looking at my brother and knowing full well how this would all end if I got in his way.

“You know what will happen if you try to stop me.”

I inclined my chin. “I do.”

He shrugged. “So be it.”

The physical pain I’d endured, the sacrificial exsanguination, losing my atma—none of it compared to the mere thought of her not existing in this world.

I’d like to think it wasn’t a bad way to go, but I wasn’t sure. I’d never had a harvester consume my soul.

If Nathalie didn’t find a way to kill The Morrigan, I guessed I would find out soon enough.