ears, his nose, his mouth.
But he was far, far better off than the werewolf hanging from a hook in the middle of the room, his
body shredded and studded with nails, blood streaming from a gaping hole where his eye used to be.
“Someone stole her,” Satan snarled. “Someone took her right out from under my nose.” He roared
again. “ How? ” He grabbed the werewolf by the throat. “You helped. Tell me who took my daughter
from me or I’ll carve out your other eye and eat it while it’s still warm.”
The guy admitted to being an assassin, which meant he likely couldn’t talk about who hired him
even if he wanted to. The assassin’s oath was binding on a magical level, and while the spell could be
broken, doing so would take time, and it would kill the assassin. And Revenant had a feeling Satan
wanted to kill this guy with his bare hands. Or, as he was sporting right now, claws.
The male groaned, his blood-streaked face a mask of agony. Then he screamed when the king of all
demons drove one long, sharp claw through his pupil.
“I want her back.” The black veins under Satan’s skin visibly pulsed with the force of his anger. “I
want my beloved Harvester back where she belongs. On a skinning block, writhing in blood-soaked
misery.”
Beloved? Skinning block? Satan had a strange way of showing affection. Revenant really wished the
demon would stop sometimes referring to him as “my son,” which, as far as he knew, wasn’t true.
Please let it not be true .
Satan popped the werewolf’s eyeball into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. After a moment he
wheeled around to Revenant, and Rev’s bowels turned to water.
“You said Metatron and Raphael paid a visit to the Horsemen. Did they discuss rescuing
Harvester?”
“No, my lord. Not that I heard.” The bastards had rendered him immobile, deaf, and blind. When
he’d come to, all of the angels were gone, including Reaver and Lorelia. “I don’t think the Horsemen
even know of her status as a plant for Heaven.” They’d been as confused—and pissed—as Revenant
when they’d gained consciousness.
Satan snarled, his mood going suddenly sour. “I want Harvester and the heads of those responsible
for stealing her. And I swear by all that’s unholy that if angels are involved, I’ll devastate Heaven.
Once that angel-infested realm is nothing but smoldering ash and there’s no one to save the weakling
humans, I’ll turn my legions loose on the earthly realm.”
Revenant nodded with as much eagerness as he could muster. He hated angels and thought humans
were an annoying infestation on an otherwise nice planet, but the idea of turning Heaven and Earth
into replicas of Sheoul didn’t sit well. He’d never been to Heaven, but he liked the Earth the way it
was. The colors were vibrant. The air was fresh, the sunlight pleasant on the skin. Best of all, it wasn’t
crawling with demons. Well, it was, but mostly, they remained hidden behind human masks.
But if Satan had his way, everything would change. He’d been wanting war for eons, and now he
might have his excuse. Even more important, he now had the means to carry through with his threat.
Lucifer’s birth would be the opening salvo that would strike the Heavenly realm like a magnitude
million-point-nine earthquake, weakening its very foundations and paving the way for a demon
invasion.
A demon invasion Satan would organize should Harvester admit to her espionage, or should her
rescuers be either angels—or backed by angels. Any of those scenarios meant that Heaven had broken
a substantial law that archangels themselves had drafted along with both the Sheoulic and Heavenly
Watcher Councils. And if they’d violated the statute that stated that neither Heaven nor Sheoul could
plant an agent inside the enemy Watcher ranks, the penalty was a matter of souls.
In this case, Heaven would default a hundred thousand souls to Satan. Plus an angel of his
But he was far, far better off than the werewolf hanging from a hook in the middle of the room, his
body shredded and studded with nails, blood streaming from a gaping hole where his eye used to be.
“Someone stole her,” Satan snarled. “Someone took her right out from under my nose.” He roared
again. “ How? ” He grabbed the werewolf by the throat. “You helped. Tell me who took my daughter
from me or I’ll carve out your other eye and eat it while it’s still warm.”
The guy admitted to being an assassin, which meant he likely couldn’t talk about who hired him
even if he wanted to. The assassin’s oath was binding on a magical level, and while the spell could be
broken, doing so would take time, and it would kill the assassin. And Revenant had a feeling Satan
wanted to kill this guy with his bare hands. Or, as he was sporting right now, claws.
The male groaned, his blood-streaked face a mask of agony. Then he screamed when the king of all
demons drove one long, sharp claw through his pupil.
“I want her back.” The black veins under Satan’s skin visibly pulsed with the force of his anger. “I
want my beloved Harvester back where she belongs. On a skinning block, writhing in blood-soaked
misery.”
Beloved? Skinning block? Satan had a strange way of showing affection. Revenant really wished the
demon would stop sometimes referring to him as “my son,” which, as far as he knew, wasn’t true.
Please let it not be true .
Satan popped the werewolf’s eyeball into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. After a moment he
wheeled around to Revenant, and Rev’s bowels turned to water.
“You said Metatron and Raphael paid a visit to the Horsemen. Did they discuss rescuing
Harvester?”
“No, my lord. Not that I heard.” The bastards had rendered him immobile, deaf, and blind. When
he’d come to, all of the angels were gone, including Reaver and Lorelia. “I don’t think the Horsemen
even know of her status as a plant for Heaven.” They’d been as confused—and pissed—as Revenant
when they’d gained consciousness.
Satan snarled, his mood going suddenly sour. “I want Harvester and the heads of those responsible
for stealing her. And I swear by all that’s unholy that if angels are involved, I’ll devastate Heaven.
Once that angel-infested realm is nothing but smoldering ash and there’s no one to save the weakling
humans, I’ll turn my legions loose on the earthly realm.”
Revenant nodded with as much eagerness as he could muster. He hated angels and thought humans
were an annoying infestation on an otherwise nice planet, but the idea of turning Heaven and Earth
into replicas of Sheoul didn’t sit well. He’d never been to Heaven, but he liked the Earth the way it
was. The colors were vibrant. The air was fresh, the sunlight pleasant on the skin. Best of all, it wasn’t
crawling with demons. Well, it was, but mostly, they remained hidden behind human masks.
But if Satan had his way, everything would change. He’d been wanting war for eons, and now he
might have his excuse. Even more important, he now had the means to carry through with his threat.
Lucifer’s birth would be the opening salvo that would strike the Heavenly realm like a magnitude
million-point-nine earthquake, weakening its very foundations and paving the way for a demon
invasion.
A demon invasion Satan would organize should Harvester admit to her espionage, or should her
rescuers be either angels—or backed by angels. Any of those scenarios meant that Heaven had broken
a substantial law that archangels themselves had drafted along with both the Sheoulic and Heavenly
Watcher Councils. And if they’d violated the statute that stated that neither Heaven nor Sheoul could
plant an agent inside the enemy Watcher ranks, the penalty was a matter of souls.
In this case, Heaven would default a hundred thousand souls to Satan. Plus an angel of his
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