Chapter 5
Leila
As I stood outside Lucifer's apartment, I could feel my frustration building knowing I needed to find a way to get inside. I needed to know what they all knew about where Hera's powers were, and I needed to know what they were planning to do next, but I also knew that the place would be heavily guarded.
Lucifer would no doubt have wards up to protect everyone from harm. However, what he didn't know was that I had the borrowed magic to override the wards not that I was planning on doing anything in the apartment, yet. For now, I just needed information.
As I watched people going in and out of the building listening to who they were and where they were going, I stayed patient.
I had been watching the building for hours when I heard someone talking on the phone and my ears perked up.
"Can you cancel my appointments for the rest of the afternoon, Michelle? Coming to this place always leaves me needing a strong drink. I need to check on a patient and make sure she's okay and that she is healing properly." He paused his talking obviously listening to the person on the other end of the phone which unfortunately I couldn't hear from where I stood.
"She is the patient I came to see yesterday who was in some kind of accident. Luckily the baby is okay but her partner has insisted I check on her again today. So I'm doing this then I am taking the rest of the afternoon off so just make sure everything is canceled and rescheduled. Tell them I had an emergency." With that, he hung up the phone and walked around the car he had just gotten out of, and grabbed his things from the back seat.
I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face when I figured out who he was talking about. This was fucking perfect. I walked over to him catching his attention and smiled sweetly.
"Hi, my name's Leila. I work for Christian and Ana. They told me to come and collect you to bring you up to the apartment. They need for you to come through the back way this time, as there have been some security issues. So, if you will just follow me, I will take you up to the apartment." I held my hand out toward the ally way at the side of the building and waited for him to move.
He hesitated for a few seconds then shrugged his shoulders and followed behind me quietly as I used my magic to make sure that we were hidden from the public, and when we were far enough down the alley, I shimmered behind him and made quick work of snapping his neck.
The beauty of being able to possess the dead and become them is that I would know everything that he knew, so it would be easy for me to pretend to be him. And as this was a fresh kill it meant that his essence would still linger on his body which meant no one would know or suspect anything was off about him until I was long gone or so I hoped but with who Lucifers whore was now I wasn't sure but I had no choice I had to risk it.
I took a deep breath and then merged my body with the doctor thankful that I wouldn't have to be merged with him for long. I straightened myself up dusted myself off and walked out of the alley, checking myself out in the window of the doctor's car as I went past it to make sure nothing was out of place as I dragged his equipment behind me.
When I was satisfied, I walked into the lobby and headed for the main desk to inform them of the doctor's arrival. The overly cheerful woman behind the desk who made me want to snap her neck with the cheery fucking smile on her preppy face checked the visitor's log to make sure that the doctor was expected.
With a sickly-sweet smile that once more irritated me the receptionist picked up her phone making me frown. "Hello, sir. I just wanted to let you know that the doctor has arrived." I could hear someone on the other end informing her that someone would be down to bring me up to the apartment.
I stood waiting for whoever was on their way down hoping that Lucifer would still be way too protective to allow his bitch to come and retrieve me. Nothing good could come from me spending one on one time with her especially when I didn't know what her power were. So, when the doors opened, I felt relief wash over me when I saw that it was just one of Lucifer's brothers that had come to collect me.
We rode up the elevator in silence and when the doors opened, I felt a little fear of what to expect, but I knew it would never show I was too good at this. Besides I didn't need to be in the apartment too long to do what I was planning. So, if anyone expected anything I would be gone before they could react. Ideally, though I would like to keep up the facade of being the doctor just in case I ever needed to use this meat suit again in the future.
The second I walked into the apartment I was greeted by the noise of excited children and it took all my effort not to cringe and show my disgust at the little beasts as they ran around the room.
"Aunty Huldah, the doctor's here. We can see the baby." All the children seemed to shout the same thing at the same time. Thank fuck I didn't need to be here long.
I glamoured one of the devices under the table in the front room and walked around to see a dining table full of adults including Lucifer.
I glamoured another device under the dining table knowing that this would be a good place to hear what was going on judging by the meeting that was currently happening. I felt more confident doing this with everyone too preoccupied with what they were talking about to pay much attention to me.
I had to hide her my shock and annoyance when Huldah came down the stairs and I saw that her face was now back to normal and not the same bruised appearance it had been when I last saw her. Even though she was pissed that they had somehow healed her.
I inwardly smiled at the memory of the pain Huldah had been in at the warehouse.
"Hello, Huldah, you are looking remarkably well. Are you ready to see your son?" Leila wanted to throw up at how nice I had to be to these people when all I wanted to do was kill them all.
"Hello, doctor. Yes, thank you. Is it okay that the children see as well? They have promised to be well-behaved and not to get in the way." Huldah was smiling at me with the sweetest smile.
Fuck, this was my worst nightmare.
"Absolutely, as long as they all sit still, I don't see why not." I put on the biggest smile I could muster up and as I looked around, I noticed the men watching me with frowns on their faces making me nervous.
Yeah, I needed to get this done then I needed to leave as quickly as I could.
"Where do you want to do this?"
"We can go upstairs. Beal, are you coming?"
"I wish I could, beautiful, but we need to do this. I'm sure you know how important it is. Plus, I doubt I will get anywhere near the screen with all of the excitement if you need anything, though, shout for me baby and I will come straight away. Is that, Okay, my love?"
I watched desperately hiding my disgust as Huldah kissed Beal. "Of course, it is. I won't be long."
With one last kiss, Huldah led the way up the stairs which was perfect, as it was away from all of the suspicious looks, I was receiving and would give me more places to leave the listening devices.
"Okay, Huldah lie down get comfortable and pull your top up a little." She did as she was told and for the next twenty minutes or so I used all of the doctor's knowledge to show Huldah her son on the screen cringing inwardly once more at the sound of the children screaming with excitement.
As I was leaving I glamoured a listening device under the bed and two along the hallway, feeling like the place was bugged enough I had done enough and it was time to make my exit.
I used magic to make the phone in my pocket ring so that I could pretend that I had an emergency to get away faster. Once I was in the elevator, I felt like I could breathe a little easier but it wasn't until I was outside in the doctor's car and driving away that I could finally relax.
I drove for a little while to catch my breath and after about ten more minutes I parked the car, climbed out of it, and shimmered to where I knew Elena would be. When I arrived, I dropped the doctor's body feeling so much better now that I was back to myself.
"Okay, it's done. The apartment is bugged so we should know soon enough where Hera's powers are then we can find them and give them to her. The sooner this is done and we have the power she promised us the better." Elena walked over frowning down at the dead doctor.
"Who's that? And why is he here?" I rolled my eyes still so irritated from having to spend time around all those brats and now having to deal with Elena, I couldn't wait until this was over.
"It's the doctor that was checking on Huldah. He provided the perfect way to get into the apartment, so I took it. You should know somehow they found a way to heal the purple-eyed bitch." Our talk was interrupted by the sound of voices coming from Lucifer's apartment so Elena and I sat in silence and listened for the information we needed.
Christian.
We had all been sitting around the table for what felt like hours after the doctor who had shown up not long after Zeus had appeared left. We were all trying to figure out how we could find Hera and in turn, those who were working with her.
We never should have let that bitch walk away after what she did to Ana, we should have sent her to Tartarus there and then.
Ana was sitting on the sofa with Huldah and Hope while the twins were sitting on mine and Zeus's knees, and if I was honest I wasn't sure how I felt about how much the twins seemed to love Zeus but after what he did for Huldah I was beginning to warm to him.
I was so lost in thought that I hadn't even noticed that Ana had moved until I felt arms wrapping around my shoulders and the familiar scent of my wife surrounded me. I closed my eyes and hummed with pleasure at just the nearness of her.
"Hi, kitten. Are you okay?" I looked up at her as I spoke loving how happy she was now that Huldah was healed.
"I'm good, baby. Just seeing how relaxed Huldah and Hope are is like a weight has been lifted." I looked at them both seeing Hope cuddled up to Huldah as they watched a movie, and I had to agree with Ana, just a few hours ago both Hope and Huldah looked like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders, and looking at them both now they were completely different. It was like night and day.
I was just getting ready to reply when someone shimmered in next to us prompting me to stand fast handing Abigail to Ana before moving her behind me. As I took in the intruder, I saw that in front of me stood a beautiful young woman with long black hair and forest-green eyes. She was so tiny that she couldn't have been any taller than Five-foot, yet, I could see the immense power radiating from her.
She stood in silence looking around the room and when her eyes landed on Huldah and Hope she tilted her head to the side smiling at them lovingly. I noticed Ana stepping around him clearly wanting to find out who this woman was.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I looked down at Ana and noticed that Abigail was gone from her arms and when I looked around, I noticed that the twins were with Huldah and away from any potential threat the woman in front of us could be.
"Calm down, my Queen. This is Pythia. The Oracle of Delphi. I'm aware that any of you may not have had the privilege of ever meeting her in true form before but I am blessed to say I have. It's so wonderful to see you. You look very beautiful Pythia. It has been far too long since we last saw each other." Zeus was gazing at Pythia with lust in his eyes causing me to roll my own before looking back down at Pythia.
Zeus was right while I had met her before I had never met her in her true form, she had always used glamour to hide away because she knew that if everyone knew what she really looked like she would never be able to live a peaceful existence and she would always be looking over her shoulder. So, on the rare occasions that she did meet with anyone she would always wear the face of a different person each time. Which was why I was shocked and confused as to why she wasn't hiding how she looked and why she was here in the first place. Although from the look on her face, I guessed that Zeus was the reason she was in her true form.
"Pythia, it's nice to see you again, but I have to ask, why are you here?" Pythia pulled her gaze away from Zeus, who she had been fluttering her eyes at so that she was now giving me her full attention.
"Lucifer, nice to see you again. Ana, I hope you're well and I'm sorry to just show up unannounced but I really need your help. I am being hunted and I need you to hide me here for a while. It would seem we have an enemy in common. Hera is looking for me. She wants me to find her powers for her. She knows that Ana has given the powers to their new host. However, she has no idea who the new host is. So, she has everyone who is willing to help her out looking for me or looking for the host of her powers."
"What do you know about where Hera's powers are?" I didn't want to tell her who the new host of Hera's powers was. In fact, I didn't want to tell her anything if he was honest. When it came to my family's safety, I find it so hard to trust strangers no matter how much they say they want to help.
"I know that her powers are now Hope's powers they completed the power I first saw in her. So, you need to keep her safe because someone will be coming for her if Hera finds out. Also, Lucifer I understand that you are not good with trusting anyone with your family and you have every reason to feel that way, but the fact that I am hiding here so that Hera can't find me and use me to find Hope should tell you that you can trust me."
"I'm sorry for not trusting you, and that you for understanding, they are my family and I will do anything to keep them safe." Pythia gave me a small smile and nod of her head then took a seat at the dining table.
"I understand. However, the one that needs to be protected the most right now is Hope. I can see the power she possesses and can see that when she learns how to use her power, she will exceed my own. If Hera gets her hands on Hope, she will take all of her powers, and not just the ones that Ana took from her. If she does that there is no doubt in my mind that Hope will not survive it."
We all heard a sharp intake of breath come from the stairs as they turned to see Kate standing shaking with what I could see was pure rage mixed with fear. I looked over to Hope and Huldah seeing that Huldah was listening to what we were saying but Hope, thankfully was so engrossed in the movie that she was watching so she hadn't heard any of what we were talking about.
I looked back to Kate whose gaze was on Hope as she spoke "How do we stop them? We can't just sit around here and wait for them to come for my daughter. I won't let them take her"
Ana walked over to Kate grabbing her hand as Kate continued, "What can we do? Is there nothing that we can do to bring back Samyaza's memory so that we can find who he was working with?"
"There is a way that I can possibly find where they had kept Huldah and from there we might be able to find some clues." I could feel relief with this news from Pythia.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? What do you need to be able to find where they held her?" there was an urgency in my voice that matched the excitement I could feel around the room.
"I need Huldah to give me full access to her mind." Pythia opened her mouth to continue what she was saying when another voice spoke from behind him.
"Do it. Whatever you need to do, do it. I won't let them hurt Hope so whatever you need to do you have my permission." Pythia smiled softly at Huldah who was now walking closer to us whispering so as not to draw Hope's attention away from the movie.
"Thank you, Huldah. You may want to take a seat. I promise I will only take what I need to help us find those responsible for what happened to you." Huldah sat down and took a deep breath and just as Pythia was about to place her hands on Huldah's head Beal stepped forward and stopped her.
"Wait, will this hurt her or the baby?" Pythia looked up at Beal smiling again.
"No Beal, I would never do anything that would hurt her. I swear." She turned back to Huldah when Beal stood back allowing her to continue. She placed her hands on Huldah's head, and I watched in fascination as her once forest-green eyes turned white and Huldah's eyes started to swirl.
We all stood in silence watching the two of them and holding our breaths waiting to see what Pythia would see. After what felt like hours but was in fact only moments both their eyes returned to normal as they came out of the vision.
"I can see where they took her and I can see Samyaza. I can also see a dead girl. She looks like she has been dead for a while, but I can't see who else was there. Whoever they are they have a lot of power."
"The girl is Sam, Olivia's PA." Huldah looked at Ana with unshed tears in her eyes and when I saw the tears running down her face at the mention of her friend. I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her, wishing I could take her pain away.
"We need to go to where they held Huldah to see if there is anything that they left that would give us an idea of who Samyaza was working with other than Hera." Beal stepped forward and began taking charge which would normally piss me off because I didn't like to be ordered around. However, this time I would allow it as it was Beal's woman and unborn child that had been taken and hurt.
"Christian, Ana, Sathanas, Zeus, and Pythia I need you to come with me the rest of you need to stay here to keep an eye on the children, and Huldah. Mammon I need you to bring back Abaddon to help you look after everyone while we are gone, and remind Leviathan that he is to stay with Samyaza."
After Beal had finished speaking, we all held on to Pythia as she took us to where Huldah had been held. Once we arrived, we instantly put our hands over our noses to hold off the stench of death that filled the space.
I looked down at the body just a few feet from where we all now stood and glamoured it away before Ana could see it. It was not an image I ever wanted her to have in her head.
Once the body was gone, I took in my surroundings to see that we were standing in an abandoned warehouse. It was dark and damp and cold. I hated that Huldah had been here and scared even for a second, and when I looked at Beal, I could see that he was thinking the same thing.
We watched in silence as Pythia walked around the room touching things as she went, her eyes were white and unseeing as she continued walking around the room and all I could think was that I desperately hoped that she would see something that would help us.
When she stopped and her eyes returned to normal, she turned to face everyone and the look of frustration on her face told me that whatever she had seen wasn't good news. "I can't see them. They have so much power hiding them. I caught glimpses of someone with long white hair and someone with blonde hair but I can't see their faces." She sounded annoyed when Zeus walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Let me see if I can help Pythia." Zeus was smiling down at her as she fluttered her eyes up at him and her cheeks became flushed as they seemed to get lost in each other's eyes. When I saw the impatience on Beal's face, I coughed to get their attention. With everything going on right now we didn't have time for these two to be flirting.
"Um, yes, that might help thank you, Zeus." Pythia looked down as if trying to gain some composure when a light started to flow from Zeus's hand into Pythia's body making her glow brighter than before, and her eyes turn white again.
We all stood silently for a few more minutes until Zeus and Pythia returned to normal annoyance written all over their faces. "We can see one of them but the one with the white hair we can't see her face she has a serious amount of magic inside her. It won't last forever because it's borrowed magic but right now, she is incredibly powerful."
Pythia frowned up at Zeus and spoke as soon as he had finished talking. "Zeus, that isn't demonic power that's being used. The power that she is using feels very much like yours." I could hear the frustration evident in Pythia's voice.
Zeus nodded in agreement. "The power they are using feels familiar but I can't quite pinpoint who the power belongs to. I can tell you that the power that's being used doesn't belong to either of those we have just seen. Like I said it's borrowed magic and it feels like it could very well belong to one of my offspring which will help us narrow the list of suspects down somewhat. It also means that we need to get back to your apartment, because if it is one of my children then the wards you have protecting your apartment won't work on them." The second those words were out of Zeus's mouth we all shimmered back to the apartment unable to stand the scent of the decomposing body that had just been here.
When we arrived, I saw that the twins, Hope, and Jamie were sitting with Mia and Benji drawing pictures and giggling, and as I looked around the room I saw Huldah, Hope, Kate, and Elliot weren't anywhere to be seen.
"Where are Huldah and Hope?" Ana sounded a little panicked that she couldn't see them and I didn't blame her I felt the same. Especially, now after the new information we had just learned.
"Huldah said that she was going for a lie-down and I think Hope still doesn't want to leave her alone so they both went upstairs, why?" Something felt so wrong to me and I really needed to check on them so that I knew that they were okay.
I shimmered up the stairs and opened the door to see that Huldah was fast asleep and when I walked closer to the bed my heart sank when I saw that Huldah was alone. I could feel the others at my back, and everyone being in the room must have disturbed Huldah because she slowly woke up.
"What's wrong? Why is everyone in the room? Did something happen?" Huldah sounded a mixture of confused and worried.
"Where is Hope?" as he spoke, we heard a flush from the en-suite attached to the room and Hope walked out of the bathroom rubbing her eyes and staring at everyone in confusion. A collective sigh of relief resounded around the room and I sagged with relief.
Kate pushed past him desperate to get to her daughter as she pulled Hope into her arms. "Sweetheart, no matter where you go or what you are doing, just until we have found the people we are looking for we need you to tell us where you are going please." Hope nodded but still looked confused and now a little afraid as I crouched down so that my height didn't intimidate her.
We needed to find these people quickly, especially now that we knew our target was Hope, our urgency to find them was even higher. I stood from my crouched position and turned around and held my arms out for Ana needing to feel her against me just to keep me calm as I spoke to Zeus.
"Zeus, I would be incredibly grateful if you would stay and help us. If you are correct and the powers that are being used are those of your offspring, we are really going to need your help to find them and defeat them. Are you okay to do that for us?"
"I was going to stay anyway. If my offspring are working with Hera then they need to face the same fate as Hera and I want to be there when their punishment is handed down."
We all walked back down the stairs to continue to formulate a plan. "Okay, so we need to narrow the search. Zeus can you give us the names of all of your children particularly those you had with Hera or those that would be loyal to her." I was about to continue when Pythia interrupted me.
"Lucifer, you need to think about any enemies you have that are female. One with white hair, and one with blonde hair. I know that might not be a lot to go off but that's all we have for now."
When she had finished speaking Abaddon shot off his chair and growled making me frown. "Of course, how did none of us fucking work this out at the warehouse? It's Elena…the blonde has to be Elena."
I couldn't believe how no one had picked up on this before but it made so much sense. I had humiliated her and she would of course want her revenge. I could already see in her mind she had been pissed off with me before the day in my throne room because I hadn't used her services for a while, thanks to my obsession with Ana.
She must have been planning this for a while.
"Find her. I want everyone out looking for her. Brothers, you will all go and tell your people to find her and the one she is working with. I want them both delivered to me alive. Whoever finds them will be rewarded handsomely." Now that we knew who we were looking for or at least one of them Christian was starting to feel a little more relaxed and in control.
Leila.
"Fuck, Elena we have been working on this for weeks and all because you are jealous of his little fucking whore. Now he knows that you are the one that they are looking for." I was so angry I was shaking with the need to hurt someone.
I had been so excited when they had spoken about who had Hera's powers, and even though the fact that Zeus and Pythia were there could pose a problem, knowing that Hope was who they had been looking for was a small victory, but listening to them figure out that Elena was at least one of the people they were looking for was a fucking disaster.
I was so tempted to hand Elena over and be done with her, but I couldn't. As much as she pissed me off and was proving how utterly useless, she was, she was still my sister so I couldn't give her up…YET!
"You need to stay here and fucking hide. I am going to have to finish this myself." I could see the fear on Elena's face.
"Leila I can still help. I can change my appearance, it's easy enough to do." I pinched the bridge of my nose getting more and more wound up.
"Are you that stupid? They will be expecting that. They will see right through any glamour you use now that they know who they are looking for. They will be prepared for everything. So, no you can't change your appearance. You will just have to stay here and leave it up to me. If you chose to ignore me and get caught, I will have no choice but to end you. I will not let you fuck this up. Stay here, I need to go and speak with Hera she will want to know what's happening."
I gave Elena one last disgusted look before I shimmered out knowing now, we had no time to waste. It was only a matter of time before either Hera and I or Lucifer and his people won and I couldn't let the latter happen.