Good times.
There was a small gathering of demons and other strange beings on the patio. Julian stood on the stage and he didn’t look happy.
“Why?” he was saying into the microphone, but it sounded like he was mostly talking to himself. “Why isn’t it working?”
Val gasped as she saw the golden key catch the light from the patio lanterns. Julian was trying to use the key to enter Heaven.
Right now.
Val watched with horror as the mayor waved a flipper-like appendage at Julian. “Try again. I’ve always found incantations to be particularly tricky.”
Julian sighed. “Perhaps you’re right. I’ll give it another shot.” He brought the key closer to his face and read the ancient incomprehensible words etched into its surface. When he was done, he looked up expectantly. Nothing happened. He stamped his foot like a little boy who didn’t get his lollipop.
Yasmeen approached the stage. “Perhaps your pronunciation is off. Let me try.” She reached for the key but Julian held it out of her reach.
“No. It’s mine. Back off, bitch.”
She put a hand on her hip. “You’re such a self-involved idiot, Julian.”
He pouted. “Takes one to know one.”
Yasmeen glanced over at the mayor. “I have no time for this foolishness. At your leave, great one.”
The mayor looked at her for a moment, then nodded his head. “As you wish, my dear.”
She vanished in a column of fire.
“Come on,” Lisa whispered and grabbed Val’s arm to pull her outside, closer to the group of demons by the pool and stage.
“Are you crazy?”
“Probably. But I have a plan to get your key back.”
“You’re definitely crazy.”
She grinned. “Consider yourself lucky the key doesn’t work for Julian.”
“Is it his pronunciation?” Reggie asked. “I always thought incantations were in Latin. At least
Claire’s always sound Latin.” He sighed. “It’s all Greek to me.”
Lisa shook her head. “It’s a much older language, even older than Latin.”
Val frowned. “I don’t even remember telling you about the key before a minute ago. How do you know so much—”
“Shh.” She pulled Val down until they were completely hidden behind the pool bar. If Val stood up, Julian would be looking directly at her. Though, currently he was too busy staring angrily at the key in his hand to pay attention to anything else.
She glanced at Lisa. “If you’re such a surprise expert on the subject, then tell me, why isn’t it working for him?”
She licked her lips and smiled, but it looked more mischievous than genuine. “The Key to
Heaven will only work for a fallen angel, of course.”
“What?”
“It’s true. Haven’t you heard the stories?”
“Yeah, but not that one. I thought it was supposed to be an all-access pass. Anyone could use it.”
She shook her head. “Anyone can go through the doorway once it’s opened, yes. But the words must be spoken by a fallen one. Lucifer was originally a fallen angel, you know. And it is his key. Makes sense.”
Julian had just finished reading the incantation for the fourth time with zero success. His face flushed red with anger and flames danced in his eyes—and it was an unhappy dance.
Val frowned. “How long do you think it’ll be before he figures that little tidbit of information out?”
“With Julian? Could be a few centuries.”
“You know Julian?”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“He told me that he’s Lucifer’s son. That he’s doing this to get Daddy’s love and approval. Or something like that.”
She almost laughed at that. “He should have just bought a card from Hallmark.”
Suddenly Julian yelled, and for a horrible moment Val was reminded of Nathaniel suffering on the floor of the bedroom before he was taken away from her. But Julian wasn’t being pulled anywhere. He wasn’t in any pain, at least not physical pain.
He was just frustrated.
“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong! This should work. I should be walking into the pristine palace as we speak.”
Val frowned. Pristine palace? What a dork.
In the meantime, a few more demons had made their excuses and wandered off. Time was precious, even in the Underworld.
The mayor looked extremely disappointed for a moment, but then he seemed to brighten slightly. “Let’s take a break and bring out the fallen angel for some entertainment, shall we? I need a good laugh. Plus, I’m a little bit hungry. Just don’t tell Sven that I cheated on my diet.”
“Not yet,” Julian whined. “Let me try one more time.”
The mayor sighed. “Very well.”
He tried. He failed. Val stifled a laugh at his obvious misery. Then he had a literal hissy fit and threw the key on the ground and made a big show of stepping on it and grinding it into the stage with his foot.
“Stupid key!”
“Let me down, Val,” Reggie whispered. “I think I have an idea.”