Chapter 74

Beatrice

There were few things in life I hated more than council meetings. I’d done my best to avoid having any involvement with the Council of Witches. I even sent their event emails to the junk folder in an email account I rarely checked. My phone number wasn’t listed with the council, and I’d failed to change my address with them when I’d moved in with Persephone. Had Lucifer not been summoned by the council, I might not have known they wanted to see me. Even knowing I could get in trouble for failing to appear when summoned, I still might skip the meeting if Lucifer wasn’t going with me. The last meeting I’d attended had been to question me about my brother. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience, and it had reminded me why I didn’t fit in among the other witches.

“You look like you’re being sent to your execution,” Lucifer remarked as he regarded me from the driver’s seat of his sleek black SUV. I had no clue what kind of SUV it was. I’d never seen one like it before I’d borrowed it.

“What make and model is this thing?” I asked, patting the dashboard.

“It was designed especially for me,” he replied. “I’m not sure they named it. Does your attempt to change the subject mean you don’t want to talk about this meeting?”

“I hate these things,” I grumbled. “It will be longer than it needs to be, and people will be rude to me.”

“They will not be rude to you,” he ground out.

I considered his words before responding. “You’re probably right. No one would dare be rude to me with you by my side.”

“Let’s get this over with,” he suggested.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let’s go waste the rest of our afternoon on stupid witch business.”

The Council of Witches had their local offices in Bishop Ranch. The compound also housed the witch training, testing, and licensing offices. One wing was devoted to medical care, where they also treated other members of the preternatural community. That section was only accessible from outside the grounds for security reasons. They didn’t want injured werewolves wandering around secure witch areas.

We were rushed through security surprisingly quickly. Last time, I’d had to wait over twenty minutes to enter because my witch identification had expired. Why that mattered, I had no clue. My picture still looked like me, and my information was in the computer. The need to renew our witch ID every decade had never made sense to me. We age incredibly slowly. I won’t look much different a hundred years from now.

“The warlocks at the front looked like they were going to pee their pants,” I said around a giggle.

“Yet another thing I can do for you,” he began with a grin. “I’m able to make trips to your witch compound more entertaining.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have an elevator that opens up somewhere in here,” I remarked as we stepped into an elevator. Several others were waiting, but no one joined us.

“I wanted one put in here,” he explained. “Your council didn’t like the idea. I hadn’t expected to use it myself, but I thought it would be convenient when Rainer or Xavier need to be here. They always get summoned at the most inconvenient times.”

“The council lives to inconvenience others,” I added. “I guess it makes sense that they wouldn’t want you to have a way to bypass their security.”

“I suggested putting it outside the secure area,” he added as we stepped out on the fourth floor.

“Then it was all about inconveniencing people,” I muttered.

“And esthetics,” he explained. “They thought it would look out of place.”

“The meeting room is just up ahead,” I told him. It was one of the larger meeting rooms, meaning they expected a big turnout. With Lucifer’s last-minute change of time, I doubted many would show up, but I could be wrong.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“No, but let’s get this over with,” I muttered.

As soon as Lucifer opened the door, the room fell silent. There were more people than I’d expected on a Monday afternoon.

“Just breathe,” he whispered.

We stepped into the room, and I blinked twice when I saw the couple standing at the front of the room in tattered blue robes. They both stared at me.

“Your parents?” Lucifer asked quietly.

I nodded but said nothing. My father looked nothing like me, having hair so blond it appeared almost white and pale blue eyes. My mother looked exactly like me. It had been more than five years since I’d seen either of them. In that time, I’d only heard from them when they’d wanted me to send them extra money. I’d been renting their old trailer from them, and they’d often insisted they needed more that month. I had no idea how they divided up the money I sent them since they hadn’t lived together in years.

“Why are you here?” I asked my parents. It was rude, but I didn’t care.

“We’re here to rescue you,” my mom replied. She took a step toward me before hesitating. She looked unsure of what to do.

“Perhaps, we should begin,” Isadora Hunt suggested.

I didn’t recognize most of the council members present.

“Can you tell us what this is about first?” I asked.

“I’ve been very patient,” Lucifer added, placing a hand on my lower back. “Why did you request my presence at this meeting?”

“Would you have allowed Beatrice to come without you?” Isadora asked with an amused smile.

“No,” was Lucifer’s reply.

“Which is why we requested your presence,” A warlock added.

“Why do you need to see Beatrice?” Lucifer pushed.

Before a member of the council could respond, Beatrice’s mother shouted, “I won’t allow you to hold my daughter hostage in Hell!”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I snapped.