James sat on the bed and played with the action figure I bought him while he watched an animated film on the TV. I picked him up a few hours ago after I completed the mission Lucifer sent me on, and contrary to my beliefs, he was thrilled at the thought of meeting my father.

A funny part of the movie popped up and James began giggling as he pat my shoulder. I turned to him and raised my brow. "Yes?"

"Did you see?" he asked as he pointed at the TV in excitement.

"No. I wasn't paying attention," I admitted as I sat up in the bed. He frowned and turned back to the TV. "Tell me what happened."

He turned back to me and a smile appeared on his face again as he recounted the events of the movie. Of course, he wasn't making any sense to me, but I inserted a few 'wows' and he was happy.

A knock on the door made James and I turn to it and I walked to it. Before I could fully open it, Lucifer strode in past me. "So I was thinking about a plan and one word popped into my head: Blackmail!" he rambled as he stormed into my hotel room.

"Uh-huh."

He was about to continue but halted his steps at the sight of James. "What is that?" he asked as he pointed to him.

James looked up at him curiously and I closed the door. "That is a child, father."

"I figured. But whose?" He eyed James like he was a foreign entity he'd never seen before.

"That priest guy...I told you I kept the kid," I muttered.

Remembrance passed his features and he nodded. "I forgot."

James looked at me as if to ask me if he was okay to talk to and I nodded. I never restricted him from talking to anyone but ever since I met him, he seemed to seek my permission first.

"I'm James," he said in a tiny voice as he held out his hand. I crossed my arms and nodded proudly at the gesture.

I taught him that.

My father glanced at me strangely and then looked back to James. Like I've mentioned, Hell wasn't used to children at all so even my father was lost. By the time he had to take care of me, I was already old enough to be independent. So he had no idea about what to do with kids- hell, neither did I.

He looked at James's outstretched hand and hesitantly held his out. "I'm Lucifer."

"Like the Devil, right?" James asked.

"That's the one," he responded as he removed his hand from James's hold and dangled it in the air like it needed to be disinfected. He looked around the room and looked at the TV. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a cartoon!" James said with a giggle.

"Ew." James smiled and turned his attention back to the TV and my father turned to me. "We need to talk."

I nodded and turned up the television for James. "We'll be right back." He nodded absentmindedly in response as he stared off at the screen. With him distracted I walked to the balcony of the room and my father followed behind me and slid the door closed. I occupied one of the two reclining chairs and he sat across from me.

"I heard something about blackmail?" I asked, remembering what he said when he walked in.

"Yes, since we can't kill them because of your precious girl...our only other choice is for you to marry Xyla and blackmail her parents to step down," he said.

Blackmail?

"That seems...mild, compared to the methods were accustomed to." I cringed. "Will it work?"

"I mean it's our only other alternative besides offing them."

My mind glazed over his use of the word them as he referred to Queen's parents. I contemplated telling him about what had happened, but I decided against it. The fewer people that knew, the more I'd be able to protect Queen from not only the law...but her mind.

I'd just have to go along with it indefinitely.

"And if they don't step down?"

"I'm sure they will. If Heaven finds out the truth about them, they could be executed or sent to jail for the rest of their lives. I'm sure they'd rather step down with their 'holy' reputations intact."

I nodded. The plan seemed like a good one. It wasn't as full proof as our previous one, but it would have to do. I was sure Jonathan wouldn't want a secret like that out.

"Sounds good. How long did it take you to come up with?"

"Maybe three minutes or so." He shrugged.

I nodded sarcastically and looked down at the ground. If this didn't work it would be my fault that we didn't take over Heaven. I didn't want to disappoint my father like that.

"If that doesn't work and push comes to shove, I'll kill him," I said.

My father smiled and let out a large breath. "Oh, thank me." I shook my eyes at his dramatic breath of relief and he frowned. "You mean them, right?"

"What?"

"You said you'd kill him, but you meant them, right? It would be ludicrous to kill one-"

"I meant them," I clarified. "I'll kill them if things don't go accordingly." Get it together, Syn.

"Great. Let's discuss the gun now. I can't sleep wondering whose hands it may be in." He shivered.

"Well, I questioned the men in charge of its security and they have no memory of the gun even existing," I replied in a low voice. He froze and I realized that my coming back with no answer may have brought him more comfort.

He looked around, a seeming paranoia seeking to fill him as he glanced down at the busy underworld streets. "Maybe they were lying."

I tilted my head at him to gauge if he was serious. By now he should've known that my torture techniques made it near impossible for anyone to lie to me.

"Then what do you suppose happened?" He asked after getting my signal.

"A memory wipe."

His eyes widened. "But that would mean-"

"It would mean that someone stole it and it wasn't just lost."

"Shit." He groaned as he buried his head in his hands. When I made no reaction or move he looked back up at me. "I envy you sometimes Syn."

"Why is that?"

"You don't feel fear," he said with a sigh.

"Should I...be fearful?"

"Of course, this is Cain's artifact once again and Eve already used it to kill you. Someone could easily use it to kill you again and we wouldn't be able to bring you back."

"And what about you? It could kill you as well."

"There's only one bullet in the gun and no more can be made, Syn. Since they stole it from me I'm sure it'll be used on one of us." I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. "Son," he called quietly. I opened my eyes to see him looking down at the ground solemnly. "If I die..."

"You're not going-"

"If I die..." he said in a stern voice, looking into my eyes, "take care of your mother."

My eyebrows raised in surprise that he didn't tell me to take care of Hell first and foremost. I thought it was always his number one priority. "And Hell?"

"Hell comes third."

I scrunched my brows. "What comes second to my mother?"

"Your mother is second," he corrected me.

I was even more lost than I previously was. "Then what is first?"

"You. You're my son." He smiled. "But I have a feeling I don't need to tell you to take care of yourself."

A strange feeling crept into my chest and I cleared my throat to ignore it. He rarely called me his son but I assumed that the threat of death was making him crazy.

"Okay and if I die..." I started as he shook his head slightly. I pointed to the room where James was still absorbed in the TV. "Take care of him. Don't let him turn out like me."

Lucifer winced and shook his head. "I'm terrible with kids. I can't do-"

"Promise me, father. If I die I want you to be the one to take care of him."

He opened his mouth to protest but with a sigh, he nodded. "I promise."

It was dark outside and the balcony was lit up by buildings nearby and the light from inside the room. I could see but I couldn't completely make out the expression on my father's face.

"So I'm assuming you're keeping the child?" He asked.

I shrugged. "He's not so bad. I just need to make sure he doesn't die and that seems easy enough."

"Oooh," my father cooed. "Father of the year, are we?"

"Please don't ever say that crap again..." my words trailed off as he began laughing. "My discomfort amuses you?"

"Very much so."

"Uh-huh."

We sat in silence for a few moments and I glanced at James a few times to make sure he was still alive and kicking. When I heard a loud gasp, my attention turned back to my father. All the blood had dropped from his face and he gave me a grave stare that made me raise a brow. "Does this make me a grandfather?" He croaked.

I felt irritation at his words and the thought too. Not at him being a grandfather...but what it implied AGAIN. If Lucifer was his grandfather that would make me James' father and I wasn't sure if that was a role I fit in to. I wasn't even certain it was one that I wanted to.

"Maybe?" I said unsurely.

He shook his head vigorously, his dark hair moving with the quick motions. "I am too young to be a grandparent."

"No, you're not. You're old as shit." The man was delusional if he thought he was young. He'd been here since the dawn of time.

"Okay fine. Correction, I look young."

"No, you look pretty old too. You have a few grey hairs." I said as I pointed to his head.

His eyes widened and he brought his hand to his hair. "Where?!" I scoffed and shook my head as he glared at me. "That is not something you joke about, Syn."

My phone began ringing in my pocket and I sighed as I pulled it out. Xavier's contact flashed across the screen and I glanced at my father. "It's Xavier."

"Go on and answer." He stood up. "I'm going to go...in there..." He looked towards the room. "Does he bite?" I tilted my head at him and he raised his hands. "Just checking."

He slid the door open to let himself in and I answered the phone. Before I could even speak, Xavier's voice boomed through the speaker. "How dare you take our son and not bother to let me know?"

I shook my head and sighed. "Our son?"

"Yes. How is he?"

I looked back into the room to see James talking to Lucifer who was sitting in a chair beside him uncomfortably.

"He's fine," I answered.

"Good," he said. "I just wanted to check on him. Sorry to interrupt you and Queen's little date. Also, are you mad at me or-"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I haven't talked to Queen since that night...you know this." He didn't know the full details of what happened the night Queen's mother died, but it was still a significant night due to my temporary loss of ability.

The line went silent and I waited for him to speak.

"Syn...she told me that you texted her to meet her. She's been gone for hours," he replied in a shaky voice.

I shot up from the chair and laid a fist against my head. "I have a new phone, Xavier. I don't have Queen's number and she doesn't have mine."

"I thought you guys may have exchanged numbers or something when she mentioned it."

"I would've texted you if I had left Hell to meet her!" I yelled in frustration. "Shit!"

I heard Xavier mutter "fuck" on the line and I hung up the phone and went back into the room. I picked up my jacket laying on the table and slid it on quickly. Why would she meet with me anyway? It wasn't like we were on good terms yet.

My father looked up at me, slouching in the chair. "Where are you going?"

"There's a problem."

"Can I help?" He sat up.

"Yes." He stood up abruptly from the chair and I faced him. "I need you to watch James."

His eyes widened and he glanced at James before glaring at me. "I'm not a babysitter."

"I know you're not." I said. He visibly relaxed and smiled.
"You're a grandfather. Besides this can be practice for if I do in fact die." Before he could say anything I moved to James. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay?" That would give me a couple of days in Jeradua to make sure everything was okay.

He stood up on the bed and gave me a hug. "Be good for your grandpa, okay? Don't give him too much stress or you'll upset his arthritis," I joked dryly as I turned to an empty wall in the room and created a portal to Xavier's room.

"What's aritus?" James asked.

"He'll tell you."

I heard a loud gasp from Lucifer but before he could say anything else I stepped through the portal into Xavier's room and glared at him. He sat completely dressed and he jumped when he saw me.

"You can't be mad at me." He raised a finger.

I rolled my eyes and walked past him to go to my room. I needed to get an item of Queen's to do a locator spell. Xavier followed closely behind me and we searched for anything that would be strong enough for me to use. Her things were packed in front of my bed like she was getting ready to go and I ignored the ache in my chest at the thought of her trying to leave me.

Again, I was aware I told her to, but where was the damn struggle?

After looking through everything for over twenty minutes, we still hadn't found anything useful. I looked around in frustration as I dropped a random jacket of hers and blew out an annoyed breath.

"What about this?" Xavier asked as he held up the gift Sebastian got her.

I rolled my eyes and held my hand out for it. A part of me hoped that it wouldn't work...that would mean she didn't give a fuck about him, but if it did...she cared.

I closed my eyes, let out a deep sigh, and held the bracelet in my hand. To my surprise and disappointment, images of Queen screaming passed through my mind. I saw nothing, but blood; the feeling of death and darkness encompassing me and making me almost drop the bracelet.

I looked around the room Queen was in and saw Mia slap her with a gun. It took all the strength I had in me to relax and keep looking. I ignored Queen's cries and ran out the front door of the house. It was an ugly house. The bright yellow paint on it made it stick out like a sore thumb in the colonial neighborhood. I looked behind the house and saw a lake and dropped the bracelet to the floor. Jeradua only had one lake. I looked Xavier at who was looking at me expectantly and I shook my head.

"Mia has her." I walked past him again and rushed to the front of the palace where my car was. I didn't have an address so I couldn't just snap my fingers and pop up like I wished to.

I tossed the car keys to Xavier and jumped into the passenger seat. I needed to be able to think about where we were headed and I wouldn't be able to focus on driving. With a roar, the engine started, and he began driving. "Where?"

"A large yellow house in front of Lake Clare." I shot off.

"That's vague Syn." He said nervously.

"It's a fucking yellow house!" I snapped. When his expression fell, I rubbed my temples and sat back. "That's all I got, okay? Just drive to the lake and we'll have to look from there."

He nodded quickly and we drove silently as Xavier weaved in and out of traffic. Thirty minutes later we arrived at the lakefront and drove slowly as we studied the houses.

For fifteen minutes we looked at houses but still found no yellow one. Most of the houses were sleek and modern which made me almost doubt my directions. I instantly regretted not paying attention to the surrounding neighborhood instead of the shitty mansion.

Suddenly the car stopped and Xavier patted my shoulder frantically and pointed. "Yellow house, right?" I looked at the house and nodded quickly as I stepped out of the car. Before I could take steps towards the house Xavier stopped me. "Syn, we have no weapons and we have no idea what's in there."

"Queen is tied to the chair and there are twelve bodyguards, Mia, and some dude," I said as he gawked at me.

"You saw all of that and didn't want to take weapons?" He questioned in a shocked tone.

I walked past him in frustration and shook my head. "I wasn't thinking about that."

I climbed the stairs of the porch and slowly walked to the front door. I tried to listen in the house for noise and I heard a girl screaming. Queen being in danger made me lose all my logic and I burst through the door.

We stopped dead in our tracks when we looked at the floor in the living room that was scattered with dead bodies. The floor was almost covered in blood and I looked around for Queen.

"I think we're too late," Xavier whispered as he looked around.

I couldn't believe that.

I didn't want to.

A screaming from the top of the staircase made Xavier and I look up. Queen was covered head to toe in blood as she dragged Mia by her hair. Mia screamed and kicked, but Queen kept her hold firmly on her as she walked down the stairs.

"Queen." Xavier swallowed audibly.

Queen stopped walking and looked at us from the staircase, letting out a nervous laugh as she waved at us. "Hey."