In any case, we were home, but I had a feeling it wasn’t over.

Tyz’vel had had his butt kicked by half of Heaven and I knew I wasn’t going to see him again any time soon.
That didn’t mean it was over. “So…the feather?”

“I had to carry it. See…the brightest thing to a demon is a mortal soul. Immortals kind of have souls, but he said…he said that didn’t count.”

I nodded. “In other words, if either me or Hans had taken it, they’d have seen it right away.”

“Right. Well, Hans might have got away with it, because he used to be mortal.”

I nodded again. “I’m not mad with you. I know why you didn’t tell me. I just…” Was I a little jealous? No, not quite.

“You feel as if I shouldn’t need anyone else’s protection.”

“That’s exactly it!” I managed a weak grin. “That if somebody else is helping I’ve failed somehow and somewhere. And maybe I’m a little upset about having to be rescued by rivals.”

“Allies, at least for now.”

“It’s not over.” We were on the edge of the Mall. “I think they dealt with Tyz’vel, but we don’t know what else is going on in Hell.”

And, after all, I wasn’t going to need the Seal of Solomon to deal with him. I hoped.

“We don’t know…”

And Loki was leaning against a wall. “What happened to Lucifer? Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you alright?” I moved over towards him.
“Mostly.” He looked distinctly rumpled and I could tell he wasn’t doing anything to change his appearance.

Probably he thought that would worry me more. “Mostly? What happened?”

“I decided to see if I could convince him to leave you alone. He ambushed me.”

“War demons?”

“Oh no. Worse.”

I started to laugh. “Succubi.”

“And incubi. He had me very thoroughly distracted.”

I was still laughing. “Oh dear. So, basically, he let you play with his harem and locked the door while you were busy.”

No blush, but he did look…sheepish. “Pretty much. Then he somehow had a dwarven artifact that he was able to use…”

“What happened to it?”

“Anansi took it before I could stop him.”

Oh dear. It really wasn’t over. I was also pretty sure who had been pretending to be Lucifer. “And then he used your power to beat up Lucifer.”
“And put him in the dungeons. Coyote let him out, though. Things should be back to normal in Hell soon enough.”

“I was worried that…that you might be happy to have them win.”

He shook his head. “No. If the world ends it’s going to be on our terms, not theirs.”

That…wasn’t very comforting.