“The kind of mojo you would get … it’s not like you think. And besides. It’s not my gift to give. It is something you will learn with your passing. Rey’aziel would never forgive me.”

“Why would you need his forgiveness for anything?”

He paused, put both hands on the counter. “We all need forgiving at some point.”

“Is that why you’re doing this? Is that why you’re helping? You need forgiveness?”

He turned to me then, as though I’d offended him. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re not really afraid of Reyes.”

“No, I’m not, but if we fought and I killed him, you’d never forgive me.”

“I’m not worried about you killing my husband, Osh.”

“Look, we don’t know what will happen when you learn it. That’s what he’s really afraid of. He thinks that you might ascend. That you might quit your human body and become the grim reaper for real. That you might leave him. Or worse.”

“What can be worse?”

“That you will go back to your dimension. That you’ll leave him forever.”

“But I wouldn’t do that.”

“There is no way you can know what you will and won’t do once you have all your powers. Or what you can and can’t do. Hell, love, we don’t even know. Not really. You’re not just the grim reaper. You’re also a god. The first pure ghost god. Do you have any idea what that means? It makes Lucifer and all his power look like child’s play.”

“Then why not give me that power and end all this? Beep is in danger because of him. Because of the hellhounds. Why not just let me fix it so we can get on with our lives?”

“It doesn’t work that way, love.”

I was growing more frustrated by the minute. “Why? Why doesn’t it work that way?”

“Because if you will notice, you have power over souls, right? You have the very rare ability to mark them.”

“Yes, and?”

“That’s it. We believe that when you agreed to come here to this dimension, you had to agree to abide by the rules of this universe.”

“Man, you people love rules. And what rules are those?”

He slapped his bread together, turned to me, and took a huge bite of his sandwich. Mumbling, he said, “God gave humans the power over their own lives. They have the power to make their own decisions. To make their own mistakes. To follow the dark one or not. God kicked Lucifer out of heaven but not out of the game entirely. There’s still a war raging, and you have no power to stop it. Only humans can really stop the war. Can really put an end to Lucifer. But, as you are well aware, there is a lot of evil in this world. Some people will always choose to follow him. And with every human he wins, his powers grow.”

“So, you are telling me I have no dominion over Lucifer? Over his demons?”

“I’m saying you cannot destroy him. Only a human born of flesh and blood can.”

“I’m human. Have been since the day I was born.”

He grinned, took a huge gulp of water, then leaned into me. “You’re no more human than I am.”

“Wait. Are you telling me that is why all the prophecies say that Beep will destroy Lucifer?”

“She’s human.”

“With supernatural parents. Surely, if she is going to take on Satan, she has to have some of our powers.”

“She does. She will. Just like you, her powers will grow as she gets older. But she was still created from the human sides of you and Rey’aziel. She was still born a human. She will ultimately have power over things you don’t and never will. You can’t break the agreement the God of this universe made. It’s—” He stopped to think about his next words. “It’s bad form.”

“So that was it. That’s why our Beep is going to face off against Lucifer?”

“That surprises you? After everything you’ve read? After everything we’ve uncovered?”

“I was just hoping—”

“To find a loophole.”

I lowered my head. “Yes.”

Osh bit down in frustration. “Yeah, me, too. Of course, there’s something else you have to consider.”

“There’s more?” I asked, growing disheartened.

“You have to think about what you are, how powerful you are. If you learn your name before it’s time, you might not be able to control that power. You could kill everyone around you in the blink of an eye.”

“So, that’s a definite no to my celestial name?”

His mouth formed a thin line. “Sorry, love. I don’t want to have to kill Rey’aziel. Not yet, anyway.”

This time I leaned in. “I think Rey’aziel can take you.”

“Every other creature in hell thought they could take me, too. They were wrong.”

I stole his sandwich and took a bite. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you’re on our side.”

A sweet lopsided grin softened his face, and I had to remember once again that he only looked nineteen.

* * *

I walked upstairs to check on Beep. The trip was much easier now that I wasn’t harboring the little fugitive. I wasn’t about to give up on talking to Colton Ellix. I had a backup plan. It scared the hell out of me, and I didn’t dare tell Reyes, but it was a plan nonetheless. Reyes wouldn’t see it that way, though. He’d have me drugged and locked away so I couldn’t carry out my plan until it was too late to do anything about it. But at that point, Faris would be dead. I was not going to let that happen if there was even the slightest chance I could stop it.