The Devil's Wife Read Online Free PDF

The accusations might be bullshit, as you say, but they are still accusations, and I can't afford to have you too close to me."
          "Jehovah, come on, be reasonable—"
          "I'm sorry, Sam, but I can't—"
          "Would you be open to negotiations? Probation?" Lucifer asked quickly.
          "I won't accept anything for you, Sam. I can't."
          "What about for Aspen?"
          My ears pricked up, and I listened more intently.
          Jehovah hesitated. "Sam—"
          "No, listen. He'll constantly be in trouble in the Finance Department. Surely you remember what he was like last time he was there?"
          "How could I forget? He almost bankrupted Heaven."
          I grinned to myself. That leak in the budget was actually handy after all.
          "Okay, what do you propose?"
          "Send him to look after the Earth and mankind. I know
    you've done it before."
          "I have a feeling that this is for you, in some obscure way?"
          "Well, it might convince my wife not to kill me for getting her brother demoted," Lucifer said.
          "And what a noble cause that is. Very well. A demotion for Aspen means an assignment to Earth until he works his way up to another Level."
          "Thank you, Jehovah," Lucifer said.
          I smiled to myself as I thought over what had been said. A second later, I was being bent and stretched, my form shifting and changing. As the claws burst from the ends of my fingers, the floor vanished from beneath me, and I was falling to Earth.
    ~ * ~
          I woke with a start in the middle of the next morning as my dream cat-shape hit Earth, and looked around me. There was no sign that Clarissa had been and gone; her work clothes were still in the wardrobe, the plates undisturbed on the drainer.
          I growled under my breath and jumped up to the window, looking out at the city. There were two pigeons on the windowsill, tilting their heads and cooing at me.
          Get out of here, you stupid buzzards! I yelled, banging the glass with my paws.
          The pigeons fluttered from the sill and took off into the rising sun, squawking at me. I smiled to myself and sank my claws into the wood of the window, standing on my rear paws and bracing myself.
          I heaved the window up and slipped out underneath it. I balanced on the windowsill, looking down the sixty-nine floors to the pavement below.
          I looked around, but none of the humans below were watching me. I leaped from the building, out into space, and felt the thrill as I flashed through one of the Portals to Limbo, the only Realm I'd been able to reach since the Fall.
    ~ * ~
          "Aspen!" Azazel crowed in delight, picking me up. "What're you doing here?"
          Clarissa hasn't been home. I was going to ask someone to check Hell for her, and here you are.
          My brother laughed and put me down in favor of his beer. His drinking had gotten far worse since the Fall, to the point where he was never seen without alcohol in his hand. "Ah, Aspen. I'm not going to Hell to look for your broad. She'll be fine, she'll turn up eventually."
          I scowled at my twin brother. Michael wouldn't hesitate to do something for me.
          "Then go ask our father. I'm not your only family member, Aspen. Not by a long shot." He downed a shot and sneered at me. "God made sure of that, remember?"
          I hissed at him and sank my claws into his leg. Azazel swore and threw me off. I glared at him, fluffing my ginger fur up to make me seem bigger. Where's Lucifer?
          "How the fuck should I know?" Azazel snapped, holding a hand to the scratches on his leg. They were already healing. "Go look for him yourself, you ungrateful cat."
          You mean he isn't in Hell?
          "He doesn't spend his time in Hell, Aspen," Azazel snarled at me. "He lives on Earth. I think he said the