Free Hell's Bells: Lucifer's Tale (Welcome to Hell Book 6) by Eve Langlais

his direction. What they didn’t warn her about was that she would walk in on the end of the world.
    Okay, not quite the end, but it was as bad as Hell freezing over.
    “Honey bunches, you’re home.” Lucifer beamed at her from his club chair. He wore a knitted sweater with leather patches on the elbows. And where had he gotten those spectacles perched on his nose? But most incongruous of all…
    “Are you playing Scrabble?”
    “Indeed I am, with the most wonderful brother Heaven has to offer.”
    Elyon, as he liked to be called now, formerly known as Yahweh and the One True God by a few religious branches, beamed at the compliment. “Why thank you, Lucifer.”
    “My pleasure, brother dear. I can’t understand why we don’t do this more often. Your manners are impeccable.”
    “Because he’s a prat,” she muttered.
    “What’s that, love bunny?”
    She pasted a fake smile on her face. “Just saying I’m surprised you haven’t offered our guest refreshments.”
    “Goodness gracious. Where are my manners?”
    Lucifer practically skipped from the room, surely causing some souls to throw themselves in the abyss to escape the horror of it. He’d no sooner popped out of sight when Gaia dove over the table, sending the game board and its pieces scattering. She grabbed Elyon by his white robe and dragged him close.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she snarled.
    “I am spending time with my brother.”
    His clear blue eyes regarded her with absolute innocence. Knowing him, it was sincere.
    “You and Luc hate spending time together. You can’t be in the room together five minutes without you threatening to send down your army of light and annihilating his evil realm once and for all. Luc usually tells you his army will kick your army’s ass and to get laid.” A brotherly rivalry that had existed since Lucifer decided he didn’t want to share Heaven with Elyon and chose Hell as his home.
    The relationship between them had turned contentious at that point with a battle for souls starting, a fight that Lucifer won without even trying. Elyon’s rules for entrance into Heaven were rigid and not easy to follow. The Ten Commandments truly covered all sin.
    But that rivalry was nothing compared to what had happened when Gaia dumped Elyon for Luc. A tad her fault for dating the wrong brother first. But then again, the brotherly rivalry proved kind of hot when they went on a holy crusade against each other.
    She didn’t see any signs of a holy war brewing with their quiet game of Scrabble.
    “I know that before things between me and Lucifer were kind of tense. But that was before. My brother has changed.” Elyon clasped his hands and raised his eyes to Heaven, his home.
    “You think?” she said in her most sarcastic lilt. Wasted breath.
    “I rather like this new version of him. He kind of reminds me of myself.”
    She made a moue as she shoved Elyon back in his chair. “And that’s the problem. There’s a reason I dumped your ass for Lucifer.”
    “Because you couldn’t handle my glory?” He smiled beatifically at her.
    She dropped her gaze to his lap. “I prefer something that needs two handles and knows how to take charge.”
    Even with all the sin he’d seen and passed judgment on, Elyon still had the ability to blush like a schoolgirl.
    “I don’t know what my brother sees in you.”
    Gaia sometimes wondered as well, and yet, for all their volatile dating in the past, they couldn’t seem to stay away from each other for more than a few decades at a time.
    “You need to help me fix Lucifer.”
    Elyon shook his head, his long white locks flying. “Why would we do that? I quite like him as he is now.”
    “Because, you short-sighted idiot, his whole goody-two-shoes bit has upset the balance of good and evil in the world.”
    “The forces of light are seeing the scales tip in our favor. I’d say that’s a good thing for everyone.” Scary part was God truly believed it.
    “No, it’s not