Brimstone Nightmares (Queen of the Damned Book 4)

by Kel Carpenter

  “Heaven would burn too?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Hela answered. “Your father was the purest form of fire forged into the body of a man. He would pyroport between not just distances in Hell, but worlds themselves. It was how he came here, and how inevitably everything he touched would die—if not for you.”

  “But I did die,” I interrupted.

  “You did,” she nodded. “But you came back. Ragnarök foretold of a daughter that would be born unto fire. That she would wield this great power and ultimately be the key to stopping the apocalypse. This girl would be brought back to her people by four horsemen and put an end to the burning.”

  “But I don’t understand—” I began.

  “You will,” Merula stopped me. “By the time Ragnarök revealed his prophecy, Lilith was already as mad as the woman she called mother, but ten times more ruthless. Genesis was a selfish deity, not unlike us. We were created in her image after all. But the child she created was a true monster.” She shook her head. “I was with her when the prophecy was spoken. I saw that gleam in her eye. I know jealousy when I see it and the moment Ragnarök foretold of you, Lilith began making plans.”

  “And my father never saw this?” I asked, skeptical. They all shook their heads, solemn but angry. They had every reason to be.

  “She was once a master of deception,” Sinumpa began, taking over the story. “But over time she began believing the lies she told. She became delusional, falling into her own web. Ragnarök’s prophecy made her desperate, because she knew that one day Lucifer would fall, and when he did there would be someone that could take his throne—the throne she viewed as rightfully hers from the beginning.” She lifted both eyebrows as she stared down the table at me. Her nails tapped the long wooden table with enough strength to rip a heart from a man’s chest. “She got the idea in her mind that if your father could sire a primordial, then she could give birth to one, if she had the right child with the right bloodline.” I swallowed the bile in my throat. Revulsion eating at my insides. Sinumpa smiled coldly. “I see my title and lineage didn’t escape you in the cavern. Sinumpa, Child of Lilith, Daughter of Cain.” She spat her mother’s name like it was venom. “Right around the time Lilith got the idea that she needed a male Seelie, one of Eve’s spawn came tearing through Hell with the mark of Cain on his head. She trapped him and then she raped him. Again. And again—until she became pregnant with me.”

  A child born of blood and pain. A girl raised by a monster dressed as an angel. I pitied her, even if only for a moment.

  “My fath—Lucifer allowed this?” Her lips tightened at my change mid-sentence.

  “Lucifer didn’t know about it. Nor did he find out about the hundreds of other males she held at different points across the years. And while I’m quite unique, I’m not a primordial—unlike you.” There wasn’t a hint of jealousy in her tone, only bone-deep weariness. The kind of tired that wasn’t brought on by a bad day or week. It settled in you day after day. Growing. Eating away at who and what you are until only a numb sense of emptiness remains. “Each one raped until they were able to sire a female child.”

  “Why female?” Moira asked.

  “Males are inferior in the Brimstone City. Used as slaves and breeding studs by the women of Pride. She considered them too primal. Prone to giving into base urges instead of capable thought,” Sinumpa answered without having to even think about it.

  “Harsh,” Moira mumbled. Sinumpa only shrugged.

  “She was building an army out of children that would live for eternity. Some having children of their own that would also be enslaved from birth. It was only this very night that I earned my freedom.”

  “How was she able to hide this if she was the one pregnant?” I asked. Demon women carried their children to term for two years before giving birth. Were the Fae the same?

  “She didn’t,” Ahnika answered. “Hide her pregnancy, that is. Your father didn’t take issue with her having children. They were never…romantic. He raised her, after all. He never thought it strange that she would want children given Genesis was her mother. It wasn’t until the Horsemen came about that he started to realize what she really was.” All of the Sins nodded and once again the conversation passed onto another.

  “Like me, Lilith shares an affinity for Greed,” Saraphine said.

  “She really shares an affinity with each of us, if we’re being honest,” Ahnika sniped. Greed nodded her head, clearly not disagreeing.

  “She does, but her Greed became prevalent the day Lucifer came to her with a proposition.” She didn’t smile as her gaze slid to Laran. He froze under those sharp brown eyes that in this light held the reddish tint of a nightmare. “He believed in the prophecy that Ragnarök spoke, that you would be returned by four horsemen. But they were not demons that existed yet. So, he made them. Made you, that is.” I reached out to grasp Laran’s hand, clinging to his warmth. “He wanted you to be the perfect guards for his little girl when she came into existence, so he bargained with the monster he raised. Four women volunteered to be the mothers of the Four Horsemen, knowing they would not survive the process. Four sterile women, I should add. Lilith impregnated them with her own blood magic and Lucifer’s power. Just enough fire that they would be immune, just enough strength that they could contain you. No more.”

  “What did he give her in return?” I asked, dreading the truth.

  I waited as Laran took a deep breath and then answered me.

  “Our childhood,” he said. “She already had free reign in her domain and he couldn’t give anything that actually belonged to any of the Sins, so he bargained with us.”

  “This was before she killed one of the she-demons carrying a child,” Sinumpa inserted.

  “What?” Moira and I said simultaneously.

  “I was closing in on a millennium at the time, so the details from my adolescence are a bit fuzzy,” she said, turning to Hela beside her. That she considered a thousand years adolescence said a great deal about the woman I was coming to see more clearly.

  “She poisoned one of the she-demons and Lucifer found out. He was enraged by it, given that he was supposed to hand over the babes once they were born. Forced to strike a new deal now that so much was at stake, he swore on a blood oath that as long as she did not physically harm the Horsemen, or allow them to be harmed, then as long as he lived no one could kill her without meeting the same fate—including himself.” Her lips pinched, telling me what exactly she thought of that blood oath.

  “It was a desperate move that he never should have made,” Ahnika stated.

  “But he did,” Hela sighed “And when the three she-demons gave birth, one was carrying twins. Even at the time he felt that this was his best move for you and for Hell. The odds of one mother dying and then one having twins was too much to be a coincidence. In his mind, the Four Horsemen meant that Ragnarök’s prophecy was inevitable.”

  “It was a self-fulfilling prophecy that might never have come to pass were the Horsemen not created,” Ahnika snapped.

  “A prophecy that has come to pass, nonetheless” Merula sternly.

  “A prophecy that kept us from taking out the bitch before she massed enough power and support to actually become a problem,” Ahnika replied.

  “Can we cut the arguing and get back to the story?” I cut in, leaning forward onto the table. I grabbed an apple off the platter in front of me and took a bite.

  “For many years we continued with this uneven truce. As promised, the Horsemen were raised by her and passed into the transition, at which point they were free to do as they pleased. Years passed. Millennia went by. Then Lola became pregnant. It changed everything.” Hela looked at the wooden table in front of her and the expression on her face made me think she was seeing something the rest of us couldn’t. “You changed everything. Before you, primordials were never born. They came into existence when they were needed. Your arrival meant change was coming, and with it the new age.” I held up my free hand to stop her
and Hela paused, inclining her head forward for me to speak.

  “I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not a primordial. I’m only half. My other half is succubus.” I was fairly certain of that given that I drank kama like an addict in need of a fix.

  “That’s only partially accurate,” Hela said hesitantly. “You require the sustenance a succubus might, but your power is primordial. We sensed it when you were born. It was the reason Lucifer bound your beast. He’d hoped that would keep the power confined until the Horsemen came for you.”

  “I’ve had low-ranging abilities my entire life,” I said. Moira scoffed and I ignored it.

  “You did,” Merula agreed. “But that is because your power is not the flames as we thought it would be.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, Little Morningstar, you have much to learn about your kind,” Ahnika said with a cackle. “There is no such thing as a half-primordial being. Just as the abilities that you’ve exhibited were no accident. Genesis held the power of creation in her fingers. Your father held fire. God held light. Others have come, both on Earth and in other worlds, before and after Genesis’s death. Yet you sit before us, completely ignorant to the fact that you are the most powerful primordial ever known to date. I would wonder if you were faking the humble behavior had I not interrogated you before. You’re not exactly what I would call a great liar.” Several of the Sins snickered, no doubt recalling memories of me with fondness that I now thought of with a sense of betrayal.

  “What are you talking about, Ahnika?” I asked.

  “Until your father died no one could lay a hand on Lilith. She was unstoppable by the time he crossed the veil. She took your beast thinking that it would give her the power of the primordial—your power—but your power doesn’t lie solely with the beast.”

  “You’re speaking in riddles I don’t understand. Of course, my power lies solely with the beast.”

  “No, Ruby,” Hela said. “It doesn’t.”

  “Lilith is currently operating on the assumption that you are dead, but if she had killed you, the beast would have died as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship,” Sinumpa said. I couldn’t call her Lust. That was Lola’s Sin and that just felt too odd. I couldn’t call her Sin because weren’t friends. We were simply allies until the greater purpose had been achieved. “She thought you were a half-primordial—something that doesn’t exist—and because she hails from Genesis, she thought she knew all there was to know about your kind. She didn’t realize that you, dear girl, are not a primordial of flame like your father. You’re a primordial of magic. You absorb the powers you come into contact with, making them your own.” Her mercury eyes glowed eerily, reminding me of the day she stole my telepathy…that I sort of stole from her. She’d said something similar at the time, before making me unable to talk to my Horsemen or anyone else about this. She smiled, like she knew that’s where my mind had gone.

  “You did this with your father’s power as a baby,” Merula said.

  “And your mother’s powers,” Saraphine said.

  “And when you killed that boy in my house at sixteen,” Lamia added. I spluttered for a moment.

  “You knew about Danny?” I asked.

  “Child,” she smiled. “You think that you could kill someone and I wouldn’t notice? Who did you think cleaned it up with the authorities?” I felt Moira’s hand snake under the table to wrap around my knee, squeezing gently. I didn’t like to think about Danny. What I did that night. The way Moira and I became blood sisters.

  “After I entered a blood oath with you, you showed signs of my magic,” Sinumpa chimed in, nicely leaving out that she also blocked me from showing anything once she figured it out.

  I stared around the table from one person to another and I realized this was it. They really, truly believed that I could stop Lilith because I was some ultra-powerful primordial.

  The thought was…I couldn’t contain the snigger that started under my breath and built to a full-on cackle. I laughed so hard that tears formed in my eyes and slid down my cheeks. Until there was a cramp in my side and even when it hurt, I still laughed…and when it finally died out into the heavy silence, I spoke.

  “You guys put your hopes and dreams in the wrong girl.” Another chuckle slid from my lips that bordered on insanity. “Lilith killed me. She stole the beast and my power. I have nothing.”

  And I truly believed that.

  Hela said, “You’re wrong, Blue. You have your blood.”

  “What?” I shook my head a little, not sure they were really listening if we were back to this. I came here hoping for answers so I could fix what happened. Not be told I’m the messiah they’ve been waiting for. Weren’t they listening?

  “Your power is in your blood, Little Morningstar,” Ahnika said. “It is the reason we tested you the way we did. You had to go to Lilith. Sinumpa had to be freed of her oath. All of this had to happen. It was the only way.”

  The back of my legs hit the chair as I stood in an instant, thankful they couldn’t see my shaking limbs below the table. “The only way for who?” I demanded.

  “For any of us,” she whispered.

  “Why?” I pushed. Her answers weren’t good enough. The pounding in my skull from dehydration and blood loss aiding the righteous anger.

  “Because you now possess the power you need to win this once and for all,” Sinumpa said. I opened my mouth when Moira spoke.

  “Blood magic,” she whispered. Her blue pentagram eyes turned up to me, swirling as the always did. “In killing you, Lilith used her magic on you.”

  I froze. My breath hitched in my chest as all of what they’d told me came together and I finally understood.

  Lilith was powerful enough that even the Sins couldn’t take her on. If I had her power and the Sins at my disposal…

  “That’s not all you have,” Sinumpa said suddenly. She motioned to my hand. No, she motioned to the…ring. My ‘get out of jail free card’ as Allistair called it. I don’t think he meant it this way. “I locked a tiny sliver of your magic inside of it. Everything that was your mother’s and father’s is there, when you’re ready to take it.”

  Take it. I played those words over in my mind.

  Lilith had taken everything from me. She’d taken everything from every person around her. My Horsemen. The Sins. My father. Her own children.

  She bit the Devil. It’s time she learned this Devil bites back.

  Chapter 19

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  I pulled my knees in close and tucked them under my chin. Bloods and scabs and dirt and leaves swirled around the cobbled shower floor. The rounded pebbles were uncomfortable against my skin as I leaned back into the wall behind me, vaguely listening to falling water. The cold droplets splattered against my body. Images of Laran’s severed neck flashed through my mind. I tilted my head forward onto my knees, trying to calm the storm inside.

  They were gone. Not dead, but gone.

  Stolen.

  Yes. That’s what they were. Stolen, along with my beast.

  I hadn’t even known that was possible until this night. Then again, I didn’t know what I really was either—or what I was really capable of. They said I still have magic, that my blood itself is magic, that Lilith will never be able to take my true power.

  I was thankful for it. Now more than ever. Losing everything had been a wake-up call. Never in my life had I been so cocky, so overconfident that I thought my powers would save me. I wanted to say that if I’d been smart enough this never would have come to pass, but I didn’t really believe that. The Sins had set me up, and at the end of the day I didn’t have a choice. They set the stage, and like the puppet I was—I danced.

  Last time I took my powers for granted. I took my safety for granted. I took it all, hoping like a child that it would all be alright.

  That hope almost broke me.

  My hand closed around the iron handle. It screeched in pro
test as I turned it. The water slowed.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  I wasn’t going to hide in here and hope. I wasn’t going to sit on the floor and cry or scream or pray. They all had the same result.

  Nothing. They would do nothing.

  They would save no one.

  I sucked in a breath as my arms fell to my sides. I pushed my splayed palms into the ground. I let my hands feel every uncomfortable inch of it as I pushed myself off the bathroom floor and rose on my own two legs. They weren’t shaking anymore.

  And if I had my way they would never shake again.

  I went to stand before the mirror.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Water splattered the floor behind me as my wet hair plastered itself to my face. I stood cold and naked in front of the mirror as I took in every scar she left, every brand she stole, every bare flawless inch…and I hated it.

  I hated the scars, not because they were ugly, but because it was every cut and stab of the knife that took my beast. Every bare inch of skin where the Horsemen’s brands should have been were an empty chasm in my heart as I realized that even with my magic, I could no longer feel them.

  They were gone.

  But not dead.

  I had to remind myself of that. That there was still a chance to save them. That I could still take back everything I’d lost and more, because if I didn’t remind myself, if I didn’t focus on that…I may have had the power of a primordial, but I still had the heart of a woman. A woman who was rapidly losing the battle inside herself. Before, the beast had threatened to burn the world. I was scared to admit that without her I very well might, and not a soul could stop me. I was terrified that the Sins could see the truth in my eyes, that I’d lost more than my mates tonight. Lilith had stolen the beast, half of my soul, and it was changing me. I wanted to save Hell…but if I lost them all, I may very well be what destroys it.