Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset

by Grace McGinty

  I uncloaked myself and so did Luc.

  “Luc? What’s going on?” Eli asked

  “Who’s the naked angel?” Ri joined in, though there wasn’t anything remotely lascivious about the question.

  “Arcadia?” Lux asked, but his face said he already knew.

  Luc looked at me and I shrugged. “They’ll take it better from you.”

  He shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to me. It had slots for my wings, and I put it on and zipped it up. It fell to my upper thighs, but covered all the important bits. It was still warm from Luc’s body, and smelled like him. God, I’d missed his scent.

  “You should explain, my love. You were there.”

  “My love? Ace?” Oz gaped at me, and I could feel Arcadia’s desire to reach out and stroke his cheek.

  “Yep, it’s me. Acerezeal. I got my body back, though it was touch and go there for a second. The Father sends his regards by the way,” I said to Luc.

  “Arcadia?” Lux prompted again.

  I grimaced. “It went badly. The babies are both fine, I imagine they’ll both be in neonatal about now, but there were complications for Arcadia. She… died.”

  Nothing could have prepared me for the look of utter devastation on their faces. Each one. It was like a sucker punch to the heart.

  “Azriel came, separated her soul from her body, and then Luc turned up and stopped Arcadia’s ascent. We decided it was best if we placed her soul into my body until you,” I looked at Eli, “can fix her body enough that she won’t die as soon as it’s returned.”

  Tolliver slumped down on the chair. “So she’s there, with you now? She’s the voice in your head?”

  I gave him a small smile. “The irony isn’t lost on me. But it’s okay, we are used to sharing now.”

  Arcadia was beginning to cry. I didn’t know a soul could cry. Wail yes, there were plenty of wailing souls in hell, but not cry.

  I’m just a passenger. I didn’t realize how frustrating this would be. I’m so sorry you had to do this for so many years, Ace. I miss them so much already. And my babies. I’ll never get to hold my babies.

  I firmed my jaw. You will. I will make sure of it. She deserved her happiness, and I was determined to help her get it. Now, suck it up. I don’t want to listen to you cry for a month.

  Arcadia let out a soft laugh. We needed to get used to this as the new normal, because shit was only going to get weirder.

  “How will this work?” Eli asked, sinking down into the chair beside Tolliver.

  “You work on getting her body better. I want her to be able to skip out of this hospital and never come back except to have Casanova’s pretty babies.” I poked a thumb towards Ri. “I’m going to find a way to get her soul from my body and back into her own without involving Azriel the Dickhole.”

  “Can’t he do it?” Lux asked, his voice a combination of pain and promised retribution that made my skin prickle. The dude was gonna spiral without Arcadia.

  “Luc can put a soul back into a body, otherwise deathbed deals with the Devil wouldn’t be a thing. But he can’t take one out. That is the strict purview of very few of our kind. Just the big three, and Azriel the Douche Canoe.”

  The big three?

  “The big three are Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, in case you are wondering.”

  Maybe we can try Michael? He showed an interest before.

  I looked at Luc. My sexy, short tempered lover. He was as beautiful as the day I first saw him, when his wings were still milky white and he hadn’t yet fallen. He liked to pretend he was okay with his new role, but deep down being cast out still hurt. Especially being cast out by Michael, who he’d considered a friend. I’d considered him a friend.

  Yeah, we’ll probably keep a visit to Michael as a last resort.

  Lux stood in front of me, towering over me even though I was back in my willowy 5’9 body and no longer in Arcadia’s vertically challenged one.

  Hey!

  “I’m going with you,” Lux said. It wasn’t a request, or even a demand. It was a statement of fact.

  “I’m sorry, but we are going places you cannot go. Well, places you would never return from,” Luc said with something that almost sounded like compassion. From the Devil. Today was a strange day all round.

  Lux let out a frustrated grunt between his teeth. “I need to do something.”

  I put my hands on his cheeks and did something I hadn’t done in centuries, since I fell. I sifted with another person.

  I sifted him to the fourth floor of the hospital, into the neonatal care unit. I checked him over to make sure all his molecules came with him. Arms, legs, only two eyes. Okay, we were good. Apparently moving people through time and space was just like riding a bike.

  In the nursery, in two humidicribs side by side, laid Arcadia’s babies. Tiny, pink and defenseless.

  “They need you. All of you.”

  Lux stared at the babies; Estrella was small but still bigger than Hope, who would have fit in one of Lux’s massive hands.

  “Do you know who’s they are yet?”

  I stared at him. “Does it matter?”

  He shook his head, sadness dragging down the lines of his handsome face and for a second, every one of the two thousand years he’d lived was etched on his face.

  “No. They are hers, and I will love and protect them with my life.”

  Arcadia was so quiet, but I could sense her awe of the babies. I wasn’t going to lie, they were the most perfect creations I had ever seen.

  I turned back to Lux to find him staring at me. Not at me, past me, as if he could see into my soul like an angel.

  “You will come back to me, Arcadia Jones.”

  Tell him I love him.

  “She says she loves you.” We turned back to the babies. “I’ll bring her back, I promise.”

  Committing their tiny faces to memory, I knew it was time to go. I walked to the window and slid it open, spreading my wings wide.

  “By the way, congratulate Oz on becoming a Papa for me, yeah?”

  With that, I fell into gravity’s calm embrace and for the first time in decades, I felt the wind beneath my wings.

  Now that song was going to be stuck in my head. Damn you, Barbara.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “I thought I’d find you here,” Luc’s rough voice washed over me like a balm. I fought the wussy voice in my head that screamed, “hug him now!”

  It must have been the other wussy voice in your head, because I didn’t say any such thing, Arcadia said primly.

  “I’ve always liked it up here. It has good harbor views. Plus, I’m a fan of extravagant gifts, you know that.”

  He sat beside me, atop the Statue of Liberty's crown, our feet dangling down.

  Luc grinned. “Yes, the view of New York Harbor is pretty good from the middle of the water.” He picked me up, and sat me across his lap, my wings spread out behind me. The hard knot that had sat in my gut for the last two decades, a twisted ball of anger and doubt and pain, finally relaxed as the heat of his body settled into mine. His scent wrapped around me and comforted my soul. I was back where I was supposed to be.

  I ignored Arcadia’s sniffling.

  “What am I supposed to do here, Luc? I need ideas, a plan, anything. Do I go beg Azriel to put her back? Do I trust him to do that?”

  Luc snorted. “I wouldn’t trust him to reanimate a cat.”

  He made a good point. Azriel was a good angel but a shitty person. He’d deliver Arcadia’s soul to the pearly gates himself if he got another opportunity.

  I stood and ruffled my wings. It was still weird being back in my body. “There’s only one thing to do.”

  “Have sex in Lady Liberty’s torch of freedom?” Luc winked and grinned. I’d forgotten his grin was my kryptonite.

  “Okay, two things.” He leaned in to kiss me, and I dived into the kiss like a starving woman, which I was. Sure, watching Arcadia have sex with her guys was fun and all, but it wasn’t the
same as feeling Luc’s mouth on mine.

  Hey, we had a deal! No watching! Both Luc and I chuckled. Never make a deal with a fallen angel.

  “I have no problem with you watching, Arcadia Jones.”

  Ugh, I’m fine thanks. We aren’t all giant perverts.

  He kissed me again, and then bit my lip hard. “Damn it, what was the second thing you had to do?” Luc hated not knowing things. It was his pet peeve.

  “Go home,” I said, a genuine smile splitting my face. How I’d missed the place.

  Luc stroked the hair from my face with such tenderness that I wondered what the humans would think if they could see him now.

  “Home it is, my love. Lady Liberty can wait.” He grabbed my hand, and together we sifted.

  Home. The landing room in Luc’s palace looked just the same.

  That is a lot of white marble. The awe in Arcadia’s voice made me smile. This isn’t how I imagined hell at all. I thought it would be more…

  Dark? Fiery? I suggested.

  Stinky. Where’s the sulphur smell? And is all that gilding real gold?

  I looked around and tried to see the room from Cady’s perspective. The milky white marble was struck through with only the palest grey marble, as close to the color of clouds as you could get. Every corner, every edge, and the entire domed ceiling was gilded. With real gold, so the whole room was lit with this luminance. It was as close as you could get to landing at the pearly gates, minus the choirs of heavenly song.

  “Where are my Princes of Hell?” Luc shouted, and I grinned. “Princes?” He shouted again, so it echoed through the room.

  The giant golden door opened, and a figure clad only in black camo pants walked out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Luc, dude, you know he hates it when you call us…” his words stuttered to a stop and his mouth swung open.

  “Acerezeal?” He rubbed his eyes, almost comically, and whispered, “Ace?”

  Holy shi… Cady whispered.

  “Gusion!” I smiled as I ran to my old friend, and he wrapped me in his arms.

  “Ace, it is really you. How? Luc said that all his Sins weren’t redeemed yet. He was worried that the Redeemer wasn’t going to make it.” He pushed me away a little and his eyes ran an inventory of my limbs. “You look great!” Then he pulled me back into his arms again. “We’ve missed you so much, it hasn’t been the same around here. Mostly because Luc has been a giant asshole for two whole decades.” He squinted a little, as if he was looking at the sun. “Uh, Ace, do you know you have two souls right now?”

  “I missed you too, Gus. It’s a long story. Let me introduce you to Cady. Cady, this is Gusion, Angel of the Past, Present and Future.”

  Former Angel. It is nice to finally make your acquaintance, Arcadia Jones, Lucifer’s Redeemer and Saviour of the Damned.

  Uh, just call me Cady. It’s nice to meet you too, Gus. You’re very… um…

  “She thinks you’re hot, Gus,” I finished for her. She wasn’t wrong. Of all the Fallen, of which there were only three, including me but not including Luc, Gus was the most ethereal. He had long, golden hair that hung down to the center of his back, and a body that was a beautiful pale gold, rippling with muscles like every teenage girl's wet dream.

  Gus looked down at his body, as if seeing it for the first time. “Hey, I guess I am.” He grinned at me, a naughty grin that reminded me why we had all fallen in the first place.

  “Where’s Memphis?” I asked.

  “I’m here, Acerezeal.”

  Memphis was inky darkness where Gusion was golden light, although Memphis’s hair hung down his back also in a long black braid. His dark ebony skin meant the deep blue of his eyes were startling in their shining brilliance. Gusion and Memphis’s visual differences only mirrored their personality differences.

  I went to Memphis, wrapping my arms around his body although it remained stiff under my hands. That was just Memphis’ way. He was stoic. He made Arcadia’s Lux look like a CareBear.

  “Let me introduce you to my, uh, passenger soul? Memphis, this is Arcadia.”

  Nice to meet you, Memphis.

  “No one calls me Memphis except Acerezeal. My name is Mephistopheles.”

  The Mephistopheles? I thought you were a figment of some old poet's imagination.

  “It suits me to be seen that way.” His face was as scary as he could possibly be while with such beautiful lines, but it was enough to strike fear into most mortals. But my Arcadia wasn’t a mere mortal

  Okay. What kind of nickname is Memphis for a fallen angel anyway?

  “A good one! Have you tried screaming out Mephistopheles during climax? I can tell you from experience that it seriously kills the mood. Now Memphis? The home of rock’n’roll? That’s enough to make you wet just thinking about it.”

  I could feel Arcadia mulling over what I said. I hope she didn’t short circuit something important.

  So you and Memphis-

  “Mephistopheles,” the angel in question growled.

  Sorry. You fallen angels are really touchy about your names. Anyway, so you and Mephistopheles, you know…

  “Fuck?”

  Uh yeah. And Luc is okay with that? she whispered, even though literally every person in this room could hear her no matter the volume of her mental projection.

  “I am fine with the arrangement, Arcadia. Acerezeal’s heart belongs to me, this I know for sure. But this is also Hell. We didn’t all fall to spend eternity alone and as chaste as monks. We have already been judged and been found wanting. May as well make our banishment fun.”

  “Me too,” Gusion added, grinning, his perfect straight teeth as blinding as the gilded marble floors.

  Uh huh, Gus too? You never get to call me a hussy ever again, down here with your own little fallen angel harem, Cady crowed and I laughed.

  “We should move from the landing room,” Memphis grunted, and moved toward the double doors. We all followed behind.

  Do all souls land here? Cady asked, though I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or the rest of the room. It was Gus that answered.

  “Yes. Everyone who passes into Hell, or the underworld, must do so through this room. One way in, one way out, even for angel kind.”

  So people who say they saw a white light at the end of the tunnel, it doesn’t mean they are going up top?

  “Unlikely,” Luc said, holding the door open for me. I ran a finger down his abs. He still hadn’t replaced his shirt, but no one was going to hear any objection from me. He looked incredibly sexy with his V leading down into tight leather pants.

  A wave of sadness hit me, and I knew it wasn’t my own. I sent a silent apology to my vagina and straightened my shoulders.

  “Let’s go to the billiards room. We need a plan. I need Arcadia to go back in her own body so I can have sex without her virginal judgement killing my orgasms.”

  I love you too, Ace.

  We walked through Luc’s palace, as huge and ostentatious as he could make it. The floor was gradually darkening marble, so by the time you've reached the large double doors that opened up to the courtyard, the floor was a pitch black onyx. That’s when you realized you weren’t in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

  Chandeliers hung from every ceiling, all the furnishings the finest money could buy. Not that money purchased any of this stuff. A lot of fine craftsman ended up in the pits of hell, and were more than willing to bargain for their skills for a moment's reprieve. You think they would have learned about making deals with the Devil, but some people just didn’t learn.

  The Billiards Room was the kind of room you’d find in a hunting lodge built by an eccentric, rich weirdo. Chesterfield lounges sat below huge canvases of unicorns mating. A teak bar sat in front of a bar shelf, packed with bottles of every shape and color. There was only one shelf because every liquor we owned was top shelf. Sitting on the bar was a six inch hula girl bobble head and the disembodied spirit of a bartender given semi-corporeality.

  “‘Sup Frank?” I said.
He was only semi cognizant, kind of like a walking, talking Nespresso machine. He could fulfill your drink order, but couldn’t give you life advice.

  “Miss Acerezeal. The usual?”

  “Thanks, Frank. Two umbrellas.”

  I sat down on the chesterfield, and relaxed back against the soft leather. It was nice to relax.

  “I need to know if there is another way to get a soul back into a body without asking any of the big guys, or Azriel.”

  I looked Memphis, his high cheekbones pressing against his ebony skin. He was a scholar by nature, if anyone would know, it would be him.

  “There is no other way, without the intervention of the Father himself,” Memphis said, his deep voice lacking inflection but I knew him well enough that I could tell he regretted his answer.

  I wasn’t so easily deterred. They should know that by now.

  “I don’t accept that.” I jutted out my chin and stared into his beautiful midnight blue eyes defiantly. Luc sat beside me, his hand wrapped around my thigh. “We will find a way, my love, but first you need to rest, adjust to your body again. Celebrate a little. Arcadia would not begrudge you a moment of happiness. She is not that kind of person.”

  My jaw flexed. He was right, she wouldn’t. She was kind, and thoughtful, and had thought of my happiness at all times, even to the detriment of her own. I could do the same for her.

  Arcadia let out an unflattering splutter. Don’t be an idiot. My problem isn’t going to be an easy fix. It will all still be here tomorrow. Enjoy your redemption. Drink your cocktail, kiss your pretty boys-

  “Men. Pretty men,” Gus interjected.

  Arcadia sighed. There’s no such thing as a private conversation with angels about, is there? As I was saying, kiss your pretty men. Feel joy. I owe you everything. You deserve this moment of happiness.

  Mephistopheles huffed out a laugh. “You are going to regret your generosity later.”

  I reached over and punched him in the arm. “Gus is the fortune teller, asshole.”

  Despite myself, I could feel my face curve into a smile and happiness swell in my chest. Home. No one could have predicted that I would be just as happy in the bowels of hell with three fallen angels as I ever was in heaven among the heavenly choir and the pompous attitude of my fellow angels.