by Liddie Cain
He stood and pulled me to my feet. I swayed against him, my head swimming from the change in position. “Need a minute?” he asked.
“We don’t have a minute, get me out there,” I replied with a breathy voice.
He scooped me up into his arms without hesitation and moved so fast that the world blurred around me. The sounds of fighting surrounded us. Devina had called in her army and personal guard as the angels continued to pour out of the sky. The garden wasn’t large enough to hold them all, and fighting had spilled out beyond the walls of the palace as well as up into the air above. Imps laid attack from the air, from the backs of their reftwing dragons. We sped through it all, untouched since Devina’s army was looking for angels to attack.
Jason was laying motionless on the ground. I knew he was still alive because his body was still intact. If he were dead, he would have been dissolving into a pile of ash. Devina must have drained him of energy and left him there. Felix was awake, but struggling. Wounds covered his mortal body. A large cut in his scalp had poured blood down his face and down the front of his shirt. Conall had surrounded him by those gruesome shadow spirits of the Sluagh, but he was having to defend himself as Devina directed attacks his way. He would only be able to hold that line of protection for Felix there for a few more moments before he would need to call them back to save himself.
The demon army stood at the edge of the circle of shadow beasts, but were afraid to touch them. The Sluagh could steal your sanity, make you one of them, or steal your soul with just a touch. We had all heard the legends, whether you were a part of Heaven or Hell. But their Huntsman loved me. When Mac sat me down, I walked to Felix without hesitation. I was their king’s consort. Felix sat on the ground, his eyes on the ground and his face lost. Tears slipped down his cheeks, streaking through the blood that stained his skin. Conall had managed to get him to pause, but I knew when I looked at his face that he would not have been stopped. Felix would have continued to fight until she killed him, if I were gone.
“Felix,” I said as I strode forward, passing into the shadowy cloud of the Sluagh. It was hot against my skin. There were brushes of fur and claw. It was impossible to look down and find an intact form. They were just a swirl of figures in smoke. A human face blinked up at me, making me pause, but a large tail swiped across it and the face melted away back into the swirling mass of bodies. When I looked back up, Felix was looking at me with grieving eyes.
“I’ll come with you,” he said softly, and I realized that he thought he was only seeing my spirit as I stepped through the line of the Sluagh. I shook my head at him.
“I’m here with you Felix.” I stepped out of that shadowy cloud, kneeling in front of him and taking his hands in mine. He jumped when my skin touched his, his eyes widening.
“Roz?”
I nodded.
“You’re alive.”
“Can’t hold them anymore!” Conall shouted. I looked up at him, found that spring green gaze looking at me with joy for a brief moment before he was forced to turn to meet a demon who rushed him. The Sluagh around us lifted, floating up and over our heads and rushing to Conall’s side. Felix’s hand came up to the back of my neck and jerked me toward him. I melted into the kiss he gave me, not caring that his face was covered in blood and bone dust.
When our lips parted, I had to take a breath before asking, “Where is Darby?”
“With Drest and Aurnia. Conall got her there first before he came to my rescue. I knocked Devina down so Darby would have a chance to get away. I knew she would kill her next.”
“She doesn’t want to kill you, does she?”
He shook his head. “No. We’ve spent centuries on the same team. She liked me.” His hand gripped tighter on the back of my neck again. “I watched you die,” he whispered.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. But I’m here now.”
“Yes, you are.” Devina’s voice made me whirl around. Felix must have been more hurt than he was revealing because struggled to stand back up, but couldn’t get his feet to stay under him.
“Didn’t I already kill you?” she asked with an irritated voice.
“Not well, apparently.” I responded with a shrug.
She sneered as power whipped out across the air between us. It wrapped around my body and squeezed as she walked toward me, reaching out to perform the death touch again. I screamed in anger and shoved my power back into hers. The halo flared to life above me, that glittering light startling her and bringing her to a stop. Demons began to swarm around us, their human facades long forgotten. They were creatures of fire and stone, mindless of anything but Devina’s order to fight her war. The first one drew closer. I turned my gaze upon him and whispered, “Die.” A beam of light from the halo landed on the demon’s face. He screamed as his body was covered by that glittering light. It spread from his face, his head, his neck, and continued down until his whole body was encased in that beautiful tomb. The light pulsed once, then again, and the screaming stopped. His body disintegrated to the ground, returning to ash.
Devina took a step back, her black eyes surprised. “You’re supposed to be mortal.”
Michael sounded the trumpets again above us, refocusing his charge to head for Devina’s location. She suddenly found herself without an easy hostage. With her own scream of anger, she called on a wave of demons to swarm us. I braced my back against Felix. Eziel’s power touched me and time slowed around me just enough for me to wield my halo at each demon as they ran toward us. I focused on them individually, seeing their bodies glow and die. The halo followed without hesitation. But they kept coming.
Time suddenly resumed at normal speed as fire licked up from the ground in front of me. Azrael stepped out of those flames. He looked back over his shoulder at me, flipped his sword up into the air and caught the grip with both hands, then smiled as he slashed downward and removed the closest demon’s head from their body. He was a blur of war, blade and flame that shot from his own halo. We cut through the demon horde together. My halo made up for the lack of a sword. Its attacks were quicker and brought destruction more quickly than the wall of flame that flared from him. Anger corrupted Devina’s face to slip away from the fragile human beauty she usually maintained. She increased the number of demons that moved to attack us, knowing the angel army would reach her at any moment.
“Enough,” came Lucifer’s whisper. Every member of her army froze in time in place. The ones that were airborne fell to the ground like lumps. Light drained away from the sky as the ground trembled and finally split in front of us. A firestorm erupted out of that crevice. Lucifer stepped out of that wall of flame and looked to the sky. Devina immediately bowed all the way to the ground, groveling. Michael stopped midair, his angel army stopping with him. They stared intensely at each other, waiting to see what move the other would take. Lucifer finally tipped his head toward him. “Still enjoying my old job, Michael?”
Michael spread his wings out wide, letting himself slowly descend to the earth. “Why do you interfere?” he asked.
“Well it is a family matter, after all, Michael,” Lucifer responded haughtily. I saw Devina’s body stiffen. He was right. She hadn’t thought about it. Lucifer walked closer to her until he was standing right where her fingertips lay on the ground, her face hovering above the ground as she continued to grovel.
“Devina, a demon I have blessed with the throne of the Demon Overloard of Earth, just killed my niece.”
He leaned down closer to where she had begun to tremble and said in a taunting whisper, “And I’m not pleased.”
Hanna, Eziel and Ariel all rushed up to me and Azrael. They embraced us quietly as Lucifer frowned down at Devina. Then Eziel and Ariel turned to help support Felix. I took the hands of both of my angelic parents and turned to look back at where Lucifer stood. He looked at Azrael and gave a meaningful nod in my direction. Azrael tightened his hand on mine, tugging my arm to get me to look up at him.
“You can have her throne.”
“You can reside where ever you like. The council will come to you,” Lucifer said.
“My King, I beg you, do not do this,” Devina gasped out.
“Devina, if I hear you speak again I will make you eat your own entrails off of the ground at my feet.”
Her forehead dropped to touch the ground.
I looked at Lucifer again. “I want to focus on the people I love. If taking the throne is the only way to do that, then I will. But I would rather it go to someone like Felix.”
Lucifer looked thoughtful as he walked to where Felix stood. He glanced back at Azrael. “He technically is bound to Hell.”
“True.”
Felix managed to look at Lucifer in the eye. Lucifer sighed. “Well you’re never going to make it in this shape.” He pressed his fingertip into Felix’s forehead. Felix gasped. I felt the mark flare back to life. It made my knees weak as that power flooded over me. Azrael caught me easily. Felix’s large black wings spread out on either side of him, animated again as the power of immortality flowed back through his body. The wounds on his body closed, and he stood straight and tall before the Devil.
“I don’t need to ask if you can handle the job, Felix. I know you can already. I only need to ask if you want the job.”
“Yes,” Felix answered quickly. “But I want to form my own council.”
“Granted. If you want the job, you know how to take the throne.”
Felix nodded solemnly and walked over to where Devina was scrambling to her feet. I looked at Mac, pushing at his mind to let him know that I wanted him to hear my thoughts.
“I’ll not go without a fight, Thrasher,” Devina said with resignation.
“So be it,” Felix replied. Then the fight was on. They struck at the same time, power colliding and sending them both sprawling backwards. Devina sat up and attacked again, leaving Felix convulsing on the ground as her power snaked over him in a wash of flame and electric bolts.
“Feed from me,” I told Mac. He was at my side in a blink. Conall and Aurnia both rushed to my side. “We will share power with you,” Aurnia said.
“Yes,” I responded, unsure of what it would cost my mortal flesh but knowing that Felix needed every drop of power he could take. They put their hands on me as Mac stood in front of me, waiting. I heard Felix groan in pain before my senses were taken away from me by the enormous tidal wave of power that flowed into my body.
Aurnia was warmth and love. Once a goddess of romantic devotion, her power was peaceful and sweet. It was sentimental, the love you felt when you held someone close, that moment of release in sex that happened with someone you adore. It was things that Devina would never understand or hope to have any defenses against. Behind it washed over the large, wild and heady sense of Conall. He was bloodlust and brotherhood. He was the rush of victory and the celebration after. The Huntsman gave me his unyielding force of self.
Mac’s fangs bit into my neck and made me shudder. Conall and Aurnia both cried out with sounds of pleasure as Mac’s magic swept from me and across to them. Lucifer reached down and took Jason’s hand, bringing him back to life and helping him stand as Mac drank from me. Love shone in Jason’s gaze as the two of eyes looked at each other. When Mac’s mouth ripped away from my neck, my blood staining his crisp white fangs, I cried out and let all that left over power burst out of me. The halo hummed brightly, spreading that dazzling glow across everyone around me. Angels trembled, Aurnia purred. Jason pulled me into his embrace as I felt Mac shove all that power back into the mark between us and Felix.
I sagged into Jason’s arms, turning my head to find Felix. He levitated from the ground and threw his head back as all those powers flowed from me and into him. I shoved all that was left over into that connection along with Mac. Felix streaked across the air. He collided with Devina and his fist pierced into her body. A thick wet noise filled the space as Devina stopped to stare at him with wide, haunted eyes. Felix lifted her, her ribcage cradling his arm.
“You took my love, my family and Heaven from me,” he screamed in her face. “Die. Bitch.”
With a huge sweep of his arm, he slung her away from him. Her heart, one lung, and other trailing meaty things remained in his closed fist as her body rolled across the ground. He hurled them all down onto the ground and ran his sword through that quivering heart. Devina’s back bowed. Her body convulsed as fire rose from the ground to surround her. Lucifer stepped over as her body began to break apart. He opened his mouth and inhaled deeply. The ghost of her soul rose from her body. It lifted into the air in a delicate sway, gently dancing up to the lush lips of the Devil. Her body dissolved to smoldering dust. Lucifer drank her soul. He swallowed it down, his eyes bleeding to glowing red embers. His wings flapped together, lifting his feet from the ground as he hovered above her and sucked in every last trace of that ghostly essence of her soul.
Power trembled up from the ground and into him. He turned to Felix as the dust of Devina seeped back into the ground. Hands extended, the air quivered at his fingertips, then moved like a giant shock wave. It hit Felix, lifting his body and making his skin break into white hot flame. The black feathers of his wings shimmered with a red inner glow. I felt that power reverberate through the connection between us and gasped out loud. My teeth clenched as my body trembled. Felix roared in the air before his feet touched the ground again. The silver crown that had once graced Devina’s black hair came to life again on Felix’s brow. It grew larger.
The two of them stood there, dripping with more power than I had ever felt. Felix was so much more than he had ever been. So much more than Devina could have dreamed of being. It was a deafening strength to his aura that made my bones hurt. The demon army around us came back to life to witness the crowning of their new overlord and fell to their knees, bowing deeply. Lucifer’s human face slowly returned. That gentle smile touched his lips. “Looks like I’m sharing a throne now,” he said, looking back to Eziel and Ariel. “He is the Demon King.”
“He’s magnificent,” Darby whispered.
I agreed. And that powerful force of nature was mine.
“We won,” I whispered, turning to Darby. “It’s over.”
Joy swept across her tear-stained face. She launched herself against me, making me stumble enough that we both went to the ground, but there was no way I was going to let go of her then. I held my everlasting friend tightly against me, both of us crying and giggling. Mac knelt down with us, finding my lips and kissing me happily. Jason leaned down to kiss me next. When he pulled away, I found myself looking straight at Aurnia, cupping Darby’s face in her hands as they kissed, and kept on kissing. Drest held down a hand and pulled me to my feet, coming in for his kiss next. I laughed as Conall wedged himself in playfully and captured my lips next, though he kept an arm around Drest’s shoulders so that I could go back and forth between the two of them.
“Roz,” Felix’s voice made my heart race. He stood beside Lucifer, his need raw on his face. He needed to be shown that I accepted him like this. How could he question how beautiful he was in that moment? I let my eyes and my smile tell him all he needed to know as I ran the short distance between us. I leaped, letting him catch me easily. Then I brought my mouth to his and showed him with lips and tongue that he had never been more enticing to me than he was in that moment. His wings wrapped around me just as tightly as his arms did as he kissed me back hungrily. I broke my mouth away and gasped in a breath.
“My King, if you keep on kissing me like that we are going to put on a different kind of show for all the angels watching us.”
He chuckled, setting me back down on my feet. His parents walked over and hugged both of us, and I watched as my angel father went to speak to my Devil uncle. They both walked over to Michael.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue, Michael,” Azrael said.
“You are one of the most honored among us, Azrael.”
“Yo
u have my thanks as well, not that you want it. But perhaps its time to take the angel army back above?”
Michael gave Lucifer a flat glare, making the bad blood between them obvious. Lucifer leaned in. “I know you were hoping to get a second shot at me if I was indeed holding my own brother prisoner. Even the Devil isn’t that cold blooded.”
Michael shoved him back, away from him. “Go back to your pit of despair, Satan.”
“Get out of my Hell, Michael.”
“Gladly.”
The wind rushed across the ground as he and the surrounding angels lifted themselves back into the air. Michael made eye contact with Azrael and gave a respectful nod, then turned to above and ascended to the Heavens again. We all stood and watched them disappear, thousands of angels that had came to right this wrong which had been committed so long ago. Lucifer moved to stand in front of me and Felix.
“I trust I leave my archdemons in good hands with you, Felix. Niece, keep him in line.”
He lifted my hand into his, leaning down and kissing the back of my knuckles. Then he shook Felix’s hand. Azrael came to stand beside me and Lucifer turned to shake his hand next.
“Brother, I will call on you again soon for the bargain you made with me.”
“What?” I asked sharply at the same moment Hanna did.
Lucifer gave a charismatic grin to the both of us. Azrael shook his head. “I made no bargain.”
Hanna scoffed, stepping closer against Azrael. I found myself laughing with Lucifer. He winked at me. “You take after my side, just so you’re aware.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said.
“It was sincerely meant as such.” He stepped away from everyone. “As Michael said, it is time for me to return to my pit of despair. Felix, we will be talking soon. I leave you in control of this realm and the human world.”
“Yes, my lord.”
With one last gentle smile that was far more angelic than it was devilish, the ground opened and fire consumed the Devil again. He was gone.