Polly grinned as she thought of the torments she would visit on the little weasel. Her boiling anger slowly merged with her desire to really bring down the pain, and her grin broadened as her imagination swept her up in the idea.
She'd get him to talk, no doubt about that. Polly knew there was more to his stealing the virus than just a simple way to make cash. Djinn were lousy in that they'd sell anything—not to mention they were sneaky little bastards who would steal from their own grandmothers if given the chance—but they never did anything without finding the highest payout first. Selling a virus on the black market might pay, but not as much as selling the same virus on the legit market.
The plagues concocted in Hell were done so to cause as much suffering to the victims as possible. Their being was strictly to cause misery and despair upon those evil enough to end up in Hades. Hell wasn't just full of bad guys though; there were some heroes in the mix. Apollyon was proud to be a demon.
She stood as a guardian between the worst souls that ever existed and mortal realms like earth; at least that was how she saw her job. Far too often, others believed the bullshit the heavenly side spewed about demons and figured she was just pure evil.
Not that she didn't have a dark side. Torture had been the name of Polly's game for centuries, until she grew bored of it. She had applied every evil possible to the worst offenders Hell had available. They mostly straightened up and became better souls after one session with her. Sometimes there were two sessions, and one time, she even had to do a third. That djinn didn't actually make it.
Polly had no clue why their kind was always stirring up so much trouble. They were earth magic users and, as such, were inferior to celestial beings like angels and demons. They held no real power and weren't much further above humans on the food chain. They were little more than magical insects, really.
Torturing Demas would be fun. She'd never liked the little beastie, anyway. His betrayal of Lucy, as Lucifer preferred to be called, along with threatening mankind by stealing a virus from Hell's own stock, was very bad manners. Polly had no mercy on anyone whose manners were that atrocious.
Pulling her aching hand back through the hole she'd made in the wall, Polly continued using the hellfire to heal the knuckles and the torn skin around them. She felt a tad disappointed in herself. Lucy always scolded her about being too ready to fight first, and she had pretty much showed her friend to be right. She knew it had a lot to do with the burning anger growing steadily inside of her and the fact that she was forced to live with that rage daily.
Her hatred of humans, coupled with an underlying need to protect and help the hairless little monkeys, caused her to go to war with herself every stinking morning. As part of the gods' "plan," Apollyon, along with all angels and demons, had been borne unto the world with a desire to assist the other creatures that had been created.
When God took over from those He'd dethroned, He made humans a priority. This had really angered many of the angels, and several stood up and said something. For that, they were cast into their own little realm and made it so they would never be able to set foot in Heaven again.
Polly still agreed with Lucy that mankind was more deadly to itself—and other creatures—than anything and should be removed from the equation. Humans, like djinn, were accidental and should have been scrapped. The demons felt that souls from the other creatures the gods had created could feed Heaven and Hell just as easily and without all the trouble brought about by mankind. In time, the demons became used to dealing with this rift between an innate sense to help the humans and a burning hatred and desire for their demise. It wasn't so much that humans were evil, just that they were so fucking vain they didn't even notice other species existed.
Chapter 6
As she walked toward Lucy’s office, she half expected a major bitch of a fight. Polly was supposed to have Demas in her hands right this very second. The little rat had escaped and stymied her plans, and it was annoying the hell out of her. She was sure Lucy would rage at her about this latest debacle for the simple reason that, if the humans came into contact with that virus, it would look bad for everyone in Hell. She didn't think Lucifer could take another black mark on her record.
Since she took over Hell from her predecessor, Hades, Lucy had made a real difference in the earthly realm. Evil souls were caught earlier, which fed Hell (and, in turn, Lucifer) with power. The less time they spent in the mortal world, the better it was for the humans. The good souls went to Heaven and would be surprised to find Heaven was really nothing that great. Just a bunch of feathered dunces sitting around talking about how wonderful God was.
Sycophants. That's all those goody-two-shoed, white-hat-wearing, Kool-Aid drinking, insufferable bastards are.
Lucifer had suffered her first real black mark as Queen of Hell when the djinn originally broke free from the cage that the stupid bloody angels were supposed to be guarding. That was an example of just one tiny thing the angels had screwed up and blamed on demons. Sure, it had been a gremlin's fault, but they'd made it sound like a jailbreak, and not the accident it was.
It isn't fair that the angels are treated properly and worshipped as God's creatures while the world thinks of us as scum, Polly raged internally.
She was getting tired of the world seeing the angels as the good guys.
She hissed and thought, Since the fall, not one angel has ever put their chubby pampered ass on the line when it counted. Nope, that was what we demons are for. We take care of all the evil and bear the brunt of all the fallout from shit that goes wrong upstairs, yet we are the supposed evil ones.
Before she could finish arguing with herself, she reached Lucifer's chambers. Polly took a deep, centering breath and counted to three before knocking on the door and unveiling one helluva bad surprise to her boss and dear friend.
She had been on Lucy's side from the beginning. Polly had been the one to help her take over Hell from Hades. The old man had been easy to subdue. Polly had never been one who wanted to lead the whole shebang, but she found the role of second to her liking.
It gave her the freedom to do whatever she needed to, and yet it still allowed her a taste of the power she occasionally enjoyed. Her favorite thing to do with that power was to hunt down escapees. She preferred the nasty ones; they were usually the type she got her best workouts from.
Lucy hollered her customary, "It's open, for Christ's sake."
Polly took one more deep breath before entering the office to get her ass handed to her.
"Hi. Look, before you get too angry—"
"Where the fuck is Demas, Polly?"
"He's taking refuge in a human church."
"Church? Demas? What the fuck is he up to?" Lucy's eyes narrowed, and she looked ready to kill. Demas was damn lucky Polly hadn't brought him home tonight. Lucy would have had him tortured for hours before she even asked him a single question. She hated it when Lucifer fell into these moods. She felt that torturing before questioning only ever resulted in the torturee admitting to all sorts of things they hadn't done just to make the pain end.
"I don't know. I didn't see the virus, but he has something going with this cult ... er, church."
"Bring him to me, and soon, Polly. I need him back here to answer some questions. That matter we spoke about earlier?"
"The souls?"
"Yes. There are thousands missing." Lucy was pacing, her stride nervous and twitchy. It didn't happen often, but when Lucy was twitchy that meant someone was in for a hurting.
"Thousands? Holy shit." It was worse than Polly feared.
"It surprised me as well. I'd really like to know who would dare to be stupid enough to steal souls from me. I have a feeling our escaped djinn can enlighten us. So, go and bring me Demas. I'd bet his life that he has the answers I need." Lucy completely dismissed Polly and turned her back on her second in command. She sat in front of an equation that would have made a college math major weep in frustration.
In seconds, Lucy had the
answer and it wasn't one she liked as she muttered "Fuck" under her breath, conjured a fireball, and threw it at the whiteboard. The hellfire crawled up and down the board before dying out, leaving scorch marks on the edges. Polly decided to leave her to it; once Lucy started going over the numbers on something, there was no getting her back. She would lose herself in the figures until a firm answer could be gained.
Polly said a quick, "Yes, Mistress," and walked out of Lucy's chambers. She decided that getting in touch with the shifter for more than just a few words here and there in a damn dorm room would have to be arranged sooner than she'd thought. After what happened this afternoon, she was absolutely sure the cult would be on the lookout for demons.
It seemed going there in person was currently off the table, but there was one thing she could do that would allow her and the shifter to talk. It wasn't an easy task, and she'd have to make sure the shifter was fast asleep for it to work. Polly would have to move quite quickly on her end because the possibility of being trapped in a dream world was no laughing matter.
Creating one of those worlds in order to speak to other souls was child's play, at least it was for Knights of Hell and the archangels. She had been created as an archangel with the ability to move and fold time and space in whatever direction she wished while in the earthly realm. That didn't just go away when she stopped being an angel and fell.
The punishment God imposed on those who rebelled did not faze Polly in the least, mainly because she never wanted to set foot in Heaven again, anyway. Once she claimed Hell, Lucy stripped the power from all but those she trusted. To ensure that none would rise up against her, it became a power afforded only to Hell's Knights. That power had its limits, of course, but Polly would never complain about them.
Everyone believed that angels fell the moment they doubted God. The truth was He'd forced them out. He didn't like anyone to question Him and those who did were sent a one way ticket to the pit. Polly didn't mind Hell because she felt freer and more useful there than she ever had in Heaven. Luckily, the power and wisdom she enjoyed as an angel were still hers to use in the mortal realm, but she had to be careful and follow the natural rules or she'd be in deep shit.
Lucy and/or God would take her powers for disobeying them.
Celestial magic had never been meant for use in the earthly realm. Earth magic, like the kind the djinn used, was considered low magic and was barely usable to an angel. It was akin to throwing small pebbles when faced down with a tank. Very few creatures used earth magic and fewer still were to use celestial magic and survive.
Chapter 7
Celestial magic was strong and left an indelible mark in the atmosphere where it was used. Polly decided to throw together a simple spell that would cloud the essence of her magic so that nobody but Lucifer, Michael, or God could discover what she had done.
The First Knight knew the best way to use her magic without being caught and decided it was time to use it. She began the spell, certain she would be able to talk to the shifter without being seen or overheard.
The only hitch in her plan was that she had to make sure the girl was sleeping when Polly slipped into her dreams. Otherwise, she could find herself in someone else's dream, which would be disastrous, or she would be left in her creation losing time, which could leave her drained and unable to complete the meeting.
She thought for a moment about what it would be like for her to be stuck in the dream world until someone freed her. It was too embarrassing a thought for her to contemplate further, and she pushed it away while she continued working the spell.
To make sure the shifter was in the dream world, Apollyon sent a raven to watch her. The bird would signal her once the girl was in the right realm. As she waited for the raven to report back, she also wondered about Demas and included getting his whereabouts on the bird's to-do list.
Polly just hoped the raven didn't find Demas before she went dream walking. It was never an easy thing to do and manipulating someone else's dreams took a lot of power and energy out of her. A battle with a djinn would make a good meeting impossible, and she had some questions for the shifter that needed answers.
Until her winged scout called to let her know the shifter was asleep (and hopefully also give her Demas' whereabouts), Polly had nothing more to do. She decided to take the time to meditate and conserve power as much as possible. Too much power, and she'd attract the things that stayed in the shadows within the dream realm. Too little, and she'd attract them by broadcasting as prey.
The shadow creatures were simply vague spirits who were occasionally mischievous. They were the people that never were and things that should never be. Sometimes they hung on and caught rides into the earthly realm with demons or angels. Humans and animals were protected from these creatures, in the sense that they were only able to manifest as nightmares to mortals.
Most of the time, when death occurred, the energy that was the soul went back into a queue of sorts, and there they swam the metaphysical currents until their time to be born/reborn, or become something more, arose. Sometimes untapped energy leaked out, attracted to the great magics in the world, the way a moth is to firelight, and it was that energy Polly absorbed while she meditated.
She sat on the floor of her chambers in Hell and worked at stretching and plying her magic. She had no doubt she could cast the dream spell on the girl. It wouldn't be hard in the least, especially since she'd had a good whiff of the girl's soul earlier. It would actually make tracking it in the dream realm easy as pie.
Very few demons, or archangels for that matter, could track the way Apollyon could. She was gifted at it, always had been; tracking ran in her blood. The worries she had were simple. She was afraid someone else could hop on the dream trek and also terrified of getting stuck in the world she created.
Polly went through a ritual that would keep the openings to the dream small enough to keep out intruders while still allowing her to focus her power like a scalpel. With pinpoint accuracy, she would be able to find and track down the shifter the second the raven let her know the girl had fallen asleep. Polly hoped it would be soon. She amused herself making an entire dreamscape that was fun and frivolous, complete with a forest and picnic.
The spells she cast were practiced by young demons trying to get the hang of their power. It amused her to be using an enchantment wrought by young ones trying to find control. She had actually never expected to use the spell again in her lifetime. She had enough control to make a single snowflake stop in time. Unfortunately, when in a blizzard, controlling only one snowflake was mostly useless. It was, however, a good way to learn how to control the power that came with being a demon. That power was also good to use when creating a beautiful trap.
Once the shifter was locked into the dream realm, Polly could control their environment so that nothing that may have tagged along could see them or overhear anything that was said. Someone following the girl was what she was mostly looking for. After crafting the forest, Polly sat her dream-self down under a large tree and waited for the Corvus corax to give her the sign that the shifter was asleep.
It wasn't very long before she heard the raven's call, and Polly refocused her energy on drawing the shifter deep into the woods. She set a thin line of intrigue and curiosity to the path she had created through the trees so that the shifter would want to follow it. As she finalized all the bizarre trappings of the dream she created, Polly waited in a shadow at the edge of the scene. When she was through, she refocused on pulling in energy and waited for the shifter to appear.
Chapter 8
Lenny lay awake in her bed at The Children of Light compound. There was a guard walking the halls just in case that demon thing came back. She felt safe there in her own room, but she had so many questions eating away at her. Where had all these monsters come from, and what did they want?
Despite the day's excitement, Lenny suddenly felt tired. Her eyes felt heavy and grainy as they finally closed for the night.
Within
minutes, Lenny was deep in sleep and dreams overtook her.
She walked down a dark path in the middle of a forest she had never seen. The trees on each side of the path were void of leaves, and the outlines of their branches looked like scrawny arms reaching out to grab hold of her at any second. She felt the chilly breeze that whistled through the holes in their trunks cutting all the way to her bones. Her body shivered, partially from the cold but also from the ominous feeling that gripped her insides.
The path wound around a bend, and she expected to see some sort of monster waiting to pounce on her just around the corner. Instead, she saw a small table sitting in the middle of a circle of sunlight. Lenny walked up to the inviting table and surveyed the setting. There was a small, delicate tea service in the center of the table. Two place settings were set with small plates, forks, and teacups sitting on small saucers. On each of the plates, a large slice of cake sat waiting to be eaten. The bright pink frosting looked delicious surrounding the moist white cake. Adorning each slice, a delicate frosting rose rested in a lighter shade of pink. Lenny sat in the dining chair and waited for what was going to happen next.
She didn't have long to wait. Out of the shadows, the beautiful demon from earlier that day stepped out and silently took the seat opposite her. Lenny readied herself to run at a moment's notice, but a large part of her wanted answers to her pre-dream questions.
She found a small spark of bravery and spoke to the demon. "What do you want from me?"
The demon smiled, and Lenny could not help but be comforted by the woman's beauty and strong presence.
Cast In Blood: Revelations Series Book 1: Page 3