by Eric Vall
On the other hand, look at my reaction to this place. Just being there for a few minutes had completely fucked with my psyche and made me paranoid, and I really didn’t want to expose all of my friends to that. Then there were the Shadow People. It wasn’t exactly a danger free zone.
Then again, neither was leading an entire army through the Circles of Hell. Abaddon and I had agreed to a ceasefire in the Seventh Circle, but I didn’t trust that fucker as far as I could throw him. He was a loose cannon, and I feared he could turn on me at any second.
There was also the Eighth Circle. Beelzebub’s territory that I knew nothing about beyond what I’d read in The Divine Comedy.
Both of those endeavors were risky, but it was obvious which one yielded a higher reward.
So, I stood up, walked over to my armor, and began to put it back on, piece by piece.
“Where are you going?” Tris asked with a pout. “I totally thought we were gonna stay here and party some more?”
“We need to go talk to the others,” I explained, “to see if they’re up for a little special ops mission to the Shadow World.”
Chapter 4
When we finally arrived back at the coliseum, all of my teammates were huddled around Cupiditas, who just stood there and continuously shook her head back and forth stubbornly.
“I won’t do it,” she declared, “not again. I swore I would never go back to the place, and I’ve kept that promise to myself for the last sixty-thousand years.”
“We will all be here for you this time, Cupiditas,” Superbia prompted. “The last time you attempted to use your magic, you were all alone. Surely, that only added to your fear and, in turn, made your fear-driven magic all the more uncontrollable.”
“I just … I don’t think I can do it,” Cupi sighed as Tris, Ariel, and I approached the group. “What if I end up trapped in purgatory for weeks again?”
“My dear,” Lilith explained as she stepped forward and put her arm on the blonde’s shoulder, “purgatory doesn’t exist. It’s just a place the humans made up in order to fit their need for a religious narrative, or, more particularly, their need for money. I figured you of all people would know that, considering you’re the Sister of Greed.”
Cupi looked into Lilith’s eyes defiantly.
“I went somewhere,” she shot back, “somewhere that wasn’t Heaven or Hell or even the Shadow World. A place where there was … nothing. Just darkness and loneliness, with not a single other soul in existence.”
“But you were physically there?” Lilith questioned. “Are you sure it wasn’t some sort of vision or dream or anything like that?”
“You don’t dream for weeks,” Cupi shuddered, “trust me. Libidine was there.”
“I was,” Liby spoke up, “Cupi didn’t just fall asleep or pass out like she was in a coma. She completely vanished off the face of the universe.”
“Fascinating.” Lilith grinned. “All the more reason to call down your dark magic and see where it takes you … an undiscovered plane of existence could be integral in defeating our enemies.”
Cupi thought about it for a second, but then she shook her head.
“I can’t,” she reaffirmed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t take that risk again. I’ll take the full wrath of Jacob when he gets here but please, don’t make me go back to that place again.”
“Wrath of Jacob?” I spoke up from the outskirts of the crowd. “Come on, the worst I can do is a light scolding, and I hate even doing that.”
“Ah, King Ralston,” Lilith purred as her dark eyes darted over to mine, “good to see you have returned. How was your little … ‘rest?’ Were both of your women to your satisfaction?”
“It was wonderful, and I feel ten times better.” I nodded, but then I turned my attention back to Cupi. “What exactly is going on here?”
“We were just trying to get Cupiditas to explore her black Hellfire,” Lilith interjected. “However, the Sister of Greed isn’t exactly being cooperative.”
“Of course she’s not,” I retorted to the Demon Queen, “I wouldn’t be, either, if it trapped me in purgatory whenever I used it. I wasn’t even keen on returning to the Shadow World, and I was only there a few minutes.”
“I understand,” Lilith responded, but I could tell she was frustrated, “but I simply thought we could use this power to our advantage. Anything we have that Beelzebub doesn’t know about could be integral to our ultimate victory. And if it’s something even Lucifer himself doesn’t know about … let’s just say, we’d have an advantage nobody else, not even the Exalted One, would have over him.”
“Good luck with that,” I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. “Now that we’re talking about it out loud, my father definitely knows. He’s always watching me.”
A devilish smile spread up Lilith’s round face as she clicked her tongue. The Demon Queen crossed her hands over her chest, sassily moved her hip to the left, and then raised a dark red eyebrow.
“You really don’t know, do you?” she chuckled to herself. “Lucifer can’t hear a damn thing right now. Watch this.”
“What do you mean--”
Lilith stepped forward, clapped her hands together, and then fell down to her knees as if she was praying.
“Oh, Lucifer!” she mocked. “You are, without a doubt, the most pathetic excuse for a king the universe has ever seen. Your powers are nothing compared to the Exalted One, and they are soon to be dwarfed by the Nephilim you call your son! You are unworthy of the title ‘Lucifer.’”
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
The last thing we wanted to do was piss off the literal Devil. He was already a giant pain in my ass, and that was with him acting as a neutral party. If he was angry and really wanted to do some damage?
I didn’t even want to think of what would happen then.
“Devil!” Lilith continued in her overly dramatic tone. “Satan! Foul Serpent! Or, should I call you by your most despised name--”
“Lilith!” I hissed as I summoned purple Hellfire into my hand and tossed up a tiny flame in front of her mouth.
The Demon Queen’s brow furrowed as she tried to muffle out the forbidden name of my father. She threw her arms down to her side, stood up swiftly, and then grumbled as her eyes narrowed and she pointed to the flames on her mouth.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the plight of Lilith, but I dropped the shield almost instantly the second I saw her body tense up and her face start to turn red.
Lucifer may have been number one on the list of people I didn’t want to piss off, but Lilith was right up there, too.
“We’re perfectly fine, Jacob,” she grumbled, “Lucifer can’t hear us because we’re inside of a magic circle.”
“A what?”
“A magic circle,” the Demon Queen sighed. “The only preventative measure that a being can take against Lucifer.”
“Let me explain,” Eligor offered as she stepped up, “much like the Exalted One, the Devil is everywhere at all times, and early humans quickly discovered this. So, a few of the more … brave humans went to the angels and tried to cut them a deal. They wanted to learn how to protect themselves from Lucifer, and in return they would pledge their undying loyalty to the Exalted One.”
“Are you trying to tell me that’s how religion started?” I questioned.
“That’s exactly what happened,” the Knight of Hell confirmed, “why do you think so many of the early religions were polytheistic? They were worshipping several of the angels and, in some cases, demons.”
“Man,” I whistled, “Todd would be having a field day with all of this. But what does that have to do with hiding from Lucifer?”
“The angels taught humans how to create the Protective Circle spell, the same one the Exalted One has around all of his domain,” Lilith continued. “It’s quite simple, actually. You just need to create a circle and then say the enchantment ‘protegam eum de terra perdere.’”
“You can use anything to make the circ
le, too,” Eligor added, “for example, we are using our bodies.”
I looked around and noticed it was true. All of my succubi were specifically standing with their arms linked so they created a perfect circle.
“Well, shit … ” I mused, “why didn’t we find out about this sooner? That sorta obscure shit would be right up Todd’s alley, but he never mentioned it to me before.”
“I’m not familiar with it, either,” Superbia admitted.
“That’s because Lucifer went to great lengths to keep demons from finding out.” Lilith shrugged. “Think about it. How effective is the omnipotent King of Hell if he can’t even eavesdrop on the simple conversations of his subservients? Many biblical scholars, priests, and others within the Exalted One’s inner circle knew about the enchantment, but it’s not like it is common knowledge.”
“If it’s such a well-kept secret, then how did you figure it out?” Libidine interjected from her place near the top of the circle.
“Please,” Lilith giggled, “I’m the Demon Queen. The Mistress of Evil. The Great Madame to all of the succubi in existence. I have my ways of getting information from humans … mostly thanks to the giant network of sex demons I send out to fuck them every day and night. You’d be amazed what kind of things humans will give up during pillow talk, especially with a little bit of prompting.”
This was great. Now, we could go about our planning without my father listening in to our every move. That, coupled with the Shadow World at our disposal, and we could easily make a few power plays that would keep him on his toes.
I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, though. Before we could worry about Lucifer, we needed to worry about Beelzebub.
And the only way we were going to get to that lanky, razor-winged son of a bitch was by using our Shadow World powers to the fullest.
If we wanted to, of course. Which brought me back to Cupiditas.
“That’s great,” I agreed, “but we need to talk about our black Hellfire. First off, if Cupi doesn’t want to use her dark magic, she doesn’t have to. I’m not going to ask her to do anything that puts herself or others at risk.”
“Thank you,” Cupiditas said with a relieved sigh.
“Of course,” Lilith agreed, but I could tell she really didn’t.
“Second, the three of us had an epiphany when we were in the workshop,” I continued, “I think we can use my Shadow World powers to our advantage.”
“Oh?” the Demon Queen asked.
“Bear with me here,” I began, “but whenever I go into the Shadow World, it looks just like a giant mirror of our world, only distorted and scary. And it’s not accessible by anyone but me, right? So, Tris got the bright idea that we could use it to travel between the different Circles of Hell, completely undetected. Lucifer wouldn’t know. Abaddon wouldn’t know. And, most importantly, Beelzebub wouldn’t know.”
“That sounds too risky,” Lilith sighed, “you made it sound like the Shadow People were ready to rip you apart the second they saw you. What happens if we take our entire army into the Shadow World and then they’re assaulted by its inhabitants? We don’t need to weaken our forces by fighting a whole other battle before we even get to the Eighth Circle.”
“Well, here’s what I was thinking … ” I trailed off for effect. “What if a small group of us went in first? Just to test the waters and see just how dangerous it is? For all I fucking know, those dozen or so Shadow People I saw the first time I was there could be the only people there.”
“I highly doubt that,” Lilith scoffed.
“We don’t know that for sure,” I shot back, “we can’t know that for sure until we actually send somebody in there for an extended period of time.”
Lilith looked hesitant and deep in thought as she pondered my proposal. Finally, she gave me a once-over, and then nodded somberly.
“It’s not a bad plan,” she admitted, “but it’s beyond risky. Remember, the Shadow People were put in this dimension because they were too difficult for Lucifer and the Exalted One to control … ”
“Then it’s a damn good thing I’m not Lucifer or the Exalted One, isn’t it?” I chuckled, and then scanned the circle of my succubi. “The only issue is … who can I take? We can’t send in too large of a group, or else they’ll be on us like flies on shit.”
“If I may make a suggestion?” Eligor asked. “Once you are in the Shadow World, your powers will be somewhat muted. At least, all of your powers aside from one.”
“The black Hellfire,” I deduced.
“Exactly,” the blonde Knight confirmed with a nod. “Not that any of your succubi are superior to any of your others, but I would suggest you take those who have exhibited excellence in the use of their black magic.”
“Okay,” I agreed, “so Eclipse and Sia are a definite must.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree,” Superbia sighed. “If we are truly preparing for the final battle with Beelzebub, somebody needs to go alert the other Demon Kings. And with this being such a pressing matter, it would be wise if you sent physical dignitaries, rather than just a simple message. Being your Madames, Mirage and myself would be the perfect candidates to do that.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic.
“Alright,” I nodded, “you two will be in charge of contacting the rest of the Demon Kings. Cupi? Do you think our Shades are prepared for battle?”
“They’re as ready as they ever could be,” Cupiditas replied. “I think that fight with Pazuzu really helped get them into fighting shape. That, plus all of my Sisters acting as generals makes me feel confident they will be a force to be reckoned with.”
“Good. You can ready the troops while the other two are off communing with our allies. That just leaves us rounding out the strike team … Who all got to test out their powers while I was gone?”
“They all did,” Lilith said with a proud smirk. “Well, except for Cupiditas, of course. Each one had something unique to bring to the table.”
“Which ones do you think will be the most helpful in the Shadow World, though?” I questioned. “Right now, we’ve got Eclipse, and I definitely want to add Todd and Tris to the equation, since I’ve seen their black Hellfire in action. Oh, shit! Can somebody go get Todd?”
“I’m on it!” Ariel called out as she bounced on her toes. “I needed to get my cardio for the day in, anyway.”
The redheaded angel took off like a bat out of Hell toward the exit, and I had to put my hands up to my mouth so she would hear my warning.
“Whatever you do, make sure you knock first!” I called out. “If not, I can’t be responsible for what you see on the other side of those doors!”
The fit, athletic woman disappeared through the exit of the coliseum, and I turned back to the rest of my team.
“You should take Ira,” Cupiditas suggested.
“Ohhhhh,” Ira groaned as her eyes glittered with mischief. “I can’t wait to use these abilities on some naughty Shadow People.”
“Well, now I have to know what went down while I was gone,” I said as I clapped my hands together in anticipation.
“Tell him, Sister.” Cupi grinned.
“I can create a ball gag out of my black Hellfire!” Ira sighed longingly. “A giant black flame wraps around their throat that must, like, crush their vocal cords or something. It’s fucking fabulous.”
“That’s really fucking cool,” I admitted, though I was a tad creeped out, “perfect for stealth missions just like this one. You’re definitely coming with us. What about the rest of you?”
“I’ll go.” Inpulsa shrugged and stepped forward. “My black Hellfire combines with my lightning and creates these weird, dark tendrils that spread across crowds.”
“Chain lightning,” I whistled, “what else do you all have?”
“My dark powers have given me some sort of toxic powers,” Liby spoke up with a broad smile. “When I toss a ball of black Hellfire onto the ground, it disperses a strange fog of poison gas!”
>
“That one was fun to figure out,” Lilith chuckled, “thankfully, Sia healed us all before the spell could fully take effect.”
“My powers seem to be tied to my weapon,” Gula said next, “as are Deja’s.”
“Oh, yeah,” Deja giggled, “it’s totally fucking cool. Check this out!”
The Cali-girl succubus was all smiles as she summoned forth her spiked chain, encased it in black Hellfire, and then let it fall down onto the ground lifelessly.
“I’m not sure I’m following,” I admitted.
“Just watch,” Deja reassured me with a wink. “Gula, you ready to go to bat?”
Gula, the Sister of Gluttony, called forth her giant battle axe with a flash of red Hellfire. Then she took it in her hand like a baseball bat, covered it with black fire, and prepared for whatever was going to happen next.
Suddenly, Deja’s chain came to life. Its bottom curled over itself like a snake, and then the spear at its end raised up into the air and hung there, suspended by the black Hellfire. Next, Deja clapped her hands together, and the spear shot forward like a rocket, directly at Gula.
The Sister of Gluttony wasn’t fazed, though.
She readied herself, let out a large sigh, and then swung at the air. However, her body didn’t stop. Gula’s momentum continued the swing until she had done a full one-eighty, and then it kept going. Within seconds, Gula’s body and axe were nothing more than a spinning blur.
The tip of Deja’s spear struck the spinning mass and was then launched backward into the air like a foul ball.
“Homerun!” the tanned brunette giggled, and then she called her chain back into her hand, turned toward me, and put her hands on her hips. “Pretty damn cool, huh?”
“Very damn cool,” I agreed with a smile.
“Whooooaaa,” Todd’s voice whistled from across the coliseum, “maybe I should start calling Firecracker ‘Michael Jordan,’ because she totally hit that one outta the park!”
“That’s the wrong sport, Todd,” Ariel sighed as she and the imp slunk back over to the group.
“You sure about that, Little Mermaid?” Todd clarified. “Because I totally thought Brett Favre and Michael Jordan were the slapshot champions of the world?”