by Eric Vall
“So, Beelzebub really is dead?” I asked. “It wasn’t just some sort of incredible fever dream I had as I was bleeding out?”
“The King of the Eighth Circle is no more,” Blagdan confirmed. “His corpse is currently displayed at the gates of Umbra, a remnant of your victory to be marveled at by the Caliginis.”
“Fuck,” I whistled as I leaned back in the bed. “If he’s really dead, I may never have to go on another adventure again.”
Even if I knew in the back of my mind that it wasn’t true, it was an amazing prospect to think about. Six of the Nine Circles of Hell were now run by my allies. I could go just about anywhere the fuck I wanted in this place without running into enemies now, and I didn’t have anyone currently out for my blood.
Sure, I needed to worry about Abaddon and my father, but that wasn’t an issue right now. Abaddon and I had an uneasy truce for the time being, and Lucifer was probably over the moon at the fact his son had been able to make so many conquests.
What I needed now was a nice, long vacation with all of my friends.
Oh, fuck. My friends.
I shot up in bed a bit too quickly and a sharp, searing pain burned in my gut.
“What’s wrong, King Ralston?” Zilla gasped.
“Where are my friends?” I asked. “Have you heard anything from them?”
“We haven’t, unfortunately,” the Shadow Queen sighed, “you’re the only one with the power to travel here, remember?”
Fuck. Beelzebub may have been taken out of the equation, but his minions were all still alive and well when I left the battle.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, stood to my feet, and nearly doubled over in pain.
“King Ralston!” Blagdan warned as he placed his hand on my shoulder to steady me. “You need to lay back down! You’re in no shape to go back out there.”
“I have to get back to my friends,” I explained as I began to limp over to my discarded armor. “I can have Superbia heal me up when I get back, and then I’ll be good as new. I can’t just abandon them. My generals need their king.”
“I can respect that.” Zilla nodded. “As much as we’d like to keep you here, Savior, I understand your yearning desire to return to the battlefield. Just promise you’ll be careful? I would hate to lose another savior, especially after they freed us.”
“I’ll do my damndest,” I admitted. “Now, would you guys mind helping me get this armor back on?”
Several of the Shadow People floated over to my position, picked up my armor in a frenzy, and then began to apply it to my body. Within a minute, the dark metal of the Caliginian Armor was wrapped around my body once more.
Finally, once the Shadow People took a step back, I began to summon black Hellfire around me.
“Good luck, King Ralston,” Zilla called out as the flames overtook my body. “We hope to see you again soon.”
“You will,” I promised, and then I suddenly felt my body become weightless as I traveled through space and time.
The next thing I knew, I was atop the rubble of Beelzebub’s castle, and as I looked down at the battlefield, I expected to see the same chaos that had been happening when I’d left.
However, there was a startling silence in the air.
Well, other than Todd’s voice.
“ … And then Jakey kicked him straight in the dick, took a drag off his cigarette, and said ‘sorry to bust your balls,’” the imp lied as I floated down behind him. “Then he just disappeared into the abyss with Brundlefly. I dunno where he went after that.”
“The Shadow World,” I announced as I limped over to my friends.
All of my generals were standing in a circle at the center of the stalagmite, surrounded by piles of slain grunts and Daeva.
“Jacob, you’re hurt!” Libidine gasped when she saw me.
“You should see the other guy,” I joked, but then I forced my expression into a sterner look. “But seriously, I did it. Beelzebub is dead.”
“Holy shit, bro!” Todd smiled. “You banished him to the Shadow Realm! Please tell me you busted out Exodia on his ass.”
“Not quite,” I chuckled and sat down on the ground, “but he’s gone. And it looks like you guys took care of all his minions while I was gone.”
“For the most part,” Lilith spoke up. “Some of the Daeva fled when they saw their leader disappear into the black Hellfire, but their numbers are inconsequential. We killed the rest.”
“And all of the grunts,” Eligor added, “with them defeated, Beelzebub’s Demon Lords slain, and his cultists wiped off the face of the Earth, it’s like the Lord of the Flies never existed.”
“Tell that to the hole he put in my stomach,” I groaned and patted the breastplate of my armor. “That’s definitely a real thing.”
“Let me take care of that.” Superbia walked over, summoned golden Hellfire into her hands, and placed them tenderly on my face.
I stared deep into the madame’s large, purple eyes as the flames spread down my body and wrapped it in the spell’s warm embrace. The tingle pulsed through my very core, and within seconds, the dull throb of my stomach wound and the aching of my bones disappeared completely.
“Thanks, Sia.” I smiled at the woman and then gave her a peck on the lips. “You’re a lifesaver. Literally.”
“I’ve been doing it all day,” the petite redhead shrugged, “a lot of our soldiers were messed up during the battle.”
“Cupi? Daniel?” I asked as I pulled myself to my feet and looked over at my two combat generals. “What’s the status report? Did we lose anybody?”
“Not a one.” Cupi grinned.
“Like Sia said, a bunch of our Shades were horrifically mangled by Beelzebub and his minions,” Daniel elaborated, “but that’s just another Friday evening for us Shades. Superbia healed them all up, and they’re camped out over on that stalagmite down the way.”
Daniel pointed off into the distance, and I saw what he was talking about.
A few flickering campfires were set up on a series of stalagmites only a few hundred feet away. Tents surrounded the flames, and I could see several figures sitting around while they joked, told stories, and laughed heartily.
“What about your men, Asmodeus and Mammon?” I asked my two allies.
“Not a soul lost,” Mammon agreed, “I’ll admit, these generals of yours know how to fight.”
“I will second that notion,” Asmodeus, now clad in nothing but a red silk robe, agreed. “My incubi were expecting a much more severe beatdown from this battle, particularly the ones who specialize in sadism.”
“Man,” Todd sighed, “why are demons so depressed, Jakey?”
I held back a laugh and looked out upon the soldiers with a giant grin on my face.
“Would you look at that?” I mused. “Shades, Cherubs, and Incubi, all sitting together around the campfire, sharing stories and breaking bread. I don’t think any of us thought that sort of comradery was possible a few months ago.”
It is all thanks to you, King Ralston, Mephisto noted. You have done wonders for the Circles of Hell and their inhabitants.
“You certainly have,” Ziminiar added as he adjusted his glasses. “You’ve shaken up the entire universe as we know it.”
“He’s shaken up plenty of things,” Ira cooed with a wink. “Especially my insides.”
“Subtle, Sister.” Eclipse rolled her eyes.
“Jacob,” Invidia asked innocently as she stepped forward, “can you tell me more about your time in the Shadow World? I want to know everything that happened.”
“Vidia, you’ve already been there,” I reminded the succubus.
“And I can’t wait to go back!” the Sister of Envy giggled. “It’s the most magical place in the Universe.”
“I don’t think Disneyworld exists in Umbra, bro,” Todd whispered to me loudly. “Though I bet it’s totally a saner place than central Florida.”
“Alright, I’ll indulge,” I sighed.
For the next few mi
nutes, I went over the entire sequence of events. I told the group about how Ziminiar had given me my wings, about how Beelzebub and I had beat the shit out of each other, and then how I transported him into the Shadow World to finish him off. When I got to the part about using my God Bomb, Eligor looked unconvinced.
“Shadow People don’t have souls,” she protested. “How could you use their energy for a God Bomb?”
“I dunno,” I admitted, “but I felt them sending me some sort of energy when I reached out to them.”
“It’s probably explained in the Book of Bezaleel,” Ziminiar said with a raised finger. “There’s still so much more about the Caliginis and the ancient ways that I need to learn.”
“Then that will be your next task, Ziminiar,” I proclaimed, “I want you to take the sacred text and study it from front to back. It helped me out of a jam in this battle, and I’m sure there’s stuff in there that will be useful down the line.”
“Speaking of ‘down the line,’” Lilith cooed, “you know who our next target is, right?”
All of my generals and allies went silent as they looked at the Demon Queen. They all knew the correct answer, but nobody seemed to want to say it out loud.
“We’re not going to talk about that right now,” Mirage finally spoke up. “We still have a lot of work to do here and in our Circles before we can even think about going after … him.”
“Shouldn’t we be having this conversation in a--uh, you know … ” Tris suggested as she drew a circle in the air with her hands.
“No,” Lilith stated with a proud grin. “I want him to hear this.”
My heart hammered in my chest as I tried to figure out what the Demon Queen was doing.
“Lilith … ” I began, but the Demon Queen held up her hand.
“It’s alright, Jacob,” she promised. “Lucifer, if you are listening to this, I want to tell you something. My allegiance lies with Jacob Ralston, and Jacob Ralston alone. He shall proclaim me as the Queen of the Eighth Circle, and I shall fight by his side, whatever his endeavors.”
“Oh, is that so?” a silver-tongued voice hissed.
I could feel the color draining from my face, and I hopped up onto my feet and stared down the man in the velvet red suit who had just appeared behind Lilith.
“Jacob, is that who I think it is?” Gula gasped.
“Wait, you can see him, too?” I questioned as panic began to spread through my entire being.
“It’s me, son.” Lucifer smiled as he ran his hand through his slicked-back hair. “In the flesh.”
I drew my goat-headed dagger from my belt and held it at the ready.
“Hello, Lucifer.” Lilith grinned at the Prince of Darkness.
My father looked over at my dagger, clicked his tongue, and then snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the weapon was surrounded by the emerald glow of green Hellfire before it disappeared from my hand, and then it found itself back in its sheath.
“So quick to violence,” Lucifer sighed, “I know I raised you better than that.”
“You didn’t raise me,” I growled. “In fact, I’m surprised you even showed up at all. You certainly didn’t until I got all my Hellfire powers.”
“Bro,” Todd whispered, “don’t make this about your daddy issues.”
“I don’t have--” I began, but the imp cut me off with a hiss.
“I’ll book you a spot-on Maury next week, Jakey,” he promised, “but for now, I wanna see what this Don Draper-looking fucker is talking about.”
“So, you choose to openly defy me, Lilith?” the Devil hissed. “The man who so graciously took you in after the Exalted One threw you out of the Garden of Eden?”
“You heard what I said,” Lilith reiterated as she raised her chin. “My allegiances lie with your son now.”
“Think long and hard about this choice, succubus,” Lucifer warned with an emphasis on the last word.
Lilith’s hand closed into a fist, but she kept her calm.
“I already have.” She nodded. “This is my path, Lucifer.”
The air was full of tension as Lucifer and Lilith stared each other down but didn’t utter a single word. Finally, Lucifer tilted his head to the side, grinned devilishly, and then shook his head.
“Bravo, Lilith,” he clapped, “bravo, Jacob … I knew you were both clever, but I didn’t think you were ‘outsmart the Prince of Darkness’ smart. But be warned … Lucifer never makes the same mistakes twice.”
The Devil scowled as the words left his mouth, and then he lifted his hand up into the air. Green Hellfire quickly surrounded his entire form, and then he snapped his fingers and disappeared.
“Well, that just happened,” Inpulsa snarked after a long beat of silence.
“I’m surprised he left without incident,” Sia added, “I was afraid we were going to have to fight him right here and now.”
“That’s not how Lucifer operates,” Ziminiar explained, “he’s a manipulator, through and through. He won’t resort to physical violence until he thinks it’s his only option.”
“And when that happens?” I questioned.
“We won’t get to that point,” Lilith noted. “We can’t let it get to that point, or we’re all fucked.”
“Then why did you have to tell him?” I questioned. “I could have made you Queen of the Eighth Circle in a secret ceremony or something like that.”
“No, you couldn’t,” Eligor explained, “Lucifer doesn’t allow women to rule the Circles. Why do you think my mistress and I have been without a permanent home for several millennia?”
“I’ve had some horrible bosses, but sheesh,” Todd whistled.
“The second the ceremony was performed, Lucifer would be alerted,” Lilith added. “It was unavoidable. But, like Ziminiar said before, that’s what you do, Jacob. You change the status quo.”
“Well,” I sighed as I looked down at my nearly empty belt, “if we’re really going to have Lucifer breathing down our necks, I’m gonna need to find my other weapons. My dagger’s nice and all, but it’s the weakest weapon I have right now.”
“I can help with that, Jacob,” Gula offered as she summoned brown Hellfire into her hands. “Your warhammer should be simple enough to find. If I give you a little boost, of course.”
I nodded to the curvy redhead, and then she blasted me with her brown power-up Hellfire. At the same time, I called upon my silver flames, held out my hand, and ordered my warhammer to return to my position.
I stood there for a solid minute, waiting, before I finally sensed the weapon’s presence. Suddenly, there was the sound of a large, heavy object soaring through the sky. Then the familiar two-handed weapon appeared before me, and it hovered in the air as if it were as light as a feather.
“I knew you could do it, Thor,” Todd snickered.
I commanded my warhammer to liquify, turn itself into a ball, and then reattach itself to my belt.
“What about my sword?” I asked aloud.
“That one will be a bit trickier,” Lilith explained as she strutted over and placed her arm around my shoulder, “but I assure you, King Ralston, it will be my first decree as Queen of the Eighth Circle to have my Shades find it.”
“Who says I’m gonna make you Queen?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I was kinda thinking Todd could take this one.”
“Uhhhh, bro?” the imp spoke up with an awkward chuckle. “Even I know that would be a terrible, awful idea.”
“I’m just fucking with her, Todd,” I admitted, “I wanted to see--”
“Do you have any idea what I’d do to this place?” the imp continued. “I’d totally remove all these giant dick-looking phalanges … probably rebuild the castle into a perfect replica of Bowser’s airship … maybe even make all the Shades carry me around like Conan the Barbarian. Yeahhhh, the Toddster’s totally not ready for that sorta responsibility, Jakey.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m kidding,” I shook my head, “Lilith, you are now the Qu
een of the Eighth Circle.”
“I think there’s a bit more to it than that,” the Demon Queen winked, “but we can get to that later. For now, we should go and celebrate our victory with our soldiers. Your loyal subjects are waiting.”
Lilith and I walked off toward the campsite arm-in-arm, and the rest of my generals were right behind us.
My father may have still been looming on the horizon, but right now, I could care less.
Azazel was dead. Baphomet was dead. Gressil was dead. And now, the Lord of the Flies had joined them in whatever abyss demons go to when they die.
If that wasn’t a cause for celebration, I didn’t know what was.
So, we walked off toward the camp, fully prepared to party the night away with drinks, songs, and probably a whole lot of sex.
Then we’d figure out how to conquer the last two circles.
End Book 13.
End Notes
Thank you for reading Succubus Lord 13! I’ll start writing the next book as soon as this one has one-hundred reviews. So please leave a nice review here!
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Eric Vall