I rushed over to them and gave my son a big hug, then turned to my mother. She embraced me too, to my surprise.
"Daughter," she said, as she stroked my back. "I understand your pain all too well."
"We came as soon as we heard," Damien said. "We're here to help get Aurora back."
Demeter pulled back from me and regained her composure immediately. "The Spring Court will not sit idly by while one of our own is attacked. And unlike Oberon, we will not ignore a threat that will spread to all of the realms if not stopped now."
"I'm so glad you're here," I said, glancing between the two of them. "Both of you."
"Yes, thank you." Lucifer moved up behind me and nodded at my mother. "We gladly welcome the help of the Spring Court in this battle."
Demeter offered him a smile that was more winter than spring… But it was a start.
Damien waved at Kassiel and Belial, who were standing with Olivia, Marcus, Callan, and Bastien. We headed toward them, leaving Demeter behind with her soldiers, and Olivia threw her arms around me.
"I'm so sorry about Aurora," she said, as she squeezed me close.
Callan pulled me in for a big bear hug next. "I'll do whatever I can to get my niece back. We're family, after all."
"Yes, we are," I said, wondering when I should tell him about Theo. Maybe when this was all over, if any of us were still alive. Instead, I turned to give my thanks to Marcus and Bastien.
Kassiel wrapped an arm around me, and we moved over to speak with Damien and Belial. I gazed at my three sons, noting how different they were. Damien in his fae court armor, his blue-black hair flowing in the wind. Kassiel in a suit much like his father's, and sharing the same green eyes. Belial in ripped-up jeans, motorcycle boots, with Morningstar strapped to his back. I loved them all so much, and though I worried about each of them getting hurt in the upcoming battle, I accepted that they were grown men too. If they wanted to fight for their family, who was I to stop them?
"Don't do anything stupid and get yourselves killed, or I'll kick your asses," Belial said to his brothers.
"That doesn't even make sense," Kassiel replied with a shake of his head.
Damien gave his brothers a mischievous smirk. "He's just worried we're going to steal all the glory in the battle."
Belial crossed his arms. "Hardly."
"Just be careful out there," I couldn't help but add. I was still their mother, after all. "I love you all so much."
Kassiel rested a hand on my shoulder, his demeanor going serious. "Don't worry. We'll get Aurora back."
"Yes, we will," Lucifer said, gazing at his sons with unabashed pride. "On that note, I have tasks for the three of you I can't trust with anyone else. Kassiel and Damien, I need you to find Azazel, Lilith and Cerberus. Free them and get them to safety.”
"It will be done," Damien said.
Lucifer looked at Belial for a few seconds before he spoke, his words heavy. "Belial, I need you to rescue your sister. Your mother and I will be busy fighting Death and Pestilence. We need you to keep Aurora safe."
"I swear it on my life." Belial pressed a fist to his heart. "On my very soul."
They stared at each other and I sensed that the enormity of Lucifer’s trust in Belial had lifted a great weight between them.
Then it was time to begin. We hugged our sons again, and moved to stand in the center of the Giza plateau between the pyramids. Lucifer wore black and silver armor along with a spiked crown covered in rubies, and his entire body glowed with a slight red tint. Beside him, I wore the gold and silver armor I'd once donned as an angel, except I now wore a matching crown to Lucifer's, although mine had emeralds for the gemstones.
All of the people assembled before us quieted down, waiting for the Demon King and Queen to speak. I gazed out across the soldiers we'd gathered, an impressive mix of angel, demon, and fae, all willing to fight and die to rescue the people we loved and save the world from the impending apocalypse that Pestilence and Death would bring.
I waited for Lucifer to begin, but he gestured for me to take the lead. I cleared my throat and raised my voice, infusing it with power so it would boom out into the night. "Death has been released. He's free and he’s waiting for us in Hell, and he's taken my daughter and my friends. We must stop both him and Pestilence to prevent the apocalypse they will bring to all the realms. They have powerful allies, but we have an army too. One built of love and respect, not of fear and anger. Because of that, we will succeed. I have no doubt."
A roar rippled through the crowd, growing louder as the soldiers gathered before us fed from each other’s enthusiasm. Famine reached for their power until I almost glowed from it, though I made sure to send it back to them. They would need all their strength for this upcoming battle.
“We have a plan.” At the sound of Lucifer’s voice, everyone fell immediately silent. “We must stop this threat today, before Pestilence and Death spread their evil to the other worlds. I will open a portal to Void, and Hannah and I will force Pestilence and Death through it, while the rest of you keep their forces busy. Once they're through, we must close the portal to Void immediately, to make sure no other Elder Gods enter our world." He looked at me with love and devotion. "Failure is not an option, but we won't fail. They may have two Horsemen, but so do we. Let's show them what our apocalypse looks like."
With that, Lucifer held out the key to Hell and a huge black, shadowy portal opened up. Big enough for many soldiers to enter at once. I spread my silver wings, and Lucifer spread his shadowy ones beside me, and together we flew into Hell to save our daughter—and defeat two Gods.
32
Lucifer
My army poured through the portal into Hell, with Hannah and myself in the lead. The air on this side was colder, the sky was darker, and the scent of death was everywhere.
Death lounged on a throne under the head of the Great Sphinx. My fucking throne, which he must have had brought over from the palace just to spite me. He wore Fenrir's body, and I wondered what the Archdemon had sacrificed in order to gain Death's power. His eyes shone an eerie purple, and his body had already begun changing, becoming almost...skeletal.
What a fool. There was too much power for Fenrir to even stand a chance against Death. He couldn’t contain it, never mind control it. Not that he wanted to. All Fenrir wanted was to destroy me and take my place as king, and it seemed his interests aligned with my father's.
I held up a hand to halt my forces behind me as I took in what we were facing. Pestilence—Adam—stood to the right of my father, and on the other side of him was Theo. War's fury bubbled up inside me as I thought of all the things I wanted to do to them, but then my gaze landed on the cages just behind them. They were all made of jagged bone that looked like it had sprung up out of the ground and then been bent and twisted to Death's will. Inside each cage was someone I cared about deeply. Lilith. Azazel. Cerberus.
Aurora.
She made her way around her cage, her black and white wings fluttering to keep her airborne as she bumped her head against the bones with each jerky ascent. My rage became a volcano inside me about to explode at the sight, and Hannah’s hand tightened around mine, letting me know she’d seen it too.
I forced myself to look away, to study the horde my father had amassed all around us under the shadow of the pyramids. Shifters, imp, gargoyles, and others who had decided to defy their Archdemon to fight me. Their forces surrounded ours, but we could take them. Fuck, I could probably take them single-handedly with my rage at seeing Aurora in a cage. I was barely in control of myself, and Hannah gripped me tighter like she knew that. Fury burned through me, and I took a deep breath as Hannah and I landed in front of my father.
Death’s laugh boomed from Fenrir’s mouth, and it sounded wet, like something inside him was broken. "So good of you to join me, Lucifer."
“Father.” I looked straight at him as I greeted him, giving him the honor of our relationship without making myself submissive to him. I wouldn’t bow and
scrape to Death, but I could remind him we were family once.
"And Eve, in a new body." Death tilted his head as he studied her.
"Thanatos," she said in a low, menacing voice. I was impressed she remembered his name from all those years ago.
His haunting eyes landed on me again. "I see you finally broke the curse. Certainly took you long enough."
My hands clenched into fists at my side at the reminder of what he'd done to us all those centuries ago. How he'd managed to haunt us even while locked in a tomb for thousands of years.
"Not all of us are so eager to bring death upon those we love," I said through gritted teeth.
"You always were weak." Death raised himself from my throne like he still hadn’t gotten used to controlling a body and all of the articulated joints yet. He rolled rather than walked toward us, his limbs strangely fluid. "No matter. I've taken over as the rightful King of Hell, a role that's been vacant since you saw fit to abandon this realm."
"I am still the King of Hell."
He laughed again. “Don’t waste your breath. Your people need someone strong to lead them, someone who will rebuild Hell and make it a true land of the dead. Once that is done, I'll spread my kingdom to Earth, then to Heaven and Faerie." He indicated the angels and the fae in my army. “How nice of you to bring representatives.”
"We're not going to let you do that," Hannah said.
"Why would you stop me?" His eyes narrowed as he studied us closer. "Even if you could, which we all know is impossible, you are War and Famine. Your purpose is to serve me, the leader of the Horsemen, as we take over all the worlds and remake them in our image." He indicated everyone around us, and gestured wider still, like he could encompass all of the realms. “Come, let us rule together. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as prophesied, as it should be.” He stretched his mouth into a grin. A grimace. A leer. “We can put the past behind us.”
“Hannah and I will never work with you," I replied. It wasn’t like I was being presumptuous, speaking for my mate. Not when our baby was trapped in a fucking cage made of bones.
“Give me my daughter back.” Hannah spoke in a voice like steel. It was a cold, hard demand, but Death laughed again.
"I can't do that." He stole a quick look over his shoulder and flicked Aurora a small wave, just a little movement of his fingers. "I have big plans for my granddaughter."
"What plans?" I asked.
“I'm going to raise her as my own. My little prodigy. A perfect blend of light and dark with the added essence of an Elder God. She will learn from me and rule by my side. She’ll be the child you weren’t, the child you could never be. And one day, when she’s older, she’ll be the perfect host.”
“You fucking bastard.” As if I didn't already have enough reason to stuff him into the Void. No way was he raising my daughter to be his next body. "You won't harm a hair on her body, and you won't rule anything, because we're stopping you today."
"You can't stop Death. I'm inevitable."
"We'll see about that." I gave my army the signal they’d been waiting for, and they let out a triumphant roar and began to march forward. I turned to Belial, who'd landed just behind me, and handed him the key to Hell. "If anything happens, get our family out of here."
He nodded and flew off toward the cages, with his brothers beside him. It was the only thing I could do to make sure they were safe should Hannah and I fail. Of course, if we failed, nowhere would be safe. Not from Death.
Hannah and I shared a look, one of love and devotion and fierce determination, and I pulled her close and kissed her hard, in case it was the last time. She clung to me tightly like she would never let me go, and then we stepped back.
She sighed as she glanced toward the throne. "Time to save the world again."
"I'll take my father. You deal with Pestilence."
"Gladly," she said. "I love you."
"I love you too. Always."
I released my wings and let my fury free, feeling it race through my body, dragging heat and electricity with it. I crackled with rage, and the part of me that was War gave me strength. It reminded me that even before I was War I was made for battle, forged from death and light to be the fiercest of Heaven's warriors, then remade into the Prince of Darkness, the Father of Lies, the King of Demons.
If anyone could defeat Death, it was me.
33
Hannah
As Lucifer and I flew toward Death, the monster lifted his arms and a wave of power rolled out of him. It didn't do anything to the two of us, nor to our soldiers, but instead settled over the land with a murky purple light. Mere seconds later, skeletal hands burst out of the ground as corpses came back to life. Dust gathered and reformed into undead soldiers, both angels and demons who had perished over thousands of years during the Great War. Others were more recent corpses, their skin hanging off or in various stages of decay, their wings ragged, their light long extinguished. They charged toward our army, along with the others Death and Pestilence had gathered to fight for them.
Zel rattled the bones of her cage uselessly, her face a mask of rage as Pestilence spread sickness over the shifters rushing forward. Boils broke out over their skin and they became graying, dying shadows of themselves. They raced in among our army, becoming walking contagions. Theo leaped up on his leather wings and flew into battle with them, his stone skin protecting him from Pestilence's plague.
The roaring cries of war filled the air as angels, demons, fae, and undead collided, but I only had eyes for one man. Adam. He’d killed me repeatedly, time after time ripping me away from Lucifer and my children. He'd killed my last daughter before she'd even had a chance to live. Now he threatened my other daughter's life, and I wasn't letting him get away with it this time.
He was mine.
As battle raged behind me, I ignored the clash of swords and claws and the blasts of magic. I had only one duty—to stop Pestilence, while Lucifer stopped Death. It came down to the two of us. No one else could do this, and we couldn't fail. We wouldn't. I was too fucking mad. Not just because they'd taken my daughter, but because of everything Adam and Death had done to me for thousands of years, going back to my very first life as Eve. They'd tormented me enough, and I was done. So fucking done.
Adam’s face was a nightmare of yellow skin and puss-filled boils, his grin a gash in his face. I landed in front of him and formed my sword of darkness entwined with light.
"So nice of you to return to me, Eve," he said, as he drew his golden bow and arrows. "I'd like you to know I've given up on convincing you to rule by my side."
I snorted. "That's a relief."
"Is it? Because now the only other option is for you to die." He shot a plague-tipped arrow at me, but I used a blast of wind to shoot it wide. He hadn't really intended on hitting me with it though. He was just taunting me. “I’ll take the most pleasure from your death this time, I think. Maybe I'll even fuck your corpse when it's done. One last time, just you and me, like the old days."
I leveled my sword at him, trying not to gag at his words. "You disgust me—and it's you who is going to die today. A final death this time. One there is no coming back from."
"How can I die, when I have Death on my side?" He held out his hand, sickness flickering over his skin as he unleashed it upon me. I used a mix of air and light to block it and send it away from me, while darting to the side. He rapid-fired a dozen more arrows so fast I barely had a chance to deflect them, and then I went after him with my sword. His sickness leeched across my skin, making me feel tired and weak, but I fought it with everything I had.
At that moment, Lucifer opened the portal to Void with a tearing sound I’d never heard, like it had destroyed something in the fabric of the universe, like the realm itself was fighting this intrusion. The portal was a kaleidoscope of endlessly swirling glints of light moving dizzyingly against deep black, as hazes of gray mist drifted across it.
The portal was open—which meant I had to get Pestilence in i
t. As much as I hated to admit it, killing him was near impossible.
Or was it?
We all stood transfixed for a moment, staring at the portal, before springing back into action. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lucifer fight against Death, trying to maneuver him toward the portal. I barely had time to notice though, as Pestilence dodged my every blow, not even breaking a sweat as I danced him across the plateau toward the portal. As we grew closer to it, he suddenly sprang at me, his face an abomination of evil as he gripped my shoulders and yanked me forward.
“I had thought death for you, Eve.” Again, he used my first name, the one guaranteed to remind me of all we’d started as. The one he seemed to cling to as proof of his birthright. “But now I think you should be in the Void. Lost forever to your family."
Panic flared through me as he shoved me away from him and I fell toward the portal, but before I could save myself, Kassiel blocked me with his body. He helped me stand and said, "Go get him, Mom."
Then he flew off toward the cages, where Damien and Belial were already there trying to free our family. Aurora cried in her cage, and when I turned toward her, she waved her arms at me, her terrified eyes fixed on mine across the distance between us. She needed me, and it broke my heart to see her in such pain, but at least her brothers were there. They would keep her safe, I had no doubt. My heart burst with a mixture of anger, grief, pride, and love, making me even more determined to finally remove Adam from our lives.
I poured my emotions into my magic and made thorny vines grow up from the ground all around Adam, trusting my soldiers to keep Death’s army from me while I focused. My plants wound around Adam’s legs to hold him in place, and around his hands to trap his bow, then around the rest of his body until I could barely see him beneath the writhing green. But I didn’t intend to suffocate him. Oh, no. For every painful death he’d given me he deserved so much more than mere deprivation of air. I squeezed my vines tight enough that a few bones cracked and the thorns dug deep into his flesh, and he cried out in pain.
Infernal God (Claimed By Lucifer Book 3) Page 17