by Eva Brandt
“Stumbled into Cain. But that doesn’t matter right now. Come on. This place is a labyrinth and I need you to find the others.”
Stefan didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed my hand with his paw and gestured for TB to come closer. As she landed on our entwined fingers, the barren ground vibrated beneath our feet. The transparent image of a strange castle popped up in front of us.
It was only for a second, and then, the castle was gone, and Lucifer was standing where the structure had been.
He didn’t look well, a few of his wings visibly injured. But he was smiling, and in his angry eyes, I saw my own heart.
We were together once again and now, nothing was going to stop us.
Lucifer’s Lie
Earlier
“You know, I didn’t expect this of you. In hindsight, I admit that was stupid.”
“I don’t know if it was stupid or not, Lucifer. Everybody deserves the right to be hopeful, even you.”
I glared at my so-called brother, furious. I’d hoped Michael wasn’t involved in this little ploy, that his son’s happiness would be more important to him than the schemes of The Supreme Being. Apparently, that had been a little too much to ask for.
The ritual had dragged me into a large castle with seven different floors. It reminded me a little of The Seven Circles of Hell, and I didn’t think that was a coincidence.
Michael was sitting on a glowing couch that would’ve looked right at home in The Celestial Realm. “I’m glad you agreed with us on giving your bride a break, although I suspect it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to.”
“No, it didn’t. But you know that very well. ”
“You can’t blame me for this, Lucifer. You’re the one who made the choice. It was the right one, although I’m surprised you didn’t tell them the truth about your reasoning.”
To this day, I hadn’t shared with my lovers the real reason why I’d decided to send Lyssa to the academy. As concerned as I’d been for her, I’d still been aware that she was too powerful for me to be able to fully claim her. My father would never allow it.
He’d come to me less than a week after Lyssa had permanently moved to The Infernal Realm and had explained his train of thought. “Alyssa Michaelis’s heart has made a choice. But her body must do so as well. She was created as a vessel for a power she cannot contain. If the vessel doesn’t approve of her demonic transformation, I’ll have no choice but to step in.”
“You said you would allow us to be happy,” I’d snapped at him.
“And I still hope that can be accomplished. But, Lucifer, the futures I see are ever-changing. The choices you make alter the course of reality itself. Believe it or not, I’m trying to do the best thing for you and your family. I always have.”
I’d believed him, because a part of me had still had faith in the old man. He might be a controlling asshole, but he didn’t lie.
The problem was that, three-quarters of the time, what worked best for him wasn’t the right solution for me. I’d forgotten that while I’d been away.
And now, here we were, with Lyssa missing, the five of us scattered, Stefan forcing himself to anchor Mikael in the hope of protecting Lyssa, and me facing the sibling I’d once killed on the field of battle.
“You know you can’t beat me, Michael. You’ve tried before and it didn’t work out well for you.”
“I beg to differ. I’m not the one who lost that battle. Or have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t.” I clenched my fists and tried to push back my irritation. “But you don’t have reinforcements now. There’s no one here who can resurrect you if I tear you to pieces.”
Michael smiled at me, an infuriating expression that made me want to reach for my blade. “I don’t need The Heavenly Host when I have your bride.”
The knowledge of Lyssa’s captivity was the only reason why I hadn’t already throttled him. “Why would you stoop so low, Michael? I can’t imagine The Supreme Being would condone something like this.”
“He wasn’t happy with the idea, but it was better than the alternative suggested by Raphael and the others,” Michael replied. “Did you know that after the battle, most people argued we should seal Lyssa back in The Garden of Eden? I won’t name names, but there were some who suggested turning her back into an apple.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. She’s a person, not a fruit.”
“Yes, but she’s also very defiant and having hope guarded by her soul is very dangerous. She’s already killed someone. It might have been an attempt to protect someone else, and she might not be fully aware of it, but it still left a mark.”
I wanted to say Eve had it coming, but the words just didn’t come. “That was my fault,” I croaked out instead. “If there’s a sin there, I’m the one who is to blame.”
“Maybe, but it’s too late to take your actions back.”
“Look, we’re going around in circles. I had a deal with The Supreme Being. We agreed on letting Lyssa’s body adjust.”
“But you had an unfair advantage at The Academy of the Devil, didn’t you?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Michael stopped me before I could do so. “Don’t lie. Not again. Not to me. You know better.”
I sneered at him, frustrated with the turn of the conversation. Still, I decided to comply. “Yes, I had an advantage at the school. What of it? She was safe there. Or she was supposed to be.”
“She’s safe now. This place is a neutral ground. She has a nephilim with her, a being who is both celestial and infernal. Mikael might not want to admit it, but there’s balance inside him. He’ll help her.”
“To make her… choose?”
“No, to protect her while she makes her choice.” Michael sighed, the smug smile fading from his features. “I didn’t want this, Lucifer. I like Alyssa. But she was moving too quickly toward something we feared. We had to take steps.”
“And I’m supposed to just believe you have her best interests at heart? You took her from the academy, from me. The Supreme Being broke his word.”
“That dispute isn’t mine to handle,” he replied. “Come on. Sit with me. You can’t intervene in this one.”
When he tapped the spot next to him, inviting me to sit on the couch, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “The hell I can’t. I’ve listened to him and to you long enough. Not anymore.”
I’d wanted to be careful, to not take foolish chances like I had with Eve and The Watchers. With Lyssa pregnant, I couldn’t afford to make enemies. But I could see now that they’d exploited my vulnerability and had stolen her from me.
I’d had enough. Michael wasn’t about to let me go. I could see it in his eyes. If he’d taken the trouble to knock me off my path, he was going to put up a fight. He might be trying to seem harmless now, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“You’re a liar too, Michael,” I said, unsheathing my sword. “Everyone in The Celestial Realm lies and cheats. They just pretend not to, or they pretend it’s justified because it’s on The Supreme Being’s command. But that doesn’t change a thing in the end.”
Michael got up, his flaming sword manifesting in his hand. “I can’t argue with that,” he replied. “But even if I could, it would be a waste of time. You’ve already made your decision.”
I had, and there was only one way forward—through him.
Physically, he reminded me so much of Mikael it hurt. If I’d been any other person, I’d have had trouble lifting my blade against him, just because of the resemblance. But I was Lucifer, The Second Satan, The Brightest Star, a demon and an angel, a creature born out of spirit who governed over The Infernal Realm. I saw Michael’s heart, and inside, he was nothing like his son.
And so, when he lunged forward, I met him halfway. Our blades clashed, and an explosion of light erupted around us, chasing away the shadows that licked over our ankles.
We were so close now that I could see the flickers of divine light danci
ng in his eyes. The sight angered me, reminding me of everything I’d lost and all the mistakes I’d made.
I jumped back, pivoted on my heel and tried to sneak my way past his guard. It didn’t work. Michael blocked my attack, his sword forcing me back once again.
He was faster than he’d been during The Battle of the Watchers. Or maybe I was just slower. The fight against Satan had been my first real conflict in over a century. Michael was still the leader of The Heavenly Host and even during times of peace, he wouldn’t have abandoned his duties, not like I had.
But that was only a temporary impediment. He might fully believe in the necessity of this fight, but he didn’t have the incentive I did—love.
My love for Lyssa was demonic and all-consuming. I had embraced it, but I was also afraid of it, afraid of what it could do to her. It had been a mistake. If I hadn’t underestimated her, if I’d trusted our connection more, we would’ve never ended up here in the first place. We could have been home, in The Infernal Realm and she would have never been forced to go through such a traumatizing experience.
Infuriated, I launched myself into the air. Michael followed me, his four wings erupting from his back and sending echoes of silver lightning through the shadowy floor.
An angel or not, he attacked me with the same ruthlessness I’d displayed. His blade flashed through the air, aiming for my head. That was the best way to incapacitate an angel, for the longest period of time. I ducked, but he didn’t let that deter him. Divine magic glowed at his fingertips and a blast of celestial energy struck my wings.
It was so powerful it nearly tore one of the appendages right out of my spine. Had I been a nephilim, with a vulnerable, physical form, it would have. But I was not, and I managed to endure.
The wing, while damaged, remained attached to my spiritual body. I bared my teeth at Michael. “Nice try, brother,” I said, “but you forget, I’m an angel too.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.”
He looked down at my now clawed hands. If he was trying to make me feel self-conscious, he utterly failed. “Ah, yes. That. What can I say? It looks like I just got lucky.”
Demonic magic rushed through me and the tips of my feather started to turn black and red. It was an unusual phenomenon, and it only ever happened when I was at my limit. But I wasn’t too concerned. My full focus remained on Michael.
“You know what I hate about The Heavens? Everyone there is so judgmental. There are never any shades of gray.
“I expected better of you. You conceived a child with a demonic symbiote and you’ve shown Mikael kindness. But I guess I was wrong to read too much into that. Because at the end of the day, there’s no room for love and family in an archangel’s life, is there?”
That was the one thing I could never forgive or forget. The Infernal Realm had its flaws, but at least it had emotion. In The Celestial Realm, everything was ice.
“That’s why you have to die, Michael,” I finished. “And that’s why I’ll always be stronger than you. Because you have no real purpose, no goal of your own. You’re a tool, and that’s the only thing you’ll ever be.”
With that solid certainty came a wave of calm, cold strength. It was different from my rage-induced magic, and all of sudden, Michael seemed to be moving in slow motion.
The next time I attacked, my blade glowed brighter than ever before. When the two swords clashed, Michael grunted in effort. He tried to oppose me, and his celestial aura intensified, threatening to suffocate me. But it didn’t work.
Michael’s sword cracked, unable to withstand the pressure I exerted. In the light we were both emanating, my brother suddenly looked very pale.
“Lucifer, stop this. You can still turn back. It’s for her sake too.”
“Liar,” I spat at him. “I won’t ever believe the promises you make, not again.”
The blade splintered and Michael let out a pained hiss. His weapon wasn’t a metallic construct, but more like an extension of his body. The recoil of the extinguishing magic hit him, and he was dazed, unable to fight back.
If I’d been a good person, I’d have given him the chance to recover. There was no honor in killing my brother like this. But I wasn’t a good person. I was a demon—a fallen angel, Lucifer Morningstar, the creature who’d abandoned The Heavens and had defeated the first Satan. I’d claimed The Infernal Realm as my own. I’d fought for an ideal, to help the world break free from the suffocating hold of the angels.
Now, my battle was far more personal, and I wouldn’t show anyone mercy.
An archangel’s blade was awfully sharp. It only took a second for me to decapitate Michael.
It was almost anticlimactic. He didn’t let out a sound, didn’t bleed, and didn’t get the chance to fight me off. If the circumstances had been different, I’d have been disappointed.
Instead, I was relieved I’d gotten the task out of the way. I watched Michael’s headless body drop from the air and allowed myself a small smile of satisfaction. Just like I’d warned him, there were no reinforcements now to put him back together. When he hit the floor, his divine magic withered and his form shattered into a million shards of white glass.
His disappearance wouldn’t be permanent. He’d come back eventually. But for now, he was out of my way and I could go on with my quest to save Lyssa.
I was in luck. As Michael’s body dissipated, so did the strange castle we’d been in. I found myself standing in the middle of nowhere, a barren wasteland filled with nothing but darkness. This would have been disheartening had Stefan and Callum not popped up right in front of me.
“Thank Satan,” Stefan growled. “Where have you been?”
“Michael,” I explained, sheathing my sword.
I didn’t need to say anything more. Stefan and Callum grimaced, understanding what I meant. “It is as we feared then,” Stefan mused. “The Celestial Realm is involved in this.”
“Yes, but I was ready for it. In any case, any idea how to make our way through this place? The ritual was thrown off course.”
“Maybe,” Callum replied, “but don’t forget we still have each other.”
The words might have sounded corny, but I knew Callum meant them literally. He still had the familiar bond with Stefan and Mikael, which made him invaluable. Between that, and TB’s aid, we shouldn’t have too much trouble chasing away the confusion induced by The In-Between.
“What are we waiting for then?” TB hissed. “Let’s get moving. My Mikael is waiting.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself. We joined hands, reaching for the power that bound us together. Soon, we’d find Lyssa and we wouldn’t allow anyone to separate us again.
Mikael’s Mother
I’d never had much of a relationship with my mother. It was a little difficult to socialize and communicate with a demonic symbiote. When I could be bothered to think about her, I wondered what had led her to keep the pregnancy. It couldn’t have been easy, since it wasn’t in a symbiote’s nature to give birth like a regular, mammalian being.
But nothing about me had been regular and my mother was no different.
She hadn’t changed since the last time I’d seen her. She was still beautiful, in her own way. Her dark skin looked liquid, like smooth, boiling tar, and her eyes reminded me of the depths of The Seven Circles of Hell—jet black, but with a sharp spark of crimson underneath the surface.
The world around us mimicked her overall look. We were no longer in The Academy of the Devil. My mother had taken us into The In-Between. It was the realm of shadows, neither Heaven nor Hell. Humans had assimilated it in their religion as Purgatory, but their definition had been lacking.
The In-Between was an independent world, and regular demons didn’t have much access to it. We could use its energies through shadow magic and powerful demons like Mephistopheles even had the ability to summon shadow constructs. But the true extent of The In-Between’s power remained untouched.
My mother had brought us to something that looked
like a beach. Maybe it was her attempt to placate me, since there was a mild resemblance between this place and the academy. The distant, glowing ocean was very different from the sea we had left behind, but the sand was just as black as the one on the island. The tendrils of shadow curling around my feet reminded me of the plants Stefan had once treasured.
A part of me felt at home here, because at the end of the day, I was half-symbiote. But that part was very small. Any joy I might have experienced at my unexpected homecoming was ruined by the way my mother had treated Lyssa. TB’s absence made matters even worse.
Standing there, on the beach, in front of my mother, I couldn’t help but wonder why this had happened. I decided there was only one way to find out.
“What do you hope to accomplish with this, Mother?” I asked.
“I’ve missed you, my dear,” she said. She waved a hand and a large sofa appeared on the beach. With a gentleness I appreciated, she set the unconscious Lyssa down. “Can’t a mother visit her son without having her motives questioned?”
“I know better than to think your motives are ever straightforward. You never came to see me over these past couple of years.”
“I did try, but those dreadful shields made it tough.” She let out a theatrical sigh. “Not to mention your wings. It was easier after you chopped them off, but still… Irritating.”
Her words made my back tingle, right over the spot where my wings had been. I did my best to not let my discomfort show. “You must know you’ll never get away with this. Lucifer will come after you.”
The threat sounded pathetic even to my own ears, so I wasn’t surprised when she laughed. “Don’t be a cliché, darling. Of course I know. But I don’t want to harm you, so there’s no reason for Lucifer Morningstar to be upset.”
“No reason? You took Lyssa. Do you know what happened the last time someone tried to hurt her?”
My mother smiled, displaying rows of sharp, black teeth. “Oh, yes. It was quite beautiful. The symbiotes of the island had enough sense to hide from his wrath, but the rest of us… Well, suffice to say we found it very intriguing.”