Devils Inc.

by Lauren Palphreyman

  Josie sits atop it like a conquering queen, hair wild, eyes bright.

  My mouth drops open.

  “Don’t even ask, babe. Need a ride?”

  I glance at Gabriel, and he nods. “Go,” he says.

  “Your wing?”

  “Getting rid of you drastically alleviates the stress.”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  He gives me a half-smile. “I didn’t mean it like that. Go!”

  He nudges me to the beast, and Josie helps me clamber onto its back. I grab her waist, the scroll still in my hand. Her sandalwood perfume mingles with the earthy scent of horse.

  “You’re coming too, right?” I ask him.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he says.

  Gabriel closes his eyes. He shudders, and soon, his wing snaps back into place. Then he hurtles up into the air in front of Adalind, distracting her just long enough for Josie to cry out and dig her heels into the sides of our mount.

  It leaps. And for the third time today, I’m hurtling through the air. When we clear the Serpent’s body and come back down on the street, Apocalypse is just a short gallop away.

  “So the horsemen literally have horses then?” I yell as we pass Diablos’.

  “Yeah. Darius isn’t allowed to interfere in this, but he let me borrow his horse,” she yells. “He’s waiting for us in the basement of Apocalypse. We just need to get there before—”

  There’s a rumbling behind us. Adalind’s seen through the distraction, and her serpent eyes are fixed on us.

  Shit.

  She lurches toward us, sending the iron fence and one of the palm trees crashing down the road. Ahead of us, cars screech to a halt, and Demons pile out. My stomach lurches. Where are Jonathon and Crow?

  Josie pulls the reins and swerves the horse into Apocalypse. We both duck down beneath the blue sign, and then we’re tucking our legs in as we gallop down the dimly lit hallway. My hair flies behind me, and my pulse mimics the loud thunder of hooves on linoleum. Seconds later, we’re bursting into the blue-lit main club and catching the scent of old alcohol and lime wedges.

  The dance floor trembles beneath us. Then a hissing sound follows.

  Adalind.

  Josie pulls back the reins, and we leap over the central bar, both crying out as we hit the ground with a skid. Then the horse bursts through the black double doors at the far end of the room. Employees and horses only, I think wildly as we take another flight of stairs down.

  The horse slows to a stop, and I raise my head to study our new surroundings.

  The four Horsemen are lined up by one wall in front of a closed elevator, all wearing off-white linen shirts over brown pants. From their faces, it looks like they’re about to head into battle. Chris stands at the end with a huge bow, blond hair tousled. Beside him is Will, with his neat dark hair and sly mouth. He holds a giant sword. Felix stands next to him, sleeves rolled up over his muscular forearms to reveal a scales tattoo similar to the large brass pendent around his neck.

  And Darius stands at the end, tall and menacing, with dark, penetrating eyes. His hand is clasped around his scythe.

  They emanate power. Static, and cold, and heavy. My arms turn to gooseflesh. My breath mists in front of my face.

  “Josie and Rachel, we’ve been expecting you,” says Darius, his voice a silky shroud.

  Josie’s breathing quickens. So does mine. The magnitude of what we’re about to do crashes down on me.

  “Darius,” she starts.

  “Death.” His dark eyes catch hers. “You must call me Death in here, my darling.”

  There are a series of frantic thuds behind us. We jerk around as a tangle of limbs tumbles and skids into the room. It’s Gabriel, wings out, with Crow. One of the Omen’s muscular arms is hooked around Gabriel’s neck, the other clamped around his waist.

  When Crow untangles himself, he looks a little sick. Gabriel’s wings shudder into his shoulder blades, his expression haughty. Without looking at him, Crow shrugs off his leather jacket and throws it to Gabriel, who slips it on, zipping it up to cover up his bare chest.

  “Where’s my brother?” I ask.

  Crow was supposed to look after him.

  On cue, Jonathon stumbles into the room, a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. “Here now,” he says. “Helped Adam and Eve steal a car, then got one of my old contacts to lend me a bike.”

  “His idea, little Demon,” says Crow, raising his hands in surrender.

  “Are they safe?” asks Gabriel.

  “The Demons weren’t interested in them,” says Jonathon. “Only the scroll. With Adalind distracted, they should be fine. For now.”

  Before anyone can say anything else, Darius coughs pointedly behind me.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I believe you have something you wish to deliver?”

  His three brothers smirk. My heart beats fast. Is this really a good idea? Summoning the Devil? But Crow gives me an encouraging nod. So does Gabriel.

  As soon as I slide off the horse, Josie jumps down beside me.

  “How does it work?” she says. Her Afro is wild from the horse ride, and her shoulders are tense beneath her floaty green top. The silver cross she wears around her neck glints in the eerie blue light.

  The brothers step to the side to reveal the elevator with an “Out of Order” sign behind them. Instead of call buttons, there are four holes in the wall.

  Three of them have scrolls sticking out of them.

  “When the final scroll is turned in the lock, the wax seal breaks, and the Elevator is called,” says Darius. He deliberately peels the sign off the doors and lets it float to the black linoleum.

  “Where from?” I ask, a cold ball of dread growing in my stomach.

  He smiles. “Hell, of course.”

  Josie makes a soft noise in her throat, touching her cross. I hold her gaze, heartbeat quickening. She doesn’t want me to do this. I’m not sure I want to do this.

  But . . .

  We both flinch as the ground shakes. I hear footsteps above as dust falls from the ceiling. Someone screams. Then a hissing sound vibrates through the wall.

  What choice do we have?

  “Well?” Darius says, holding out his hand.

  Before I can second-guess myself, I hand him the scroll. His strong, tattooed hand curls slowly around it. Then he strides to the elevator, slips it in the lock, and slowly turns.

  There’s a click. Then a whirring sound.

  He smiles at his brothers. “The end is nigh, boys.”

  Cool adrenaline surges through my body as Josie and I take a step back to rejoin the others. My arm brushes against Crow’s. I instinctively start to pull it away but then decide to leave it, given this might be the end of the world anyway.

  Lucifer is coming.

  My heart beats fast against my chest. I can’t believe we’re doing this. I can’t believe we’re summoning the Devil.

  This moment seems to last forever.

  Then the elevator pings.

  The doors slide open.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The man who emerges is tall, with broad, muscular shoulders and dirty blond hair shaved close to his scalp. He’s shirtless, and there are glistening patches of frost on his exposed skin that seem to burn and crackle as he moves. In one hand, he holds a bronze trident. A sharp, pointed tail curls out the back of his black pants.

  Lucifer.

  The scent of brimstone is suffocating.

  Cold air follows him as he steps further into the room. He’s taller even than Crow, and his whole being emanates menace. His tail hovers in the air behind him—obsidian-black, with a sharp point at the end.

  Horror unfurls in my gut when his gaze hits me. He looks like a man, but I see no humanity inside his neon-blue gaze, only coldness. And in this moment, I understand Gabriel’s initial reluctance to raise him.

  He is a monster.

  What have we done?

  The faint sound of sc
reaming can be heard upstairs, but none of us flinch. There’s a greater threat in here, with us.

  Lucifer narrows his eyes as he looks at the door beyond.

  “Dante,” says Lucifer.

  “Yes, my lord?”

  That’s when I see that Lucifer didn’t come alone. A tall, thin man stands in the corner of the elevator, his black cloak making him one with the shadows.

  “Hold the elevator,” he says. “You won’t be taking the journey back down alone.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  I glance sideways at Crow, the cold, hard ball of dread growing. It sounds like he plans to fight Adalind, but that doesn’t mean he’s going back after.

  Crow’s cheeks are flushed, and his hands are held in fists. He looks angry. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

  Lucifer slides his hand up his trident, fingers curling around the bronze. I’m steeling myself for a fight when the back wall behind us caves in with an explosion of rubble.

  I grab Josie, and we crash to the floor to the side as bits of concrete and plaster spray the room. Something hits the side of my head, and I grunt. When I touch my hair, my fingers come away red with blood. Dizzy, I look to see if I can spot the others.

  For a moment, all I see is darkness and two unblinking neon-blue eyes. All I hear is the whinnying of Darius’s horse and the thunder of its hooves as it clears the room. I can smell dust, and brimstone, and the metal of blood.

  And then a low, soft hissing enters the space. Something is slithering in.

  The hairs on my arm stand on end. My eyes, stinging from the dust, adjust just enough to see the head of the Serpent rearing up between us.

  Shit.

  I roll to the side as she lunges at me, bare arms scraping roughly across sharp bits of brick and concrete. She gnashes her head, and I roll back, narrowly avoiding her fangs—each one as sharp as a blade and the length of my arm.

  Somewhere, my friends call my name. Suddenly, Adalind’s head is pulled back, and I see Crow attacking. She thrashes him away, and there’s a loud crash of a body hitting the wall before she lunges at me once more.

  “The ssscroll,” she hisses.

  “Get away from my sister!” I hear Jonathon running toward her.

  She flicks her tail and sends him skidding across the floor.

  I feel my power then, hot, in my stomach. No one touches my brother. I send a fireball at her face before scrambling to the side. It misses, but it lights the room enough that I see a glimmer of Lucifer as it hurtles past.

  He’s just standing there. Unmoved.

  Adalind laughs, then she drops her head toward mine. Her eyes are bright in the darkness, and I can make out the inky blood dripping from her fangs.

  “It’ssss over, intern. Give me the sssscroll.”

  When I don’t respond, she raises her head, preparing to strike.

  “I can’t. I already gave it to him,” I say, jerking my head to the right.

  She pauses. Then she looks to her left, and her snake eyes catch Lucifer’s. She hisses, then rears back so sharply her head bangs into the ceiling.

  A new dusting of plaster falls, coating his muscles and dirty blond hair, yet he remains stoic. There’s a predatory look in his too-blue eyes; the look of a wolf who knows he’s about to devour his prey.

  “You dare to defy me, Adalind?” he says in a voice laced with sweet poison.

  She attempts to slither back through the hole in the wall she’s created, but enough has fallen that she’s trapped. She stops, and her yellow eyes narrow.

  “You left me,” she hisses. “I sssserved you. And you left me.”

  “Yes,” he says. “And I had you where I needed you.”

  “You let them take my power. You abandoned—”

  “Silence,” he says in a tone that doesn’t allow for disobedience. He takes a step forward, muscles rippling, patches of burning frost crackling on his skin. “I had you in a position where you could be my eyes and ears on earth, where you’d know everything that happened within my corporation so that when I returned, you could serve at my side. You were the first Greater Demon I managed to station on earth, ready. You were mine. You were one of my greatest weapons for the Final War to come.”

  Her head jerks back. “My lord. You never told me.”

  “I did not realize, Adalind, that I had to run my plans past you.”

  His voice is light, but there is a coldness behind it. He begins to pace as though lecturing a recalcitrant child.

  “So now, what are we to do with you? You have come into your powers prematurely. The Ethereal laws will not allow you to stay on earth for long. And thus, you force my hand. Do we go ahead with Revelation and begin a War for which we’re unprepared?”

  “Yesss, my lord. We can win. The Angelssss are weak.”

  “It is certainly tempting.”

  I glance at Josie, who’s taken refuge behind a large slab of concrete. Her eyes are wide with horror. I can’t see Crow and the others, but I think I hear Jonathon’s groan.

  This is not how Godzilla plays out.

  “No doubt, this cowering assortment of misfits thought they could summon me, Lucifer, King of Hell, to do their bidding as if I were some common Devils Inc. intern,” he continues, sliding a finger along one of the points of his bronze trident. “Insolence cannot go unpunished.”

  “Yessss, my lord.” Adalind’s venomous voice vibrates around the dark room, and I suppress a shudder, edging back to take a seat near Josie, who shifts to make room for me near the wall. She gives me a dark look.

  “This is bad, babe,” she mouths.

  I nod. “I know.”

  I wish I could see the others to determine if they have any ideas, but Adalind’s scaly body blocks everything, including the hole in the wall.

  And even if we got out, then what? We let Lucifer end the world?

  I squeeze my eyes shut, clasping my hands together in prayer. It worked for Crow and Gabriel earlier. Dear Gabriel, I think. Can you hear me? Is this a prayer? Any ideas? Please keep my brother safe. Um, yours sincerely, Rachel. Amen?

  Nothing happens.

  “Come to me, Adalind,” Lucifer says. “Bow down to your King, and let us put this business behind us so we can work toward a greater future. Together.”

  I open my eyes just in time to see Adalind bring her big face level with his. When he touches her scaled cheek with a huge hand, she nudges into it like a cat.

  “My sweet Adalind,” he says.

  She bows in deference.

  Then, in a sudden movement, he thrusts his trident up into her throat.

  She screams as it pierces through her dark scales, and black blood spills like ink over Lucifer’s shoulders. I throw my hands over my ears as Adalind’s pain and fury vibrates through me, then I cover my head as her body convulses, bringing more of the ceiling of the small room down.

  “You bassssstard!” she screeches. “You bassss—”

  “Enough,” he commands.

  He wrenches his weapon out, and Adalind crumples to the ground, her head thudding against the ground so hard the whole room shakes. As we look on in horror, her skin shrivels, then begins to shed, decomposing until there’s nothing left but the body of a girl covered in dust and gore.

  Now she is small, I can see the others. Jonathon has pushed himself against the far wall, breathing fast, while Crow is beside him, crouched as though ready to spring into action. Gabriel stands in the shadows, his eyes fixed on Lucifer, his face rigid yet oddly devoid of fear.

  “Dante,” says Lucifer. “Give me your cloak.”

  The Demon in the elevator slips off his dark cloak and throws it to his master. Lucifer swipes it from the air with one hand, then throws it on Adalind before scooping her up in his arms.

  “My dear Adalind,” he whispers to her dead body. “You may hate me now, but do not think me cruel. You will one day have your revenge. As will I.”

  He carries her past the Four Horsemen, each watching impassively, and pass
es her fragile human body to Dante. Turned away, I see two jagged scars mark his shoulder blades where his wings were once ripped from his shoulders.

  “Now,” he says without turning, “as for this other matter of insolence . . .”

  My eyes fly to the hole in the wall as I debate whether we can make a run for it. But no—even if we did, we can’t let him stay on earth.

  “Lucifer, I must interject,” says Darius.

  Lucifer turns his head, and the two lock gazes. Despite the menace in the Dark Lord’s eyes, Darius doesn’t so much as flinch.

  “You forget yourself,” says Lucifer. “You are in no place to question my decision to punish.”

  “In Hell, perhaps. But we are in my club, and I do not work for you,” says Darius, his voice smooth and calm. “I have a higher calling. Still, for reasons of diplomacy, should you make the call for the Revelations War, we will ride out and bring about this Apocalypse, as is our duty. Should you wish to punish those who summoned you, we will not stand against it.” He raises an eyebrow. “We do not like to be used as pawns in Ethereal games either.”

  My pulse quickens, and Josie tenses beside me.

  “But the girl, Josie,” he continues. “She is one of us. And you will not touch her.”

  There’s a pause, long and silent. Sounds of fighting still filter down from the main club upstairs. Adalind is gone, but they don’t know that yet. Or perhaps they do. Perhaps this is the start of the Final War.

  “Very well,” says Lucifer, still facing away from us. “Take your girl. Await my instruction. I will have a moment alone to deal with the others.”

  “Very well,” says Darius, then he strides toward us. “Josie, my darling . . .”

  “No. You can’t do this,” Josie says, shaking her dust-covered head. “You’re not leaving them. I’m not leaving them.” When Darius offers her his hand, she bats it away.

  I grab her wrist. “Josie. It’s fine. Go.”

  She snaps her head toward me. “No.”

  Darius pauses for a moment before turning to his brother, Felix, who swoops in to throw Josie over his shoulder.

  She yelps, struggling against him, but he holds her tight. When she angles her head enough to scream my name, I hold her bright eyes for a moment before tearing my gaze away. She’s safer with them than us.