“Arthur, I don’t want to hurt you,” she replied, and when I opened my eyes, I saw her looking me up and down like I’d blown a gasket or two.
“That’s so not in the cards it isn’t even funny.” I took a deep breath and banished my ethereal armor, leaving my chest exposed before her. “Hit me as hard as you can.” I touched the space between my pecs. “Right here. Give it everything you have.”
“Arthur, this is insane.” Lucifer took a deep breath. “It won’t prove anything if I hurt you…”
“You think I’m too weak, too stupid to go out alone. You think I need your help when I absolutely do not need anything from you.” I snorted and touched my bare chest once more. “Hit me. Now.”
“Arthur—”
“Hit me!”
She hit me. The smell of sulfur filled the air. Flames burst from the ground beneath her feet. The sky above turned into a crackling thunderstorm. Her eyes turned to lava as rage exploded out of her and all her frustration and anger came out in one decisive burst of power.
Her fist arched out in a blur, slammed into my chest … and shattered.
The bones in her fist cracked like kindling as her entire hand exploded like a balloon full of goo. A scream of pain burst from her lips as she fell to her knees, grabbing her wrist and trying to staunch the blood flow.
“Now you understand, Lucifer. This is the natural consequence when one force encounters another. The weaker one is inevitably broken.” I reached out, grabbing her by the hair and hoisting her effortlessly from the ground. “I have been training. Been growing stronger. None of you see this because you see me as I was before.” I set her lightly on her feet. “But you should see me as I am.”
I flicked her between the eyes, and the blow snapped her head backward with a sharp crack, moments before her feet left the ground. Her body arched through the air before smashing through the wall beside the dungeon entrance.
Only as she punched through the stone, ripping it free as her body cartwheeled through the empty space beyond, I reappeared behind her, grabbing her out of the air and flinging her back through the hole. She arced out of the dungeon like a bloody comet, right before I appeared in front of her once more and snatched her ankle.
As her body’s momentum pulled uselessly against the strength of my grip and her entire body snapped like a whip, I dropped her on the ground. She lay there a bleeding broken heap as I leaned over her until my face encompassed the whole of her vision.
“The Dark General I fought almost killed me in one blow. He moved so fast I could scarcely react.” I bent down and picked her up before throwing her over my shoulder because there was no way she could walk right now. “What do you think would have happened to you?”
3
“The Devil needs a medic,” I said, tossing Lucifer on the ground in front of Sally’s shop. At the sound of my voice, I heard rustling inside, and then Sally appeared in the doorway wearing a nightgown that left little to the imagination.
It was a touch strange because I’d actually had sex with her several times before, but the sight of her standing there in clothing so sheer I could make out her nipples took my breath away for a second, making me forget what the hell I was doing.
Fortunately, actions spoke louder than words.
“What happened?” Sally squealed, dropping to her knees in front of me and gathering Lucifer in her arms. “She’s been beaten to shit. How could this happen?” Her eyes turned to me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, shaking myself into action as the sound of people bustling around me filled my ears, and I realized that several of Sally’s medical apprentices were staring at me through the windows.
“Good,” Sally said, getting to her feet. “Help me get her inside.”
“Right,” I said, grabbing Lucifer by the ankle and dragging her unconscious body inside the room. “Where do you want her?”
“Arthur! You can’t carry her around like that. She’s hurt.” Sally stared at me, mouth hanging open as more of her medics appeared all around us. Only none of them ventured any closer. All of them hung back, which seemed odd. Shouldn’t they be coming to help?
“Right, sorry.” I nodded to Sally as I slung Lucifer back over my shoulder, causing her chin to bounce off my back. “Where do I take the patient?”
“Over here,” Sally said after a moment. She turned and gestured toward a bed at the far end before fixing her gaze on a pair of angels standing beside the far door. “You two, prepare the ointments.” Her gaze flicked to a demoness beside the cabinet to the right. “Marla, go get Michelle. She should know what happened.”
The demoness nodded once before racing past us and disappearing outside like she couldn’t wait to be gone. I watched her go for a second, and as I did, I realized I hadn’t known her name. It was strange because I thought I knew everyone …
Shaking off the odd feeling that I was slacking, I laid Lucifer gently on the bed and stared at her. I hadn’t even realized how badly I’d beaten her. Her entire face was one big bruise, and I could tell her arms and legs were broken because they shouldn’t have bent that way. It made me feel bad even though I knew she’d heal. I’d done this to her to prove a point, and it made me feel bad.
Only there had been no other way to make her understand. She’d have never believed how strong I was otherwise. That couldn’t be allowed to stand any longer.
“Jenny, can you see to the patient? I want to talk to Arthur.” I didn’t hear the girl’s response because Sally was grabbing me by the arm and ushering me outside.
“Hey, I can walk on my own,” I said as we got outside. Overhead the skies of Heaven were crystal clear, and I could almost feel the faux moonlight coming from above. I knew it wasn’t real because there wasn’t a moon, but sometimes, ignorance was bliss.
“I know.” Sally met my eyes, and I could tell she was pissed. “I also know there was no clarion call, no trumpet blast.” She looked me up and down. “How did this happen?”
“I got you moss.” I held out the sack I’d had in my left hand. “For your ointment.”
“Moss?” she looked at the bag in confusion. “You went to the dungeon?”
“I took the dungeon from the Darkness.” I ran my free hand through her hair, brushing it behind her ear. “For you.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.” She looked at her feet and bit her lip. “It got Lucifer so hurt …” She shook her head.
“Oh, that was after.” I shrugged. “She came to scold me, and I taught her a lesson.”
“Wait, what?” Sally’s eyes snapped to mine, and I could see the complete and utter confusion in them. “You did that to Lucifer?”
“Yeah…” It was my turn to be embarrassed. “I didn’t realize I’d beaten her up so bad. I kind of feel bad about it now.”
“How could you do that?” Sally asked, mouth agape. “She’s broken almost all her bones.”
“Well, that was probably from when I threw her through a wall …” I rubbed my chin. “Or could have been when I slammed her into the ground by her ankle.” I looked at Sally sheepishly. “Maybe a combination?”
“What?” She waved her hand at me. “That wasn’t what I meant. I meant, how could you do it to Lucifer? Like … she’s so strong.”
“She’s not. That was what happened. She was prattling on about how I shouldn’t get you moss or whatever, and I lost it.” I put my hands on my hips. “Everyone just tells me I’m weak, and I’m not.” I resisted the urge to flex. “I’m practically a god.”
“But it’s Lucifer.” Sally shook her head instead of saying more. “Does this have to do with what you and Wrath saw?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “When I was in the dungeon, I fought one of the Generals. He nearly killed me.” I touched my chest. “Me.” I took a deep breath. “I’m scared, Sally.” I sighed. “I guess I took that out on Lucifer, but at the end of the day, no one gets it.”
“Wrath gets it.” Sally looked at me. “And if you say it’s
that bad, I believe you. We all believe you.”
“There’s belief and belief. Lucifer thought I was crazy, so does Michelle, even though the only other person conscious at the time has sealed herself in a mountain full of dwarves and has been making siege weapons for months. Sathanus doesn’t even talk to people anymore. She just trains, and yet no one takes that seriously.”
“We do take it seriously,” Michelle said, her voice a harsh clip from behind me, and as I turned, I saw the Archangel of Justice staring at me with fury in her eyes. “You keep saying we don’t get it, that you’re strong, but we get it.”
“You don’t. Otherwise, Lucifer wouldn’t have chastised me for getting moss.” I shoved the sack of moss into Sally’s hands. “Go fix Lucifer. I have a feeling I’m gonna get yelled at for a while.”
Sally gave me a long look before nodding. Then she moved back inside her shop, leaving me alone with Michelle.
“Arthur, this has to stop.” Michelle took a quick step toward me. “It just has to stop. You can’t keep running off in the middle of the night and—”
“No, what needs to stop is you telling me what to do.” I gestured at the Heavenly city. “I told you to get this finished as quickly as possible to finish the Rebuild Heaven achievement, but no one is working.”
“We just finished the Outfit the Troops achievement—”
“Do you think the Darkness cares about that? No, they’re working to kill us, and we can’t even get a fucking night shift?” I stepped closer to Michelle. “Get people working right now, or I swear to God I’m going to lose my mind. You say you take me seriously, but there’s no night shift.” I crossed my arms. “Prove you care what I think.”
“Arthur, we just don’t have the people for that, nor the resources.” She reached out and touched my arm, and the feel of her was strangely comforting. “You know that.”
“You’re making me feel unreasonable, but I know we have people down in Hell building shit. Whole guilds of people doing stuff.” I pointed toward the closest building. It was barely a frame, but I knew it supposed to be another barracks. Only, for the moment, it stood out like a skeleton thanks to its lack of walls. “Get them here and have them start building things.”
“We can’t do that …” Michelle sighed. “Lucifer is still wrangling Hell in.”
“I’m going to be crystal clear, Michelle.” I met her eyes and took a step toward her. The Archangel didn’t flinch away, but she should have. “I’m going to go take a shower. When I am done, people better be working, and if they are not, I will go down below, and I will make them do as I say by force. It will not be fun. Do you understand?”
“Arthur, that will undo all the good work Lucifer has done down there. Mammon will throw a fit, and Gwen—”
“Go see Lucifer.” I pointed toward Sally’s shop. “I flicked her between the eyes. That was it. She’ll confirm it.” I dropped my hand to my side and stepped past the archangel. “Get people working by the time I’d done with my shower.”
4
I leaned my head against the cool, lacquered wood panels of the shower as hot water cascaded down my back. It was so hot I could see steam rising all around me, but I almost couldn’t feel it. It had been a long time since hot and cold bothered me with little more than passing sensation. Hell, it’d been a long time since I’d felt anything besides fear.
That was so ever present I could almost forget about it. I’d come to find myself in a constant state of either fear or fury. There wasn’t a lot of room in between, and the really annoying thing was how hard it was for me to try to train through it. After all, I could punch a hole in a mountain and bench press a whale. Who could I train with to beat the Generals?
I had to dial myself down when I fought with the girls that I knew I wasn’t improving.
It made me wonder what Dred was doing and why he hadn’t attacked again. Was he licking his wounds? Preparing a new onslaught? What was his plan?
I slammed my fist against the wall, splintering the wood, and letting a rush of heat out of the tiny stall. Thankfully there was no one else in the showers, so I didn’t spoil someone’s privacy. Only as I withdrew my hand from the hole and stared at it, I wished I’d not done it. Now someone would have to repair the shower. That would waste more time.
Shutting my eyes, I thought back to the encounter with the Dark General. He had been so strong, so powerful, and I wasn’t sure how to catch up to him. I did know one thing though. If I wanted to fight him, I needed all my armaments at full strength. With that, maybe I could do something even if we’d yet to locate Belial or Jophiel.
That thought made me furious. We should have been able to find the pair, but we hadn’t, and even my brief forays into the Darkness to try to find a clue had come up empty.
“Arthur? Are you in there?” Michelle asked, and as I heard her voice, I sighed. She was pretty much the last person I wanted to talk to about my frustrations because out of everyone, she believed me the least.
“If you’re not here to tell me people are working, I’m not interested.” I shut my eyes and put my face into the spray, so I didn’t hear her response. Instead, I felt the shift in the air as the shower door opened behind me.
Then I felt her hands on me, running down my chest as her nails ran down my flesh …
Only, Michelle didn’t have long nails, and she certainly didn’t touch me like this. Not ever. Okay, there had been that one time when she was drunk, but ever since then, she’d seemed completely uninterested in what I had between my legs.
That wasn’t the case now.
“My, my, what do we have here?” she whispered, hand cupping me as her lips moved to my neck.
“What are you doing?” I asked, reaching down to grab her hand. Only as I touched her, I realized it wasn’t Michelle’s hand. There were no battle scars, no callouses. Nothing like that.
No, these were the hands of someone who had never seen battle before. I knew because my hands had once looked like those.
I whirled, my left hand lashing out to grab her by the throat. As my thumb and fingers dug behind her trachea and closed off her air supply, she tried to pull away, but I stopped that nonsense by slamming her into the wall, cracking the wood.
“Who are you?” I asked as my eyes raked over the naked angel while she struggled to pry my hands away. She wouldn’t be able too. That was already obvious.
“Answer me.” I released her just enough for her to catch her breath.
She sucked in a breath, tears filling her eyes as hot water cascaded down my back and hit the ground between my feet before swirling in the drain.
“I’d hoped to make our acquaintance more pleasurable,” she replied after finally catching her breath. As she spoke, she drew her hand down herself, drawing my eye to her naked body. She was short, maybe five feet tall, with flame-red hair and bone-white skin. Her face was a smattering of freckles, and her eyes were green flecks of emerald.
“I’m not in the mood for games,” I said, jerking her toward me until we were eye to eye. “I may not remember the name of everyone in here, but I’m good enough with faces to know I’ve not seen yours here before. Who are you?”
“I’d forgotten how fast the Builder could be.” She licked her lips, ignoring my question. “Nor how interesting.” Her eyes flicked to my crotch. “You’re even bigger than Dred.”
“Great.” I narrowed my eyes even though that made me feel a bit better. I had a bigger penis than the Destroyer. “Now, I’m definitely killing you.”
“Why is that?” She arched a red eyebrow while dropping one hand down across her body. “Do I not please you, Builder?”
“You said I’m bigger than Dred, which means you know him intimately—”
“Many an angel has known Dred intimately.” She looked me over again. “I’m not sure why you are surprised by that.”
“Okay.” I shook my head. “I thought it was a more recent thing.” I exhaled slowly. “Explain why you are here and who you are.” I
waggled my free hand. “Clock is ticking. Once this water gets cold, I’m leaving, and then we’ll see how Michelle and Lucifer feel about you.”
At the mention of the leaders of Heaven and Hell, the angel’s eyes darkened. So … they wouldn’t be pleased she was here.
“I wish to make you an offer, to make you powerful enough to stop the Dark Generals.” Her eyes glinted mischievously as she held out her hand. “Hear me out entirely before you decide. That is all I ask. If you find my words lacking, I will accompany you to see my sisters.”
I stared at her hand for a long moment, and many questions ran through my mind. Why was this naked angel here talking to me? Who was she? But more than that? I wanted to know how she could help me when no one else seemed to be able to do it. No. I wanted to know how she knew about the Dark Generals when even the Archive had come up empty.
“Okay, tell me.” I shook her hand even though it felt like I was making a deal with the Devil. The thought almost made me laugh.
“Let me start with introductions.” She did a small bow, revealing a spot on the back of her neck where she was marked by Dred. “I am Jophiel, Archangel of Wisdom.”
“You’re definitely ballsy,” I said, looking at her. “Coming to me like this after you gave Heaven to Dred. You know, I’ve been looking for you, right?” I pointed to her neck where she shared her mark with Dred. “I want that.”
“And in time, I will gladly give it to you, but for now, you must let me set things right.” She took a step forward and placed a hand on my chest where I bore the mark of Uriel, Archangel of Forgiveness.
“You can speak all you want. You’re not strong enough to escape me.” I shrugged and leaned back against the wall. My movement caused the spray of the shower to hit her breasts full on, which was rather delightful if I had to say so myself.
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