“Are you threatening me, Pride?” the King of Hell growled.
I plucked a feather from my wing and tossed it into the air. With a little help from my element, it sailed toward Baal. He caught it, opened his claws, and frowned at the pristine feather on his palm.
“A promise,” I said, careful to add the hint of a knowing smile. “Not a threat.”
The chamber where the queen had been sealed inside had no windows. Only one heavily glyphed door barred the way in or out. I hung back, not wanting to accidentally unlock the door and release chaos. The first and last time I had seen her, she had been a little girl—a half-blood girl with the terrible gift of the chaos element. Dawn, that was her name. She was likely a woman now. Her fate was sealed from birth. Chaos must be controlled. In the human world, Gem had killed her brother rather than let chaos loose. Here, it wasn’t as simple. The elements were wilder in the netherworld, not layered and ordered like in the human world. Without a queen to stabilize this world, chaos would weaken the veil. When chaos reigned, the veil would fall. But if the veil was sentient, that changed everything, didn’t it? The old ways, the old laws, did they apply anymore?
Turning away from the queen’s chamber, I wandered the fortress. Little had changed. Demons didn’t change, at least not officially. I knew that to be a well-kept secret and a lie. Demons could change. I was evidence of that. Perhaps the only evidence if the king refused to help. I had hoped he would recall what it meant to be human and find compassion inside that demon head of his. If I was wrong, where else could I turn?
I entered the courtyard and stopped. Mammon’s rippling outline scorched the air inside the portcullis. He faced the bridge as though considering venturing into the wilds beyond. From my slightly elevated angle, all I saw were his pointed bat-like wings bunched against his back.
I had much to hate him for. He had taken everything from me and then mutilated my wings with his fire. For that, there would be no reconciliation. Ever. If justice existed, he would have died during the Fall, and yet here he was. The desire for vengeance came back stronger than ever. The last three years were forgotten, and I was back in the throne room. Chaos had surged around us. Half-bloods and demons had tried to save the worlds then, but I’d only had one thing on my mind: revenge. In the chaos, I had planned to kill Mammon. But it hadn’t happened like that. He knew my mind, knew my plans, and in one horrible, blinding moment, he had struck. Fire had washed over my wings, lighting them up. My beautiful wings…
Lessers shrieked into an approaching dusk, breaking me out of the memory.
Mist curled and licked across the courtyard. And Mammon stood, as still as stone, burning off the mist where it dared touch his black lava-veined skin.
“The king must not leave this fortress,” Mammon said. His voice was stone grinding on stone. Startled winged lessers took flight and cawed high above.
There were no other higher demons in the courtyard. Just him and me.
“If he leaves his throne, another will take his place.” He turned, black eyes rimmed with crimson flame.
“You, perhaps?” I started forward. I would appear weak if I didn’t approach while he addressed me. My wings naturally opened, responding to the threat. I shrugged them back into place, trailing them behind me instead. I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing anything he could interpret fear.
His lips tightened, revealing hints of sharp teeth. “I have no designs to rule this world, Pride.”
“No, you want to be king of the human world.”
He huffed a disgruntled snort. “That was your desire, not mine.”
“Then why take it from me?”
“Your influence on their lives was too great. Humans are better left alone to their own devices.”
“Was that all?”
“And I do not like you.” His predatory smile grew.
“That’s not it.” I stopped beside a mound of toppled stones that had once been a well. “You’re Greed. You wanted what I had, and when you couldn’t have it, you took it from me anyway.”
“I was Greed. Now I am… just demon.”
Of all the demon princes, Mammon was the most dangerous. The fact he was alive while the rest of the old Court had perished said a great deal. His games could last hundreds of years. His words were often lies upon lies spoken with a silver tongue. For a beast that looked as though he could bring down towers with his claws alone, he was notoriously subtle and sly. I wasn’t buying his humble act. He was here, in this fortress, close to the king for a reason. He always had a self-serving reason, and he was always three steps ahead of every demon.
“Should I pity you?” I asked.
He lunged. I’d been expecting it, else I might not have shifted into air in time. His claws sailed through where my neck had been moments before. He twisted, wings flinging open, scattering hot embers into the air—into me. Fire lanced through parts of my elemental cloud. Heat threatened to boil me to nothing. The ghost of pain flashed across my phantom wings—a memory of the time he had stripped me raw. Never again. I twisted in, tightening around his neck, choking off his air.
Mammon heaved his great wings back and beat down, blasting me with hot embers. Against the superheated onslaught, my grip slipped. I unraveled again and swept around him. From behind, I fell into a crouch, spread my wings, and summoned a storm of netherworld air. Burn this. A squall washed in over the battlements and tore across the courtyard. Crouched low, the wave flowed over me and struck Mammon’s open wings like wind hooking into a ship’s sails. The blast lifted him off his feet and slammed him into a wall. I yanked it all back under my control. The wind dropped. Dust and debris pummeled the ground, my back, and my shoulders.
Mammon landed on his feet, wings bowed, veins alight. He snarled and shook his head, dislodging dust and dirt from his horns.
“How did you get through the veil?” he demanded, rising to his full height.
“With help.”
“TELL ME.” He stalked forward, each step thundering through the ground.
“So you can steal my life again? Do you think I am a mindless lesser you can throw around? I am the Prince of Pride.” I flared my wings and bared my teeth. “I am magnificence made flesh. You are nothing but an animal pining over his mistakes. There’s no going back for you, Greed!”
Fire flashed in his eyes and danced along the trailing edges of his wings.
A growl erupted—not from Greed, but from the king bearing down on us. The terrible sound trembled through my bones and plucked on ancient strings of command. There was a larger threat than Greed. My enemy and I recoiled, pulling back, tucking our wings in to make ourselves small.
Baal towered over us. “Enough!”
I shot Mammon a glare filled with warning. His top lip curled.
“I said enough!” Baal huffed. He hadn’t bothered to open his wings. Didn’t need to. Once he was satisfied we weren’t about to tear into each other, he turned, tail sweeping through the debris our battle had scattered. “To the throne room, both of you. Now.”
Chapter 22
“Had it been any other demon, I would have refused.” Baal was standing at his table. Glyphs bobbed close to its surface, rising to their king’s touch. “But for all your faults, Pride, you have strengths most demon-kind lack. I believe you. And I agree, we must do something. But I am our queen’s guardian. Her respite must not be disturbed. The elements of this world are too precarious for me to leave her side.”
Most wouldn’t have noticed the king’s pause, but I had, and wondered if it might be regret. Regret for his actions, regret for the life he had abandoned, or regret being his queen’s jailor? I couldn’t know for sure. Perhaps it was all those things. He was trapped here, not unlike his queen, bound by his duty to protect what was left of this dead world. I pitied him like I pitied all demons. They were stuck at an evolutionary dead end I had avoided.
Mammon, a savage beast at the best of times, was the prime example. He stood at opposite end of the table, arms crossed and
wings tucked in, shedding an angry beat of heat. I would be glad to be rid of him once back in LA.
Baal had fallen silent. Head bowed, he watched the glyphs swim beneath the table’s surface. “These markings are how I learned to control the elements of this world. Perhaps they will help you.”
With a sweep of his hand, he pushed power through the table. Mammon staggered, fell forward, and grunted from an unseen impact. Glyphs were painted across his arms, chest, and on the inside of his wing membranes. They throbbed like dying embers, then stilled on his skin. The shadow of agony passed across Mammon’s face, but he bore the pain silently.
I knew where this was going and fought to hide a snarl. “He cannot return with me.”
“We have no choice,” Baal countered.
“I refuse to take him.”
“Pride,” the king sighed. “Did you not promise to see this through? Not a threat, you said. There is more at stake than your pride.”
I lifted my chin. “I would prefer to take the mad queen than that beast.”
“The mad queen,” Baal said, his voice low, “is not a solution.”
I turned to Baal, ignoring Mammon’s glare. “Chaos may be the only way—”
The king’s wings flexed. “Chaos can never be freed again, no matter the cost. You know this. Mammon is what I am giving you. He is all I can spare. He has guarded my reign, and now he guards the elements in yours.”
Why did it have to be Mammon? “The veil demon will corrupt his mind.”
Mammon finally spoke up. “Many have died trying.”
He didn’t understand. Neither of them did. But that was the risk I’d taken in coming here. I needed help, and the king was giving me Mammon. I couldn’t decide if this was a nightmare or a punishment. “You trust my words, Baal, then trust this: Mammon will seize power for himself. He cannot be trusted with this. He is greed. He will take what isn’t freely given. That is all he knows.”
Baal bowed his head. He missed Mammon’s smirk in my direction. By the Court, I would kill him. I certainly couldn’t work with him. I couldn’t take him back with me. It would be like adding fuel to fireworks.
“Why can’t you see him as he really is?” I demanded of Baal.
“Do you believe demons can change, Pride?” he asked.
“No.”
“And yet you are evidence of exactly that, are you not?”
I laughed. “I’m different.”
He smiled as though humoring a child. “You are not the only one.”
I tilted my head at the king. Was he implying Mammon was more than demon? Had Mammon fooled the king with his games? Did he not see Mammon’s act?
“I remember what it is to be human,” Baal admitted. “I remember regret. I wish I didn’t. Mammon, though he’ll deny it, remembers as well. I wonder if such things are the way forward for our species, a way to heal our land, but until then, you must use that human thinking of yours, Li’el, and trust that Mammon will help.”
That was unlikely. “Why would he help if not for his own gain?”
Baal straightened. “Why do you hope to save those people?”
“I do not wish to see them perish. I do not wish to see my city fall. After everything they have achieved, all that they have strived for, I cannot bear to see it turned to dust.” Anna had fought for LA. Just one person and she had wanted to do anything and everything. Humans had their faults, but most were good, and strong, and proud, and brave, and so many good things. “No, I can’t lose them.”
The king smiled a slow, thoughtful smile. “You are more alike than you realize.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then your pride will seal the fate of a civilization.”
Condemn them? No, I’d already made mistakes. I couldn’t let this be another. “Mammon.” I reluctantly lifted my glare and pinned it on Mammon’s smug face. “Can I trust you?”
“You may trust me to do what is right.”
Right for whom? For you?! “All right. But if he so much as puts a claw out of place, I will tear the air from his lungs and send him back here with the veil demon close behind.”
Baal grunted. “Go, and for all our sakes, refrain from killing each other until this veil demon is dealt with.”
Chapter 23
The City of Angels had fallen.
There had been a time when I’d only felt the need to thrive and be admired. Life had been easy then. But I had changed. Living among people had changed me. And now, I stood on the hillside beside the Hollywood sign with my heart had been ripped out.
“Were there people down there?” Mammon asked, stepping toward the rocky edge. His wings had sagged, and the glow of his veins had dulled. I couldn’t see his face, but I didn’t need to. He had once coveted this world, wanting it for himself. Greed. He felt the loss too.
“Yes.”
“Was it this way when you left?”
“No… This is…” The tower the veil god had constructed covered LA’s entire footprint. It rose out of the earth, jagged and cutting. Atop, a crown jutted just like the crown of horns on her head. Nothing of LA remained. Mammon and I looked down at a scene more netherworldly than earthly.
How long had I been gone?
“It’s a fortress,” Mammon hissed. “A seat of power.”
My city is gone… The endless chatter, the sweet heat, and the beautiful people… so many people…
Mammon’s veins flared brighter and hotter, lighting his wings like slow-moving lightning across a dark sky. “The king and queen came first. Baal built his fortress and crafted the glyphs to control and shape the elements. Next came the higher demons to wield those elements. Princes, Baal named them. This…” He swept claws toward the scene. “She is creating her own world. This is… magnificent.”
Magnificent? I knew that look. Greed wanted what he saw.
I pulled my claws into fists. It took everything I had not to shove him off the cliff. “Baal says I can trust you. Don’t prove your king wrong.”
Mammon turned, amused by my words. He gestured at the markings scarring his chest. “I bear his marks. My loyalties are clear.”
I ruffled my wings. “All that means is you have Baal where you want him.”
“We have unfinished business, you and me. But Baal is right in one thing: I do not wish to see this world fall. Do you agree to put our differences aside until this is over?”
“You wish to strike a deal with the devil, Mammon?”
I extended my hand in the human custom. Mammon extended his, but as he did, he sparked the transformation that peeled open his demon aspect, shrugging off his coal-like skin and horns, and pulled all of him into the body of a human male. The hand that closed around mine was bronze-skinned and soft. An act, of course, but one that was as well-crafted as mine. A man made of dark eyes and promising smiles, packaged in a tailored suit. I was looking at the kind of man my city would have showered with attention. He blended in better than I ever did. I was designed to stand out and be admired. His human guise lured his victims close with suave sophistication. I knew Mammon’s human vessel well, having seen it many times over the centuries. Seeing it now only reminded me of how dangerous he was.
“A deal with the devil,” Mammon said, but his voice was smooth, his words precise. No longer Mammon, this act, this lie, was Akil Vitalis.
He allowed a slight smile to lift the corner of his mouth. Nothing about his design was accidental, and Baal’s comment bobbed to the surface of my thoughts. You are more alike than you realize.
The king’s markings peaked out from under Akil’s shirt collar. A reminder and a warning.
We shook. “A deal.” For all his word was worth.
He nodded once and released my hand. “Where do we begin?”
“With a spy.”
As air, I scouted ahead and confirmed the veil demon’s house was empty. There was no way of knowing how long it had been vacant, but the wall that had once been windows was just a hole. The mountainous tower sprouti
ng from LA’s ruins blocked the light, casting shadows. If Torrent was inside that tower, finding him wouldn’t be easy.
“Where are the human military responses? They have formidable weapons.” Mammon—Akil stopped at the gaping hole and scanned the scene below. “I see no evidence of any human intervention.”
“LA was quarantined. The authorities evacuated some, then pulled out of the city. After the Fall, they learned to cut and run. Anyone who stayed was left on their own. That’s when I…” When I was released. Akil didn’t need to know the details of my recent imprisonment. Admitting it would reveal how weak I had been without the Court. “When Anna asked for help.”
“Anna?” Akil inquired, turning his gaze my way. Behind his cool expression, he was likely peeling apart my level tone, rooting out the emotion beneath.
“A friend.” Ask me any more questions and our deal is forfeit.
Akil didn’t push and instead sunk into his own melancholy silence. I stood beside my enemy and assessed the destruction we faced. Was I truly going to battle the most powerful demon of all time with my greatest enemy at my side?
“I would like to ask you something.” His words had softened with what almost sounded like longing. Like me, Mammon, as demon or man, crafted his voice, his tone, and every word to suit him. Akil knew exactly how to wield the words like weapons. “And given what we’re facing, the opportunity may not present itself again.”
“Then ask.”
“Muse.” The name sounded like a hurdle, like it hurt him to speak it. Curious. “Is she…” He swallowed, drilling his glare into the tower. “Well?”
Muse was the half-blood I had left Gem with in Boston. She had a history with Akil. A long and complicated history that had abruptly ended when the veil was sealed, trapping Mammon in the netherworld. She had as many reasons to hate him as I did, yet here he was, asking after her. Probably for his own nefarious reasons.
I considered twisting the truth, but it had been too long since I’d played demon games and found I had no appetite for deception. “She is well.”
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