by Auryn Hadley
I grabbed the last two fingers on his hand and squeezed. "Promise. I also know how to go home."
"I'll make sure Bel knows." This time, he did the squeezing before he pulled away, gesturing for Bel to carry Nick wherever Mammon led.
I shifted closer to Luke. The two of us were the outsiders here, and it was impossible to miss that. His golden skin and feathered wings. My boring human appearance. Both of us stood out like sore thumbs, but Azrael didn't seem to mind at all. Instead, he offered me his arm like a polite gentleman. When Luke nodded, I finally accepted, letting the red demon lead me deeper into the mouth of this strange place. Unfortunately, we weren't going the same way they'd taken Nick.
I knew he'd be ok. They swore he couldn't die, so at worst he'd just lose consciousness and sleep for a really long time. That didn't mean I liked it. That was my man back there, who'd taken the hit meant for me. The sprite that had torn him apart had been thrown at me, but I'd given the angels raw power. No matter how hard I tried to push that aside and keep going, panic and worry kept twisting in my gut.
"This," Azrael said, oblivious to my inner turmoil, "is Hell, as I'm sure you've been told. Just like the angels have a city named Heaven, it's where most of our people congregate, but it's really just a city. Ours happens to be built into the side of a cliff."
Burrowed out of one was more accurate. The halls of this place were huge, rounded at the top, and completely solid. There were no windows, no doors that I could see, and only a strange illumination that leached from the stone. As the number of bodies around us thinned out, I tried to look closer and Azrael noticed.
"It's a bioluminescent bacteria, or close enough for that word to work for you. What little aether makes it into the atmosphere is ingested by these things, so it serves two purposes. The first, of course, is light. Secondly, we're able to use it as a battery in the event we run out of other sources."
"Right." I filed that in the back of my head. "And where are we going?"
"My rooms... I suppose you'd call it a suite. Because of the weather, most of us prefer to live deep underground, so we all keep rooms here. Then there are those who live outside Daemin, like your friends. We have guest rooms for when they return, but many of those are taken with the unconscious. Have your friends explained that to you?"
"No aether, no wakey. Yeah. That's why we need to get Nick some help."
Azrael glanced down at me. "There is no extra aether here, and I'd rather we talk about the rest in my room, child." With a smile, he patted my hand on his arm.
Yeah, that really was as creepy as it sounded. This demon acted like an elderly grandfather but he sure didn't look like one. To my eye, he appeared no older than Sam or Nick, maybe in his mid to late twenties, but I knew that didn't mean anything. He'd been around since the dawn of time, just like they had, yet my brain refused to accept the idea of someone so young as my father, let alone great-grandfather.
After a few more turns, I finally saw the doors that had been missing from the other hall. Azrael went to the first one on the left and pressed his hand to the center. I heard a click just before he nudged it open and gestured for me to go first. I did, half expecting some kind of trap.
Instead, I found a beautiful room filled with furniture I couldn't begin to describe. Nothing was quite like what we had on Earth, yet all of it was close enough to be recognizable. Then again, it made sense. Chairs with backs wouldn't work with wings like these guys had, nor would couches. The tables were taller, but so were the chairs. The one thing I didn't see was a bed. It actually made me feel better about being in here.
"Make yourselves comfortable," Azrael said, heading to a counter at the side. "I'm sure you won't find our water palatable, but maybe wine? Ale? Um..." He opened one of the doors and rummaged inside. "Pamplin juice?"
"She'd like that," Luke said.
I gave him a shocked look. "I will?"
"From Vesdar. Sorta like kiwi juice, if I had to describe it."
"Sure." I looked up and accepted the glass Azrael offered. It was chilled, as if the beverage inside had been refrigerated. Interesting.
Luke got something else that was a lot thicker and almost golden colored. "Wine?" I asked.
"No. It's made from rotten leaves. They call it tariklak." He took a sip and sighed like it tasted good. "We do things a little different when we can't grow the organisms to ferment our drinks."
"Oh." Well, ok. I guess that made sense, but it sure sounded disgusting. "And it's good?"
Luke offered the glass. I put mine on the table beside me and sniffed at his, then took the smallest sip. Surprised, both of my eyebrows shot up and I took a bigger one before handing it back. The drink was very natural-flavored, almost like lemon water, being neither sweet nor sour. Curious now, I reclaimed mine and repeated the process. If anything, it tasted more like honeydew melon juice than kiwi, but yes, it was very good.
"So," Azrael finally said as he eased himself into a monstrosity of a chair. "Who thought it was a good idea to bring the Muse to Daemin?"
Talk about cutting through the bullshit. Damn. Evidently, behind closed doors, Azrael didn't mess around. "That was Nick," I explained. "It seems I'm in a little danger out there."
"And you might be in even more here." He gestured to the far wall. "Out there are almost two hundred desperate demons who know we're losing this war. You think they won't sell you off for a few centuries of peace?"
"You really think the angels will follow through with any of their promises?" I countered. "Because I don't."
We both looked to Luke. "Don't ask me," he hissed. "I fell out of favor over there a long time ago."
"Well, believable offer or not," Azrael told me, "some of these guys would risk it. Besides, it's not like they'd lose anything."
"Except the one person who can seal the angels on their own world," I pointed out.
Azrael paused, his eyes growing a little larger. "I'm sorry. What?"
"Sam – er, Samyaza – said that was a dream around here, to lock the angels away so this crap would stop."
"Yes, but how exactly would you do that?"
Luke gently touched my knee, halting what I was about to say. "I want to hear more about your connection to Sia before she answers that."
Azrael chuckled. "Of course. I'm afraid I won't be able to convince you completely, because what little I know only barely convinced me, but I'll tell you what I've been told." He leaned forward, letting his wings relax behind him, and flicked his tail into his lap. "About five thousand years ago, give or take, I used to vacation on Vesdar. It's a close hop from here, and having so much available water is amazing. Well, I met the most impressive woman." His starry gaze dropped to the ground and he smiled at the memory. "Her hair was as dark as a shadow but her eyes were as brilliant as the tropics on Earth. It took me nearly seventy-five years to convince her I was serious."
"To sleep with her," Luke clarified. "Azrael's English is a bit antiquated, and I'm willing to guess he doesn't know most modern colloquialisms."
"Gotcha." I gestured for the demon to keep going.
"Lucifer is right, but the point is, my attentions eventually brought us a child. A little boy. We named him Therion, and he had a scarlet mane and his mother's blue-green eyes. Oh, he was the light of my life for many centuries, but about fifteen hundred years ago, the angels came. I thought he'd died and mourned him with the loss of his mother. That is, until I got a message."
"How?" Luke asked. "From who?"
"I don't know from whom, but it was left on Kacira's grave. Just a small bit of weaving that told me my line had continued on Angelis, and if I wanted to know more, to leave my mark."
"Mark?" I asked.
Luke tapped his chest. "The innermost symbol."
"It's a signature that can't be faked," Azrael explained. "Well, of course I did, and came back the very next day. This time, it gave me a location on Earth. Now, I have no idea how long that message had been waiting for me, since I don't leave Daemin of
ten, but of course I went to the spot. I expected to find an angel, or maybe another demon. What I did not expect was a common human house with a few dozen foster children running around the yard."
I sucked in a breath because I remembered that. "I was like eight!"
"Yes, and I recognized you immediately. That long, elegant neck of yours is proof that your ancestor was a satyr. Sadly, I don't know what came after my son was taken, but the message said Therion was your grandfather. Needless to say, I did what I could to make sure you were treated well and raised properly, but I'm not a skilled smith or a warrior to make anyone obey. I'm just a politician here, and that doesn't help much on Earth."
"So you just left me?" I asked.
Azrael shrugged. "What did you want me to do, child? Bring you to live in Hell? No, these demons would have been too tempted. Never mind that I saw your power. Even at that age, you were a natural with the type of physics humans don't even believe exist. No, I tried to wean you off it, showing you how to live without the aether you'd already grown to love like an addiction. What else did you think those meditation games were for?"
"My temper," I grumbled. "So why didn't you send a smith to train me?"
He tilted his head slightly. "And show the angels exactly what you are? Let some idiot crush your natural ability with the rules we use in our own workings? No, my plan was to wait a few more years, until after you had your degree, then bribe Ronwe to travel to Earth."
"Who?" I asked.
Luke chuckled. "He's a scholar. A master of aether theory."
"Mm." That sounded rather boring. "Is he as good as Nick?"
The two men beside me shared a look. Azrael shook his head slightly and Luke chuckled, shifting a bit in his chair. "He's got better theory but less practical application," Luke explained. "Nick's made a name for himself with the things he can pull out of his ass when he needs to."
"Lucifer!" Azrael growled. "Language!"
"Not the Middle Ages," Luke shot back. "Trust me, Sia already knows all of those words and isn't afraid to use them."
"Right," I drawled, stopping them before these two could drag this discussion down a path I didn't care about at all. "So you honestly believe you're my great-grandpa? I mean, that would explain why the guys kept saying I was so much like a demon, but what good does it do me? I'm here, with my legion, and I have no intention of just sitting back and watching angels screw up everything I care about. Why does any of this matter?"
"Your legion?" Azrael countered. "Child, legions are for demons."
I lifted my chin and met his darkened eyes. "And you just said I'm part demon. Guess I'm right where I need to be." Then I gulped back another drink of the juice and pushed to my feet. "I need to check on my boyfriend, Gramps. Want to show me the way, or should I just assume Luke knows?"
"I know," Luke assured me, taking his time about standing. "Azrael, give her time to think about this. Sia may be young, but she's not foolish. From her perspective, everyone here is a stranger, and the last thing Nick told her was not to trust anyone."
"Ah," Azrael said as he also stood up. "Well that makes a lot more sense." Then he paused. "Can I at least have a hug, Sienna? Just once, because your kind lives much too fast and I don't want it to be something I regret."
"Your call," Luke said, "but he can't do anything."
Which meant there was no reason not to, so I opened my arms and made the offer. I swear I saw the tension drain from Azrael's body as he stepped into me, pulling me against his broad chest to wrap his arms around my back. Then he bent his head to press against the top of mine, but I didn't expect the wings or tail. It seemed that when a demon hugged someone, they did it completely, and the craziest thing was that it actually felt good. It felt right. Hell, it felt like something I'd spent my entire life wishing for, but I wasn't ready to start playing house with a complete stranger. Not yet.
"Thanks, Gramps," I muttered as I pulled away. "Even if you aren't really my distant relation, it's still nice to think you could be. Weird, but nice."
He chuckled. "Well, after talking with you, I'm more convinced than ever. Go check on your husband, child."
"Uh... boyfriend. We are not married." And I wanted to make it clear that I wasn't Nick's possession.
Azrael's brow furrowed. "But you made it sound as if..."
Luke caught my arm and guided me back. "They do things differently in modern times, Azrael. The first legion is her family, just go with that."
He nodded. "Well, I couldn't think of a finer group of men for her. You all have my blessing."
I opened my mouth to let him know I needed nothing of the sort, but Luke squeezed my arm. Hard. It hurt just enough to make my lips snap closed again as the angel turned me for the door. "I will be sure Satanael knows. Thank you for giving her protection."
"You're welcome, and I do expect you to do the same."
"Of course," Luke promised, but the moment we were through the door he added under his breath, "Just try and stop me from doing anything else."
Chapter 41
"Luke?" I asked when we were a few steps from the door.
He shook his head and pulled me along, stretching his legs just enough that I had to almost skip to keep up. The problem was we weren't going back the way we'd come. Nope, he was taking me deeper into this strange city, and I was pretty sure I'd never find my way out on my own.
"Where are we going?"
"Where the guests are kept. I want to see if they've done anything to Nick yet."
So I put on the breaks, forcing him to stop. "What the hell just happened in there?" I demanded.
He released my arm with a sigh and turned to face me. "You're sleeping with the leader of smiths, publicly claimed by the leader of warriors – Sam – and just got told you're related to the leader of people. Sia, you're basically demon royalty, and that makes you pretty fucking impressive in this place. Considering that you also have tits and a vagina? Every bat-winged hooligan is going to try to force himself on you because most of them haven't figured out how much things have changed in the last two hundred years."
"They'd try to rape me?"
"I sure wouldn't put it past them. Between trying to gain favor with one group or another, lower your defenses so they can whisk you off to trade for peace, or just being dumb enough to want to screw a woman, anything is possible. So can we please go find the rest and get a little backup? In case you missed it, I'm not a native, and most of these guys expect me to betray them."
"Great. So Hell is even more cliquish than high school. Why am I not surprised?"
Luke stepped closer, pulling his wings tight to his body. "They're good people, for the most part. That's why I joined them, but there's always someone willing to cause problems, and you're important enough that I'm not about to take any risks, ok?"
"Yeah, that's going to be a problem, because I need your help." I leaned back so he couldn't grab my arm again. "I told Nick I'd fix this. I'm the one that screwed this up, Luke, but you? You are the only person on this entire planet. Plane? Who can help me."
His head drooped. "What are you planning?"
I scrunched up my nose and looked into his green-flame eyes. "To get a little aether?"
His eyes closed slowly and his chin dropped the rest of the way to land against his chest. "Angelis?"
"Yeah. I'd kinda like to go and come back before Sam and Bel even know we're gone."
"And if we don't come back?"
I stepped closer and grabbed his arms, shaking him slightly. "We're coming back, Luke. If we go now, my sprites will do half our work for us. They just lost a good chunk of angels in the corridor. At least fifty. Those will take a while to get back. My sprites should be making chaos in Heaven. We have to go right now."
"And your peak?" He gestured to my body. "We pulled down your shields, Sia. Anyone who looks at a map can see exactly where you are."
But I'd thought of that, too. "And they won't expect me to be in Angelis. And if I am? Won't they assum
e someone caught me? That's why I think Angelis is the only place I can get the aether. Right under their nose. Luke, we have to try."
He groaned. "Nick's going to break both of my wings for this."
"No, he won't."
"Yes, Sia, he will. He said you're only allowed to reap one soul, then you promised to wait. What you're talking about doing is a lot more than one soul."
I smiled. "Pretty sure trees don't have souls. We got this, Luke. I just need someone to show me around, and maybe watch my back a little. Please? Pretty please, Lucifer?"
The use of his real name worked. Luke sighed and shook his head, but it was with a smile on his lips. "Well," he finally said, offering his hand, "I guess it's a good thing Azrael decided to give us refreshments, because I have a funny feeling you're about to wear my ass out."
"Oh yeah." I slapped my palm against his and did my best to mimic Azrael's way of talking. "Would you please take me to the closest fairy orchard on Angelis, please, good Lucifer."
He tugged me against his chest and wrapped an arm around my back. "Only if you promise to never do that again."
"Swear."
And he stepped back across the veil.
∞∞∞
From Daemin to the corridor was easy. From the corridor all the way to Angelis was a trip that took forever. The only reason I knew we weren't lost was because I could feel Luke's arms around my waist, holding me close. Around me, all I could see were swirls of color, shifting from nearly red all the way to a vibrant yellow, slowly, so I had enough time to enjoy each and every shade before it moved onto the next.
Then, without much warning at all, we stumbled onto the fuchsia grass of Angelis, smack between some giant blue trees. I shook my head, trying to regain my bearings, and looked around before pushing off the ground.
"Don't get close to the trees," Luke warned me. "No matter how much they're fed, they always prefer live meat."
"That's just not right," I muttered, but I didn't move closer. "Where is everyone?"
"This is how it is on the outer worlds. We're at a grove on Uriel's lands. He's the only person I know who won't turn us in on sight. Now you want to tell me what we're doing?"