Raise Hell

by Briana Michaels

  Eve whimpered.

  When the first wolf bit down on her leg and yanked, she screamed out.

  When another ripped the flesh off the side of her thigh, Eve nearly passed out.

  Screaming in terror, she covered her face with her hands. She didn’t want to watch the wolves eat her alive.

  But she felt every. Fucking. Bite.

  “Lucifer!” she screamed. If anyone could save her from this, it would be him. But when one of the wolves bit down on her neck and broke through the skin, Eve’s screams cut off. Keeping her hands over her eyes, she gurgled and panicked and did all she could to focus on Lucifer’s sliver of soul. She didn’t want it gobbled up too.

  Searching deep inside what was left of her body, Eve’s final act of kindness was setting Lucifer’s soul free. She felt it rise up and leave her on a gasp.

  Then the pack started feasting.

  Chapter 62

  It’s done. Lucifer and his brothers turned their backs after Lazarus showed them the final actions they needed to take to lock Michael down for good. Since Lazarus repeatedly said that an Angel like Michael could not be killed, Lucifer figured the next best thing was to lock Michael in a pit so deep, he’d never be able to harm anyone ever again.

  It was a mercy Lucifer would most likely debate on for the rest of his days. But Raphael had other plans for the Angel who’d destroyed the lives of so many brothers. And who was Lucy to deny that Angel his last request?

  Cassian, Jude, and Nikolai tried to convince Raphael to make a different choice, but his mind was made up. “Let him endure his sins, with me as the embodiment of his actions,” Raphael argued. “I am no longer fit for life outside a prison. I fear I’ll only raze what is left of our world with the magics he’s cursed me with.”

  There was no going back. What’s done was done.

  Lucifer should have felt good about it. This was Michael’s fate – to fall from grace at the hands of a Dark Angel. No one ever said he had to die. Besides, sometimes death was too sweet of an end. One needed to suffer for a while, truly reflect on their actions, before they are given peace.

  And deep down, maybe Lucifer didn’t really want to be the one to kill Michael. Fear for his own damnation held him back from acting on many of his instincts – killing Michael would only prove to the other Angels that Lucifer was indeed a deadly monster. They’d never want him around after that.

  The ex-members of the Scourge stormed off together, furious and guilty for leaving Raphael in the pits of darkness and despair with Michael chained for company. Lucifer watched them go and hoped they would forgive him one day for siding with Raphael and granting his wishes.

  “Raphael’s sacrificed so much,” Uriel said quietly.

  “It’s part of the curse Michael put on him I think,” Gabriel looked like death warmed over. “He has no other choice as the keeper of the Scourge’s powers now. To let him out now would mean the destruction of the entire world. He’d never be able to stop until everything was gone.”

  “It’s true,” Lazarus confirmed.

  “Then why could he control himself long enough to obey me?” Lucifer argued.

  “Good question,” Laz clasped his arms behind his back and kept walking. Guess he wasn’t answering it. The shithead.

  “I feel off,” Uriel stopped walking. “Does anyone else feel off?”

  “Think this has something to do with it?” Lucifer swept his hands around the battlefield. “Angels have turned on one another.”

  “It was that or let things stay as they have always been.” Gabriel had zero remorse in his tone. “We were made to protect innocents. That should include protecting innocent Angels from one of their own too.”

  Lucifer couldn’t argue with that.

  “Speaking of which,” Lazarus toed a severed arm on the ground. “How far are you willing to take your protection vows?”

  “All the way,” Lucifer said first. “Whatever must be done, I’ll do it.” He couldn’t speak for the others, but hoped they’d join in.

  And they did. All of them agreed to do whatever it took to make the world safer and better for both Angels and mankind.

  “We need to set the bar,” Gabriel said, “be a good example of true Divine Warriors. I’m not about to have done all this for nothing.” There were a few Angels left, gathering bodies of the fallen, and Gabriel frowned. “Where are the others?”

  “The souls,” Lazarus cocked his head to the side, ignoring Gabe’s question, “They need a containment area. Their energies have become stronger and will continue to grow.”

  Lucifer frowned, “How’s that?” Was Eve in danger of weakening more? Or was it that she was such a strong creature, they’d grown because of her fiery spirit? The idea made his belly warm. Sweet Divinity, he loved her so much.

  “A soul just needs a body,” Lazarus stepped over another of the fallen, “even if it’s no more than a few cells big. Thousands of new souls have come into creation in the past few days.”

  “How?”

  “Desire struck the humans right after it took the Angels. Procreation has become pleasure which has grown in popularity. There’s an increase in new souls as the consequence.”

  “That would explain Eve’s tiredness earlier,” Uriel said. “She must be feeling the drain from her connection between mankind and the Divine. More fucking, more babies, more souls.”

  Shit, they needed to get back to her. Thank the Creator she was safe and away from all this. The last thing Lucifer would ever want was for her to see this kind of carnage – or worse, have been part of it. An ache formed in his chest and he rubbed the space just above his heart.

  Lazarus turned to face them all. “So, containment.”

  “We should separate them,” Gabriel suggested. “The innocents in one, evil in another.”

  Uriel didn’t like it. “What if they’ve done evil things but were generally good?”

  “Give them a space to rethink themselves. Face their sins. Atone somehow, maybe.” Constantine’s blue gaze flicked towards Michael’s imprisonment.

  Talk about changing the structure of the world on the fly….

  “Who will watch over them?” Lazarus pressed.

  “I will,” Lucifer volunteered without hesitation. That the others stalled out should have pissed him off, but he didn’t blame them. They’d been through a lot. More than most. If they didn’t want that kind of responsibility, it was understandable.

  “I’ll help,” Uriel stepped forward.

  “Gabriel, I think you should stay,” Lucifer turned to give the brother his full attention. “You always said your place was here leading the warriors.”

  “There are none left to lead,” Gabe’s harsh laugh held a tremendous amount of regret. “They’re all dead. And where the fuck are the other survivors?”

  “Maybe they left to start fresh on their own,” Lucifer guessed. “I can’t say I blame them.” He’d been trying to do the same this whole time himself. And now, at the final moment, he was actually trying to dig his heels in and stick around because of the pack he’d formed.

  “There will be others,” Lazarus said. “Should you wish to take them on.”

  “We’ll need to provide protection over the living – both Angelic and human,” Lucifer stressed.

  Gabriel puffed out his chest. “I can do that.”

  Lucifer tossed him a smile and hoped Gabriel saw the confidence Lucifer had in him.

  “What should I do?” Constantine asked from afar.

  Holy shit, they were all fucking lost right now. It was like every Angel who survived had lost their way… their purpose…

  “Write our stories,” Lucifer said. And yeah, that answer pissed Con off big time. Lucifer held his hand up to quiet the Angel down, “Listen, according to Lazarus, belief is important. So, write our stories, Con. Whisper them to mankind. Spread word that we are here. I would think,” he turned to get confirmation from Lazarus, “that if we forge a belief system, that will help make all this e
asier.”

  Lazarus nodded.

  “Just one belief for all?” Constantine rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “I don’t like that.”

  “Then let them come up with their own. Just give them bread crumbs… seeds to start with.” Lucifer didn’t have another suggestion so he shut his trap.

  “I feel like something’s not right,” Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. His injuries were healed, but he still looked rough.

  “Me either,” said Uriel.

  Con nodded.

  “We’ve just killed off a lot of Angels, that’s bound to make us all feel some sort of suffering. Plus, we’re missing our girl,” Lucifer said. He didn’t care if that made him sound too attached to Eve or not. It was the fucking truth. She was missing from their pack and her absence left a hollowness in each of them. “Let’s get the fuck out of here and go get her. We’ll set everything up, start containment of souls to keep them from overpowering the human world, then we can be together again.”

  “Together?” Gabriel froze.

  “Yeah, motherfucker,” Lucifer slapped Gabriel’s shoulder, “We’re a pack now. Packs stick together.”

  As they headed off to reunite with their female, Constantine took the lead since he knew where she was. Laz’s wings sagged and dragged on the ground. Lucifer slapped him on the back, “Relax, Laz. We’ve got this.”

  “I know,” the Golden-Winged Angel said.

  “I do have a question for you though,” Lucifer hoped he would answer it. “Why didn’t Michael fight back? If it was me, I’d have not stopped fighting until the bitter end – even if all I had left was one tooth and a foot to use.”

  Lazarus stopped walking and looked up at him, “He couldn’t.”

  “Sure, he could.”

  “No,” Laz shook his head and everyone stopped to listen. “He couldn’t. When the Elders had him in their control, they altered him. He was incapable of fighting back against them. Merri too.”

  All Lucifer heard for a moment was a terrible thud in his chest and felt an icy trickle go down his spine. “That’s why he ruled with fear.” When Lazarus nodded, Lucifer felt sick. “Holy shit, he couldn’t fight back to protect himself against the Elders at all?”

  And that was why Michael put himself in charge of the Protection Sect and was so cruel – to keep everyone in line with respect instilled by fear. It was also why he used others to do his dirty work - because if he was fought against, Michael wouldn’t have been able to defend himself. He also taught the Brotherhood of Angels how to fight, even though he was incapable of leading by example.

  “It was damned if you do, damned if you don’t for him,” Lazarus said. “On one side, Michael was always disappointed in the brotherhood for obeying his every command; on the other side, he was grateful for it. He’d sometimes put you all through the worst trials, hoping it would spark a rebellion, but after a while he got too comfortable with the idea that it would never happen. That he was unassailable. Then greed set in and his need for perfection became an obsession and thus started Michael’s endless desire for a blank slate. After that, came the prophecy of the Dark Angel – the only thing that would bring him down.”

  At some point in this revelation, they all stopped walking.

  “Fuck,” Uriel whispered. “I don’t want to feel like shit right now, but I kinda do.”

  Gabriel growled, “Don’t.”

  “Think of everything he’s done to you, Uri,” Constantine joined in, “Defenseless or not, he was still a cruel Angel with no conscience.”

  Uri nodded, but his wings sagged.

  Lazarus put his arm around the blond Angel, “You’re going to be great at your job.”

  “What’s my job?”

  “Your purpose.”

  “What’s my purpose?”

  “You’ll find it soon,” Lazarus let him go and started walking again.

  Chills zipped down Lucifer’s back. Gabriel’s wings fluttered like he felt it too.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Lucifer shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked at the top of the hill.

  Constantine took off running.

  An Angel crested the hill. It was a female by the shape of her… covered in blood.

  Chapter 63

  “Eve’s dead.” Lilith’s voice trembled. Covered in blood, her wings were wrecked and she looked like she’d been chewed up and spit out.

  “She can’t be.” Lucifer refused to believe it. He’d know, right? He’d fucking know if the love of his life was dead. Wouldn’t he feel it? Get a cold hollowness inside?

  Oh fuck. The world swayed and he struggled to stay upright. All those chills… that sudden emptiness earlier…

  “What happened?” Constantine vibrated with emotions. “How… Where’s Rave? I left her with Rave.”

  “He’s dead too,” Lilith cried. “There was an ambush. Some of the warriors came to the Purity Sect. Rave had...”

  She turned her attention to Lazarus and reached out to grab his hand. “Merri and Michael devised an entire plan to end this world and put all the blame on Lucifer. He was going to capture Luce and Merri was going to take Eve. They planned to lure souls into Lucifer’s cage and force him to devour them all by threating Eve’s life to get him to submit.”

  Constantine’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How do you know all this?”

  Lilith cast her eyes to the ground. “I carry a sliver of Lazarus in me. I’m privy to some knowledge. It just always seems to come a little too late,” she looked up at the Golden-winged Angel, “Take it back. Please.”

  Lazarus didn’t say a word when he bent down and pressed his mouth over hers. His wings glowed blindingly bright and she whimpered. When he pulled away, he whispered something in her ear that caused her to start crying harder.

  Stepping away, he clasped his hands behind his back again and kept quiet.

  “How do you know Eve is dead?” Lucifer remained stiff, “I want proof.”

  “There is little left of her,” Lilith swiped her cheeks. “Warriors from the Protection Sect struck some sort of deal with Merri. They kidnapped Eve and brought her back in exchange for the Purity Sect’s territory to be their new warrior camp,” Lilith hugged herself.

  “Where are the Angels of the Purity Sect now?”

  “Dead.”

  Lucifer’s hands dropped to his sides, “All of them?”

  “Only a dozen or so remain. Too many died trying to defend themselves.”

  Lucifer felt so numb, he could barely speak. Gripping onto denial with white-knuckle fever, he refused to believe a single thing Lilith said until he saw the proof. Eve was strong. Too strong to go down without a lot of fight.

  “Who attacked and took my girl?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. I only heard their voices yelling and laughing from my cell.”

  Something wasn’t right about this. “You knew all that shit, but you don’t know their names?” He called bullshit.

  “The knowledge has been pulled from her,” Lazarus interjected. “Look at her. She was in a battle herself, Lucy.”

  Lucifer gave her a quick once over. Yeah, Lilith was a mess, but still… “Who did you fight, if not the warriors who attacked your sect?”

  “Rave,” she mumbled. “He’d been the one to make the bargain with Merri. Only… his trade was me for Eve.” At least Lilith had the courtesy to look angry over it. “He offered to help you, Constantine, and watch over Eve, so he could hand her over when the other Angels came.”

  “And you killed him for it?”

  “Outside, I could hear so much screaming. Eve, Merri, the males. Shortly after, Rave was put in the cage next to mine – He’d been beaten to a pulp. Once the cell door was locked, Rave went ballistic. I can’t understand what happened. He just… lost himself in an explosion of wrath. Bent the bars and ripped the doors clean off my own cell. I thought he was trying to escape but he…” Lilith paled, her breaths quickened. “He wasn’t himself anymore. I had no cho
ice… I had to defend myself.”

  “It’s true,” Lazarus confirmed. “Rave had his own series of curses laid upon him.”

  “Lies,” Gabriel hissed. “I never placed one on him.”

  Lazarus blazed, “You think you’re the only Angel with that gift?”

  “Damn,” Uriel dropped down on his haunches and gripped the sides of his head. “How did we not know any of this?”

  Lucifer didn’t want to hear anymore. He wanted to find Eve. She couldn’t possibly be dead. He refused to believe it. And if she was in danger, he’d save her. “You saw Eve’s corpse?”

  Lilith hugged herself and shook her head. “I didn’t see. I only ran here.”

  “Then she might not really be dead,” Gabriel confirmed. He and Lucifer looked at each other and both pushed off and took flight.

  Lucifer followed Gabriel’s lead. When they reached the Purity Sect, it wasn’t hard to see there was some truth to Lilith’s story. Bodies and feathers littered the gardens and their river ran red. Lucifer landed on the ground and inhaled. His heartbeat swished in his ears. So many scents. So much energy. It took him a minute to pluck out the correct one to focus on and then he followed that scent trail towards a clearing.

  The air rushed out of him.

  As did the remainder of his hope.

  “Holy fuck,” Gabriel booked it towards the lump of blood and meat covered in a once-pure-white cloak.

  Lazarus and the others dropped down around them and the Golden-winged Angel said, “Merri didn’t stand a chance against her.”

  Lucifer’s brain was still processing what he was looking at. A clump of Eve’s hair, with a piece of scalp still attached to it, lay tangled on the bloodied grass. Teeth were scattered everywhere.

  As were grey feathers.

  He never bothered to look over at the broken pile of bones and gore to his right. He was glad Merri was shredded. He was proud of Eve for getting her retribution before she was killed.

  Slowly, he bent down and carefully picked up the lock of Eve’s hair. It wasn’t soft like he remembered. It was too tangled. Holding the lock at one end, he ran his shaky fingers through it, smoothing it out, making it better.