“They’ll tear you to pieces. They Envy your beauty and that’s what they want,” I warned as the devil held onto her tightly.
She smiled kindly at me, “I have the gift of Illusion, Sir Deveraux. They can’t harm us if you just allow me to get into the river and use it.”
I looked at Hadrian and nodded. He went over to the devil carrying Zahara and traded angels. Once she was in the river, the Envious howled and their eyes became wild. Hadrian stood between her and rabid pack of blue skinned, black stringy haired, green eyed, razor toothed monsters. Some were already in pieces from fighting with the others for parts of their bodies they had lost in the Below, and now they saw the angels as ultimate prizes.
“Be quick about it,” I said urgently to her.
Because there were so many and we were outnumbered, slaughtering them all to save the other angels would put a wide gap in time between us and Stratus.
In a brief moment, all of the Envious climbed back onto the river banks and continued to consume one another viciously.
“What did you do?” I asked her curiously.
“I made them see each other as they saw us,” she replied with a small smile.
“Genius angels,” Hadrian said with a laugh as he leaned down so she could climb onto his back.
“Well done, but the worst is yet to come. This next tunnel we pass through will take us into the domain of the Slothful. They will make every attempt to drag all of us to a halt. Push through them. They can only stop you if you believe they can.”
My devils and Lucy’s angels all nodded with serious eyes as we took a left and found ourselves wading in the open pool of the green flowing river. Beneath us were the damned because of their laziness; the Slothful.
Almost immediately I felt a hand grip firmly around my ankle as I began to wade through the infinite pool and I instructed the angels to get on the shoulders of their demons so that they wouldn’t be saturated in the green waters.
Below us, white soulless eyes watched us as they floated past, trying to grab a hold of us with each lazy lap.
“Eyes forward everyone. I can see the tunnel that will lead to the Swamp of Acid Smoke. We need to get there quickly,” I yelled back.
“Master Deveraux!” Arissa yelled desperately.
I turned in time to see her being dragged underneath the water and Micah hovering above.
“Arissa!” Hadrian shouted.
“Keep moving forward!” Micah yelled before he dove into the green bile lake after her.
“Move!” I shouted at the now frantic group of creatures behind me. The angels desperately wanted to save Micah and the devils wanted to save Arissa. I needed them to move forward and now.
“We can’t afford to fall too far behind Stratus and Lucy! MOVE!”
Hadrian swam quickly through the waters with Zahara on positioned on his shoulders, but his face showed his inconsolableness at the loss of Arissa.
Zahara was crying. I knew it was because of Micah and I only hoped that out of all of the evil that consumed the Below, that something, anything, would show him some mercy for trying to save a devil.
We reached the opening and walked into a large swamp area where Zahara dropped off of Hadrian’s shoulders and wrapped her arms around him as he sobbed on his knees.
I went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry old friend,” I said quietly. “We’ll get her back, somehow. I swear it.”
“I know, Master Deveraux,” he said looking up at me with anguish ridden eyes. “First we must save Lady Lucy.”
I looked at him for a moment, “Arissa is strong. She’ll survive whatever is in the lake.”
He nodded and got to his feet wiping away the tears that kept flowing so freely.
I looked at Zahara, “Micah is one of the strongest angels there is. He will be okay.”
Hadrian put his arm around her and helped her to her feet, holding her close. He whispered something to her and she nodded and looked at me with a small smile.
“The last Sin is before us. It will be worse than anything we have gone through so far,” I said to the group. “Be careful not to lose sight of what we have come to do. And of what we have yet to do,” I said putting a hand on Hadrian’s shoulder.
“Lead the way, Master,” he said hoisting Zahara firmly on his back again.
Twenty Five
We entered the Swamp of Acid Smoke and I immediately felt myself becoming apprehensive. That was one of the many tricks of this place; to draw the anger, the wrath out of you so that you would drown in it.
Then you would be stuck in the Swap forever; damned to fits of uncontrollable rage that nothing would be able to assuage.
I looked at the gnarled trees and saw the bodies twisted into them. I was looking for Lucy in the bodies because I was sure that had she had survived the other Seven Rooms of Punishment, this one would not be one she made it out of.
Please don’t let her be here, I thought desperately, as we continued to move slowly through the murky swamp.
“Uh, Dev?” Hadrian asked suddenly.
I turned to look at him and rolled my eyes. There was a small group of demons perked on the banks of the Swamp watching us curiously. I wasn’t concerned about them, because they were just curious as to why we hadn’t been taken over by the Anger yet.
“Let them sit there and pay no mind,” I said to them.
As soon as I turned back around, one of the larger demons was hovering five feet away from me, directly in my path.
“Yes?” I asked, speaking its language.
It closed its eyes and inhaled deeply for a moment. Then it opened its snake slit, yellow eyes.
“Ahhh! Your scent has already passed through here,” it croaked.
“In what form?” I inquired.
“A scared angel with devil eyes. A swollen, scared angel,” it replied gleefully.
“Don’t take the bait, Deveraux,” Hadrian said seriously.
I took a deep, calming breath. The demon was goading me. It knew that if I gave into Anger in this place I would be lost forever.
“Did she make it out?” I asked it.
“Oh yes. She made it out. But she doesn’t have much longer. The devil that has her has grown very strong and he means to kill her and the child once he reaches his destination. A devil killing an angel in the Below ... there is no greater glory. But this you already know!”
It tore its gaze from me and looked at the angels that were holding on to my family.
“You will achieve much glory,” it said, looking back to me.
“I do not mean to kill or harm them. I mean to get Lucy back and return them to the Above,” I explained.
“But that’s not what your heart wants,” it replied, peering inside of me. “You want glory.”
“Not at the hands of their deaths,” I replied, my voice starting to shake.
It cackled gleefully as the Swamp started to swallow me slowly.
Oh no! What have I done?
The tremor in my voice, the Anger... it was allowing the Swamp to consume me.
I was frozen in place, helplessly sinking and there was nothing I could do to fight it. The demon hovered looking down at me with smug victory all over its face as the Swap came up to my chest.
I closed my eyes and accepted my fate; my failure. Lucy and Keilyn would die because I couldn’t resist the temptation that this demon had dangled in front of me.
As the Swamp water came up over my nose, I felt a pair of strong hands reach under my arms and begin to pull me up. It was a vicious struggle between the Swamp and whoever was saving me but a few moments later, I was pulled free and gasping for air.
“How?” I managed to sputter.
My body was floating in the air and I felt myself suddenly drop into a strong pair of arms. I looked hazily at Hadrian who was cradling me.
“A sacrifice, Dev,” he said, softly as he helped me to my feet.
“What?” I asked in confusion, as h
e held me up.
“I traded places with you, Elder Devil.”
I looked over at the demon and saw Zahara standing in front of it with a small smile. The demon had a chain around her neck and was holding her in place.
“In exchange for letting me save your life, the demon has allowed me to take your place,” she explained.
“No! I’ll allow no such thing!” I shouted.
“Deveraux, control your anger,” Hadrian hissed at me.
“It’s not your choice,” she replied calmly. “Save Lucy. Tell her that I love her. Restore the Above and everything will be as it should be.”
With that the demon drug Zahara toward one of the trees that lined the swamp and wrapped the chain around the rest of her body. She looked at us with brave eyes as the branches of the tree came to life and dug brutally into her body, holding her firmly in place, for all eternity. Zahara screamed in complete agony as the tree began to tear her insides out setting her into the place it wanted her best. This was something I wouldn’t have allowed them to see, but now I had to stand here and watch helplessly as she screamed in pain knowing that I could do nothing to help her.
Her screams will haunt me for all eternity, I thought miserably.
Isaiah suddenly let out a shout of rage; something I hadn’t heard from an angel in a long time. I turned in time to see the angels pull away forcefully, from their guardian devils and attack the demons in the Swamp.
“Let them be,” I told my family quietly. Even though we were different from the demons, we were still one in the Below. But I refused to allow any of them to be saved for the fault that one had done.
They cowered as the angered angels swarmed them. I heard their flesh tearing and I heard them screaming in agony. I heard the angels shouting louder and louder in their anger as they ripped the demons to pieces.
When the swarm of vengeance was over, they stood on the banks, covered in the black blood of the demons looking satisfied.
“From this moment on, we can carry ourselves,” Isaiah said to me. “We will work with you and we will save Lucy, but we will take her back to the Above and we will see to it that if she is truly not allowed back in, that she be placed in the Between. But Deveraux, we will not allow her to stay in the Below; even with your protection it’s too dangerous for her. Do we have an understanding?” he asked, giving me a level stare.
I nodded in response.
“Draw your swords,” he said to his remaining family as we marched forward. “We lose no more of us and this ends now.”
“I thought only the Army carried swords?” I asked, Isaiah as he fell into step beside me.
“I won’t risk anymore angels or devils,” he replied. “Now let’s get through the rest of this and get Lucy so we can get out of here and get on with our eternities.”
I looked at my family and I looked at Lucy’s family. We didn’t trust each other wholly yet and I knew we never would. There was no gesture in either world that would signify that we could trust each other, so I just held out my hand to Isaiah, who shook it firmly.
“D....e...v...?”
It can’t be.
Isaiah and I turned quickly to the exit of the Swamp of Acid Smoke.
She was covered in blood.
Devilish and angelic.
Her stomach wasn’t swollen anymore.
She was missing one wing and she looked completely confused.
She reached down a hand to her stomach and then held it up.
It was drenched in blood.
“Lucy?” Isaiah asked, tentatively.
She looked at him and smiled softly.
Then collapsed into the Swamp as the blood continued to pour from the gaping wound in her stomach where Keilyn had been ripped from.
Twenty Six
I dove into the Swamp.
It wasn’t the smartest thing to do but I wasn’t going to let Lucy drown in it. The water was so murky and full of death that it made it damn near impossible for me to see, but I wasn’t alone. Hadrian and Josiah had submerged themselves with me. One of us would be able to find her and signal the others or we’d drown in Anger trying.
We spent what felt like days moving in the murky water trying to find her, before Josiah grabbed me and pulled me out of the waters.
He pointed and I saw Hadrian sitting on the banks with Lucy in his arms. The angels and devils surrounded them protectively. He looked tired and beaten and I could only thank him for now. I would see to it that Hadrian would receive proper title once this was over.
Josiah and I made our way to the banks. Hadrian and Dorian used their strength to pull us out of the waters that were still trying to consume us.
I crawled over to Hadrian and held my arms out for Lucy, but he stood up and walked away cradling her.
“What are you doing?” I asked, in between gasps, “Give her to me.”
Hadrian looked down at Lucy who was groaning in his arms, then at me. He shook his head slightly before he turned and ran; holding my Lucy tightly against his chest, back through the Seven Rooms of Punishment.
“Wait!” I shouted.
I ran past the rest of my family. Lucy’s brothers and sisters stood by watching Isaiah for some sign of what to do.
I hadn’t made it very far; only to the entrance of the Swamp of Acid Smoke when Isaiah’s voice stopped me.
“Deveraux. Let him go,” he commanded gently.
I turned to look at him like he had lost whatever mind an angel harbored.
“Are you kidding me? He has Lucy! The entire reason we’re all down here!”
“That may be why you’re here, but we’re here to stop this where it started. Stratus called forth the Thunderbirds and we have to destroy him to ensure that the Above will not be attacked again,” he replied.
“Fine. You go after Stratus. Make your way through the Below without our help or direction. I will not let him leave with Lucy,” I responded through grit teeth.
“What makes you not trust him so suddenly?” Isaiah asked.
“It’s not that I don’t trust him. I ... just ... he ...,” I looked at the Room behind me and thought of Lucy with Hadrian. If anyone could protect her it would be him.
Suddenly a scream split the fog that was hanging over the swamp. Isaiah and the other angels covered their ears in pain.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
“That’s what it sounds like when an angel screams,” a voice said, entering the room.
I turned and saw Alaric, the Elder Devil who oversaw the Seven Rooms of Punishment, entering the room with a small cluster of demons behind him.
“Hello, old friend,” he said as he approached me and held his hand out. I took his forearm and gripped it tightly in relief.
Alaric was always one of my most powerful allies, regardless of my distaste with the demons that he oversaw.
Tall and strong like an Elder Devil should be, he had short cropped white hair and the amethyst eyes of power and age.
“Why are you chasing an angel through the Below?” he asked seriously. “You know that I have a special room of torment for them. They know not to cross the boundary or they belong to me.”
“She didn’t willing cross. She was taken,” Isaiah explained, stepping forward.
Alaric looked at him and his eyes turned ice blue.
“Don’t,” I pleaded with him, “These angels mean no harm. They came on their own will to save their sister angel ... My bride.”
“Your bride?” he asked curiously.
“Yes, and Hadrian just ran through the Seven Rooms with her. Did you not see them?”
Alaric smiled at me, his eyes turning amethyst again, and put a hand on my shoulder for a moment. Then he turned and instructed his demons to take precedence over the room again and to clean up the mess.
“That wasn’t an angel he ran away with,” Alaric said conversationally. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”
“What?” I looked over at Isaiah who looked as surprised
as I was.
“It was a drac. Has being in the company of angels blinded you so much? As Hadrian ran, the drac was tearing him apart. That devil loves you as much as we know how to love, Deveraux. He’s dying right now to protect you,” Alaric replied.
I felt my body turn to ice. I had doubted Hadrian for a moment, and in my blindness I didn’t know that he was dying to make sure that I lived. I looked down in shame and thought of letting the Swamp consume me.
“I’ve set demons after the drac. Once they entered the room of the Prideful, the drac had taken over control and was dragging Hadrian like a dog. The demons will help him by my command,” Alaric reassured me.
“What of this bride?” he continued. “She’s an angel, you say? How is this union possible?”
Another scream ripped through the fog.
“There’s no time to explain this now, Deveraux,” Dorian said urgently. “We have to get to Lucy. If he kills her, more than any of you know, will be lost.”
“What are you talking about?” Isaiah asked him curiously.
“I cannot say. Only understand when I say that if I must continue without anyone then I will. Lucy must survive,” he said, as he turned his back to the lot of us and disappeared into the Wasteland of the Exorcised Demons.
Alaric walked past us and followed Dorian curiously. I looked at Isaiah and nodded to let him know that Alaric, although given dominion over the Seven Rooms and demons, was to be trusted.
“Deveraux!” Alaric suddenly shouted from deep within the Wasteland.
I broke into a run and once again, the waters of the Swamp tried to drag me down. Partly because they remembered my rage and mostly because there were new demons to command them.
“I will see to it that your Elder knows of your treachery!” I shouted at them in a fury.
The waters immediately subsided and the demons squawked angrily at the knowledge of what would soon become of them had they not let us pass without further games.
“Dev!!” Alaric yelled again. His voice sounded further away than his first call to me.
Isaiah picked me up out of the swamp and the rest of the angels followed suit, picking up the rest of the devils and flying us out of the Swamp into the Wasteland.
Lucy, Fallen (The Infernal Paradise) Page 10