The Devil's Daughter

by Abbie Payne

  “Empress Gloomy” referred to Phoenix, the other person that completed our inseparable trio. Phoenix was by no means “gloomy” - not in the way that I saw it, anyway - but she was much more pessimistic than Athena tended to be, and Athena loved nothing more than to tease her about that fact.

  I laughed and shook my head, “I’m not, but that doesn’t mean that I’m looking to become friends with them instantly.”

  “Fine,” Athena mused before looking over at me, “Just promise me that you’ll give them a chance?”

  I wanted to turn her down, but then she leaned forward to meet my eyes and gave me her classic “puppy eyes,” all wrapped up with the quivering lip and drawn-out “please.”

  “No wonder you’re so good at getting what you want.”

  “Does that mean you’ll give them a chance, though?” Athena asked as she moved to sit correctly on the bed again. If it weren’t for her wings being there to balance her, she would’ve fallen off the bed long before then.

  I wished that I could do that, but I was robbed of the ability to use my wings in that way long ago.

  I finally nodded and started to answer when the door opened again, and I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Athena and I looked up at the same time, and Athena sprung to her feet. She then trotted over to her uncle.

  She had to stand on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck, but Newt still hugged her back. There was no denying that Newt loved his niece - after all, it wasn’t like he would have raised her if he didn’t. He had no obligation to take in the wailing newborn that she was when she first came onto this earth - even though his sister granted him full custody from the very beginning - and yet he did.

  I would always admire and respect Newt for what he did, and I knew that Athena felt the same way. He was part of the reason that she worked so hard to become an Angel Hunter. Many said that, if something ever happened to permit it, Athena would become the next leader of the Angel Hunters even though she wasn’t the longest-standing member (that title belonged to Nine and only Nine).

  I was doubtful that would ever happen, though, considering demons were immortal except for in a few particular circumstances.

  “We should get going,” Newt told Athena, “We should’ve already finished our practice for today, and it hasn’t even started yet.”

  Athena nodded and looked back at me briefly before she went to follow Newt out of the room.

  “Don’t forget what you promised me, E. All I want is for you to give the princes a chance. Then you’ll be able to realize that they’re a whole lot more like you than you realize.”

  Five

  Lucifer Palmer

  Prince of Death

  Palace of Sins

  ONCE I WAS DONE WITH SHOWING the Hunters, the princess, and her guard to their bedrooms, I retreated to my bedroom to get ready to go and meet with King Victor. I was already dressed, but there was no harm in making sure that I looked as proper as I could before going to see the king. After all, I was his most loyal follower - what kind of follower would I have been if I showed up to the castle with dirt on my clothing or wrinkles in my shirt?

  I looked into the mirror and, realizing just how wrinkled my shirt actually was, I took it off and went to grab the iron and ironing board from my closet. I was so busy looking for it that I almost didn’t even hear when the door to the bedroom opened and closed again behind me.

  “Care to enlighten us as to why you’re going to see King Victor now that Edelweiss isn’t with us? Why didn’t you just talk to him while we were at the Palace of Darkness, to begin with?”

  I poked my head around the corner of my closet door to watch all of my brothers file into my bedroom one by one.

  I was changing to go with King Victor to the White City - the “capital” of Heaven - but there were a thousand reasons why I wasn’t going to tell them that. Besides, I had no obligation to make sense to them other than the fact that I was their older brother and that made them feel entitled to it.

  “Lucifer...” Gus pleaded.

  The seven of them all sat down on the bed, watching me with a keen expression. I had to admit - though I by no means wanted to - that they were endearing when they wanted to know something. Especially, though, when they knew that I wasn’t going to tell them unless they begged for it. I just wish that they worked for other things in the same way.

  “Lucifer,” Elton whined, “You’re ignoring us and it’s not fair.”

  I only glanced back at him as I focused on fastening the buttons on my shirt now that I was done ironing it.

  “Not ignoring,” I mused, “Just don’t feel any obligation to tell you anything. Have you all forgotten that I don’t have to tell you what I don’t want to?”

  The room grew quiet after that and, as much as I wanted to enjoy the fact that the room was silent even with my brothers still in it, I was suspicious. My brothers were never quiet - especially not when all seven of them were together and they all wanted a similar thing.

  After a few more minutes, I started to turn around to face my brothers when I felt one of them leap onto my back.

  I smirked and slowly began to fall backward, ignoring his increasingly loud protests until we were both on the ground. I then flipped over and pinned him down on the floor, watching him carefully. I couldn’t quite figure out what he’d been trying to do with that, but it didn’t matter.

  Elton pouted a little as he looked up at me. Elton was the smallest of the eight of us by far, so he was often getting picked on (usually by Griffin, Pierce, or me but the others weren’t innocent either).

  There was still the time that Griffin tried to pick up Elton and throw him around because he needed to practice his football and he didn’t have an actual football to practice with. Oh, and then there was also the time where Griffin and Wyatt were both on the soccer team at school... poor Elton was bruised for weeks after that.

  People often made comments about the way we all teased Elton, but we usually ignored them. Some people needed to learn to keep their noses out of business that didn’t involve them in the first place. We all loved Elton and he knew that. That was enough for us.

  “Lucifer,” Elton whined, drawing out my name as if he was trying to add emphasis to his plea.

  “Elton,” I replied in a mocking tone.

  Wyatt rolled his eyes at us, “Would you tell us what’s going on already? You know we aren’t going to leave you alone until you do.”

  I sighed as I sat up, letting Elton up as well. “I’m going to talk to King Victor,” I replied, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

  Sylas raised his eyebrow at me, “You expect us to believe that, Lucifer? You never go to the Palace of Darkness just to ‘talk to King Victor’. You’re too busy trying to convince us that his time is somehow too precious to be used up like that even though you know he would prefer it.”

  I glared at Sylas.

  My brothers were always joking that King Victor and I had a “thing” for each other and Lachlan had even tried to set us up on a blind date before. Lachlan was Hell’s best matchmaker, but that was the main reason I never let him try to set me with anyone.

  If it wasn’t King Victor, it was bound to be someone else equally as embarrassing to show up in front of on a blind date like the fallen angel, Lilith, or someone like her. Besides, I simply didn’t have the time for a relationship. My brothers and the duties that I had as the prince of Death were more important than everything else.

  “Well, that’s what I’m doing, so I don’t know what to tell you, Sylas,” I replied and stood up, brushing myself off, “Pierce, you’re in charge. Make sure the palace doesn’t spontaneously combust... again.”

  Pierce nodded slowly, “But, Lucifer...”

  I groaned and looked at him, “What?”

  “You’re leaving, aren’t you? You’re going somewhere with King Victor?”

  I stopped and looked at the other six boys. They were all staring at me, practically begging for an ans
wer. I finally relented, knowing that there was no use in trying to get them to believe what I was telling them. I knew that they knew they were right - I never just went to the palace to chat with the king.

  “I’m going with him to the White City,” I admitted, “I shouldn’t be that long - a few hours maximum.”

  The boys stared at me for a while, clearly surprised by what I said. Elton looked at me.

  “We can’t go with you... can we?” Elton asked.

  I shook my head. Even if they could go with me, I wouldn’t have asked them to. They had worse memories of Heaven than I did and I wasn’t about to have those memories come back as a result of my carelessness. I already blamed myself enough for what happened the first time.

  “But...” Lachlan started.

  “It’s going to be fine,” I promised, “You know King Victor and I can handle ourselves.”

  Gus shrugged, “Doesn’t mean we don’t wish we could go with you, Luci. We’re brothers, right? We’re meant to fight together no matter what.”

  I smiled a little and gently ruffled his hair, “As I said, we’ll be fine. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  I smiled grimly when I noticed that they seemed to be satisfied by that statement. I wasn’t sure if it was wise of me to make a promise like that, but I was still holding out hope that my promise would remain true. It had to be true. I didn’t know what I would do with myself if something happened to the boys and I wasn’t there to protect them.

  Six

  Athena Forte

  Angel Hunter

  Hunter Training Grounds

  FOR THE MOST PART, TRAINING always lasted for at least three hours, but Uncle Newt decided before we even got to the training grounds that our session was going to be cut significantly shorter today what with everything else that was going on as well as the fact that Eddie probably needed the company today.

  It wasn’t like I didn’t expect Eddie to warm up to the Palmers - Eddie was the only person that I knew of that could see the beautiful side of people. Even when it came to Gavin and His angels, she still saw something in them. That was why she always refused to let us kill them no matter how awful they were to her, I never understood that and I had to admit sometimes I envied it.

  As I started to leave the training grounds, Koa, Finn, and Nine jogged to catch up with me. I noticed that Nine seemed a little dazed, but I tried not to let it bother me too much even though it did.

  This wasn’t the first time that I’d seen him like this, but any time I brought it up, I was usually met with awkward stutters or a subject change. Uncle Newt had tried countless times to get him

  o seek out professional help with it, but he never got too far with it. Nine was terrified of anything to do with doctors and medical tests.

  As the trio walked beside me, Koa was the first to start up the conversation.

  Koa was undeniably the most friendly of all of us, but his childhood also sucked the least of all of ours, so there was that. Koa was a unicorn amongst the demons when it came to having a fairly decent childhood. Most of us weren’t afforded that luxury - the fact that minions mostly consisted of those that Victor took in and Victor only ever took kids in when there wasn’t another real option said everything that needed to be said as I was concerned.

  “Hey, Athie,” Koa began, “What do you think of all of this?”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what to think of this. I knew better than Eddie about what forced King Victor to send her away, but that didn’t mean I liked it.

  Even though she was close to Phoenix and me, Eddie trusted her father more than anyone else in this world. I was worried about the things that she would try to bottle up when we didn’t have King Victor there to pry it out of her for us.

  “I think it’s what needs to be done to keep Eddie safe,” I mused, not bothering with formalities since all of us (except for Uncle Newt) called her Edelweiss, Eddie, or an equivalent anyway, “And if something else good comes out of this in the long run, then this is even more worth the trouble.”

  “But we did kind of uproot her entire life for this,” Finn sighed.

  “It’s not the first time, and probably won’t be the last time either,” I pointed out, then looked at Koa, “Is your brother still going to join the Angel Hunters, Koa? You know the trials are coming up.”

  Koa shook his head, “No, I don’t think he is. I think he’s still too scared to do it.”

  I nodded, not in the least surprised by that.

  Kai, though he was a sweetheart and an absolute cutie pie, had no business being on our team. Even if “Angel Hunters” was now a name and not much more than that, our job still wasn’t the prettiest one in the world. I couldn’t see Kai lasting long once he realized that.

  Koa ran a hand through his hair as a bead of sweat dripped from it and nearly into his eyes. “I just wish that he was with us,” he admitted, “At least so I could see him more often.”

  “Well, while we’re here and near Minion Village now, you should take advantage of that fact while we are. Just don’t forget what we’re here for.”

  Seven

  Victor Sullivan

  King of Hell

  Palace of Darkness

  “WHEN I SAID WE NEEDED TO TALK I didn’t mean right now, Lucifer. I would’ve understood if you wanted to wait until tomorrow.”

  As we walked through the halls of the Palace of Darkness, I wasn’t sure why I was surprised that Lucifer was there with me. Lucifer was extremely loyal to me and I was grateful for that. However, I also found myself appreciating the fact that I could tell the fallen angel nearly anything that came to mind and he would keep it a secret no matter what it was if I asked him to.

  Even when I told him that I needed to go to Heaven and I couldn’t have Eddie know, he swore that he wouldn’t tell anyone. Of course, I had a good feeling that not telling anyone didn’t apply to the other seven regular inhabitants of the Palace of Sins.

  Lucifer shook his head as he walked alongside me with his hands behind his back and his eyes to the ceiling.

  “It’s best to get this over with. I must admit I’m not particularly thrilled about this whole thing, King Victor.”

  “You don’t have to come with me.”

  Lucifer stopped and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He almost looked offended at me even suggesting such a thing.

  “I don’t think I realized that saying you don’t have to follow me around like one of the servants was such a crime,” I chuckled.

  Lucifer’s expression fell then as he stopped me and put his hands on my shoulders.

  “I’m not going to let you go to Heaven - let alone the White City and the Celestial Palace - without me.”

  I shrugged a little, though I said nothing more to try to stop him.

  I didn’t doubt that Lucifer was going to go with me, but I would’ve been lying if I said that I wasn’t worried about how he was going to handle this trip. He hadn’t been in Los Angeles (the Middleworld city directly underneath the “capital” of Heaven) since Eddie’s fall and he hadn’t been within the borders of Heaven itself since the incident between him, his brothers (all of his brothers, not just the princes), and his father.

  I nodded curtly and offered him my hand so that we could teleport together.

  “Then let’s go. Preferably before I lose what little will I have left to do this.”

  Eight

  Sylas Palmer

  Prince of Sloth

  Palace of Sins

  IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO LIE about my feelings about this situation.

  I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of Princess Edelweiss, her guard, and the Angel Hunters coming to live with us, but none of us were. Lucifer only agreed because it was King Victor that asked him to do it and the rest of us only agreed because Lucifer would’ve made us pay for defying the king’s orders. Pierce and Wyatt might have been willing to defy Lucifer’s orders, but the rest of us never dared.

  Lucifer was far from pleasant
when he was angry, and I didn’t want to have to see that side of him more than I had to.

  After Lucifer and the Hunters left, the seven of us were left to our own devices along with Edelweiss and Roscoe.

  Pierce had been tempted to go talk to Roscoe at one point, but he didn’t seem like he was too interested in talking at the moment. Roscoe seemed to be more focused on his princess and the rest of us refused to go with Pierce to check if that was the case.

  Instead, we all retreated and were now sitting in the living room together (which was a rare occurrence anyway) and doing our own thing.

  I, for one, was laying out on the couch and playing one of the new video games that Lucifer had brought home for me a few days ago from the Middleworld. Griffin was beside me as he stole some of the popcorn that I had made (which wasn’t that easy of a thing to do with a microwave, by the way!) when he thought I wasn’t looking. Sitting in one of the two armchairs was Pierce with a nose in his book while he hummed along to the music that Elton was playing on his guitar. Elton was sitting in the other armchair and Gus was sitting right beside him as usual. Wyatt was sitting in the corner as far away from everyone as possible while he watched a wrestling match on his phone.

  As for Lachlan... well, I never tried to guess what he did for fun. He was probably surfing social media to see what everyone was up to or, judging by the fact that he had his earbuds in, watching some makeup or fashion video. Admittedly, I understood Lachlan the least out of all of my brothers, but that wasn’t for lack of me trying.

  I wanted to understand him better than I did, but parties, makeup, and fashion weren’t and never would be something I was interested in, so I had to resign myself to merely being a supporter towards Lachlan and his many ambitions.