by Abbie Payne
I admit that the “old” comment - though he did word it differently - offended me ever so slightly, but I chose to let it go for now. Though, for the record, I really only let it go because it was Prince Lucifer that I was talking to.
“Of course, I do,” I replied, “But you have no real reason to feel that way, I don’t think, Prince Lucifer.”
Lucifer looked at me, “Please just call me Lucifer. I don’t feel much like I deserve the title of ‘prince’ right now.”
I would, of course, try to do as the prince asked of me, but that was going to be hard. I was well-known for my inability to speak to people without using their formal names, so not calling him “Prince Lucifer” was nearly impossible for me. I’d tried to teach Athena to do the same as me, but like I told Prince Lucifer previously, Athena was stubborn and always had her own way of doing things.
I was half-convinced that Athena came out of her mother’s womb doing her own thing.
“Why is that?” I asked him, “I doubt anyone else feels that way.”
“Because I just ruined everything, Newt,” Prince Lucifer replied with an exasperated sigh, “I really should stop trying to protect everyone.”
I shook my head, “I don’t think that’s the solution. Besides, I don’t think it’s in your nature to stop trying to protect the people you care about.”
Prince Lucifer made a face, “That’s the problem, I think. I’m a fallen angel - basically the cover boy for the fallen angels. I shouldn’t care as much as I do.”
“It’s not a bad thing to care about others, Prin- Lucifer.”
“Yeah, Newt, you’re not going to be able to convince me of that.”
I sighed and looked down at the floor, thinking to myself. I wanted to at least try a couple more times to get through to him before I let him be.
He seemed like he needed someone to talk to and I was the only one here that he would really talk to. His only other options were Koa, Finn, and Nine and those three - though I loved them like they were my own sons - weren’t exactly the easiest to talk to. Koa was too talkative, Finn was too explosive, and Nine couldn’t tolerate too many topics without looking like he was going off into space.
The truth was, not too many people knew why Nine was the way that he was. I had a few ideas and I had been trying to get Nine to entertain those ideas as well, but there wasn’t much else that I could do until he was willing. It seemed that I was going to die before I got him the help that he needed.
“Prin- sorry, Lucifer, is something else bothering you? Other than the fact that you feel like a failure - which, again, I strongly disagree with.” I asked.
“My brothers are upset with me because they think I don’t care that Griffin is hurt.”
“Why would they think that?”
Prince Lucifer looked away from me, “Because that’s kind of the impression I gave off. I was trying to be strong for them and-”
“So, basically, you pulled a classic Prince Lucifer move?”
“Well, you didn’t have to put it like that, but yeah,” Prince Lucifer huffed.
I smiled a little, “I think that apologizing to your brothers and setting the record straight could help with that, you know? Maybe while you’re at it, treat them more as your equals and not as your children anymore?”
Prince Lucifer glowered at me, “I’ll do the apologizing thing, but I will not stop trying to protect my brothers.”
“Ah, see? I told you that you didn’t have it in you to not care anymore,” I teased.
Prince Lucifer rolled his eyes.
“I owe it to them,” he lamented, “After all, they did follow me down here... even after I told them not to.”
As he said the last part, he clenched and slammed his fists down on the coffee table, making a crack in the glass and knocking off the wine bottles in the process. I stayed silent, just waiting for him to speak again when I noticed a tear rolling down his cheek. I moved onto the edge of the couch and went to put my hand on his back before I stopped myself.
“Prince Lucifer?” I called.
“King Victor is still in the White City,” he mumbled.
I leaned in closer, trying to catch what he said. “Pardon?” I asked.
He sat up then and raised his voice.
“King Victor is still in the White City - he was taken prisoner by the Corps of White Nightmares. Forgive me for being blunt, Newt, but don’t you think that’s a little more important than my drama right now?”
That news, I admit, took me aback more than I expected it to. King Victor was in the White City? The White City? And he was taken prisoner? Well, this wasn’t going to be good...
“Does she know?” I asked him in a hushed tone.
I didn’t bother using the princess’s name. I figured he already knew who I was talking about.
Lucifer shook his head.
“Not unless she read my mind - which I already know she can’t do, so don’t even bother trying to insinuate that she can. You also are forbidden from telling yourself - your lips are sealed, Newt Forte.”
I shrugged, “I wasn’t going to do any such thing,” I replied coolly.
I’d learned a long time ago that it was best not to discuss what powers Princess Edelweiss did and did not have. She never reacted to that conversation well, but I didn’t really blame her - I didn’t think any of us did.
The only powers that Edelweiss naturally had were her healing powers and her ability to talk to animals - anything else was either removed by Gavin during or closely following her “fall” and later replaced by King Victor or gifted to her in the first place. She also had her immortality (after it was replaced by her father), ice and water powers, telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation abilities. Her powers were nothing to scoff at, but at the same time it was no secret that her powers were nothing compared to the likes of Heaven’s angels.
To be fair, that all probably meant that it was best that the princess didn’t know about her father’s disappearance because she would probably go to Heaven by herself, but I was still worried. There was no telling how long it was going to be before she found out in one way or another and I wasn’t sure if it was better if she found out on her own. What was going to happen when she found out that we all lied to her?
If there was anything in this world that Princess Edelweiss Sullivan genuinely hated, it was being lied to - Athena had learned that the hard way.
“What are we going to do now, then?” I asked him.
Prince Lucifer thought for a minute before looking over at me and putting his hands on my shoulders. “Newt, can I count on your and your Hunters to help me? I think I might have an idea of how we can do this without anyone knowing.”
I smiled a little and bowed my head, “Your wish is my every command, Your Highness - you don’t even have to ask.”
Twenty
Athena Forte
Angel Hunter
Hunter Training Grounds
AS SOON AS I GOT BACK TO THE Palace of Sins with six of the seven younger princes (Griffin was being kept at the hospital until at least the next day), Uncle Newt whisked me and the other three Hunters away to the training ground for our session.
All four of us were a little confused considering it was Friday and that was usually our day to rest from the rigorous training schedule that we had for the rest of the week, but we all learned a long time ago that questioning Newt was rarely a good idea.
“Something’s wrong,” Finn said as we walked into the sand pit of the training grounds.
I looked over at him and watched for a few moments as he scratched at the inside of his arms. His arms were decorated with scars, but I did see a few fresh marks that I hadn’t seen the day before.
I sighed softly and looked away. I wished Finn was comfortable enough to tell us what had happened to him before Koa, Will, Oliver, and I found him that one day, but he never was. Even when King Victor asked, he just shut down on himself and then that night, it took everything I had to stop h
im from cutting up his arms more than he already had.
I shook the memory away as I looked up at Uncle Newt, listening to his explanation of what was going on.
“Prince Lucifer has asked us to go and try to track him down, so you all need to be at tip-top shape before we leave,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow, “When are we going to leave?” I asked.
“Tonight.”
Uncle Newt didn’t wait for us to ask any more questions and waved us away. We listened and spread out.
The boys went to do something together, but I decided that I wanted to be alone and went over to the punching bags. Usually, I started with the knife-throwing targets (after all, I was the best at anything that required an accurate aim), but not today. I just needed to get out as much frustration as possible.
I began to do anything that I could think of to beat up the red cylinder dangling in front of me. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but it felt amazing to get whatever it was out of my system.
I just couldn’t believe this was happening. King Victor was missing and - for all we knew - he could’ve been dead by the time we reached him. Then, Uncle Newt, Phoenix, and I would inevitably be forced to be the ones that had to break the news to Eddie that the one man she trusted with everything was no longer alive.
Then, it wouldn't have been anyone’s fault but those angels’. Those angels were literally the primary reason for all of the bad things in our lives. If it wasn’t for them, the Angel Hunters probably wouldn’t have even been formed.
No, we didn’t exist to “hunt” the angels, but we did exist to protect all of Hell’s inhabitants from any threat and the angels were the biggest threat to our livelihood out of all of the other species. They were even worse than the humans when the humans were still around.
The more I thought, the more I felt consumed by the tangled mess inside of me and the harder I went at the punching bag. I could hear Uncle Newt in the back of my mind scolding me for it, but I couldn’t shake that age-old saying from my mind: “this isn’t fair”.
I let out a scream and pushed the bag back with every inch of my might. I stood there for a second, not realizing until it was too late that the bag was coming back towards me. It knocked me back and I braced myself to hit the sand below when I felt two hands underneath my arms, stopping my fall.
I got back to my feet properly before looking back to see Uncle Newt standing there, watching me with concern filling his gentle, blue eyes. I didn’t know what, but there was something about Uncle Newt that always made me safe and secure. Something about him made me feel strong and brave when I didn’t feel like I could be that way on my own terms. Perhaps it was simply because he always reminded me that I was those things all on my own - that I didn’t need him to be those things.
Uncle Newt was quiet for a while before looking to where Koa, Nine, and Finn were.
“Go ahead and take a fifteen minute or so break, boys. Athena and I should be back soon,” he called before turning back to me.
“Come on, Athie,” he whispered before heading off in the direction of the exit.
I followed him out and over to a stone bench situated nearby. He said down first before patting the place next to him and starting to talk while he waited for me.
“Tell me.”
It would never cease to amaze me how Uncle Newt could be so gentle all the time, even when he was fighting someone or even now when he was giving me an order that I didn’t dare try to go against. I didn’t like talking about my feelings, but for some reason, I usually felt comfortable to talk to Uncle Newt about them. Maybe it was because he was my uncle, but maybe it was because he didn’t always give me much of a choice in the situation. There was a time where he would let me come to him, but I guess after everything in high school and after being promoted to the Angel Hunters, those options faded for him.
“This isn’t fair,” I told him, “And I know life isn’t fair, but... no one deserves any of this. Who was it that decided that the angels had to be the good guys and the demons were the bad guys, anyway?”
“The angels did,” Uncle Newt replied coolly.
I pouted and leaned back, using my wings to balance myself as I folded my arms across my chest. I looked up, taking the darkness above us.
It was supposed to be our “sky”, but of course, we weren’t allowed to have the bright colors found in the Middleworld and Heaven itself. It wasn’t like I liked those bright colors, but it was the fact that we didn’t have the option that made me the most angry. This was why so many demons and fallen had panic attacks the first time they ever went to the Middleworld or - in Nine, Will, and Oliver’s case - why some of the demons and fallen had panic attacks when they came down here for the first time.
Yes, I loved Hell - I loved Hell more than I did any other place that the world had to offer - but that didn’t mean that this place wasn’t still a cage. A bird could love their cage as much as they wanted to, but it would still be a bunch of iron bars and a locked door at the end of the day.
“Athena, let me tell you something,” Uncle Newt said as he turned around in his seat and reached up to put his hand on my cheek, “Do you remember what I always told you when you were little and those kids used to make comments about your wings?”
I thought for a minute before shaking my head. I knew that those kids used to make fun of me for my wings and the fact that I was a demon-angel hybrid, but the fact was those things never bothered me that much. There were some times where I would shed a few tears and then go and complain to Phoenix and Eddie about it later, but Uncle Newt still worried about me far too much. I mean, I couldn’t really blame him for that, but that was beside the point.
Uncle Newt sighed and looked away. He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t quite catch before looking back at me.
“Sometimes, people are going to try to tell you that you’re wrong - that you were made wrong and all you’ll ever be is wrong,” he began, “But so long as you know who you are and know that you’re proud of who that is, that’s all you need.”
I smiled a little and moved away, “Oh, right. I remember now...”
Uncle Newt smiled as well, “Don’t pretend like you’re a little firecracker for no reason. Sure, you came into this world punching - literally - but I did help you out some, Athie.”
He was chuckling warmly as he spoke and that was all I needed to laugh right alongside him. He wasn’t lying about the punching thing either, apparently. He loved to tell me the story of how, when he first held me in the hospital, the first thing I did was punch him square in the nose.
Apparently, things never changed that much considering noses were still my favorite thing to punch (I let Phoenix and Finn have the throat and the eyes usually, though Phoenix did also have a thing for trying to gouge out peoples’ eyes and that was never a good look). Then again, the idea of things never changing didn’t give me much hope for the other things in our life.
My smile faltered as I looked over at Uncle Newt. “Uncle Newt, why do I feel like this is all going to go horribly wrong?” I asked him.
Uncle Newt thought for a minute and put his arm around my shoulders. “Well, I don’t know,” he replied, “But I say we don’t even entertain that right now. We need all the hope we can muster right now - even if just for the sake of King Victor, Princess Edelweiss, and the eight princes.”
Twenty-One
Edelweiss “Eddie” Sullivan
Princess of Hell
The Bauer Siblings’ Home
JUST AS I PROMISED PHOENIX I would, I teleported to the minion village with her to go to the house that she lived in with her three older brothers.
Calvin, Zavian, and Dante were all in the kitchen, chatting while Calvin made lunch when they heard us come in. Dante was the first to notice and he pranced up, moving behind Phoenix to pick her up and spin her around. That was what he usually did to greet her, though Phoenix didn’t necessarily always appreciate it.
The Bauer sib
lings had always been a tight-knit group, and they couldn’t deny each other even if they wanted to. It was obvious even in their appearances that they were at least related in some way.
Calvin was the eldest of the four and was twelve years older than Phoenix and I. He was tall and lanky with mouse-brown hair that he never put too much effort into keeping neat or particularly short. He was the only one of the three brothers that had brown eyes and was also the only one with a beard that, again, he didn’t seem to be too bothered with trying to keep up with. He, like his two brothers, had glasses, but he was the only one of them that had to wear them all of the time. Zavian and Dante really only had to have glasses when they were reading and Dante didn’t usually bother to wear them even then.
Dante was the youngest of the brothers and was just around four years older than me and Phoenix. He took a lot better care of himself than Calvin ever did and spent the most amount of time at the gym and researching anything he could about fitness. If he wasn’t so busy with the Head Council, there was a good chance that he would’ve had his own gym and worked as a personal trainer. He had longer brown hair that he kept in a bun most of the time and had a few tattoos, though probably not as many as he personally wanted considering Calvin definitely cared very deeply about the way that all three of his siblings presented themselves.
Calvin meant well by it for the most part - he just didn’t want his siblings to ever look back and regret something that they did - but I knew that Phoenix in particular was often agitated by his opinions on the way his siblings chose to look.
Zavian, the second oldest (and eight years older than Phoenix and I), was almost a perfect mix between Calvin and Dante. He used to work as a model, so he tended to always be worried about the impression that he gave off to other people (and not just in regards to his appearance), but fortunately for him, he never had to try very hard to be handsome. He had dark eyes, tan skin, and dark hair that was always kept as neat as possible. He never put too much work in his appearance - usually just rolling out of bed and going on with the day. Frankly, Zavian was the most infuriating of the Bauer brothers in that aspect alone.