by Leigh Kelsey
She was more trouble than she was worth, that was for sure, even if she had been coerced into Falling. It was one thing when Cerny had been sent to escort a known spy to Hell, where they could watch over her and monitor whatever intel she sent above, but this… He’d expected a regular soldier grunt, maybe even a warrior or a true spy master, but not someone who’d mutilate herself for the cause. This, he hated to admit, may be even beyond his talents.
Is there a problem? You’re taking longer than normal. Lucifer’s voice spilled into Cerny’s mind, cultured as always. Cool but never cold.
At a loss for words, Cerny opened his mind and let the last hour travel down the bond between him and the ruler of Hell. He waited for anger, for disappointment, or even for a plan, but all he got was silence.
Lucifer?
Those wounds on her back, he replied slowly, aren’t the injuries of someone who severed their own wings.
Cerny stopped dead in his search for the wings as the horror of it rocked through him. Someone did this to her? He growled down the bond, protectiveness surging even higher as he glanced at the fair, fragile creature in his arms. Someone had taken her wings from her and made her Fall? The angels had been upping their game for months now—years even—in an attempt to get vital intel on Hell’s inner workings, but this was a new level of violence even Cerny couldn’t have predicted. And as one third of Hell’s fiercest warrior, the cool-headed one who analysed every situation, whose job it was to predict Heaven’s next move and counter it … it surprised even him.
Yes, Lucifer replied. Anger seethed in his mental voice, the sort of anger that warned people to stay out of his way.
She could still be a spy. She could be so damaged that she’d do anything for the angels.
I know. Lucifer sighed. But that doesn’t negate what was done to her. Find her wings. Bring her to me.
I’m on it, Cerny replied.
The connection cut out, and Cerny redoubled his efforts to find the girl’s wings, holding her tight to his chest. Someone had done this to her, cut her wings from her and left her to the Fall. Left her for dead. Whether she chose to spy or not, what she’d suffered was still horrific.
People thought angels were merciful, that demons were monsters, but Lucifer would never have done a thing like this to a girl who radiated brokenness.
“You’ll be safe among us,” Cerny murmured to the sleeping angel. “No one will hurt you this way again.”
Lili woke to the scent of jasmine and soap, laid on her stomach on a bed so soft and luxurious that she debated slipping back into sleep. But … fingers were softly trailing down her arm, rousing her.
“Gabriel?” she murmured groggily.
A too-long pause answered her, and then a smooth, unfamiliar voice said, “No, Little Lilith.”
Lili came awake all at once, pushing up so fast that pain lashed down her back in excruciating waves. All at once she remembered the Severance, Gabriel’s betrayal, and Raphael and Ilaian brutalising her. She fell back to the bed with a cry, the pain making her as weak as a kitten. She’d bitten Gabriel, she’d felt strength coursing through her, but now she was utterly weak. Her chin ought to have been crusted with the archangel’s blood, but she felt … clean.
“Careful,” that voice cautioned. Not … not the man she slowly remembered, the one who’d picked her off the floor wherever she’d crashed to Earth. That was a soft voice, pitched low. This one was refined, smooth and cool but full of concern. Lili arched into the kindness in his voice, the gentle brushes to her arms, before she remembered herself. Gabriel had betrayed her, had hurt her so badly she’d never trust anyone again. She couldn’t trust that this stranger’s kindness was real.
“Who are you?” Lili asked, trying to sound like her nose wasn’t stuffed with snot and her eyes weren’t welling with tears as she pushed up, slower, until she sat. The words seemed to scrape her throat raw until only a hoarse whisper emerged, and distantly Lili remembered screaming until her voice broke as the angels set the Severance to her back.
She was in a bed draped with scarlet silks and white velvet throws, so many pillows covering the queen-size mattress that she’d been swamped by them. And perched beside her, holding his hands palm out as if to appear unthreatening, was the most beautiful man Lili had ever seen.
Long dark hair swept back from his forehead above an aquiline face arranged in an expression of concern. He was in his forties, well groomed but with facial hair heading towards scruffy, and a thin mouth tilting up in a smile. Eyes the same colour as the sheets watched her, narrowed and kind. A lie? It had to be. He had crimson eyes; he was a powerful demon. Only Lucifer and his lieutenants had those eyes.
Which meant they’d found her. They knew she’d planned to spy on them, and Lili was … she was in so much danger that her stomach knotted until she was going to be sick.
“Here,” the demon said, gripping her under her arms and picking her up with firm but gentle hands before Lili could fight him. He set her on her feet on a plush carpet her toes sank into and wrapped an arm around her lower back. Was he careful to avoid the open sores of her wounds, or was Lili just looking for kindness? “This way,” he murmured, and towed her across the room to a door that sat back in the wall.
Lili was bundled inside before she figured out what was happening, her reaction times shot by what had to be shock. Her stomach rocked, bile rising, and Lili only processed the fact that the wide, airy room was a bathroom before she dropped to her knees before the toilet.
The demon gathered up the knotted strands of her hair as she purged the contents of her stomach, and terror had another splash of bile hitting her throat. She was supposed to be safe—Gabriel was supposed to be looking after her. Now she was alone, and she was sure she was in Hell, and a demon was touching her. Lili knew this was a trick, even as she vomited again and again, even as the demon stroked her lower back, soothing her until the sickness stopped.
“What are you going to do with me?” She rasped, her hands clenched around the toilet seat, her voice even weaker, her throat even sorer, than when she’d woken. The marble bathroom blurred around her as tears dripped down her face.
There were fates worse than death, and Lili expected the veneer of niceness to be stripped away, revealing her true destiny—to be sent to eternal torment. She’d heard the stories, she knew what kinds of tortures Hell harboured. All she’d wanted was to make Gabriel happy and she’d lost everything. Her home, her wings, her future. Her faith in people.
“Firstly,” the demon said softly, “I’m going to get you up and into the bath.”
Lili’s stomach felt hollow but still managed to roil as she pictured being shoved under the water, choking on it until she struggled, until her body went still. She didn’t want to die. Even with a mass of shredded flesh for a heart, even betrayed by her own kind, by the man she loved, even Fallen … she didn’t want to die. “And then?” she gasped, sweat pricking her palms as she waited for the axe to fall, metaphorical or otherwise.
“And then,” the demon said, lifting her face with a knuckle under her chin so she met his gentle eyes, “I am going to find a healer for your back and make sure you are well taken care of.”
Lili’s terror stumbled as she stared into those crimson eyes. “Why?”
His angular face was etched with sadness, and Lili didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to fall for the trick of it, but she couldn’t help herself. Like a moth to a flame, Lili yearned for compassion, for the caring touches and the way he handled her, never hesitating to offer physical comfort. Even now his finger beneath her chin arrowed into her heart. She wanted so badly for it to be real, wanted someone to take care of her and shield her from the devastation of her severed wings and Gabriel’s betrayal.
The demon looked genuine, his downturned eyes soft and his whole bearing gentle, careful. But then, Gabriel had seemed genuine. Hadn’t he? Lili couldn’t help remembering the jarring flatness of his voice, those cold moments between the lukewarm
and the brutal way he gripped her, making her wonder if she was the most gullible girl on the planet.
She couldn’t be like that again. It would kill her to have her heart broken a second time. So Lili hardened her heart and rearranged her face into a neutral expression. Yet it faltered entirely, her heart stuttering, when he said, “My wings were severed too. I was cast from heaven like you, Little Lilith.” His cool fingers skimmed her jaw then grazed the hammering pulse in her throat. “I know how much it hurts, to be deceived by your kin.”
Lili’s next inhale was ragged, and tears burned her eyes again. She wanted to be tough, to ignore him and pretend his words weren’t arrows fired into a gaping, bleeding wound. But her bottom lip wobbled. “I don’t believe you,” she whispered, pulling away from his touch and trying so hard to be strong. She’d known being a spy would push her to the very edge of her abilities but not like this. She stumbled to her feet, rinsing her mouth out with water from the sink until the sick taste left her mouth. “I don’t know you and I don’t trust you.”
Those ruby eyes softened but he didn’t move away from her. Lili realised, only when he didn’t react with rage, that her words were so foolishly reckless when she was at his mercy—in his house. What if all the doors were locked, the windows sealed? Her breath raced out of her control.
“Easy,” the demon murmured. “You’re alright. You’re safe here, Liliana.”
Lili scrambled to the door, needing to put distance between her and this demon, needing … needing air so badly she was gulping, choking. She rushed back into the bedroom, ignoring the ebony furniture, the red and white decor and the rumpled bed as she staggered towards the lightweight curtains and flung them back. She heaved at the window frame, sobbing when it wouldn’t budge, her body beginning to shake uncontrollably. But a warm hand squeezed her elbow, the reassurance warming her like a hug despite her efforts to mistrust him, and the demon helped her lift the window frame until cool, fresh air slid into the room. Lili inhaled it like she was drowning.
“It’s alright,” he soothed, stroking her lower back again. “You’re alright.”
Against her better judgement, his words helped. She sucked in more air, not caring that it tasted of jasmine and brimstone, not caring that the landscape beyond the window was the deep purple hue of Hell, a starlit indigo sky watching over a city made of flat-roofed, lilac-stone buildings with poker straight sides. It didn’t matter in that moment, just that air filled her lungs, sending blessed relief down her airways.
Slowly, bit by bit, Lili calmed. And she needed to know what was going to happen to her. The wait, the dread, would kill her quicker than whatever this demon planned to do to her.
Drawing on the fire that had filled her veins when she’d bitten Gabriel, Lili faced the demon, having to tip her head back to meet his eyes because he was so tall. “Tell me what you’re going to do to me. If you’re going to torture me or kill me or—or sentence me to eternal labour, just tell me. I need to know.”
The demon’s eyes sharpened, the softness of his expression hardening around the edges, but Lili was glad for that hint of anger. Anything was better than the cold detachment Gabriel had regarded her with when she saw him last. Anything was better than Ilaian’s sneering scorn, or Raphael’s amused pity.
“I’ve told you what I intend to do,” the demon said, his voice taut with irritation as he loomed over her, close enough that she could see the darker flecks in his red eyes, the errant freckle on the side of his throat. “You are safe here, Liliana. I won’t hurt you, and neither will any who obey me.”
“Then why … why am I here? I Fell—” She couldn’t finish the thought, flinching away from it.
“That’s why you’re here,” he sighed, and his voice had softened again, his mouth pursed with … distaste? Disapproval? “I told you, I’ve been in your position. I know your pain, Liliana, I know exactly how it feels. I know, too, that Gabriel sent you here to spy.”
Lili jerked like she’d been shocked with electricity, but it was only confirmation of what she’d already thought. And yet … this demon was acting more like her caretaker than her executioner. “If you know why I was … why I was sent here,” she said, stumbling over why I was made to Fall, “why aren’t you punishing me?”
Gabriel had tricked and hurt her so unspeakably when he was supposed to love her. It made no sense that she’d come to spy in Hell and a demon who had a genuine reason to hate her wouldn’t hurt her. Lili’s head ached trying to understand; everything was in reverse. Maybe she was dreaming, her mind supplied helpfully, but no. This was too real, and she was too aware, alert, and terrified for this to be a dream.
“Because.” His thumb skimmed her jaw and Lili went deadly still, waiting for death to smite her. “You don’t strike me as a willing spy, Little Lilith.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Lili snapped, and instantly wished she could spool the words back inside her. What was she doing, letting her fear lash out of her in panicked anger? Tempting him to hurt her.
“Your mother was my best general,” the demon said with a wry smile, his thumb brushing the dip beneath her bottom lip. He watched her carefully, waiting for her reaction.
Her mother, Lilith… His general…
Lili took a step away, then another and another until the back of her knees knocked into the bed and she slid onto it, suddenly short of breath. “You’re Lucifer.”
Oh Gods.
Oh Gods, oh Gods. Lili hadn’t been caught spying by any demon. She’d been caught by the ruler of them. The sovereign of Hell himself. The King.
Lies—everything he’d told her so far was lies. Why would he let her live, unpunished, when she’d been sent to ruin all his plans, sent to halt his invasion of Earth?
Lili shut her eyes and hiccupped for breath. She was going to die, and there was no point fighting it. She didn’t have the strength of her Grace, her wings were gone, and she’d never been taught how to harness her demon magic. What chance did she stand against Lucifer?
“Liliana,” he said, and Lili flinched as his warm palms settled on her knees. “Look at me.”
She couldn’t. She wasn’t that brave.
Lucifer sighed, squeezing her knee. “You want to know what I want of you? I want you to feed false information to Gabriel when he contacts you.”
Lili’s eyes flew open in outrage. Not at the idea of lying to Gabriel but at the idea of that—that—bastard trying to talk to her in the first place. “He wouldn’t dare,” she snarled, rage boiling up in her blood. “He took my wings, he tricked me and lied to me and made me love him.”
Lili was heaving for breath when she looked Lucifer in the eye again. She couldn’t read the emotion there but it wasn’t rage at her for speaking, for snarling. Her tone wasn’t very ladylike or angelic but he didn’t seem to mind, so Lili’s heart burned hotter, encouraged. “I don’t want him to talk to me ever again. If he does, I’ll—I’ll—well, I don’t know what I’ll do but it’ll be awful.”
Lucifer was smiling, the slightest curl of his mouth. “So you don’t want revenge on him then?”
Lili opened her mouth, then shut it, the fiery core of her anger slowing into something hotter, longer-lasting. “You’re trying to manipulate me,” she whispered. “Just like he did. You’re just making me mad so I’ll go along with your plan.”
“No,” he replied smoothly, his gaze steady on hers as he crouched before her. “I’m offering you a way to pay Gabriel back for every lie he ever told you. If it happens to play into my plans…” He shrugged, drawing Lili’s attention to the fact he wore a tight grey jumper with casual trousers and not the elegant Armani suit she’d always pictured the devil wearing.
“I won’t do it,” Lili said, using the anger—or was it demon magic?—seething in her veins to be brave. “I won’t help you invade Earth. I’m not unleashing any demons. You’ll—you’ll just have to kill me, because I won’t help you hurt all those people on Earth.” She was breathless and trembling b
y the time she finished but she wouldn’t budge. There were billions of people on Earth and Lili would not be responsible for unleashing all Hell upon them.
Lucifer laughed. He threw his head back and laughed. It was a warm, charming laugh that invited Lili to smile. She fought it, confusion making her breaths come short. “You’re adorable,” he told her, and smiled even wider when she scowled. She was trying to be stern, not cute.
“I mean it,” she insisted, but with less fire—her anger had slipped a rung of its ladder. “I won’t endanger Earth. I … I might help you mess up Gabriel’s plans but I won’t hurt anyone else.”
Lucifer was regarding her strangely. It was the way Lili imagined she watched kittens and puppies trying to climb up stairs that were three times their height. “What do you think we do here in Hell?”
Was that a trick question? Lili scanned his gold-brown face for clues but when she found none, she whispered, “You punish people who’ve been bad in life.”
“And?” A groomed eyebrow lifted, his thin mouth curving under a scruffy two-day beard.
“And … that’s it?” Lili was only brave enough to hold his gaze for a few seconds at a time, her stomach twisting with nerves and acute awareness of him whenever their eyes met.
Lucifer sighed, his shoulders rising with the expulsion of air, and Lili realised all at once that he was crouched on the carpet at her feet, his hands still resting on her knees, twin points of warmth seeping into her muscle and bone. She pulled her feet up under her, settling a safe distance away from him in the middle of the large mattress and ignoring the questioning glance he aimed her way.
“We punish those who deserve torment,” Lucifer said evenly, “reward those worthy of paradise, and for all who fall in between, we give them somewhere to stay. Most people these days live here, in the cities around Hell, instead of going off to a true resting place.”