Gates of Hell

by Zoey Woods

  Where could everyone be? A faint chanting caught my attention and I followed the sound outside. There in the courtyard where I’d shown Elion the path to Lucifer’s garden stood my brother and the angel. Each of them held glowing swords. They charged each other, slashing, fighting, while a crowd of demons and devils cheered.

  But the tight circle behind the crowd were sorcerers and witches who chanted, “Haustus principis inimicorum ut moriatur.”

  No! They were taking away Elion’s strength and giving it to Lucifer. It wasn’t a fair fight. Both of them were in the wrong. My brother for not listening to me where we could’ve settled this by proving his innocence. And Elion for abandoning me. For not giving me a chance to show him that he was wrong to blindly follow orders. For breaking my heart.

  I choked out a sob. Elion had made me weak. Before him, I’d been strong—never needing anyone except my brother. Didn’t want to feel this pain like I couldn’t breathe. The weight of everything threatened to choke me.

  If I walked away, would I be able to deal with the outcome whatever it was? Lose either my brother or the angel who had made me feel more in the short time I was with him than I had in my entire life?

  Elion’s sliced Lucifer’s side and my brother grinned. Wait, something was up. My brother hated to lose and if I ever drew blood first, he’d rant for weeks afterward.

  This was a trap and Eilon the victim.

  I leaped down the stairs three at a time. My breaths lodged in my throat. The crowd's cheers grew louder and the tingle of black magic pricked across my skin like dozens of ant bites. I tore down the pathway, pushing people out of my way.

  I had to get to Elion. Lucifer was setting him up and I'd no idea what he had planned except that it was bad.

  All I'd wanted was to protect my brother. I had fallen for an angel who had used me for his own purpose. If I was him, I might have done the same. Regardless if Elion cared for me at all, I couldn't stand back and watch him die.

  Why didn't Lucifer just put him in the dungeon? Do a little torture and discover why Elion was here? Show Elion his innocence, then the angel might join our side. Take our case up to the Heavenly Court and have more support from other angels that Lucifer wasn't the horrible devil that father and his human followers believed.

  But more than any of that, I just wanted Elion to live, even if it wasn't with me.

  I squeezed between an archdemon and an imp. The crowd was so thick, I couldn't even see either Lucifer or Elion. Fuck! Was everyone in Hell watching this fight?

  I pushed aside the worry that I wasn't going to make it in time clutching my heart in a fist.

  “Watch it,” a gorgon and her hair of snakes hissed at me.

  Didn’t have time to apologize, I could almost see Lucifer and Elion. I shoved through to the front of the crowd. The magical chant rose higher, the pricks across my skin now painful jabs.

  “You see? This angel was sent here to kill me and has drawn first blood,” my brother’s voice rang out over the shouts and jeers.

  I reached the edge of the crowd and froze.

  Lucifer waved a bloody palm up in the air, with a smug expression on his face. “Let’s send a message back to Heaven, shall we?”

  The crowd’s roar was deafening.

  “How about a death spell that will kill this assassin and the one that sent him. Then we will take Heaven back!”

  He was going to kill Elion…and father. As much as I hated what had been done to us, this wasn’t right. This wasn’t something we’d stoop to. A fair fight—an all-out battle—sure. Not this underhanded sneakiness.

  Elion stood before Lucifer, a binding spell keeping him in place and silent. His flaming sword pulsed from gold to red, an effect of the magic and my brother’s blood along the side of it. He was defenseless. Unable to protect himself or even say why father had ordered Lucifer’s death.

  But my brother wouldn’t listen to me. He hadn’t in the throne room and he wouldn’t know with all of demonkind here, egging him on. His ego and pride were too great.

  “Let’s see how many cuts an angel can take before he falls,” Lucifer taunted. He sliced Elion’s shoulder with his black blade. “We only need him to survive the trip up to dear old dad.”

  They were going to turn Elion into a walking bomb. A zombie that would do my brother’s will. He would have no free will. One of the things my brother and I had stood for since the very beginning.

  “No!” I dove forward, placing myself between Lucifer and Elion. “Stop. Don’t do this.”

  “Get out of the way, Rebecca.” Lucifer waved his weapon and several demon-guards stepped forward. “You can’t fight us all. This has to be done.”

  “Don’t you even want to know why Elion was sent here to kill you?” I raised my hands, showing the guards that I hadn’t drawn my sword.

  “Elion?” Lucifer held out his arms as the crowd booed. “You sure got chummy with this one to know his name. Are you siding with this angel over me…your own brother?”

  I lifted my chin. “Whichever side stands for the freedom of our kind, that is where I stand. But that includes our brothers and sisters in the Heavenly realm.”

  Shouts of anger filled the air.

  “Lucifer, if you would just listen to me. Father believes you are stealing righ—”

  “Enough!” My brother shouted, racing toward me with his weapon over his head.

  I turned, grasping onto Elion and using the last of my magic for a spelled prayer. “Great Mother, hear me. I chose Elion and return to Heaven with him as per our bargain.”

  A searing pain hit my back and I crumbled. I’d failed. Failed my brother, Elion, and myself. Bitter tears stung my throat as my vision faded to blackness.

  Chapter 22

  Light burned my eyelids and I groaned as I opened my eyes. Lucifer stood over me, pain etched across his face.

  “Why, Rebecca, why didn’t you move out of the way?”

  I hurt all over. The magic my brother had intended for Elion raged through me. I was now the bomb, but somehow I was still me. My mouth worked but nothing came out.

  A tear fell down my brother’s cheeks. “I tried to stop it—once I realized you wouldn’t move—I tried.”

  I placed my trembling hand over his. “I know,” I croaked out past my raw throat. And mom hadn’t come to my rescue. Why I had I ever thought she would? Oh, right. So she could say I told you so and gain me back into Heaven and have one-uped father to have regained a fallen angel.

  Where was Elion? I strained to sit up when the angel took me in his arms.

  “You sacrificed yourself for me. Why?” His blue eyes stared down at me like I was something he’d never seen before. An oddity.

  At that moment, I could’ve told him off. Let out all my hurt and anger at what he’d done. But if I had been in his place, I would’ve done the same. I’d have been driven to do what my training and beliefs dictated no matter the cost. And I wanted him to know the truth of my feelings. That even if it meant nothing to him, our time together had meant everything to me.

  “I did it because I wanted you to see there is beauty in Hell.” I shifted and groaned as new pain lanced up my back. Once I got my breath back, I continued, “I did it because I love you.”

  His stunned expression told me everything. He hadn’t felt the same way. To him, it was just a romp with a fallen angel—a demon—and it carried no weight whatsoever.

  “Don’t worry.” I looked from him to Lucifer. “All you have to do it take me to father and warn him about my new bomb status. He’ll get the message that the Prince of Darkness is not to be messed with. And he’ll reward his faithful servant for bringing back his wayward daughter. See? Win-win.”

  “Well, well, well,” my mother’s voice echoed around us.

  “Bitch!” Lucifer snarled, grasping his sword and spinning.

  We weren’t in Hell anymore. She’d zapped us to Sheol—the realm between Heaven and Hell.

  “Looks like you lost our bet, Reb
ecca.” She smoothed her hands down white robes. “Now let’s defuse this bomb before your father finds out and punishes you, Lucifer even more than you deserve.”

  The muscle along my brother’s eye twitched. “You planned this all along. Tricked Rebecca into that stupid bet that you knew would never work. You and your angels will never admit that we have our place now in this vast universe you and father created.”

  “She didn’t lose.” Elion helped me stand and kept his arm around me.

  My mother spun, her eyes narrowing. “Pardon? Hell is full of devils, demons, and all types of vile creatures. It is a place of evil.”

  “Yes.” Elion agreed.

  I pushed against him.

  Lucifer snarled, moving his sword from our mother to the angel. “Let go of her.”

  “But you’re also wrong.” Elion didn’t even flinch beside me. “There is beauty in Hell as well. I didn’t realize it until I thought I’d lost Rebecca.”

  My mother clenched her fists and even Lucifer paused.

  “She showed me what love…real love, not devotion or duty…is.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying.” Mother’s face turned purple. “She’s a demon. Empty inside. She has no love or goodness only lust and lies.”

  “Nice to know you think so highly of me, mother,” I said sarcastically. “Hate to hear what you think of your enemies.”

  “Well, let’s get this all behind us, shall we?” She smiled. “I’ll take out this nasty magic and we’ll all return home.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Lucifer raised his sword, “And neither is Rebecca.”

  “Or me,” Elion added.

  She balked. “Wha—”

  “You see,” Elion squeezed my shoulder gently making me look up at him. “Rebecca is like a flower growing in rock. The ray of sunshine in a storm. And I love her.”

  My heart melted. He loved me! I couldn’t keep what felt like a stupid grin off my face.

  “Please.” Mother rolled her eyes. “You can’t possibly—”

  “Shut up,” I interrupted her. “You’ve lost. Take your pride that is as worse as Lucifer’s and go.”

  “If you refuse my help now,” my mother straightened her shoulders, “Neither of you will be welcome in Heaven…ever.”

  “What else is new?” Lucifer sheathed his sword.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean them. You condemn not only yourself, Rebecca, but Elion too. Are you prepared to accept that guilt?”

  “Don’t listen to her.” Lucifer glanced my way.

  “And you,” Mom rounded on him. “As punishment for interfering and stealing righteous souls, I banish you from Heaven and Hell. You no longer have a realm or a place to call your own until you repent.”

  “What! I neve—” But before he could finish, mother clapped her hands and he disappeared.

  “Lucifer!” I stepped forward. My legs buckling under me from the damn bomb spell.

  “And you,” she said, stepping toward us. “You will go to Heaven with me if I have to drag you there myself.”

  “No.” Elion lifted his sword. “You won’t touch her.”

  She tsked. “I am more powerful than either of you.”

  “But together we have a chance.” I stood on shaky legs with Elion’s help and drew my own sword. “You see, mother, I’d rather die with freedom than live a life of servitude.”

  “I’d rather die than live a life knowing I had love and didn’t do everything possible to hold onto it,” Elion said beside me.

  “Fine, then die,” She lifted her hands and a yellow bubble of light blasted right for us.

  Chapter 23

  “Stop,” I shouted. “We are not your puppets to play with at your leisure or punish when you’re mad at us.”

  My mom lowered her hands, the light flickered across her fingertips.

  Carefully, I approached her, Elion not letting go of my hand as if he’d haul me back if she tried to attack. “I miss you, mom. I really do. But I can’t live in your shadow or with dad’s only his way rules. You have to let me go.”

  She sniffed, looking from me to Elion and back. “But I never get to see you anymore. You’re always in that dreadful Hell.”

  Was that what this was all about? My mom was jealous of my brother. “Did you spread the rumor of Lucifer stealing righteous souls?”

  “No.” She sounded sincere. “I may have spread up the rumor mill though. I don’t lie, Rebecca. You know that.”

  I nodded. “My brother didn’t do what you think. I know him. Better than anyone.” Or I thought I did until he was willing to use black magic and cheat to win against Elion.

  With a sigh, she held out her arms. “If I can’t convince you to come back to Heaven with me, would you at least give your mom a hug?”

  “Don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Elion tugged me back a step.

  “Why?” I frowned at him. “You think she’ll try and trick me?”

  “No,” he shook his head, “I just don’t trust your brother. The Divine Mother is still part of the Heavenly Sovereign. I wouldn’t count on the bomb igniting if you got too close to her.”

  “Okay. Diffuse me then,” I turned to her.

  She furrowed her brow. “Wait, I think Elion’s right. You said Lucifer cheated and used dark magic?”

  I nodded.

  “How? What did he do, exactly?”

  “He had a bunch of sorcerers chanting a spell, then allowed Elion to draw first blood.”

  “Damn Rascal.” She snapped her fingers.

  “Mom,” I said appalled. In all my years growing up in Heaven, I’d never heard her utter a single cuss word.

  “Well, it’s true.” She brushed her golden hair off her shoulder. “To break this enchantment, you’ll need his blood and something impossible.”

  Elion and I looked at each other.

  “Tell us,” I said.

  “You’ll need to find Lucifer’s heart.”

  “Wha—” I paused. It sounded so simple but that meant it wasn’t. She couldn’t be speaking about his literal heart but a figurative one. Which, aside from his ego and pride, I’d no idea what would classify as his heart.

  “Exactly.” Mom shrugged at seeing my understanding. “Not a spell that is easily broken.”

  “All right. First, we find Lucifer, figure out what his heart is. Second, we reverse the spell. Then we prove his innocence and take it to father.”

  “There’s only one more problem.” Mom’s voice caught.

  A niggling sensation folded my middle. “What is it?”

  “Lucifer didn’t just make a bomb—you—he put a timer on it.”

  Chapter 24

  “Fuck my luck,” I paced. “How long have I got before I blow up?” Damn my brother to the thirteenth level of Hell. When I got my hands on him, I was going to strangle him. How dare he do a spell like this. Ensured that even if Elion had figured out a way not to go back to Heaven and retain his free will, he’d die anyway.

  “Rebecca,” My mom said sternly.

  Maybe I should pay a visit to father. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against Elion’s side. Now that I had the means to end the feud between my brother and my father, destroy the ruler who had banished us to an eternity of Hell, I found that I didn’t want to harm him or mom.

  “All right, what do I have to do to stop this?” I asked.

  “I don’t know that we can.” Mom shuddered. “You’ll have to find the answer out on your own.”

  Elion squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, together.”

  My mind was whirling with possible spells and answers, but if Mom wasn’t sure, then it was going to be a doozy. Best place to start was to speak with my brother about what exactly he’d created.

  “Where did you send Lucifer? I need to speak to him.”

  “To earth.” Mother smirked. “Let him taste a bit of the mortals’ life he grew so envious of.”

  “Great.” I lowe
red my arms. “Send us to him.”

  An hour later, I dragged Lucifer out of a strip club despite his protesting into the back alley.

  “I was only having a little fun. Why can’t you let me enjoy this?” He pouted. “I’m finally out of that Hellhole…pun intended.”

  “Have you forgotten that I’m a walking bomb? That I could blow up at any moment?” I pushed him up against the brick wall.

  Elion stood beside me, ready to jump in if Lucifer tried anything.

  My brother paled. “Sorry. There isn’t a cure.”

  I shoved him harder. “Of course there is. Every spell has a loophole. What’s so special about this one?”

  “It’s different. Took me centuries to come up with and many failed attempts.” He raked a hand through his black hair. “I’d no idea it would be you…I didn’t mean…”

  “Focus on the now.” I stepped back. “We can’t change the past. There has to be something we can do.”

  “This is a waste of time,” Elion said. “Let me go visit father and he’ll fix all this.”

  “No,” Lucifer and I both said at the same time.

  “Once father finds out what Lucifer had planned and about me, he’ll kill my brother.”

  Elion shrugged. “He needs to be punished anyway for stealing righteous souls.”

  Was Elion right and my brother guilty? Never would’ve imagined him sending a bomb to father but here we were.

  “I didn’t—haven’t.” His dark gaze bore into me. “Rebecca, you have to believe me.”

  In all the years I’d known my brother, he’d never actively harm an innocent. Guilty, well, that was an entirely different story.

  “Father says you are stealing righteous souls,” Elion said.

  “Then he’s a liar.” Lucifer pushed off the wall.

  “Blasphemer!” Elion drew his sword.

  I stepped between them. “Stop. This won’t solve anything. Let’s focus on what we do know. Someone or something out there is taking souls. Where are they going cause we haven’t seen any of them in Hell.”