“Shit. All right, I will try. You get stronger. How much longer do you think?”

  “I would say at least another half day.”

  “Crap. All right. Take care of yourself. I will do what I can.”

  “Alex?”

  “Yes?”

  “You got this. You’re stronger than you think, even without me. I might be part of your Power, but I’m the least of it.”

  “Thank you, love.”

  “Mmm, hmm,” she mumbles, and then I feel the connection close off, but not before her love flows through it.

  The chat with Bridget had happened so fast in my head, that not time that had passed.

  “What do you want?”

  Lucifer’s grin comes back and he points to me. “Your body. Or more like, that interesting Angel body of yours. I assume that it was built by Peter? I noticed that the tracking tag was removed,” he says with a shrug. “Which is even better, since I won’t need to figure out how to remove it myself. Saves me the hassle.”

  “And you expect me to just give it to you? Just like that? Die for you?” I ask again.

  He shrugs, looks over at my friends, and tells me, “I can take it from you freely or by force.”

  “How is a ghost going to force me to do anything? I don’t see any of your Avatars around,” I tell him with a snort. That’s it. Keep him talking. Maybe some idea of how to beat this fucker will miraculously come to me.

  “I have my ways,” he replies with a shrug.

  “So what exactly did you do that made you what you are today,” I ask, waving at his ghost form.

  He doesn’t answer right away, staring at me suspiciously. “Peter never told you?”

  I shake my head. “Peter, and even God, have been very tight-lipped when it came to you,” I say, exaggerating slightly. I know a bit, but to be honest, I haven’t gotten a lot out of them. Maybe I can get Lucifer to tell me? Is the man a talker?

  “Big surprise,” Lucifer says, fury on his features. But I can tell that the anger is not directed towards me. “What do you know about Angels and Devils?”

  With a frown, I answer him. “Angels are created by God to run the worlds, even if it’s as Gods themselves. Though they technically still work for God. And as for Devils, my understanding is they run the Hell worlds. Devils used to be Angels but were demoted and now serve there.”

  “Yes, that’s partially right. God created us Angels. And if we didn’t follow his rules, we would be demoted to run the Hell worlds. Although, there was usually only one Devil per Hell world,” he growls. “I was his number one Angel. I was around before Peter was even thought of. I even fucking trained Peter.”

  “What happened that you got demoted? Must have been pretty damning.”

  He looks up at me and glares. “Damning? Boy, I tried to free you Earthlings from under his thumb. I ran Earth for eons. It was considered the top spot to work. While I was there, I grew to understand you Earthlings. I recognized that you did not wish to be under his yolk. You all wanted to be free from God.”

  “And humans told you this? Individually?”

  “Of course not!” Lucifer tells me with a glare. “I just know your hearts. I knew that you wanted freedom.”

  “Are you sure that you don’t mean that you wanted us to have freedom from God, but to be under your power?”

  The look he gives me tells me I am spot on. Now his fury is definitely directed against me. It wasn’t that my people from an age ago wanted freedom. It was more that Lucifer tried to rule them.

  “Is that why you were broken down as an Angel and demoted to running a Hell world?” I ask him, and my question must hit a nerve, as he roars at me. Being a ghost though, he’s limited in what he can do.

  “Listen, boy! I know what your people needed. They needed a ruler that wasn’t as egotistical as God. He thought nothing of you as a people. He never gave you free will. Earth was an experiment to him.”

  That makes me pause. An experiment? But my thoughts are interrupted as Lucifer continues.

  “For eons, I watched you Earthlings prosper. I watched as civilizations rose and fell. I watched as you went from eating bugs to eating the finest foods you were able to grow. I watched a people who thought they were free. But each and every time, God’s rules forbade them to grow as a species.”

  I frown at him and ask him slowly, “So, you’re saying you were trying to be our saviour?”

  “Yes! And for that, I was thrown down to run a fucking Hell world. Do you have any idea what it’s like running a Hell world?” he asks me, anger coming off his ghostly form in waves.

  “No clue.”

  “I went from being the number one Angel, second only to God. I had power. I had everything I needed. But the one thing we Angels do not have is free will. Because to God,” he snarls, “we are nothing more than his creations.”

  “But aren’t we humans also his creation? Yet, you just said we also didn’t have free will. Do the people of Boromour have free will?”

  He snorts and waves his hand. “Of course, the people on this planet and every other planet out there have free will. Every planet except for Earth.”

  “And you know this, how?” I ask him point blank.

  “What do you mean?” he asks me with a glare.

  “You just said that Earth is the only planet out there that doesn’t have free will. It sure felt like I had free will when I was there. When I died on Earth, it was my free will, my own choice, that made me not take over a man’s soul as my death was early and unexpected.”

  “Wait. You died on Earth? Is that how you, an Earthling, came here? I wondered how an Earthling made it here. I just figured God was getting desperate and was starting to use you Earthlings for something,” he says to me with a frown.

  I decide not to tell him the complete truth, as I have a feeling there’s something I’m missing here.

  “I was apparently in the wrong spot at the wrong time and got killed. The death was meant for someone else. God took pity and asked me if I wanted to take over the body and mind of whoever was meant to die, with his soul going to wherever he was meant to go, Hell or Heaven.”

  “Pfft,” Lucifer laughs. “And you believed him? God, who is seemingly universal, didn’t know you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

  Wait. So, is he saying that God is omniscient? God told me when I first met him that he wasn’t, and that he didn’t see my death until it was too late. And since, according to him, he couldn’t go back in time, he could not fix it. Now, who should I believe? God, or this Lucifer who wants nothing more than to see me dead so he can take over my Angel body? Easy fucking choice there.

  Giving nothing away, I nod to Lucifer as if agreeing with him.

  “So, you’re saying that God lied to me?”

  “Of course!” Lucifer says with a smile. “God doesn’t care what you want. God will do what he wants.”

  “Sure. He’s God. He can sort of get away with that.”

  “And why is that all right? We are many! He is one!”

  He's so angry as he speaks, that I’m convinced that if he had a living body, spit would have been flying everywhere.

  “We are not objects to be used and discarded at his whim. We are thinking beings.”

  “And you think we would be better off under your leadership?”

  “Of course!” he shouts. “I would be a better leader than him. I would allow you all free will.”

  “Until we didn’t listen to you?”

  “Of course. As any good parent knows, you have to make sure your kids listen to you until they can understand their choices!”

  “And how long would that be for? I doubt you have ever been a parent.”

  “What? For forever, of course. You humans, especially those from Earth, need me. They need me to bring them into a golden age.”

  “We already have a golden age,” I tell him. “We have sciences that can almost mimic Magic. We live longer as a race. We have learned to heal many illnesses. All without Magic that is not in our world. And you think you can bring us into a golden age? An age with that? Flying cars? Travel across the cosmos? Do tell. What can you do for us that we Earthlings, as you call us, haven’t done on our own with science?”

  He must realize, based on my tone, that I am playing with him, since he closes his mouth and glares at me.

  “You will give me that body, Earthling.”

  “Alex. I have a name. Alex. Use it,” I tell him with a smile. “But what makes you think I will just give you this body so that you can leave this prison of yours?”

  “I will kill all your friends if you fight me in this.”

  I turn back to my friends, who had been listening in on the conversation with eyes wide open in shock. But they are still behind the Shield barrier.

  “And how are you going to do that? They are behind this Shield. I assume that’s not your doing, but Mar’s?”

  Again, Lucifer waves a hand dismissively. “That Shield is nothing to me.”

  “Really?” I respond with a fake look of surprise. “Then, please. Go through it and say hello to them. Or for that matter. Come at me and take my body from me. Please,” I say to him, opening my arms wide and waiting with a patient smile.

  “Do not test me, Earthling,” he begins.

  “Alex,” I remind him, interrupting his tirade.

  He glares at him and growls. “Do not test me, Alex. I will have that body of yours.”

  I frown at him. “Why do you want my body anyhow?”

  “I want your body because as you can see, I no longer have one,” he waves at his ghostly form.

  “And you want mine? So, I’m to just, what? Die and give it to you?”

  “Of course, you die. But, as an Angel, at least at the level you are at, you should be able to revive. It just means you will be given a new body. Though, I’m sure that the body you have now is a one of a kind. That’s why I want it. It will allow me to do what I want, without Peter, or fucking God, coming after me.”

  I frown at him again. “So you’re saying that I will die, but you will gain this body, and I will get another one? But it will be, what? A standard one?”

  He nods. “Of course. Your body is special, in that because it was not created by God, he has no control over it. It is the ultimate body with free will. So much so that I can do whatever I want, and there’s nothing God or any of his fucking Angels can to do touch me.”

  “Wait,” I blurt out, thinking about something that he just said. “You’re saying that the way I am now, I have total free will, and I can do whatever I want, and there is nothing God can do to me?”

  Lucifer must realize that he had said too much when explaining things to me. He had let slip one significant thing. That with this body, whoever owns it, has ultimate free will. Is that why God hasn’t really stopped me, or isn’t visiting me as much? Not that I’ve given God any reason to stop me from doing anything. I haven’t exactly been going around killing indiscriminately. Well, except for some humans. Is this body that different?

  “Yeah,” I tell him with a scowl. “I’m going to pass. I like this body, and I know my wives do as well.”

  “Is that your final choice?” Lucifer asks me in a deadly voice.

  I look back at the doorway where my wives, Leeha, Sara, and Tia, are looking at me. Leeha nods my way to indicate she’s with me on this. Tia snorts and gives Lucifer the Earthling salute of one finger up in the air. Sara simply takes out her dagger and begins to clean under her nails, the fury on her face directed towards Lucifer, daring him to try something.

  Binna crosses her arms over her ample chest and glares at Lucifer.

  “Yeah. I’m going to pass.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Lucifer doesn’t answer me, he just glares. If looks could kill, he would be taking over my body right now. I can feel the heat from his anger from here, it’s almost a tangible thing.

  He slowly lifts one ghostly hand, fingers splayed out, and utters a single word that seems to vibrate with Energy and malice.

  “Darkness.”

  Without any more warning than that, the room is plunged into darkness that is so deep, I can’t even see Tia’s Fire Elemental.

  Shit! Within seconds, I have my Third Eye open, but it’s no use. Where before there had been a massive ball of Power where Lucifer was standing, now there was nothing. I look around frantically, but all I can see are my wives and friends behind the Shield barrier. I can see their energy signatures, so I know my Third Eye is working.

  I look around the room again, trying to see where he went.

  Suddenly, there’s a scream inside the room and then another one from outside.

  “Shit! Alex! Something happened to Tia! She just passed out after screaming.”

  I shout out, “Crap! Her Fire Elemental. That must have been the scream I heard in here. He must have gotten to her.”

  Without thinking about it, I had moved away from the spot where I had been standing while talking to Lucifer. Good thing I did, as suddenly I feel a breeze where my neck had been, followed by a growl of irritation.

  Shit. Did Lucifer just try to cut my throat? But why? If he wanted this body, why would he be trying to damage it? Unless? Shit. He’s a ghost. Maybe he’s attacking my soul? Fuck, I wish I knew how to fight him! God and Peter, weren’t exactly open with their information about Lucifer, other than telling me that I needed to stop him. Gee, thanks, assholes. Help in the way of information would have been good!

  “Alex! We can’t see, but I was able to find Tia and she’s still breathing but isn’t waking up.”

  “What did you do to her, Lucifer?” I shout out.

  “Ah, so that Elemental I destroyed wasn’t yours? Interesting. I thought it was,” says a disembodied voice from my left. I turn my head that way but don’t see anything in the pitch black, and even with my Third Eye, I don’t discern anything.

  “You destroyed it?” I say in horror.

  “Well, I destroyed the Energy it was using to stay here on this plane. I would tell you not to worry and that she will be fine, but honestly, you will be gone by then. I had hoped it was yours. Once I take over your body, the first thing I will do when I get complete control of it is kill all your friends. It will be nice to take their Power for my own.”

  Some instinct or something makes me duck and throw myself to the side. Just in time, as I feel the impact of something hard hitting the ground where I had just been standing. Hard enough that I can feel it through the floor.

  “Slippery fucker, aren’t you?” growls Lucifer’s voice near my old spot. “Why don’t you just stand still and allow me to take what is mine?”

  “Yours?” I growl. “How do you figure that?”

  “It’s mine by dint of strength. I’m stronger than you. So simply submit to my will.”

  “So much for free will and all that bullshit, right?” I say, before my instincts kick in again and I jump up into the air and throw myself a good five feet to my left.

  Once again, I hear a noise that sounds like a blade passing through the air where my feet just were. And once again, Lucifer growls.

  How is he doing that? I thought he was a ghost? How can he have a blade? First he tried to cut my neck, and now my legs?

  I look over to where my friends and wives are and I yell out. “I need you to all run away! He seems to have some kind of blade. He’s trying to cut me.”

  “They won’t get far,” says Lucier with a chuckle. “Mar has traps to stop anyone from getting out.”

  “Wait!” I shout out quickly. “Lucifer is saying that Mar has traps to stop anyone who tries to escape from here.”

  “Shit!” cries Leeha in frustration.

  “What can we do?” Sara asks with a growl of irritation and fear.

  “Honestly,” I yell back. “Nothing. This is a fight between Lucifer and me.”

  I feel something behind me, and without thinking I bring my shield out of my dimensional bag and place it behind me. Just in time yet again, as I get pushed a good ten feet from the impact of something hitting my shield.

  How the fuck is he fighting me! I can’t even see the Power of that blade. Does he have a physical blade somehow?

  “I will say, you’re one fast little fucker. It will be nice to have a body like that. As much as I hate to admit it, Peter did an excellent job creating it. Even better than God’s standard bodies. It will make me very powerful here on Boromour. Then, once I have Boromour under my thumb, I will move on to another world. And then another.”

  “So, what happened to free will?” I ask him with a snort.

  “Please,” he replies with a sniff. “I just told you what you wanted to hear. All you mortal races are the same. Nothing better than fodder, to be used up and discarded when you aren’t useful anymore. God created you all, and instead of using you, he tries to protect and nurture you. The powerful are always meant to rule. God simply doesn’t understand it. The best thing I did was get rid of my old body. Now even he can’t touch me in this corporeal state. And once I have your Angel body, I will have a physical body once more that he can’t touch. I will be unstoppable.”

  “Then why are you trying to damage this body if you want it?” I ask him, puzzled.

  “Man, you are foolish, aren’t you? I’m not touching your physical body. My weapon only damages souls.”

  I frown at that. He’s attacking my soul? I was right!

  “My soul? So your weapon doesn’t damage my body, but only my soul?”

  I can almost imagine Lucifer rolling his eyes when he replies with, “Of course it’s your soul. I would not damage the perfect specimen of a body. I don’t have time to let it freaking heal. So, stay in one spot and let me kill your soul.”

  Again, something in my spine tingles, telling me to move, and I do exactly that. This time, I use Teleport to move a good fifteen feet across the room.

  You have Teleported.

  Lucifer growls in frustration.

  “Just stand still and I swear I will give your friends a fast and clean kill,” Lucifer cries out in displeasure.

  “Yeah, right. Because your word means a lot to me,” I tell him with a snort of derision. “Try again.”