“You don’t know what you’re talking about, demon.”

  Missolis shook her head. “I was once like you, Azrael. That same fire burned inside of me. I am asking you now, one Warrior’s heart to another. Let us in, let us rest and heal, and we will fight for you. All of us.”

  I could tell Azrael still wasn’t entirely convinced. All she could see before her was rabble. Demons. Creatures she had been taught to hate, to fight. She was a Warrior, built to see everything as friend or foe. How was she supposed to see demons as friends when it was coded into her very being that she should destroy them at every turn?

  Hekata suddenly took to the air, shooting into the sky like a bullet. This made Azrael pull her sword up, and when she did, the rest of her angels mirrored her movements; some of them raising Light shields as well as their swords

  “What are you doing?!” I yelled.

  Hekata became night for an instant, melting into the darkened space between the stars. Out in the desert, the night sky had been filled with light, and color, and the shimmering majesty of the cosmos. Here, so close to all those man-made lights, the night sky was dark and treacherous. And the night held a secret.

  “Hellion!” yelled Hekata.

  “What?!” I called back.

  “She’s spotted a Hellion,” said Missolis. “We’ve been followed.”

  “Followed? By who?!”

  Missolis pointed toward the pyramids. There, not far from where we were, I saw shapes. “Who do you think?” she asked.

  “I knew it,” said Azrael. “I never should have allowed Micah to open this portal. Angels, we are leaving.”

  “No!” I gasped, racing towards her. “Azrael, wait.”

  Azrael gave me the tip of her glowing blade. “Not one more step,” she warned, forcing me to back up.

  “Azrael… it’s me.”

  She shook her head. “A lot has changed since the last time we saw each other. We are not the same angels.”

  “But please, we don’t have anywhere to go and many of these demons are exhausted. If you don’t let us through, we’ll be slaughtered out here.”

  “Do you have any idea what you’re asking me to do?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “You’re asking me to⁠—”

  “I know exactly what I’m asking you to do, Azrael. I’m also here to tell you, these demons are not your enemy, but the ones coming down on us are. They will come for you after they’re done with us. The question is, will you be able to withstand them on your own?”

  Azrael watched me carefully, though her attention was divided. She lowered her sword and closed the distance between us so that she could speak quietly. “Come with us,” she said, her voice a harsh whisper. “Do it now while their backs are turned. We do not need their kind in Helena.”

  I shut my eyes. “I can’t turn my back on them,” I said. “I would not have survived or escaped Hell if not for them.”

  She was conflicted. The angel inside of her wanted to help, but the warrior cried for caution. This wasn’t the Azrael I knew that much was clear; her responsibilities then had been to enact Helenas orders, now she was the one giving them, and the decisions she had had to make weighed heavily upon her. Her weary eyes met mine, silently begging me to not force these demons on her bastion.

  What had these angels had to endure in the year that I was gone? What horrors did Lucifer inflict upon them? There were no marks on her body, not that I could see… but where Missolis had scars on the outside, Azrael wore hers on the inside.

  Finally, after a tense few moments of consideration, Azrael stepped aside and raised her sword. “Demons of Hell!” she yelled, “To me. Come through the portal if you value your lives, but don’t rush this gate. I will cut you down if you do.”

  “You heard the angel,” said Missolis, relaying the command to her rebels… only the rebels didn’t look entirely convinced. They were looking at each other, exchanging cautious—maybe even dissident—looks. I had warned Micah against allowing Azrael to come out here swords-blazing. It wasn’t going to look good, and it wasn’t going to exactly foster an aura of trust between the two groups.

  Azrael had done it anyway, and now Missolis’ rebels didn’t seem exactly keen to go through the portal to safety.

  This problem was only made worse when a bright flare of Light erupted in the sky. It was as if the sun itself had ignited spontaneously and was looming high above us, blazing with the fire of creation itself.

  My stomach sank, and all the blood drained from my face. All around me, demons hissed and snarled and tried to scurry away from the Light. Azrael and her angels raised their gauntleted hands to shield their eyes, but—unlike Micah’s earlier appearance—no-one wept at the majesty of the creature slowly descending from the heavens.

  Lucifer.

  Lucifer was here. His arrival didn’t inspire awe or tears of joy. The demons panicked, now stuck deciding between Lucifer and Azrael—and which was less likely to kill them. Helena’s angels made the situation worse by raising their weapons once more.

  “We need to go,” said Azrael, grabbing me by the shoulder. “Right now.”

  “Missolis!” I screamed, “Get your rebels out of here!”

  I could hear Missolis trying to get control of her force, and some of them were listening and rushing for the portal. Others, though, were too scared of Lucifer’s Light and too distrustful of Azrael’s to know where to go.

  I turned to Azrael. “Make sure these demons get through,” I said.

  “What are you doing?!”

  “I’m going to hold him off to buy you time.”

  “Sarakiel, that’s insanity!”

  “I know, but I made a promise, and I’m not going to break it. Now, round them up—go!”

  Lucifer was descending on our position, and his demons were seconds behind him—just far enough away from his Light that they weren’t affected by its potency. Instead of heading for the portal, and towards safety, I took to the air to join Hekata, who didn’t seem to be trying to flee either.

  “This is your chance to get somewhere safe,” I said.

  She shook her head. “We aren’t safe as long as he still breathes.”

  “We can’t kill him. You know that.”

  Hekata gave me her eyes. “We are both mortals now.Maybe he is as well.”

  “And if he isn’t?”

  “It will be more fun dying to find out than hiding under someone else’s skirt.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Lucifer descended like a meteorite, using his wings to slow himself until he came to a hover directly across from me and Hekata. He was radiant. Though anyone who looked at him would consider him to be of unremarkable appearance, none of that mattered in the face of the sheer force of Light that shone through him.

  It elevated him, made him look every bit like the quasi-deity that he was. It was the kind of force that should make angels and mortals alike kneel and weep, bow to his every whim, and tell him that the sun shines out of his assh— “Sarakiel,” he said, clasping his hands and putting on a mocking, concerned face. “There you are. I have just been looking all over for you.”

  “Here I am,” I said to him, resisting the urge to say anything more inflammatory. “You found me. Now, what do you want?”

  “What do I ever want? To talk.”

  “Lies.”

  “No, I mean it.”

  “Is that why you brought your friends?”

  Lucifer glanced across his shoulder at the demons that were about to reach us. He waved his hand, dismissively. “Don’t worry about them. They’re harmless, honestly.”

  Hekata glanced at me. “Is he being serious?”

  “No, he’s not. He likes to talk like a human.”

  “That’s a bold assumption,” said Lucifer. “What if they like to talk like me?”

  “What do you want, Lucifer,” I repeated, my tone forceful and direct.

  Lucifer grinned and waved his finger at me. “There she is, there’s that Lightbringer. The only one who could’ve come out the other side of Hell and still be an angel. Well, color me impressed. I would’ve lost that bet.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, shrugging. “That was a test.”

  “A test?”

  “Absolutely. Why wouldn’t it have been?”

  “You threw me into the Pit.”

  “I know, you’re welcome.”

  “That was after you told me you were going to obliterate humanity because you have nothing but contempt for them.”

  “I don’t think I used quite that verbiage, but it does sound like something I would say.” He tapped the side of his nose with his finger. “I mean, it was so long ago, I’ve almost forgotten that whole night. It’s like, first I get a visitor for the first time in a billion millennia, then one of them frees me, then two others walk in so suddenly I’ve got company to entertain! There was—oof—just way too much going on for me to keep it all straight, you know?”

  “Are you trying to convince me your memory of our first meeting is hazy?”

  “What do you want me to say? There was little to do in my prison cell but contemplate the past, but out here—it’s so exciting on Earth. So much to get on with, so little time.”

  “Do you always talk this much?” Hekata put in.

  Lucifer gave her his attention, his eyes darting over to her in an almost menacing manner. “Rude. This is a private conversation,” he said. With a downward gesture of his hand, Hekata plummeted to the ground as if gravity had suddenly decided to impose itself on her.

  I wanted to rush to her aid, but there was nothing I could do; the speed at which she fell was maddening. She hit the sandy ground with a thud that made my stomach churn, but I knew I couldn’t go after her. The moment I turned my back on Lucifer was the moment I would lose my head.

  “You didn’t have to do that!” I roared.

  “Your affection for her is touching, really, but in my defense, she was being rude.”

  “You’re a fucking monster.”

  “I’ve been called worse.” Lucifer sighed and pouted. “Look, I know you and I probably got off on the wrong foot.”

  “The wrong foot?! You threw me into Hell!”

  “Yes, I did, but there was a point to that.”

  “A point?”

  “Yes, a point, and I would tell you if you stopped interrupting me!” He took a breath and ran his hand through his hair before continuing, “I did it so that I could get to know you better.”

  “Why on Earth would you want to get to know me better?”

  “I wanted to see what you were made of, Sarakiel. And I couldn’t very well do that with the big oaf hanging off your backside, could I?”

  Abaddon?

  Nothing he was saying made any sense. In Heaven, he had told me that I was only useful in bringing Abaddon to him, now he was telling me that it was actually me he had wanted. Had Abaddon disappointed him somehow, or had he actually planned this all along? It was impossible to know, but the thought brought a new concern to the front of my mind—if he did, ultimately, want me, did my reappearance put Abaddon in danger?

  “What have you done to him?” I barked.

  “See?” he pointed at me. “That’s what I’m talking about. It’s like you’re living in a Hallmark card, so worried about him and what he’s up to, but look at how much you’ve accomplished all by yourself. You crawled out of the Pit, you fought your way through Hell, and you snuck out of there with a host of questionably loyal demons at your back. If I wasn’t literally the first angel, I’d be kind of in awe of you.”

  “Is this the part where you tell me how this whole thing was a test?”

  “Bingo. But, if you’re smart enough, you’ll be able to figure out what the test was all by yourself.”

  My eyes narrowed. Missolis and her demons were filing through the portal, and Lucifer’s demons were holding position just far enough away that the Light coming from Lucifer himself wouldn’t hurt them. They were waiting.

  Waiting for him to give them the signal.

  I shook my head. “I won’t.”

  “You figured it out?”

  “You want me to lead your army of demons.”

  Lucifer grinned and pointed finger guns at me. “You see? I knew you were smart. Amazing.”

  “You’re insane. I won’t do it.”

  “I had a feeling you’d say that, but you’re not thinking straight.”

  “You made Abaddon your second. Your lieutenant. Why would you ask me to lead your armies?”

  “Because he doesn’t have what you have. He doesn’t have the knack for leadership that is literally built into your cosmic code. You led angels in the fight against Medrion, and you led demons in your escape from Hell. You’re perfect for this job. Besides, Abaddon has his own job—and he’s good at it.”

  I shuddered at every mention of Abaddon, but I tried not to let it show on my face. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to me by talking about him. I clenched my hands into fists even more tightly, allowing the pain to focus my thoughts.

  “We’re done talking,” I said.

  “Sarakiel, you still don’t understand,” he said. “Everything I’m doing, everything that’s happening… it’s all part of something much, much bigger. Bigger than you, bigger than all those angels and demons, certainly bigger than the humans underneath us.”

  “Bigger than you?”

  He smirked. “Nothing’s bigger than me, although that hasn’t stopped them from trying.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  He shook his head. “No, not Hell. That’s old news. My original plan of using demons to subjugate the entire human race and do all kinds of horrible things to their putrid little souls until I got well and truly bored has had to take a back seat. Things have… changed. New information recently came to light which shifted my priorities.”

  “Torturing humans isn’t a plan, it’s a despicable act.”

  “Maybe to some, but, anyway, I’m done with that now. Now I’m talking about total supremacy over every single minor God, angel, demon, and deity that ever dared to crawl out of the primordial soup of creation.”

  “You have actually lost it. There are no other deities.”

  “Sarakiel… you’re naïve if you think She was the only God out there. We weren’t the first angels or the first demons to walk this Earth, but I intend for our kind to be the last. I can’t exactly let some wine-loving Olympians try to take control of things now that God is out of the picture, can I? I have to protect what’s ours!”

  “There is only God, and there is only us!”

  “But where did we come from?”

  “We came… we came from God, and then God made humans.”

  “That’s the company line, kiddo. I can assure you, we didn’t make them; they made us, all of us. It just so happens our brand became the most popular on Earth, so we got dibs to the vast majority of souls available on the free market.”

  “You’re lying. You’re the liar. Why should I believe you?”

  “I lie about a lot of things, but everything I’ve told you about Heaven and God herself has been true so far and you know it. Human creativity is shockingly powerful considering how basic and pathetic they are in general. They willed us in to being, us and a whole host of other—lesser—pantheons. Once they thought us up, all we needed was faithful souls to keep the gig running, we were just smarter about it than the sacrifice-demanding, bloodthirsty lot that came before us. Humans were practically lining up to throw themselves into the machine—I mean, Heaven.”

  “Stop, none of this is true. It can’t be. If you need faithful souls to exist, then your plan of killing all the humans is suicide.”

  “Allow me to reiterate then: I planned to kill all non-faithful humans. Eliminate the competition as such. Of course, none of the other Gods were happy to just die and let the most obviously powerful deity remain. Me. They’re crawling out of the woodwork to take a stab at me. That’s why I need an army, and that’s why I need you to lead them.”

  “I won’t lead your armies.”

  “Oh, but you will. Nobody says no to me. Your boyfriend didn’t refuse me, and neither will you. Not once you see how much sense it makes.”

  I shuddered. “I don’t know what you did to Abaddon, but I know he didn’t join you willingly.”

  “I have to admit, it took some convincing. He was a little sore about the whole throwing you into the Pit thing. Boy, he really was not a happy puppy. But, when I told him I would get you out of there one day, he warmed up to me. Not that he really had a choice, but it was nice to hear him say the words—I’ll do whatever you want, just bring her back. Touching, really.”

  Just bring her back.

  Was that what Abaddon had really said to Lucifer, or was Lucifer lying again? He had just tried to convince me that angels—our kind—and God—our God—weren’t the progenitors of the universe. Why wouldn’t he also lie about Abaddon’s motivation for joining him when it was clearly a weakness of mine.

  Glancing at the ground beneath us, I saw the last of Missolis’ demons pass through the portal and into Helena. There was only Azrael left, guiding Missolis through, Hekata slung over her shoulder. Azrael looked up at me, her eyes pleading for me to come down and join them. To leave with them.

  It was time.

  “Well,” I said to Lucifer, “It’s been fun, but you failed.”

  “Failed?” Lucifer asked, tapping his chin with his index finger. “How?”

  “You brought all your friends so you could destroy these demons, but I’ve kept you talking long enough that they’re all safely through.”

  “Is that what you think has happened here?”

  I swallowed. “It’s exactly what’s happened here. You love to talk so much; you’ve missed your chance.”

  “Sarakiel, let me explain something to you. Those demons of yours crossed through that portal because I allowed them to. You see, now they’re all in the same place. Every angel and demon that dared to oppose me, all holed up in the same bastion ready to be slaughtered together—that is if they don’t all kill each other first.”