The Tyrant’s bastion had been fit-for-purpose but cold, Meridian was a gilded lie, and Helena was simply a clone of Heaven itself. None of my post-fall homes had this kind of hustle and bustle.

  It was a while before someone knocked at my chamber door. The noise startled me, my hackles rose, and I worried that one of the bitter demons I’d been warned about had found me. I tentatively approached the door and opened it. On the other side was Malachi, the demon who had rescued me and brought me here.

  He regarded me with eyes of burning emerald. “Am I intruding?” he asked.

  I stepped aside to allow him to enter. “Not at all,” I said. “Please, come in.”

  Malachi bowed his head, minding he didn’t catch his white horns on the stone entryway as he stepped through. I shut the door behind him and turned to face him. “I guess you’re here to tell me what she’s decided?”

  “Deliberations are still in progress.” After my meeting with Missolis, she had called in some of her lieutenants to discuss a possible battle plan and vote on whether it should be carried out or not.

  I was sure Malachi would be amongst them and was surprised to find him here instead—surprised and a little wary.

  “I wanted to speak to you in private, if I could, before things go any further.” He looked nervous as he spoke.

  “Okay? That doesn’t sound ominous at all.”

  “I didn’t mean for it to come off that way, but I thought you should know the consequences of your presence, and of the request you have made of our leader.”

  “I only asked her to show me the way out. I was happy to leave and never darken your door again.”

  “That is not what I want.”

  “What do you want then?”

  “This is home,” Malachi replied. “It takes getting used to, but we have made a life for ourselves down here.”

  “Missolis gave me the impression that you were all very eager to leave.”

  “Missolis was one of the first Twice Damned, she has suffered and worked hard to get us here. Everything is war to her, but you have to understand, war has been her entire existence. She does not know how to lay down her sword and enjoy herself, even for a moment. To do so, she believes, would be to invite ruin into the sanctuary she has built.”

  “She is very protective, that much I could tell.”

  “We weren’t always so well set up and protected. There was a time, not that long ago, where we existed as nomads out there in the wastes being hounded by Hellions, Ravagers, and their Overlords. Now we have something worth fighting for.”

  “So, is it that you don’t want to leave, or that you don’t think I should leave?”

  “Both.”

  “Ok, I can understand you not wanting to leave the home you’ve fought for, but why are you going to try talk me out of leaving?”

  “I could tell you it’s suicide, that none who have ever attempted to escape this realm have succeeded.”

  “You were once an angel, Malachi. You know that no demon would be allowed to walk the Earth freely, definitely not in a human host.”

  “And what has changed now? You say angels have corporeal form, and that perhaps demons have the same, but if any here have escaped and survived host-less since your Fall, we have not heard of it.”

  I took a deep breath, then sighed. “Look, I didn’t ask you to risk your lives for me. I only asked for the way out of this place so that I could take it, alone. If you’ve spoken to Missolis, then you know why I have to go—why I don’t belong here and likely never will.”

  Malachi nodded. “I understand your determination, but you are wrong.”

  I frowned. “Wrong?”

  “Sarakiel… you won’t find much love for humans or angels down here, any grace we had we lost long ago. Many of us are here because we loved the humans too strongly, some of us are here because we loved God, or Lucifer, too strongly. We broke the rules in some way or another, whether well intentioned or not. You, and the other angels, may think you are better than us,” he pointed toward my fingers, “but you are not.”

  “I…” my cheeks flushed, and the heat rose in my chest. I was embarrassed and angry at the same time, but ultimately knew he was right. We had free will on Earth, as they did in Hell, but what had we used it for? To sin, overindulge, and kill.

  “You’re right,” I admitted. “I’m not better than any of you just because I have some Light left, and I can’t pretend that I went through the same thing you all did. I wasn’t broken before I was thrown into the Pit, although Medrion tried. The angels on Earth… they’re only now coming to terms with things that your kind have been born into, but I know they can do better—we can do better.”

  “You think they deserve our help?”

  “I think they deserve a chance, and they won’t get one if Lucifer is allowed to run around and corrupt everything. They need our help to have that chance.”

  “Where were they when we needed help? We dragged ourselves through the walls of that Pit and survived the rigors of Hell to build this place, this sanctuary—and we did it on our own. We aren’t running anymore, Sarakiel. We aren’t being slaughtered in the wastes like animals or disintegrated by angels up on Earth. There is life to be lived here, joy to be found.”

  “Joy… in Hell…”

  “You must forget what you think you know of Hell. Yes, we have struggled, and yes, this realm takes from us the very thing that once made us angels, but it took us in when Heaven rejected us. This is our home, and it can be yours as well.”

  “How did Hell even… happen? God only made the Pit.”

  “You think God is the only entity able to create anything?”

  “Well, yes.”

  Malachi shrugged. “Some demons tell of the first angels to be thrown into the Pit following Lucifer’s rebellion. Their pain and their rage was so great, that even God’s prison couldn’t contain them. Their anger granted them strength enough to break through the walls and emerge, reborn, into a realm created purely of their torment and Lucifer’s despair.”

  “You’re telling me angels built this place, then?”

  “Hell was not built; Hell is a consequence, a reflection.”

  “If the first demons willed Hell in to being, why can’t they make it a better place?”

  “Immortal entities can hold grudges for a very long time. It is not simply a case of wishing things to be better, but of taking action, turning the tide of misery and bitterness that pervades. That is what we fight for here, and you…your presence reminds us of what we once were, it gives us something to strive toward.”

  I shook my head. “You’re asking me to abandon… everything. Abandon all hope and just settle here, with you and your people.”

  “I am. Not because I have a burning contempt for the lands above ours, but because I think you can do more good here than there.”

  Doing good in Hell was the most contradictory thing I had ever heard. “I don’t understand what you want from me. Missolis seems pretty desperate to leave this place. She thought I was going to be your savior, not your moral guide.”

  “I know she wants to leave, and there are many like her who would risk everything for another chance at achieving grace. But you and I both know, no matter what we do… we are damned. God isn’t here to give us back our grace, and Earth is no place for a demon.”

  I looked down at my feet, then back up at Malachi. Abaddon—my Abaddon—was the most corrupt angel I had seen on Earth so far; his wings, his horns, if he were in Hell no one would mistake him for an angel. Malachi’s appearance, however, would certainly raise eyebrows on Earth.

  His horns were thick and—on closer inspection—I could see the cracks and blood where they had painfully torn out of his skull and continued to grow from his forehead. His feet were no longer human, but instead the cloven hooves of a goat, and his skin was the color of a juicy, red plum or apple.

  He’d fit in on Earth like I fit in here—and he was scared.

  “If someone had tried to convince me to leave Heaven and go live on Earth…” I trailed off, looking for the right words to say. “Earth is no place for any of us, demon or angel, but just like you have down here, angels have made lives for themselves up there.”

  Malachi frowned. “Living in a bastion, walled up from the rest of the world, constantly at war with others of your kind⁠—”

  “Is exactly what you’re doing down here. You built this sanctuary to protect yourselves from other demons, the ones who didn’t agree with your way of living. That’s exactly what happened on Earth—we fight because everyone has a different idea of what life should be; it’s very human if you think about it.”

  “Is that what you’re striving to be more like? Humans?”

  “All I’m saying is, I’ve lived on Earth for a while now and I was able to make a life for myself there. It’s a life full of conflict and danger but, like you, it’s the only life I’ve ever known outside of Heaven.”

  “You could learn to be happy here,” he insisted.

  “And you could learn to be happy there,” I retorted.

  He remained silent for a moment before making his way toward my door, turning to face me as he opened it, “If you go ahead with this, many will follow you, and they will die.”

  “I don’t want that, but it’s their decision to make, not yours.”

  “The outcome is inevitable, Sarakiel. Your arrival has given them false hope.”

  I shook my head. “I made promises to the lost souls in Heaven and on Earth. If I don’t help them… I won’t be able to live with that guilt. It would consume me.”

  “The lost souls down here don’t matter, then?”

  “I’m sorry…” I said, the words punctuated by a burst of laughter that floated up past the small window in my room. “I have to do this.”

  Malachi nodded. “If you are caught, your fate will be worse than ours,” he said, before exiting my room and firmly shutting the door behind him.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was a long while after Malachi left when Missolis summoned me back to her war room. I’d spent that time pacing the room I had been given, tempted as I was to leave it and go for a wander around the strange demonic city in Hell. I wanted to know more about it, to experience it properly, but I worried my presence would do more harm than good.

  The time alone with my thoughts had given me an opportunity to reflect on where I was, how I had gotten there, and what I had yet to do. Abaddon. Lucifer. The other Abaddon. What were the chances really that it would be his Citadel I had to go through to get back to Earth?

  Pretty high I suppose, he was the King of Hell after all.

  Heaviest of all though was the concern that by being brought here, I had endangered all of these demons and their safety. The rebels might have been followed to their base. What if there was an ambush waiting for me as soon as I left? I had some Light left, but nowhere near enough to defeat an armed squadron of demons by myself.

  Whatever we were going to do, we were going to have to do it quickly—and Missolis seemed to agree.

  “It is decided,” she said, “We move on the Citadel immediately.”

  “Immediately?” I asked, “How immediate is that?”

  “As soon as we are done telling you the plan. There’s no time to waste, as I’m sure you’ll understand.”

  “Of course… I’m just surprised you’ve been able to come up with a plan so quickly.”

  “It isn’t foolproof, but it should get us within striking distance of the passage to Earth.” She nodded at the other two demons standing by the large table in the middle of the room; a table that was covered in parchment maps riddled with scribbles and notes. “These are my lieutenants: the Hellion, Kainon, and Ravager, Etari. They helped devise this plan.”

  It was at that point Malachi joined us at the table. With a simple nod he encouraged Missolis to continue what she had been saying a moment ago.

  “The four of us will lead you, and our people, to the Citadel,” said Missolis, “And we will ensure every single rebel makes it through that passage.”

  “All of them?” I asked, my eyes widening. “There must be more than a hundred of you…”

  “One hundred and twenty-six,” she grinned.

  Malachi gave me sidelong glance. He didn’t have to say I told you so; it was written on his face.

  “I… do you really think we can get everyone through?” I asked. “You said yourself, the Citadel is going to be full of demons who will be looking for you. For us. A small group infiltrating a city is one thing, but you’re talking about sneaking a whole host in right under Abaddon’s nose.”

  “If we do it right,” said Missolis, “If we are clever, and quiet, we can make this work.”

  Malachi glared at me from across the table. “This isn’t going to be a problem for you, is it Sarakiel?”

  All four demons regarded me suspiciously. I already knew how Malachi felt, but the guarded looks they were all giving me didn’t match up with the conversation I’d had with him earlier. I realized after a moment what he was alluding to.

  I was an angel, a Lightbringer; it was part of my job to stop demons entering Earth. Malachi had taken my insistence to go alone and twisted it to suit his needs. I’d just been told an entire legion worth of demons was going to make the passage and enter Earth—under my watch—and I’d hesitated, all but confirming his suspicions in their eyes.

  It was clear they were doubting my intentions and my motives.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean… of course, I want all of you to escape this place. I’m only worried about the logistics of getting one hundred and twenty-six demons into a heavily defended Citadel unnoticed. I need this to work.”

  Missolis, her eyes narrowed, nodded. “As do we. That is why we have come up with this plan. Like it or not, this is our only chance to get everyone out.”

  “Why now?”

  “The passage only opens in response to Light. It was not made by demons, but perhaps by angels—or maybe by God Herself. Even Abaddon cannot open it whenever he wants to; he needs the one thing no demon has. Light.”

  “The demons you rescued me from—they’d wanted to sell me to an Overlord. Did they mean Abaddon? Did they know I was the key to this passageway?”

  “Not likely,” Missolis paused. “They wouldn’t have been told why your Light was valuable, only that they’d be rewarded highly for turning you in. No Overlord would risk their subservient keeping such a prize for themselves, they would have handed you in to Abaddon themselves.”

  “And you know this because?”

  “The answer is self-evident, isn’t it?”

  “You used to be one… an Overlord.”

  “We all have our roles to play, even in Hell. I didn’t arrive here and immediately decide to become a rebel, most of us were once cogs in Abaddon’s machine.”

  “How did you come back from that?”

  “I didn’t. Not all the way. But as you’ve seen for yourself, we are capable of making our own decisions down here. We aren’t beholden to our programming, the chains that have tied us down since our creation. We can be who we choose to be, and right now, I choose to lead these demons to their salvation—with your help.”

  Watching her, examining her burning amber eyes, I knew she was leaving out much of her story. If Overlords are the rulers of Hell, her life must have been one of relative opulence and comfort. She would have had demons doing everything for her, subordinates to boss around.

  How someone just drops all of that and decides to fight against it… she must have seen something, experienced something that shattered her worldview, or stirred up whatever goodness was left in her. Then again, I was probably being naïve. The truth was likely way more nuanced than that, an idea that I was only just getting to grips with.

  “You said we need Light to open the passage,” I said. “I don’t know how much Light I have left in me, but it can’t be much and it won’t regenerate. I’m not sure I have enough.”

  “If you don’t, we’ll have to break our way back out of the Citadel and escape. But I’m willing to take the risk, we all are.”

  “There will be casualties…”

  Missolis nodded. “I know. But you are the only option we have. I can’t remember the last angel who made it out of the Pit with even a sliver of Light left in them, and with Heaven abandoned we may not see another angel at all. You, though… you might think you don’t have much, but you are like a shining beacon in this place of perpetual darkness.”

  “For good and for ill. They will be looking for me, and, not to sound insensitive, but I have a decidedly non-demonic appearance. I know how to hide my wings, but there’s not much I can do about the rest of me.”

  Malachi eyed me up and down. “We have ways of changing our appearance…” He said, trailing off. “If I’m asked to, I will show you how.”

  “Good, yes,” said Missolis. “If we can get her looking less angelic, that will attract far less attention to us. As soon as we're done here, teach her.”

  “As you wish,” said Malachi, bowing slightly.

  “Now, the plan,” continued Missolis, pulling the largest map toward her. “Here we have a map of the Citadel. It is an old map, mostly drawn from memory, and there may have been some changes that we are not aware of, but the location of the passage will not have changed.” She pointed to a large room in the center of the map, “The passage is right here—in Abaddon’s throne room.”

  “Brilliant,” I said. “That won’t be difficult to get to at all.”

  “Abaddon’s throne room is rarely used these days; he’s been personally overseeing much of the training and goings on, making sure everything is up to scratch for Lucifer, no doubt.”

  “You said the passage would be heavily guarded, though.”

  “Yes. There will be soldiers present; at least four of Abaddon’s best at all times. If we can make it into the throne room without them knowing, we should be able to overpower them before they sound the alarm.”

  “And how are we supposed to all get into the throne room? Abaddon will know by now that there is an angel with Light in Hell, they will all be on the lookout for me.”