by Bella Klaus
“How are you doing this?” Azriel cried from our side of the room.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Samael hissed. “I’m channeling the wrath of over fifty percent of Hell.”
One of the huge angels swung his fist. Instead of ducking, Samael held firm and let the blow land on his head and throw him against the wall.
I sucked in a breath, waiting for the others to charge, but the angel who had struck him roared with agony.
“Oh no,” I whispered out loud.
“Stupid twat,” Hades hissed.
The angel’s fist shriveled into bone, and all the flesh on his body rotted down to a blackened skeleton. I clapped both hands over my mouth and swallowed back a scream.
How did we ever think we could fight Samael?
He was unbeatable.
Samael flung off his cloak, revealing what was once pristine white armor, which was now stained with his blood. He stamped his foot, and three shadows snaked out from under him, wrapped around the massive angels, and made them vanish.
“Stop this,” Azriel hissed. “These were once your brethren.”
“Then cease the attacks.” Samael placed a hand on the breastplate, leaving a black smear. “I have enough power at my disposal to heal my wounds, defeat a legion, and reduce you all into sodium chloride.”
Six regular-sized angels piled into the room, firing arrows into his torso. Samael spread his arms wide and laughed.
“If they’re going to force us to watch, they may as well serve us drinks,” Isis muttered from our other side.
“This is going to be a long, tedious battle,” Hades muttered for everyone else’s benefit.
Isis leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t mind, but we were in the middle of a candlelit dinner on the Nile.”
While Hades chatted with Isis about hiring one of her barges for a romantic meal for two, I tuned back into the one-sided fight. Each time an angel would shoot an arrow into Samael, it would remain lodged in his body until the former angel resembled a pincushion.
“You cannot harm me.” His voice echoed across the room, making pieces of plaster fall off the walls. “I have absorbed the magic of every Faction under my domain.”
Mother gave him a resounding applause and nudged Persephonia and Agori to do the same. Koritsi bounced on the balls of her feet and squealed, while Lucifer stood lifeless at her side.
“She’s an empty-headed puppy,” Hades muttered.
“Koritsi?” I asked.
“Demeter,” he snarled. “Without her powers of creation, Samael would have remained the same pathetic, lowly creature clambering to regain his absolute leadership of Hell.”
I turned to him and frowned. “I thought Samael got all his power from demons like Belphegor.”
“Demeter’s monstrous plants were what brought down two Factions. And she produced three perfect minions to help him secure three sets of thrones.”
“All because we got married?”
“Don’t forget she’s going to have a grudge against Heaven for what happened to Mount Olympus.” He kissed my temple. “And to you.”
“Abysmal.” The arrows and spears lodged in Samael’s body trembled before they caught fire and burned like struck matches. He rolled his shoulders, loosening them from his body and folded his arms across his thin chest.
“Your next move?” he rasped. “Please, make it more interesting. I fear I may die of boredom while waiting for you to concede defeat.”
The angels raised their palms and bathed Samael with white magic, but it soaked into his armor. He jogged on the spot with his arms outstretched, making the angels snarl. They blasted more power through their hands, engulfing Samael’s entire body.
“Sublime,” he said. “Keep smiting, and perhaps you might succeed.”
“It’s not working.” I clutched at my chest.
“He probably worked out a way to counter their power.” Hades chuckled. “I hate the wretched bastard, and I can’t wait to tear him to pieces when the angels have worn him down, but even I can’t fault him for his style.”
My lips formed a tight line. “We’re not supposed to admire him.”
“Of course not.” He kissed me on the cheek. “But watching him succeed against the angels will make tearing him down all the sweeter.”
“Do you have any ideas? Because from where I’m standing, he looks invincible.”
He rubbed his chin. “Everyone has a weakness.”
I turned to Hades with my brows raised, waiting for him to elaborate, but he only smirked.
“Thank you sincerely for this infusion of angelic power. It is most invigorating,” Samael said from within the flare of blinding magic.
“Stand down,” Azriel said to the archers.
The angels withdrew their white magic, revealing a much-healed Samael. He barely looked eighteen with a button nose, rounded cheeks, rosebud lips, and startling blue eyes framed by thick lashes. Even his hair had changed from inky black to pretty blond curls.
My mouth dropped open. He was even prettier than Azriel.
“How the hell did that happen?” I asked Hades.
Hades spluttered. “Shit. He found a way to use their attacks to heal his curse.”
“What have you done?” Azriel screeched.
Samael turned to Mother and unfurled a pair of golden wings. “Demeter,” he said in his usual sinister voice. “Did they restore my beauty?”
Mother’s eyes bulged, and her features slackened. Her shock only lasted a millisecond before she offered him a tight smile. “You’re the perfect angel.”
“Oh, Daddy,” Koritsi said with a broad smile. “You’re even more pretty than Mummy.”
Hades bowed his head and suppressed a snicker. “Demeter preferred him when he was decrepit.”
I raised a shoulder. “He was more masculine.”
With a flick of Samael’s hand, all the angels who had attacked him turned into salt. Holding my breath, I glanced at the door.
“Any more legions willing to risk themselves in an attack?” Samael asked with a grin.
Azriel’s eyes unfocused for several moments, seeming like he was listening to someone in his head. I thought Samael might attack while his guard was down, but he only tilted his head to the side and offered Azriel a soft smile.
My gaze darted to Hades, who held his features in a mask of calm. “We just betrayed him, and he’s won the first battle,” I said. “Should we be worried?”
Hades shook his head.
Azriel cleared his throat. “We are ready to hear your terms.”
Samael held his hands behind his back and rocked forward onto his feet. “I want to reunite the factions into one large mass and resume my place as the ruler of Hell.”
“What else?” Azriel.
“And I want a seat at the table.”
“Impossible,” Azriel rasped.
Samael narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“What’s the table?” I asked Hades.
“Lucifer was always cagey about it,” Hades replied. “From what he implied during his drunken rants, it was a cross between a family and an inner circle.”
“Anything like the table in the war room?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Far more intimate. Only those angels blessed enough to have a seat ever saw their god. The other poor bastards had to bask in the glow of the lucky few.”
“And Lucifer was one of them?”
Hades nodded. “And if I were a betting man, I would say the person responsible for his fall from grace wanted to take Lucifer’s place.”
“Wow.” I turned back to Azriel, whose features tightened. “Do you think he has a place at the table?”
Hades scoffed. “Hell, no.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He would never have risked something so wondrous to have consorted with a demon.”
“The answer is still no,” Azriel said.
Samael bared his serrated teeth. “Fi
ne, but I want access to all parts of Heaven.”
“All except the table,” the blond angel said with a sigh.
“Very well.” Samael turned to where we stood with the other monarchs and grinned. “Those of you who didn’t betray me may serve in Hell as liege lords or return to the Supernatural World with the clothes on your back.”
My stomach lurched. It sounded like Hades and I were the betrayers. Or maybe that was just me.
Isis placed a hand over her chest. “That’s it? One lousy skirmish has decided the battle for dominion of Hell?”
He shrugged. “This is the way of angels, my dear. So quick to concede the moment they anticipate failure.” He clasped his hands together. “Your decisions, ladies and gents?”
“Fuck it,” Hel said. “It sounds like you’re going to shake things up. I’m in.”
My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t expected things to fall into place for Samael so easily.
Isis glanced at Osiris, who shrugged. They both turned to Samael and nodded. Now that the First Faction had agreed to concede to Samael, Shango also stepped forward and muttered something about joining them.
A boulder of dread plummeted through my heart. Hades and I were screwed.
“Should we retreat?” I asked into our bond.
“Not when Samael is about to make himself vulnerable,” Hades replied.
“Are you sure about this?”
He nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Wonderful,” Samael drawled. “You may return to your palaces and await my instruction.”
Koritsi jogged across the room and stopped in front of Samael, towering over him by several inches. “What should I do, Daddy?”
He gave her a cold smile. “You’ve served your purpose. Now it’s time for you to—”
“No.” Mother lurched forward, leaving Persephonia and Agori with Lucifer. “You can’t destroy her.”
Samael frowned. “But this accelerated offspring has a limited lifespan. You knew that from the start.”
Mother’s lips trembled. “I can’t let them go. Use the power you absorbed from those angels to prolong their lives.”
He reared back. “But we already discussed this—”
“You can’t expect me to bring children into the world and not want them to survive.”
“Mother’s going to fly in a rage,” I said to Hades. “We should use this opportunity to escape.”
“This is our best chance of defeating them both,” he replied.
My gaze darted to Azriel, who stood in the corner of the room with his back against the wall. It looked like he also anticipated something explosive.
“Demeter,” Samael said with a long sigh and threaded his fingers through his blond curls. “If it’s children you want, I will fill your nursery with strong infants. But these weaklings—”
“They’re not weak,” Mother snapped.
“Here we go,” said Hades.
“Did you know this was going to happen?” I asked.
He nodded. “Children born through accelerated means live accelerated lives, especially when one of the parents was castrated with the sole purpose not to procreate.”
As Samael tried to reason with Mother, she grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a hard shake. The smaller man wrapped his hands around her wrists, trying to dislodge her grip, but she held on tight.
Hades slid his arm from around my shoulders and placed a palm on the small of my back. “Get ready.”
I gulped.
“Won’t he kill Mother?”
Hades snorted. “Not when her magic is the only thing letting him keep Zeus’ cock.”
“Demeter.” Samael’s teeth rattled with the force of her rough handling. “Please, be reasonable.”
“How can I when you refuse to help my children?” Mother howled.
I placed a hand over my chest and cringed at my rapid heartbeat. It wasn’t like Mother was my favorite person right now, but I had tens of thousands of loving memories with her.
Mother hadn’t always been an ogre. Before my abduction, she had been my mentor, my best friend, my protector. It had taken me centuries to realize that I’d been coddled, and part of me didn’t want her to end up like those angels Samael had slaughtered.
“You will save our children.”
Samael hissed. “As your husband, I command you to cease this nonsense.”
The same shadows Samael had used to kill the giant angels snaked from his hands and wrapped around Mother’s wrists.
“No,” Mother shrieked, her eyes blazing. She was too far gone in her rage to notice the magic about to consume her body.
My heart slammed itself against my breastbone, urging me to do something, say something to help Mother. Blood roared through my ears, muffling Hades’ growl for me to stay. His arm tightened around my shoulders, holding me in place.
“Watch out,” I shouted.
The magic wrapped around Mother’s fingers, lifted them off Samael’s shoulders, and gently ushered her back to the wall, where Persephonia stood with Agori and the dead-eyed Lucifer.
Samael dusted off his armor and turned to Azriel with a tight smile. “Please excuse the interruption. My wife is a spirited creature, but in time, she will learn her place.”
The taller angel clutched a tablet to his chest and swayed on his feet as though he was going to faint. It looked like his colleagues had designated him the spokesperson for Heaven and wouldn’t be sending anymore backup.
“We can’t let Samael win,” I said to Hades.
“He won’t,” Hades growled.
Samael held out a hand. “I will accept two copies of the keys to Heaven. One for me, and the other for my wife—”
With a blood-curdling scream, he staggered forward, bending over double to expose a dagger of pure light between his gray wings.
I sucked in a breath between my teeth and turned to Hades, who shot me a satisfied grin. The Soul Stealer dagger remained lodged between his shoulder blades, making Samael’s wings spasm and flap. Black blood spilled down the back of his armor, but it was no different from when the first angel had skewered him with a trident.
Hades rubbed his chin. “I thought something he’d spent two thousand years crafting would be more explosive.”
“So did I.”
“You bastard,” Mother shrieked. “How dare you put your ambitions before our children.”
Straightening, Samael turned to face Mother. “How disappointing,” he said. “I thought a goddess might differ from other treacherous females, but you’re all the same.”
“What are you talking about?” She stepped back.
“The Soul Stealer is a real dagger, capable of killing anyone, but what I showed you was a well-crafted replica.”
All the color leached from her face, and her features fell slack. “No.”
“Bloody Hell,” I muttered out loud.
“Shit,” Hades hissed.
Samael shook his head from side to side, his lips turning down with genuine sorrow. “I left the replica as a test to see if you would betray me.”
Mother’s lips trembled, and she stepped backward with a hand clutched to her chest. “If you hadn’t dismissed our children as disposable—”
“You knew my ambitions,” Samael snarled. “You knew that I would have exalted you to become the earth mother, yet you threw it all away for worthless, replaceable, defective offspring.”
Mother swallowed. “And you knew I always put my children first.”
Samael bared his serrated teeth and snarled, “Now, you will watch them die.”
Chapter Nineteen
Samael advanced toward my half-brothers and sisters, his wings ruffling. He meant to kill them just as he’d threatened.
I don’t know what happened next or why or even how, but my power took control. Lightning crackled over my skin with a force that blasted the plaster off the room’s white walls. Chips of marble flew from beneath my feet where my power had hit the floor, and the edges of my visi
on turned black.
My entire world coalesced into the pretty boy angel with the hideous teeth, whose malicious grin made Mother cower. He was about to murder my infant brother and sisters—three innocent beings who had been thrust into the world as tools to further their ambitions.
Hades screamed into our bond. He probably wanted me to be cautious and hold back until the right time to strike.
I was tired of watching, tired of waiting, tired of wondering when it would be our time to strike. I had stood by while Samael had subjugated our colleagues, paraded Lucifer like he was a marionette, but I wouldn’t stand immobile while he punished Mother.
If anyone was going to punish Mother, it would be me.
Before I knew it, five strings of lightning flew across the room and landed in Samael’s neck. I poured my magic into each finger, increasing them from the size of twine to bolts that filled the room with silver light.
“Kora,” Hades roared.
Samael’s screams rang through my ears and made plaster fall down from the ceiling.
I clenched my teeth and snarled, “This is for every attack you made on the Fifth, you maggot.”
“Enough,” he roared.
A barrier of iridescent light slammed down between Samael and where I stood, and the lightning I channeled into him recoiled. Electricity filled our side of the room, making my hair stand on end.
I whirled around, looking for Hades, and asked out loud, “Are you all right?”
He stalked toward me, his dark hair standing on end, his eyes blazing with fire. “You should have waited,” he snarled. “And what you did was reckless.”
Before I could react, Samael’s shadows stretched out from his feet and swallowed me up to my neck. Pressure tightened around my limbs, my throat, my torso, and all the air escaped my lungs in a scream.
My gaze darted to the side, but Hades had disappeared.
The fallen angel fixed me with black eyes that were so filled with rage, the force of his emotions landed in the pit of my stomach with a punch.
“Since you’re so eager to die, I will start with killing you.” He strolled across the room with the ease of a gentleman having an evening’s promenade.
