Lucifer Reborn 3

by Dante King

  “All right,” I said, allowing myself to soften a bit.

  You get more flies with honey, I thought, coaxing Lilith on.

  “You know I want to help you, Lilith,” I continued. “You’ve been nothing but good to me since I came to the Infernal Academy. If there’s anything I can do to help you, just say the word.”

  I thought it was the right thing to say. But from the way Lilith’s lips twisted, I realized I’d just struck out in a big way.

  “Except you don’t really have a choice, do you?” Lilith crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts, the motion making her cleavage even more bodacious than usual. “You owe me a favor, Luke Bell. You pledged to perform a task for me, without question. Have you forgotten?”

  Here we go, I thought, gritting my teeth.

  Whatever Lilith had in store for me, it couldn’t possibly be good.

  “I remember,” I told the beautiful demoness. “If you think I’m the kind of man who goes back on a promise, Lilith, then you don’t know me very well.”

  A strange look passed over Lilith’s face.

  “That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” she said, sighing heavily. “Oh well. I suppose I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.”

  Lilith reached into the stack of parchment and pulled out a letter from near the bottom of the pile. The vellum was thinner than normal, almost see-through.

  “This drawing was one by one of our top Seelie agents,” she explained, frowning at the paper. “They’d been installed in a deep-cover operation within the Fae Realm for months. They sent an extraction request to the Infernal Academy two days ago. We just barely got them out in time.” She handed the paper to me. “See for yourself.”

  A thousand questions filled my mind.

  “What!?” I blurted, not looking at the paper. “I’m sorry—Seelie? What do you mean, extraction request?”

  Lilith misunderstood my confusion.

  “Cameras don’t work in the Fae Realm,” she said with a groan. “Despite our best efforts. Our agents have to rely on drawings, which is why every one of our deep cover operatives must be a natural artistic talent. I think they caught his likeness quite well, don’t you think?”

  Finally, I stared down at the paper.

  I blinked, but the image didn’t change.

  “I don’t understand,” I finally said. My fingers gripped the thin parchment so hard that it began to wobble. “This was drawn in the Fae Realm?”

  “From life,” Lilith said, her brows furrowing together. “I take it from your tone you didn’t know about this?”

  “I had no idea,” I muttered. “I’d wondered where he’d gotten off to, but I thought maybe he’d taken a vacation or something. I—”

  Lilith held up a hand.

  “Luke Bell,” she said, pronouncing the words the way one of my teachers might cast a magic spell, “I hereby call upon the favor you owe the demoness Lilith. Your favor to me, Luke Bell, is to take your little harem to the Fae Realm and bring the demon in this picture back to me. The fate of the world—no, of all worlds—may rest upon it.”

  I stared at the picture, dumbfounded.

  “You do recognize the demon, do you not?” Lilith asked, leaning forward.

  Of course I did. I would’ve known the big guy anywhere.

  But what the hell was Oni doing in the Fae Realm?

  Chapter 3

  “I assume,” Lilith said, her eyes glowing with a dark light, “that you accept this favor, Luke Bell?”

  I had no way of knowing it at the time, but I was a hair’s width away from death at that moment. Had I withdrawn from my wager, forfeiting the favor I owed the Headmistress of the Celestial Academy, not even my connection to Lucifer would have kept Lilith from tearing my chest open and eating my still-beating heart.

  Some things are older than honor itself—and the promise I made to Lilith was old, old magic indeed.

  “Sure I will,” I said, shaking my head in confusion. “Fuck, Oni’s trapped in the Fae Realm? How did that happen?”

  Upon hearing my acceptance, Lilith instantly relaxed. The black cloud over her face retreated, and she settled back in her chair with a sigh.

  “I had rather hoped you could tell me that,” the demoness said. “Until I saw your surprise upon viewing the drawing, I was certain you were trying to trick me—that you’d sent the demon into the Fae, for reasons of your own.”

  “I wouldn’t,” I said, setting the parchment down on the desktop. Damn, that picture really did look just like Oni. “I don’t know why he would go there. His family doesn’t live in the Fae Realm as far as I know—they used to place bets on demons in some kind of arena. That doesn’t sound like the Fae Realm, does it?”

  “It does not,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “Whatever he’s doing, he’s upsetting years of hard work. The only thing I’m absolutely certain can bring him out of the Fae is a command from his master.”

  Something about Lilith’s speech caught in the back of my brain. “What do you mean, years? And what the hell is a Seelie?”

  Another sigh left Lilith’s lips.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like the liquor?” the Headmistress asked, spreading her hands.

  The occasion seemed to call for it, so I agreed.

  With another snap of her fingers, Lilith magicked up two glasses and a bottle of smoky whiskey so rich I could taste the cask it had been aged in. I sipped at mine, while Lilith downed hers instantly and poured another glass.

  Whatever plans Oni has upset, she’s really broken up about them, I realized.

  “Alright, explanations are in order,” Lilith said.

  I’d never seen this side of Lilith before—the one that wasn’t totally in control. Oddly enough, it turned me on a bit, as if knowing she could lose control made that crazy vision I’d had of the two of us more likely to come true.

  “What I’m about to say does not leave this room, of course,” she continued. “Even your harem girls aren’t allowed to know more than the broad strokes.”

  “I’ll tell my harem girls what I want,” I shot back, unwilling to bend on this point. “They’re my future wives, Lilith.”

  Perhaps it was the mention of matrimony that caused Lilith to back down. She’d been Lucifer’s wife, after all, once upon a time.

  “Whatever,” she said, suppressing a snarl. “The long and the short of it is, for the last several years, I’ve been using the liminal zone to make contacts within the Fae Realm.”

  “You’ve been entering the Fae?”

  The liminal zone was a strange in-between area, connecting the Infernal Realm to that of the Fae. It was also where I’d seen myself fucking Lilith’s brains out, but that was neither here nor there.

  Lilith nodded. “I’ve made discoveries about the nature of the Fae Realm—discoveries I have naturally kept to myself until now. For so long, both the Infernal and the Celestial spheres have regarded the Fae as nothing but an enemy. A faceless mass of horrors, hidden behind a glittering fairytale façade. A thing to be held back, nothing more.”

  I thought of the army of elves—and worse things—that my harem and I had fought in the liminal zone.

  “I see where they get that from,” I grunted, taking another sip of my drink.

  “It’s not true,” Lilith said. How strange that three simple words could overturn a thousand years of doctrine? “Not all of the Fae are evil, the way we’ve thought for so long. There are actually two factions living side-by-side within the Fae Realm. The extreme majority faction—my agent’s best guess is that they comprise roughly four out of every five individuals within the population—are known as the Unseelie. These are the Fae we fought in the liminal zone, the ones who tried to invade and conquer our world.”

  I nodded along. So far I was just barely able to follow what Lilith was saying.

  “And the minority?” I asked.

  Lilith’s eyes shined now.

  “Are known as the Seelie,” she explained. “Over time
, and repeated contacts, I’ve made inroads within the Seelie. They are amenable to coexistence with the Infernal and the Celestial Realm, Luke. They would make a peace treaty with us—end thousands upon thousands of years of warfare and strife. The person who inked that deal would be the greatest peacemaker of all time!”

  “I see,” I said. “The only problem is, most of the Fae don’t want it.”

  “Bah!” Lilith dismissed my criticism with a gesture. “The Unseelie have brutally repressed the Seelie for eons. Entire generations of Fae have grown up believing there’s simply no other way—that endless warfare is simply the nature of the Realms. It wasn’t until my contacts—my agents—that the populace slowly began to realize that there are other options.”

  “Such as what?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Lilith grinned from ear to ear. “Revolution.”

  “The Seelie taking over from the Unseelie,” I muttered, thinking of all the blood and carnage that would entail. “I’m sure it will be a peaceful transition of power, right?”

  Lilith laughed. “Oh, hell no! There’ll be executions in the public square. Beheadings and burnings. But at the end of it all, our Realms will have peace with the Fae. And that’s worth any price, Luke Bell. You don’t understand how long this war’s been going on.”

  I knew more than Lilith suspected. But mostly, I knew there was no damned way a creature like the Headmistress of the Infernal Academy would carry out a revolution and broker a peace deal out of the goodness of her heart.

  There was something in it for Lilith—some glory, some reward she’d get for being the one to make all this happen.

  More power, perhaps? Fame?

  Neither seemed like a good enough motive.

  “Your demon wandered into the Fae at a most inopportune time,” Lilith said, looking like she wanted to discipline me. “From the reports my agents have given me, your demon Oni was immediately captured and interrogated by the Unseelie. Of course he has nothing to do with my plans, so they’ve been unable to get any information out of him. But now their walls are up—they’re expecting something.”

  That made sense.

  “Look—I don’t care about your war,” I told Lilith. “Seelie, Unseelie… it’s all Greek to me. But I owe you a favor, and there’s no way I’m going to let Oni rot in some prison cell in that freaky fairy tale world. I’ll get him back.”

  Lilith nodded gravely. “Good. Because right now, your demon is threatening to undo the literal years I’ve spent stealthily building a revolutionary network in the Fae Realm. If Oni causes my agents to get discovered, it’ll be back to square one—or even worse. The Fae discovering outside meddling in their affairs might cause the Seelie and the Unseelie to unite—and storm our Realm with conquest on their minds.”

  Oh yeah. We most definitely did not want that to happen.

  “So I need to go into the Fae,” I surmised.

  Lilith’s gaze sharpened. “Exactly. You’re quite literally the only one who can do it. Someone needs to get Oni out of the Fae Realm—someone who both the Infernal and Celestial Realms will have total deniability toward. Because you are Oni’s master, it gives us the cover—should you get caught, we can just claim it was an Archlord candidate recovering his demon and the Infernal Realm had nothing to do with it.”

  “Exactly. Should the Fae capture you, you won’t be able to count on help from the Infernal Realm. You’ll be a lone wolf, acting alone to bring back his wayward demon servant. Anything you say to the contrary will be taken as an attempt to bargain your way out of the Fae, or even worse—a sign that you’ve been corrupted by their power.”

  That was pretty harsh, but no less than what I expected from a creature as cold-blooded as Lilith.

  “I understand,” I told her, the corner of my mouth curling into a smirk. “That’s all right… except for one thing.”

  Lilith cocked an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  “I’m never a ‘lone wolf’. Not with my harem to back me up.”

  The Headmistress of the Infernal Academy snorted and rolled her eyes. The move made her look so much like Mareth that I almost did a double take.

  “Yes, you’ll want to bring them too, I suspect,” Lilith said. “A small team is best—but those women augment your powers nicely. You’ll need their help to bring Oni out of the Fae Realm successfully.”

  Something that had been bothering me since the beginning of our conversation now bubbled to the forefront of my mind.

  “How am I supposed to do that, exactly? I don’t know anything about the Fae Realm or where any of its natural landmarks are. Are the Fae keeping Oni in a prison, or in one of their cities? Do the Fae even have cities, or is it all like the field I saw outside the liminal zone?”

  Lilith teased the edge of her chin with a jet-black nail, looking at me like she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to drop to her knees for me or slash open my throat.

  “So many questions,” she said, huffing like the details were my problem, not hers. “I’ll be able to give you a more advanced briefing once you gather your group and meet me in the liminal zone. I’d rather not have to explain things twice.”

  “The liminal zone?”

  Unbidden, the old vision of me and Lilith together flickered through my mind. Her inside of that strange building, riding my tentacles and my cock at the same time while I broke Lucifer’s ex-wife into my newest harem girl. I’d only been to the liminal zone once before. And while I’d been there, I’d seen the building from my vision. Lilith used it as a staging area to contact her agents within the Fae.

  Did this mean the vision was coming true? Was I going to add the Headmistress of the Infernal Academy herself to my growing stable of babes before I went to rescue Oni?

  If Lilith had filthy sex on her mind, she was adept at hiding it. She appeared to be all business, focused solely on the mission.

  But if there was one thing I knew about Lucifer’s ex-wife, it was that she always stayed three steps ahead of her competition.

  “Your vehicle should be able to send you and your team safely to the liminal zone,” Lilith said, rising from her chair. “Meet me there at the midnight hour—that’s when the barrier between Realms is at its absolute thinnest. We’ll want to make the transition into the Fae Realm as seamless as possible, to lower the risk that you and your harem are noticed.”

  With that, her tone of voice told me, the meeting had ended. “Any questions, Luke?”

  I had several, in fact. But one stood out as more important than the others—and I sensed Lilith’s patience was nearing an end.

  “Just one thing,” I said.

  “Name it.”

  I swallowed hard. “Is there anyone you don’t want accompanying me into the Fae Realm? You told me the team needs to be small. I want all of my women with me, of course, but not if it jeopardizes the mission.”

  A sly look spread across Lilith’s supernaturally beautiful face. “Were I more certain you would listen to me, I’d forbid you from bringing my dear step-niece along with you on your trip. That branch of the family already has more glory than it really needs—and that little tart Mareth will be even more insufferable once she gets back.”

  That brought a snicker out of me. “You really do hate her, don’t you?”

  Lilith looked honestly taken aback. “Of course I don’t, dear. I’m jealous of her. There’s a difference. Besides, she’ll be of good use to you on your journey—even if she can’t be convinced to wear something more practical than that ridiculous schoolgirl uniform…”

  “You were saying something about being jealous?” I countered.

  Lilith pursed her lips. “Far be it for me to give you restrictions on how to handle your business, Luke Bell. But what I would tell you is this: I would counsel in the strongest possible terms to not bring anyone into the Fae whom you have not fully bound to you.”

  Huh. Now that was something interesting. “Why not?”

  “The dark magic of the Fae Realm h
as a way of testing the bonds between those who care for each other,” Lilith explained. “Husband to wife, parent to child—there’s little more the Fae love than corrupting those bonds and using them against those who trespass on their property. Should you bring anyone you trust even a smidgen less than absolutely into that world with you, they may become a liability in short order. Even if they harbor no ill will against you, or would never normally think of turning against their friend or lover, they may have no choice in the matter.”

  I tried to picture any of my girls falling under the sway of the Fae Realm’s magic. Watching a betrayal like that would break my heart in two. I swore I wouldn’t let that happen.

  “Anyone bound to me should be safe though, right?” I asked, eager for more information. “Christina and Mareth, for example—they belong to me now, so the Fae can’t touch them. Lucifer called them my Queens, once.”

  “Queens they will be,” Lilith said, a strange look spreading across her face, “should you manage to pull this off without a hitch, Luke. But yes, anyone bound to you will be able to resist the Fae’s influence. That even goes for your little angel girl… Maggie, I think?”

  “Maddie,” I corrected.

  On mental fingers, I ticked my way through my harem. Christina, Mareth, and Maddie were more than just creatures bound to me—they were my women. They loved me, and the thought of them traveling in the Fae Realm along with me didn’t worry me in the slightest.

  But there was one person I’d been intending to bring along who might cause trouble if Lilith’s explanation about the Fae was correct.

  “Of course,” Lilith said, stifling a yawn behind her glossy black nails. “I understand the impulse to bring women from both sides of the fence, young man, but the angelic set just bore me to tears—”

  “Raquelle,” I said, cutting through Lilith’s thoughts.

  It was clear the Headmistress of the Infernal Academy hadn’t even heard of her. After all, she’d only been attending classes via Dual Enrollment for a couple of weeks now. Still, I was a little surprised, as I thought Lilith kept better tabs on anyone connected to me.