Lucifer Reborn 3

by Dante King

  There was a time when I’d have recoiled from an offer of food and drink at Siobhan’s court. But that time was over now, and I was fully in control. “Food, yes,” I said with a nod. “And drink for me. And you, Siobhan.”

  “What!?” Poppy was so short she had to stand up in her chair to make herself seen and heard. “Why don’t we get any? Everyone in the Fae Realm knows Siobhan’s casks are the best shit a Fae ever gets to drink…”

  “Because I don’t need you girls getting drunk,” I said, the corner of my mouth curling in a smirk. “You’re horny and keyed-up enough as it is. If I let you all get wasted on fairy booze, Christina and Mareth will end up fucking on top of the strategy table while the rest of you cheer them on.”

  Mareth batted her eyelashes, doing her best to play the innocent schoolgirl. “And what’s wrong with that?”

  I sighed, but all of us were laughing, too. “Go ahead, Siobhan.”

  As the servants brought in food and drink (water for most of my harem), Siobhan cleared her throat and turned her attention to the questions that had bothered her ever since declaring war against Queen Titania. “Now that you’ve ascended, my King, our first objective must be to meet Titania herself on the field of battle. The Dark Queen will doubtless know of her failure to stop you from becoming the Beast, and that knowledge will give her pause for a short time. We must strike in that interval, before she thinks her situation through.”

  “Thinks it through how?” I asked, batting away Christina’s hand. The naughty demon girl was trying her best to stroke me off under the table. Later, I thought toward her—and got the shock of my life when Christina’s expression screwed up in recognition. Was I psychic now with my harem girls?

  Siobhan lifted a small black marker from the table and placed it near the middle of the section of the Fae Realm marked as The Summer Country. “Queen Titania doesn’t rule the way you do, Luke—she doesn’t have divine right. She could rule via a show of force, but that wouldn’t get the submissive behavior she demands from her subjects. So she controls them by means of a spell.” A smirk rose to Siobhan’s features. “An enchantment. This is Titania’s great strength—and her great weakness, as well, for it means that if the spell were ever to be broken, her grip on the Unseelie would shatter.”

  It was so close to what I’d just been thinking about my harem girls that I was temporarily taken aback.

  Was Titania’s gift an outgrowth of mine, a kind of ability bestowed on anyone bold enough to claim it once they reached a certain level of power?

  Or was this all a coincidence?

  “So we have to hit Titania hard and fast,” Maddie purred, leaning over the table. “Is that what you’re getting at, Siobhan?”

  The redheaded Fae looked pleased at being understood.

  “Exactly,” she said. “This marker represents the current location of Queen Titania’s seat, as best as our agents have been able to reconnoiter it. If we attack her hard and fast, with everything we’ve got, we might just be able to prevail.”

  I looked at the tiny marker, frowning.

  “We don’t have to win,” I said, my voice filling with conviction. “All you have to do is get me face to face with Titania. Once I take her down, the rest of the Unseelie will fall like dominos.” I glanced over at Eiko, who’d been taking all of this in with a smooth expression on her ageless face. “Do you have anything to contribute?”

  Eiko’s lips formed a tight little smile.

  “My view of the future has become muddled,” the Divination instructor admitted with a shrug. “The moment you took hold of the router and gained access to both Paths, the future exploded into a myriad of possibilities. I think it will be some time before I’m able to reliably predict what will happen to you next.”

  “It would be now,” I grunted. “Right when we need it the most.”

  “Once things shake out, I’ll have a clearer picture,” Eiko said apologetically. “But I am sensing that our shocks are far from over. Something big is about to happen…”

  And it was.

  Just then, an elven guard with hair like summer wheat pulled back the tent flap. Despite long years of training for moments just like this, the servant couldn’t hide their expression of shock and dismay.

  “My Queen,” the servant said, bowing to Siobhan before remembering their place. “And my King…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said quickly. “Me being in charge is going to take some getting used to. Just spit it out; I won’t discipline you.”

  The guard looked almost comically relieved. “My King, Queen Titania is making an announcement,” she said, grimacing through gritted teeth. “She’s requesting all citizens of the Fae Realm watch it. It seems she’s well aware of what’s just happened to her world.”

  “Well.” I snickered, taking all of this in stride. “I’m surrounded by citizens of the Fae Realm, aren’t I? We’d better tune in, then.” I glanced around the room, frowning at the lack of anything besides a few tables and torches. “I didn’t expect a TV or anything like that, but how are we supposed to listen to Titania, exactly?”

  “I’ve got you covered,” Siobhan said, rising smoothly from her seat. The redheaded Fae unslung a leather pouch from her belt, tied closed in a slim red and white ribbon. Inside lay handfuls of purple pixie dust—she tossed a handful into the air and watched as it formed a slowly spreading cloud, dominating the far end of the tent.

  All around the table, heads turned to watch that cloud. At first I didn’t understand why, then the scene within the cloud began to resolve. The mist parted, and I was staring at an army of Fae in black armor, surrounding a castle that looked like an obsidian horn.

  This had to be Queen Titania’s seat. And at the front, standing at a podium twenty feet high, was the woman herself.

  “Shit,” Siobhan muttered, slipping back into her seat. “I thought we’d have more time.”

  Staring into the mist felt almost like the Sand Divination that Eiko had done for me earlier. I felt my eyes ache a bit whenever my concentration wavered, so I stared directly into the cloud and waited for whatever Queen Titania wanted to say. Doubtless she’d have all manner of unpleasant tidings for the new King of the Fae Realm.

  Titania was just as coldly beautiful as I’d anticipated.

  Even seeing her through the medium of a cloud of pixie dust, my cock throbbed against the inside of my boxers at the sight of her. I’d seen plenty of elves since coming to the Fae Realm, but Titania looked like the hottest, naughtiest resident of the Underdark.

  Her skin was purple, of a shade so deep it looked nearly black in the torchlights flanking her podium. She wore a wrap around her ample breasts, twin strips of fabric separating them like a bustier. Her nipples poked through the fabric, letting any Fae with half a brain picture exactly what their Queen looked like naked.

  But what really unnerved me were her eyes. Two burning coals blazed in her eye sockets, glowing the deep red of one of Hell’s own furnaces.

  Just like Holofernes, the Angel whom Titania had turned into a monster.

  “Damn, she’s hot,” Christina muttered, letting her fingers play between her legs. “I’d like to see her tied up against your bedpost, Master.”

  “I want to see her with her lips around Luke’s cock,” Raquelle groaned. “Look at her. So fucking haughty. So smug. Wouldn’t she look good with tears running down her cheeks, ruining her makeup? Wouldn’t she make a good little whore for you, Daddy?”

  Fuck, my harem girls were shameless. It made it hard to focus on what Titania was saying.

  “My fellow Unseelie,” the Queen of the Unseelie began, amplifying her words with magic. Queen Titania’s voice was smoke and sex, so hot that she could probably get a man off without ever even touching him. “Long have the citizens of the Fae Realm been forced to put up with… interference from the other Realms. Unsatisfied with their own conquests, and jealous of the strides we Fae have made in mastering the orders of magic, they have plotted against u
s for centuries, seeking to claim what is naturally ours…”

  I stifled a yawn. “She really does go on and on, doesn’t she? Someone tell me more about the naughty shit you want me to do to her—maybe that’ll keep my attention until she says something important for a change.”

  “My King,” Siobhan said with a reproachful look. “All of it is important—”

  She broke off with a cry of shock. When I looked back at the screen, I understood why.

  Titania was no longer alone at the podium. Judyth Dominia, the Headmistress of the Celestial Academy, stood next to her.

  Holy shit, she looks bad, came the thought. I couldn’t stop it—Judyth had clearly seen better days. The blonde angel, once so powerful and self-assured, now looked utterly miserable standing next to the Dark Queen. Her wrists were bound with heavy chains, with more wrapped around her ankles.

  Gasps echoed around the table. Displaying Judyth in such a fashion had exactly the effect Titania was no doubt looking for. Anyone who watched this broadcast would believe the Dark Queen had already subjugated the Celestial Academy to her cause.

  “This,” Titania said with a smirk, “is Judyth Dominia. The Headmistress of the Celestial Academy, the training ground for the angelic elite.”

  The crowd surrounding Titania erupted with boos and hisses. Had they been given fruit before the speech, I believe they would have started tossing it at the pissed-off angel, further adding to her humiliation. As it was, Judyth looked bad enough.

  “Headmistress Dominia came to me recently with evidence of a plot,” Titania purred. I had to hand it to her—she understood her audience. She had the air of a master ringleader, building up the big announcement to a fever pitch before giving the audience what they wanted. “At first I did not want to believe Judyth’s story, my children. I cast her in chains and imprisoned her in the Castle of Days, all because I did not wish to believe the Fae Realm could be betrayed. But it has! Judyth Dominia has shown me incontrovertible proof—utter proof—that the Infernal Realm has spent the last three decades plotting revolution against the Fae Realm’s rightful rulers!”

  The crowd went nuts.

  “Oh shit,” I groaned, covering my face with a hand. “Lilith, you idiot. You just couldn’t be discreet enough, could you?”

  “The worst part is, it’s all true,” Siobhan murmured. “Lilith truly has been allied with us. I wonder how she got this information?”

  “Judyth must have blabbed.” To my surprise, it was Maddie who came up with it. “Lilith must have let something slip during one of their meetings—you know she can never keep her successes to herself. She’s always got to tease the opposite party, let them know how many steps ahead she is. Well this time, it blew up in her face.”

  I couldn’t disagree.

  “The leader of this plot is none other than Lilith, the Headmistress of the Celestial Academy and the ex-wife of Lucifer himself,” Titania said gravely. “To have such an austere personage plot openly against the Unseelie and the rightful ruler of the Fae is a grave injustice, my children. But as awful as that is, I must inform you it is nothing compared to the wickedness being wrought in our backyard right now by Lucifer’s protégé, Luke Bell!”

  You could have heard a pin drop in Siobhan’s tent. Every head turned to me, looking for my reaction.

  “Look ma,” I said dryly. “I’m on TV!”

  “That’s right, Lucifer’s heir apparent is in the Fae Realm right now,” Titania said over the audience’s shock. “He’s usurped the title of Seelie King from its rightful ruler—yes, I do acknowledge Queen Siobhan, as subordinate to me as she must remain—and even now, he prepares to make war on the Unseelie Fae!”

  Gasps filled Titania’s chamber. “She’s definitely got our number,” I muttered, shaking my head. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  A hush fell over Titania’s crowd. “Judyth,” the Dark Queen said, extending a hand. “Join me atop the podium.”

  Judyth looked like she’d have rather done anything than take those three steps up to where Titania stood. With extreme reluctance, the Headmistress of the Celestial Academy ascended the steps, taking her place next to Titania. Judyth stared straight through the cloud, as if she were trying to send me a message with her eyes.

  Queen Titania lifted Judyth’s bonds—then snapped them right in two. The crowd cried out in mingled shock and triumph as the angel rubbed her wrists, her hands finally free.

  “The Infernal Realm have broken the nonaggression pact,” Titania explained. “But the Fae have found an unlikely ally. As I said to you, Judyth Dominia came to me of her own free will, bearing proof of the Infernal plot. Because of this, I have made her an offer of alliance. One she has taken with all her heart. Isn’t that right, Judyth?”

  I’d never seen anyone look so miserable before. “Yes,” Judyth whimpered, hanging her head.

  Titania grinned from ear to ear. “Our alliance is settled! Judyth Dominia has joined the cause of the Fae Realm—and will command the Celestial Academy itself into battle!”

  “What!?” Maddie thumped the table with her fists. “She can’t do that! The angels, they won’t follow her—they’ll rebel…”

  Eiko clucked her tongue as she shook her head. “When have you ever known the angels to do anything but studiously follow the rules, Maddie? If Judyth calls them, they’ll go—whether they want to or not. Whether their hearts are in it or not.”

  Titania practically climbed on top of the podium itself in her excitement. “The time has finally come, my children! A combined army of the Unseelie Fae and the angels of the Celestial Academy! Together, we will sweep into the Infernal Realm and raze their pesky Academy to the ground, killing their students! Then we will cleanse the Realm forever, claiming it as our own! Our new home!”

  “Our new home!” the crowd chanted. My chest filled with horror.

  “The Day of Judgement is here!” Titania screamed, throwing a fist in the air.

  “The Day of Judgement! The Day of Judgement!”

  “Oh no,” I said, staring blankly into the swirling purple cloud. “Judyth, you fucking bitch. You traitor…”

  Oni turned to me, his horn swiveling. “You should have freed her,” the big demon rumbled.

  I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I should have wrung her fucking neck.”

  The clouds of mist rolled inward, covering up the projection. Apparently Titania’s message to her people was over—all that was left was for the armies to take their marching orders. Once they got organized, the Fae and the Angels would sweep into Hell, destroying the Academy and ripping control away from Lucifer himself.

  Hell versus Heaven. The Day of Judgement. I hadn’t been able to stop it after all.

  I’d started the damned thing!

  As my harem made noises of dismay, I locked eyes with Eiko across the table. The raven-haired beauty nodded once, severely, as if confirming my worst fears. The Day of Judgement was here.

  “We have to stop Judyth,” Maddie was saying. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the rest of the group. “Catch her, and Titania’s army, before they can group up with the Celestial Academy. If they join forces, then the Infernal Realm is finished!”

  “The Unseelie outnumber us by three to one,” Siobhan countered. The redhead’s face looked grim. “Even with Luke’s new powers on our side, we can’t overcome that kind of a tactical disadvantage. Perhaps if he could create an entire fleet of hover vehicles like his personal craft, we could even the odds…”

  I shook my head. There was only one Godfrey.

  But I had an idea.

  “I have to go,” I said, rising from the table. For my harem, who’d not only considered this a strategy session but an opportunity for them to give me pleasure, this proved an almost insurmountable frustration. Whimpers echoed around the table, along with nibbled lips and little groans of please stay, Master!

  “Where are you going?” Mareth asked. The succubus shot out of her seat, the hem of he
r schoolgirl skirt flapping around her bare mound. “You can’t just leave us here, Luke!”

  “You don’t get it,” I said, holding her back. “This is my fault. I brought the Day of Judgement on. Now it’s up to me to stop it.”

  With that, I strode out of the tent. No one could understand what I was doing—was I fleeing? Had I decided to fly the coop, or go straight to Titania and demand she face me in a one on one duel? I could tell the army hoped for the latter, but feared the former.

  I was almost all the way to Godfrey when a yell made me turn around. My harem had arrayed themselves on the outside of camp, with Maddie at their head.

  “Luke, please. What are you doing? Where are you going? Please, give us some guidance here?”

  Guidance? I let out a cruel snicker, allowing myself to be the Beast. I liked it.

  “Isn’t it obvious? Titania’s bringing her angels. Which means I need to go get my allies. The ones I’ve had all along. Lucifer’s people.”

  Suddenly Maddie understood. “Good luck,” the angel said, blowing me a kiss.

  As I climbed into Godfrey, I set the controls for the liminal zone. Something told me she’d already be there waiting for me—that she’d been there at that strange building ever since Titania’s announcement went over the airwaves. Wasn’t that just like her?

  I was going to go see the one person in all the Realms who might actually be happy the Day of Judgement was finally happening.

  I needed to speak to Lilith.

  Chapter 18

  Nothing notable happened on the way to the liminal zone.

  Though I’d been checking my corners (and Godfrey’s new scanner) every step of the way, I didn’t see hide nor hair of Holofernes on my way back over the bridge leaving the Fae Realm. The Angel of Vengeance was nowhere to be found, and neither was anyone else.

  The Realm felt even more eerie and sinister than normal, as if the note of horror kept safely in the background of the Fae had been brought to the front. Driving through it felt like an establishing shot in a psychological horror film, like something from Hereditary or the deceptively cheery backdrops of Midsommar.