THEY ALL TURNED AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, but Alexa already knew who it was.
Lucifer sauntered into the chamber. He was clad in the same black armor she remembered moving over him like liquid oil. Taller than his son and heavily muscled, he wore a long ancient-looking sword at his waist. He was beautiful, and she could see the resemblance with his son, but his eyes made Alexa’s skin prickle in fear. They seemed to hold both light and dark, and she had to force herself not to look away from them.
“You’ve come to destroy me, have you not?” Lucifer’s striking face held no emotion. His voice was deep and annoyingly charismatic. “With Michael’s staff, I see.”
Alexa had opened her mouth, but Milo moved to stand before Alexa. “I won’t let you harm her, Father.”
“Milo, my son,” said Lucifer with a slight shake of his head. “Why do you continue to disappoint me so? Have I not been a good father to you while you were in my home? Why did you choose to run away?”
“I’m here now, aren’t I,” said Milo.
Lucifer halted. “Yes. But not for the reasons I had hoped. I thought I made it clear what would happen if you disobeyed me again. You knew I would kill these… friends or yours, these allies, and yet you chose to bring them here… to my home.” His spectral stare moved around Alexa and the others and she swallowed hard. The staff seemingly got heavier in her grasp.
Alexa could feel the tension in the others and could see the slight shake of Ariel’s body as she moved to stand next to Alexa. Lance hid behind Milo’s legs.
Lucifer’s gaze fell on Sabrielle and he took in the welt on her face. “Unless you’re here to deliver them to me.” Lucifer’s smile had Alexa frozen in fear. “Now that is a delightful gift, my son.”
Milo’s face paled. “Your madness has to stop. What you’re doing to the mortals, to children!” his voice rose. “I can’t let you do this. I won’t stand by and watch you destroy their world.”
Lucifer’s eyes rested on Alexa. “And you thought what exactly? That you would bring Alexa here and she would use Michael’s staff on me? That I would even allow her to get close enough to use it? Did you imagine I would puff into dust?”
Milo scowled. “Maybe.”
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t think for a single moment that your arrival here went unnoticed. I allowed you to enter. I even waited until you were safely aboard before I moved my home again.”
“That’s not good,” whispered Lance.
Alexa shifted her weight when she realized she was shaking, dread weighing her down.
Milo’s voice was cold, but Alexa saw the tension in his face. “Why would you do that if you knew we had the staff?”
“Because I wanted my son back. If it meant letting your friends in with the intention of destroying me, then so be it.” He smiled. “Their efforts are fruitless. Nothing can destroy me. Can’t you see that now, my son? Don’t you want to be part of what I’ve created?”
“I’ve never wanted to be part of you,” said Milo, and Alexa knew he’d hit a nerve by the look on Lucifer’s face.
“What do you want?”
“To put a stop to the angels integrating with the mortals.”
“Unfortunately, the only way to stop it is with my demise,” said Lucifer simply.
“Exactly why we’ve come,” said Alexa, trying to make her voice braver than she felt.
Lucifer looked at her in surprise. “As I said, I cannot die. Have you not realized what I am? I am the most powerful celestial being that ever was, more powerful than all the gods and archangels combined. Michael couldn’t destroy me, and neither can you.”
Alexa didn’t shy away. “It won’t stop me from trying.”
Lucifer looked into her eyes a long moment. “You are a very rare person, Alexa Dawson. Not many would stand as you do now, with that in your hand. I will give you one opportunity—one—with that staff. You can use it on me. I won’t stop you.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Alexa.
“I smell a setup,” mumbled Lance.
“No setup, no catch.” Lucifer’s voice purred with malicious pleasure. “If am I not what I say I am, then one touch of the Staff of Heaven will destroy me. Isn’t that why you came here? To destroy me? Then go ahead, Alexa. Use it.” He stood with his arms wide. “Do it.”
“No, my lord!” cried Sabrielle sitting up. But with one look from Lucifer, she clamped her mouth shut and settled back down.
Alexa stood shaking, partly in fear and partly in fury. She scanned Lucifer’s face, searching for the glimmer of lies. There was only bold rebellion and arrogance within his gaze.
The entire room was silent. Even Sabrielle’s whimpers subsided.
“It’ll work, Alexa,” whispered Milo. He squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. “The oracles saw it. You were destined to do this. He’s not invincible. He just thinks he is.”
Alexa tried to take comfort from Milo’s words, but she had nothing but a deep fear growing in her.
Trick. Trick. Trick.
She thought of the time she’d vanquished the two archangels with the staff. There had been no demon blood, and the staff had worked. Maybe it would again.
It is going to work, she told herself. The oracle saw it.
Gathering the only bits of courage she had left, which wasn’t much, Alexa moved towards Lucifer. His strange, eerie gaze made her heart pound even faster, louder. But then the staff hummed—not like before but with a pulsing that she felt all the way up to her shoulder. The warmth emitting from it went hot. It was though it were telling her it would be okay, telling her to use it. It wanted her to.
Confidence bloomed in Alexa’s chest.
The entire room was silent, and Alexa’s attention was on Lucifer. Her revelation must have been evident on her face, for he lifted his chin and spread his arms in a silent invitation.
She took another step toward him, and then another.
The oracle is right, she thought. The pulsing increased in the staff as if in answer. It’s going to work. The staff will send Lucifer back to purgatory. The mortal world will be safe.
But there was a faint smile on Lucifer’s lips as she stood before him, the staff in her hand. His arrogance sent hot flashes through her.
“This is for all the souls you took,” she said and stabbed him with the staff.
CHAPTER 25
LUCIFER CRIED OUT AS THE STAFF touched the flesh just above his collar bone. White light exploded from the end of the staff, blinding Alexa. The light intensified, and she could still see the burst of its brilliance through her eyelids. Eyes watering, she blinked through the spots in her vision as the light diminished. She stepped back.
For a triumphant moment, Alexa saw strings of light travel over Lucifer’s skin and body just as it had been with the other two archangels. Light swirled over Lucifer like a mist. He lurched forward, stumbling. Alexa saw the light inside him, illuminating his eyes and skin and veins, moving just under the surface of his skin.
Lucifer was dying. The staff had worked.
And then he straightened. The light around him vanished. And Lucifer began to laugh. Low at first, and then high and hysterical.
Bathed in darkness, Lucifer slowly rose a few feet off the ground, a satisfied grin on his face and his eyes sparkling with power. His head rolled back in rapture as strings of black tendrils rotated about him.
Alexa whirled around and found Milo staring at her, his face pale and contorted in horror. Ariel had tears in her eyes, out of anger or despair, Alexa couldn’t tell. But Lance was snarling. His canines gleamed in the soft light of the room, and he looked about to jump on Lucifer.
“I told you the staff couldn’t harm me,” said Lucifer, his deep voice belligerent. “For none of you can fight the Lord of Darkness in his place of power, not even with Michael’s staff. You assumed that you, a lesser angel could wield such a weapon, a weapon created by none other than the archangel Michael, and that his staff would answer to you? You? A lesser angel?
Foolish, stupid little angel.”
Alexa was paralyzed in fear. What had she done?
Lucifer moved as swiftly as a lick of flame to seize Alexa by the forearm. She flinched back with a gasp. “What would cause the most pain to my son?” he hissed at her, teeth gleaming, his voice like the crackling of fire. “Your death.”
“NO!” cried Milo, fast footsteps echoing all around Alexa.
But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even cry out as something far more violent than a bomb hit her. The staff fell from her grasp as she was lifted off the floor with a whip of darkness and sailed across the room to crash against the wall.
Alexa heard something crack as she slipped to the cold stone floor. Searing pain like none she had ever known assaulted her body. Every nerve in her body burned with razor-sharp misery. Her mouth was open, but no scream came out. The pain blacked her vision out. Fire burned through every muscle and bone, consuming her, choking her in convulsing agony.
Her insides burned with a kind of fire that made everything a bit muddled. She was lying prone on the ground, and the cold hard floor pressed against her cheek. Every inch of her ached and burned. Get up, she told herself. But her body wouldn’t listen. She couldn’t move.
A scream reached her ears followed by the horrifying whimper of an animal in distress. Black spots floated in her vision, and she blinked through her tears. Ariel was on the ground, her body still as the dead. Her head was turned the other way and Alexa couldn’t tell if she was still alive. A small cry escaped Alexa’s lips as she spotted a bundle of white fur lying next to Ariel.
“You choose them over me!” Alexa heard Lucifer shout and her eyes darted across the room.
Milo was suspended in the air by black tendrils, pinning him to the wall. His face was knotted in pain and misery, but his eyes were on Alexa. She read the fear in them when their eyes met. I’m sorry, his eyes said. But this wasn’t Milo’s fault.
“Yield, my son, and you can rule with me,” said Lucifer.
“Never,” said Milo through gritted teeth, his eyes tearing up in pain.
“The opportunity of surrender I give now carries incentives. You will be able to join me without prejudice or sanctions. I will forget your traitorous behavior because you are my son. I forgive you.”
“I won’t. I’ll never join you.”
“Kill him, my lord,” urged Sabrielle, her eyes red. “Give me a mortal body and I will give you more sons, better sons—”
“Quiet!” bellowed Lucifer, and Sabrielle winced as though she’d been punched in the face again. She lowered herself to the ground, trembling.
Alexa savored the coolness of the stone on her cheek. Darkness played at the edges of her mind. It took every ounce of energy she had left just to keep her eyes open. Death was near. She could taste it. She was hot and cold and hot again. The room seemed to sway, blurring in lines. Her face burned like the heat of a fever or an infection.
Through Alexa’s fractured vision, she saw the staff, lying on the ground near the entrance of the room. Even if she could reach it, what good would it do now?
It hadn’t worked. The oracle’s prophecy had been wrong.
Her eyes settled on Lance, and buckets of tears flew from her eyes. He was dead. He was dead and it was her fault…
“You will join me,” said Lucifer, turning back to Milo. “Whether it be by force or not, that is up to you. But you will be my first in command, and we will rule… together. I am going to make you pay for your insolence, my son.” He snarled. “You did kill all your brothers.”
“They weren’t my brothers. They were monsters.”
“The same essence flowed in you,” Lucifer snarled. “Be warned, I intend to wipe the Legion and everything in it. Angels, oracles, every other celestial creature who will not submit—all of it. Those who are foolish enough to try and stop me—like your friends here—will suffer the same fate. No mercy will be granted.”
Alexa bit down as another wave of torturous agony went through her. It was like she was melting from the inside, and soon she would be a puddle of angel mess. Only her eyes could move, unable to out-scream the pain.
“Kill me,” said Milo, “because I will never join you.”
Lucifer laughed. “I will never kill you, my son. You will join me. You will rule with me.”
“Kill me.”
“Enough!”
Lucifer sent another blast of tendrils at Milo. They hit him hard, and his head cracked against the stones, his spirit sabers dropping from his splayed fingers.
Stop, Alexa tried to say, but only blood spilled out of her mouth.
“You can’t get away with this,” said Milo. His eyes met Alexa’s. Blood dripped from his nose, his ears. “We’ll stop you.”
“Who? There is no one left to stop me,” said Lucifer with a hateful smile. “It was a valiant effort, but you assumed that you understood the contents of the oracle’s riddle. You forgot one of the main ingredients,” Lucifer mocked. “Blood of a willing demon.”
Alexa could only wince at her failure. Lucifer was right.
“The oracle filled you with false hopes.” Lucifer’s eyes danced with amusement. “No demon would ever sacrifice themselves willingly for the things they hate most… for angels.”
“I would,” came a familiar voice.
Alexa darted her eyes towards the voice.
A girl demon, sucking on a lollypop, stood in the entrance of the chamber. And in her hand was the Staff of Heaven.
CHAPTER 26
ALEXA COULD ONLY WATCH AS Willow strolled into the room, her eyes taking in the scene. The light that shone from the torches lit the top of her bald head in glints of gold. Black blood oozed sluggishly through wounds around her scalp and neck while bones peeked through holes in her clothes and flesh. A severed arm was strapped to her chest. The air stank of sulfur and the unmistakable taint of carrion.
Willow stopped when she saw Alexa.
“You dropped this,” said the girl demon and tossed a piece of paper on the ground next to Alexa. Even on the ground, with limited vision, Alexa recognized the oracle’s note. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t remember pocketing it. She must have dropped it in her hurry to get to the castle.
Alexa looked over to Lucifer. His face was strangely pale, and he stood still. Why wasn’t he attacking Willow?
Willow scanned the room again, and her eyes widened when she spotted Sabrielle. She tossed her severed arm across the room and it hit Sabrielle square in the chest.
“That’s disgusting! You freak!” shrieked Sabrielle, her white dress smeared in yellow and black pus.
“See this?” said Willow as she closed the distance between them. “It doesn’t want to be reattached. No matter what I do, it just doesn’t want to hold. Now why is that? If I’m so powerful, why can’t I do a simple reattachment? Hmm?”
Sabrielle recoiled in horror. “Get away from me.”
Willow sucked on her lollypop. “Can I have my arm back?”
“Get back! Don’t touch me!”
Willow shrugged. “You told me I’d be stronger than any angel. I’d be invincible. A goddess. You never said I’d rot and lose my limbs. You never said it would keep getting worse.” She pointed the staff in Sabrielle’s face. “You lied to me. You lied to everyone.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re crazy,” spat Sabrielle, her hair disheveled. She looked like a frightened cat pinned to a wall.
“You had me convinced that I should kill Milo, that he was interfering with the big plan. But he never was. I can see it was because you wanted him out of the way. Didn’t you? You didn’t want to share your Lucifer.” Willow turned and winked at Lucifer in an overly seductive way. “He’s hot. I get it. But he’s also very, very, evil, isn’t he?”
Sabrielle made a face. “And you, you couldn’t even do a simple job, could you? Couldn’t even kill one itty bitty angel boy. You deserve what you get. Filthy demon.”
Willow giggled. �
��Yeah, about that. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to keep living like this,” she pointed to herself. “Why should I look like a zombie while the rest of you, the rest of the angels, get to roam around in perfect, healthy mortal bodies. Hmm?”
“Who are you?” snarled Lucifer.
When Willow smiled, Alexa noticed only blackened gums. “Willow. And you must be the big bad Lucifer. I like your castle. Very goth.”
“You’re a demon,” said Lucifer. “Getting rid of the Legion is a favor. You should be thanking me for giving you free reign on the mortals now that they can’t defend themselves.”
“Wrong,” said Willow, twirling the staff like a baton. “You think the demons are happy about the angels riding in mortal bodies? You think they want that? No. They. Don’t. Why do you think they all sat back and watched while your mortal-angels went to war with the Legion? The demons don’t want the angels to take over the mortal bodies, duh. What’s in it for them? Nothing. They want the mortal world for themselves. They want the world like it was—before you messed things up.”
Lucifer’s face slacked, and Alexa watched as his features contorted until he looked truly feral. “You’re a demon. How can you handle the Staff of Heaven? Only angels can touch it. You should be burning into cinders!”
Willow gnawed down on her lollypop. “Because I was once an angel. The staff knows that. I can tell. She and I are friends now. That’s right. It’s a she.” Willow stepped carefully towards Lucifer, his eyes on the staff.
“I heard a rumor that you can’t escape your home when it’s traveling,” said Willow lazily. “So, if it’s true, it means you can’t portal yourself out of here. Basically, you’re stuck.”
The oracle’s note flashed in Alexa’s mind’s eye: You will need to bind Lucifer. Otherwise the vacuum rift will be useless as he can use his portal abilities and get away unless he’s in a closed environment…
“The things is, I know why you haven’t tried your dark powers on me,” said Willow, with a feral grin. “You can’t kill me because we both know what will happen if you do.”
The Lord of Darkness Page 22
