by Ciara Graves
“I’m sure if we relieve him of his head—” Bobby said.
I interrupted him with a laugh. “Tried that once, remember? He’s stronger now. They can’t just go after him without a plan.”
“They’re working on one with Commander Lela.”
My eyes flicked from Kexan then back to Bobby. “She said nothing about working with the lords on a plan of attack. What’s she up to?”
“If she didn’t tell you yet, then she doesn’t want you to know.”
I growled, but neither said anything else. “I need to get to the surface.”
“Not yet, you don’t. We have our orders.” Kexan nailed me with a firm glare. “Lela said you’re not to leave until you’re fully healed. So unless you can convince Bailey to sign off on your state of health, you’re stuck in Olem.”
And Lela had already returned to the surface. Just as I’d been able to sense her when she arrived, I felt her absence. She was still there in my mind, but her presence was faint. “Where’s Bailey?”
“Why don’t you meet with the other lords first?” Bobby suggested until my growl grew louder. “Or you can be stubborn. That’s fine, too.”
“She’s in the infirmary,” Kexan said, not sounding happy about it.
“Good, then we’re going there first.”
Whatever Lela thought she was up to, I had to stop her from doing something rash, like tracking down and going after Zeraxin. She had conveniently not told me about whatever she was doing in Dakota. Anxiety replaced the weakness in my limbs. I was able to walk on my own by the time we reached the western corridor and headed toward the infirmary.
Bailey glanced up from a worktable as we walked in. “Ah, my lord Tonamech. I’m glad to see you up and moving around.”
“I’d like to return to the surface. Now.”
Her brow rose. Bobby and Kexan backed up a step, the zombie whistling quietly under his breath.
“Is that so?” Bailey crossed her arms and stared me down.
“Yeah, it is. I need to leave before Lela does something stupid.”
“You think she’s going to what, run off and get herself killed?”
“I think she’s planning to go after Zeraxin and she’s not about to do that without me.” I crossed my arms, too, not about to back down. “Am I healed or not?”
“In my opinion? No.”
“Am I healed enough to head to the surface?”
Her lips thinned. “Mech, you were on death’s door when you were brought to me. You can’t rush the healing process.”
“Am I well enough to return or not?” I repeated loudly, begging her silently to just say yes.
“Stay here one more night and first thing tomorrow, you can return to Dakota. I won’t try to stop you.”
I wanted to get back to Lela now, but her request wasn’t unreasonable. “Deal.”
“Good. Then if you’d be so kind” she addressed Bobby and Kexan “take Lord Mech out of the infirmary and somewhere he can continue to recoup. It would be much appreciated.”
Kexan and Bobby laughed quietly as they spun me around and we exited the infirmary. I wasn’t about to go back to Koreth’s old chambers, so I led them out to the grounds. Our forces were indeed gathering. Soldiers rushed from one end of the barracks to the other. Supplies were being collected and infused with hellfire. Commanders shouted orders.
“Alright, what’s the plan so far?” I asked once we’d sat at a stone table outside the main fortress. I tried not to remember how I used to eat meals here with my mother or share mugs of strong ale with Koreth after long days of training.
Kexan leaned back, watching the soldiers run through formations. “We’re preparing for the final battle,” he said quietly. “No idea where it’s going to be or when, but the lords aren’t going to take another chance at being caught off guard. Neither is Commander Lela.”
“You keep calling her Commander Lela.”
“That’s what she is. After we brought you back, she took up the mantle of commander again,” Bobby said. “The depressed Lela is gone. She’s taken control. She’s even gotten Ilran to listen to her.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. She and the demon lord seem to be hitting it off. Not sure if that’s a good thing,” Bobby added with a wink.
“How often has she been down here?”
“Every day, for as long as she can stand it.”
“And you let her?” I snapped.
Kexan shrugged. “As if we could stop her. She might be mortal, but she’s got quite a few of the younger demons scared of her.”
“The toll on her body is too high.”
“Try telling her that.” Bobby scratched at his bare skull. “Dakota’s changed. Shit, Hell’s changed. She’s got a few plans being worked out.”
“Such as?”
“I think I’ll let her tell you tomorrow when you go back to the surface,” Bobby told me, talking over me when I started to argue with him. “After she gets done yelling at you for returning too damned soon.”
Now I regretted making that deal with Bailey. I could always make my own portal and sneak out of Olem, but something told me Bobby and Kexan weren’t about to let me out of sight. And as strong as I felt, my hellfire was already drained from simply moving. Opening a portal would deplete it all over again. I might make it to the surface, but I’d be weak. Then Lela would really have a reason to be pissed at me. Might be worth it. She was quite attractive when she was angry.
“What are you grinning about?” Kexan asked.
“What do you think he is?” Bobby answered for me. “Damned demon finally found the love of his life.”
I smiled, though my mind was elsewhere. Tomorrow, I’d be back on the surface, preparing to take the fight to Hadariel and Zeraxin. But for a few hours, I was going to let myself have this time with my friends.
Koreth was gone as were many others. There’d be a time to mourn them all, but not yet. I’d give myself this chance to heal because soon, there was only going to be time for killing.
Chapter 2
Lela
I stepped out of the hellfire portal and found myself in the heart of Dakota. The compound was just as busy as Olem. Humans and demons worked around the clock to gather weapons and supplies as well as fortify and increase the defenses of our new home base. Six days was a long time for Mech to be out of commission. Time hadn’t stopped, and neither had Zeraxin or Hadariel.
Shit was a lot worse than I let on. He’d find out soon enough whenever he returned to the surface. I’d sat down with the remaining demon lords to plan to go after Zeraxin after we returned from Blood Falls with the survivors. Our hope was to knock one major player out of the game, then focus on Hadariel.
We were too damned late.
Barely twenty minutes into our meeting, a demon rushed in, with Nathaniel behind him, saying we had a problem. Nathaniel had come to tell us the Heavens were on the verge of an uprising. Many had gone missing, and the high general didn’t seem to care how or why.
A few were close allies of Remiel and Morael who believed Nathaniel when he told them the truth behind the war. He was hoping to bring them to Dakota to aid us when a massive disturbance of evil actually blew him out of the sky. When he managed to get back into the clouds, what he saw had him racing toward us. He and the scout had reached Dakota at the same time, both with horrifying news.
Zeraxin and his horde weren’t waiting at their encampment for us to attack. They were on their way. The entire clearing had emptied, with more joining his forces every day. Nathaniel said there’d been no sign of Hadariel in the Heavens. Nor of Lavina and Amriel, for that matter. Their main fighting force of angels had seemed to vanish, too. If they were with Zeraxin, they’d never showed up. Now we had an army of unknown numbers barreling toward us with no clear way of escape.
Even if all the demons in Hell came to Dakota, I doubted it’d be enough to get us out of here alive.
“Commander,” a demon, Melinda, called as she approached. “Bryan’s
back.”
“Good. Any incidences along the route?” I asked as we walked quickly through the streets toward the town hall.
“They ran into a small pack of zombies, but there were no casualties.”
“Was he successful?”
“Brought back twenty more humans with him,” she said, but cringed. “Not all of them came willingly. They still believe Hadariel is fighting the good fight for them.”
“Course they do.”
“He also found two smaller compounds on the way. They’d been destroyed, the people there wiped out.”
I glared straight ahead, not showing my annoyance. Just one time, I’d like news to be good. Just once. “Could they tell what did it?”
“Angels from the look of the attacks, but with how closely they’re working together, it’s hard to say for certain, Commander.”
Two demon guards opened the town hall’s doors for me. I thanked Melinda and said I would see to the new arrivals soon. Convincing the stubborn ones usually didn’t take long, once they were in Dakota.
Inside, I searched the large room for Ilran. She and two other demon lords were currently in Dakota. They came in shifts, since I couldn’t remain in Hell for long periods of time. At least not yet. That was another issue we were working on finding a solution to. And not just for my sake. It had come to me late one night when I’d been raging about Mech nearly dying and my being a helpless mortal.
Bobby had witnessed me chucking crates across the armory, nearly losing his head. He’d simply muttered, “It’s too bad humans can’t just use hellfire to stay down there longer.”
We’d been working on a way to make that happen ever since.
“Lord Ilran,” I said in greeting. The first time I’d met the demon lord, she impressed me, intimidated me a bit, too. Now, there were times it seemed like the other way around, which was odd to me. I was only mortal, after all. Not like I’d win in a fight against her if it ever came down to a disagreement.
“Commander. How is Tonamech?”
“His wounds are healed for the most part, and his hellfire appears to be almost fully charged. He should be able to leave Hell in a few days.”
“Good. We’re going to need him.”
I rested my palms on the table and stared at the map of the western side of the continent. This one worked much like the one in the Heavens did. It could be interacted with. Ilran tapped the center of it, and it zoomed in on our location. About two hundred miles out, a dark mass inched ever closer to Dakota.
“How much time do we have?” I asked quietly. There were other demons in the room with us, and we’d been trying to keep the panic to a minimum. So far, we managed, but word would get out eventually.
“A week, at most.” Ilran shifted closer to me and added, “I’d say we have four days at the rate they’re moving. They’ve been picking up the pace.”
“Damn it.” I curled my hands around the edge of the table, willing some glimpse of my holy light to come back. I needed it more than ever. There was no change. I grunted in frustration. “Have the scouts returned?”
“Not yet.”
“I want to know as soon as they do.”
Ilran smirked. “I’m starting to understand how you became a commander.”
I smiled, but it only stayed for a few seconds. Then I was back to glowering at the map. “Too bad I failed at it. I let Hadariel trick me. I can’t let it happen again.”
“He tricked a lot of angels, Lela, don’t let it get to you.”
“I’m not. I’m just making myself a promise that before this is over, I’m going to tear him apart one way or another.” I shifted the map to the east. A crack in the earth appeared and I zoomed in. “When did that happen?”
Ilran tilted her head and cursed. “The rift is opening.”
“And if that one is, then the others might be too.” I hung my head, calculating as quickly as I could if we had any humans or demons to spare. If evil was going to come pouring out of old rifts, we needed to know.
In less than a week, we were going to be surrounded. And it wasn’t just Dakota in trouble. All the compounds left in the region were falling one after the other.
Bryan and several other humans had been taking trips out to try and bring back any humans they could find. The ones who’d already sided with the demons were easy to convince to abandon their homes for the fortress Dakota had turned into.
The others who thought the angels protected them weren’t so willing to join our ranks. Many of them stayed behind. Days later, sometimes only hours, we’d get word they were found dead.
We were no longer merely in a war. This was the end game. The final battle was going to wash over us whether we were ready for it or not. Between the demons and humans, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Any word from Nathaniel yet?”
Ilran shook her head. “You think they found him out?”
“Hope not. If we can’t get more fighters on our side, we won’t make it.”
It was a hard truth, but there was no more lying to ourselves. Zeraxin’s forces, combined with the angels loyal to Hadariel, outnumbered us and outpowered us. If all the demons had access to their hellfire, we could even the odds. That was our other project. Getting hellfire for all of the demons. The connection Mech and I shared had given me the idea. For that first couple of days, I thought I was chasing a dead end. After working with Demon Lords Muz and Gath, however, I was starting to think I might be onto something. Hellfire functioned much as holy light did. Every angel had access to the light, which led me to think at some point, all demons had access to hellfire. How that changed, the demon lords weren’t certain. It was just how it had been for as long as they could remember. What was even stranger was when the three of us tried to remember where the source of our power came from, all we could remember was a blur. No matter who we asked, no one seemed to know. Muz had joked they were all simply too young to recall, even though they weren’t.
I was more willing to bet it had something to do with Hadariel. Again.
“Did you tell Mech?”
“About which part?” I nodded to the map. “About the army of doom barreling toward us or our experiments with hellfire?”
“How about how you’re turning into more of a general than just a commander.”
“He’ll find out soon enough. No point in telling him now. Not in the mood for a lecture. Or him telling me I’m not allowed to fight when the time comes.”
“We’re all going to have to fight.”
“Good luck telling him that.” I shifted the map around again then zoomed back out. The black mass seemed to have moved a lot closer in the few seconds since I last glanced at it. I squinted at the swarm to the west. “What is that?”
Amongst the black blob was a brilliant blue dot of light. “An angel?”
“Strong enough to show up on the map. It has to be Hadariel.”
“He’s not alone.” She pointed to the outer edge of the swarm. “There’s more with him.”
I tapped my fingers on the table, knowing what I was about to do was stupid. I tried to talk myself out of it, but after seeing Mech torn to ribbons and knowing Hadariel was so damned close, I had to do it. I rushed away from the table toward the door.
Ilran was right behind me, her black high-heeled boots stomping across the hardwood floor as she rushed to keep up. “Lela, where are you going?”
“Out.”
“You are not leaving Dakota.”
I whirled around and stared her down. “Really? You’re going to give me the same line everyone else does? Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own.”
“Mech does not want you out there.”
“Mech’s not here, and last I checked he’s not in charge of Dakota.”
“No,” she mused, her lips curling in a smile. I wasn’t entirely sure what the meaning behind it was. “You are.”
It was nice to hear, but there was no real leader of the compound, not really. Bryan was
who the humans listened to most, but now they took orders from me, as did most of the demons. I shrugged. “I’m going out there. You want to tell Mech? Go for it.”
“Who said I was going to tell him? I’m going with you.”
I shook my head with a smile. “I knew I was going to like you.”
She laughed as we walked quickly through Dakota to the freshly stocked armory the demon lords gifted us with. The two demons outside eyed us curiously, but neither questioned me or Ilran as we loaded ourselves down with weapons.
“If Hadariel is there, we can’t kill him.”
“I know.” That was a lie, but she couldn’t think I’d go all that way and not try to kill him if I had the chance. I grabbed for the shotgun that had become my best friend and slung it into the holster at my back. I grabbed a bandolier loaded with hellfire-infused shells and strapped it across my chest. Two daggers went into sheaths at my hips, and two more were shoved into my knee-high black leather boots. I considered grabbing a sword, too, but if this did turn into a fight, I wanted to be able to move. The shotgun and ammo were going to weigh me down enough.
“Ready?”
I shoved my hair into a tighter bun and nodded. “Let’s go see what they’re up to.”
Ilran waited until we were outside the walls of Dakota before she opened a portal. Just as we were about to step through, Bryan shouted my name from on the wall. “Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” was all I said in reply, then walked into Ilran’s portal.
When I stepped out, we were surrounded by jagged rocks. There were mountains far off to the west and flat plains to the east. Lightning streaked across the black thunderheads hovering above us.
Ilran walked out right behind me, sealed the portal, and pointed in the direction we needed to go. We jogged, not talking, keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of the massive army of evil. I couldn’t see them, but they were close. My skin prickled and my stomach twisted in knots. The further we ran, the more I thought I was going to be sick. Nausea had me pausing long enough to convince myself this was still a good idea. Ilran’s head was on a constant swivel and she had unsheathed her two short swords when we stopped.
