“Manticore,” said Mara. “Just had to be a hell-damned manticore, didn’t it?”
The manticore lowered the front half of its body, arms curled as its tail rose in an arc and positioned right over its head. Its crimson eyes burned against the dark fur and it pounced.
Mara pulled Lucifer with her as she jumped free of the beast. “Stay back,” she said. “I’ll try to draw its attention.”
“And what happens then?” asked Lucifer.
Mara had no response for a moment. Then she shrugged and said, “To be honest, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
The manticore roared and brought its tail down. Mara rolled away just as the stinger struck the ground. It swung the tail at her again, and Mara slapped it away with her spear. But that only seemed to anger the beast further. It dipped its head as low as possible and some of the quills along its spine fired.
Mara used a combination of dodging and ducking to avoid the projectiles while deflecting others with the spear. In her grasp, the spear changed shape. The front tip became a large weight and the staff section slackened, transforming into a rope. Mara swung the meteor hammer and hurled the heavy end at the manticore.
After it struck a blow to the face, the manticore flew into a rage and flew right at her. Mara jumped towards the beast, her own wings emerging from her back. She used them to evade his claws and threw the meteor hammer again. It changed in mid-air as it reached its destination, now becoming a lasso that the manticore’s head flew right through the center of.
Mara pulled the lasso tight and held on as the manticore took her for a ride. It flew up higher into the crimson sky, twirling as it did to try and shake her off. Mara wrapped the end of the lasso around her arm. She continued to wrap it, shortening the length until she reached the manticore’s back. Mara planted both feet between its wings and gripped the lasso with both hands.
She yanked on it and it tightened around the manticore’s throat. The sudden pull-back forced the manticore to reverse direction and plummet towards the ground. As they flew together, the manticore struck her from behind with its tail. Mara fell off its back, but still held tightly to the rope. She flapped around while the manticore continued to try to shake her off.
They crashed together and the force threw Mara forward. Her grip loosed and she hit the ground and flipped over a few times before landing on her stomach. She stayed that way for a moment, stunned from the fall. The manticore moved gingerly closer, its head close to the ground. Once within reach, the manticore gave a roar and leaned in to feast.
A rock struck its eye. The manticore jerked its head in the direction, angered and distracted. Lucifer stood there, tossing another rock in his hand. He smirked and chucked it. The rock hit the manticore right in the nose and it bellowed to communicate its rage. It started on a charge, but Lucifer just stood tall and waited.
The manticore pounced and at that moment, Lucifer dove forward. Once he hit the ground, he transitioned into a roll, then sprung to his feet and began running. The manticore landed where Lucifer had stood and skidded to a stop. It turned and chased after him.
Lucifer chanced a look over his shoulder and saw the manticore building up speed, aided by the wings that propelled it forward with each leap. The beast raised up its tail and it lanced ahead, moving over Lucifer’s head. He tried to stop and slipped, sliding on the rough terrain just as the stinger struck. It hit the ground right between Lucifer’s spread-open legs.
The Morningstar rolled and stood, then ran again. The manticore continued chasing, firing off quills. Before they reached him, the quills struck a barrier of hellfire. Lucifer looked up and saw Mara flying overhead, the shield courtesy of her. She drew the hellfire back into her hands and reforged it into a bow. As she drew the string, a flaming arrow flared into existence. She released the string and then drew it back several times in rapid succession, generating and firing a new arrow with each movement.
The arrows cut through the air and drove the manticore into a frenzy trying to avoid them. Some it could evade or strike down with its tail, but others found their mark and the manticore yelped in pain with each hit.
Mara’s wings propelled her down, continuing to fire arrows as she did. The bow changed shape again, returning to the spear. The manticore bent its back and looked up, then leapt to meet her.
But before the manticore could reach her, Mara hurled the spear forward with all her might. It flew right into the manticore’s mouth and burned a path through its body, eventually coming out the other end. The manticore froze in mid-air, held for a moment, and then fell right back to the surface. When it struck the ground, it sent a small tremor through the area that nearly caused Lucifer to stumble.
Mara landed beside the manticore. With a wave of her hand, the spear returned to her body. She changed its shape again and now it became a flaming sword. Mara approached the manticore’s head and raised the blade up, then plunged it into the beast’s eye. The manticore remained still and all tension left its body, the tail and its wings falling limp.
“I thought the road was supposed to be safer,” said Lucifer.
“Supposed to be, but the Badlands are an unpredictable place,” said Mara.
Lucifer tilted his head and looked at the dead creature. “It’s a pity, really. If we could have managed to somehow tame it, this journey would go a lot easier.”
“‘If’ being the operative word,” noted Mara. “Manticores aren’t exactly known for being easily domesticated.”
“So I’ve been told,” said Lucifer. “Anyway, shall we continue on?”
Mara nodded and they returned to the path.
Mara and Lucifer had been so distracted by the manticore that they never noticed the lavellan, a kind of large rodent, that watched the whole battle unfold. Once they returned to their path, the lavellan scurried off.
The lavellan arrived at its destination, where a cloaked demon waited. Once the lavellan came, the demon turned his attention to the beast. The demon knelt down before the creature and it stood on its hind legs. The lavellan began chittering away and the demon listened intently to the sounds.
“You don’t say…” he said. “And you’re certain it was her?”
The lavellan continued to chitter, moving its head and front legs to gesture. The demon nodded and then proceeded to ask more follow-up questions.
“With a human, you say?” The demon paused and waited for the response, then said, “No…not a human…but something else?”
Once the lavellan had communicated everything it knew, the demon reached a hand out and stroked its head. The creature closed its beady red eyes and chittered in satisfaction.
“Good boy, Joran is very pleased with your work,” said the demon. “And I believe I know someone who will be very interested to learn of this information. Very interested indeed…”
Joran smiled to himself and rose to his feet. He was hunched over and had difficulty walking. His wings raised him off the ground and took him deeper into the Badlands, to a cave hidden in a cliff. There were other demons in here as well, all of them unable to find refuge in one of the realms. Joran moved past them, until he came to a chamber where one demon sat alone in a chair, manipulating hellfire between his fingers.
“Leader, Joran brings news,” said the demon, kneeling before the chair.
The leader’s hand stopped and the hellfire dissipated. “I’m listening.”
“Lilith’s regent, she in the Badlands. But she not alone.”
“Is that so?” asked the demon. “And who has come with her?”
Joran shook his head. “Joran not know. But he no powers. Yet…no human. Something else. Something…different.”
“Isn’t that interesting…” said the demon. “Then, perhaps we should send out some feelers to learn more about our new arrival.”
10
Since the manticore attack, Lucifer and Mara had traveled over a wide distance. Although there were some slight variations—rock formations, a few mountains, forks
and crossroads—by and large the terrain looked largely the same. The sky and the weather never changed and the horizon remained in a perpetual fog.
But change eventually did come when they saw the massive walls of a city pierce the haze. They walked along the length of the wall until they came to an entrance—a pair of massive doors with torches flanking either side. Two massive demons stood outside the gates. A tower just behind the wall had another demon, who drew a hellfire bow and kept the arrow nocked.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked one of the two guards. Both wore black, chitinous armor that made them look like demons wearing the hides of giant insects.
“We’re here for an audience with the Lord of the Flies,” said Mara.
“Only those with special dispensation may enter the realm of Beelzebub. We don’t just let anyone come in here from the Badlands.”
“I’m a representative of Lilith, which makes me an officer of the Infernal Court. And according to the laws of the Court, officers are allowed free passage between realms,” said Mara.
One of the guards stepped forward and stared down at Mara. She looked right back up at him, not the least bit intimidated by his larger stature. He raised a hand and slapped it across her face. His strength was so great that Mara was knocked to the ground.
“Officers of the court may be allowed passage, but Beelzebub does not recognize the authority of Lilith,” said the guard. “As far as he is concerned, Asmodeus is still the rightful ruler of that realm.”
Mara looked up, her yellow eyes burning with rage. She waved her hand and the guard was thrown right back against the wall. The other guard raised his weapon—a large hammer—and charged at her. Mara’s arm lashed forward, a hellfire bola flying from her hand and snaring the guard’s ankles together. His momentum still pushed him forward and he fell face down.
The archer up in the tower started firing arrows. Mara raised up her arm, a hellfire shield forming to block them. Her wings popped out of her back and with a large flap, generated enough of an updraft to propel her towards the tower. She threw the shield and it transformed into a spear as it flew, impaling the archer and sending him falling back on the other side of the wall.
The doors opened and more guards poured forth, all of them armed with their own hellfire weapons. Mara landed on the ground and forged twin hellfire swords in her hands.
“Enough!” said Lucifer, moving between the combatants with his arms extended out to the sides. “We simply want an audience with Beelzebub.”
“You attack our realm and expect us to give you an audience with our leader?”
“Your men threw the first punch, I was just defending myself,” protested Mara.
“She’s right, he did attack her first after refusing to obey the laws of the Court,” said Lucifer.
“Regardless, we cannot permit you to pass through the gate,” said the guard.
Lucifer took a breath and hesitated. It was his hope to maintain a low profile, so that no one would even know he had entered Hell other than a select few. But in order to get to Beelzebub, he’d need to do something. Lucifer pulled back the hood from his cloak to reveal his visage to the guards.
“Tell the Lord of the Flies that the Morningstar would like a word,” he said.
The guards all wore dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Some remained battle-ready, though confused. Others relaxed their stances. And a few immediately expressed their servility by bowing before Lucifer.
“Apologies, my Lord,” said the head guard. “Had we known it was you…”
“Yes, I’m certain things would have gone differently. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the way I wanted to conduct business,” said Lucifer. “Now, can we please be shown to Beelzebub?”
The head guard rose to his feet and bowed once more. “A thousand pardons, Sire. But Lord Beelzebub’s decree remains in effect—he does not recognize Lilith’s claim to lordship and as such, does not consider any of her representatives to be officers of the Court. This demon will have to remain outside or we shall treat her as an invader.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Mara.
“I’m inclined to agree with her,” said Lucifer. “Mara is my aide and as such, where I go, she goes. You certainly can’t expect me to enter what could be hostile territory on my own, do you?”
“But Lord Beelzebub…”
“You leave Beelzebub to me,” said Lucifer. “I’ll take full responsibility for your actions. But refusing to allow Mara passage would be like refusing to allow me passage. Does your master really want to make the Morningstar his enemy?”
The head guard hesitated. He looked to his compatriots for guidance, and they seemed to be at just as much of a loss. When he turned his attention back to Lucifer, he gave a nod of agreement.
“We shall honor the wishes of the Morningstar,” he said. “Please, follow me.”
The head guard turned and led Lucifer and Mara past the gates and into Beelzebub’s realm. Each realm of Hell was governed in accordance with the Hell Lord who ruled it. This was far from the vision of freedom and independence that Lucifer had hoped for when he led the revolt against Heaven, but in those early days following The Fall, the only way to maintain some semblance of peace and prevent another war was to give his lieutenants rule over segments of Hell.
At the time, it was a means to an end. Only intended to be a temporary measure. But the struggles of those early days and dealing with the fallout from the Nephilim Wars and Abraxas’s rebellion wore on Lucifer. He retreated further and further into his own empty realm and his lofty goals to establish a Heaven of his own fell to the wayside.
As Lucifer glanced around Beelzebub’s realm, this failure was brought into stark reality. He had never actually visited any of the realms of Hell. But now he saw the rotting and dilapidated structures. There were people in chains out in the public square. Screams of torture filled the air and the stench of death and decay was thick. As befitting Beelzebub’s title, insects freely moved about the realm, their incessant buzzing causing Lucifer’s skin to crawl.
In the center of the realm was a large castle, made of the same chitinous material as the armor worn by the guards. Its architecture seemed almost organic and the walls looked as if they’d grown out of filth. The guard led them through the heavy doors and inside the large structure.
They ascended several flights of stairs, each step seemingly moving beneath them, as if the entire castle itself were alive. And finally, the guard brought them to a large dining room. A long table was stretched out in the middle of the room, lined with food. Guards surrounded the table, but only one being ate.
The creature that feasted on the buffet was like a giant insect. His wings buzzed as they carried his gluttonous form around the table and he gorged himself to his heart’s content. His antennae twitched and his head jerked in their direction. The giant, yellow eyes hummed, laid out in the hexagonal patterns possessed by a fly.
Hell had a transformative effect on its denizens. The longer and more corrupted they were by Hell, the more extreme the transformation. Such was the case with Beelzebub. His gossamer wings flitted, carrying his large, stocky frame over to the other end of the table near the doors.
“Do my eyes deceive me or izzzat the Morningstar?”
“Beelzebub, it’s been some time,” said Lucifer.
“Yes, not since the last meeting of the Infernal Court.” Beelzebub turned from Lucifer to Mara and his eyes carried a harsh burn of intensity. “Why is she here?”
“She’s here because I asked her to accompany me,” said Lucifer.
“I do not approve of her nor her mistress,” said Beelzebub. “You remember my position on this matter, do you not?”
“Yes, I remember you speaking out of turn against me. And then I blasted you with enough hellfire to knock you unconscious,” said Lucifer.
Mara’s surprise at this comment was obvious by her expression—eyebrows arched to their fullest, wide eyes jerking in Lucifer’s directio
n—but she said nothing. She would save that for later, along with questioning why Lucifer would claim Beelzebub had always been loyal to him.
Beelzebub gave a light chuckle. “Ahh yes, I remember quite well. But that was before you abdicated the throne. Left it to a half-breed of all people.”
Lucifer walked along the table, examining the contents of the buffet. Most of the dishes consisted of insects and entrails, with nothing that looked or even smelled particularly edible, let alone appetizing.
“I’m not here to discuss Cross. Instead, I have another matter that we need to address,” said Lucifer. “Cocytus.”
“Oh? What of it?” asked Beelzebub.
“I need to get there.”
“Why would you need to visit that prison? And why would you need to come to me?” asked Beelzebub. “You gave the throne to Cross, surely he owes you a favor and could grant passage through his realm.”
“If I were to go to Cross, it’d be hard to keep my presence in Hell a secret,” said Lucifer. “And that is precisely what I intend to do.”
“Then the question remains as to why? Both in regards to Cocytus and the secrecy.”
“My reasons are my own. You once trusted me without question. I see that’s changed.”
“You’ve made questionable decizzzions,” said Beelzebub. “Granting Cross control over Azzzmodeus’s realm, helping Cross imprison him, and then giving him your very throne. You can see why I’d be suspicious of your judgment, Lucifer.”
“All fair points,” said Lucifer. “And I wish I could tell you more.”
Beelzebub stared intently at the Morningstar. His insect-like eyes hummed with a soft, yellow glow. “Ahh, I see now. You’ve lost your spark.”
Lucifer looked away from the demon’s gaze. He’d hoped perhaps he could avoid Beelzebub learning the truth about why he had come, but that was always a long shot.
“How could such a thing happen? How izzz it even possible?” asked Beelzebub.
“It’s a long story,” he said. “But as Cocytus was created with my power, seems likely I can find some answers there. All I’m asking for is some help getting there.”
Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3) Page 7
