Lucifer himself remained at the center, hovering above the ground. Wings forged of flame emerged from his back and took shape. The last of Cocytus’s energy was absorbed into him and he landed on the ground where Erebus moved forward to meet him.
“It seems to have worked,” said the now-former warden.
Lucifer folded his wings forward, marveling at their return. He had thought he’d never see them again, forgotten what it felt like to possess them even. The power of Cocytus coursed through his soul, fueling him and giving him strength. And now, the time had come to complete his mission and begin the next phase of his journey.
The Morningstar launched from the ground and his wings pushed him up through the levels of Hell, headed towards the center where his enemy waited.
24
Raum’s army had made it to the center of Hell and the tower where the current king, Luther Cross, kept his residence. Just as Lucifer before him, Cross had made the decision to be a leader separated from everything. Any attempts to institute some kinds of reforms were met with resistance from the Infernal Court. But Raum didn’t know nor care about any of that. He was more interested in achieving his own goals.
Cross did command some guard forces that monitored the barrier to his domain, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Raum’s raiders. They tore through the security in short order and by the time Cross had returned to try to intercept Raum himself, they had already breached the tower.
It was a valiant attempt, but by the time it had gotten this far, it was too little, too late. Raum’s time in the Badlands since escaping from Cocytus had obviously not only been spent on giving speeches, but also improving his own skills. And Cross hadn’t been in a fight since before he accepted the throne, which had dulled his combat instincts and fighting prowess. Not even the power he commanded as the king were enough to deal with Raum.
Cross lay on the ground, his body utterly battered by Raum. The demon held a long, flaming lance in his hand, looked down at the current king, and just shook his head in disappointment.
“Maybe it’s a good thing that your father isn’t here to see this,” said Raum. “I can’t imagine Abraxas would be happy at seeing how his own son had utterly failed so spectacularly.”
Cross’s red eyes flashed and he spoke a single word: “Ignis!”
A small explosion formed right in front of Raum and he was thrown through the tower’s window. His wings flared to life and caught the air, holding him in place. Raum kept himself aloft and waited for Cross to step up to the window. But the cambion remained there, not choosing to pursue him further. And Raum laughed.
“Look at you, so terrified to embrace your nature,” he said. “You could easily conjure up your own wings and come after me. But you’re still too tied to your own humanity, aren’t you? That’s why you won’t win.”
A great burst of bright, golden light appeared above the tower. It blinded both Raum and Cross and briefly brought a cessation to the battle by their forces on the ground. Raum held his hand over his eyes to try and provide some protection to them.
The light was so powerful, it could be seen all throughout Hell. And as it faded, the most beautiful angel in creation was left hovering above the tower, wearing a black suit and his vibrant, yellow eyes framed by halos of bright, golden energy.
“I think we’ve all had quite enough of your antics, Raum,” said the Morningstar.
“Lucifer?” asked Raum. “This isn’t possible. I left you chained up in a cave, powerless!”
“Perhaps next time you should try killing your opponent instead of keeping them around to gloat,” said Lucifer.
“Oh believe me, that’s a mistake I’ll surely rectify!”
Raum’s wings launched him at Lucifer and he held his lance in both hands, pointing the blade in front of him. Lucifer remained hovering above and flames coursed from his chest and into his palms. Two long swords forged of hellfire in his grasp. When Raum reached him, Lucifer blocked his lance by crossing the blades in front of his body.
“How did you escape? How are your powers back?” Raum demanded.
“If I were you, I’d be less concerned about how we got to this point and instead focus on the battle,” said Lucifer.
Undeterred from the first block, Raum reforged his weapon into a large broadsword that he swung at Lucifer. The Morningstar crossed his blades against the broadsword and held it in place.
“You’re pretty good, Raum, I have to give you that,” said Lucifer. “But despite your strength, I was still trained by the likes of Michael and Azrael.”
Lucifer channeled his power into the swords and worked them together. Raum was surprised to see his long, wide blade beginning to buckle under the pressure. Lucifer broke Raum’s sword in two.
The Morningstar flew back and hurled his swords. They cut through the air and each stabbed one of Raum’s wings. The demon cried out and tried to stay in the air, but the wings were too weak.
Lucifer dove after him and grabbed Raum by his collar. He held him up and stared at him with burning, yellow eyes.
“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.”
Lucifer’s entire body began to glow and the aura expanded to include Raum as well. Raum felt his soul burning from the inside-out. And then his entire body exploded with flames.
“No!” Raum screamed as he broke away. He pulled the hellfire swords from his wings, but still his flying was erratic. He attempted to pick up speed to put out the fire.
“It’s no use, Raum. Your very soul is on fire and it will take a lot more than some bad flying to put it out,” said Lucifer.
Raum zig-zagged all over the crimson sky, a bright, yellow streak cutting through the red. He was desperate to prove Lucifer wrong, to quench the fire that was burning his very essence. He screamed the whole time and eventually came to a stop by crashing into the battlefield, right in the midst of the war his own followers were fighting on his behalf.
Lucifer casually lowered from on high, still keeping himself a good distance above the fray. Raum thrashed about, screaming for aid. The spectacle only caused the demons to give him a wide berth as they watched his flailing.
“Put it out! Help!”
Lucifer folded his arms over his chest and smirked. “The great Raum, would-be liberator, but he can’t even stand up to a bit of hellfire.”
“This is more than hellfire! You did something to me!” screamed Raum.
Lucifer held out a hand and closed it into a fists. The flames vanished, leaving Raum’s body blackened and crisp, with smoke still rising from it. He then grabbed Raum by the neck and carried him up into the air, flying to the tower’s peak. Lucifer held Raum up to his level so he could see the same thing.
“Have a look at it, Raum. When we first landed here, I saw a desolate landscape that was supposed to be our punishment. No more Elysium fields. No more endless blue sky. Just darkness and despair all around,” said Lucifer. “But I thought I could turn that into something better than it was. I believed we could create a counterpoint to Heaven. They had beauty, yet it was only under heavy restriction. I thought to myself, maybe it won’t be pretty. But at the very least, it will be free of that restricting order.”
“And how did that work out for you?” asked Raum.
“I was an idiot,” said Lucifer. “In my arrogance, I thought my knowledge put me above everyone else, including my brethren in The Fallen. Perhaps a part of me wanted to keep the secret. There’s something to be said about being the keeper of forbidden knowledge—it holds a certain kind of power. I suppose I let that power corrupt me in some small way.”
Lucifer glanced at his feathered wings. “You know, for the longest time, I thought I had kept my original wings because the Divine Choir felt it was a unique punishment—a constant reminder of what I’d lost. But you said that I was still doing their bidding. And in a way, you were right.
“Metatron had warned me that if I went down this path, I would become even more of a servant of He
aven. I gave them the pretext they needed to turn me into the villain of the story. God versus the Devil, the ultimate tale of good versus evil. Didn’t matter that there was no actual hero in the story or that the villain wasn’t exactly evil. That was the narrative they chose and I allowed them to perpetuate it because I felt the most important thing was to avoid another war. Maybe I was wrong to do that.”
Lucifer took a deep breath.
“Despite all your transgressions, I do have to thank you for exposing my own hypocrisy,” said Lucifer. “I was wrong to imprison you. I had dealt with my problems in the same manner that the Choir dealt with theirs—just lock them away and hope they stay buried.”
Lucifer released his grip on Raum but kept him aloft with telekinetic abilities. He used his hands to manipulate Raum’s body, so the demon hovered right in front of him.
“However, all that being said, you do still pose a danger,” said Lucifer. “You may have exposed the flaws in this system I created, Raum. But that doesn’t make you the hero of the story. I know what your intentions are for this place. You’d be no different from the Choir or Abraxas or Thanatos. You’re just another in a long line of despots twisting justifiable anger and frustration into a tool so you can grab more power. And I can’t allow that to happen.”
“What are you doing?” asked Raum as he tried to struggle against the invisible hold Lucifer held on his body.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” said Lucifer. “When this is all over, there will be a new Hell. Unfortunately, it’s not a place you’ll ever get to see, nor is it a place you would particularly like.”
Lucifer held out his hands and placed them on the sides of Raum’s head. The demon struggled against the Morningstar’s grip, but he was weak from the battle and Lucifer was far stronger. Their respective roles from just a short time earlier had now completely reversed.
“Last time, I made the mistake of thinking you could simply be locked away. And you made the same mistake with me,” said Lucifer. “And it’s one that neither of us will make again.”
Golden auras appeared around Lucifer’s hand. A light shimmered deep within Raum’s body. That grew larger, and Lucifer hovered back as the light consumed Raum. He started to scream as he felt the power coursing in every inch of his soul, stretching throughout his body.
“No!” he screamed in protest. “You can’t do this to me!”
“It’s already done.”
Raum’s screams continued to rise in tone and urgency. Lucifer just remained hovering there, watching as his light completely engulfed the demon. The would-be usurper to the throne was atomized by the Morningstar’s power and not a single semblance of his form was left in its wake.
Lucifer returned to the tower where Cross was leaning against the wall for support, having watched the entire battle play out. As the Morningstar entered the tower that had once been his, Cross just watched him with awe and some mixture of fear.
“That was…pretty spectacular,” he said. “Though I’ve gotta ask what’s going to happen now. You said something about a new Hell. What exactly did you mean by that?”
Lucifer cast his gaze around the tower. “This place was built out of my own hubris. Same as Cocytus. I thought I could be a god without actually doing any of the work. And now I realize how wrong-headed I was to think such a thing.”
“So what, then?” asked Cross. “You want the throne back? Because honestly, you can have it. I’m anxious to get back to my home.”
“Not just yet, Luther. There’s still something else I need you to do before you leave Hell behind completely.”
“And what would that be?”
“I built Cocytus to appease the Choir. I let them get away with just about anything they wanted because I was terrified of another war. But worse than all of that is I perpetuated the very lie that sparked my rebellion in the first place,” said Lucifer. “Raum was right to expose me. But that’s just the first step. I need to make amends and for that to happen, I have to be judged.”
“Judged by whom exactly?” asked Cross.
“By Hell.” Lucifer looked at Luther Cross with an intensity in his eyes. “I need you to put me on trial for crimes against the denizens of Hell.”
Epilogue
Since her dismissal by Uriel, Anael hadn’t felt the need to return to Heaven. Even she thought her reluctance was strange. She had so resisted being sent to Earth in the first place. But now that Uriel had essentially fired her, she had no reason to remain. Lucifer was back in Hell and she had no purpose on this blue orb.
However, she still found herself staying behind in Chicago. It had been a few weeks since then and she spent her days lounging in The Green Mill. It was a cocktail lounge located in the Uptown neighborhood, and she’d heard Gabriel mention it a few times as one of his favorite locations.
Anael didn’t really care one way or the other for the music. But the only other place she knew of was Lust and she was fairly certain that the clientele in that club would object to an angel in their midst.
She sat at a lone table and sipped her gin and tonic, while ignoring the sounds of the live band. A few men did attempt to approach her since she arrived, but she’d blown all of them off. Anael had no interest in interacting with any of them.
“Interesting to find you here.”
She sighed and was about to respond negatively. But when the person speaking to her sat down in the seat across, Anael was surprised to see it was Mara. Her surprise instantly turned to annoyance.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Belial told me what happened,” said Mara. “I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not.”
Mara gave a soft chuckle. “No, I suppose I’m not. But seemed like the thing to say.”
“I’m not even interested in real sincerity, so you can imagine my feelings on the fake variety,” said Anael. “Now can you just leave me in peace?”
“I’ll be on my way soon enough. But I came to ask you about something first.”
Anael sighed and took another sip of her drink. She set the glass down and flashed her blue eyes across the table. “If I say yes, will you promise to leave me alone? I’ve pretty much had my fill of both angels and demons these days.”
“I promise,” said Mara. “Just a few minutes of your time and then regardless of your answer, I’ll be on my way.”
Anael gave a wave of her hand, a gesture for Mara to get on with what she came to say.
“As you know, the Morningstar is back in Hell,” said Mara.
“So I’m told. You lot must be over the moon.”
“Not exactly,” said Mara. “It came at something of a cost. Things are kind of a mess down there right now.”
“Maybe you should be talking to Uriel, then. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to give you some ideas on what could be done with the place.”
“We have some already and that’s why I’m here. There was an uprising.”
Anael pretended to be disinterested, but in truth, it did pique her curiosity. “Hell is a chaotic place. Hardly surprising.”
“Lucifer was able to stop it. Got his powers back, took out the instigator, and now—”
“And now everything’s back to normal. The Adversary’s constant whining about freedom from responsibility was all just a waste of everyone’s time,” said Anael. “I’ll try to hide my surprise.”
“Actually, no,” said Mara. “Lucifer has surrendered himself.”
“Surrender?” Anael couldn’t hide her interest any longer. “What do you mean? Surrendered to Heaven?”
Mara shook her head. “To Hell. Or more accurately, to the people of Hell.”
Anael leaned forward. “What game is he playing now?”
“He blames himself for all of it. The rebellion, Abraxas, Lilith, Cocytus, Astaroth—he’s holding himself accountable. He wants to be put on trial for his crimes. To be judged by the people of Hell. And it’s very likely there will be people who aren’t happy about
it—people of the wing-and-halo variety.”
Anael shrugged. “Why do you think anyone in Heaven would care? The Adversary is back in Hell where he belongs.”
“Because of what he says is his greatest crime—keeping the Divine Choir’s secret.”
“Secret? What are you babbling about?”
Mara’s gaze intensified. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. You were one of the few he told. But now, Raum has let everyone in Hell in on that secret.”
Anael’s face went ashen. She of course remembered when Lucifer told her that the Presence did not actually exist, but was simply a creation by the Divine Choir to control the angels. Back then, she balked at such a notion, finding it utterly ridiculous. She hadn’t thought about that in ages, still thinking it was some lie Lucifer had told her. Now she was beginning to doubt that.
“Raum broadcast the truth all across Hell. Every demon now knows the truth. And you know it won’t be long before word spreads to Heaven as well,” said Mara.
Anael shrugged and picked up her drink. “I don’t get it. What does any of this have to do with me? If he’s telling the truth, then that’s a problem for the Choir to deal with. And if he’s lying, then it’s now become Hell’s problem.”
“As I said, Lucifer wants to be put on trial. To plead his case before the people of Hell and then accept whatever judgment they impose on him,” said Mara. “But every case needs a defense. And Lucifer has said that the only defense he’ll accept is yours.”
The glass slipped from Anael’s grasp and shattered on the lounge floor.
To be continued…
Thank You!
Thank you for taking the time to read Lucifer Damned, the third in the Morningstar series of urban fantasy novels.
Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3) Page 16
