Samael watched over everything, his arms folded tightly across his chest, his face expressionless but his jaw tight. He turned toward us as we approached, and something that looked like relief flickered across his features before he clamped down on it and returned to being expressionless. He nodded a greeting, and I motioned toward the meeting room. We’d be able to watch from within the glass walls without being overheard.
“What’s happening?” Hannah spoke first—as soon as the door closed.
"Where is Pestilence?" I asked.
"You're too late," Samael said. "He's gone."
"Gone?" Hannah asked. "Where did he go?"
"No one knows. He rode off on his horse into the desert."
"And Theo?" I asked. Another fucker who needed to die.
"Also gone. He left as soon as Pestilence was freed, and took many of the gargoyles with him."
Dammit. We were too late. Pestilence had gone, leaving destruction and sickness in his wake. My vengeance would have to wait another day.
"Where's Einial?" Hannah asked. Normally she was at Samael's side, helping him run things.
Samael's face fell. "Dead. Killed by Theo when she tried to stop him from opening Pestilence's tomb."
Hannah covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide. "Oh no. I'm so sorry."
"Pestilence will pay for what he's done," I growled. "What about the humans?"
“We’ve put word out about a terrorist attack," Samael said. "Chemical weapons. It's something the humans will believe and rally behind."
"Good thinking." It wasn’t like any of them would believe that demon factions were currently releasing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or that Pestilence had destroyed much of the Las Vegas Strip. "What can we do?"
"We've got everything in hand here, but you can speak to the press perhaps. Or try to find Pestilence, though I'm not sure how you'll locate him."
I agreed, but Pestilence’s disappearance grated against me. “It's surprising he left so quickly. He must have known that Hannah and I would come for him. Wouldn't he want to face us? To try to take Hannah, if nothing else?"
"Maybe that's why he left," Samael said. "He knew he couldn't face both of you together."
Hannah tapped her lips. "Maybe... Or maybe he's going to meet Fenrir somewhere for the real attack."
Her words sparked a horrible idea inside my head. "What if this was all a diversion?"
Hannah's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"It's possible." Samael stroked his chin. "There's certainly enough damage control here to keep us all busy for a while.”
"And it got us both away from home." Hannah gripped my arm tightly, her voice rising with her panic. "We need to get back to Aurora."
I nodded, heart pounding, gut twisting with fear. "Samael, you've got this covered. We need to return home."
"Go," Samael said. "I'll keep you updated on any new developments."
I nodded and clasped Samael’s shoulder briefly before Hannah and I left the room at a near run. I tried to keep my panic in check, but instinct told me something wasn't right, and that things were about to get a lot worse.
Then again, things getting worse was a given until we found Pestilence.
Hannah whipped across the grass on Shadow, always a couple of hoofbeats ahead of me like she was being chased by hellhounds rather than simply returning home. I felt that same urgency and urged Strife on too.
“Are you all right?” I shouted my words into the wind racing past, hoping Hannah heard me.
“No.” It was one word tossed over her shoulder. “I have a really bad feeling.”
"Me too."
She remained silent the rest of the ride, but there was a tension in her posture as she sat on Shadow’s back, and her face could have called forth thunder.
We arrived at our estate, but Hannah didn’t even wait for Shadow to slow before she leapt off her back and took off toward our house. That's when I realized how quiet and empty it was on our estate. Something was wrong. Worse than Vegas.
Death lingered here.
“Hannah—wait!”
But she sped up, my call spurring her on rather than holding her back. She pushed the front door open and screamed.
I was with her within moments. Two of our guards lay dead on the hardwood floor, their bodies lying there peacefully, as if they'd gone to sleep and never woken up. There was no sign of a struggle. An unnatural quiet blanketed the house, and the air was too still.
“Aurora! Zel! Cerberus!” Hannah ran from room to room, her voice going shrill as she screamed the names over and over. I searched too, my heart in my throat, my fear so strong I couldn't say anything at all. We checked everywhere. The bedrooms. The office. The kitchen. The pool.
The nursery.
The house was empty aside from dozens of dead guards. There was not one single living person on the estate, as far as I could tell, though nothing else had been touched.
Hannah was in a complete panic, her eyes wild. "Where is Aurora?"
I shook my head and drew her into my arms, partly to keep myself from falling apart. “I don’t know.”
"Or Zel? Or Cerberus?"
I had no answer to that either. As I'd searched the house, I'd been terrified that I might find one—or all—of them dead, just like the guards. It was a small relief—very small—that they weren't here. They could still be alive. Taken by whoever had done this.
Oh, who was I kidding? I knew who'd done this. Of course I did. The presence was unmistakable, even after thousands of years apart. I smelled it lingering in the air, heard the ghostly whispers on the breeze, and felt the eerie chill trailing down my spine.
Death.
My father.
Somehow he was free—and he’d taken my daughter.
30
Hannah
Everything inside me screamed and sobbed. It was a miracle I wasn't doing both of those on the outside too, but I was using every ounce of control I had to keep it together. Falling apart wouldn't save Aurora, and I had to act quickly. I had to do everything I could to find her, even if all I wanted to do was break into a million pieces.
Lucifer threw his arms out to the side and let out a guttural roar that made the windows of the house shake. His eyes were red, and fury radiated off of him in menacing waves. The part of him that was War was emerging. I considered stopping it and trying to calm him down, but then said fuck it. If there was ever a time to be Famine and War, it was now.
"We'll get her back," I told him, as my own desperation brought out my endless hunger and thirst. This time, it was an all-consuming yearning to save her. A mirror across from me showed that my eyes were glowing green too, and I embraced the power. To save my daughter I would become a force to be reckoned with. I would tear apart the entire world if I had to, if that's what it took to find her.
Yes. I could do this. I’d rescued Lucifer from War, for fuck’s sake. I could find my daughter, a three-headed dog, and my demon bodyguard. It wasn’t like they’d be easy to hide, and it must have been Fenrir who'd taken them. This didn't look like a shifter attack, but who else could it have been?
A noise stirred behind us, like the sound of people moving and the rustle of fabric. Lucifer and I shared a "what now?" look, before we turned to face whatever this was from our spot in the middle of the living room. But what I saw made my stomach drop.
The dead guards around us rose to their feet, their completely black eyes staring at us. As they stepped forward, their movements were jerky, unnatural, and they raised their weapons in threat. From the corner of my eye I saw more coming down the staircase, and others in the garden and by the pool heading toward us. They said nothing, but their intent was clear, and Lucifer and I summoned our magic to defend ourselves.
The undead guards threw themselves at us with abandon, slashing their weapons and shooting their guns, even though there was no chance they could win against us. A cocktail of terror and grief mixed inside me as we fought them off with blasts
of light and darkness. But every time we knocked them down, they got back up again.
All right then. I'd seen enough zombie movies in my time as a human, and I knew there was one surefire way to stop the undead. I created twin swords of twisting light and darkness for myself and for Lucifer, which easily sliced off the heads of our former guards. I felt sick to my stomach as I took them down, these men and women who had once worked to protect us, but were now being used against us. I knew they were already dead, but I hated it anyway. I remembered all of their names. Every single one of them. And they'd died because of us.
One of the guards suddenly stopped before us and croaked out with a rasping voice, "Death awaits you in Hell."
"What did you just say?" I asked, as a chill ran through me.
"If you want your daughter back, come find him," the undead continued.
Lucifer sprang forward and sliced his sword through the guard’s neck. The head tumbled to the floor and rolled across the hardwood, scattering small droplets of blood everywhere.
That was the last of them. I vanished our swords, my hands shaking as the horrible truth of the guard's words sank into me. I turned to Lucifer and met his angry gaze, my eyes wide. "Death took Aurora?"
"Yes, it must be him." Lucifer spoke through gritted teeth. "He's been freed somehow."
Another horrible realization hit me, and my panic spiked again. "Kassiel!"
Lucifer reached into his inside jacket pocket and withdrew his phone. “Call him.”
I took the phone with shaking hands. If Death had been released, Kassiel had to have been there. They needed his blood—and he wouldn’t have gone willingly. So how much blood had they spilled? Was he still alive?
The screen blurred and I could barely read the list of contacts. Lucifer took the phone back and tapped it a couple of times before handing it to me. As it rang, I drew a shaky breath, and when Kassiel answered, I blew it all back out in a hurry.
“Kassiel?”
“Mom?”
The sound of his voice filled me with relief. "Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I'm fine. We're still in hiding. Why, Mom? What’s happened?”
“He’s okay,” I said to Lucifer, and my husband closed his eyes, his jaw visibly relaxing. I hit a button so Lucifer could hear too as I asked Kassiel, “Are you safe where you are? Are the others with you?"
“Yes, they're all here. What’s going on?”
“They’ve released Death," Lucifer said. "And he took your sister."
"What?" Kassiel yelled from the other side of the phone. "Where?"
"To Hell." Lucifer tensed again, his hands curling into fists, his knuckles going white. "Death wants us to find him there."
"Then I'm coming with you," Kassiel said. "We all are."
I tensed at the thought of putting another of my children in danger, but we would need his help. We would need everyone's help to face what we were up against. "We'll let you know when we have a plan. Stay safe."
We told Kassiel we loved him and then hung up. As soon as I did, Lucifer spun away from me, a cry of rage tearing from him as he conjured a shadow blade from nowhere and smashed it against the fireplace. Then the dining table. And the sofa.
He raised the weapon again and I yelled, "Stop! Destroying our house won't get her back!"
Lucifer looked at me, his gaze a burning mix of fury and grief. In his eyes, I saw the same desperate pain resonating within me, and knew he would burn the entire world down if that's what it would take to get Aurora back. I'd let him do it too. I’d throw on the gasoline and strike the matches. With Lucifer at my side, I'd become the villain, the terrifying goddess of hunger and misery, the bringer of the apocalypse. All to save our child.
"We'll find her." I held out my hands to Lucifer, and his blade disappeared before he walked over to me. He slid his fingers into mine, and we stared back at each other with resolve. A new strength straightened my spine as power rippled along my skin, moving back and forth between me and Lucifer. Ancient power. Godly power. "We're Lucifer and Hannah. Demon King and Queen. War and Famine. No one can stop us, not when we're together."
Lucifer nodded slowly, his rage shifting to determination, his hands squeezing mine. “We've fought together for all of time, and we won't let anyone take what's ours. I'll make the calls and rally the troops. If Death wants us to meet him in Hell, we're bringing an army with us."
Our horses appeared just outside the open sliding glass doors, their eyes glowing like ours were as they angrily stomped their hooves and shook their heads. They were ready for battle too.
We were Horsemen, and it was time for the apocalypse to begin. Our apocalypse.
31
Hannah
We were back in Egypt, but this time Aurora wasn’t giggling happily from her usual position on Lucifer’s chest, and my heart ached at the loss of her. The Great Sphinx loomed over us under a moonless night that cloaked us in darkness, and just as well, because Lucifer and I had gathered all of our allies here at the Giza Pyramids.
We had an army.
With Lucifer at my side, we made the rounds to make sure everyone was ready and knew what to do before we opened the portal to Hell. Once on the other side, everything would happen fast, and it would all be chaos. As we walked across ancient sand-beaten stones, I shivered, but not from the cold. Death truly did linger around this crumbling monument, even here on Earth.
Samael hovered nearby, staring at his phone like he was still considering the logistics and organization of the mission—always one step ahead and completely reliable under every circumstance. It made me sad seeing him without his assistant Einial, which only increased my resolve to avenge her death. She'd been good to me while Lucifer was in Heaven, and it was a damn shame she'd been another of Pestilence's casualties.
"Everything is ready," Samael said, when he finally noticed us approaching. "We only await your command."
There was a touch of sadness in his eyes I hadn't seen before. I stepped forward and gave him a hug, realizing he was also worried for a loved one. "I'm sure Lilith is with them."
"I hope you're right." Samael blew out a breath. "She went with them willingly, so perhaps they haven't harmed her. Baal got the full story from their daughter, Lena. Fenrir kidnapped them both, and Lilith agreed to use the key to open the portal to Hell only after Lena was released and her safety assured."
"I can't fault her for doing that to save her daughter," I said with a sigh. Not when I stood here with an entire army to rescue Aurora. Mothers moved mountains. We always would.
Baal and Gabriel stood a short distance away among a few other vampires and angels, all donning their weapons and armor. Baal wore black and red armor with spikes, befitting a vampire lord, while Gabriel wore gleaming golden armor perfect for an Archangel. Together, they looked particularly formidable as they prepared to go into battle to rescue the woman they loved. As Gabriel raised his spear, I’d never seen the Archangel look so foreboding, and I had a sudden flash of what he’d be like if he’d become Fallen instead of Lucifer.
After a few more words with Samael, we moved to speak with Romana, who stood in gargoyle form, her bat-like wings folded behind her. She barked commands to the gargoyle soldiers in front of her, and then turned toward us with blazing eyes. She wore Theo’s betrayal like a shroud, like it had personally stained her, and now she had the ferocity of a woman with a lot to prove.
She bowed toward us. "My king and queen, I wish to apologize for my brother's actions."
“There is nothing to apologize for," Lucifer said.
"We know you weren't involved in his betrayal," I added.
Romana shook her head, her mouth twisted in an angry scowl. “No, but I should have seen it coming. Theo was always Belphegor's most loyal child, and I think he believed he should have become Archdemon instead of me, even though I am older than him by many centuries, and..."
"And what?" I asked, sensing there was more to this story.
Romana glanced abou
t, and when she spoke again, she’d lowered her voice. "Theo is not entirely demon. He is half angel. Archangel, to be precise."
Lucifer arched an eyebrow. "Who is his father?"
"Michael," Romana said, her voice barely above a whisper.
My mouth fell open. That would make him Callan's half-brother. Lucifer tensed beside me too at the name.
Romana continued speaking in a low voice, as if telling us a secret. "He and Belphegor had a short fling about two hundred years ago, long before there was peace between the angels and demons. Theo was raised in Hell by our mother, who kept his parentage a secret. According to her, Michael refused to acknowledge Theo as his son. It's one of the reasons Mother hated angels so much, and why Theo hates them still."
"Michael's son, born in Hell..." Lucifer said, then closed his eyes and nodded. "That must be how they opened Death's tomb."
Of course. They hadn't needed Kassiel at all because they had Theo all along, carrying the blood of one of the people who had sealed away Death originally. Damn. If only we'd known the truth about him sooner.
It was too late to worry about what we might have done differently. I touched Romana’s arm lightly. “Thank you for coming today, Romana. I know it’s hard to be divided in your loyalties.”
She stood up straight, her leathery wings twitching. "There is no division. My brother will be brought to justice for what he's done. As will the rest of them."
Lucifer began to speak, but he was interrupted by a colorful portal opening up in the sand. My mother stepped through it wearing elaborate, shining armor with flowers engraved on the breastplate and along the arms and legs. Her helmet was designed to look like an armored crown, and she carried a staff in her hand. Damien left the portal right behind her in his own similar armor, and with him were about a dozen other soldiers from the Spring Court. My people, once.
Infernal God (Claimed By Lucifer Book 3) Page 16
