I couldn't imagine how any of them could come to enjoy their fate and earn their freedom.
I also knew it had happened.
It only proved how twisted the person was to begin with, and it showed how deep Lucifer's hatred of his Father ran that these were the creatures he wanted to on Earth disrupting the balance.
Dante had warned me about the carnage. I was surprised to find that it was easy to become numb to, and even easier for me to recognize that these souls deserved it. Every one of them had done more harm than good in their lifetime, or they wouldn't have been there in the first place.
"How come the city doesn't get buried in the ash?" I asked, wiping some of it from my shoulders and hair.
"It all resets every day. We follow mortal time here though no-one in Hell sleeps. It makes it easier to synchronize with the efforts of the demons back home."
The demons who wanted to destroy humankind. It was easy to forget that, being here instead of there. I needed to get a move on, get the FOG and get back. Which reminded me...
"Abaddon," I said internally, seeking the demon.
I could still feel the link, but it had weakened considerably. He didn't answer.
"Where are you headed, anyways diuscrucis?" Damien asked. "You showed Cabal that sword of yours, and he didn't even remember to ask."
"Cain has something I need," I said.
A pedestrian with bare feet tried to walk between us. Damien grabbed him and threw him to the side, causing him to cry out in anguish. He didn't stop until he made it back to the broken glass on the sidewalk.
"Did you just say, Cain?"
"Yeah."
"As in, the son of Lucifer?"
"Yeah."
"Damn you, Cabal." Damien spat on the ground at my feet. It sizzled and burst into flame. "I never would have guessed you wanted to end down here."
"What would happen to my soul if I did?" I asked, regretting it as soon as the words had escaped me.
"That would be up to the Big Guy to decide."
Which is what I was afraid of. I doubted he was too happy with me stopping all of his evil plots to this point. Still, maybe he figured he would owe me one for getting rid of the Beast. It wasn't just humankind I had saved with that one. It was everything.
"Is Cain that dangerous?" Alyx said.
"He's the son of Satan. What do you think?"
"I don't want to confront him," I said. "I just want to take something of his."
"You want to steal from him."
"Technically."
"You do understand the definition of 'steal,' right?"
"Yes. He took this thing from the mortal realm. Since I'm the presiding Divine there, that means he stole it from me first. I'm just trying to get it back."
"Technically," Damien said.
"Yes."
He laughed. "Here's the deal, diuscrucis. I'm not going within a hundred miles of Cain without an invitation. No demon who wants to stay free does. I'll give you directions, and then I'm going to make my pickup. I'll wait for you back here. You have three days before I abandon you. Got it?"
"The deal I made with Cabal was for you to guide us," I said.
"I told you I'll give you directions."
"I can kill you myself."
"You could, but then I wouldn't be able to help you at all because I'd be back to walking the streets like these pathetic souls."
"What did they do, anyway?"
"Nothing. They did nothing. They squandered their lives without trying to live them."
"That's why you were down here?"
"Yeah. I was a sad sack of shit, wasn't I? I lived with my mom right up until the day I overdosed on crack. Never had a job, never had a girlfriend, never left home. Drug Addiction may be a disease. Lifelong ennui is the work of the Devil." He laughed at that. "So, take it or leave it."
I wasn't happy about losing my guide. I also didn't have much of a choice. I was happy to have Alyx with me, so I would at least still have a demonic companion. I glanced over at her. It was the first time I had ever had a thought like that.
"Fine. Tell me how to get there."
Fourteen
"Maybe we should have brought Damien along at swordpoint," I said.
Alyx laughed, an odd mix between a growl and a giggle that came across as disgustingly cute. "The directions he gave us are fine. See, there's the station up ahead."
We were still in the city part of Hell. I didn't know if it had a name, but I had taken to calling it 'The Kitchen,' in honor of the area in New York. We had been wandering through it for the last two hours or so, following the directions Damien had recited three times. There was nothing fun about it. I walked the streets, evading the sloths, turning my eyes away from the lustful and the adulterers, and trying to figure out the crimes of some of the even more twisted punishments we discovered along the way. Alyx kept her eyes forward, barking out every change in direction and leading me to our destination. I already knew she had keen senses. Her keen intellect was a pleasant surprise.
Damien's directions led us to the Terminal, a massive train station near the edge of the Kitchen. It was the main form of transportation from one area of Hell to another for any free soul who wasn't able to fly or wasn't big enough to walk quickly. That meant no fallen angels, devils, or harpies, to name a few. It did include fiends, succubi, incubi, and other assorted wingless nasties.
Word of my identity had spread quickly, and, for the most part, the demons had left us alone on our journey, hiding in shadows and watching us pass. To be honest, the whole thing was strangely familiar and felt a little too normal to me for my liking. Was the inference that my life was already a sort of Hell? I hoped not.
The Terminal was crowded when we reached it, with all sorts of demons milling around, hissing and whispering and cursing at one another. They pushed and shoved whenever another of their kind got too close, but they didn't outright attack. It was obvious that the fear of going back to whatever they were before was strong enough to keep them mostly in line.
"Do we have to buy a ticket, do you think?" I asked as we slipped through the gates into the area. They were gnarled and twisted, with lots of pointy tips that a demon could get impaled on if they weren't careful.
"I don't think so," Alyx said. "I don't see anywhere to buy one."
I looked around. There was no counter, no help of any kind. We were surrounded by hundreds of demons on fenced-in grounds, a thin space in the center where the tracks crossed the only unoccupied area. I moved my eyes up, taking in the sight of a huge fire demon crossing the sky, on its way to who knows where. What did demons do in their spare time? Did demons even have spare time? Where were they all going that they needed a train to travel back and forth? Once more, I wanted Damien here so I could grill him on the finer points of culture in Hell.
"How about a timetable?" I asked.
Not that we had any idea what time it was. There was no sun, so the sky never really changed. It remained red and black. It continued raining ash. I was already sick of it.
"There's a lot of demons here. I bet it will come soon."
"What was the name of our stop again?"
"The Desolation."
"Sounds like a nice vacation spot."
She laughed again. I was going to have to up my game to keep her going. I was enjoying the sound, especially here.
"The son of Lucifer lives there. I doubt it's much of a vacation for anyone but him."
"Good point," I said.
We spent the next ten minutes or so standing around among the demons, staying shoulder-to-shoulder in the crowd. I was still on high alert, unconvinced that the denizens of the underworld wouldn't decide to gang up on us at some point, once enough of them realized who we were. I had noticed more and more of them casting their glances our way the longer we waited, and a soft murmur had risen in the background cacophony of hissing, whispering, and distant screaming.
"Hey," a small voice said from somewhere nearby.
I t
urned my head, seeking the speaker.
"Landon," Alyx said, squeezing my shoulder. I looked at her, and she directed my attention down.
"Yeah, here I am Burj Dubai."
It was a demon, of course. A two-foot-tall spike of dark brown leather, with a small snout and big, round eyes that bulged away from its skull.
"Are you talking to me?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm talking to you. Why do you think I'm standing on your foot?"
He was so light; I hadn't even noticed.
"Can we help you with something?" Alyx asked.
"You can help me with a lot of things," the demon replied. "Or maybe I can help you. I can see up your skirt from here." He stuck his tongue out suggestively.
"Disgusting," Alyx replied. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now."
He scampered back behind my legs. "Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was just kidding. A little demon sexual humor, that's all. No, no, no. Zifah wants to be friends with the diuscrucis."
"Zifah? That's your name?" I asked.
"The short version." He came back around to stand between us. "I've been following you since you left the club. I wasn't sure who you were at first, but then I heard the others whispering. I think we can help one another."
A demon would never offer to do anything unless it wanted something in return. While the diminutive demon didn't look like trouble, I knew better than to assume. I also remembered what Dante had said to me about being careful of offers down here.
"Not interested, thanks."
"What? You don't even want to hear my story?"
"Not really." I shook my foot, knocking him off. I had never seen such a small demon before that didn't have wings.
"Oh, come on, Landon," he said, dusting himself off. "I know, I know, don't trust demons, especially in Hell. I get that; I do. I even know where you got that advice. I met Dante, a long time ago. Did you know that?"
"Still not interested."
"I don't want much. Just a chance to escape. To level up, so to speak. I want to go to - look out behind you!"
I didn't turn around. I wasn't dumb enough to fall for that trick. The demon had probably heard about the sword and was going to try to steal the stone from my pocket the moment my attention was diverted.
Something hit me in the back of the head. Hard. It sent me reeling forward into Alyx, who reached out and caught me. We were both off-balance, and we fell in a tangle together.
"Not now," Alyx said. "We're in public."
"Funny," I replied, using my power to push myself up and twirl around at the same time.
A demon was standing a few feet away, staring at me with death in its eyes. He was eight feet tall, with a bad overbite from the size of his teeth, and wrinkled, thick skin. I had never encountered a creature like him before.
"They say you free soul from the mortal world. They say you tough. They say Jazir should fear diuscrucis. Jazir fear nothing."
I reached into my pocket and withdrew the stone, summoning the spatha. It seemed the demons wanted to test me and had sent a brute to do it.
"Come on," I said, dropping into a crouch.
A circle grew around us. Alyx moved back with it, and I noticed Zifah was beside her, his eyes shifting between me and her legs. I made a mental note to deal with him when this was over.
The demon pounced at me, his agility defying his size. I stepped back, raising the point of the sword and holding it out to let him impale himself on it.
It hit his flesh and slid up and to the side, not even leaving a scratch. His fist hit me in the jaw, and I flew back into Alyx a second time.
I pushed my power into healing, keeping an eye on the demon. He waited for me in the center of the circle, giving me a chance to understand how he worked instead of taking advantage. Now I knew that his skin was tough enough to stop the obsidian spatha.
That was bad.
"I can kill him for you," Alyx said as I pulled myself away.
"And leave me looking weak? Not unless he's about to kill me."
"Okay."
I approached the demon again, discarding the spatha and putting the stone back in my pocket. He was smiling now, a toothy grin of superiority.
"Come on," I said a second time.
He rushed forward again, repeating his first move. I planted my feet, surrounding myself with my power, holding it tight against me like a second skin.
His fist came at my face. I pushed out against it, catching the force of it and leaving him standing with his weight forward, into his suddenly ineffective punch. I returned his smile as he adjusted himself and backed away.
"You tougher than you look," he said. He lifted his head slightly. "Train coming. I break you now."
He didn't hesitate this time, rushing toward me at ridiculous speed. I stepped out of the way of his first punch, ducked under the second, and steered myself around to his side. I threw a couple of ineffective punches of my own before dancing away again. I could hear the train in the background now, a growing howl like it was powered by a million tortured souls, and it probably was.
Jazir growled in frustration as I moved away from two more strikes, and then jumped forward and punched him in the face. He didn't even flinch, and I barely escaped his grasp before he crushed me.
"Stop moving," he said. "You like little piss demon, flying around and being annoying."
A harsh light appeared over the mass of demons, the lights of the approaching train. It was time to end this game.
I gathered my power, pulling it in and bunching it into a tight ball. I stepped back away from Jazir, putting a few feet of distance between us.
"Give up now," I said.
Jazir wasn't the only one who laughed. A hundred demons laughed with him.
He tried to hit me again. I pushed my power out, wrapping him in it and lifting, throwing him up and over the crowd.
He howled as he arced through the air and landed right in front of the train. His skin might have been impervious to a blade. His bones weren't immune to being crushed. The train didn't notice his howling, or when it stopped.
The laughter stopped with it. All eyes fell everywhere but where I was standing, and the demons began assembling to climb onto the train.
Alyx grabbed my arm and kissed my cheek. "Well done, my love," she said.
"Yeah, nice work, diuscrucis," Zifah said, still hovering under Alyx's leg.
"I saw you looking," I said.
He backed up a few steps. "Heh. I am a demon, you know. Damn mortal prudes. Look, I saved your life-"
"How did you save my life? I would have had to fight him whether he got that sucker punch in or not."
He shrugged. "At least I tried. How many demons down here would go that far?"
"I'm still not interested."
He growled softly and spat on the ground in front of me. "Fine. Have it your way. One more word of advice: you should be more careful who you make enemies with. Or at least, who you refuse to make friends with. See you later, Landon."
He scampered off into the crowd, vanishing in a sea of legs.
"Do you think I should have listened to him?" I asked Alyx.
"No. Take your chances with what you can see in front of you, not intangible threats and promises."
I nodded before leaning in and kissing her on the cheek for once.
It was good advice.
Fifteen
The train was a distorted replica of the Orient Express, a steam locomotive powered by the Damned, who were chopped and fed like coals into a massive furnace. The interior was mahogany and red, the seats plush and relatively comfortable, and filled with demons. They acted almost civilized, choosing a seat and sitting quietly while the locomotive made its travels.
Alyx and I found a seat near the back. As with the Terminal, none of the demons on the train would look at me, turning their heads away the moment I came anywhere near them. It was odd how it made me feel more out of place than being the only non-demon in an entire plane full of them did. Even
though it was a sign of respectful fear, it was easy for my formerly human ego to take it as rejection.
"How far to the Desolation?" I asked.
"According to Damien, it's the third stop. He said about an hour."
"I still can't believe this is Hell."
"Me neither."
"Really? You're a demon."
She looked hurt by the statement, true or not. "I'm a Were. A child of Lucifer, yes. Does that make me nothing but a demon to you?"
I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. My mind wandered back further than it had in a long time. All the way back to Rebecca. She had been the first demon I met, and I thought she had been able to change. Maybe she did in the end, but not before she screwed me a few times for believing in her.
I reminded myself that Alyx was not Rebecca. Not in any way I could discern. Was it true that she could be completely playing me with the sweet, naive Great Were act? Of course. Demons were good at that. Rebecca had been. I was more experienced now. I hoped I was wiser. I didn't see anything in Alyx that I had seen in Rebecca. She had decided I was her mate because Ulnyx had been the Alpha of her pack, and I had absorbed the Great Were's powers at one point. It made sense from a Divine perspective, and it was the simplest reason anyone could have given for anything.
Simple was always more believable.
"You're more than a demon to me," I said. "You know I don't choose my friends by their affiliation to good or evil. That's not my way." I couldn't afford to be that narrow-minded.
"Do you love me?"
"Alyx, how many times are you going to ask?"
"Until you say yes."
"What if I never say yes?"
"Then I'll keep asking."
Simple.
"What if I did say yes?"
"Then we should mate. I will make you happy."
My heart was pounding by now. I was starting to feel like every time she asked I was getting closer to saying yes, despite every intention not to.
"You make me happy as a friend," I said.
"I'll make you happier as a lover." She paused, looking down at her lap. Her voice softened. "Landon?"
Execution (The Divine Book 6) Page 6
