“Good.” Lucifer nodded as she moved back toward the middle of the platform. “Do that about a thousand more times, then switch to your other hand and do the same thing. I’ll wait, I have infinite time.” Lucifer glanced at me over her shoulder, and I didn’t get the feeling she was joking.
“Why so many times?” I asked, throwing another punch and nearly losing my balance in the process. I was already starting to get really tired, which was no good at all. I’d thrown what, six punches? How was I going to punch nearly two thousand more times?
“Because you want to ingrain it into your muscle memory. You need to fight without thinking. Your body needs to react without being commanded to by your mind. To accomplish this, you must drill.” Lucifer gave me a ‘duh’ look. “Do you know so little?”
“So, it’s like, you know, riding a bike?” I asked, dropping back into my stance and readying myself for another attack.
“If the bike was on fire, and you were on fire, and everything was on fire,” Lucifer replied with a strange gleam in her eyes. “Actually, that gives me an idea.”
The floor exploded into flame, rippling out around me in a circle so hot it sucked the moisture from my body. It steadily moved closer, inching forward as I stood there like a dumbass.
“What the hell is going on?” I screamed, not sure how to escape the flames. Could I leap through them? Maybe, but it’d hurt a lot.
“Keep punching, Arthur. Every punch you throw will make the fire recede a few millimeters. If you stop, it will gain on you. When you get to a couple thousand punches, it will go out. Good luck.” With that, the Devil sat down with her back to me and pulled out a paperback book.
I didn’t see what it was about because the flames surged upward, cutting off my view of everything but the raging inferno surrounding me. It roiled, edging closer inch by inch as I stood there gasping, the air almost too hot to breathe. Sweat poured down my body and was instantly evaporated as I turned in a slow circle. As far as I could tell, there was no way out, short of throwing myself through the ring of fire.
Still, maybe the Devil wasn’t lying, maybe the fire would go out if I finished the exercise. I resolved to try it mostly because I had no other choice. I dropped back into my fighting stance, and as I did so, the floor beneath my feet turned a translucent green color. I shifted my hips, throwing my momentum into the blow, and the ground turned blue, the fire edging backward a hair.
I threw another punch, but as I did so, I over-extended slightly, causing my toe to inch forward. The ground beneath my feet turned an angry red color, and the fire leapt forward, increasing in speed as I dropped back and tried punching at it again. As I did so, the floor changed back to blue.
“Oh my god,” I muttered, swallowing hard. “I’m using a Dance Dance Revolution training simulator.” I threw another punch. “Except it’s on fire.”
It almost made me want to laugh and cry simultaneously, but that’d mean I had time to stop punching, which I didn’t. I kept going until my arms felt like they were going off, until everything distilled into a weird sort of emptiness in my brain. There was no thought. There was only me and the flames surrounding me. And punching. Lots and lots of punching
I wasn’t sure how long I played mystical flaming DDR, but it was a while, and that wasn’t the end of it, not by a long shot. Lucifer trained me for time indeterminable, and while I couldn’t tell how long it actually lasted since there was no time in this place, it felt like years. Let me just say this right now, exploding hopscotch was way less fun than it sounded.
By the end of it, I had learned not only several forms of martial arts, weaponry, and everything in between, but I’d somehow managed to bulk up too. I’d also eaten something like eight-hundred pounds of fish because, for some reason, Lucifer thought it was a must for gaining muscle even though I wasn’t actually required to eat while I was here. She told me this after thumbing through a human physiology textbook in search for hidden muscles to have me work out.
Either way, I was feeling pretty good as Lucifer reopened the portal, and I saw Sam standing there in her shop, still in mid-leap.
“You ready, Arthur?” Lucifer asked, slapping me on the back. The force of it surged through me, but I ignored it. “Or you want to do one more set before we go?” She gestured at a bench press in the corner of the final destination platform. The place was weird like that. Whatever type of training equipment you required magically came out of the floor. It made cleanup awesome because it disappeared just as easily.
“I’m good, thanks,” I said, taking a deep breath. It felt like I’d been gone forever, and while I was sure I’d needed the training, I was anxious to get back to work.
“You’re welcome.” Lucifer offered me the warhammer. “I expect this back.”
“I figured.” I took the weapon from her. “I really mean that, by the way, thank you for everything.”
“Arthur, you did the work. I’m proud of you for that.” She smirked. “If you hadn’t, I’d have thrown you off the edge.” She made a shooing motion. “Now go.”
“Right, okay,” I said, taking one last look at the Devil. It was weird because part of me wanted to stay with her longer. Truth be told, I’d spent more time with her than anyone else, which was a little weird.
“You’re not leaving?” She met my eyes, and as I opened my mouth to say something, she stepped up onto her tippy toes. “Do you want to stay longer?”
Lucifer touched my face gently with her free hand, drawing me down into her while her other hand traced along my back.
She kissed me.
The kiss wasn’t hungry or desperate. It was all things to all people. It was a bird’s first flight from the nest, a sunrise over mountain tops. It was perfection.
As she broke our kiss and looked up at me, she shoved me backward through the portal.
33
I hit the ground hard on my back just as Sam pounced on me. As her hands reached for my pants, she stopped and shook herself. The crazed gleam in her eyes faded, and she looked down at me confused.
“What the fuck?” she asked, inhaling sharply through her nose. “You smell like her.” She leapt off me like I was on fire and scurried backward until her shoulders hit the leg of the table behind her. “How?”
“I went to see Lucifer about making the mark stop affecting everyone.” I touched my chest, and as I did, I could feel the rising heat of Gwen’s need like a raging forest fire, only it didn’t affect me anymore, and what’s more, it didn’t affect those around me. Figuring out how to manipulate the marks had been hard as each had worked a bit differently, but I’d had a lot of time.
“That was a bad idea.” Sam swallowed her, her eyes raking over me. “I can feel her on you, feel her presence.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, getting to my feet. “We barely touched the whole time. She mostly just threw fire at me, or lit the platform on fire.” I shrugged. “There was a lot of fire.”
“Arthur.” Sam met my eyes, and I could still see the fear in her eyes. “She’s marked you. Like actually marked you.” She inhaled. “You’ve been marked by the Devil.”
“I have not.” I moved to cross my arms indignantly, but it was hard because I was holding the warhammer so instead I just stood there looking at it dumbly. “I think I’d know.”
“Drop the warhammer then.” Sam got slowly to her feet, and I saw her looking around like she was trying to find a weapon.
“Fine!” I snapped, releasing my grip on the warhammer. As it hit the ground beside me, my mouth fell open. I could still see the stats of everything. Normally, the crown Lucifer had given me didn’t work when I wasn’t touching the warhammer. Only it was now…
“You still see stats, huh.” Sam met my eyes. “Admit it.”
“Yes.” I swallowed hard. When could she have marked me without me noticing? I thought back, trying to remember, and as I did, my hand went to my mouth.
“It’s not your lips,” Sam said, coming close
r to me. Each step she took was hesitant, wary. “I could tell you kissed her, but the mark’s not there.” She shook her head. “Take off your clothes and let me check for marks.”
“Are you sure we need to do that?” I asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. “I mean, if she’s done it, what’s it matter. I’m going to bear the mark either way.”
“Fair point.” Sam walked around me in a slow circle. “Do you feel evil?”
“Not particularly.” I shrugged. “But I do feel like I need to get a sword.” I gestured at the warhammer. “Lucifer was very clear on wanting this back.”
“I’ll bet.” Sam took in the warhammer for a long time. “Can you try something?”
“What’s that?” I asked as Sam took my hand and placed it on the spot where the mark with Dred had been.
“Tell me what you feel.” Sam shut her eyes, and as she did, I felt her power reaching out to me in a way it hadn’t before. It was hard to explain, but I’d not quite felt her power in the same way I had with Mammon, Sathanus, and the others. Only now… now she felt similar.
“I can feel your power. It’s still recovering, but it isn’t rejecting me like it once had.” As I spoke, Sam opened her eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She bit her lip and stepped away. “You should check Gabriella. See if it’s the same.”
“Why?” I asked, confused.
“Because,” Sam sighed, “Lucifer was the leader. The head archangel. The most high. As much as we wouldn’t like to believe it, we’re still bound to her in some small way. It’s why defeating her proved so difficult.” Sam looked me over. “Her mark is making your power feel less illegitimate.” Sam sighed. “I don’t know if you realize, but the reason why this wound is taking so long to heal is because my power doesn’t mix well with yours.” She touched the spot. “You’ve fused a piece of your soul here, but I was never meant to bond with the Builder.” She bit her lip. “Always with the Destroyer.”
“And my bond with Lucifer is changing that?” I asked, trying to follow along. If what Sam said was true, then Lucifer might be the key to reuniting the Angels and the Demons.
“A little.” Sam nodded. “It’s weird, like Lucifer’s obviously all fucked in the head, but that doesn’t matter to the ethereal powers that be.” She made air quotes. “Those are beyond time, and in their eyes, right or wrong, those bonds were never truly broken.” Sam gestured at me. “As her chosen, that legitimacy now resides with you.” She pulled her shirt down to reveal the mark. I could see her flesh knitting together in a way that it never had before. The wound she’d suffered at the hands of Dred had always seemed more like a weird repaired hole.
Now though? Now it was healing anew, reminding me less of a patched pair of overalls and more of a quilt. Sure, it was a bit different, but it still fit the pattern in a way that seemed intentional.
“It’s healing!” I exclaimed, taking a step forward, my hand reaching out to touch it, only as I did, she shied away.
“That’s my point, Arthur.” She looked at me. “It makes me wonder what else is possible.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, but she waved off the question.
“I need to think about it some more, Arthur. I have an idea, but it will take time.” She shook her head. “We don’t have that time right now.” She looked at me. “Not when we need to find the Lady of the Lake and get her to make you a new sword.”
“Right, okay.” I nodded my agreement. “You could still tell me though. Maybe I could help.”
“If I did that, it might give you false hope. I don’t want to do that.” She looked at me. “Go see Gabriella, okay? When you’re done, I’ll be ready to go.” She gave me a weak smile. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, and turned to leave, feeling like what she had kept to herself was important. While I got the impression I could make her tell me, I decided to let it go. She would tell me when she was ready. Besides, I wanted to chat with Gabriella, anyway.
First though? First, I had to talk to Gwen.
I clicked my heels together even though I didn’t have to do it and teleported to the succubus. As soon as I appeared, she looked up from the bed. Beside her, a trio of unconscious room service girls lay naked while Mammon was still passed out on the chair. Only, I knew I couldn’t have been away from her for more than a few minutes in real-world time.
“Back so soon?” Gwen asked, rising to her feet. Her naked body glistening as she threw her head back, causing her hair to crash around her pale shoulders like a dark wave. “And you smell like you’re ready to go again.” She licked her lips as she came toward me. “Come on, off with those clothes.”
I grabbed her hands before she could jerk down my pants. “I know how to fix your problem.” I touched her chest where she bore Asmodai’s mark, and the light flaring from it faded away. She stopped, standing there blinking as the lust in her eyes vanished.
“What’d you do?” she asked, looking me over. “I feel…”
“Normal? Balanced?” I smiled. “Somewhere in between?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “How?”
“I bound your mark shut. It’s just temporary.” I touched my own chest where I bore the mark. “Would you like me to show you how to control it?”
“God yes.” She frowned, looking back at the bed. “I don’t even like women that way, but I couldn’t help myself. They just seemed so…”
“Right.” I took her chin in my hand and leaned down to kiss her. As I did, the mark on my chest flared, but I ignored it. Instead, I focused on the technique Lucifer had shown me. When we’d been together, Lucifer had taught me to control each of the marks, partially by touching each mark and imparting the knowledge into me.
Now, I did the same to Gwen, pushing all the knowledge Lucifer had given me about the Archangel of Lust into Gwen’s mind while using our mark as a bridge. It was easier than I expected thanks to our connection. With Lucifer, it’d always felt like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. This wasn’t like that. My peg matched her hole perfectly.
34
“Die!” Gabriella cried, whirling to attack me with her mace the moment I approached her. I sidestepped without thinking, one hand coming up to block. As her mace slammed into my gauntlet and lightning crackled across the metal, her eyes went wide with shock. “Arthur?”
Her mace fell away from me as the lighting along its length dissipated. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Her nose crinkled as she looked at me, eyes raking over me in one quick motion. “What happened to you?”
“To me?” I said, taking a step back in case she decided to try to brain me again. We were standing amidst one of the fields out back. “You just attacked me!”
“I thought you were someone else.” She fidgeted, looking at her feet. “It was an honest mistake. I was here all by myself trying to get the plants to grow even though I told them the land isn’t right because it’s too dry and we need rain. Then you came up smelling like that and feeling like that, and I didn’t know what to think.” She swallowed.
“Like what?” I asked, confused. “What are you talking about?” When she didn’t immediately respond, I continued, “Look, Sam told me to come talk to you. She said my power is different.”
“It does feel different.” Gabriella crossed the distance between us and touched my chest with her hands while inhaling sharply. “I can smell all of my sisters on you.” She nodded. “Sam, Lucifer, Mammon, Sathanus, Leviathan, and even Asmodai.” She touched her chin. “Though Asmodai also sort of just smells like Gwen. Are they friends now?”
“Gwen bonded with Asmodai.” I stopped. “Wait, what do you mean you can smell Sam?”
“Well, I can smell her mark.” She gave me a weird look, nose scrunched up in thought. “It’s right, um…” She touched a spot on my lower abdomen. “Right there.”
I looked down at the spot she’d touched, and as I did, I found it glowing. Only that was a bit crazy because it hadn’t glowed before.
“See, told you.” Gabriella smiled at me. “You bear Samael’s marks.” She frowned. “That’s why I was confused. You didn’t smell quite like him, but for a second, I thought you were him, were Dred.” She met my eyes. “You can see how I got confused.”
“I don’t understand how Sam was able to mark me.” I touched the spot and found it hot to the touch. What’s more, as I concentrated on it, I realized I could feel Sam, feel her command over death itself. The crazy thing was I could also feel how weak she was, how Hell itself had sapped much its strength, and what’s more, I could feel that strength returning.
“Well, you guys basically did the whole marking thing when you saved her. You gave her a piece of your soul and stitched it into place with Mammon’s power.” Gabriella shrugged. “I don’t know that I’m the right person to ask about this. I’m not really very smart.” She sighed. “Wish I could help you more.”
“I think you’re plenty smart.” I was still mulling over her words in my mind, but I could tell she wanted to get back to work from the way she kept furtively glancing at the field. What’s more, I knew I had time to kill because I could feel Sam’s haste to get ready and knew she was still far from ready to go.
“I know you do, Arthur. It’s why I love you.” She blushed slightly. “Anyway, this farm isn’t going to water herself.” She swallowed. “I need to figure out a way to get the well water all the way over here. Sam was going to make pipes later, but in the meantime we need another way.”
As she spoke, I realized she was right. The ground beneath us was dry and barren, and though I could feel Gabriella’s magic in the air, I could also feel that it was fighting the odds. For one, Hell’s ethereal nature was breaking down her power before it got a chance to really work, and that was compounded by the fact that the ground was suboptimal. We might have been able to overcome one, but not the other. Worse, just a quick look around let me know what power she had wasn’t reaching much beyond where we were. It made the fields the others had tilled and planted a waste.
The Builder's Pride (The Legendary Builder Book 3) Page 20
