by Holly Hunt
The army was quiet, listening to me. Even the Demons were listening.
"Now He has killed my second wife, the woman I love more dearly than anyone else alive loves anyone. We all loved Clarissa as my Queen. She was killed by God simply for being the woman I love. The woman that we all loved.
"For thousands of years, God has been playing a game
with all of us. He has been stepping us through His ineffable game, forcing us to do His bidding. But no more. We will step up against Him, to force Him to leave us be. We may owe Him for our creation, but we have already paid off that debt. He no longer has any hold on us or our souls.
"Many people say that God is just, fair and good. Look around you. Remember the world you came from. People starving on the street, children forced into prostitution and thievery. An entire continent without the basic necessities for survival. Without clean water, or food. Animals killed for their furs, children kidnapped and slaughtered. Girls and women attacked for their bodies because the men cannot control themselves, and they blame the women for the attacks. Remember the men making the women think they are the reasons they were attacked, purely to cover the men's own guilt.
"If God was just, His world would be just. But it's not. God stands against everything that is just. As long as you work for all of your life, no matter what immoral acts you choose to do, you get into Heaven. But if you take time off to do good things, or just to go for walks, or meet friends, you end up stuck in this hellhole of a cavern drinking, smoking and partying until you decide you've had enough and throw yourself into the Rift to end your immortal life.
"This is why we are going to march on Heaven. He has robbed us of our Queen, bullied us, made stupid decisions and, when we refuse to follow the crowd, He split our family apart, husband from wife, brother from sister, child from mother, holding the women in captivity, banishing the men down here, to this cavern and eternal twilight, drinking, partying, trying to forget the horror of life. We will get revenge on God for all the wrongs He has ever done us and our world. We will fight until there are no Angels standing, until God begs us to stop. Then I will kill Him and take His place. I am not clouded by the power in God's eyes. I will be able to see what needs fixing, and I will do the right thing, by us and by those of us yet to come."
The cavern was quiet, the army watching me with shock on their faces. I guess they didn't realize that I hated God so much.
"All right, everyone," Leviathan said, releasing his wings and flapping them a little. "Let's move out."
~ * ~
I flew at the head of the column of Demons emerging from the Portal. There were humans camping nearby when we emerged from the ground, heading for the Portal in the sky. We ignored the screams of the living and streaked upwards, through the clouds and into the Portal to Heaven.
Saint Peter was standing at the Gate when I emerged from the fog, ignoring the long line of humans at the door. Some of the humans turned to look at us, but most of them were trying to work on a speech that would get them into Heaven.
St. Peter frowned, looking at me. "Samyaza? Aren't you banned from walking these halls?"
I ignored him, stepping up to the Gate. My magic was diminished here in God's Realm, but I still had enough to enhance my strength. I ripped the gates from their foundations and threw them to the side, narrowly missing the line of humans, who ducked.
"Samyaza! What is the meaning of—?"
I ignored the old man holding his book, and strode into the paved courtyard of Heaven, glaring contempt at the fountain in the center of the entrance yard.
"Storm the building," I decreed loudly, turning to look at my army. "When you have located God, report back. Attack only the Angels who attack you."
The Demons nodded, gripping their guns, swords, knives and other assorted weapons tightly. The stench of solder built around me, mirroring the Wrath building in my army.
"Go!"
The Demons shouldered their rifles, unsheathed their swords, hefted their axes and set off across the tarmac in squadrons.
"It's not too late to back out of this," Zaraphael said, stepping up beside me. I turned on him, my wings growing larger to make me seem bigger.
"And let God get away with killing my love again?" I demanded, growling. "Never!"
Zaraphael backed away, holding his hands up in defense. His wings were held in tight, showing that he wouldn't challenge me. "Easy, boss, I'm just saying...We could lose a lot of good Demons, members of our family, doing this—"
I roared and made a snapping motion with my hand. His neck twisted out at an odd angle, and he crumpled to the ground.
"Why can't you do that to the Angels, Uncle Luce?" Jaquie asked, stepping over Zaraphael's body without a glance at it.
"God has them shielded from it," I growled, striding off into the building.
Beelzebub and Leviathan fell into line a half-step behind me. They were both holding rifles, while I was prepared to fight with only my claws.
"Where are we going?" Beelzebub asked, shooting an Angel who was holding a gun. The Angel cursed, grabbing his shoulder.
"To see if any of the girls are still here," I growled, fluttering over a table and landing on the body of an Angel. I ignored the blood and headed off through the cubicles, toward the elevator. I wasn't wearing my boots, not willing to restrict my feet with the claws I had released, so I left bloody footprints behind on the ugly industrial carpet.
"God would have killed them all by now," Aspen said, catching up to us. "As much as I hate to think of it..."
I picked up a key from the floor in front of the elevator, using it to open the doors.
"He needed them alive," I growled, pressing the button to close the doors. I would rather fly than use the elevator to get anywhere, but this was the only way to move from level to level. Flying got you nowhere. "And if He needed them alive, why kill them?"
We all barely fitted in the elevator when the doors closed. Very rarely did more than one person go up a level at the same time, so the lifts were small. We hid our wings to help, but it was still almost impossible to stand without pressing against each other.
The doors opened on the fifth level, and we emerged into the sparse rooms. The levels got more and more bare as fewer and fewer Angels were promoted to the floors. Bee, Levi and I headed off toward where we'd once lived, ignoring the Angels who were starting to panic at the sight of the three top-ranking Demons with guns stalking through their workplace.
Apparently, they hadn't heard the commotion going on below.
The four of us reached what were once our rooms, and had a look around. The women of the Seraphim and Throne families shrieked when they saw us.
"Where are they?" I asked them, revealing my wings again with a feeling of relief. Wings meant I was getting something done.
"God slaughtered them, right after you left," one of the women said, apparently knowing who I was talking about. "He killed them all in front of us, to pose as an example, He said, to never refuse His orders or His will again."
I felt Bee and Levi stiffen behind me, then they wavered. Aspen said something to them, and they straightened. Their anger was like an electric current.
"Stay here, do not fight anyone, and you will be safe," I growled, nodding to the women.
I shut the door behind me and turned to Bee and Levi. "You can use this, you three. God now needs punishing more than anything else. Help me catch Him."
The Demons nodded, their eyes hardening. Solder more potent than I had ever smelt swarmed through the small space, their Wrath burning the back of my tongue.
I had no doubt now that these three would be with me to the end. We had all lost family now. And we would avenge them all.
We fought our way back to the lift, through the crowd screaming and fighting, Angels against Demons. Baraqiel, Ramon and Jaquie fell into step with us, holding the door as we all piled in.
"Great," Beelzebub muttered as the doors shut on the seven of us. "Hey, whose wing's in my eye?"
I felt him shove my wing, so I pulled it in, putting it away. The others followed suit, and I cursed.
"You'd better get your knee away from my groin, Ramon."
There was some uncomfortable shifting in the elevator
and the knee moved.
"Ow! Who stood on my foot?" Baraqiel demanded.
"Whose tail's close to being up my—"
"You'd better be about to say nose, Jaquie," Ramon warned, then jumped. "And that better be your gun, Beelzebub."
"No, I'm just happy to see you," Bee snapped, then shifted. "Luce, this is ridiculous—"
The doors opened with a ding and we fell apart, savoring the space.
"Thank the fucking stars—" Levi sighed, then noticed the Archangels moving to encircle Jehovah.
Without an order, the Demons launched to their feet. Time to meet our destinies.
Interlude
Jehovah
I sat down behind my desk. It was the only furniture in the room, and I loved it. It represented order, organization and, above all, efficiency. I sat perfectly straight, not slouching, my folded hands resting on its rough oak surface, only seven fingers showing, watching my elevator doors. They were separated into seven panels, and I frowned.
Something was off with my cup of pencils. Ah. There were only six. I gave it a flicker of thought and a seventh pencil appeared in the cup. I smiled to myself—careful to show the outside world only seven teeth—and watched the elevator doors again.
Exactly seven seconds later, the door opened, spilling seven Demons out onto my white carpet.
"Thank the fucking stars—"
My seven Angel guards took their stances around me, and the Demons scrambled to their feet as the Archangels lifted their swords, ready to defend me. The seven hitDemons let off seven shots from their seven guns. There were seven thumps as my guards fell to the ground, seven pools of blood staining my pristine white carpet. Armed with swords, they had no chance against the Demons.
"Was that really, truly, seriously necessary, Samyaza?" I asked. "I just cleaned the carpet, you know."
The Demons ignored me, stepping out into the white of the room and leveling their seven guns at me. I was affronted to note that while Lucifer didn't have a gun, the Demon next to him—curiously familiar, but decidedly unfamiliar—was holding two instead, making it only six armed Demons.
Samyaza's jaw tightened and I looked at him, lifting a perfectly-sculpted eyebrow.
"What's wrong, don't you like your name?" I said sarcastically, careful to accentuate the seven words as I smirked, taking another dig at his pride. "I named you Samyaza, not pretentious 'Lucifer.'"
"Samyaza is not my name now, you pathetic, incompetent atheist," he snarled at me. "I want nothing more to do with you than to see you dead, like my Clarissa!"
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. "You did not just call me 'atheist!'" I screeched, losing my illusion of cool.
"I did, you stupid bitch," he snarled, stepping forward, closer toward me.
I remained at my desk, though my temper was growing rapidly.
"And I'll call you a lot worse until you release my wife from her coma, Yahweh."
I stood up, resting my knuckles on my desk. I was careful to stand so that seven knuckles made contact with the wood. He knew I hated that name, with only six letters to it. Six was not a good number, six was a bad number. As was five, in 'Allah'. 'Jehovah', however, was perfect, my seven sacred letters revolving through my mind.
I hated being called a bitch almost as much as I hated being called Yahweh. My ire was at the surface, requiring just one more tug to pop.
"Oh, sorry, Your Holiness," he said with a sneer, looking down his nose at me. "Was that going too far? I was sure that, as it was your original name, you would love the name 'Yahweh'."
I stepped out around the table, taking seven steps. "You can take that back now, Samyaza!" I screamed, my hands curled into fists. "Take that insulting word back right now!"
Samyaza laughed, stepping out in front of his Demons a little further. The Demons lowered their guns.
"Or what, you'll cry?" he asked, making the Demons
behind him laugh.
"No, I'll—"
"Run to Daddy?" he asked me, and I growled in frustration, my fingernails biting through my palms. "Guess what, you child, your father is a washed-up Egyptian god trapped in the Rift! Right where you're about to end up. You can say hi to him for me." He spat at me, the disgusting fluid landing on my foot.
I didn't even realize what I was doing. I mean, I was God, wasn't I, the most powerful being in the universe? So why was I running across the room in seven steps, tackling Samyaza to the ground and punching him seven times in the face?
The Demons around us were silent, watching as I hit Samyaza in the jaw. The Demons cheered Samyaza on as he tried to punch me. I caught his hand and latched onto his wrist with my teeth, wrapping my own hands around his throat.
I heard the Demons start a betting pool, and I tried to tune them out, yelling as Samyaza bent my finger backwards. I yelled in pain, my jaws opening enough for him to pull his wrist free, and he punched me, sending me flying back a bit.
I noticed Michael and Raphael in the crowd, and their appearance stunned me long enough for Samyaza to wrap his own hands around my throat. I used the same trick on him that he'd used on me, and he cursed, one hand coming free. I quickly did the same to the other hand and kicked him away from me, ignoring the crowd.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The chant was picked up by the crowd as they encircled us.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Samyaza was on me again, swinging his dagger down at me with one hand and crushing my throat with the other.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
I grabbed his wrist, stopping the knife, and he slashed my arm with it instead. I managed to punch him in the chin, sending him sprawling, and stood up, looking around for another knife.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Samyaza leaped at me again, and I grabbed his wrist, trying to use my weight against him. Samyaza was almost a foot and a half taller than me, however, and he was better able to position himself to throw me down.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
I made a quick decision and skipped out from underneath him, holding my shoulder where he'd stabbed me as he fell forward.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
I shook my head and held my uninjured hand out, manifesting myself a dagger with a blade that was longer than Samyaza's.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Samyaza leaped at me, swiping his dagger at my neck. I was a terrible fighter, and moved just a little too late to dodge the blow. He sliced his blade deep into my throat. Lucifer stood over me as I collapsed, bleeding too profusely to be able to heal myself in the time I had left.
With the first real ounce of fear I had ever had, the Darkness descended on me, and I was no more.
Twenty Eight
Lucifer Morningstar
I stood over God's body, staring down at the woman. She was one of the most dangerous creatures in the world— the most dangerous creature in the world—and I killed Her.
"Boss?"
I started, dropping the knife. I backed away from God's body, staring at the blood on my hands.
"Lucifer, are you all right?" Beelzebub asked, looking between God's body and me, staring at my hands.
"What did I do?" I whispered, backing away from the body, flattening myself up against the wall.
All the rage I had before, all the pain, the emotion, the bloodlust, it was all gone, replaced by an empty hollowness. There was nothing there, nothing but what looked to be the cold darkness of eternity.
The floor tipped and swayed, and I heard screams as the sound of buckling concrete met my ears.
"Lucifer, what's happening?" Beelzebub asked, then was thrown onto his side with the shudder of the floor cracking.
"The universe is being destroyed!" Aspen yelled, mak
ing a run for me over the shaky ground. "The fabric of the universe is—!" He was knocked off his feet and I saw him fall between the cracks in the concrete.
"Aspen!" I screamed, staggering to the crack holding out my hand, in case I could grab him.
I could feel the power of God entering my veins, trying to fill me up. I let it, pulling on the magic to try to hold the
