An explosion went off all around her. The force of the power that poured from her was immeasurable. The entire tower jolted and swayed. All of Hell must have felt the force of the blast.
Anjali looked around and saw that the dais had been reduced to rubble and the walls had cracks running up them. The ceiling was falling down on the left side of the room. The servants had retreated from the room and scrambled across the walkway, as it crumbled. Lucifer and Hades lay among the debris, covered in blood and lacerations. Both had matching expressions of terror on their faces.
Anjali realized that her power was just getting started. Winds burst forth from her and knocked out the section of the wall where the ceiling was missing. Lightening arched all around her, striking anything close to her, laying waste to the marble and stone. Thunder shook the tower cracking the remaining walls, disintegrating the mortar and propelling the stones into the air. Fire streamed from her hands and ignited the floor and remaining rubble. The last bit of the roof collapsed, but was caught up in the gale force winds and thrown through the air and over the side of the tower. The remaining chunks of wall disintegrated from the intensity of the fire that had engulfed it. In the end, only the floor was partially intact.
She quickly moved to the edge of the room where the floor was solid enough to stand. Lucifer and Hades had taken flight on their strong wings to avoid the chaos, though they were having trouble navigating the devastating winds.
With the walls missing, she could see out into the realms. The Fallen all stopped what they were doing and watched the storm around her grow. They panicked and ran around yelling to the others to keep the prisoners contained. They were awestruck as dark clouds formed in the sky above the tower, threatening to unleash a torrent of rain on them.
Anjali surveyed the damage, surprised by what she had done, yet she wasn’t ready to stop. She didn’t want to destroy a building and scare a few servants. She wanted vengeance. She wanted Hades bleeding and begging for mercy.
Hades was hovering a few feet away from the side of the tower, shouting for her to stop the storm. She directed all of her anger at him and hit him with a downdraft that knocked him out of the sky. Lightning bolts quickly followed him, colliding with his body as he crashed to the ground. He had fallen at least 50 feet straight into the Realm of Frost.
She smiled. Hades would suffer just as she had suffered. Let him try to take her head again. She would do worse than electrocute and freeze him.
“Anjali!” she heard Lucifer yelling at her. He waved his hands frantically, trying to get her attention.
She couldn’t understand what he was saying and wasn’t sure that she wanted to know. She liked this feeling of power. She had been treated unfairly and refused to care about anyone. She wanted to destroy everything. She wanted to eliminate the very tortures that had consumed her and caused her agony. The Fallen would suffer the same fate as Hades for their part in punishing her and ignoring Lucifer’s commands. She would end the miserable lives of all the evil souls.
That thought stopped her. What would be the point, they are already dead, she murmured to herself.
There was no point in punishing the souls beyond their original punishments. They were already in Hell and the Fallen were doing God’s will. God certainly wouldn’t be happy if she blew everything up and disabled the Fallen. They would have to rebuild it all and the souls would be freed from their realms. That wasn’t what she wanted.
She looked at Lucifer and thought about what he had said. She was his reward. He had suffered in Hell away from God, and was still suffering. With her by his side, he could remember why he was here. He could remember why he loved his Father. She believed his speech to Hades. He loved her, even if it was for selfish reasons. Seeing the fear on his face, she realized that Lucifer didn’t want to use her to for evil. He simply wanted to be happy. Could she fault him for that?
She tried to pull back the wind, the fire, and the storm, but nothing changed. She was no longer in control. The power had taken over and she was simply the vessel. She tried to push the darkness back down inside of her but nothing changed. The clouds opened and a surge of water gushed from the sky and instantly soaked everything near it, yet it did nothing to the fire, which raged on. All around her bolts of lightning made contact with anything left standing.
She crumpled to the ground, unable to stand under the weight of the water flooding the skies. When she recovered from the impact, she saw that she was no longer unleashing the fire and the winds. The fall had distracted her enough to regain some of her control. The storm above her was still raging, but she wasn’t feeding the chaos around her.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Lucifer’s wings give out as the driving rains knocked him from the sky. He propelled himself forward and grabbed the edge of the servant’s staircase that had been exposed. He was still yelling her name.
She was suddenly afraid for him. She knew the drop wouldn’t kill him, but she wasn’t sure about the damage it would cause. Hades could lay in traction for a year for all she cared, she might even bring him soup, but she panicked at the thought of Lucifer being hurt. She accepted in that moment that she cared about him, regardless of their problems.
Yes, they certainly had a number of issues to overcome, but he had kept his word and tried to stop Hades from killing her. He had professed his love for her in front of Hades and his servants. She remembered how he had made love to her, despite his warning that he might be rough with her. Regrettably, her own insecurities had ruined the experience. She only had herself to blame for that. Regardless of what he had done wrong, she had to help him.
The water continued to pour from above and weakened Lucifer’s grip. Anjali threw herself across the floor and scrambled down the broken staircase. She had to reach down over a missing step to touch him. When she grabbed Lucifer’s left hand, his right hand slipped from the ledge. She held him as tightly as she could, but they were both slick from the water rushing over them.
“You have to stop the storm,” he yelled over the booming thunder.
“I don’t know how,” she yelled, trying to pull him up the stairs.
“Calm your mind. Your rage and hatred will only fuel the storm. You have to let it go. You have to find peace within yourself before you can control the power. Your power comes from God, it can destroy, or it can be peaceful and transcend into love. Contain your anger,” Lucifer’s arms were shaking from the strain of holding on to the ledge. His wings were soaked and weighed him down.
Anjali rearranged her footing and was able to pull him up just enough so that he could get a better grip.
Lucifer pulled himself up to the smashed steps and rolled on his side. He stared up at her with relief. Breathing out a sigh, he hefted himself to his feet and helped her climb back up the stairs to the main floor. He tucked her under his extended wing to keep the deluge from distracting her.
“Hurry, you have to stop the storm before it destroys Hell. I will do what I can do help you,” he yelled above the noise.
Closing her eyes, she ignored the damage that her power was causing. She knew Lucifer was being struck by lightning periodically, but he didn’t leave her side.
She tried to push away all of her agony, fear, and anger from Hades’ attack and from her torture sessions in the realms. Hades’ reasons for hurting her were understandable, though his methods for dealing with her were cruel. Even though he had tried to kill her, she didn’t want Hades dead. His actions may have been reprehensible, but he was trying to do the right thing. Once she accepted that, she was able to release her need for vengeance.
With Lucifer at her side to protect her, she knew she would never have to face the agony of the realms again. She knew she was strong enough to survive them and powerful enough to threaten anyone who tried to return her to the fires. She felt her fear and anger subside as relief flooded her body. She was able to take a deep breath and release her negative emotions. A sense of peace rose up and weakened the force of the darkness.
She needed to take control of her power and her life.
Opening her eyes, she saw Lucifer smiling at her, despite the pain from the lightning strikes and the cuts on his body. It was the same smile he had while making love to her. Her heart went out to him and she allowed herself to feel something for him. Maybe not love, but compassion. Could anyone truly love the devil? She admired him for making difficult sacrifices so that he could do God’s will. She wept for all the pain and madness that drove him to want to end the world to get back home. If nothing else, she understood the reasons for his actions. Above all, he was lonely. That was why she had let go of her mortal life. His loneliness matched hers. She couldn’t leave him. She couldn’t destroy him like that. She knew they had to find a way to make things work.
She pressed her lips against his and let go of her pain. The storm slowed down and her power slipped back inside of her in a rush. She exhaled and slumped into Lucifer’s arms. It was over. Her power was contained. She felt something push against her hand. Breaking the kiss, she looked down and saw that her ring was back on her finger.
“I found it in the rubble. Let’s make sure you don’t lose it, okay?” Lucifer smiled and brushed her wet hair off her cheek.
She looked around at the tower and immediately felt guilty. She has caused this. Lucifer’s Throne Room had been decimated. She knew she had to find a way to contain her rage in the future. Granted, she was being held at knifepoint, but she had to keep her anger in check.
She pulled away from Lucifer and touched her throat. While she could still feel the blade piercing her neck, there was nothing but smooth skin where the knife had been. Her neck was healed.
She looked questioningly at Lucifer.
He dusted off his wet singed shirt and smirked at her. “Your power is strong enough to allow you to heal from injuries, though if you lose your head or your heart, even it cannot bring you back. It’s true that you are meant to withstand the force of the storm, but you need to able to withstand anyone who tries to stop Father’s wrath, once it’s unleashed upon the world. An Apocalypse cannot be stopped once the final decision is made. When you are wielding your power, it will be nearly impossible to kill you,” Lucifer was eternally grateful to Father for making the Destroyer so durable.
He had nearly stopped breathing when Hades pushed the blade into her throat. He was surprised that Hades still had a head. Had Anjali not blown them across the room, he would have killed Hades, without remorse, though he wasn’t sure if Hades would have succeeded in killing Anjali. He knew how close he had come to losing her.
“I know we have much to discuss, but regardless of what I said before, I am grateful that you are safe and unharmed. I was angry when I saw you sitting on the throne. I told you I wanted you to submit to me because I thought you were deceiving me. I wish to explain my actions, so that we might come to an understanding,” he held out his hand to her and waited nervously for her to accept.
Anjali hesitated, but took his hand and played with his fingers. “I’m sorry I hurt you when my power was unleashed. That wasn’t my intention, even though I was mad at you. I’m also sorry about your tower. I hope you have an awesome general contractor on staff,” she said shyly, afraid his anger would yet again rear its ugly head.
Lucifer had been awestruck by her display of power, yet he liked the shy timid side of her. “Don’t worry about that. We have an endless supply of labor,” Lucifer waved his arm to emphasize all the souls in the realms. “Sometimes we get creative with our punishments,” he desperately wanted to kiss her again, but he needed to explain why he had concealed the truth.
∞
The tunnel was dark and infested with rats, which wouldn’t have been a problem; if they hadn’t been flesh eating rats, the same ones from the Realm of Teeth, a loathsome realm, one that he wasn’t looking forward to seeing.
Pushing through the tangles of vines covered in thorns, he ignored the sting and continued forward. It had been centuries since he had traversed this path. He had been grateful when the tunnels had been sealed up. It meant that he no longer had to take the long way into Hell. He had been granted the ability to enter directly into the rotunda and head back to his cell. Lucifer liked the idea of not seeing him and his brothers walking about Hell. It was easier to have them far away from his sight, which benefited everyone.
He jumped over the pit and clung to the sides, desperately trying to avoid the boiling acid below. He mentally listed all the reasons against entering Hell, of which, boiling acid ranked high on the list. He had gone over the list a thousand times. There were 490 reasons against entering Hell and only two reasons for it. Unfortunately, the two reasons were really good reasons, which made the Hell Fire bursting from the sides of the tunnels in various spots more tolerable.
He carefully picked his way across the piles of crispy corpses that had attempted to break into Hell throughout the centuries. He would have laughed at the idiots for believing they could break into Hell to help someone escape, if he wasn’t the idiot planning to do the same thing. He needed his head examined. He had sworn nearly two thousand years ago that he would never return to this accursed place, unless locked in chains or dead. He certainly wasn’t in chains, so he considered himself a dead man walking.
Reaching the fork in the tunnel, he stopped. It wasn’t a simple test of left to win the car or right to lose a limb. If he went left, he would die by slowly freezing to death, starting with his skin and minor organs and on to the important things, all the while, wishing that it had started with his lungs. If he went to the right, he would be caught in vines that would slowly twist and turn him, until every single bone in his body splintered into pieces. He would have to wait for the vines to snake around his neck and remove it from his body before finding peace. Instead, he walked straight through what looked like a solid cave wall and found himself in the Caves of Darkness.
He applauded the deceitful Fallen who had pretended to seal up this particular tunnel, but instead had concealed the opening so they could head off to the Mortal Realm to find pleasure with mortals, without Lucifer knowing. He wondered how they had kept it a secret for so long, but he understood how sneaky the Fallen could be.
He prepared himself for the Shades to attack, but instead he nearly walked right into the back of one of the Fallen. Shit, it was just his luck. He had survived the tunnels only to be ratted out by one of his own brothers. He didn’t have time to sneak back into the tunnels and wait out the guard rotation, so he decided to make a statement.
He tapped his brother on the shoulder and as, Paris, of all angels, turned his head to look at him, Sacha punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. Thankfully, he hated Paris and didn’t mind thrusting his sword into his gut. Paris was too stunned to call out for help before his jaw was broken and his throat crushed. Sacha didn’t need Lucifer alerted to his presence, especially since he wasn’t sure if he was staying.
He was slightly merciful and choked Paris until he lost consciousness. It was better than the angel deserved. Paris had gotten out of hand during a game of cards one night and had accused Sacha of cheating. Of course, it had been true, but Paris didn’t have to rip out his spleen to make his point.
Sacha dragged Paris’ body behind one of the stones near the tunnels and wiped the sweat from his brow. He hated the heat more than he hated Lucifer, which was saying something. He preferred living in places where temperatures over one hundred degrees were a foreign concept.
He was about to check for other guards when the ground erupted and split under his feet, knocking him down. He was rolling into the cave wall before he realized that he was being pushed by the force of an explosion. His ears rang from the sound of the blast. He tried to get to his feet and shake off the defeating sound of the cave walls cracking and breaking. He had no idea what was going on. He had never experienced anything like that before, either in Hell or in the Mortal Realm.
That’s when he felt it. Power crackled through the air and had his complete atten
tion. He was drawn to it. It was familiar, though he had never felt anything like it before. He sprinted through the cave to get to the opening that led to the realms. He heard scurrying and shuffling all around as the Shades ran for cover. Even the Bhakşaka looked afraid. He wondered if he should be going toward the source of the explosion when all the other evil creatures were trying to avoid it. Then again, no one ever said he was the sane one.
Sacha carefully poked his head around the corner and saw something straight out of his fantasies. The Fallen were running and screaming as debris fell from the top of the castle. He looked up and saw the most wondrous sight in the distance. Lucifer’s Throne Room was crumbling apart and lay in ruins. He couldn’t have asked for a better welcome home gift.
A thunderclap snapped him out of his happy place and made him refocus. A giant storm cloud was forming over the castle while lightning snapped and arced across the sky. The ceiling of the main cavern of Hell couldn’t be seen through the thick black clouds.
It was complete chaos. The Fallen abandoned their realms and ran for the safety of the Caves or the Hall of Winds. Some stood motionless, watching the unusual event. It was odd seeing the tormentors of Hell afraid of something. All of them were beyond emotions, aside from hatred.
Sacha felt the power grow stronger as he searched for the source of it. That’s when he saw her, the main reason for his visit. Anjali was standing in the exposed Throne Room, except she still looked mortal. She was still Michelle. He immediately knew that Lucifer had wronged her and she was about to even the score, which brought a smile to his face.
The Third Throne: Angel of Darkness Page 27
