Lucifer Reborn

by Dante King

  “How many shards does one of these suites cost?” I asked as we made our way towards Karl’s room.

  “If you have to ask,” Mareth said, giving a door with an inlaid gold skull-and-crossbones motif the side eye, “then you can’t afford it.”

  I answered with a grunt. “This one’s got to be it,” I said, pointing. “The one with the guards.”

  Towards the end of the hall, one door loomed larger than the others. In fact it was a set of double-doors, with massive skull-shaped knockers like the entrance to Dracula’s castle. A pair of beetle-backed demons who looked like they could be Aztomund’s cousins lounged on either side of it, standing watch. They perked up as we came closer, reaching for their weapons. One had a long whip made of tendrils studded with shards of glass—the other held a wicked-looking mace.

  “What do you—”

  That was as far as they got. I didn’t even bother speaking to these mooks. Before they could utter another word or draw down with those weapons, I hit them with so many tendrils they couldn’t cope. As they struggled and coughed, tendrils streamed into their noses and mouths, reaching for the sensitive meat within their skulls.

  More tendrils. More darkness.

  More.

  Both demons’ heads exploded with sickening pops, spraying the door behind them with blood and gore. Christina gasped as their bodies slumped to the floor, their necks little more than headless stumps.

  I stared over the lifeless demons for a moment, considering. “You did say I wouldn’t get in trouble unless I permanently kill demons, right?”

  Mareth looked like she couldn’t decide whether to scream or jump my bones right there in the hallway. “R-Right,” she gasped, stepping around the spreading pool of blood on the carpet. “You’ve got maybe five minutes before these demons patch themselves together enough to take a crack at you. Maybe a little more, since that was especially...brutal.”

  As if in response to Mareth’s explanation, the bodies began to twitch. Pieces of skull slid across the carpet, knitting themselves back to the demon’s ruined heads. I knew we had to move.

  Five minutes, I grunted, reaching for the doorknob in the shape of a skull. Once I get my hands on Karl, I’ll give that asshole way more than five minutes…

  To my surprise, the doors weren’t locked. They swung open easily before my touch, as if the hinges had been greased. I guess when you’ve got two heavies to guard it for you, I thought, you can afford to forget to lock things behind you.

  A mistake I’d never give Karl the opportunity to repeat.

  The double doors opened on a square of darkness. Not just a dark hallway, or a dingy bedroom—complete and total darkness, like the absence of not just light but space itself. For a moment I worried I’d popped open some kind of portal, sprung a clever trap, and hopped backwards fluttering my wings. They wrapped around Christina and Mareth as I landed, shielding them from any blast of magic that might come from that negative space.

  Instead, the landscape twisted and changed. A musty scent filled the corridor as I beheld what looked like the deepest, darkest dungeon a medieval madman could build. Lichens and moss covered wet, slippery stones, like the sewer level in a video game. I’d never been a fan of those back in the day, and I wasn’t now.

  “Gross!” Mareth wrinkled her nose as she stepped into the hallway. “Does he actually live like this?”

  I shook my head, thinking. “This is a subspace,” I said. “Karl’s subspace. Most demons use them as storage, but he’s obviously made his bigger. Maybe it rotates—like you have to open the door one certain way to get to the living quarters.”

  “While the other sends you to the dungeon,” Christina finished bitterly. “Fucking great. Hey, hold on—do you hear that?”

  For a moment, I didn’t. Then an unmistakable sound reached my ears. A woman sobbing.

  It sharpened my senses like nothing else could. I raced through the hallways, heedless, every one of my protective instincts activating at once. That sounded like Maddie—and if it was, she sounded hurt. Either way, it was a woman in trouble. I couldn’t back down from that.

  Green, brackish water flowed down the center of each hallway in a recessed sluice. I stayed away from it as I made my way toward the voice, nearly tripping on the smooth stone steps. Everything down here was decrepit and dank, like the kind of oubliette you’d throw prisoners into who didn’t have a hope of ever seeing the light of day. Lock them up and throw away the key, I thought, my pulse pounding as the sound of sobbing grew closer. That’s not you, though, Maddie. I’m coming…

  The long hallway split into three different directions, the gross water frothing as it splintered off into opposite paths. Here was a row of cells, the iron bars grown over with moss and half-covered with vines. The sobbing came from the final one of these, which stood with its door wide open.

  “Maddie!? Is that you!?” I raced over, stepping over plant growth in the path. Whatever this place was, it hadn’t been maintained in a very long time. Whoever tucked people in this subspace didn’t particularly care what happened to them —which meant I needed to get Maddie out of here.

  A trembling voice reached my ears. “Luke? Help me!” Maddie sounded like she was mere steps away.

  “I’m coming!” I roared, tossing the half-opened cell door completely off its hinges. Somewhere far behind me, Christina, Mareth, and Oni struggled to keep up, howling warnings that I didn’t heed. Maddie gave me tunnel vision, made the only important thing in the world saving her.

  My blood boiled as I saw the female figure sitting on the bench of the cell. Maddie hid her face in her hands, half turned away from the door with her knees tucked underneath of her. She’d clearly been crying for some time, and from the look of her, she’d been through a lot. My heart hurt at the sight.

  I’m going to find this motherfucker and tear him apart, I thought, stepping into the cell. With an effort, I kept the rage out of my voice. “Maddie,” I said, reaching out a hand. “It’s me. It’s Luke. You’re safe now, babe—I’m not going to let anyone hurt you…”

  A giggle burst from between Maddie’s fingers. “I knew you’d come for me,” she said, her shoulders shaking with what I assumed to be sobs. “I’ve been trapped in here so long!”

  “It’s alright,” I said, relief flooding me as I made to pick her up. Right as I reached her, the hands around her face dropped—and I reared backwards.

  Maddie’s grin stretched from ear-to-ear, too wide to be formed by a normal human face. The mirthful, mischievous light I’d seen so many times in the waitress’ gaze was nowhere to be found—her eyes were like cold, dead pits in their sockets. Her smile froze on her face, like the rictus of a freshly slain corpse.

  “Maddie? What the fuck—”

  “Hello Luke,” the Not-Maddie growled. It’s voice was distorted, the way mine got whenever I fully activated my demonic form. “How I have been dying to finally meet you…”

  As the figure spoke, it tore at its face. It peeled Maddie’s skin back like a grape, discarding her scalp and hair like a cheaply made Halloween costume. No—this wasn’t Maddie at all. Whatever this was, it hadn’t eaten her; it had fashioned a clever disguise. It wanted to get me in nice and close, separated from my friends—

  I realized the trap a moment too late. The door I’d just ripped off its hinges shimmered, replaced to its former glory—then slamming shut in my face. Christina and Mareth rounded the corner, but now a locked door stood between them and me. I’d just been cut off from the rest of my group.

  This was a trap. Which meant that the person wearing a Maddie suit had to be…

  “Karl,” I growled, reaching for my demonic powers. “You son of a bitch…!”

  He’d discarded the last of his Maddie suit by the time I turned back around. Standing before me was a handsome, blonde-headed demon with a shit-eating grin and a set of robes as luxurious as my own. A pair of delicate horns extended from either side of his head, one of the only things that would have
clued in a casual observer to his demon nature. Like the girl I’d met back at the dorms, Karl looked more like a human than most students at the Academy. If our school had been turned into a movie, he’d be the good-looking quarterback who’s always juggling a cheerleader or two.

  “So you’re the new Archlord candidate,” Karl said, kicking his way free of the remainder of his Maddie suit. “I have to say, I might have overestimated you. I can’t believe you plunged headlong into a trap to save a piece of mortal pussy—”

  Tendrils slammed into the wall to the immediate left and right of his head. Bits of dust and plaster covered Karl’s robes as more of my demonic tendrils unfurled, ready to rip him limb from limb. To my surprise, he didn’t flinch—nor did he look the least bit troubled to be locked in a cell with me.

  “Now, now,” Karl said, giving the tendril nearest his face a dismissive little wave. “There’s no need for violence. It wouldn’t do you any good, anyway. This is my subspace, Luke. Everything you see here—every droplet of water, every brick of the dungeon—is my creation. I am the Master here. You think you can kill me? Tear me limb from limb and I’ll just regenerate.”

  I grit my teeth. “Maybe,” I growled. “But it’ll sure feel good to bash your fucking face in!”

  Karl rolled his eyes. “In here, you have to win every fight, Luke. I only have to get lucky once. If you die, or your little human girlfriend?” He wiggled a finger back and forth, chiding me. “No regeneration for her—or you. So if you want to see your human again, I suggest you smarten up quick.”

  Dark, leathery wings ripped themselves free from between my shoulder blades. There almost wasn’t enough space in the cell for them.

  “What would you suggest?” I growled, going full-on demon mode.

  “We can end this right now,” Karl said, spreading his arms in a gesture of contrition that was almost certainly fake. “All you have to do is do something for me, Luke. One favor, then I’ll hand your human back and we can go our separate ways.”

  It reminded me so strongly of the deal I’d made with Lilith that for a moment, I was taken aback. But I was pretty sure this bargain wouldn’t have anywhere near as happy an ending were I to accept.

  I forced my voice back into a more human tone. “What could you possibly want from me?”

  Karl chuckled. “Hell is no place for a human, Luke. If anything, your experience trying to keep this pretty little human safe should have taught you that. What I want is for you to leave. Give up, withdraw from the Infernal Academy. Quit while you’re ahead: take your little blonde Mog and go back to Earth. Have a nice white picket fence, two and a half kids, and give up thinking you can conquer Hell as the new Archlord. Because trust me, human—you do not have what it takes.”

  “Bullshit,” I growled, shaking my head. “I’ll never do that, Karl. I am the next Archlord.”

  He laughed without humor. “The fact that you charged into this cell for a human proves you’re not Lucifer’s true chosen,” he said, smugly stepping from between two of my tendrils. “The Prince of Darkness would never stick his neck out like that.” He came up closer, savoring his little logical victory. “Face it, Luke—you’re too soft for this business. Too weak. You have too much heart for it.”

  I let him approach. My face fell; anyone watching me would think Karl had won. That I was about to give in, to agree with his assessment.

  “You mean that? Lucifer wouldn’t risk himself to save a human?” My voice trembled as I said it, as if I were at the end of my rope.

  Karl nodded sympathetically. “That’s right. The Prince of Darkness would never—”

  He’d stepped too close. The tendrils hanging around my shoulders shot out, all of them at once, wrapping around him from his neck to his ankles. Karl let out a surprised shout as I lifted him off the ground.

  “The Prince of Darkness,” I roared, the tendrils around Karl squeezing him as tightly as a boa constrictor, “would never give up something that belongs to him! Maddie is mine, Karl, every bit as much as Christina and Mareth. As much as the top of your precious leaderboard is mine. As much as the title of Archlord is mine…!”

  The tendrils wrapped tighter and tighter as I spoke. Karl’s words of protest soon transformed into screams of pain as bones broke, splintering and shattering as I choked the life out of him.

  Just as he threatened to pass out, the tendrils relaxed a fraction. I stepped forward, bringing my face close to his. “Give me my human,” I growled, spit flying over his face, “and I’ll leave you alone. For now.”

  Karl’s face twisted. “Fuck you,” the demon sneered. “This is my world—”

  That was as far as he got. Karl burst like an overripe melon, blood and gore spraying across the walls of the cell as my tendrils squeezed his innards dry. A wheeze escaped his throat like the air being let out of a balloon as I dropped his remains to the cell floor.

  I loomed over the wreck of his body, my face contorted in rage. “Who’s too soft now, motherfucker?”

  The rattling of bars reached my ears. Christina and Mareth tore at the bars of my cell, struggling to rip it open. A big vein of muscle flexed in Christina’s neck as she tugged at the locked door, but the steel refused to budge.

  “Luke!” Mareth reached through the bars, her nails grazing my wings. “We can’t get the door open—”

  “Don’t bother,” I grunted, kicking the meat sack that had once held Karl’s skeleton. “Look.”

  The blood staining the floor hadn’t come to rest—it shimmied across the floor like a living thing, droplets of it rolling back toward Karl’s body. Chunks of gore slowly rolled across the stones, heading back toward their Master. Karl hadn’t been lying about his regenerative ability.

  “Fuck,” Christina hissed, pulling harder at the door. “Luke, you’ve got to get out there!”

  I turned around, silencing all three members of my team with a glare. “Find. Maddie.” I commanded, meeting Christina’s gaze, then Mareth’s, then Oni’s. “Every time I kill Karl, he’ll get back up—but I can hold him off for a good long while. You focus on finding where he’s stashed Maddie. I’ll keep him from getting in the way.”

  Mareth’s lips formed a tight little line. “But Master—”

  “I told you to go!” I roared. Behind me, Karl was already rising to his feet, the gashes in his skin stitching themselves back together. A single lock of blonde hair hung from the side of his hair, the rest of it planting itself back in his scalp follicle by follicle. “Don’t fucking disobey me!”

  They sprinted off, each taking one of the paths leading from the triple intersection. I hoped Maddie lay at the end of one of them—otherwise, this was going to be one hell of a long fight.

  As they raced off, hunting for Maddie, I turned around and faced Karl. His body was almost totally reformed now—even the smug, shit-eating grin was back on his face.

  “Alright, bitch,” I snarled, flapping my wings. “Ready for round two?”

  Chapter 27

  I had to hand it to Karl—he might have been an utter bastard, but he was a fast learner.

  As the demonic master of this subspace pulled himself back together, he charged. My tendrils wouldn’t last forever, but for the moment it was the easiest thing in the world to wrap him up and rip him apart again, piece by piece. Which was why he got in close, forcing me to fight him face-to-face.

  Well, face to half-a-face. He hadn’t quite finished piecing the rest of his bits on yet.

  He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around my neck. The two of us grappled, my wings proving to be more of a hindrance in the confined space than the advantage they’d been in the Wrath Arena. I toppled backward, the side of my face slamming into one of the bars of the cell.

  “Same offer,” Karl said, the words from his still-ruined throat watery with blood. “Give up and go away! You can’t possibly beat me, human!”

  I put a knee right in that torn throat, stifling any further conversation. Karl’s arms left mine, reaching for th
e wound, and the momentum in the fight shifted. I headbutted him in what was left of his face, his nose cracking and flying off into a corner of the room.

  Got to keep him from reforming, I realized. He’s less powerful when he’s pulling himself back together.

  It was a good plan. Problem was, Karl had just realized the same thing. He ducked and weaved like a prizefighter, bobbing away as my tendrils swung. He backed up again and again, putting him square in my long-range attacks but allowing more chunks of him to reconstitute. My tendrils ripped at his chest, opening up the wounds that were busy closing, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  Growling, I snapped my fingers and charged up twin fireballs. Flames sprang to life across my fingers, filling the confined cell with the brimstone smell of smoke. I didn’t have the best track record of aiming the things, but with Karl mere feet from my face, I could hardly miss.

  Fire flew from my fingers. Karl ducked to the side, throwing up a magical shield at the last moment. It blocked the largest section of the flames, sending them to either side across the walls. The cell warmed rapidly, sweat dripping from my skin as I tried to close the distance.

  Just a little closer, I thought, reaching out for Karl. Quit running away, you piece of shit…!

  As the last lock of blonde hair sprang from Karl’s head, I backed him into a corner and struck. Tendrils hammered his body, puncturing one eyeball and thrusting deep into his skull. The demon slumped to the side, something inside his head snapping as more tendrils punched through his brain.

  That’s two, I thought, tossing Karl’s corpse to the floor. Don’t get back up if you know what’s good for you, asshole. But I knew he would—and soon.

  “How’s the hunt going!?” I cried, amplifying my voice with magic. “Where’s Maddie?”