by E. A. Copen
I tilted my head to the side, trying to get a better look at him. “What order?”
“Kill the children.”
“What children?” I shook my head. Father had orchestrated too many murders in the past for me to know what he was talking about, most of which I was responsible for. That I didn’t know him might mean Malphas was older than me. Perhaps he’d worked as father’s assassin before I came of age.
He looked up at me, eyes sparkling like jewels. “Lucifer’s children.”
Chapter Twenty-One
KHALEDA
I stared at Malphas, trying to process what he’d just said. Someone had ordered him to kill me and my brother, someone with enough power to chain up one of the Fallen. The only person I knew with that much power in Hell would’ve been my own father.
My breath caught in my throat. My father had tortured me, hurt me in ways I would never allow anyone else to again. Everything I had done while under his thumb, I’d done it in the hopes of earning his love and respect. For years, I’d told myself that Father raised me so harshly so I’d be better prepared to take over when he passed the Devil mantle onto me. I was to be his heir.
Why would he order one of the Fallen to kill me?
“Who ordered you to kill Lucifer’s children?” I stammered, steeling my resolve to hear the answer I knew was coming.
Malphas’ chains shifted, sliding over the dusty floor, curling like twin snakes at his feet. “Once, I worked for Lucifer himself. I was proud of the position I had attained as the leader of his armies. I was second only to one other: Remiel.”
Remiel. There was that name again. I thought my father said Remiel had led the uprising of the Fallen in hell. Guess he neglected to mention that Remiel once worked for him. I crossed my arms. “So you answered to Remiel who answered to Lucifer?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. Remiel was Lucifer’s assistant. His second in command, but Lucifer didn’t trust him to lead his armies for Remiel had no love of demons. They feared him. Even Lucifer understood then that fear was not enough to inspire loyalty. Not even in Hell.”
That didn’t sound like the Lucifer Morningstar I’d grown up knowing. Father relied almost exclusively on instilling fear in his followers to hold onto his crown. What had changed?
“I worshiped him,” Malphas continued. “Lucifer could have ordered me to fly into the sun, and I would have done it. He inspired us.” He turned away. “Then, one day, he left. No one knew where he had gone or when he would come back. There were whispers that he had abandoned us. Remiel made many speeches to that effect. We felt betrayed. Angry. At the height of our rage, Lucifer returned to Hell, dragging a toddler and an infant in tow.” Malphas stole a quick look at me before quickly averting his gaze. “I was pulled from my duties as commander of Lucifer’s armies to care for the children. When word came down that the children were to be Lucifer’s heirs, Remiel was furious. He’d assumed the position would go to him and believed two half-human children would be unworthy. It was then he began to consider rebellion. He came to me since I had access to the children and asked me to kill them. Only that could avert the uprising he had planned, Remiel said. Kill Lucifer’s children and save the Fallen.”
I almost breathed a sigh of relief. The order hadn’t come from Father, though I wasn’t sure why I should care. He was dead, and I was alive. It still hurt to realize I had distrusted him enough to believe that he would order me dead as a child. “Remiel gave you the order.”
Malphas nodded and lifted his chained wrists. “I couldn’t do it. Not even to save my people. I stood over the babe sleeping in her crib and thought about how easy it would be. I could do it with my thumb, just crush the child’s head. It would barely take any effort at all. It should have been easy. But I just couldn’t.” His shoulders slumped, black wings twitching. “And so Remiel brought me here. He spelled the grounds and chained me where none would find me. These chains? No demon and no Fallen could strike them off. I have been here for what feels like an eternity, and for another eternity, I shall remain.”
“Unless I free you.”
He looked up, eyes wide. “Why would you do that?”
I stepped forward and reached for his face. He started to flinch away again, but I caught his cheek and wiped some dust from it before guiding his face down so I could look him in the eyes. “Because you spared me once.”
Malphas blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“My name is Khaleda Morningstar,” I said.
He stepped back, dropped to one knee, and lowered his head. “Your Highness!”
I folded my hands in front of me. “And what about Remiel?”
Malphas raised his head, teeth bared. “Remiel?”
I nodded. “Someone is trying to complete a ritual that will raise him from The Pit. He seeks the throne in Hell. My father is dead. If I set you free, who will you serve?”
Chains rattled as Malphas rose to tower over me, his hands drawn into fists. His wings spread wide, casting off years of dust. “If you offer me the chance at vengeance, I will support your claim.”
I stepped forward, focusing hard on his face, searching for any sign of deception. “And what if I don’t want the throne? What if I just want your help stopping Remiel?”
He flexed his fingers. “Free me and give me the chance to hurt him, and I am yours to command.”
I considered his offer. Thoganoth had said Malphas was a means to get the army of backup Josiah wanted, but he was also practically a one-man army on his own. I’d seen some of the Fallen in action, and they were a force to be reckoned with. I didn’t know if Malphas could stand toe to toe with Remiel, but he could definitely do some damage. Once I let him free, however, I had no guarantee that he’d be on my side. He could turn against me and run back to Remiel. Nothing was stopping him from lying to me.
Before he knew who I was, he’d told me the story of how he’d spared my life, and that made me want to lend him some credibility. Remiel hadn’t been kind to him, either. He had no reason to go to Remiel other than that the two were both Fallen. To assume they would work together just because they were the same species was flawed. I had to believe his actions and words meant more than his heritage, or else what the hell was I doing, trying to believe I differed from my father?
I lowered my head and reached for his shackles. There was nowhere to insert a key to open them, but there was a spell written there. True to his word, the spell kept demons and Fallen from touching him, let alone assisting him. Good thing I was neither.
I brushed my hands over the spell, giving it a small push of the same power I used to put men under my spell. The shackles crumbled to dust. I moved my hand to the one on his other wrist, then the shackles on his ankles, destroying them all.
Malphas rubbed his raw wrists and slowly went back to his knees, his head bowed. “Command me, my Queen.”
I stood up a little straighter, rolling my shoulders back. Something about the way he said that made me want to be worthy of the title, though I still didn’t want it. “You’ll need a suitable body to leave this place.”
Malphas nodded.
I turned to the door. “Thoganoth? Come here.”
The demon stepped through the doors and remained in the back of the church, hands gripping the door. “Yes, my Queen?”
“Malphas needs a body.” I gestured to the Fallen in front of me. “Unless you want to give him yours, I suggest you go and find one.”
Thoganoth nodded and scurried back out the door.
I turned back to the Fallen kneeling before me. I should probably tell him about Josiah, I thought and suppressed a smile. Josiah would be thrilled to have one of the Fallen on our side considering how much he hated them. He’d lose his damn mind. But that was the price for working with Lucifer Morningstar’s daughter.
Malphas lifted his head. “My Queen, may I ask… What happened to your brother?”
Fangs bit into my chest, reminding me of the loss. I turned my back to Malphas and p
retended to be focused on the iron cross hanging upside down on the wall. “Father sent Osric away to secure an alliance with the Shadow Court of Faerie. He needed something from them, and the queen was adamant. I begged him not to separate us, but that only made him dig his heels in harder. Father was like that. Cruel and selfish.”
I turned back around to see Malphas watching me intently. It was a little unsettling, having those strange purple eyes following me around. I cleared my throat and continued. “Anyway, the Shadow Queen made Osric her Knight and took him as her lover, which was stupid on her part considering she knew full well what he was.”
“And what was he?” Malphas tipped his head to the side quizzically.
I crossed my arms. “You didn’t know?”
He shrugged. “No one knew. Not even Lucifer himself knew the consequences of breeding with a human. He had heard of the Nephilim and simply wanted to know if it were possible for him to raise offspring who were superior to humans. He spoke of it often before he disappeared. When he returned with you, he seemed…disappointed. Given time, it might have been him who chose to kill his own children if you didn’t develop powers. I assured him you would, though I couldn’t have known for certain.”
“My brother was an incubus,” I replied. “And I’m a succubus.”
“I see.”
I tapped my fingers on my arm a moment before pacing. Where was Thoganoth with that body? “Eventually, by taking Osric as her lover, she sealed her own fate. Nyx, the Shadow Queen, went insane and eventually crossed paths with one of the Horsemen who killed her. By then, Osric’s soul was so irreparably bonded to hers that her death destroyed him too. He died in Faerie, which should’ve kept his soul beyond reach. Except it didn’t. Somehow those Manus Dei fuckers got ahold of it, and they’re using it as leverage to keep me in line.”
“Unacceptable,” Malphas ground out.
I stopped pacing. “I feel the same way.”
“Order me to slay these Manus Dei fools. I’ll bring you their heads.”
I smiled at the thought. “I’d love to. Unfortunately, they’re either angels or well-trained soldiers in service to angels. A literal army stands between my brother’s soul and me. The moment we betray them, the full force of Heaven will descend on us. Even with your power, Malphas, I don’t think we’d survive.”
“We?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m working with one of the Nephilim,” I explained. “Josiah Quinn.”
“There are still Nephilim?” He scratched his chin. “At the time of the rebellion, there were only a few left. Michael had made it his mission to hunt them down and kill them. The birth of one of the Nephilim is what sparked Lucifer’s interest in creating his own hybrid. Remiel claimed to have fathered one.”
“Maybe that’s why Remiel felt so betrayed. Father used something he told him in confidence to further his own goals. Typical Lucifer.”
“No, Remiel wasn’t like that,” said Malphas, shaking his head. “Remiel’s greatest weakness was his desire to be loved by those around him. Most who knew him did love him at first, but he was bitter. Many Fallen struggled with this character flaw after we fell. The loss of Heaven and the love of our brethren was difficult to adjust to, for some more than others. Remiel was greatly loved in Heaven.”
I filed that information away for use later. Maybe we could use it to get to him somehow.
The door to the little chapel creaked open and Thoganoth entered, dragging behind him a dirt-covered white coffin. Once he got it through the doors, he dropped it with a resounding thud and turned around, cleaning his hands on his shirt to find us both staring at him. I crossed my arms.
“What?” he protested, gesturing to the coffin. “You said to get a body. We’re in a graveyard. Where was I supposed to look?”
“I meant a live body, idiot.” I rubbed my temples. Maybe I was vastly overestimating the brainpower of the average demon.
Malphas walked off the podium and stepped up to the coffin. With a grunt, he opened the lid and peered down at the corpse. One corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk. “No, I think this will do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
JOSIAH
I went downstairs to the restaurant to dig around the office in search of cigarettes. When I’d walked by Konstantine earlier, I caught a faint whiff of them on his clothes, which meant he probably had some stashed somewhere. He struck me as the sort of bloke who’d told his wife he quit months ago but still had an emergency pack shoved into the back of a drawer at his desk. Sure enough, that’s where I found them shoved behind a black ledger in the top drawer.
I would’ve lit up then and there except for the smoke detector blinking above. The last thing we needed was to have the bloody fire department show up and flush us out. Instead, I went out the back and stood in a narrow alley next to a ripe dumpster. It was early morning, long before the sun would ever show his face. Probably somewhere between four and five if I had to guess. The roads weren’t empty, but they weren’t noisy enough to indicate they were crowded yet. Sometimes, a car would drive by the mouth of the alley, tires splashing through the puddle that’d gathered there.
I stood under a cloud of smoke, watching it drift up to dance with the fire escape on the neighboring brick building, alone in the alley except for the rats having their dinner. My bag sat on the dirty alley floor, tucked beside the dumpster and easily within reach, just in case I changed my mind and decided to bolt. Above, Niko was probably thinking up new ways to dig at me. I shouldn’t have let him have his way. He’d think we were mates now, or more and that wasn’t something I could afford. It was bad enough that I’d let the succubus tag along for as long as I had, though I had a sneaking suspicion she’d be going off on her own soon anyway. I wasn’t much of a traveling companion, and she had the whole heir to hell thing going for her.
Part of me still wanted to help her. She was in over her head for dealing with demons and angels, despite having grown up with the Devil for a father. Maybe she understood demons, but the Fallen… Remiel?
I stared at the smoking cigarette gathering ash between my fingers. What would I do if this failed and he got free? Nowhere would be safe, not for me or for the few people in the world I gave a damn about. I was already certain I’d have to move my mother. Ira’d mentioned her before, and now Iosef seemed to know where she was. Melbourne wasn’t safe for her anymore, but where else could I take her? Bringing her to the States was out. She’d never survive the journey. Poor old bat’s nerves would do her in long before we made it across the Pacific. I supposed I might look into a private place in New Zealand maybe, or even Tasmania. Those were more remote. Less chance of someone coming on her by accident, but also a smaller chance she’d get the care she so badly needed.
There was also someone else I had to worry about, someone not even Ira seemed to know about. I’d been so careful not to let anyone find her. If I moved her now, it might expose her. Or it might save her life. Risky business either way.
Maybe she was better off with me staying away, which was generally how I dealt with my daughter. She didn’t know me except as some bum who showed up at the bar where she worked for a pint on occasion. Thought a couple of Nebraska farmers were her folks. I’d paid everyone well to make sure it stayed that way. Anyone who couldn’t be bought was dead. After so many years, half the people I’d paid off were dead too. Only the senile old man was still alive, and he could barely speak. No, Mags was safe where she was so long as I stayed away.
Unless Remiel got out. Then he might be able to use my blood to track her down. Dammit, we couldn’t let him get free, no matter what.
The back door opened beside me, and I half-expected Niko to join me in the alley for a smoke. Instead, it was the old man, Konstantine. He wore a flat cap, black slacks, and a leather jacket. “I see you found my cigarettes,” he said in heavily accented English.
I tossed the pack to him. “Sorry, mate. I would’ve taken one of Niko’s, but the bastard’s got no taste.”<
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Konstantine chuckled and lit one up himself. “He’s a good boy. A little spoiled, but that’s because my wife dotes on him.”
“He’s killed people, Mr. Sava.” I shouldn’t have said it. If the Savas wanted to think of Niko as some sweet boy and not some master manipulator with blood on his hands, I should’ve let them take that image of him to the grave. It wasn’t my place to shatter their belief in him, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Konstantine smiled and blew out a mouthful of smoke. “I know. A lot of people here, they have. I can see on your face that you too have killed, Mr. Quinn. But murder doesn’t make you a bad man.”
I grunted in agreement and turned away. “The rest of society seems to think so. They lock up killers, you know.”
“Some men need killing,” said the old man matter-of-factly. “And some men need to kill. Police and polite people say it’s unnatural, but they forget who we are. Humans are predatory beasts. You want to know what’s wrong with the world today? Men spend too much time in little boxes. Boxes at work, boxes at home, boxes in the bedroom… It makes a man go mad.” He shook his head. “When we came to America, we believed it was a land without boxes. That’s not so true. Here, the boxes are just a little bigger, but only for the right people.”
“What about Georgie?” I asked. “What were his boxes like?”
Konstantine smiled. “Georgie was not a good man. But he was a fair man. Everything he did, it made sense. Alexi is unpredictable. Some would say that’s a good thing.”
“But you don’t think so, do you, Konstantine?”
He didn’t answer me.
I dropped my cigarette to the ground and scraped the sole of my shoe over it, smearing its black guts over the pavement. “Alexi’s not even a man. He’s a satyr, and he’s made a rotten deal to hold onto the power he’s got.”
“A deal with the devil.” Konstantine sighed.
