CHAPTER NINETEEN
The smell hit me first. Sulfur.
Second, the intense heat. Like I was engulfed in flames. Or maybe a slug under a magnifying glass and a beam of sunlight.
The actual pits of lava and spouts of fire completed the horrible realization.
I spun around, somewhat surprised to see Alexander and Anna standing there, too. “You brought us to Hell?”
“I told you I wanted to show you something,” Alexander said jovially, casually, like we were walking in a flower garden somewhere. “Specifically, someone. My employer, Lucifer, would like to meet you.”
He had to be joking. But his sharp smile told me he wasn’t.
I looked around again, my mind reeling. It was my worst nightmare come to life. Well, staying here forever was. I ignored the glittering points of terror spiking through my stomach. If I didn’t panic, maybe I could get out of this. Maybe.
“So, are we just going to stand here, or are you going to show me around?” I smiled my best and most dangerous smile.
“Of course. I’ll give you the grand tour.” Alexander gave a little bow, then turned and began to lead the way across the stony ground beneath us.
As we walked, my mind frantically tried to piece everything together. It made a bit more sense now. Alexander was working for the Devil. The Devil was trying to assassinate the HR. The Devil was also behind the general societal upheaval—the riot, the speech at City Hall. He was trying to cause chaos, which was just his cup of tea, I guess. I remembered what Franklin had told me about the demon invasion. The dominos fell into place—it was all connected. And now that I realized it, annoyingly obvious.
Alexander and Anna walked in silence ahead of me. Apparently now that they had me right where they wanted me, the taunting banter wasn’t necessary. I cast my eyes all around, morbidly curious.
We seemed to be in a cavern. Beneath my feet lay sharp, uneven reddish stone with the occasional vein of bright red crystal, like the rock had been sliced open and bled. Bubbling pools of lava were connected by sluggish rivers, and far off in the distance I saw flaming lava cascading from someplace high up. Tunnels shot off here and there. They smelled of carcasses and seemed to whisper as we passed.
It was when I looked up that I was first surprised. No ceiling of razor-sharp stalactites as I had expected. Instead it looked like outer space. A black, inky expanse dotted with stars white, blue, green and red. The occasional large ball of flame shot past. Actually kind of pretty, until I noticed the blacker black shapes swirling around. Dark shapes I couldn’t quite make out, shifting and stretching and devouring each other. I shuddered and looked back down.
What I hadn’t seen was any kind of life form, unless you counted whatever it was in the sky above us. Where were all the lost souls? Where did all the eternally damned supes hang out?
As if sensing my thoughts, Alexander turned around. “Enjoying the scenery?”
“I think Lucifer needs an interior decorator,” I retorted.
He looked annoyed for a split second, wishing of course that I was terrified instead of smart-mouthed as usual, before gluing his smug smile in place. Yeah, terror isn’t a good state of mind when you want to use your brain to devise an escape plan. Plus, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Devil-worshipping dickbag.
We were climbing now, the ground rising in a low hill beneath us. At the top of the hill rose a door, just sitting there in open air, no frame or anything, not even a door handle. It was made of shiny black stone, like obsidian. Demonic runes covered it, jagged scars in an otherwise smooth surface. Backlit by a lake of flames on the other side of the hill, it was a rather impressive sight.
A sense of absolute dread descended on me when I looked at that door.
Anna had reached the door and opened it by pressing her hand against one of the runes, which glowed white briefly. On the other side lay absolute darkness. Blacker than the space above us, blacker than the tunnels we’d passed, blacker than the door itself. Without even a half moment’s hesitation, Anna stepped through, and Alexander after her. I paused. I couldn’t see a thing, not even whether there was ground on the other side. For all I knew I would plummet to my death.
“Aren’t you coming?” came Alexander’s amused voice.
I gritted my teeth and stepped through.
The darkness vanished and I stood… on a beach. Milky white sand scrunched under my shoes and ocean air soothed my skin. I had forgotten how hot it’d been where we were until I stood now in the cool light of a setting sun.
Endless turquoise ocean stretched out to my left, and to my right rolling green hills covered in clover. Straight ahead sat an enormous house which bridged the two landscapes. It wasn’t quite rustic enough to be called a castle, and it wasn’t quite modern enough to be called a mansion. Made of warm, beige stone, it descended from the green cliffs down to the wave-lapped sand. Towers and turrets and parapets and walkways extended out over the sea, and I could see someone standing on one, silhouetted against the sunset.
“Please join me,” a voice whispered in my ear.
Then we were standing on the balcony next to the person I’d just seen.
He didn’t have beet-red skin or goat’s eyes or horns. He had golden hair, radiant pale skin, amethyst eyes and full pink lips. Devastatingly beautiful, so much so it almost hurt to look at him. Lucifer. The Devil.
“Zyan Star,” Lucifer said, and his words wrapped around me; honeysuckle vines, sweet and intimate. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”
I was speechless, for once.
He smiled, and it almost seemed kind. “You’re in shock.” He laughed, and it sparkled on the air like pixie dust. “What did you expect? I am an angel, after all, not a monster.”
“Where are we?” I asked, a little breathlessly.
“You are still in the Hell dimension,” he answered.
“I didn’t realize…”
He smiled. “That it could look like this? Hell has many different realms, and can look like anything I want it to look like. For instance, the realm you came into, with the flames and whatnot? That’s simply the doormat of Hell. I’ve made it look like that because that’s what people expect. Long ago, someone created this whole vision of a place of stone and flame, and so I keep it like that. So people instantly know where they are.”
I must have still looked stunned, because he said, “Would you rather something else?”
And everything was gone. I stood alone in an expanse of white, stretching endlessly for as far as I could see. Nothing. No one. For all time. As I looked down at my body, even it seemed to be fading, turning white like everything else. I felt a finger of panic clawing up my throat. Even the flames and the sulfur were better than this.
“No? How about this?”
A roaring sound filled my ears and I turned around just in time to see a wall of water towering over my head. It crashed into me. My body seemed to shatter into a million pieces at the force of it, but no, a moment later I realized I was still whole as it battered me first one way and then the other. The water forced its way down my nose and mouth and into my lungs. They screamed for air. My body burned, aching for oxygen. It was agonizing.
“Some people like to suffer. Can you believe that?” Lucifer smiled at me, the sunset making his hair look copper. “I think it’s odd myself, but I oblige their wishes.”
I looked down at myself, noting that I was dry and whole and not disappearing. Alexander smirked from where he stood a few feet away. Anna looked completely emotionless, disinterested, a robot. So, Lucifer wanted to throw his weight around a little, awe me with his power? I was awed. And I was also getting really pissed. “Why am I here?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I’d like you to work for me, of course. Why else would I bring you down here?” Lucifer made a gesture like this was the most obvious conclusion in the world.
“Then why did you have Arianna send her lackies to kill me?”
Som
ething moved over Lucifer’s face, just for a moment, that frightened me very much. I realized he hadn’t known about that little incident. “Ms. Vega was not following my orders when she did that. I will make sure some of my servants visit her in prison to make her stay more… comfortable.”
I shivered and looked out over the water. The glowing orb of the setting sun was just falling beneath the horizon. Without its warm toss of colors on the landscape, I began to imagine dark things surfing the waves and crawling up on the shore. I blinked. Maybe it wasn’t my imagination.
“Let’s head inside,” Lucifer offered with a sweeping bow.
I followed Alexander and Anna through a set of ornate French doors into an entirely white and crystal room. Smooth blocks of clear quartz stretched beneath our feet; the walls white marble. Instead of a chandelier, the entire ceiling was hung with crystal drops and baubles of all sizes and shapes. Tall flute-like glass vases filled with calla lilies lined an entire wall. The leaves were the only splash of color to be seen.
Lucifer took a seat in a white velvet wing-backed chair that sat on ornate glass legs. “I call this my room of reflection. The absence of color helps me think clearly. Do you like it?”
It reminded me a bit too much of the empty white void he’d placed me in just minutes earlier for me to enjoy it. Lucifer smiled almost as if he could read my thoughts. I sat down gingerly on a white brocade loveseat, opposite Anna and Alexander.
Lucifer didn’t seem to notice that no one had answered his question. He was probably used to people being quiet around him. “Drinks?” he asked. It was clear he wasn’t expecting a response to that either, because half a breath later a crystal tray appeared on a low table between us. It held a decanter of thick yellow liquid and four goblets. As I watched, the liquid in the pitcher began to go down while the four glasses began to fill up, all by themselves.
“Cheap parlor tricks,” Lucifer said with a dainty laugh, looking at me. “You should be able to do something like that easily, Zyan.” The glasses rose up and floated toward us, so I had no choice but to take it. “This is my favorite ambrosia. Please, enjoy.”
Anna and Alexander each took a sip, and feeling Lucifer’s gaze on me, I took one also. His expression went from hawk-like to relaxed once more. The ambrosia tasted overly sweet, but was warm and fizzy going down, like hot tea and liquor and soda all mixed together. I could still feel it bubbling when it reached my stomach.
“So, Zyan.” Lucifer hooked me in his purple gaze once again. “Why is it that one of my children, an Anam Gatai no less, has come to work for the realm of Heaven?”
I took a deep breath. Strangely, and probably having something to do with his powers, I found I couldn’t lie to him. “Well, at first it wasn’t so much that I wanted to help Heaven as I wanted to oppose Alexander. I’m sure he’s told you how I feel about him.”
Lucifer laughed softly. “Yes, he has. Being the ruler of Hell, I certainly understand revenge. Many of those that come here were driven purely by their insatiable need for it.” He paused. “Of course, we’ll have to address your desire to kill Alexander, but let’s come back to that topic later, shall we? I’m glad to hear you had such dark reasons for assisting my enemies. That’s the kind of passion I can use.”
I almost opened my mouth to object, but realized I had no defense. I had joined forces with the HR for purely selfish and twisted reasons.
“In case you’re wondering why I want you to work for me, it’s simple. You have incredible potential and immense power. And over the years, you’ve become incredibly skilled in your line of work. Additionally, you have become a distraction for Alexander, and I really can’t have that. Do you understand?” Lucifer smiled pleasantly and took another sip of his ambrosia.
I nodded. I was going to keep my mouth shut as much as possible.
“Now tell me, Zyan, does it frustrate you that you and the other supernatural beings were designated to either Heaven or Hell, like kids being picked for kickball?” He waited until I nodded, slowly, unsure of where he was going with this. “I couldn’t agree more. Why pick sides for everyone? We should all be free to make our own choices, should we not? And that’s where you come in. I want you to help me change all of that. Because nothing is black and white. The realm of Heaven wants everyone to think it is. They are white, pure, all that is good. Hell is black, evil, everything unholy.”
As he spoke, the room slowly darkened as tendrils of black overtook the white. The floor turned to obsidian, the walls to midnight. Dark crept up the furniture and our glasses, and last of all the callas, starting at the base of the stem and working up to the tips of the petals.
“In reality though, things aren’t black and white. Most things are somewhere in between.”
And this time the color seemed to drain away, as if chased by something unseen. It faded to gunmetal, then granite, then sterling. The floor brushed silver, the furniture a shade lighter than moleskin, the callas dipped in moon shadow.
“Heaven wants control. I just want everyone to have their freedom. I want my demon children to walk freely in the realm of Earth, just as angels do. We should not be condemned to Hell, wouldn’t you agree?” Lucifer leaned back in his chair, his ankle resting across the opposite knee. “Wouldn’t you like to know that you’re not eternally damned anymore? That you have the choice of where you spend eternity? Although, I’m sure you can’t argue that Hell can be quite charming in certain locations.” He waved his hands around at the proof.
“Yes,” I agreed, since I could tell this time he expected a response. And as I glanced around the room, everything did seem perfect, except in my periphery. Sometimes dark shapes seemed to materialize at the edges of my vision, but as I turned to look they vanished. Incredibly unsettling to say the least.
“So, let’s come back to your need for revenge against Alexander.” Lucifer nodded toward Alexander. “Alexander has become a very important emissary for me. And Anna has special talents which are very useful. So you see, I can’t allow you to harm either of them.”
“It’s not Anna I want to harm,” I said, locking eyes with Alexander.
“Well, that’s the interesting thing.” Lucifer gave me a pitying smile and I could tell what he was about to say was not going to be good. “Anna is bonded to Alexander. If you harm him, you harm her.”
“Bonded?” My words echoed through the silver room. “Bonded how?”
I could see Alexander’s triumphant smile out of the corner of my eye, and I wanted to throttle him so badly my body ached with the need for it.
“All of my commanders are bonded to me. And in turn, some of them bond their followers to them. Alexander, why don’t you show her?” Lucifer waved a hand at Alexander.
Alexander held out his right arm and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. The skin on his forearm began to glow, and a thin red spiral appeared, starting at the wrist and encircling his arm to the elbow. Interspersed between the lines of the spiral were runes, in the same sort of sharp-edged writing I’d seen on the obsidian door. Demonic runes.
“What exactly does that mean?” I asked, still not quite sure I understood. I had a suspicion, and hoped very much that I was wrong.
“It means part of my essence has passed to Alexander, and part of his to me.”
I turned to Alexander. “So you’re part—”
“Part demon,” he finished, a broad smile on his face.
My eyes flickered to Anna. “Which means you’re part demon, too.”
She didn’t answer verbally, but lifted her arm defiantly. The spiral and runes lit up along her pale skin like fresh blood. I was both crushed and slightly hopeful. On the one hand, my sister was part demon. On the other, maybe this whole bond thing explained why she was so cold and disengaged. Maybe there was still hope for her. If I could somehow kill Alexander or break the bond without taking her down in the process.
“So now I hope you see that we must all get along,” said Lucifer with an encouraging smile. “Your sister is bo
nded to me and Alexander, and I hope you will join us. Help me bring freedom to your supernatural brethren. Freedom from an eternity in one realm, when you should be free to travel in any realm you wish.” He paused and anchored his eyes to mine. “Will you help us, Zyan?”
I looked steadily back at him. “Everything you’ve said sounds true and just. I do want freedom for myself, and the other supernaturals.” I paused, choosing my words carefully for once. His eyes seemed to glow like a dying star. “But the feeling in my gut tells me your words are nothing but a net of deception.”
His eyes widened and were truly terrible for a moment before he laughed and his face relaxed into a smile. “Ah, Zyan. Your honesty is admirable.”
I smiled backed at him. “Well, since we’re being honest, we both know I can’t lie to you. Otherwise I most certainly would have.”
Lucifer chuckled. “I suspected you might feel this way. Which is why of course I’m leaving nothing to chance. Anna?”
My head whipped toward my sister, and my eyes had just reached hers when my whole body froze. I couldn’t move a muscle. I struggled with all my might, but I couldn’t so much as wiggle my nose. I tried to ask what was happening, but of course my throat and mouth were paralyzed, too. Anna’s eyes were locked on mine. She was somehow controlling me, utterly and completely.
“Interesting isn’t it?” Alexander asked. “In addition to the vampire assets I imbued her with, Anna can control other supernaturals. Both physically and mentally. It’s how we broke into HR headquarters so easily. In case you were wondering.” He winked. “Yes, she is truly one of a kind.”
I was unable to react to this shocking news in any way, though my mind churned. Had Alexander known she had these powers before he turned her? Or was he just lucky? And with powers like that, she could control him in a heartbeat. She could dominate all the supes, including the forces of Heaven. Which is why he had to bind her to him. And also extra insurance against me trying to kill him. It was all so perfectly diabolical. God, I hated him.
Martinis with the Devil Page 17
