For the Hell of It (Razing Hell Book 1)

by Cate Corvin

  As a small drop of holiness in a larger choir, I’d been beaten and broken down and remade in Gabriel’s image. Trained to descend onto a battlefield and slaughter everything on it with extreme prejudice.

  Even demons like Vyra.

  Personal choice didn’t come into it. Gabriel pointed the Sword of Light at a demon legion, told us to wipe it clean and salt the earth, and we did. If I’d met her a day before my fall, I never would’ve seen her as what she was, only as a nemesis.

  I couldn’t even bring myself to consider what would’ve happened if I’d met Tascius on the battlefield.

  Or even Azazel.

  Or… Lucifer. He’d let me keep my secrets, then offered me the hand of friendship.

  Belial would’ve destroyed our entire choir in a heartbeat, but he didn’t just encourage the bloodlust that had been instilled in me by the archangels. He celebrated it as the natural part of me that it now was.

  My stomach churned as I pushed away from the table. I had no idea who I was becoming, but I was excited to see.

  And that made me a sinner to the core.

  I held back a gasp, stiffening as I almost walked right into a torso. A very wide, muscular torso decorated with inky tattoos from throat to wrist, curling over his chest and further down… and framed with oil-slick black wings.

  I looked up into Lucifer’s silver eyes and wondered if he was able to read my swirling thoughts, the conflict that threatened to tear my mind apart.

  “Good morning, Melisande.” He grabbed a crimson apple from the table and bit into its shiny skin. I was forcibly reminded of Eve’s apple and the serpent who’d offered it.

  If he could read my thoughts, he gave no sign. “Hello again, Lucifer.”

  He touched my shoulder, guiding me out of the parlor and down a hall I hadn’t delved into yet. After my first visit to Blackchapel, where I’d come across a room packed with harps made of bones and hair on my way to the dining room- which Vyra had led me away from with stammered excuses- I’d lost my taste for blind exploration.

  The hall culminated in a wide balcony overlooking the Fields of Asphodel. I leaned against the balustrade, peering at the Fields far below. Shades wandered aimlessly through the grass, but they avoided the huge hole in the earth where Blackchapel had once rested on the ground.

  “Here, catch.”

  I turned and raised my hand automatically, catching the spear Lucifer had tossed to me. The iron butt clinked against stone when I rested it on the ground. “Is this part of my magic training?” I asked, but there was a hope fluttering around in my ribcage that refused to be suppressed.

  “I noticed you like spears,” Lucifer said, ignoring my question. “Every time you fight, you reach for a spear if you’re given a choice.”

  “I like the reach.” I stroked the smooth ebony shaft of the spear. “Swords are my second favorite.”

  Lucifer ran his fingers over a row of spears on a weapon rack. He finally chose one with a pale wood shaft.

  “They’re my favorite, too.” He gave me an arch look over his shoulder. “Add that to the list of ways in which we’re alike.”

  I leaned against the balustrade again, craving the sensation of fresh air against my wings. They unfurled and spread wide, practically quivering at the anticipation of so much open space. “I admit that maybe we have a few more things in common than I originally thought.”

  I snapped them back against me when Lucifer turned, satisfied with the balance and weight of his weapon. His own massive wings flexed easily, the rainbow colors sliding over each dark pinion.

  “Not that many, though,” I added hastily. I couldn’t forget what he was. The heir to Satan’s throne.

  Son of the Dragon.

  Lucifer smiled at me like he knew why I’d backpedaled so quickly. “More than you know.”

  He crossed the balcony in several long strides, sweeping his dark gold hair back from his face. My eyes followed the movement like a hawk.

  “Because I know what you really want, and I can give it to you.” The quicksilver light in his eyes was back, tugging at my heart with every gleam.

  “That’s because I already told you what I want.” I tightened my grip on the spear. “You can blame Azazel for not allowing me to meet with your friend on the roof.”

  “Gabriel? No, not him.” Lucifer stepped a little closer, invading my personal space bubble. My breath caught in my throat when I felt the heat of his skin without him even touching me. “Though he’s on the list. We’re going hunting.”

  Excitement buzzed through me like electricity. “Hunting what, exactly?”

  “A lamia. She’s been eating the shades in the Fields and pissing off the harpies. But what I really mean is that you’re going to do the hunting, and I’m going to lounge around and… observe.”

  There was nothing innocent in his smile. In fact, I would’ve bet this lovely new spear that observe could be translated to eyefuck, if the way he was looking at me was any indication.

  “The heir to Hell is going to sit back and do nothing?” I couldn’t resist the urge to poke at him and see if he had a weak spot. I clicked my tongue. “Sounds to me like you’re being lazy.”

  “Does it?” His wings unfurled and he jumped lightly onto the balustrade, tilting his head for me to join him. “The way I see it, I get to sit back and relax while you take care of my dirty work.”

  I flew up, landing lightly on my toes. The drop called to me. “In other words, lazy.”

  “Delegation of resources.” Lucifer’s grin was a little crooked, his upper lip a little fuller than the lower, but that tiny flaw made his otherwise-perfect face all the more appealing.

  I leaned in, my shoulder bumping his arm. “Lazy,” I whispered.

  “I’ll show you lazy,” he grumbled, and dove off the side of Blackchapel.

  His wings spread wide like a stain across the sky and he disappeared into the misty air of the Fields.

  I gripped my spear, unfurled my own wings, and plunged.

  My stomach flipped as I plummeted towards the ground, snapping my wings out to catch the air and sailing after him. Cool bits of mist evaporated as I passed through them, leaving a fine spray of droplets over my bare face and shoulders.

  The feeling of freedom was breathtaking, filling me with a bright, clear happiness.

  Lucifer’s form was barely visible through the mist. I followed the shadow in the sky, ignoring the shades who turned up their faces. There was nothing but the sky and air, the joy of empty space as I flapped hard and caught up to him.

  I realized he was leading me deeper into the Fields, away from Dis.

  And I was breathing harder than I should’ve been, my back muscles already starting to burn. It’d been weeks since I’d really been able to fly long-distance the way I needed to.

  Lucifer spun in midair, allowing me to catch up to him.

  Much too fast. I almost crashed right into him. A muscle twinged in my back as I just narrowly avoided plowing right into his chest.

  “You want to talk shit about laziness, let’s see who kills the lamia first,” he said.

  I hefted my spear, comforted by its solid weight. Any weapon of the Grigori would cut right through a lesser demon like a hot knife through butter. “It’ll be me, of course.”

  “We’ll see.” Lucifer tucked his wings and plunged out of sight, leaving a roil of mist behind.

  I shook my head and kept flying, deeper into the Fields of Asphodel. When I was sure Lucifer was far behind me, I finally spiraled down, cutting swathes through the mist until I landed in ash-gray grass that came up to my knees.

  The silence of the Fields was absolute, pressing in on my eardrums like a solid weight. I glanced around, but there were no shades here. Even the little purple flowers they ate were sparse.

  “No shades means a lamia,” I said under my breath, wincing as I raised my drooping wings. The muscle I’d pulled was tightly knotted, a dull ache between my shoulders.

  I moved through the
grass silently the way Gabriel had taught me, my spear raised for any surprise attacks. Every once in a while I fluttered upwards and passed over denser grass, sending the mist swirling away each time.

  The veils of fog seemed to have a life of their own, moving like they were watching me. The sensation of eyes on my back made my skin itch, but I was sure that it wasn’t a lamia. They were too temperamental and bold to be sneaky.

  I’d barely made it another twenty yards when the fog coiled up and curled aside, parting like curtains.

  A strangely familiar structure stood in the Fields, the gray grass growing along a chain link fence thick with barbed wire…

  I pushed through the field to the entrance of what we’d jokingly called Fort Omega in the End Days. It’d once been a training base, but when the remnants of the U.S. Army had fallen back and bunkered down in the only remaining fortified facility, someone with a sense of gallows humor had renamed it.

  We’d been the last.

  I walked right up to the blockade and reached out to touch the barbed wire. It felt solid under my fingertips, the rusted wire scraping my skin and making a twanging noise when I released it.

  “This isn’t possible.” My whisper fell flat in the dead air. I gripped the spear tighter, my chest tightening.

  I blinked as shades rose from the grass inside Fort Omega’s blockade. The round green domes of Army-issue helmets hunched like turtles. Eyes bright with fear gazed out at me, every rifle aimed front and center.

  The grass near me rustled, and my heart skipped several beats as a skeletal white horse loped past me.

  I looked up at the Horseman’s cold face. An ancient gold crown gleamed on his forehead. He didn’t look at me, just continued his inexorable path towards Fort Omega like I wasn’t there.

  I couldn’t close my eyes. Cold sweat slicked my palms and the back of my neck as the last of the Army opened fire on the Horseman, the bullets passing through both of us like air.

  He swung a golden sword and took down the chain link fence, the barbed wire barricade, and the horse stepped through.

  Fingers released triggers. Weapons hit the grass. Everyone stared up at Conquest with blank awe and worship…

  And fell on each other.

  I had to either see or hear this. I chose to clap my hands over my eyes, blocking out the sight of my last moments. Screams filled the air, wet gurgles as people choked on their own blood, and that…

  That shriek, that rasped roar, that was me. Conquest’s converts had dragged the second shift from their barracks.

  They’d slaughtered us like animals.

  I took a rattling breath, my heart pounding in my ears, unwilling to watch it all over again.

  The screams stopped abruptly, like a hand had descended over the Field and crushed Fort Omega out of existence again.

  After a minute that felt like an age, I uncovered my eyes.

  Fort Omega was gone. An endless expanse of grass stretched in front of me, as untouched as if it’d never been there at all.

  I wiped my palms on my pants, picked up my spear from where I’d dropped it, and turned. Whatever this field was, it wasn’t the Fields of Asphodel, where there was nothing but empty peace.

  This was a nightmare.

  A tall, broad shape was moving towards me through the mist. I almost breathed a sigh of relief. Lucifer had caught up.

  But it wasn’t Lucifer who parted the fog. My breath stopped dead, frozen in my lungs as Gabriel smiled at me, shining gold and bright as a beacon despite the pearly light of Hell.

  He held the Sword of Light, flames dancing along its blade as he strode through the grass, and a halo spun above his head, spitting out streams of white light.

  I hefted the spear as his white wings spread wide, his lips drawing back over his teeth in a snarl, and I didn’t hesitate to throw it right at him with all my strength, aiming for his heart.

  A shadow ducked aside as Gabriel flew backwards. His body was hidden by the grass, but the shaft of my spear remained upright, marking where he’d fallen.

  I blinked, gasping to pull air into my fear-frozen lungs, and Lucifer was there in front of me, gripping my shoulders. His wings rose and spread around us, blocking out the sight of the mist and Gabriel’s blood painted across the grass.

  “Melisande.”

  I looked up at him, my heart still beating in my throat. I tasted blood, the acrid taste of terror, and clenched my trembling fingers into fists.

  “Gabriel was here, and- and Fort Omega,” I whispered. My lips were numb.

  I couldn’t have killed Gabriel. He was like the Princes, practically an unstoppable force.

  “Look at me.” Lucifer raised my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. I gazed into quicksilver, and my heart rate slowed, my vibrating muscles unclenching. “Gabriel isn’t here. Fort Omega isn’t here. These are just memories, Melisande. You went too far past the Field.”

  I nodded jerkily, taking a deep breath.

  “You’re going to hold my hand, close your eyes, and walk with me.”

  “Yes,” I said. I didn’t have the will to fight him on it.

  Lucifer touched my face, brushing his thumbs over my eyelids. “Keep them closed.” He didn’t release me, sliding his hand down to mine without losing contact once.

  I gripped his fingers so tightly I felt his bones creak, and took a step when he led me forward. The grass whipped at my legs and bare feet, and we paused only once.

  Lucifer grunted as he pulled my spear out of Gabriel’s body and pressed it into my free hand.

  That wasn’t Gabriel, my mind whispered. So what was it?

  Lucifer finally stopped. One of his feathers touched my cheek, making my skin tingle. “We’re in the Fields of Asphodel, Melisande. You can open your eyes.”

  I released a long sigh of relief and took in the mists of the fields. Several shades picked their way through a nearby stand of asphodel, eating the blossoms. There was something comforting in the sight. “What was that place?”

  “A tear in the world,” Lucifer said grimly. “A rip in reality from the past. Everything that ever happened lives there, but it gets… hungry, for lack of a better word. It likes new people to come by and feed it their memories.”

  I looked down at my spear. The point was stained red, and blood was drying on the shaft. “I knew it couldn’t have been him.”

  “No.” Lucifer smiled, but his jaw was tight. “You killed the lamia. She was hunting you.”

  I felt emotionally drained by the sight of my last day on earth and the one who’d raised my soul from my corpse to torment me in Heaven. It was impossible to be excited about winning the hunt. “Oh. Good.”

  “Looks like I’m still the lazy one,” he said lightly. “Let’s go.”

  I didn’t question him, just tossed my spear aside to be swallowed by the creeping grass of the Fields, and took flight with him.

  A sigh of relief escaped me when the form of Blackchapel appeared overhead. We wove between the spinning rocks floating beneath it, swept up over the balcony, and Lucifer grabbed my hand again, tugging me after him to the rooftops.

  I settled on the slate tiles, my left wing shaking from the pain of the pulled muscle.

  Lucifer sat down and patted the tiles in front of him. I tucked in my wings and curled myself between his legs, keeping myself in a tight ball to avoid touching any part of him.

  He was nothing like what Gabriel had described. I wished it had been him in that memory-tear, that I could’ve finally thrust a spear through his dark heart and rid Heaven of him.

  Lucifer stretched his legs out and pulled me closer. I cringed when I felt his hands stretch my wing to the side, lightly touching my feathers. He found the knot in my shoulder blade and pushed against it with his thumb, making me hiss.

  “You’ll be fine,” he muttered. “You can’t go weeks without flying.”

  “It’s not like I choose not to fly.” I wrapped my arms around my legs, cradling my knees under my chin while Lucifer w
orked over my aching shoulder. “The arena’s big, but it’s not big enough.”

  “Belial knows.” The fallen angel gripped my shoulder carefully, like he was expecting me to jerk away. His knuckles dug into my back, but under the pain, the muscle was slowly unknotting. “He and Azazel have their differences, but even Azazel knows why he does the things he does.”

  The far rim of Dis was just visible from our perch. I searched the city, but the edge of the roof cut off my view of anything below the Third Circle. “And why do you do the things you do?”

  “Maybe I just have a soft spot for my kind.” I heard the smile in his voice.

  “Mmm.”

  His fingers tensed at the sound of my noncommittal noise. “You don’t believe me?”

  He moved my wing again, flexing the delicate bones, and stopped when I cringed again. I relaxed when he found a new spot to rub.

  “I was told you were a liar and a deceiver.” Lucifer just moved aside a lock of my hair and kept massaging my back, giving no sign if he was irritated or not. “And that when others fell, if they didn’t join your legion immediately, that you ripped out their feathers and ate them.”

  His hands paused. “No. That would be my father.”

  I turned my head, just barely able to see him from my peripheral vision. “You have to understand, Gabriel was all I knew after death.”

  “And when it’s all you know, it’s hard to break away.” His hands resumed their gentle movement. “I understand. I suffered to escape, too.”

  I reached out to touch his calf. His muscles were covered by pants, but I felt the tension under them. The tattoos were inked all the way down, covering the top of his foot.

  I wanted to see them all in full. He must’ve spent years defacing his body, but the end result was a work of art.

  “Do you suffer now?” He moved his leg a little closer, and I traced the thick black swirls with one fingertip. “Or does it get better?”

  He knew what I meant. He’d traded Gabriel’s demands for Satan’s reign. From one master to another.

  Lucifer’s fingers lingered on the nape of my neck. He could wrap his entire hand around my throat and crush me alive if he wanted to.

  “I don’t suffer now,” Lucifer said, his voice gruff. His touch slid down my spine and I shivered, not unpleasantly. “And I can promise…”