Evenstar (68 page)

Lucifer ignored them and looked around the Sanctuary.
 
“This place is a mess.”

Paimon rolled his eyes.
 
“Yeah, well, I think it’s safe to say that part is your fault.”

Lucifer opened the door to the rest of the palace.
 
“We need to talk soon.”
 
He stuck his head out.
 
“COME.”

Dahlia pushed him aside.
 
“NOW.”
 
She laughed.
 
“I can do the voice too.”

Lucifer tossed her back with a grin on his face.
 
Dahlia kicked him into a wall, cracking the stone.
 
Lucifer tossed her to the ground, sending up dust.
 
Paimon and Furcas gaped.
 
Dahlia laughed it off and threw a chunk of stone at Lucifer’s head.
 
Lucifer grinned and chased her around the room.
 
Paimon and Furcas knotted together to avoid them.

Helion got to the room first, Whitney at his side, panting.
 
The pair gaped at the near-naked foursome.
 
Dahlia leapt for Whitney.
 
“You are alive!”

Whitney hugged her.
 
“You have red eyes!”

Dahlia squeezed her.
 
“That is the first thing you have to say to me?”

Whitney pouted.
 
“I’m undead, so your comment was a little insensitive too.”

Both girls laughed and knocked into Helion.
 
Helion picked them up and moved out of the way.
 
Andy and Belial arrived holding hands.
 
The room went quiet as everyone looked between them expectantly.
 
Belial smiled.
 
“No we did not
do it
, so stop smirking, Furcas.”

Paimon sighed.
 
“Obviously.
 
No one says
do it
unless they’re a virgin or a twelve-year-old.
 
What did you do, Andy?
 
Talk the whole time and miss out?”

Andy grinned.
 
“Fuck off, Paimon.”

Berith and Apple reached the door behind them.
 
Apple crawled over Andy and hit the floor.
 
She was disheveled, bruised, sweaty, and smiling.
 
She hugged Dahlia.
 
“Never got a chance to say it, but thanks for healing me.”

Dahlia hugged her back.
 
“You are welcome.”

Furcas smiled at Apple.
 
“Welcome to the red-eye club, we number three.”

“Two and a half.”
 
Paimon coughed.

Furcas stomped on Paimon’s foot.

Apple looked at Furcas’ eye.
 
“Weird!”

Berith pushed his way inside.
 
He bowed to Lucifer and Dahlia.
 
“You made the surface eventful.”

Lucifer lost his smile.
 
“Did many humans die?”

Berith grinned.
 
“Probably.
 
Flora went wild.
 
Cities have a lot more park space now.”

Lucifer scowled.
 
“Shit.”

The Fallen did a double take.
 
The only one not looking surprised was Furcas.
 
Belial scratched her head.
 
“What?”

“Dahlia says we cannot kill any more humans.”

Dahlia held out her hands.
 
“Sorry to rain on your death parade, but Gabriel made humans like batteries.
 
Whenever one dies, the Archangels amass the energy the human collected from the planet and feed it into a weapon they built.
 
So each time you slice and dice, the Archangels are just getting stronger.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“They are going to fire this weapon at the planet, we think.”

Paimon gaped.
 
“My brother designed a fucking ray gun to blast the planet?”

Dahlia frowned.
 
“I do not know if it is gun shaped, but yeah basically.”

“That stupid fucking shit!”
 
Paimon stomped out of the room.
 
“Ungrateful, brat, idiot, fuck face!”
 
Crashes followed his progress of attacking furniture.
 
“Waste of space, mouth breathing sibling!”

Furcas smiled at everyone else.
 
“We’ll be back.”
 
He trailed after Paimon.

Tracy and a bruised Jacob passed him in the doorway.
 
Tracy head butted her way in.
 
She carried a baby in a sling on her back.
 
She jumped on Dahlia.
 
“Dahlia!”

Dahlia hugged her.
 
“You have horns, and you are gold!”

Belial took the baby from Tracy’s back.
 
“Big chubby baby!
 
Oh yeah, Dahlia, some of your friends are Lilliam now, long story.
 
Baby of death!
 
Eater of souls!
 
Death baby!”
 

Dahlia looked past Tracy to the baby.
 
It was pitch-black with silver eyes; it had a pair of red horns.
 
It laughed at Belial and a fork tongue snaked out to touch her cheek.
 
Dahlia nodded.
 
“Now
that
is some demon spawn.
 
Yours?”

Tracy swelled with pride.
 
“Yes.
 
Nodin says they’ve never seen anything like it!
 
They think it’s a new type of Lilliam, how cool is that!
 
We think we’re going to call its type a demon, just for fun.”

Dahlia gaped at Tracy.
 
“So you and Nodin huh.”

Tracy blushed and showed her a ring made out of diamond.
 
“We’re engaged.”

Belial twirled the baby around.
 
“What’s its name?”

Nodin stepped in.
 
“Satan.”

Tracy rounded on him.
 
“We have not decided that yet.”

Belial grinned.
 
“That’s perfect!
 
Satan!”
 
The baby laughed, Belial hugged it.
 
“Baby Satan!
 
Baby Satan!”

Helion sidled up to Andy and watched Belial.
 
“She is in good spirits.”

Andy grinned.
 
“She told me she loved me.”

Helion smiled and looked away.
 
“Good.”

Jacob took Tracy’s spot and hugged Dahlia.
 
“Dahlia, queen of the damned.
 
I’m so proud of my Squeegee.”

Dahlia rolled her eyes.
 
“So, what are you?”

“I’m a sylph.”

Dahlia grinned.
 
“Are they always covered in scratch marks and suspect bruises?”

Jacob shrugged.
 
“I had a good time with some other sylphs, um, earlier.”

Belial handed the baby back to Tracy and burst out laughing.
 
“You got mauled!
 
I told you so!”

Jacob grinned.
 
He stepped out of the way as Celeste entered behind him.
 
Tokala had his arms around her waist; he let go as she stepped forward.
 

Dahlia and Celeste eyed one another.
 

Celeste’s eyes turned red.
 
“I was a fucking idiot, and I’m sorry for yelling at you!
 
Apparently, I have a temper problem being a berserker!
 
But I know that now, so I’m working on it!”

Dahlia laughed and hugged her.
 
“No worries.
 
It is understandable.
 
Everyone is going through some shit at the moment.”
 

Celeste sighed.
 
“Thank you.”

Dahlia gave her friend a squeeze and let her go.
 
She frowned.
 
The sight of Celeste made her think back to recent more human events.
 
She turned to Lucifer.
 
“
What
did you do to Dillon?”

Lucifer took a step back.
 

Apple got between them.
 
“We…uh.”

Berith pushed her out of the way.
 
“We murdered him and we are not sorry about it.”

Dahlia and her once human friends gaped.
 
She went over the memory.
 
“Well, he was a dick.”

Celeste looked back at Tokala.
 
“They said he tried to rape you, so fuck him.”

Whitney hissed.
 
“He tried to rape you?
 
I hope his death was painful!”

Tokala coughed.
 
“It was.”

Jacob nodded.
 
“He was a creep anyways.”

Dahlia shrugged.
 
“True.”
 
She shook her head.
 
“We have other issues to deal with.”

The room got quiet.
 
Dahlia stepped up next to Lucifer.
 
“Whether or not the Archangels fire this weapon of theirs, we need to find a way to get restored, all of us.
 
He will not leave us alone for long.
 
He knows I escaped, I can only imagine that Michael has informed Him that Lucifer and I are together again.”

Whitney raised her hand.
 
“Are you talking about God?”
 
The others nodded.
 
She smiled.
 
“All right, I’m getting the hang of this.”

Andy folded his arms.
 
“What can we really do if He focuses all of His power here?
 
He never has before, but now?”

Berith nodded.
 
“He will obliterate us.”

Lucifer shook his head.
 
“He wants Dahlia back.
 
He will not obliterate anything while she is here.”

Dahlia nodded.
 
“This place has always been a bargaining chip, even before I escaped, and He knows it.
 
He will not destroy everything if He thinks He can use it as leverage.
 
For this reason—”

The eight first generation Lilliam children appeared in the room.
 
Dahlia and Lucifer stopped their speech.
 
Gaea looked around.
 
“Sorry for the bad timing, that sounded important.”

Dahlia shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes.
 
She ran for her children.
 
Lucifer followed.
 
The other Fallen backed out of the room quietly.
 
Ra jumped on Lucifer; Ifrit wrapped Dahlia in a hug.
 

Dahlia kissed and hugged each one.
 
She stepped back into Lucifer and looked at all eight.
 
“I am beyond happy to know that you all live and you
thrived
!”

Chronos nodded.
 
“We followed your instructions.”

Leviathan grinned.
 
“We only came out for Daddy!”

Ifrit beamed.
 
“We strengthened the shield and we hid, just like you said to.”

Lucifer eyed her.
 
“You were a very paranoid Primangel.”

Dahlia wiped her eyes.
 
“Is it paranoia if it is correct?”

He shrugged.
 
“You saved our lives.”

She smirked.
 
“Yeah well, one of us has to think ahead.”

He looked hurt.
 
“That was never my talent.”

Dahlia elbowed him.
 
“I see you more as the spontaneous in the moment, raw energy type, less thinking, more blowing shit up.
 
That is plenty useful.”

Lucifer smiled.
 
He took her hand.
 
“I want to show you what else I can do.”

She blushed.
 
“We just got done with that!”

He laughed.
 
“Though I appreciate that your mind is focused on my more carnal aspects, sadly no, this is something else.”

Gaea bowed to her parents.
 
“We were going to go visit our children anyways, but we wanted to let you know that the Archangels are watching over the shield, they bring their hosts with them.
 
All they have done is watch, but they are many, a gathering army.
 
We will see you around.”
 
The eight children vanished, leaving the pair alone.

Lucifer frowned.
 
“Michael probably has not received orders yet.”

“Perhaps.”

“Come, I still want to show you something.”

Dahlia bit her lip.
 
“Wait.
 
I forgot to ask you something.”