From Hell with Love (32 page)

“I’ve heard something like that,” Niccolo offered, which caused the Snake King to shudder with laughter again.

“Oh, little Horsemen, you have no idea.  What got written down in that little text you humanssss are so fond of…  The real sssstory has its own twistsss and turnsss,” Purson hinted before using the end of his tail to play with Sitri’s translucent dress.  The demon just slapped away the reptilian extension and waved her finger in front of Purson.

“You think I’m going to let you do that in the middle of all these people?” she asked, the king shrugging playfully before replying.

“You can’t blame a king for trying.  It’s treason in sssome provincesss,” he hissed out before turning and seeing a squat, purple demon approaching them.  Niccolo could already see the flies buzzing about the famous lord and almost did not notice Purson’s reaction.  “Oh, damn, he’sss going to need some sort of nonsenssse.  Sitri,” he said before turning to the beautiful woman, “take thisss one for me.”

“Purson, don’t you dare,” she commanded, adopting a stern expression, but with alarming speed the Serpent King slinked away and the Horsemen were left to greet the fat, purple demon.

“Beelzebub, how are you?” Niccolo asked, already wondering how they were going to rid themselves of the power merchant.  Beelzebub had a strange mixture of amphibian and insect features; his upper body was similar to a bullfrog, his purple skin glistened with viscous ooze, but his insect head complete with compound eyes made him look like a walking contradiction.  He always seemed to be watching everyone at all times, and Niccolo just had to hope the merchant demon was not part of the Cult of Ascension.

“Just wonderful, Horseman, just wonderful.  You have no idea how hard it is to negotiate between the provinces during the year.  They’re just so catty and jealous,” Beelzebub said as he wiped his brow with a white handkerchief, green liquid soaking the piece of cloth.  The Lord of Flies had never been known for his hygiene, but Niccolo had to wonder why the demon chose to look like that.

“It’s just a way for them to distract themselves,” Cadmus interjected, which brought all the compound eyes of Beelzebub to simultaneously stare at the reaper.  The purple demon in the short robes continued for a moment, but eventually let out a short laugh.

“Quite right, quite right.  Well, in any case, these councils are the best time to get some of the more…controversial deals underway.  I don’t have to wait for correspondence.  Now, gentlemen, lady boy,” Beelzebub said before turning to Sitri and bowing slightly, “I have to continue my pursuit of our friend, Purson.  I’m not sure
why
he thinks he can keep running away from me.”

“What do you need from him?” Niccolo asked, which brought a smile from the purple demon.

“It’s not what
I
need, Niccolo, and you should know that.  It’s what
everyone else
needs,” the Lord of Flies said as he walked past them, finding his way along the crowds. 

“Is he someone we need to worry about?” Cadmus asked Sitri in a low voice, which caused the three of them to move closer to each other.  The hermaphrodite looked at Cadmus for the briefest moment before laughing.

“Beelzebub?  Please, he has nothing to gain by the end of the world.  He’s far more interested in coin than anything else.”

“What about Purson?” Niccolo asked, which made the shape-changing demon giggle for a moment before regaining her senses.  When she turned to Niccolo, she had to wipe away a tear from her eye.

“Purson and Lucifer have always been great friends.  He’s a sneaky one, that’s for sure,” she said before looking over the crowds of demons to find Purson backed into a corner with Beelzebub offering him no retreat, “but he wouldn’t turn against the Devil, now.  Purson was one of the first Fallen to join Lucifer’s rebellion.”

“I thought all of the kings were big supporters,” Niccolo said before scanning the hall for suspicious characters.  Some people he definitely recognized from the different Quarters of Dis, but there were quite a few strangers.  After a moment, his eye wandered to a behemoth in brown robes standing at the other end of the hall.   The creature was hunched over, but Niccolo could tell that it was at least fifteen feet tall.  What bothered Niccolo was the massive, three foot long mask that seemed to be directed toward him.

“Some,” Sitri said as she started to walk through the crowd, guiding them past gaudy demons immersed in conversation, “but some joined because they didn’t want to be on the losing side of a war.”

“And some of them regret that, now,” Cadmus said, which brought a coy smile from their guide.

“Oh, Cadmus, I’m glad you’re here.  It’s so much easier than explaining everything to Nico,” she purred, but the leper merely rolled his eyes.

“So do you know which people we need to keep an eye on?” Niccolo asked, almost bumping into a fat little demon on stilts and only halting for a moment to excuse himself.  His eye kept falling on the huge creature at the end of the hall, the massive mask seemed to follow his movement.  It was painted gold with a blue cross going through the middle, but now that Niccolo was getting closer, he could see the blue orbs burning in the dark space cut out for its eyes.

“Certain members of court will likely follow the kings of their province, and of course we need to worry about the men they brought with them,” Sitri said before smiling at a waiter and accepting three glasses of wine from his tray.  She then turned around and shoved two of the glasses into the hands of her students, and then motioned from them to huddle around her.  “Now, short history lesson.”

“Over there,” she said before pointing at Beleth, “is Beleth.  He was one of the strongest of Adonai’s sons and could really only be matched by our Lucifer.  If we’re looking for major threats who could kill Lucifer, he would be one of our suspects,” she mentioned, smiling the entire time and watching the demons surrounding them.  Luckily, the constant conversations were enough to drown out any words from more than a few feet away.

“We’ve met him.  Killed one of his own men in front of us.  He doesn’t seem nice and cuddly,” Niccolo whispered, but he kept his eye on the mask at the end of the hall.  The creature had started to stand up, which made Niccolo turn back to his companions for the moment.  He did not want the thing to notice him noticing it.

“He’s certainly not that, and he does
not
have a soft spot for humanity, but he’s also fairly high profile.  It seems unlikely that he would want to turn demons feral or cause the end of the world.  If he hates anyone more than Lucifer, it’s probably Adonai.”

“That doesn’t remove his threat,” Cadmus said, which caused Sitri to nod almost imperceptibly.

“True enough.  Now they,” she said before turning to point behind them, “are Zagan and Balam.”

“We met Zagan outside.  Already a fan,” Niccolo said, but his gaze was on the other demon that Zagan was hugging around the shoulder.  The demon was just as large as the bull-headed King, if not larger, but his appearance was disconcerting.  His head was a combination of a grizzly bear and a ram; he had large, black horns spiraling out from his head and his teeth were that of a goat, but almost everything else about his face was that of a bear.  The rest of his body was more of the same.  Although he had the muscles and paws of a bear, the rest of him seemed more suited to a goat, with knobby joints and tufts of hair in odd places.

“Zagan is certainly one of the well-liked kings and he makes sure his subjects are happy, drunk or both.  He does what he can to make Hell more enjoyable,” Sitri explained, but she continued to stare at the king trapped under Zagan’s arm.  “Balam, however, is one of the least-liked, and I have no doubt Zagan’s making fun of him for that right now.”

“Why is he so unlikeable?” Niccolo asked, which caused the hermaphrodite to let out a bitter laugh.

“Just spend five minutes with him.  But, really, it comes down to the fact that he’s completely stubborn and hard-headed.  He always thinks he’s right,” she said, which caused Cadmus to clink his wine glass against the one in Niccolo’s hand.

“Be careful, that could be your future,” he warned, but Sitri just shook her head before continuing.

“Well, the key difference is that Balam is almost
never
right.  He’s the only king who was almost replaced because of his stupidity.  If he’s part of this little cult, he’s not going to be a leader, but I wouldn’t bet against his membership.  He loves being part animal,” she said before nodding away from the two kings and heading toward the other end of the hall.

“How is he still a king if he’s that stupid?” Niccolo asked, which made Sitri look at him with disapproval before rushing up to him and whispering in his ear.

“Lower your voice while we’re moving.  We don’t know who’s listening,” she said before drawing back and leading them to a somewhat empty space on the right side of the hall.  “To answer your question, some demons are just
that
strong.  The only demons who could hope to oust Balam are the other kings and
trust me
,” she said before waving around her wine glass.  “None of them want another ounce of responsibility.”

“Seems to be a pretty common trait,” Cadmus observed, which made Sitri cross her arms.

“Lucifer’s carrying the guilt of leading his followers into Hell. 
That’s
what claiming responsibility does to you.  Now that, over there,” she said before pointing down a few groups of people, but Niccolo did not get a chance to hear the rest of her explanation.  He felt a hand on his left shoulder, which quickly spun him around.

“Nico!  So glad you could get here before the council!” Paimon almost screamed as she brought him into her embrace.  The Horseman was barely able to react and brought his free arm around her, his thoughts scattered as the king held him tight.  Although he remembered her vacant, white eyes and how powerful she could be, Niccolo could still feel his heart pumping faster as Paimon pressed her curves against his body.  Then, as soon as their embrace had started, Paimon pushed him away and then looked over his shoulder at Sitri and Cadmus.

“Let me borrow him for a moment, you two!  I want Niccolo to meet some of the others,” she said before forcing her arm around his and dragging him away from his friends.  He looked over his shoulder to wordlessly give an excuse, but he could tell they understood.  There was not much Niccolo could do against a King of Hell.

As they walked down the Reception Hall, Niccolo felt like he was being watched.  He looked to where he had last seen the brown robes and gold mask and found that the creature had abandoned its position.  For a moment he wondered if he had seen the Shroud, but Paimon turned to him and distracted Niccolo from his thoughts.

“You’re going to love these two.  They are my favorite brothers, though Amdusias can be a little stoic,” she said loudly, but then she brought her face closer to his ear and, still smiling, continued at a lower volume.  “And they might be able to help in our little counter-plan.”

“What?” he asked, but Paimon just looked at him with a seductive smile, the vacant eyes not nearly as off-putting as usual.

“Don’t think I’m a fool, Nico.  Scratch and I go way back and I don’t want to see him dead.  I mean,” she said before bringing up her delicate hands and showing him crimson nails, which seemed to extend for a moment, “where do you think he got the name?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, but the gold woman just laughed softly as she brought him toward a pair of armored fallen drinking wine by the western wall.

“Good boy, that’s what I wanted to hear.  Now, I want you to meet two of my dearest friends.  Niccolo, this is Amdusias, and this is Asmodeus,” Paimon said as she motioned to each demon in turn.  Niccolo was at first marveling at Amdusias’ long, white hair which was braided and fell against the back of his white armor, but soon was confronted by the demon’s stern expression.  Almost every part of the man’s face seemed hewn from marble, he wore a perpetual scowl and his cheekbones seemed like they could cut through his skin with the slightest amount of pressure.  His pale blue eyes did nothing to comfort Niccolo and it took him a moment to react to the fallen angel’s attention.

“You’re scaring him, brother.  What have we told you about staring?” a kind voice issued from the other king, breaking Niccolo out of his daze.  He turned to the fallen and found that his face looked exactly the same except for the warm smile greeting him.  Looking him over, Niccolo found that this king’s green hair was much shorter and his armor was colored forest green, making him seem much more pleasant.  Then Niccolo saw the fallen’s hands and noticed the golden scales which covered them, ending with vicious, yellow claws.

“I’m merely looking at the Horseman, brother,” the white-haired demon said lazily before taking a drink from his cup.  He then turned to Paimon, who had wrapped her arms around Niccolo’s diseased limb, not bothered in the slightest by its appearance.  “This is Lucifer’s favorite?”

“Well, he doesn’t have much to choose from,” Paimon said before turning to smile at Niccolo, “but I can see why.  If he ever bothers to open his mouth, you’ll be able to tell.”

“I…” Niccolo started, unable to think up anything to say to these two demons.  He had heard stories about the twin warriors, the angels who had been influential during Lucifer’s rebellion.  Other than Astaroth and Lucifer himself, there were not many who could claim to be equals to their skills.

“Oh, what a special, intelligent boy,” Amdusias said sarcastically after a long moment, turning to his brother with skepticism.

“Hey,” Niccolo said, slipping his arm out of Paimon’s grasp and finding his courage.  “I dare you to find a mortal who could meet the Twins and not be slightly intimidated.  Take it as a compliment,” he finished before crossing his arms and meeting Amdusias’ gaze.  The fallen angel sighed before looking into his wine.

“I take it back, he’s certainly special,” he said before lifting the glass to his lips.  Asmodeus clinked the glass with his own, almost sloshing wine onto his brother.