From Hell with Love (54 page)

“Among other things,
Scratch
,” Belial said, bringing his own shield to bear.  “Beleth cared most about that, but I only wanted Earth.”

“You want Earth?” Lucifer asked before continuing their circling motion.  The corpse-like angel across from him grinned to show the gaps in his front teeth, the holes in his cheeks showing what remained.

“Of course!  That which was given to your precious humans should have been given to us!  I don’t want to wait for the Apocalypse,
brother
.  I want it now!” he screamed before clearing the distance between them with a quick hop, striking forward with a thrust toward Lucifer’s midsection.  The fallen angel smacked away the fast blade with Morningstar and then brought his short sword crashing down at Belial’s head, which was stopped by the dark angel’s own buckler.

“Are you insane?  Adonai will just kill you there!” Lucifer shouted, grabbing Belial’s wrist, forcing his sword arm down to the ground.  Belial snarled before attacking with his buckler, catching the fallen angel by the throat and causing him to jump back after relinquishing control.

“Will he really, Lucifer?  Or did we make this deal through him?” Belial said before jumping into the air and spinning, bringing Nyx across his body in a vicious arc.  Though the blade itself was a few feet away from striking Lucifer, a black arc of energy rushed toward the Devil’s position.  Lucifer quickly jumped into the air and flipped backward, his wings just clearing the ground, and flapped them once before landing against the stone of the throne room.

“You made a fucking
deal?
” Lucifer asked, his voice almost coming out in a growl.  Belial’s corpse-like face twisted into a malicious grin as he stood up.

“
Of
course
we did.  We would be allowed to reign on Earth for a few decades, make your humans
suffer,
” he squealed in delight, chuckling before continuing, “and then when Adonai makes his new universe we’d get to be our own Gods.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Belial teased, which was more than Lucifer could take.  He gathered his divine rage into his short blade and swung it up and to the left, creating a radiant arc of energy which cut through the floor and rushed toward his brother.  The demon king jumped high in the air before flapping his wings, hovering in place while sending diseased air toward Lucifer.

“You’re a fool, Belial,” Lucifer said, his limbs shaking in his anger.  “Adonai will give you
nothing!
” Lucifer shouted, squatting down to gather power into his legs before pushing, rising into the air to meet his dark brother.  “So I will send you to nothing!”

“Strong words!” Belial screamed as he brought his blade to meet his brother.  When he brought Nyx down, creating a dark projection of anger, Lucifer brought Lux up with his own radiant weapon.  The eruption from their clash was enough to throw them both backward and sink into the high walls of the throne room.  Both fallen angels coughed for a moment, recovering from the meeting of their blades, but soon Belial looked forward with a chuckle.  “Though it looks like you’re no stronger than me, brother.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Belial,” Lucifer groaned, pushing himself out of his crater and then flapping his wings to maintain his altitude.  “For instance,” he said before looking at Belial with a smirk, “I wasn’t fooled into believing a man who hides behind a shroud.”

“Hah,” Belial laughed before pushing out of his own crater and then pumping his black wings, a solidified darkness pouring out of the stone behind him.  “You think I don’t know who the Shroud is, brother?  How foolish.”

“Oh, I know you know,” Lucifer said before rotating his right arm in its socket, setting it back to his side after feeling a satisfying pop.  He then turned his golden eyes to the fallen angel across the hall.  “It just shows how
worthless
you really are.”

At the old insult, Belial screamed and flapped his wings to launch himself at his brother.  Easily goading his opponent into a foolish rush attack, Lucifer calmly approached and waited for his time to strike.  They met closer to Lucifer’s side of the Throne Room, Belial brazenly leading with a thrust from his sword.  Lucifer merely flapped his swings powerfully just before the strike, floating above his dark brother, and then sent out a powerful arc of light just a foot above Belial’s back.

With a scream, Belial realized his mistake, but he did not have enough time to counter Lucifer’s actions.  The vicious arc of energy burned through his dark wings, causing Belial to plummet from his flight path, instead slamming into the wall behind Lucifer.  The Devil merely grabbed at Belial’s robes, the traitor stunned from the impact, and then threw him toward the ground.  The corpse-like demon gasped in pain as he fell, still feeling the ghostly pain of his separated wings, and did not even notice his sword clattering against the nearby wall.  He writhed about for a moment more before Lucifer landed on top of him, the point of Lux at Belial’s throat.

“There’s a reason he always called you worthless, brother,” Lucifer stated, drawing a furious darkness from Belial’s eye sockets. 

“I am your opposite, Lucifer!” Belial screamed before Lucifer used his knee to draw out his breath and cause him to stretch backward, forcing him to watch the scene play out by Lucifer’s shifting throne.

“He made you that way.  And yet, Belial, he
still
called you that,” Lucifer muttered, his anger for his brother more than he could bear.  Instead of desperate cries, he was met with Belial’s laughter.  “What’s so funny?”

“L-look,” Belial said before pointing toward the throne, which drew Lucifer’s gaze.  In horror, the ruler of Hell saw Purson swaying, the narrow spaces between his scales running with little streams of blood, and saw Furcas jumping forward with his spear.

“No!” he shouted, leaping from his corpse-like brother, fully aware he was already too late.  If he had not stopped to mock his brother, if he had spent less time finding out what was happening behind the scenes, Lucifer may have been able to do something.

Instead, he watched Furcas sink his spear deep into Purson’s chest, forcing a cough of blood to come out of the demonic king’s throat.  Lucifer kept running, flapping his wings to increase his speed, but Furcas was not a soul to be taken lightly.  With lightning speed the Hell Knight pulled back his spear before thrusting it higher in Purson’s body, repeating the process two more times before lowering his aim and stabbing the snake below the heart.

“Stop it!” Lucifer screamed, his golden eyes running with tears, but Furcas did not bother to heed his words.  The warrior pulled his spear upward, running the edge of the spearhead through the demon’s body and cutting into the wounds he had already made, and eventually out of Purson’s long neck, sending a shower of blood from the demon king.

In his grief, Lucifer almost blacked out.  He had lost another of his siblings due to his incompetence and his pride and it was almost more than he could handle.  When he finally regained his senses, he was looking down into the fear-stricken eyes of Furcas.  Lucifer was confused for a moment, wondering how this came to be, but then looked down at his right hand.  Lux was buried hilt-deep in the man’s chest, the life already emptying from his brown eyes.  Lucifer hardened his heart at that moment, sinking deep into his vengeance, and then shoved on Furcas’ chest.  The Hell Knight’s body fell to the ground near the shifting throne, leaving Lucifer alone with his wingless brother.

Or at least, that’s what he thought.

Lucifer turned to the left of his throne just in time to feel a burning pain in his chest.  When he looked down, he saw a bloody inch of steel protruding just to the left of his sternum.  He felt a strong hand wrap around his right shoulder before hearing a familiar voice just behind his left ear.

“You
can’t
say you didn’t see this coming.”

***

Niccolo pulled open the door to the very scene he feared.

Lucifer fell to his knees, holding his hand to his chest, and a man in a grey cloak stood behind him with a bloody knife in his right hand.  While Niccolo struggled to take it all in, the cloaked figure turned toward the entrance and slowly walked forward.

“No!” Niccolo screamed, tears coming unbidden to both healthy and ruined eyes, and ran forward, the blade forming in his diseased hand.  He was stopped in his path by Belial, who had stood up and blocked him from continuing, a grin spread across his grey face.

“Where do you think you’re going, Horseman?” Belial asked, his sword and shield held in front of him while his mutilated wings oozed out dark blood.

“Get out of my way, bastard,” Niccolo said, his voice shaking with violence.  He was about to attack him when the Shroud walked closer and held up his hand, motioning for them to stop.

“Hey, hey, we’ve had plenty of violence today,” the cloaked figure said, holding the blade in his left hand lazily.  There was something about the mystery demon which seemed very familiar, but in his rage, Niccolo could not quite place it in his memories.

“I don’t believe it,” Cadmus muttered as he walked up to Niccolo’s side, his scythe held to his right.  Niccolo glanced at him, still holding his bastard sword in front of him, and furrowed his brow.

“Don’t believe what?” he asked, unable to wait for the reaper’s answer, as a sharp cry went out from the demon king ahead of them.  The Horsemen turned to find Belial standing straight up, the same dagger used to kill Lucifer now bursting through his own chest.  He stood there for a moment, despair and confusion displayed through his features.

“But…why?” he asked, drawing a light laugh from the cloaked figure behind him.  The Shroud lowered his head to Belial’s ear and set his hand on the demonic king’s right shoulder, just as he had done to Lucifer.

“Word’s going around that you’re
worthless
.  Thought you should know,” the Shroud teased before withdrawing the blade and pushing Belial’s corpse toward the Horsemen.  Niccolo looked at the fallen body, his thoughts muddled, and then turned his attention back to the cloaked figure who had murdered Lucifer.

“Who…who are you?” he asked, his voice shaking as his mind was flooded with mixed emotions.  The demon behind the hood laughed briefly before setting his right hand on his hip, turning slightly to face Cadmus.

“You want to tell him or should I?” he asked, causing Cadmus to grip the handle of his weapon even tighter.

“Enough fucking games,” Cadmus said, making the cloaked figure sigh before shaking its head beneath the hood.  After displaying his disdain, the demon raised its grey-skinned hands and pulled back his hood.

“
AZAZEL?
” Niccolo shouted, forcing a grin from the blindfolded demon grin.

“Oh,
c’mon
!” he cried, turning to Cadmus in disbelief.  “You
really
didn’t think it was me?”

“Why did you do it?” Cadmus asked, making the traitor tilt his head in scorn.

“I was promised gold?” he suggested, which made the reaper furrow his brow.  Azazel sighed before crossing his arms, lazily holding the dagger that had killed two demonic kings.  “Fine, I did it for glory,” he said, waiting for the Horsemen to react before shaking his head.  “For women?  Booze?  What do you want me to say?”

“The truth,” Niccolo snarled, his anger flowing out of him and his new power threatening to break him apart.  At that, the grey-skinned demon grinned and somehow seemed to stare right into Niccolo’s soul.

“Why should I give you that?” he teased, chuckling lightly.  Azazel stepped to the side, forcing Cadmus to walk around so that they could both face him, and then he started to circle around them.  “How about my own world, kids?  Would you believe that?”

“You want your own world?” Cadmus asked in disbelief, drawing a shrug out of the blindfolded demon.

“Guys, you’re part of the Apocalypse.  You
know
the world is going to end because that’s what you were trained for,” he said, making Niccolo swipe his blade in fury.

“We don’t have to, Azazel!  That’s up to us!”

“Oh,
is it
, Nico?” Azazel asked, turning to face them before adopting a mock look of surprise.  It was replaced by scorn as he laughed at the men intent on killing him.  “I’m pretty sure if
you
don’t,
someone’s
going to end it.  It’s human nature, and, for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure you inherited that from Adonai.”

“What makes you think you’ll have your own world?” Cadmus asked, causing Azazel to smile before he continued circling around them, his tail swishing underneath his cloak.

“Adonai told me I could have one.  Just had to betray the brothers and sisters that led me to live in a dark, crusty old dimension that’s teeming with little weak souls, like yourselves,” he teased, walking toward the entrance lazily and setting his hand on the door.  “And honestly, guys, I actually don’t mind you, I’d say you’re two of the good ones, but it really comes down to one fact.  The world’s ending and the rats gotta board the last ship out of port.  Shame, really.”

“What makes you think you’re going to leave here alive?” Niccolo asked, drawing a chuckle from the blindfolded demon as he pushed open the left door and turned, his hand on the handle to the other door.

“Well, you’re going to have your hands full,” he said before flicking his wrist lightly and tearing the second door off of its hinges easily, revealing a squat yellow demon with a wide grin across his face.

“Heeeeeeeeeere’s MAMMON!” the Hellborn yelled before jumping into the room and throwing his fist into the air, his loincloth swaying in the wind.

“Have fun, you guys,” Azazel said before yawning and turning to walk away.  He tilted his head slightly to look over his shoulder.  “If you kill the Hellborn, come down to the Overlook.  The next act is down there,” he said before looking forward and lazily strolling away, leaving Cadmus and Niccolo alone with the son of the Devil.

“Hah, like they’re walking away from this one,” Mammon said before hopping up from his pose and then started to stretch his legs.  When he straightened back up and threw his right arm across his chest, holding it back with his left in order to stretch his chest muscles, the yellow demon smiled with malice.  “I mean, let’s be serious.  You’re my dinner.”