Lord of Hell (Alex Holden) (11 page)

It was a risk, but I turned my back on him and headed for the heat-shimmer effect of the barrier. I hoped I could get out.

“Stop!”

I whirled, reaching for Animus. Maybe he wasn’t going to let me go without a fight.

The shadow being hadn’t moved. “What is your intent with the book?”

I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword, just in case. “I want to use it to help me plan a war on Heaven.”

His glowing blue eyes watched me intently. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because Jehovah is an asshole and he’s trying to destroy the world. I tried asking him to stop, but he refuses. So the only thing to do is
make
him stop.” That was another problem. Even if we were able to defeat him in battle, then what? Would I be able to lock him up in Hell to keep him from trying to cause the Apocalypse again? What would be strong enough to hold a god?

“You want to take Heaven for yourself and rule over the humans?”

“No.” Had he listened to me at all? “I want to save the world.”

He blinked, finally lowering his sword. “You want to use the book to save the world?”

Now he had it. “Yes.”

“What about the humans?”

“They get to keep living. And probably fucking things up, but whatever. At least they’ll have a chance.”

“You don’t hate them?”

“No.”

The shadow being put his sword away. Animus hummed happily, the vibration going up my arm. I let go of her and the hum kept going through my hip and leg. The ghost of the not-quite-demon said, “When Semiazas charged me with protecting the book, he commanded me to keep it safe from anyone who intended to harm it or to use it to harm the mortal world. You intend neither.”

The barrier around us rippled and disappeared. Behind the shadow being, an alcove appeared. Resting on a table in the middle of the niche in the rock was a large, old, hand-bound book. My heart sped up. “Can I take it, then?”

“Yes,” Semiazas said from behind me.

I turned, tensing, ready to draw Animus again. “You jackass. You threw me in here to get killed.”

“It was a test, as I said. Fighting Lyriel wouldn’t have worked, so you had to find another way to get past her and retrieve the book.”

“Wait,
her
?”

“Angels are neither male nor female, the way humans are. I am not he or she, but Semiazas refers to me as female,” the shadow being, Lyriel, said.

“Oh. Uh, okay,” I said. “So you weren’t trying to kill me?” I asked Semiazas.

“No.”

“Then why not get the fucking book yourself?”

“I can’t. If I pass by the protective spell, it will not trigger, and the book stays hidden. I have no way to retrieve it myself. I set the protection in place that way so no demon could force me to get it. Only another can trigger the spell, and Lyriel is strong enough to hold back even Satan.”

I decided I wasn’t going to kick his ass, but now I was back to not trusting him. I walked past Lyriel and she made no move to stop me. Hesitantly, I picked up the book, expecting one last trap. Like a huge round rock rolling down from the ceiling. I lifted it and waited a few seconds, holding my breath. Nothing happened.

“This book better be good, ‘cause this whole trip was a pain in the ass.” I looked at Lyriel. “You can come to the Eternal Gardens if you want.”

She looked at her friend.

“I am not allowed to enter,” Semiazas said, “but I have seen it from his window. It is a beautiful place.”

“If she comes, you can go visit her.” If they really were friends, I didn’t want to keep them apart.

“It is not a place of darkness and torment?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

So she came with us.

Chapter 13

Still holding the large book against my chest, I took them straight to the Eternal Gardens. Lyriel sighed when she saw it, and the shadows around her faded away. She became an angel. Instead of a dark being with glowing blue eyes, she became a woman clothed in flowing white, with golden hair and deep blue eyes. Huge white wings folded against her back, and her sword was now gleaming silver.

Semiazas looked at her with a soft expression that made me uncomfortable to see, like I was intruding on a secret. “You may lay down your sword now, Lyriel. Your fighting is over. There is peace here.”

She turned to him, a beautiful smile spreading across her face.

“I’ll be in my office if you need me,” I told them before leaving.

Friend. Right. I set the book down on my desk. It was bound in leather and looked old, though not as old as it was supposed to be. Thousands of years, and it had been stuck in a cave the whole time. I hoped the pages were still intact and legible. The cover was blank, no title or author. I carefully turned to the first page.

A bunch of symbols, which sort of looked like the ones Semiazas had used for his traps. Some ancient angel language, then. I could speak any language in the world and understand it. But not written language. That’s why it was still worth it to take Spanish in school.

School, shit. That started again next month. My senior year, and only the second chance I’d ever have to go to school with other kids. Would I be able to go to school and plan a war in Heaven at the same time? And what about the disasters happening all around the world? I’d need to be ready to go and help at any time.

And what about demons trying to escape Hell, like Naamah had? I couldn’t have demons showing up at school, even to tell me important stuff. I was already freaking the teachers out enough with them knowing what I was. Most of the kids were okay with it, but I didn’t want to be too distracting to them, either.

Maybe I could ask one of my messengers to disguise himself as a teenager if he needed to come to school to tell me any urgent information.

I flipped through the book while I was thinking. There were pictures, and I could sort of make out what they meant. Little red shapes represented one army, little blue shapes represented the other, and black lines like arrows and circles showed movement.
X
s to show—what? Positions held or lost? There weren’t many of those battle pictures. Did that mean there weren’t many battles? Had Lucifer’s army been defeated that easily?

If so, that wasn’t a very good sign.

A knock interrupted me. I thought it was Semiazas coming back from the Eternal Gardens. “Come in.”

Instead it was Astaroth. “My lord,” he said with a bow. “I want to apologize for my behavior.”

I quickly closed the book. Semiazas had put his protections in place for a very good reason. One of the demons could use this book to plan a takeover of Heaven and Hell, and in the process gain all the power they would need to take over the mortal world. Or destroy it. “Well, I’m the one who choked you, so I guess we’ll call it even.”

“Um… yes,” he said. “I also want to apologize for my hatred of humanity. I am…” It looked like it pained him to say the words. “…willing to attempt seeing them through your eyes.”

“So you want to try not hating them? Well, that’s a start.” How genuine was he? Or was he just sucking up? “Would you be willing to fight for them? To fight to protect the mortal world?”

“Fight for them? What do you mean, my lord?”

If I was going to war, I’d need to convince all, or at least most, of the demons to fight for me. Although I suppose getting them to do it for a chance of revenge on the forces of Heaven would work too. I’d rather have them do it for better reasons, though. So I almost told him, but as I opened my mouth, I got nervous. I still doubted Semiazas, and I trusted Astaroth even less. So what I said was, “If I took you with me to help in some disaster, say another earthquake, would you help? Or would you laugh at the humans’ suffering and make things worse?”

“I…I would follow your lead, my lord.”

“And what if I sent you alone?”

He frowned. “I have hated humans for thousands of years. This is not an easy thing to overcome, but I will try.”

“Why? Why are you willing to try? To suck up to me? To hope that if you pretend to be on my side I won’t hurt you?” I would rule by fear if I had to, but I didn’t like it.

The demon sighed. “Because you let Naamah go. She disobeyed you and deserved to be punished, but you showed her mercy. I…I felt something when that happened. Outrage that I was denied the entertainment of her being punished, but also… something else. I do not know what to call this feeling.”

I didn’t know what he might be feeling, but I hoped it was a good sign.

“And you let me go, as well. When you could have hurt me. When you could have killed me,” Astaroth said. “You killed Vetis when he challenged you. You showed mercy when Naamah begged, but strength against him when he taunted you.” He shook his head. “I have been the same for thousands of years. We have all been the same, and you have made so many alterations in such a short time. I am trying to change, too.”

Well, I supposed that was the best I could hope for. “Keep trying, then. I’m sure it’s hard for you, but if you really want it, I believe you can.” If a demon could change and stop hating humans, that was another point against destiny. If I could throw off my fate, they could too.

“Thank you, my lord.” He hesitated before adding, “Naamah has been talking to some of the others. She is praising you for your mercy. Some scorn her, but others are listening. They want to change, too.”

So not only did I have a cult on Earth, it looked like I was getting a cult down here, too. My life was so fucking weird.

I sent Astaroth to go get Naamah. I wanted to talk to her. If this war was going to work, I had to start picking leaders, forming my inner circle. Semiazas, despite his games, was in for sure. Naamah was going to be the second.

A few minutes later, she knocked. “You summoned me, my lord?”

“Yes, Naamah. Have a seat.”

Her eyes flicked around nervously, but she took the chair on the other side of the desk. The female demon watched me from downcast eyes, waiting for me to speak first.

I had to command respect in Hell so the demons wouldn’t run wild here and in the mortal world, but if she was going to be one of my commanders, I needed her to stop being afraid of me. I needed less fear and hatred in general down here. “Astaroth tells me you’ve been talking to some of the other demons about how I showed you mercy.”

“Yes, my lord. You are as powerful as Satan, and yet more merciful than God.”

Considering my recent conversations with Jehovah, I wasn’t going to argue that. “And some of them are listening?”

“Yes. Nearly a dozen now.”

A cult of demons. My cult. Holy shit, this made me so uncomfortable, but I had to use it. “They think I’m a better lord than Satan?”

“Yes.” The demon nodded.

“Do they hate humans? Do you?”

Her eyes dropped farther, her head drooping a little. “I must admit that I did. I thought humans nothing more than playthings and found great joy in causing them to sin. But you love them and protect them, so I won’t torment them anymore. I won’t lead them to sin.” After a slight pause, she added, “But there are others that never hated humans. They found distaste in leading them to sin and no enjoyment from torturing the souls of the damned. They were always ridiculed by Satan and many of the other demons. They suffered much punishment themselves.”

“I want you to bring them to me. Tomorrow, though.” I’d already had a long day, and I was still waiting for Semiazas so he could start translating the book for me.

Her head lifted a little. “Yes, my lord. They’ll be delighted to meet you.”

“Keep talking to them, and ask them to talk to others. And if you get in any trouble, like other demons trying to hurt you or shut you up, let me know. I’ll deal with them.” I’d dealt with bullies on Earth, I could deal with them in Hell, too.

Another knock at the door, and Naamah jumped a little.

“Come in,” I called.

This time it was Semiazas. “Am I interrupting, my lord?”

“Not at all. Would you like to stay, Naamah? And can you keep a secret?”

“A secret?”

“Can I trust you to keep what you learn here to yourself? Not to tell anyone, not even the demons listening to you?”

“Of course, my lord.”

I decided to trust her. Planning was never going to work if I couldn’t trust anyone. “Semiazas is helping me plan a war on Heaven.”

Her greenish-yellow eyes went wide, and for a second she looked me straight in the eye. “A war? But after we lost the last one—”

“We’re not going to lose.” At least I really fucking hoped not. “That’s what this book is for.” I pulled it closer and turned to the title page. At least I assumed it was the title page. “This is a record of the War in Heaven, all the battles, and how Lucifer’s army lost. We’re going to figure out what he did wrong, and we’re going to plan, and we’re going to prepare.” As much as the impulsive side of me was screaming to attack now, to stop Jehovah before he could cause another big natural disaster, I knew this wasn’t something we could rush into. I needed to give myself, and the rest of the army, the best chance of winning.

And that meant waiting, which I fucking hated.

Semiazas said, “Are you sure you want to include her?”

“She’s my biggest advocate. I can trust her as much as I can trust anyone down here.” I pointed at the book. “What does that say? I can’t read demon, or angel, or whatever language that is.”

Semiazas barely glanced at it. “‘
An Account of the War in Heaven
, by Calipher.’”

“Do you know English? Can you translate the book for me?”

“Yes, my lord. But it will take some time to translate the entire thing.”

A trick? A stalling tactic? The truth? “I understand. Go as fast as you can. I’ll make you an office next to mine. Start on it right away.” I smiled at him. “And take a few breaks to see your friend.”

Semiazas cleared his throat and looked away. “Yes, my lord.”

Chapter 14

My phone was lit up with messages and texts when I got home. Hayley had sent a few texts asking what was going on, then a message to call her when I got back, and two more texts that were increasingly worried. I called her right away. “Sorry, I’ve been… Well, I guess you’d call it working, all day.”