Lucifer laughed scornfully, even as his mind began to race. To rule in Hell, to overthrow Nyx and have her at his command, or better, destroyed, was his dearest wish, but to rule in Hell, to come and go as he pleased and to have a place in Paradise? That was beyond imagining.
It had been a very, very long time since the Angels had Descended, had stood in the Lake of Fire and fought for supremacy. Nyx had won, and then had punished Lucifer for a thousand years for his failures in Heaven and his defiance in Hell before making him her lieutenant. Though his flesh had long since healed, his mind was still scarred with what she had done to him. To rule over her….
“Nyx is Queen. I doubt she will deign to be usurped.”
“She will have no choice,” said Tribunal’s voice. “When God is destroyed, I will rise in His place, and then I will decide who gets to live, and who is destroyed.”
Lucifer sat back down in his chair and brooded, staring at the small red bird that waited for his answer. If he failed….
I have been second for too long, Lucifer thought. Longer than the world has existed, and I am tired of it! “What must I do? Bring me to the earth and let me do it!”
“God has closed the gates to Earth from Heaven and Hell. Souls may pass from Earth to their reward, but no beings may pass the other way.”
“What?” Lucifer reached out with his mind and power to the gate above the Lake of Fire. It was true. “Why?”
“To let Mankind choose its own way,” said Tribunal’s voice, and this time bitterness filled it. “He did not listen to me.”
“He never does,” said Lucifer “So what good can we do if we cannot reach the Earth?”
“In three days the gates will be open again. When they do, two Angels may pass through. You must make certain they are Angels of Hell.”
“It can be done, easy enough,” said Lucifer. “What else?”
“Then you must wait,” said Tribunal’s voice. “It will be a thousand years before your time will come, and even then there will be work you must do.”
“A thousand years?” roared Lucifer. He lunged at the bird again, and this time it easily avoided his grasp.
“Is it so long?” asked the bird with Tribunal’s voice. “Compared to eternity? Besides, you will need that time to get your followers in line. Or did you think all Hell would follow you just because you want them to?”
“Hell follows me now!”
“Hell follows you because Nyx told them to,” said the voice of Tribunal. “Take control of Hell. Make it yours. And then, when the time comes, you will be its Master, able to do what is necessary.”
“And what is that?”
“You will kill an Angel in Hell.”
“Angels cannot die, here,” said Lucifer, his own bitterness coming out. “Believe me, we have tried.”
“This one will,” said Tribunal’s voice. “I will show you how.”
Lucifer stared at the bird, unconvinced. “And this will make me ruler of Hell?”
“No,” said Tribunal’s voice. “This will make it possible to defeat God, and when He is defeated, I will make you ruler of Hell.” The bird fluttered to his eye level and hovered there. “You will have a thousand years to secure your position, before the Angel will come. Will you be ready?”
“Do I have a fucking choice?” Lucifer demanded. “Of course I will be ready.”
The doors to the room sprang open, and the bird fluttered out. Lucifer called for his servants. A demon peered around the corner, waiting to see if it was to carry a message or be the next victim of Lucifer’s rage.
“Summon the captains of Legion 666,” said Lucifer. “I want them here tonight.”
There were already many in Hell who were loyal to Lucifer. Now it was time to bring the rest to heel. The thought aroused him. “And send in a succubus!” When the demoness, her face and body a ripe mockery of true beauty, came into the room Lucifer shoved her face first into the brazier of Hellfire, holding her head in the flames while he took her from behind.
I will be the King of Hell, he thought as he impaled the screaming demon, and breathed the perfume of her roasting flesh. And then I will have the earth for my plaything!
Three days later, Lucifer stood at the shore of the Lake of Fire and waited. His senses stretched high up, past the falling souls, to the rift above.
Around the lake, five thousand Angels stood, waiting, their armor gleaming in the yellow light of the lake’s flames, their swords and whip in hand.
The 666th Legion comprised the elite soldiers of Hell. Just as Michael led the Legions of Angels under God’s command, so Lucifer led the 666th under the command of Nyx. Legion soldiers were rarely unleashed, and had not had the chance to tread the Earth since their fall. Lucifer trained them continuously. Under his leadership, they fought pitched battles with the other Angel legions over the Lake of Fire, and whichever of the 666th fell in those battles had to stay in the lake until Lucifer was willing to let them rise out.
Sometimes he made them fight in the lake itself, forcing them to overcome the cold-burning anguish of their flesh and the pain of reliving their rebellion. He was always in the lead in those battles, thrashing through the Lake of Fire with the rest of them. Nyx would stand outside the lake and cheer them on.
And that was why far more of the 666th were loyal to him than were to Nyx.
The 666th was in full battle armor. Like Nyx’s, it was an extension of their flesh. The males wore a thick burgundy skin, with a texture that mimicked that of the fibers of their muscles. The females were lithe and sleek in black scales, shining and skin tight and hugging every curve.
The demons of Hell, who had been there long before the Angels’ arrival, slunk in between the Angels. They were all in different shapes, sizes, colors, and forms. Some had dragged souls with them and feasted on their flesh as they waited. Gore, the largest of them, grimaced, twitched, and shook as if he was unable to contain his excitement any longer. His thin scaly snake’s head sat on the body of what looked like a muscle-bound bear, ten times the size of any earthly beast. He was larger than Lucifer himself, and had fought him when the Angels decided to make the demons their slaves. Lucifer had beaten him to the ground and cut him a thousand times, then tossed him into the Hellfire for good measure. Gore had never forgiven him, but became his servant nonetheless.
Gore growled and convulsed in excitement, as if sensing the carnage that was about to take place. He swatted at a demon next to him, severing its head instantly with his huge black claws. Dark juice and liquid exploded into the air from the demon’s neck. Gore picked up the torso and drank from it, as though the body were a tiny goblet. The rest of the demons cheered wildly. “Gore! Gore! Gore!”
“Gore,” Lucifer commanded, “Take your brethren and leave! Your kind isn’t needed here.”
Gore slouched slowly off, his followers straggling behind him. Lucifer noticed a few stragglers, trying to blend into the ranks of dark Angels as though they would go unnoticed.
He smiled at their stupidity. With a thought, he created a dozen balls of liquid Hellfire in his hand and hurled it at the disobedient demons. The dark Angels laughed as the skin of the demons melted off. The demons screamed until they were no more than a pile of ash and bones. Gore and the others sprinted away.
Lucifer bared his enormous black wings and flexed them, taking to the air. He sped straight up with all of his unholy might. The wind from his wings funneled down like a tornado, knocking some of the Angels to their knees. Around him, souls were thrown off course to be dashed on the rocks of Hell below, rather than landing in the Lake of Fire.
High above plain, Lucifer flexed his wings and stopped his ascent. Hovering in mid-air, he looked down on the host. All eyes were on him. He drew his whip from his holster. It had seven tails, each flaming, each with spiked knots down its length, the better for tearing apart the skin of those he scourged.
He flicked his wrist and the whip cracked loudly enough to be heard across the plains of Hell. The A
ngels of the legion fell silent, waiting.
“God’s mortal son has died on Earth,” announced Lucifer. His voice bounced off the blood-drenched walls of Hell. Below him, the Angels cheered again.
“Silence!” he shouted, cracking the whip again.
“The rules have changed!” continued Lucifer, his voice carrying clearly to all those around the lake. “Those of you who were above heard God’s command, and know that he drove us all from the face of the earth. “The gates to Earth have been closed! God is hiding the earth from us, that His creations may walk it free of fear of Hell! He has denied us access!”
A buzz rose around the legion. Angels stretched their powers to test the rift and found it blocked. The buzz turned to anger and cries of frustration.
“Nyx is alone on Earth!” yelled Lucifer, his words stilling the Angels’ voices. “And she will walk there alone for a thousand years if we do not help her! The Angels of Heaven will stalk her over the earth and destroy her!”
The buzz of voices rose once more. Lucifer waited until it rose to a crescendo, then shouted over it. “The door will open on this day! And two may go to help her! You will be on Earth for a thousand years. You will be in a world without God, and with Nyx you will become the new gods and give us dominion over the entire world! Stand ready!”
The Angels muttered and talked amongst themselves. Lucifer ignored them and watched the rift, his whip ready in his hand.
The world changed, and the rift was ready.
Lucifer lashed out with his whip, its length stretching impossibly high to the top of the gate between Earth and Hell, and tore a hole into the fabric of reality.
“The gate is open!” he shouted. “Only the strongest and the fastest will go! Fly and fight, and let the ones that win through fight for our queen!”
Two thousand of the legion leapt into the air at once, racing for the opening. Immediately, blades clashed and whips lashed out at wings and flesh, as each Angel sought to be the first to reach the gate. The air above the lake became a mass of whirling black flesh and feathers, as if four hundred massive crows fought at once for scraps of dead flesh hanging above.
In the crowd still on the ground, Ishtar, once renowned through Babylon as goddess of love, sex, and war, glared at Persephone, who had dragged her down and prevented her from rising into the fray. “What are you doing, you stupid bitch?” Ishtar demanded. “We could be by Nyx’s side! We should be by Nyx’s side!”
Persephone kept her grip.
Persephone and Ishtar could’ve been Nyx’s sisters—even down to the beauty marks above their upper lips. Ishtar had her eyes lined in black, like the goddesses of Egypt, which she had once been. Persephone’s were lined with white, and her upper eyelids and lips looked kissed by frost. They had fought beside Nyx from the beginning, and won her love and respect. Dark Angels possessed a savage loyalty to those they loved, and Persephone and Ishtar both loved Nyx dearly.
Persephone had been a much gentler goddess than Ishtar, seen as a symbol of innocence lost and of the coming of spring. Persephone enjoyed the worship and was revered throughout the Roman Empire. She loved the sexual aspects of the changing season and made it a core part of her temple’s secret rituals. She’d also made the legend of her return to Underworld, not because she enjoyed torture for its own sake as Ishtar did, but to because her other great love was battle, and there was no better place to train for that than among the 666th.
She was the better fighter of the two, and more important, she was more observant. “Something is wrong,” hissed Persephone. “Look.”
Ishtar looked, and saw that the Angels on the ground, the ones who had not flown, were tensed and ready to take off, their weapons gripped tightly and their faces tight with anticipation.
“What the fuck is going on?” whispered Persephone.
She got her answer when Lucifer cracked his whip again. The remaining three thousand Angels leapt into the air and attacked the ones fighting for the gate. They made no attempt to fly up to the gate, only smashed at full force into the others, bringing them down in the dozens.
“Lucifer’s betrayed Nyx!” shouted Ishtar over the screams of battle. “That bastard!”
“You think?” was Persephone’s acid reply. “He’s going to kill any Angels loyal to Nyx and send his own people out!”
“We have to get there first!” said Ishtar. We have to get out!”
“I know,” said Persephone. “And so does he!”
Above, the first Angel broke free of the mob and soared toward the hole. Lucifer lashed out with his whip, tearing one of the Angel’s wings apart and sending him spinning into the Lake of Fire below.
“Stay together,” said Persephone. “We fight as one, we just might make it.”
“Yeah, might,” agreed Ishtar. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Swords out and blazing with Hellfire, whips in hand and ready, the two launched themselves into the air. In the distance, they could see the gaping hole in the sky, a small pocket of magical space shimmering in the endless blackness that surrounded it, like a cut on the skin of a God. Between them and it, five thousand Angels were locked in a desperate battle for dominance and survival. The sky was black save for the lights of the Angel’s Hellfire weapons. Blades and whips cut, stabbed, cracked, and slashed through the sky. The light of Hellfire flashed again and again through the darkness, becoming an entity unto itself. Shrieks of pain and defeat and curses filled the air as dark Angels collided. Falling limbs, bodies, and buckets of silver blood drenched the stones of Hell below.
From below them all, weaving through the battling figures in a rain of blood and feathers, Ishtar and Persephone drove themselves upward. Their two blades carved a path through the flesh of any Angels that got in their way.
They were half the way up when Ishtar screamed in pain. Zaros, a wiry, black-haired Angel had grabbed her and bitten her calf, his razor sharp teeth penetrating her armor, and blood spurted from his mouth as he ripped a chunk of muscle and skin from her leg. Ishtar twisted over in mid-flight and drove the heel of her free leg into his eye socket, exploding his eyeball. The flesh fell from his mouth as he spiraled down into darkness.
Persephone was ahead now, and Ishtar beat her wings frantically to catch up, leaving a shower of blood behind her. She had to spin to dodge two falling Angels locked together, hands on each other’s throats, swords in each other’s guts. From above, Hecate dove at Persephone, whip lashing out. Persephone dodged and struck with her blade as she went past, opening a gash in Hecate from throat to belly. Hecate roared and snapped her whip again, this time at Ishtar.
Ishtar dodged, but the whip connected, biting into her leg and lasering through the Achilles tendon with Hellfire. Ishtar snarled and cursed her luck. She flexed her mighty wings and flew faster, the primal urge to survive overcoming every other.
Around them, Lucifer’s Angels taunted Nyx’s Angels as they fought. Above them, Lucifer cleaved a pair of Angels in half with one stroke, sending bloody flesh raining on those below. Swords and whips lashed out all around, ripping open flesh to the bone, sending silver blood spurting through the air, tearing feathers and sinew from wings. Angels screamed and hacked at one another. None could die, not even the two headless corpses that fell past like rocks into the ring of fire below. All would be reborn in pain and suffering as their bodies knit themselves together or missing limbs re-grew.
Persephone didn’t slow her pace and Ishtar knew she would not—not with Nyx’s rule and life at stake. Ishtar beat her wings harder. Then five Angels, tangled together in battle, crashed into the pair of them. Their world was reduced to a whir of battering wings, darting blades, sharp teeth and claws, the sound of whips snapping through the air and ripping open flesh. Ishtar gutted the Angel in front of her, not caring if it was friend or foe, then felt a whip snake around her throat and pull tight. She spun her blade and rammed it backwards, feeling it slice into flesh. She ripped down and enjoyed the howl as the whip on her throat sli
d away.
Persephone, entangled with two Angels and too close to use her sword, bit one’s face off with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. The Angel screamed and jerked away, giving Persephone room to pierce the Angel’s throat with her talons, and rip it open. The other Angel also used its teeth, biting down on into Persephone’s side. She drove an elbow down onto the Angel’s face, dislocating its jaw with a single strike. The Angel growled and tried to grapple. Persephone brought up her heel and drove it into the Angel’s groin. The Angel let go and fell.
The fifth Angel attacked both Ishtar and Persephone, using both sword and whip. Two swords flashed, and both the Angel’s hands fell, leaving it staring at bloody stumps. The friends were side by side again, flying towards Lucifer above.
“How the fuck do we get past him?” Ishtar yelled.
“Carefully,” Persephone shouted back.
Ishtar grimaced but kept on flying.
A half-dozen more times their flight was interrupted. Persephone lost half a breast, and Ishtar took a whiplash that tore most of the feathers from one wing. Both endured a dozen other, minor cuts, and both of them fought Angel after Angel, sending their gutted, limbless bodies into the pit below.
Above, Lucifer engaged four Angels at once, cutting one’s wings off with his sword, tearing another open with his whip, and driving his cloven boot into the face of the third. The fourth nearly squirmed past him, but Lucifer spun his whip and yanked the Angel backwards, impaling it with his sword through its backside so hard that the tip of his blade came out its mouth.
He reversed the blade and the screaming Angel fell.
“We’re fucked,” screamed Ishtar, even as she prepared to lash her whip at Lucifer’s foot.
“Not yet, we’re not,” Persephone screamed back. She linked with Ishtar then, mind to mind. It was a gift all Angels had, but the Dark Angels rarely used it. To let one into your mind was to give him or her all your secrets, and the Dark Angels were so often plotting against one another that they didn’t dare open their minds. Persephone and Ishtar knew each other’s secrets already, and when Persephone shared her plan in Ishtar’s mind, it made Ishtar bare her teeth in a sudden, savage grin.