Lord of Hell (Alex Holden) (15 page)

“To start Ragnarok. Maybe they are connected, like you said. The demon told me he also lamed the sun horse, also under Jehovah’s orders.” There was one puzzle piece left, Satan moving to end the world. I hadn’t thought to ask Ernaz if he knew anything about that. Was it just that Satan saw what was happening with the Norse and didn’t want to be shown up? I’d have to ask him when I got back.

“Then let us ask the sun horse as well, to confirm this story.”

“You have someone that can talk to horses?”

“I have my horse, Sleipnir. I understand him, and he can speak to the sun horse.”

Before we left, I jammed the sword back through Fenrir’s muzzle. I felt kind of bad about it, even though he’d tried to kill me last year and wouldn’t hesitate to eat me if he had the chance.

“One little problem,” I said, remembering what happened to the sun horse. “We switched the horses. So your sun chariot has one of Apollo’s. And the horse that was hurt, he’s in Apollo’s stable.”

“We will visit the Greeks together, then.”

I got to ride on an eight-legged horse. I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life, but that was still a new one. Sun horse, check. Ghost horse, check. Eight-legged divine horse, now also check.

I rode holding on to Odin’s belt, which I felt a little weird about, but after a few minutes I forgot about that and enjoyed the ride. There are some horses I can understand, and some I can’t. With mortal horses, it seems random, although black horses are almost a sure bet. I hadn’t been able to understand either of the sun horses, but I could understand Odin’s horse.

We rode up to Mount Olympus and stopped outside the gates of the huge, shining palaces of the Greek gods. I decided to let Odin do the talking, since I might say something to piss someone off. Odin was very polite, but insisted that we were there on important business and needed to speak with Apollo.

Finally, we got permission to enter and an armed guard escorted us to Zeus’s palace. I debated about bringing out my wings and horns. I was here on official Hell business, after all. So I went ahead and went for the full demon look. I had Animus with me since I always took her to Hell, and I’d gone straight from there to Asgard.

Zeus glared down at us from his throne. “What business brings Odin of Asgard and Alex, Lord of Hell, to Mount Olympus?”

I turned to Odin and nodded, letting him take the lead again. He had thousands of years of experience dealing with other gods, even if the contact was limited. I was still a teenager.

“There was an incident last summer. One of our sun horses was injured, and Alex and his friends took it upon themselves to switch that horse with one stolen from Apollo’s stable. We now have one of his, and he has one of ours. We wish to speak with Apollo and make sure this situation is rectified.”

Great idea. I held back a smile.

“Very well.” Zeus summoned Apollo, and the bright god appeared at the foot of the throne.

He explained the situation and Apollo nodded. “I had noticed that one of the horses in my stable was out of place.”

“May we go and speak with him?” Odin asked. “He may be happy here, and if so we can discuss leaving things as they are. I have had no complaints from the goddess of the sun. Your horse is more than a match for the task of pulling her chariot.”

I could learn a thing or two from this guy.

Zeus considered that for a moment, and with Apollo’s agreement, he allowed us to go to the stable of the sun. This was the first time I’d seen it in daylight. It wasn’t as stunning as it had been at night, but inside it was just as beautiful. The scent of heat and horses was familiar. Was it only a year ago that I’d come here with my friends to borrow one of the horses? So much had happened since then.

Odin got Apollo to allow Sleipnir to come along, too, since he needed a translator. Odin had already instructed his horse to ask our real question.

The sun horse perked up when he saw us. Happy to see someone from his own pantheon? Or did he recognize me as one of the people who had helped him?

Sleipnir asked, “Who was it that injured you last year?” Directly to the point.

Apollo could apparently understand him, because he jerked with surprise.

“It was a demon with dark green skin and curving horns, and a tail with a point at the end,” Odin’s horse said, translating. “And red eyes.”

A description of Ernaz.

The horse was clearly upset as he went on, neighing and pawing at the ground. Odin’s horse translated, “He hit me with a great club, hard against my leg, causing me to limp. I cried out to him as he did it, asked him why, but either he did not understand or did not care.”

“This demon confessed to me today,” I said. “He injured the Norse sun horse. He set Fenrir free. He did both under orders from Jehovah.”

“But the Law forbids interference. We all agreed,” Apollo said.

“Jehovah broke the Law,” I said.

“Fenrir confirmed to us that a demon set him loose. Now the horse has spoken that a demon attacked him,” Odin said.

“Jehovah broke the Law twice. He’s now executing his plan to end the world. What more will he be willing to do?” I had to convince the Greeks to help us. I needed all the help I could get. “Will he attack Olympus next? He already caused an attack on Asgard. He has no respect for the Law.” I stopped before I asked him to join us. If I pushed too hard, he might balk. And it wasn’t his decision. Zeus was their king.

“Does Zeus understand the speech of this horse?” Odin asked.

Apollo nodded. “Yes, he knows the speech of all animals.”

“Then we will bring him back to the palace with us.”

Zeus heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Chapter 18

Odin showed no hesitation now. The way he spoke to the Greek gods left me no doubt he was ready for war. Zeus summoned Ares, and the war god listened with growing eagerness to what we had discovered. I even went back to fetch Ernaz and had him tell them himself. He was nervous they would try to punish him, but I promised his safety.

With help from Ares and Odin, I convinced the Greeks to join us. My near-impossible war was not so impossible anymore. Odin and Ares went with me to the Celts. I figured the Morrigan would be likely to take up our cause, and I was right. A whole contingent of gods now went with me. The Egyptians joined, and some of the Native gods. The loa were split, but some of them agreed to join. The Indian gods were also conflicted, but Rama and Kali pledged their support.

For the rest of the day and into the night, I went from pantheon to pantheon, building a coalition of gods. Two from each pantheon would join the war council. I tripled the size of my war room to fit them all. Mew-Mew got the support of the Queen of Cats.

I went back to Hell to share the news with Semiazas and the rest of my war council. They were excited about having so many powerful allies joining us. I was starting to believe we really had a chance of winning.

“Remember, my lord, you still have to decide what to do with the rebels,” Semiazas said.

“Right.” I drummed my fingers on the table.

“I know you wish for us to change,” Astaroth said, “but perhaps it would do good to give us something familiar.”

“Like a public execution?” It turned my stomach.

“Exactly, my lord.”

“And perhaps afterward you could announce your intention to go to war,” Semiazas said.

I frowned, staring at the polished wood of the table. That was a good idea. I still didn’t like the idea of execution, but leading a rebellion against me wasn’t something I could let go unpunished. I let out a long sigh. “Fine. But I’m only killing the two dukes. They were the ones who decided to join up with Valafar. Tomorrow morning, I’ll call everyone to the castle. I’ll give them their bit of entertainment, and then I’ll tell them about the war.”

***

They filled the huge courtyard at the front of the castle. For a short time, not a single soul in Hell was tormented by a demon.

I stood on the balcony, high above them. The execution of the dukes had been quick and clean. Some of the demons seemed disappointed they hadn’t gotten more of a show, but torture was beyond what I could handle. I didn’t do it by my own hand, either.

The assembled horde was the stuff of nightmares. All shapes and sizes, from mostly human-looking to things that were odd blobs of flesh. Insects and animals, things with multiple heads and multiple limbs. My stomach churned. They all belonged to me. My army.

I lifted my arms and the murmuring stopped. “I have something to tell you. The world is ending. Jehovah is still going forward with his plans for the Apocalypse, but I’m not going to let that happen.” They all watched, intent and silent. “We’re going to fight. We’re going to make war on Heaven.”

The crowd stirred, muttering in surprise.

I held a hand up. “I want you to fight because it’s the right thing to do, because the world is worth saving, but I’ll settle for this: fight for revenge. Fight to take out all your rage, your hatred. Take it out not on humans or the dead, people who haven’t done anything to you. Take it out on Jehovah, the one you
really
hate.”

Cheers now, the collective roar of a hundred thousand demons.

I shouted above the crowd. “And this time we’re not going to lose. Gods from the other pantheons have joined me. Jehovah broke the Law, tried to cause Ragnarok. We’ll be stronger this time, smarter this time.”

For the first time since I’d taken over, I was saying something that I think all of them agreed with. I waited until the noise died down, trying to find the perfect thing to say. I needed to rally my troops. I needed to rally myself. “Jehovah wants to destroy Earth, but I won’t let him. I’ll do anything to stop him. I’ll take this whole army and invade Heaven if I have to. I’ll tear down the gates of Heaven if I have to. I’ll kill Jehovah if I have to.”

The roar was almost deafening, demons yelling, cheering.

The words were out, and it was terrifying and relieving all at once. I’d finally said out loud what I’d been afraid to even think. In order to save the world, I was willing to kill God.

And the demons loved me for it.

***

I told my demigod friends what was going on. Stefan had already said he would stand by my side, and Colin and Emily insisted they’d fight as well. I talked to Elliot last.

“So you want me to fight again?” he asked.

“Actually, no. I came here to tell you that you don’t have to.”

Elliot looked torn. It was hard to look at. “But I… I want to help.”

I knew he was scared, but he didn’t want to be left behind. It used to piss me off. I’d thought he was a wuss and had given him a hard time about it. But not everyone could be a warrior. And not everyone should be.

“If you want to help, you can work with the healers. We need people to patch up the injured. I think you’d be good at that.”

“You don’t think that would make me a wimp?”

“No, I don’t. Honestly.”

“But you told me before that sometimes you have to fight.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what you’re good at. It’s not a judgment, I’m just saying. I really think you’d be more help as a healer.”

Relief spread across his face, turning into a smile. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. Like you said, not everyone loves violence as much as I do.” I gave him a playful punch.

***

I spent most of the next few weeks planning a war. The demons trained with the war gods. That was another thing that hadn’t happened during the first war. The rebel angels had organized into divisions with leaders, but there was no real training. Since I had even less experience than they did, I trained with them. We rotated, learning from a different war god every few days. It wasn’t enough time to make us experts in anything, but it gave us a wide variety of tactics from Greek, Indian, Egyptian, and Norse styles of fighting. I went to my office each evening and tried to work out how to blend them. Semiazas taught us how angels fight, and I worked out countermeasures. We met once a week in the war room and planned tactics and formations. Astaroth drew us maps of Heaven.

The rotation moved again, and my division was training with the Morrigan, using Celtic weapons and tactics. I had just figured out how to use Animus, a katana, in a Celtic-style battle. She was stronger than a mortal katana, so was able to take full blows from a broadsword or even a mace.

I blocked a few attacks from my opponent, a warrior the Morrigan had brought with her. Then I slipped in around his shield and touched his ribs with the tip of my sword. He grunted in surprise and we backed apart.

Alex, please help. They said there’s a tornado coming.

I knew the voice immediately: Casey.

The warrior shifted, preparing for another attack. I held up a hand. “No, I have to go.”

A tornado? In California? I tried to hold back panic and closed my eyes, reaching out to make the connection. It was almost instant, and I followed Casey’s prayer back to him.

He was huddled against the lockers and jumped up when he saw me. “Alex! There’s a tornado coming.” His eyes were wide with fear. The alarm blared, spikes of noise against my eardrums.

The hall was full of students, huddling against both walls, talking in frightened whispers, a few of them crying.

On both ends of the hall were huge windows. They let in what little light came from the black sky overhead.

“What are you doing out here? Get away from the windows! Get in the stairwell or interior rooms.”

Other students looked up at me. I spotted a teacher, huddled with the rest. “Get them moving. Now! Go quick,” I said as more people got to their feet. “But don’t panic.”

Maybe it was a little tornado. Maybe they were overreacting. Maybe it wouldn’t come near the school at all.

Scared students streamed down from the second floor and started filling the hall. I directed them back into the stairwell or to the few interior rooms. It wasn’t a huge school, but there were other halls and it would take time to run through all of them and tell everyone where to go. I didn’t know how close the tornado was.

I teleported to the office, which was deserted. Good for them, because the place was full of glass. I found the PA mic and turned it on. “Everyone, get away from the windows. Go into the stairwells, interior rooms, the bathrooms if you have to, and get to the ground floor if you’re not already there. Walk fast, but don’t panic. Stay there until the all clear.”