Lord of Hell (Alex Holden) (8 page)

“Well, if they want to fight, bring it on. Everyone knows what happened to Beelzebub.” A fight would feel good. I could blow off some of this frustration with good old-fashioned violence.

He smiled and flicked his pointed tail. “Yes, you must rule with an iron fist. Should I fetch Naamah so you can make a proper example of her?”

“No. I let her go. I’m not going back on what I did.”

“B…but my lord, how are you supposed to rule if you don’t make them fear you?”

“That’s how Satan ruled, right? Fear, beatings, all that?” Not surprising, since that’s how he’d tried to control me.

“Yes. It’s the only way to keep control of the demons. Your father ruled for thousands of years by being the strongest and fiercest of us.”

Red and yellow eyes flickered in the shadows as demons crept in to hear our conversation.

“I’m not him! I’m going to rule the way
I
want to, not the way he did, not the way you want me to.” I stood and looked left and right, where demons were creeping out of the shadows to get a better look. “Some of you used to be angels, right? Do you really hate humans so much that you want to make them suffer forever? Do any of you ever get tired of it? Do you ever think of doing good instead of evil?” I didn’t want to believe that all demons were hopeless.

“You don’t have to be what Satan made you. You don’t have to be what the rebellion turned you into. I understand—believe me, I do. I get pissed off at the way things are. I think Jehovah is a jerk and his rules aren’t fair. That’s why I eliminated some of the hells and put the souls in paradise instead. ‘Cause that’s the big difference between us: I don’t hate humanity. Sure, there are evil people in the world, and just plain old assholes, but all of humanity shouldn’t suffer for it. That’s why I saved the world. I don’t care if there’s some perfect new world to come, that doesn’t mean the people alive now should suffer and die. And the animals, too. What did they do to deserve being killed off? Nothing.”

I took a breath. I hadn’t planned on making a speech. “You can make your own lives. You can stop hating all humans and try to help them instead. There’ll always be a place for you torture-happy sorts to punish the souls that really deserve it, but I really want to believe that some of you aren’t like that.”

Astaroth stared at me with his mouth open.

From behind one of the closer pillars, Naamah appeared. Her shoulders were hunched and her arms were pulled in, as if she was ready to protect her stomach from a blow. She wore a simple black dress that went a little past her knees and was belted at the waist. Her gaze flicked up to me a few times as she approached the throne, but otherwise her gaze was cast down.

At the foot of the throne, she got on her knees. “Thank you, my lord. Your kindness was the first shown to me since the Fall. I was rash and arrogant to join the rebellion, and being cast out of Heaven… you can’t imagine what that was like.” Her gaze flicked up again. “Can things truly be different now?”

“Yes,” I told her. “Things are different. You can be different.” I looked at the growing crowd of demons. “We all have a choice.” While many of them glared and muttered, some of them looked curious. A few looked relieved.

I spotted Semiazas leaning against a pillar, a slight smile on his face. Could I count him and Naamah as wins for the good guys? Or were they just telling me what I wanted to hear? They’d had thousands of years to perfect lying. Maybe it would bite me in the ass later, but I decided to take them at their word.

***

After a few days of relative quiet, one of the higher-ranking demons had had enough. Vetis marched into the throne room wielding a serrated broadsword and challenged me for the throne. My mercy didn’t extend to letting challengers walk away.

I jumped down from the dais and drew Animus. “Bring it.” Energy surged through me.

His opening salvo was to fling flaming stones at me. A wall of ice stopped them, although it was close. I brought the wall down in a cascade of water and threw Animus at him. Vetis deflected her with his blade, blue sparks flashing. I reached out to call her back as he summoned a dagger that pulsed with orange flame. Catching Animus in my left hand, I brought up my right and used my power to stop the dagger as he threw it. Almost halfway between us, the weapon froze in midair, flame sputtering. He grunted in surprise. With a push, I spun the blade and threw it back at him. Vetis dodged, cursing.

I summoned spears of ice from the floor and the demon jumped out of the way just in time to avoid them. He came down a foot away from them and sneered. “Do you think I will go down easily? That you can surprise me like Beelzebub?” He rushed toward me, his sword held out in front of him.

I brought Animus up to block the attack, but just before Vetis reached me, he hurled his weapon. I dodged and it missed me by a good six inches. Keeping my eyes on him so I could watch his next attack, I was surprised by a sharp pain in my side. I looked down to find his serrated blade sticking out of my left side.

He took a quick hop backward and reached out, grinning. I screamed as the sword ripped the rest of the way through me. Vetis caught it and proudly displayed the red blood dripping from the blade. “You are not as invincible as you think, human lover.”

Blood ran from the wound, warm and wet. My knees went weak and I fought to stay on my feet. It reminded me of how Satan had stabbed me. Right before I killed him.

The thought gave me strength, and as Vetis charged, I gripped Animus tighter. Her blade shimmered with red flame, my power flowing through her. I met his attack, the impact sending a ripple of pain down my side. I gritted my teeth and pivoted my sword to block his next thrust. He was aiming for my wounded side. Through the pain, I felt it healing, flesh stitching together.

I danced away and threw a fireball. “I killed Satan. I did it
without
his power. Do you really think you can beat me now?”

He glared as the fireball splashed against his blade and dissolved into sparks. “You are
weak
. You have power, but no will.”

“I’ll fucking show you weak, asshole.” I hurled a wall of fire, and it raced along the floor like a wave. He brought up his own fire to block it, but his flames collapsed when mine crashed into them. Vetis roared, the pitch rising to a scream as the fire flowed over him.

When the flames faded, he stood there shaking. His red skin was a few shades darker and was smoking. The scant clothing he had on was burned and full of holes.

“Was
that
weak?” I taunted.

Roaring, he charged at me. He was surprisingly strong for someone who’d just been charbroiled, but he was no Satan. Our blades clashed against each other, sometimes sending up blue sparks. The huge sword was quick in his hands, blocking all my attempts to get past his guard.

Animus almost got caught between two of the serrated teeth. Tugging her free cost me a second, and Vetis kicked me hard. I flew back and crashed into one of the pillars, demons scattering to get out of the way. I was only stunned for a moment, but that was all he needed.

Vetis stamped on my stomach, knocking out the breath I’d barely sucked back in. Animus moved on her own to block the downward thrust of his blade and knocked it aside. Even with spots in my vision, I noticed a crack in the middle of his sword. Animus was doing some serious damage to it.

He leaned harder on me, crushing my guts. I kept Animus up to block in case he made another attack and called up all the energy I could.

I flung Vetis across the room. He crashed into one of the columns, several feet up, then dropped and hit the ground face-first. And screaming.

I struggled to my knees, coughing and trying to get air into my lungs. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I still wasn’t used to how quickly I healed now. I got to my feet, keeping my eyes on Vetis.

He rolled over with a harsh cry, black blood trickling from his mouth. And his own sword sticking out of his gut.

Cautiously, I walked toward him. He grasped the handle of the blade and yanked it out with another scream. He shifted, trying to get up. I shoved power at him, pressing him against the floor. He struggled, coughing up more blood. His eyes blazed as I stepped on his sword arm and loomed over him.

“Will you show me mercy, you fucking human-loving coward?” His red eyes were full of anger and just a hint of fear. Or maybe I was imagining that.

“No.” The red flames on Animus burned brighter as she sang with joy. I swept her in an arc, severing the demon’s head and leaving a slice in the stone floor.

The crowd of demons made a soft sound, almost like a sigh.

I hated to admit how good it felt.

Chapter 10

Things got quiet. Then a volcano in South America that had been dormant for hundreds of years suddenly erupted. I heard about it hours after it happened and I used a newscast as a focus to teleport there.

It was fucking chaos. The lava had already destroyed two villages and a mudslide was rushing through villages on the other side. I used my power to slow part of it down and even managed to hold it back for a while, but it was too strong for me. I gave the panicked people a little more time to escape, but that was all. I shifted tactics, piling up huge boulders in the path of the flow, cutting channels in the earth for the volcanic mud to fall into. It slowed things down, but still didn’t stop it.

After slowing down the mudflow enough for the running people to escape on foot, I switched to the other side of the mountain where lava was rushing through the jungle, destroying villages. I used walls of ice to cool and slow it. It was way the fuck more exhausting and terrifying than the earthquake had been.

I spent hours buying the poor people some time to get away, but I couldn’t save their homes. I needed help, but none of my friends were powerful enough, and I’d used up the Morrigan’s favor.

Meanwhile, the volcano kept erupting, spewing out smoke and ash.

Towns and villages for miles around were evacuated. I saved everyone I could and then collapsed, exhausted, in one of the towns in the path of the lava flow. After a few minutes I gathered enough energy to teleport home. Even I was smart enough to realize I was risking my own life if I stayed any longer.

I ruined my clothes and my sheets with ash and mud. I checked the Internet for news when I got up, hoping everyone had been evacuated and was safe. I didn’t have the energy to go back and help. The United States news talked about it for a few minutes, flashing shots of the erupting volcano, burned villages, a chopper view of the devastation, and crying people in hastily constructed refugee camps.

Mexican news sites had more information. And footage of me. The newscasters didn’t know what to make of me. There were interviews with villagers talking about me, how I’d saved them. That I was a saint, an angel.

Oh, if they only knew.

I stared at the computer screen, trying to figure out if I was being paranoid or not. “Am I just noticing these things more, or is there something to it?” I asked Mew-Mew. “All within a month, there’s an earthquake where there shouldn’t be one, a tsunami on the other side of the world, and then a dormant volcano that showed no signs of erupting suddenly blows and takes out a bunch of villages.”

Stefan already said it’s not Ragnarok. Or at least there aren’t specific signs, like last time.
Mew-Mew sat on top of the couch, his tail curled around his paws.

“What if the world is sliding into chaos, like all those End Times…?” I swallowed, my stomach going heavy and cold.

You think it might be Jehovah?

“Shit.” I rubbed the side of my face. “No, it can’t be that. Satan is supposed to take over the world first. I’m supposed to fool everyone into worshiping me, and him. Create a one-world government, give them the mark of the beast and all that shit.”

Mew-Mew flicked his tail.
But Satan isn’t around to take over the world, and you won’t do it in his place.

“So maybe I screwed up the prophecy and he’s trying to salvage what’s left. If he can’t have his world-ruling Antichrist and laughing Satan, maybe he’ll skip to the bit where the world dies in chaos.” I didn’t want that to be true. I hoped I was being paranoid, because if Jehovah was trying to end the world, I didn’t know what I could do.

I slid back from my desk. “I need to talk to him.”

I went up to the gates of Heaven again. Saint Peter glared at me while he sent a messenger to Jehovah. The messenger came back and said he refused to talk to me. I screamed through the gates for a good fifteen minutes, even kicked at the gold bars a few times, but all I did was annoy Peter. I gave the gate one more good kick before leaving. I also gave Peter the finger.

Since I couldn’t get answers straight from the source, I went for an alternate route. I went to see Joshua. He answered the door and looked me over, one eyebrow rising just slightly.

“Alex, is something wrong?”

“I think Jehovah might be trying to end the world. I went to ask him about it, and he refuses to talk to me. I thought maybe I was just being paranoid and it was just coincidence, but now I’m really worried.”

He stepped aside to let me in. “What was a coincidence?”

“The earthquake in Indiana. The tsunami in Indonesia. And now the volcano in South America.” I went inside and started pacing. “The tsunami alone might have been normal. It’s a danger zone. The earthquake, though? One that strong in a place that doesn’t get many? And the volcano was dormant for a long time. The scientists swear there were no signs of it erupting and it just exploded out of nowhere. Three huge disasters in a month.”

Joshua watched me. “You think it’s the tribulation?”

“Is it?” I asked, hoping he knew the answer. Revelation and the Satanist version of it in
The Book of Truth
were guides to the end of the world, but neither of them were meant to be literal in every detail. They were full of metaphor. There were things they agreed on, though, the same signs of the end of the world: my rise to power, the Second Coming of Christ, huge and multiple natural disasters, and a final battle that would determine if the new world was ruled by Jehovah or Satan. But with Satan out of the picture and me refusing to follow my destiny, I had thought the world was safe.