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“This city has never had to be evacuated before,” he said, “but we’ve practiced, and this isn’t the first time they’ve had to pull up stakes in a hurry. They know what to do and how to do it.”
“I guess I’m more surprised they’re all so willing to risk their lives on this. Missolis called it a Fool’s Errand and I’m inclined to agree.”
“It’s no revelation that demons don’t like Hell.” He grabbed my shoulder and twisted me toward him a little forcefully. “I need to work on your visage.”
I pulled myself out of his grasp. “Okay, look,” I snapped. “I get that you’re a demon and I’m an angel, but there’s something else going on here and if we’re going on a dangerous mission together, I need to know. What’s your problem with me?”
Malachi’s expression tightened. “The fact that you’re an angel has nothing to do with the way I feel,” he said.
“Okay, then what is it?”
Malachi seemed reluctant to answer. A group of demons walked past us, halting our conversation, but when they had passed, he spoke. “It’s too convenient.”
“What is?”
“You. All of this. Your arrival in Hell, the fact that we—of all the demons in Hell—found you, and that your captors put up basically no fight to stop us from taking you.”
“They looked like braindead minions to me, and I’d managed to get them arguing before your rescue party turned up, so they weren’t really prepared for your attack. How did you even know I was out there?”
“We didn’t. We don’t send patrols out as far as the Pit—too much risk of being followed back—but your group wasn’t taking their usual path, and it was obvious their cargo wasn’t of the normal sort. Now, what reason would those demons have to dangle such a prize in front of our noses if not to trap us?”
“I’m not a honeypot if that’s what you’re getting at. And I don’t know why the demons conveniently decided to veer your way. Maybe they didn’t want to risk another of Abaddon’s groups stealing me off them…” I sighed and rubbed my eyes, exasperated. “I get it, ok. If I were in your shoes, umm, hooves I mean, I’d be suspicious too. By the sounds of it, Abaddon needs me if he plans to get to Lucifer, so why would he risk losing me?”
“Maybe he thinks he can kill two stones with one bird.”
“Wow, you’ve been down here a long time, huh?” The unimpressed look Malachi returned told me he had, in fact, been down here a really long time, and that I was not making any of this any better. “Look, Malachi, I’m not the savior Missolis hoped for, but I’m also not part of some grand master plan to trap you all. I want to help, I really do.”
His expression softened slightly. “You told me that you had made promises to lost souls. I’m afraid I don’t understand what you meant.”
“I left so many people behind… angels died to get me back to Heaven, and I wound up here instead—another victim of Lucifer’s manipulative games. If I had chosen to lay down my arms and die in the Pit, or decided I didn’t want to risk going to Abaddon’s Citadel, then those sacrifices would have been in vain. As long as I keep pushing, there’s hope.”
“That’s all this is, then. Lucifer’s release is your fault, and you are simply trying to remove the guilt? You are truly one of us, Sarakiel, whether you see it or not.”
“None of what happened was my fault,” I snapped. “I’m just trying to do the right thing, here. It’s not like I demanded your leader uproot everyone and charge head-first into danger. She decided that by herself.”
Malachi shook his head. “I refuse to believe you’ve simply infected everyone with hope, and that’s why we’re doing this.”
“Is that really the problem?” I asked. “Or are you just bitter than you’re not infected with that same hope?”
Malachi’s jaw tightened. “I don’t need hope.”
“That’s not true. Everyone needs hope, otherwise what’s the point in existing? Survival can’t be the only goal—there has to be something more.”
“When the angels find out we’ve made it through to Earth, they’ll come looking for us and they’ll eradicate us. Instead of warring against each other, they’ll war against us. By leaving, we’re only swapping one set of oppressors for another.”
I shook my head. “I’ll vouch for you.”
Malachi scoffed. “You? What weight do your words carry? By your own admittance you abandoned them when they needed you most, freed Lucifer, and then—if we do manage to get out of here—you’ll turn up with an army’s worth of demons at your back. No doubt they hate you as much as you hate yourself.”
His words stung. I’d been so determined all this time to get back, to make things right, that I hadn’t considered that maybe they didn’t want me to ‘make things right’. Maybe they were better off without me and my good intentions—the road to Hell was paved with them after all.
“How did you end up down here?” I asked.
“What does that have to do with anything? If you are trying to make me feel bad?—”
“No, I just want to understand you a bit better.”
“I followed Lucifer,” he said, “and was punished for it. There, does that make you feel better?”
