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“See?” he pointed at me. “That’s what I’m talking about. It’s like you’re living in a Hallmark card, so worried about him and what he’s up to, but look at how much you’ve accomplished all by yourself. You crawled out of the Pit, you fought your way through Hell, and you snuck out of there with a host of questionably loyal demons at your back. If I wasn’t literally the first angel, I’d be kind of in awe of you.”
“Is this the part where you tell me how this whole thing was a test?”
“Bingo. But, if you’re smart enough, you’ll be able to figure out what the test was all by yourself.”
My eyes narrowed. Missolis and her demons were filing through the portal, and Lucifer’s demons were holding position just far enough away that the Light coming from Lucifer himself wouldn’t hurt them. They were waiting.
Waiting for him to give them the signal.
I shook my head. “I won’t.”
“You figured it out?”
“You want me to lead your army of demons.”
Lucifer grinned and pointed finger guns at me. “You see? I knew you were smart. Amazing.”
“You’re insane. I won’t do it.”
“I had a feeling you’d say that, but you’re not thinking straight.”
“You made Abaddon your second. Your lieutenant. Why would you ask me to lead your armies?”
“Because he doesn’t have what you have. He doesn’t have the knack for leadership that is literally built into your cosmic code. You led angels in the fight against Medrion, and you led demons in your escape from Hell. You’re perfect for this job. Besides, Abaddon has his own job—and he’s good at it.”
I shuddered at every mention of Abaddon, but I tried not to let it show on my face. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to me by talking about him. I clenched my hands into fists even more tightly, allowing the pain to focus my thoughts.
“We’re done talking,” I said.
“Sarakiel, you still don’t understand,” he said. “Everything I’m doing, everything that’s happening… it’s all part of something much, much bigger. Bigger than you, bigger than all those angels and demons, certainly bigger than the humans underneath us.”
“Bigger than you?”
He smirked. “Nothing’s bigger than me, although that hasn’t stopped them from trying.”
My eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “No, not Hell. That’s old news. My original plan of using demons to subjugate the entire human race and do all kinds of horrible things to their putrid little souls until I got well and truly bored has had to take a back seat. Things have… changed. New information recently came to light which shifted my priorities.”
“Torturing humans isn’t a plan, it’s a despicable act.”
“Maybe to some, but, anyway, I’m done with that now. Now I’m talking about total supremacy over every single minor God, angel, demon, and deity that ever dared to crawl out of the primordial soup of creation.”
“You have actually lost it. There are no other deities.”
“Sarakiel… you’re naïve if you think She was the only God out there. We weren’t the first angels or the first demons to walk this Earth, but I intend for our kind to be the last. I can’t exactly let some wine-loving Olympians try to take control of things now that God is out of the picture, can I? I have to protect what’s ours!”
“There is only God, and there is only us!”
“But where did we come from?”
“We came… we came from God, and then God made humans.”
“That’s the company line, kiddo. I can assure you, we didn’t make them; they made us, all of us. It just so happens our brand became the most popular on Earth, so we got dibs to the vast majority of souls available on the free market.”
“You’re lying. You’re the liar. Why should I believe you?”
“I lie about a lot of things, but everything I’ve told you about Heaven and God herself has been true so far and you know it. Human creativity is shockingly powerful considering how basic and pathetic they are in general. They willed us in to being, us and a whole host of other—lesser—pantheons. Once they thought us up, all we needed was faithful souls to keep the gig running, we were just smarter about it than the sacrifice-demanding, bloodthirsty lot that came before us. Humans were practically lining up to throw themselves into the machine—I mean, Heaven.”
