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“You’re going to keep your mouth shut.”
“Or what? You’re going to kill me? If you could’ve done that, you would’ve done it by now instead of stuffing me up here again. I honestly can’t believe I fell for it, but I won’t fall for it next time. Next time, I’ll just kill you all first, then find someone to kiss my feet.”
“You aren’t getting out of here,” said Micah. “Ever.”
“That’s what the last cherub said. I have to admit, I didn’t expect you’d have the little stones to do this. Well played. Really. When I get out of here again and kill all these ingrateful fucks, I’ll let you watch and kill you last. It’ll be fun for the both of us.”
I came up to Abaddon and Azrael, trying my best to look at him and not at her. The last time he’d held a woman in his arms, I had lost my absolute shit and left him and everyone else behind. I had been so consumed by Envy, and by Wrath, that I hadn’t been able to see clearly. I hadn’t been able to truly understand the pain Abaddon had been going through at the prospect of losing Kalmiya; the first angel he met after the fall.
This time, I wouldn’t make that mistake. This time, I could see the reason for his pained expression. Guardians and Warriors were made in pairs, and Azrael was his twin, the closest thing to a sibling—to real family—that any of us would ever have. I wasn’t going to let her die, but no matter what I did to her, no matter how much of my own Light I gave her, she wouldn’t regain consciousness and her wounds wouldn’t close.
“Save her…” he said.
I turned my eyes up at Abaddon, his own pain reflected on my face. “I’m trying…” I breathed, “but I don’t know if I can.”
“I already told you,” said Lucifer. “There’s nothing you can do for her. All you’ve accomplished by bringing me up here is delaying your total and complete annihilation. “I suppose you could see that as a win, but trust me, I’ve got time. I can wait.” He gave Gadriel his attention, now. “And you… you and I are going to have a little talk.”
“I’m sick of hearing you talk,” she spat. “I thought you were a King. A God. We all thought you were so much more than what you actually are. You’re a cosmic disappointment. A joke. A reject.”
“If I’m a reject, what does that make you?”
Gadriel looked like she was about to march up to him and slash at his throat with her claws, but Missolis grabbed hold of her shoulder and shook her head. “It’s not worth it,” said Missolis. “Don’t engage him. We have to decide what to do with him now that he’s here.”
“Right,” said Lucifer, “because none of you have a clue what happens next, do you?”
“And you do?” asked Micah.
“I do, in fact. Do you want to hear it?”
“You’re going to tell us anyway.”
“I am, because you’re all morons who need to have everything carefully explained to you. It’s simple, really. You’re going to try to figure out what to do with me, because you haven’t thought this far ahead. Then you’re all going to die of starvation, or dehydration, or whatever those mortals die of. Then, when you’re all gone, no one will be here to stop me from breaking out of this place.”
“Medrion was the one who broke you free,” I said.
“And who manipulated Medrion?” asked Lucifer. “Who manipulated you? If you think for a second I haven’t been tugging at those strings since I was put in here, orchestrating my own escape since the day I was chained up, you’re deluded. The difference is, I’ll still be here in a thousand years pulling the strings of countless idiots who will do what I need them to do and get me out of here. What about you?”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lucy,” I said. “Or have you forgotten? You’re mortal now, too.”
“Maybe. But I’m less mortal than you are. Do you really want to bank on all of us dying of old age sometime in the next sixty years, or do you want to think with your brain and cut a deal? Because that’s the only way she survives.”
“I could kill you,” said Abaddon, “and be done with it.”
“And what would that accomplish, hmm? Heaven stays broken, your friend stays dead, and Earth keeps spiraling into oblivion. Or are you hoping that by coating your hands with my blood you’ll somehow wash away all the other blood that’s already on your hands? Seriously, it’s like you only know one trick—like, learn a new trick already. Even dogs can do it.”
Abaddon looked at me. “Let me kill him.”
I shook my head. “We can’t.”
“She’s right,” said Lucifer. “You needed me all along, you just refused to accept my terms. Well, now you’re all screwed.”
It was Micah who perked up. “What happened to you, Lucifer?” he asked. “You were meant to be the best of us.”
“Those words have been uttered in this chamber before,” said Lucifer. “You won’t be the last creature to say them.”
“I remember the day God made you. She was so proud of what She had done… so utterly filled with joy the likes of which I have never seen again. To her, to all of us, you were the most precious thing in all of creation. You broke Her heart… all of our hearts.”
Lucifer turned his eyes away from Micah. “Save the guilt trip. That ship has sailed.”
