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“Kill it, Azaroth!” yelled Skrix. “It’s not worth the risk!”
Gharol, standing as far away as possible from me, cupped his hands around what passed for ears and yelled, “What’s happening?”
“Tell me, angel,” said Azaroth, ignoring his companions. “You come here wearing armor and wielding Light… you are not like the others. Why?”
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped.
“Oh, but it is. Angels clawing their way out of the Pit is most certainly our business. Or do you think we helped you out of the kindness of our hearts? Some come through entirely broken, ready to be remade in the fires of this place. Others are… defiant, unwilling to accept the truth of their circumstances. Most do not live long past their escape, one way or the other.”
He brushed one of the feathers on his crown.
“Murderer,” I hissed.
Azaroth’s burning grin widened as he approached me once more, tightening the grip on his dagger. “We are in Hell. There are far worse things than murder here.”
“Stay back!” I yelled.
“Or what?” He asked. “You’ll spend more of that precious Light trying to hold us off, and then what? Save your energy, Sarakiel, Tenth of Her Name. An angel with Light is a valuable commodity down here. Come with us, and I’m sure we can find somewhere… comfortable for you to spend the rest of your damnation.”
Skrix and Gharol had regained their confidence and started creeping back in behind Azaroth; their toothy grins reminded me of hyenas, slowly backing their prey up as they prepare to pounce.
“What’s left of your power would fetch a good price in the city,” said Azaroth. “What say you, Lightbringer?”
“I won’t be sold off by some demon like a prized pig,” I snarled. “If you want my Light, come and take it.”
I was bluffing.
I had never faced a corporeal demon before in my entire existence—let alone three of them. Before now, I had only ever encountered demons while they were in possession of a mortal host. That was the only way they could venture out of Hell; they needed to ride a human body, or they couldn’t exist on Earth.
Demons were once angels, yes, but they had been stripped of everything that made them so. Crushed, broken, and thrown into the Pit, where they became little more than parasites. Sad, damned things that were easily exorcized by even humans.
Down here, though… these three beings looked formidable. Any one of them was likely a match for me. Maybe if I had the full use of my Light, I stood a chance. But now? I knew I didn’t have a winning hand, but I had to do something.
Azaroth lowered his head and sighed. “You choose violence, then,” he said. “So be it.”
Stars exploded in front of my eyes, and I toppled to the floor. My last thought as I fell was that someone had smashed me across the back of the head, but I had no idea who, or with what.
I should have figured there would be more of them.
CHAPTER FOUR
My head was pounding again. I opened my eyes to absolute darkness, and in that moment my foggy brain considered that so many recent knocks to the head had finally taken their toll. It took a sudden jolt for me to realize I was in motion; laying on my back, being pulled or pushed along on something with wheels, and that a bag had been put over my head.
The ground underneath was rocky and uneven, the air heavy and hot, and there were voices all around me. The demons. They had knocked me out and were taking me somewhere. I tried to squirm, to wriggle, but my hands and feet were tied up—as were my wings. I wasn’t going anywhere on my own power.
Even my Light, what little of it was left, wasn’t going to help me here.
“I think it’s woken up,” came the high-pitched squeal of the demon I had come to know as Skrix.
“It’s definitely wriggling,” said Gharol. “Maybe Okaras didn’t smash it hard enough.”
“Quiet,” came Azaroth’s voice, low and deep. “It’s tied up. Even if it did get out it has nowhere to run to.” I heard a thud and the cart I was on rattled—one of them must have kicked it.
Gharol chuckled, his voice like the crunching and twisting of metal. “It wouldn’t last a minute out there, with the hellhounds and the harpies.”
“Not to mention the Hellions,” Skrix put in. “They’d love a chance to have a go at an angel, wouldn’t they?”
“Especially one that can actually fly,” added Gharol.
