His presence, though, was another thing entirely.
Tribunal was God, as near as Lucifer could tell. God’s Son and God’s Self, born of a woman, but divinity in mortal form. And that was before he died. Now, he was pure energy, clothed in divine flesh, at a level of perfection and power Lucifer had not faced since the day God himself came down from his mountain to confront Nyx and the other rebel Angels. Tribunal was the divine spirit embodied; he cast all Angels in the shade.
He was also not happy, and Lucifer was feeling the pressure of his wrath.
“Explain,” said Tribunal.
Lucifer’s very bones shrieked with the humiliation. He hated feeling weak. He hated feeling like a failure, and he hated more than anything the near-overwhelming desire to kneel before this little man who had no sensual glory, but whose radiance made him ache. Lucifer bared his teeth and spoke slowly, as if trying to explain a complex concept to the demon Gore. “Nyx has escaped the Lake of Fire. She helped Persephone escape as well. She has found a way to make herself invisible to the minds of every Angel in Hell, and to make it so neither Angel nor demon notices her when she is near.”
Tribunal glanced at the doors of the room, where lines of Angels stood shoulder to shoulder to prevent anyone from coming in. He waved a hand in their direction. “And this is the reason for your blockade?”
“If we don’t see her coming, we cannot defeat her,” said Lucifer. “We are scouring Hell for any sign of her.”
“And are you sure she’s still here?”
“Yes,” said Lucifer. “She’s here. All the exits are blocked.”
“All the exits you know,” said Tribunal.
“I know all the exits from Hell.”
Tribunal smiled slightly, then pulled open Lucifer’s mind and looked inside. For Lucifer, it felt as if the top of his head had been ripped off and his skull and brain were being forced to open up like a rose made to move from bud to bloom in an instant. It was far worse than any physical violation. Lucifer gritted his teeth together, refusing to allow himself to make a sound.
The pain vanished. Tribunal said, “No, you don’t.”
The relief from pain nearly took Lucifer to his knees. He wavered but kept his feet. I will not kneel to this snotty little… popinjay. Instead, Lucifer growled, “Then where are the other exits?”
“Wrong question,” said Tribunal, his voice so condescending that Lucifer was torn between embarrassment and the need to rip the fucker’s head off his shoulders and shove it up his ass. The result of which would probably be very bad. And not for Tribunal. But it was so tempting…
“The right question,” continued Tribunal, “is which exits does Nyx know?”
“And which ones does she know?” asked Lucifer, grinding his taloned fingers into his knees. One hour with this fucker, just one…
“I don’t know,” said Tribunal. “Shall I waste time exploring her head and telling you? Or shall I just make it so you and all of your dimwit Angels can see her?”
Lucifer closed his eyes and imagined Tribunal screaming in Hellfire. “The second, please.”
“Of course.”
Nyx trebled her speed, dragging Ishtar and Persephone through the air, though the other two were flying as fast as they could. All thought of subtlety or of taking down Lucifer was gone. All that was left was the sure knowledge that, if she were to face Tribunal, she could not resist him.
“Where are we going?” demanded Ishtar.
“The Pit,” said Nyx. “We dive in, we fight through, and we get to Earth before Tribunal comes looking for me.”
“What makes you think he’s not going to look for you on Earth?”
“Because he hates the Earth,” said Nyx. “Because if the Gates are open to Heaven, God or the Angels might notice. Because I don’t know how to beat him, but on Earth we stand a chance and here there’s no chance at all.”
Tribunal’s attack hit like a tsunami.
Nyx had the shortest of warnings—a prickling in her flesh that said that something different was coming—before the wave of Tribunal’s power rolled over her like a hurricane over a wet leaf. It was warning enough.
Nyx dove inside her own head, even as her body flew faster toward the pit. She surrounded herself in Epiphenia, cloaked herself in the power of her Earth Angel so that all that was Nyx was hidden. There she was protected. There was something very peaceful about this, she noticed, something that blunted her rage and terror. Then the wave of power rolled over all three of them, buffeting them, threatening to drive them from the sky.
“Well,” said Tribunal, a frown coming across his face. “That is odd.”
“What is odd?” asked Lucifer, warily. When the Son of God looked concerned, it was more than enough to make Lucifer very worried indeed.
“I can’t find Nyx,” said Tribunal.
“She’s not here?” The idea that Nyx had managed to escape was appalling. Lucifer felt fury consuming him. I’ll make every Angel who failed to get her spend a month in the Lake of Fire.
“Oh, she’s here, all right,” said Tribunal with that maddening arrogance. “She’s just managed to hide from me. It’s a bit of a surprise that she can, but it won’t make a difference.”
The next wave of power clove through Nyx’s defenses and into her brain.
I SEE YOU! Tribunal’s voice ripped into her head like a jagged-edged saw blade. Silver blood spouted from Nyx’s nose, ears, eyes and mouth at once. She tumbled through the air, all control ripped from her. AND NOW EVERYONE ELSE CAN, TOO!
Persephone and Ishtar dove down after Nyx, catching and supporting her twitching body until she regained herself. When Nyx did, she drew both her sword and whip, still gasping with agony. “Right,” she muttered. “Same plan, only now we fly faster, and we kill anything in the way.”
“What if Tribunal comes after us?” demanded Ishtar. “Then what do we do?”
“Then we die,” said Nyx. “Until then, we go. Now fly for the pit!”
Like three winged arrows, Nyx, Persephone, and Ishtar flew. The Angels around them were startled by their sudden appearance but only for a moment. Then they gave chase.
Good thing Tribunal’s still here, thought Nyx. Otherwise everyone would see us.
“I can’t sense them,” said Lucifer.
“Of course not,” said Tribunal. “I’m here.”
“So why don’t you crush them?” demanded Lucifer. “Smite the bitches and be done with it.”
Without warning, the full force of Tribunal’s presence came crashing down onto Lucifer, driving him to his knees, and thrusting his face into the floor. “YOU INSECT! DO YOU HAVE THE FAINTEST IDEA WHAT I AM DOING HERE? DO YOU?”
Lucifer could not rise. The weight of Tribunal’s will was like a boulder—or a mountain—on his back. He could not even put his thoughts together enough to form a word.
“I AM HIDING THE EARTH FROM GOD! I HAVE HIDDEN THE DOORS TO HEAVEN FROM HIS ANGELS, AND I HAVE TURNED THEIR MINDS FROM EARTH! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH POWER THAT TAKES?”
If Lucifer had been able to weep from the force of Tribunal’s anger, he would have. Instead, he could only keep grinding his face against the jagged stone of the floor. He strained with all his might to make himself rise, but he could not.
“I AM GOING TO REMAKE THE WORLD INTO A PARADISE AND TAKE EARTH FROM GOD! DO YOU THINK I HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOUR PETTY, LITTLE QUESTIONS?”
Lucifer tried to protest, tried to argue, but neither his tongue nor his throat was working. He couldn’t even babble out the most abject apology.
“ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS HOLD THOSE THREE TRAITORS, AND YOU FAILED!”
The force of Tribunal’s presence abruptly vanished. Lucifer’s body, suddenly able to respond to his commands, practically leapt upright, making him stumble backward. He spread his wings wide to keep his balance, his cloven-foot boots digging into the ground. His face was slack from shock, and he felt the shame of his weakness like a hand squeezing his balls. I hate this nasty little shit! L
ucifer raged inside his head. I would give up every soul in Hell to be able to torture him!
Tribunal, appearing once more as a thin man with a dark beard, olive-dark eyes and long, tangled hair, looked disdainfully at Lucifer. “Soon I will have finished hiding the Earth from God. Have your troops assembled and ready. When the Earth is truly hidden, your Angels must rain destruction upon the Earth and spare no man. All must die, from the youngest to the eldest. Do you understand?”
Lucifer swallowed his hatred and his fury, and forced calmness into his voice. “I understand.”
“Now go clean up your house. I want no interference when the time comes.”
And with that, Tribunal vanished.
“Asshole,” said Lucifer to the space where he had been. “Thinks he’s so special. Complete fucking asshole.” He walked to the door of the throne room and threw it open. The line of souls waiting there quailed when they saw his face. The nearest one was a fat old man who had been sent there for his love of young boys. Lucifer grabbed him, bent him over and punched so hard that Lucifer’s fist disappeared into the man up to the elbow. The man screamed and howled. Lucifer stood up and raised the man on his arm like a bloody puppet, drinking in his terror as he shook him. He glared at the rest of the souls before him, imagining new and dreadful ways to make them suffer.
Lucifer turned his mind outward, sensing every Angel in Hell. He found Nyx, Persephone, and Ishtar together, winging desperately toward the pit. Lucifer grinned and sent a mental command to all the other Angels. Then he looked at the souls in front of him. “I am angry. And I have something that will delay me from giving you the agony you so richly deserve. So when I return, I will make you suffer as none have suffered before, so that your screams will be louder than any others in Hell, and that all those staked out on the plains will listen and be thankful they are not you.”
Lucifer grabbed the leg of the screaming man on his arm and pulled it hard. Lucifer’s fist shoved through the rest of the man’s body and came out his mouth. Lucifer twisted his wrist, opened his hand and drove his fingers deep into the man’s eyes. The man’s screams became even louder for a brief moment. Then Lucifer ripped his arm out the way it had come in, dragging the man’s skull behind and turning him inside out.
His arm was wet and scarlet. He felt very slightly better.
“Demons,” said Lucifer. “Keep these scum entertained until my return.”
Lucifer spread his large black wings and took to the sky as a horde of demons overran the souls at his door.
Nyx, Persephone, and Ishtar winged over Hell, moving near the speed of sound. Nyx could feel the Angels in Hell sensing her presence, could feel them gathering in the skies around them. The Pit was in sight just ahead, and a contingent of fifty or so Angels hovered above it, blocking their way.
“That’s not the 666th,” said Persephone. “Bet we can break through them before reinforcements arrive.”
Nyx looked over her shoulder and saw hundreds of thousands of Angels, their armor on and their whips and swords in their hands, converging fast. We’d better, Nyx thought.
“Don’t be stupid!” snapped Ishtar. “Nyx, this is your chance. You can talk to them all and get them on your side. You can rule in Hell again!”
“You think it’s going to be that easy?” Nyx demanded. “The first war lasted an eon, Ishtar. You think this one will go any faster?”
“Then let it last an eon!”
“We don’t have time!” snapped Nyx. “Tribunal will destroy the Earth.”
“Then let him! Let him kill them all! Hell is where we belong, not Earth!”
“And you think he’ll forgive us?” demanded Nyx. “You’ve seen his power. You think he’s going to let us alone once he’s done with the humans?”
“I think we’ll have a better chance of facing him if we’ve got an army at our back!”
“Weapons out,” said Nyx. “Get ready to dive.”
Ishtar growled in frustration but did as she was told.
“Dive!”
Their velocity was enough to smash through the first three ranks of Angels. Then it was all blades, whips, feet, and teeth. Nyx beheaded her first two opponents with ease and gutted two others, her blade ripping through their armor. It wasn’t as easy as it had been when she had been infused with Tribunal’s strength, but the strength Epiphenia was giving her was still far more than the Angels had. A dozen Angels tried to surround her, making a cage of blades and whips and Angelic flesh to keep her from escaping. She kept driving forward, heedless of the cuts and lashes that ripped into her flesh from those behind.
Persephone and Ishtar didn’t have Nyx’s strength to rely on. Instead, they fought back-to-back, spinning as they flew. They weaved through the air in an intricate dance that was simultaneously defensive and offensive, avoiding their attackers even as they cut and lashed them again and again. Wings and limbs severed and fell away from their blades. Angels screamed in pain and roared in frustration and agony. A dozen blades cut into them, making silver blood flow and sending feathers flying. None scored deep enough to slow them down, though.
Nyx broke through first, Persephone and Ishtar a moment later. Like stooping hawks they raced down into the complete darkness of the pit, the only light now the glow of Hellfire on the blades of their swords.
“They’re not following!” shouted Persephone.
Why not? Nyx wondered. There was more than enough to keep them busy while the rest of the Angels came after them, and the gate to Earth was deep, deep in the pit. Lucifer should have the Angels charging after her.
The answer came in a glinted reflection from the fire on her blade on Hellstone.
“Stop!” screamed Nyx. Her wings snapped wide open, the air beneath booming as she braked.
Persephone and Ishtar opened their wings in the same moment, arresting their descent until all three hovered in place, staring at what was below them.
He must have started this as soon as he put me in the Lake of Fire, thought Nyx. He may not have my brains, but he’s not entirely stupid.
Below them, stretching across the pit, was an intricate lattice of razor-edged Hellstone blades. Layer upon layer went down for miles, crisscrossing so thickly that nothing could get through.
“Well,” said Persephone. “Fuck.”
Nyx looked up. The pursuing Angels were gone. Lucifer stood on the edge of the pit, and hovering above him were the Angels of the 666th legion—all five thousand of them.
“Caught you, you bitch,” said Lucifer.
“You haven’t caught us yet, you fucker,” shouted Persephone. “Come here and say that to our faces!”
“Oh, I will,” said Lucifer.
“And then what?” shouted Nyx. “Do you think Tribunal’s going to keep his promise to you any more than he kept his promise to me?”
“He broke his promise because you broke yours,” Lucifer said. “You were the one that failed to kill your precious Earth Angel.”
Not the only one who failed, Nyx thought. But the longer Lucifer and Tribunal don’t know that, the better.
“He’ll destroy you,” said Nyx, as she looked around the pit. “As sure as he tried to destroy me. He’ll come after you as soon as he doesn’t need you anymore.”
“I’m going to destroy you, Nyx,” gloated Lucifer. “I’m going to chain you to my castle wall and fuck you and feast on your flesh for a thousand years.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” said Persephone. “Can’t you do anything that doesn’t involve sex?”
“Be quiet, insect,” said Lucifer.
“Bite me, asshole.”
There, Nyx sent into Persephone and Ishtar’s minds. See the tunnel?
I see it, Persephone sent back. Where does it go?
No place we want to be, said Nyx. But better than here.
“Get them,” said Lucifer. “Now.”
The 666th stooped as one and dove into the hole.
Nyx and Persephone turned to race toward the tunnel.
; Ishtar’s blade buried itself into Nyx’s back, and her whip lashed out, wrapping around Persephone’s neck.
“I gave you a chance!” screamed Ishtar as Nyx arched and convulsed. Ishtar sawed the blade upward, hacking through her rib cage. “You could have ruled Hell again! We could have been safe! But you wouldn’t listen, you stupid bitch!”
Persephone moved first, her blade coming up to slice through Ishtar’s whip. Ishtar yanked on the whip, taking Persephone’s balance and spoiling her aim.
“Don’t you fight me, bitch,” screamed Ishtar. “We can save ourselves! We can gain Paradise and Hell!” She reversed direction with her blade, driving it down into Nyx’s pelvis. “You’ve fucked up everything, Nyx. All you had to do was kill that fucking Earth Angel! And instead you’ve got her inside…”
Nyx’s whip lashed out in a blind strike that took off the side of Ishtar’s face. Ishtar screamed and jerked back. Nyx threw herself forward and off of Ishtar’s blade, ignoring the agony as it sawed through bone and flesh. She spun, her own blade gleaming green and black, the Hellfire on its edges dancing. She gasped as her body started healing itself. Glaring at Ishtar, she demanded, “Why?”
“Because I want Paradise,” said Ishtar, raising her blade and advancing. “I want Paradise and Hell and you gave it all up for your stupid little Angel!”
Persephone, with Ishtar’s whip still wrapped around her neck, leapt forward and cut down with her blade. Ishtar dodged, but not fast enough. Persephone’s sword sheared off one of her wings and Ishtar spun away, out of control. The whip around Persephone’s neck dragged her for a moment. Persephone hacked the whip apart and launched herself downward with a flap of her wings, driving both feet into Ishtar’s body. The force of the hit sent Ishtar spinning down onto the razor-sharp blades below them. Ishtar screamed as her flesh was sliced open and her bones severed.
Persephone grabbed Nyx’s arm and flew straight for the tunnel. Nyx, still bleeding and in agony, forced herself to move as the entire 666th legion dove down and followed.