Shut up, stupid woman! Nyx screamed at her inside her mind. They’re fakes! They’re not your children. What the fuck would children be doing here? If I hear from you again, I’ll put you back into the lake.
Aleyd broke down in sobs, but quickly silenced herself and said no more. Nyx was startled to realize that the woman believed her.
Nyx cast her mind outward in slow spirals, searching for Persephone and Ishtar. She did not call for them because another Angel might hear. Instead, her consciousness slipped subtly across the surface of Hell, skimming over Angel after Angel. It dipped into the Lake of Fire to touch the Angels chained there. Those who noticed it felt a light brush against their flesh like the briefest of touches from a hesitant finger. Most didn’t feel anything.
Ishtar was the closest. She was no more than two miles away, but she might as well have been on another world.
She was in Lucifer’s palace, which was guarded by Descended from the 666th legion.
Nyx had never posted guards when she had been Queen of Hell. She had gained complete control over the Descended and had little need of guards. It wasn’t until she left that Lucifer was able to raise the Angels against her. Apparently, Lucifer had not managed to equal her.
No souls ever entered Lucifer’s palace that he did not order there himself. The ones inside were chained to walls when Lucifer wasn’t giving them his attention or tortured into Hellstone shapes for his use. There was no way that Nyx could get inside as she was, and if she changed form there was no way Lucifer and his guards would not know it was her.
She was the strongest of the Descended, and could destroy dozens if they came after her.
Too bad they’ll come after me in thousands.
Nyx reluctantly let her mind circle outward once again, covering every inch of the plains of Hell, brushing over the millions of sinners tortured there, and the Angels and demons who stood over them, forcing new and brutal agonies onto each.
She spiraled farther outward, through the black rock valleys and the spiked, razor-sided mountains. Her mind went to the black pit of a prison where Lucifer had put the Angels who still fought against him, each broken and stuffed into a Hellstone chest as Nyx had been, then buried beneath tons of rock. Farther she went, circling ever outward, until she came to the Palace of Pleasure. And found Persephone.
What the fuck is she doing there?
Nyx looked closer and felt a surge of rage. Persephone was definitely in the Palace of Pleasure, and there was no way that Persephone should be there, unless…
She betrayed me. That bitch betrayed me. I’ll cut her to fucking ribbons! I’ll pull her guts out and make her eat them! I’ll…
What will I do?
Nyx pulled herself back to herself. There was no way to do anything as she was, and she still needed allies.
I will go to the Palace of Pleasure, and I will coax her back to my side, Nyx decided. Or I will cut her in two right there and toss her in the Lake of Fire myself.
Nyx began crawling forward, heedless of the pain of the spiked floors and whirling blades that hacked at her body. Blood flew as her flesh was torn open. The child-shaped demons capered and cavorted, begging for her help. Ahead of her was the one clear piece of floor in the entire room. Nyx had put it there deliberately, and now, just as deliberately, pulled her body onto it.
The floor, delicately counter-weighted, spun once her full weight was on it, and Nyx fell deep into a whirlpool of Hellfire.
She knew it was coming, of course, just as she knew what was going to happen to her once she fell in. She steeled her mind as all her sins came to revisit her, and the pain she’d inflicted on others roared through her mind. Babies torn from their mothers, orphans left to starve. She hadn’t done any of that on purpose, exactly—it had just been part of war. But that knowledge didn’t make the pain easier to bear. The Hellfire burned her flesh and threatened to rip Aleyd’s soul from her body. Nyx had a moment to wonder what the soul was learning of Nyx’s crimes before she clamped down on it and forced her body to heal as fast as it could to counter the pain of the whirling Hellfire. It responded faster than she could ever recall it doing, save when she had possessed Tribunal’s power.
Epiphenia, Nyx remembered. She is in me now. Her power is making me stronger.
The whirlpool spun Nyx faster and faster until it pulled her under and into the tunnel below.
She had spent a century carving the tunnel, making sure there was no way that any being—Angel, demon or soul—could get through it unscathed. Now, as the Hellfire rushed her down the pipe, she was lacerated half a hundred times in the first seconds. Her skull split open. Her guts ripped out, only to be tangled in the rocks and to hold her, briefly, against the rushing Hellfire before they tore in two and sent her spinning down the tunnel once more.
The pain was immeasurable, and her body was nearly destroyed a thousand times before the tunnel grew narrower and narrower and the Hellfire faster and faster. Nyx closed her eyes, knowing what was to come next.
The pain of the Hellfire abruptly vanished as she was spewed out the end of the tunnel and into darkness. Nyx had the briefest of moments to brace herself for what was to come next.
I really am an asshole sometimes…
She slammed into the spiked wall and hung, impaled for a fraction of a second before the spikes tilted at their hinges as they were meant to do, and Nyx slid down the razor-sharp rock that made up the side of the mountain. She managed not to scream as every single inch of flesh on her body was ripped to shreds. She left a trail of blood and guts and bits of bone and Hellstone from Aleyd’s broken remains as she skidded down the mile-long slope into the final indignity—a pit of waiting mini-demons that swarmed over her flesh, gleefully ripping away the torn pieces as she struggled her way out of the pit. She managed to pull herself free and stumble away.
She was less than five miles from the Pleasure Palace. She could walk it in an hour or less, if they left her alone.
They didn’t, of course.
The demons came first, chasing after her like a pack of hounds. Because she could not betray her true nature, Nyx had to let them overtake her, had to fight them ineffectually as they ripped into her body with their teeth and claws. They let her get away and heal for the pleasure of chasing her again and again. On the fifth time they drove her to a precipice and were preparing to jump her when an Angel came down from above, picked her up, and raised her another five thousand feet in the air. Then he shoved his sword into her body, cut it in half from the neck down, and let her drop, screaming, to pulp herself against the earth.
And so it went.
It was days, as mortals reckoned, by the time she made it to the Pleasure Palace. Her body had been beaten, bitten, cut, gutted, violated, and once devoured whole by a giant demon who shit her out again hours later. She had been dunked in Hellfire a half-dozen times and had never, ever been allowed to stop moving.
She could hear the demons howling again as she slumped against the wall of the palace.
It was a huge building, as black as any other in Hell, but made solely for the Descended to indulge in the pleasures of Angelic flesh. Persephone had stayed in it for months at a time. It was her favorite place in Hell. You could always find her by looking for the most inventive configuration of bodies.
Nyx crawled around the back of it, hoping the demons would give her enough respite to pinpoint Persephone’s location. She closed her eyes and found Persephone. The betraying bitch was in the central orgy room. Nyx growled underneath her breath. I will gut her and take her up to Earth, where I will kill her permanently.
Now how do I get to her?
Souls were not allowed inside the Pleasure Palace. Demons were not allowed inside the palace either, save the succubae and incubi who provided pleasure on demand. Only Angels could pass freely through the doors, and if she let her true nature show, there would be no hope of escape.
A succubus it is, then. But how to keep the other Angels from knowing what I am?
Nearby, she could hear the howling of the demon pack closing in on her.
Nyx closed her eyes and looked inside herself for the connection to Epiphenia’s power. It was tenuous, barely reachable through the soul that Nyx had stretched through her body. Even so, it had already helped her, healed her, and kept her alive. But there was more power there, much more, if Nyx could reach it.
Maybe even enough to make me invisible to Lucifer.
It was worth a try.
Nyx changed her hand so her nails were razor sharp and plunged them into her body. Using the force of her mind she pulled together the black stone that was Aleyd. The soul screamed in protest, as she was wrenched away from Nyx’s flesh.
“Please!” Nyx heard in her mind. “Please. I must find my children. I must protect them.”
Nyx pulled Aleyd free, tearing her out of Nyx’s brain case and body, and wrapping her back up into a Hellstone ball.
“Please?”
Nyx felt a tiny breath of mercy. “Your children are in Heaven, woman. You’ll not see them again, but they don’t suffer.” There was a moment of gratitude, of peace, almost as alien to hell as Epiphenia’s green. The soul would forget, of course. Why must she stay in Hell, exactly?
Nyx had no time for this sort of question. She stood up and hurled the soul as far from herself as she could. The demons, scenting it, changed directions. Nyx sank back down to the ground and once more closed her eyes. She reached within herself, found the glowing green power that was Epiphenia and grasped it.
Pain.
Instant, excruciating, and nearly overwhelming, the pain arched itself from Nyx’s cheek through her entire body in an instant. There was no sense of Epiphenia herself, no trace of that sweet Angel, only a sense of being invaded in a way that Nyx had not experienced even when the demons had mounted her. This was the pain of something growing under her skin. It was even worse than giving birth had been, though it happened much more quickly.
Nyx’s eyes popped open. Tendrils of green were slipping through her skin, like roots growing beneath her flesh. As she watched, they spread down her arms, over her breasts and belly and down to her groin and her legs. She could feel them wrapping themselves around her spine and spreading out across her back and into her wings.
I have wings. I’ve changed back to an Angel! Shit!
The growing stopped. The pain vanished, and in its place was power.
Nyx stood tall against the wall, wearing her true shape, save for the twisted patterns of green that ran through her skin. She held out her hands and looked at the earthy glow. She felt stronger than she had in a very long time. She could completely hide herself from Lucifer or any other Angel. She would be invisible to any sensing with their minds.
Of course, if I do that, Lucifer will know I’ve gone.
Nyx leaned against the wall, willing those who came and went to not notice her. To her surprise, it worked. Not a single Angel or demon looked her way.
It can’t be that simple. Can it?
Given the power that was thrumming through her body, Nyx began to believe that it was.
What the fuck…?
Nyx flapped into the air, circled, and flew in through one of the great windows. All of them opened on the central orgy room.
The floor below was a mass of naked Angel flesh, all of it engaged in carnal indulgence of the highest and lowest orders. Angels reclined on benches and beds, floated in the air, swung on swings, knelt or crouched or lay on the ground. They licked, sucked, fucked, bit, and scratched one another’s flesh. Male and female alike penetrated and were penetrated by others. The demon succubae and incubi were beautiful in a different way than the Angels, their faces sharper and more exotic, their sexual parts exaggerated. Demons enjoyed sex, but in lovemaking like this, they were mostly aping their betters, with no notion of the exquisite pleasure that Angels were capable of.
Despite the danger she was facing, the sight of all the Angelic flesh—the silky skin and perfect limbs, flowing hair, full breasts and muscular torsos—made Nyx incredibly horny. It had been more than a thousand years since she’d felt a male Angel’s embrace, or made love with more than two others. She sniffed, inhaling the glorious scent of immortal skin, of genitalia made only for endless and exquisite pleasure. Reproduction had been a much, much later idea.
Focus, Nyx, she chided herself. First I find Persephone. Then I kill her, I get Ishtar and go to Earth.
Then I’ll defeat the Son of God, Lucifer and all his armies.
Then I can get laid.
No problem. Really.
Nyx smiled to herself, knowing how farfetched the words were. She was far more likely to end up back in the Lake of Fire, or turned to dust by Tribunal, than she was to come out of this alive. She took another look around, drinking in the sights and smells of the orgy around her. She remembered thousands of years of pleasure, in Heaven, Hell, and on Earth, frolics with Angels and humans—she avoided the memories of her most perfect lover, Tribunal—as she slowly circled the room in search of Persephone.
The room had changed since she’d last been there. Of course, it changed regularly as the Angels got bored and redesigned it for new pleasures, or variations on old pleasures. This day, there was a large, rather gauche fountain in the middle of the floor, featuring a female Angel, arms, legs and wings spread wide and chained to pillars, and three male Angels wrapped around her, penetrating every orifice. Whoever had made the statue had designed it so streams of Hellfire spurted into the bound Angel’s orifices at irregular intervals, mimicking orgasms.
Tacky, thought Nyx. Unnecessary, and doesn’t really add anything to the eroticism of the room. Now where the fuck is Persephone?
Nyx didn’t want to send her mind out in a room full of Angels. The power that was keeping her unnoticed was hardly sufficient to disguise a direct sending if it was intercepted by the wrong person. So instead, she circled the room again and again, trying to spot Persephone. She looked carefully at each tangle of bodies, sorting out limbs and wings, making sure she matched each body to a face, in case Persephone was hidden by her enthusiastic partners. She couldn’t see her. Nyx growled in frustration and landed by the statue. Hellfire spurted onto Nyx’s shoulder, but after drowning in the stuff, Nyx didn’t really care about a few droplets. She walked another slow circuit of the room and still couldn’t see Persephone.
She’s in here. I know it.
Nyx ended back at the statue. It was as ugly as it had been from the air, only up close it looked even cruder, as if it had been slapped together over a rough shape, with barely any attention given to detail. The legs and arms were rough. The openings where the male Angels penetrated the statue were crude and barely rendered. The only solidly built parts of the statue were the chains. Even the eyes seemed little more than holes save that there was something behind them.
Realization dawned on Nyx the moment before she saw the eyes inside the statue blink.
Holy fuck. Persephone.
Lucifer hadn’t rewarded Persephone. He’d trapped her inside the statue, with Hellfire gushing up inside her body, so that she would be forced to continually watch and never be able to take part.
Nyx took her eyes off Persephone and looked around. Her don’t-notice-me command was still working. None of the other Descended even glanced her way.
How am I going to get her out of there?
The only way to free her was to break the statue, and there was no way that Nyx could do that discreetly.
Nyx leaned back against the ass of one of the male Angel statues and enjoyed the view around her. Angel flesh was beautiful flesh, and there was a great deal of it engaged in passionate activity around her. She smiled and crossed her arms, like a pleased spectator.
And as soon as her skin made contact with the statue, she sent her mind inside it, feeling how it had been made.
It was carved Hellstone, of course, made by hacking off bits of Hellstone-trapped souls and reshaping them to the sculptor’s whims. The Hellfire th
at coursed out of the cocks of the male Angel statues came from a fissure deep beneath their feet. The cocks themselves were barbed, so that any attempt to rip Persephone free would give her incredible agony.
Nasty, Nyx thought with a certain grudging admiration. Lucifer always was about the sex.
She began manipulating the Hellstone in the statue, starting with the cocks. She smoothed the shafts and blocked the ends so no Hellfire could escape. She weakened the base of the statue in a dozen places, then narrowed the pipes that led down to the fissure below. She could already feel the pressure building up beneath them.
She felt movement inside the statue as Persephone came back to her senses and the gaping wounds in her body healed. Nyx opened her mind to Persephone and said, Wait.
Nyx! The cry was both relief and joy. What happened to you? How did you get out?
Later, Nyx sent. Wait until the Hellfire sprays into the room, then break out. I’ll be waiting outside.
Nyx pushed herself off the statue, spread her wings and began a slow, lazy circle upward toward the windows. She had all the time in the world, now.
Or at least until the statue explodes, Nyx thought with a grin as she flew out the window and hovered above the Palace of Pleasure. Which should be about…
There was a rumble, then a BOOM! followed immediately by screams and shouts of outrage and displeasure. Hellfire sprayed out the doors and windows of the Pleasure Palace and Descended Angels ran and winged it out of the building, many cut and bleeding, others squirming and trying to brush off the Hellfire. Some were still in mid-congress and immediately resumed what they were doing as soon as they escaped the fire.
Inside the now-empty room, something cracked, then something else. Nyx dropped to the window and looked in. Persephone was half-free of the statue. One of her legs and both her wings were still trapped. Nyx took a quick glance around. Other Angels were hearing the noises and starting to circle back. Nyx dove into the window and, for the first time since her escape, drew her sword.