41
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
ENZO
D emons line up behind, ready to charge to their death. This isn’t going to be pretty and it’s going to turn into a bloodbath. We’ve already lost a unit taking down a ward protecting the Temple of the Damned, and the loss of numbers is fucking inconvenient.
“You’re sure about this?” Morgana asks.
I send her a look that would make most shrivel up and die, and she rolls her eyes, unimpressed.
“He’s obsessed with her,” Elgios sighs.
“He’s not obsessed,” Morgana says, tapping the blackened nails of her long fingers against her arm. “It’s dangerous when a demon’s like this. Best to avoid them entirely. But here we are and when this is done, Amaymon, you will owe me for the blood spilled in your name.”
Technically, it’s Adriana’s.
But I’m not going to correct her. Especially when she’s this fucking irate. Morgana is a fury in all but name and the witches behind her hiss and spit, already thrashing against the bonds that hold them back.
“Let’s get this over with,” I roar.
It’s hardly the best rallying call I’ve ever used, but I don’t intend for it to be. It’s meant to give Elgios the chance to rise. He wants a seat at Lucifer’s table and the fucker’s going to have to earn it. Starting now. He’ll pay for it in blood and sweat and tears and cries of agony. His army will be depleted and he will need to rebuild it, but that’s his problem and one for another day.
Elgios roars and stamps the ground, beating out the sound of war. The demons behind us hear its thrum and their blood boils, and their rage is palpable. Elgios is summoning the carnage and chaos of battle, and it flows through him into those around us. The power is palpable and the anticipation of release is exquisite.
Demons roar and bang their chests, joining in with the rhythm that’s taking hold. War has no limits in Hell and this will be a bloodbath—and those standing with us are aware they may not survive the day. They’re in it for the pleasure of destruction and the reward they’ll receive if they survive.
Hell has few rewards, and the aftermath of battle is one of them.
My patience tires as Elgios rallies the army behind us. It’s taking too fucking long and I’m more concerned with what’s in front of us than behind. Adriana’s enduring fuck knows what, and I’m done wasting time with this shit.
Byron gathered some numbers, and a few Lords of Hell joined our ranks. They’ll look for a promotion when this is done and I’m sure my vaults will be slightly diminished. It’s a small price to pay for the girl who’s suffering in the fucking temple, and I glance at Elgios, silently asking him to hurry the fuck up.
All Hell breaks loose as we cry havoc and race towards the Temple of the Damned. Morgana’s magic flies ahead, pouring venom ahead as it sustains hit after hit. Explosions ricochet around us and I ignore them all, racing toward the entrance.
More witches push their magic forward and another ward sparks, lighting the battlefield with sparks of neon green and dayglow orange. Their heat bursts forward as the forces collide and the witches refuse to surrender, taking hit after hit until they take down the fucking barrier.
Just in goddamn time for me to charge through where it stood.
Demons rise from the barren soil beneath me and my wings open, slicing through those that dare to challenge me. Their numbers swell as they rise like a fucking rash and there’s no stopping their spread. Eva’s well prepared, and the army we’re facing is a swarm of disgusting and despicable violence.
And it will not stop me.
Not when Adriana’s inside that fucking temple.
I’ll desecrate and defile whatever the fuck I must violate to get to her, and I promise to commit any sacrilege necessary to save her. Even praying to the almighty asshole who sits on that glistening throne in Heaven.
My wings slash and tear through flesh, mutilating and annihilating demons that pile towards me. I’m fast and ruthless, and I tear apart any who somehow stagger close enough for my claws to reach. I’m a force to be reckoned with, and my thirst for violence knows no limit.
I pulse magic forward and demons shriek as an explosion of power rips them to shreds. More spring up and I send another burst of destruction toward them, destroying the new and resurrected demons rising from the arid desert.
There are too many of the fuckers to cut them down quickly, and they just keep coming. They’re rising as fast as I’m killing them and I’m being forced to slow down, forced to wade through the demons standing between me and Adriana, buffering Eva from my ire.
Elgios fights ruthlessly, matching my kill count and possibly surpassing it. He’s on a fucking mission and his magic flows as potently as mine, devastating those around us.
The battle’s fierce, and it’s fucking glorious. Blood pours and the earth drinks it, thirsty for more, as demons on all sides fall. Explosions and magic ricochet around us, shattering any delusion of calm. This is carnage. This is chaos. This is a fucking war and it’s one I’ve got to win.
My limbs move lightning fast and my magic works harder.
It’s not making enough of a difference.
The fuckers just keep coming. Shrieks and screams cry out around us and as magic flows and fights against other spells, Eva’s strategy is painfully clear. This is a war of attrition. A short one, if she has her way. She’s throwing more and more demons at us and she’s replenishing the ones she loses. We’re not matching her and our losses count, while hers don’t.
“We’ve got to move faster,” I roar.
“Don’t you think I fucking know that?” Elgios yells back, decapitating an ice demon with brutal efficiency. “We’ll die if we get bogged down.”
We’re already bogged down.
I’m making the smallest inroads forward and the army behind me is thinning.
Morgana senses it too and she’s fucking pissed, pulsing more and more magic that she’s drawing from fuck knows where. The battlefield glows in greens and blues that ignite as rage and anger take hold, burning across the plane of Hell with a fury worthy of this battle.
“This isn’t working,” she yells.
“It’s got to fucking work,” I yell back, cutting down another two demons before pivoting and decapitating two more. My magic surges and the ground beneath us shudders, temporarily stalling the next attack. Eva’s demons will rise soon, but the breather might give us time to regroup.
We fucking need it.
Demons limp and bleed, oozing thick black blood that drips onto the ground. We need a second to catch our breaths and we’ve got little time to heal. Demon flesh knits together, but it won’t be fast enough, and although I’m loathe to admit it, both Elgios and Morgana are right.
This isn’t fucking working and we’re going to die here.
“We need a fucking plan,” Elgios roars. “A different fucking one.”
“Then think of one,” I roar, lazily culling a few more demons and readying myself for the onslaught that will inevitably come next.
“He won’t like it,” Morgana says, sending a devastating pulse of magic toward a compact unit of badly wounded demons. “Neither of you will, but it’s the only fucking chance we’ve got.”
We turn to face the enraged High Priestess who stares at us in all her livid glory. Her body screams pain and terror, while the darkness flowing from her is as despicable as mine. Her fingernails are curled and sharp, her hair like the lashes of a whip, and Morgana’s eyes burn with the anger of a woman scorned.
“It’s got to be him,” she sighs, rolling her eyes at Elgios and me. “We can’t all make it through, but we can push him through. We can get him into the temple and then we can hold back the army at its gates.” Her eyes brim with fire and fury as they meet mine. “You’ll have to take her out, Amaymon. Quickly. An army falls when you’ve cut the head off the snake.”
Mixed metaphors aside, she’s got a point.
“No fucking way,” Elgios snarls. “He’s not stealing my fucking glory!”
Morgana tilts her head and stares him down, looking at the Duke of Hell like he’s being a child. She’s patronizing the shit out of Elgios and the demon doesn’t like it, railing against her logic. It’s indisputable and he fucking knows it. He just doesn’t like it and unless he accepts it, we’re going to end up fighting each other instead of the motherfucking demons that are beginning to rise from the ground.
“We don’t have a choice,” I add.
“This is my battle, my victory,” he snarls. “My seat at the fucking high court.”
I nod. “Then take it. Lucifer won’t be able to deny you if you’ve held back an undefeatable army in his name. This is your chance, Elgios. Don’t waste it on a girl Lucifer doesn’t care about.”
The heat of Hell abates as Elgios’s magic swarms around us and my core turns ice cold. Elgios rage runs hot and his anger might be enough to turn the tide, if we can turn him. Morgana and I wait, watching Elgios fight against his better self, and his shoulders fall as he concedes defeat.
“The kill is still mine, Amaymon,” he sighs, opening his wings and flashing every one of his razor-sharp talons at me. “Kill Eva, but save Mordecai for me. I need a fucking scalp to hang on my wall.”
Time’s up and I turn, staring at the masses of demons racing toward us. They're so many of them it’s impossible to count them and they merge into each other as they charge at us.
“The temple, Amaymon,” Morgana says under her breath. “We’ll clear a path, but you need to do the rest.”
Magic surges forward and its power is an explosion that burns hotter than a supernova. Hell quakes, shaken by the force we’ve unleashed. For the first time I recall, demons pour their magic into one combined force, working together for the common evil.
Demons burn, and I sprint towards the onslaught, racing toward the gates of the temple. This is the fucking act of heroism that I never thought I’d commit, and I ignore the screams behind me as Eva’s army collides with mine. With Elgios’s army. And demons fall as I race forward, propelling myself closer to the temple entrance.
I slash at some lesser demons who seem to have realized our plan. Their heads fall and I keep moving forward, determined to cross the threshold. Determined to reach Adriana.
There’s a fucking bloodbath behind me and either I kill Eva or we all die here. Today.
More demons throw themselves at me and my wings tear them to shreds as I ignore the urge to revel in my glory. There’s only one thing that matters and my pride takes a back seat for once as I set aside my vanity for my girl.
Blood pours, and I don’t know if it’s mine.
Sweat drips onto the ground as I burn and work harder, fighting for my girl.
Pain bursts through me and I ignore it, certain I’ll know worse without Adriana.
My feet cross the temple’s threshold and I break the barrier, keeping lesser demons off its sacred ground. Hell’s changed, but I am not, and my thoughts fade away until only one remains. My obsession with Adriana holds me in its sway, and she’s the only thing that matters. She’s always been the only thing that matters, and I race through the temple grounds, outpacing the fuckers who are chasing me.
I fly up the steps and land hard enough to shake the foundations of the temple. My talon slices across my hand and drawing the blood needed to pass through the final ward. Only high demons can cross this, and unless I can tear it down, I’ll be on my own.
We’d planned for Elgios and Byron to be here with me, along with any other high demons we could gather. But the best laid plans often go awry and this is all that’s left.
My blood merges with the magic protecting the Temple of the Damned and electric pulses spark as the barrier draws itself back. The archway is just big enough for me to pass through and I step forward, aware I haven’t brought it down.
I’m on my own.
Against whatever Eva’s got planned.
I walk into the temple, and my footsteps echo around the hallowed walls. There’s no reply. Not a fucking sound. The place is dead. Deserted. No magic haunts its interior, and no demons or monsters lurk in its shadows.
This is too fucking easy, and Eva wants me to know it. She wants me to know that something truly wicked waits for me in the Inner Sanctum and she wants me to fear it. My lieutenant’s learned the lessons I’ve taught her and she’s using them against me.
And she’s fucking good.
Just not good enough.
I will not cower, and I will not run. Not when I walk through the temple and not as I enter the Inner Sanctum. Not even when I see Adriana’s bloodied body curled on the floor beneath the altar.
My girl’s taken one hell of a beating. Her hair is matted with blood and her limbs are caked in its dried remains. She’s breathing, but her chest is injured and I’m betting more than one rib is broken. Her collar—my fucking collar—is chained to the altar as some cruel and twisted joke, using what is mine to tether her to this place that keeps her from me.
And I’ve never known anger like it.
In all the centuries I’ve endured and the battles I’ve lived through, I have never known a rage like this. It’s all beyond comprehensive and beyond containment. It’s so fucking vicious that Lucifer himself would quake in fear and Eva won’t know what’s hit her when I find her.
I race to Adriana and snap the chain, tying her to the altar. My girl wakes in my arms and her dazzling eyes flood with hope as she stares up at me. Blood covers her swollen face and she’s never been more beautiful. More radiant. More fucking divine.
“You came,” she mumbles. “I called and called. I knew you’d come.”
“I’ve got you, baby.”
Laughter echoes around the chamber and slow hand claps sound Eva’s arrival. The bitch is gloating and I’m going to make damned sure it’s one of the very last things she does. She’s hurt my girl and I won’t tolerate it. I won’t allow it. And I’ll make fucking sure that everyone knows what happens if you so much as touch a hair on Adriana’s head.
The darkness gifted to me in the temple rises, and it surges forward, the power of the damned almost uncontainable. It's bleaker than I imagined and more potent than I thought, but Eva simply smirks as if she knew this was going to happen.
“You might have her, Amaymon, but can you keep her?”