Chapter One Lucifer
Chapter One
Lucifer
I tried to warn Charlotte about my ruddy siblings. But she wanted to make a family. Join celestial forces. Fight my Father’s impending apocalypse—together.
Her goddamn na?vety will be the end of me.
But I suppose I’ve always had a penchant for lost causes.
I lean back upon my makeshift throne of scorched steel and broken concrete—crafted from the bones of what only a few moments ago was downtown Dubai—the leftover remnants of the Burj Khalifa crumbled to dust at my feet.
Emergency helicopters whir overhead, the vortex of the wind they create drawing up enough dust that it now thoroughly coats both my suit and face as the few humans who remain begin their desperate search for survivors.
They won’t find many.
When I command it, my siblings burn the world down with such conviction, you’d almost think they believe in something.
“I gave you one bloody task,” I snarl. “One.”
Satan and Leviathan—Wrath and Envy, respectively—stand on opposite sides of the wreckage, glaring at one another with little regard for the catastrophic damage they’ve just caused me.
Wrath lifts some of the rubble over his head, using the force of his abilities to send the debris careening toward Envy.
But Envy deflects it easily enough, stopping it in midair and temporarily seizing Wrath’s abilities until a newly formed chasm splits open not ten feet from me.
A deep, jagged rupture created by my brother’s seismic tantrum, no doubt.
Flames lick at the edges, bursting up from beneath, but it isn’t my realm cracking open to unleash my latent powers to me.
Fucking inconvenient, that.
“Enough,” I growl, giving a sharp jerk of my chin as I rise from my throne.
Death and Abaddon, the shared leaders of my demonic legions, step forth from where they flank me, more than prepared to do my bidding.
I told my brothers to bring down the goddamn skyline, not level the whole blasted city. The Righteous were meant to tremble, not recruit martyrs from the ashes. But when have my siblings ever listened?
Being the eldest has never exactly been fun or games for me.
Though I suppose I can’t claim full immunity.
I, too, often consider torturing my siblings to Hell and back whenever they annoy me. At least before that bloody bastard, Michael, went and stripped my powers from me.
But now with my legions topside and Earth under my command, they will bow to me all the same.
Like it or not.
“He said it wasn’t that big!” This from Envy.
“He what?” I shout across the ruins.
The smoke from the nearby fires they created obscures my view momentarily.
“He said it wasn’t that big,” Envy snarls, spittle flying from his mouth, before he launches another unexpected blast of Wrath’s stolen power at us both.
They cannot possibly be serious.
I sidestep out of the way, just as Azrael uses his abilities as a celestial shield for me, returning the rock to the dust from which it came, but not before a sharp piece of the shrapnel sails past, resulting in a rather ghastly tear down the front of my favorite suit.
My gaze narrows upon my siblings.
Once my powers return, I will fucking end both of them.
When the dust finally settles, Envy gestures wildly to the three-hundred-story tower they just destroyed while simultaneously wiping out half the godforsaken city.
As if to indicate it’s that which started this whole thing.
I glance between them.
“Are you bloody joking?” I shout.
Neither of my siblings is given the chance to answer before the earth once again begins to tremble beneath our feet.
My nostrils flare.
There is only one thing on this godforsaken planet that could make the entire world quake like that aside from me.
Charlotte is going to blame herself for this, as I might’ve once done.
And that is an outcome I cannot accept willingly.
“Fuck!”
A round of shouts follows as the few human survivors begin to desperately point to the heavens.
Somewhere, hundreds of kilometers away, lightning flashes as the sky overhead transitions to a crimson, bleeding red. The clouds part upon a sudden crack of divine fury, and a massive blast of Holy Fire rains down upon the earth.
“Lucifer, down!” Azrael orders.
I drop to the ground, shielding my head as the first pulse of power bursts forth.
My Father’s celestial judgment barrels throughout the world like a rampant plague.
Unleashing chaos. Razing buildings. Vomiting fire and ash at anyone or anything that stands within its path.
It cannot possibly dissuade me.
My siblings are knocked off their feet, toppling like the broken idols they’re quickly becoming, as my blood pressure begins to rise, and I press my lips together.
This is not wrath; this is annihilation the likes of which humanity has never seen.
The crimson sky darkens, and my expression goes cold. For once I begin to question if even I will manage to survive all my Father’s apocalyptic seals opening. A sudden chill runs down my spine as the world goes silent.
The Red Rider.
War has been unleashed.
The second seal is now open.
And not by my command, it seems.
Azrael and Abaddon are the first ones up, shouting orders for my legions to fall back in line where they cowered before my Father’s fury, just as Wrath throws back his head and laughs wickedly.
Envy lets out a low, appreciative whistle as they both stumble to their feet. “Looks like you’ve got bigger problems on your hands, brother.”
Of course I do.
One of my other blasted siblings, no doubt.
Controlling them is like keeping panthers on a fucking leash.
I stagger upright, attempting to brush off my suit coat to no avail, only for a round of distant gunfire to break out amongst the survivors. Fuck.
War isn’t on his way.
He’s already here.
I cast an unamused glance at the battle zone my siblings have just made, before I pull one of my celestial blades from my suit coat. A stray piece of shrapnel whizzes past my ear.
“For fuck’s sake,” I bellow as my siblings resume their fighting. “Would you two bloody well pack it in?”
Wrath turns in my direction, the singular movement inhuman and uncanny. His irises flash to an angry, murderous red, as red as the sky that bleeds with our Father’s divine fury. He and War always did love to feed off one another.
“And what exactly are you going to do about it, Lucy?” Wrath steps forward.
I grit my teeth, my mouth twisting into an unhinged grin, and drop the knife at my side with a hollow clatter as my brother prowls toward me.
I cast my arms open wide, welcoming whatever pain he may bring. “Well, go on then,” I taunt, the hellfire in my gaze blazing. “Make it count.”
Wrath hesitates, and I smirk wickedly.
Being temporarily mortal has not been convenient for me, but in our Father’s absence and with my legions now topside, I am the true god they fear.
I mutter under my breath as Wrath advances, summoning all my godforsaken demons to do my bidding for me.
Without my full power, there is little my demonic army or even my former lover can do to truly contain my siblings once their minds have been set upon something.
And clearly, one of them is set upon undermining me.
What else is new?
I look toward the parted sky, my jaw clenching.
I knew it was a mistake opening the first seal of the apocalypse for Michael.
I just failed to recognize how thoroughly he’d fucked me.