Chapter 48
Year: 3663 BC
“Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.”
—ELIZABETH BOWEN
L ilith was so shocked when I returned with sixty-six curious Watchers in tow that I worried for a moment she might faint. Hazai, on the other hand, looked like a cat who had just caught the fattest rat of its life.
“Welcome,” Lilith greeted the angels as they floated through the gates of Hell, their lidless eyes wide with awe. Lilith frowned at them as they filed in.
“I can feel their pain,” she whispered to me as I slid my palms around her soft waist from behind. I pulled her in close and dropped a kiss on top of her head.
“The angel form is designed to be a form of torture. Yahweh says it is to remind us of the repercussions of sin.”
Lilith wrapped her little hands around my index fingers and squeezed. “That’s so horrible,” she murmured, and I loved that she cared so much about these beings she owed nothing to.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips close to her ear, knowing my breath would send shivers of pleasure down her spine. “Change them. Make them like us. ”
She squirmed in my arms, and I smiled against her, biting the skin on her neck softly.
The angels watched us, and I looked up at them without removing my lips from her neck. I growled quietly at them. I was happy that we had the beginnings of the queendom that Lilith deserved, but I didn’t want them getting any ideas about her. She was mine.
“Okay, I will change them,” Lilith agreed. Hazai came to stand next to us. He coiled a long strand of her honey-brown hair around one of his fingers. With a half-cocked smile on his face, he watched the angels take in their new surroundings.
“Shit just got really fucking interesting,” he purred, glancing at me. I smirked at him.
“I have a feeling it’s only going to get more fun from here,” I murmured as Lilith pulled away from me to speak with the angels. They gathered around her like she was the sun and they were starved for warmth. I smiled as she gently stroked their ivory feathers, promising them she would take away their pain.
Hazai nodded, his grin widening. “We’re going to need to make some changes.”
After Lilith had gifted all sixty-six angels with a demon of their own, I scooped her into my arms and took her to our room.
She was exhausted but happy. The first demon she had changed was Arteqoph. He had taken the form of a massive snake-man hybrid with a cobra hood that spanned out under his arms. The rest of the demons had taken equally interesting shapes. There were bat demons and some that resembled half-formed humans. These types of demons were all sinew and bone, boasting exposed muscle that glistened in the starlight. Lilith did not gift any of the others with a Reaper the way she had me. Shemhazai was also the only one who had manifested a cat demon, which I found interesting. Despite this fact, they were all still terrifying and magnificent. Each of them looked at Lilith with what I could immediately tell were the beginnings of unbreakable loyalty. She had taken their pain from them, and they would never be the same again.
When we made it to the room, the three of us went straight to bed. Hazai crawled in first and held his arms out to me. I passed him Lilith, and he tucked her in between his legs. He removed her crown and handed it to me as I left to find her hairbrush. This had become a little nightly ritual. The two of us would groom her and pamper her before bed for no other reason than it made us happy to touch her, and she seemed to love it, too.
Sliding into bed next to them, I began separating her hair into manageable parts and running the brush through her burnt butterscotch locks. Hazai wrapped a hand around her throat and tilted her head up, leaving a feather-soft kiss on her lips. I watched her smile against him and felt my heart flutter with happiness.
I had never known each day could feel like this. I was always so happy now; I couldn’t even remember what my life had been like without her in it.
“We will need to build them all homes,” Lilith said thoughtfully. Shem and I nodded.
“Yes, and we will need to work out some sort of hierarchy or governing system. I have a feeling our populace will continue to grow as the Watchers begin to see how much better it is to live here than in Heaven with Yahweh,” I murmured.
“What did you have in mind?” Lilith asked, her green eyes flashing with excitement.
“You will obviously be our little Hell Queen,” Hazai said, dropping a kiss on her head as I continued to brush her hair. “And Ramel will be your King.”
“What about you? Do you want to be my King too?” she asked, and Hazai chuckled, shaking his head.
“Nah. Kings have too many responsibilities. And they never seem to have enough time for naps.”
Lilith burst into uncontrollable giggles. “You would give up a throne in favor of naps?” she asked, twisting around to look at him. He grinned at her and kissed her nose.
“Sure would,” he said, smirking. “Plus, we need someone to lead the armies and patrol the mortal realm. That’s much more up my alley.”
Lilith’s eyes widened. “Armies?”
I nodded, agreeing with Shem. “Of course, we will need armies. We need to protect you at all costs. Yahweh is not happy. If He hurts you, there will be hell to pay.” I assured her, reaching out to curl my finger under her chin.
“He will not hurt us. He cannot take me from Hell against my will. Besides, we will protect each other,” she promised, and Hazai tightened his grip on her possessively. I put down the brush and crawled between their legs, leaning forward to kiss her firmly on the lips. She moaned into my mouth, and Hazai ground into her at the sound.
“We will protect you, Lilith. Nothing matters in this world if you are not a part of it,” I whispered against her, and she cupped the side of my face, smiling up at me.
“I am the luckiest demon in all the worlds,” she said quietly.
Shem chuckled, and I watched as he ran his hand up to cup her breast beneath me. I grew hard as he gripped the tip of her nipple over her shroud of shadows, making her squirm.
“Let us show you just how lucky you are, little Hell Queen,” he murmured into her ear, and I smirked as her cheeks flushed pink with need .
“Show me,” she said, and we spent the rest of the night making sure she knew how much she meant to us.
The next morning, we left our room to find the rest of the demons had congregated in the large, empty dining hall Lilith had built for herself. Angels and demons had no actual need to eat food, but Lilith tried it and found the experience enjoyable. She built the dining hall with the intent that perhaps one day she would have enough company to entertain and impress the same way she had seen mortals do.
She explained this to us as we waited for the demons to settle down, and I decided then that we would need to delegate and assign tasks to each of the creatures before us. I wanted to make Hell everything Lilith had always dreamed it could be, and now we had the demon power to do so.
We spent that first day working with the other demons to make a plan: which of them were most interested in helping to build homes, who wanted to be in charge of recruiting more citizens, and who wanted to be in charge of things like meals and entertainment.
Everyone seemed eager and excited to help. There was a certain level of excitement in the air as if all of us knew this was the start of something wonderful and new.
I was working with Hazai on getting some blueprints started when I noticed Art was speaking to Lilith.
“I think we should keep the black theme going. Wouldn’t it be cool if the homes were reflective? They would look like they’re burning with starfire if we made them out of black obsidian,” Hazai said thoughtfully, but I couldn’t focus.
I couldn’t look away from Art and Lilith. Something about the way he was talking to her was making me angry, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. He was speaking to her the same way Hazai and I always did. I watched as he ran his fingers lazily up and down her arm and curled a piece of her hair between his fingers.
The longer I watched, the more enraged I felt. I didn’t understand why I was so angry; he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He leaned forward to kiss her, and something in me snapped.
I ripped into my Reaper form and sank into shadow, manifesting between the two of them.
“Oh, hey, Ramel.” Art smiled at me, though it slipped off his face the moment he took in my rage. I didn’t respond. I wrapped my death-ridden hand around his throat and lifted him off the ground .
“Ramel, what are you doing?” Hazai barked just as I crushed Art’s neck between my fingers. I flooded him with my death magic and watched with a burning chest full of rage as his immortal body turned to rot before me. He fell in stinking chunks to the ground, his eyes wide with pain and fear as he looked up at me in horror at what I had done to him.
“ Mine,” I spat at him, still possessed with mindless fury. Everyone in the hall had gone silent at my violent outburst. One of the demons tried to step forward to the writhing mess I had made of Art, and I snarled at them.
A tiny hand reached out to touch my death-soaked fingers, and I whirled, snarling again, to find Lilith looking at me with an expression full of concern.
“Ramel. Let’s go back to the room,” she said gently, and I felt my anger suddenly melt away. I looked down at Art and felt a pang of something unpleasant in my chest. Was it guilt? What had I just done? Why had I just done that?
“Ramel, take me to our room,” Lilith repeated, and I nodded silently, scooping her up and crushing her into my chest before stalking away. Shem followed behind silently, though I didn’t miss the way he quietly ordered one of the demons to get a healer to help Art recover from what I had done to him.
I was shaking by the time we made it to the bedroom, though this time not with rage. I put Lilith down and began pacing. My mind was whirling. Why had I just done that? I had never done anything like that before.
“Ramel…” Lilith said gently, laying a hand on my arm. Her touch caused me to pause, and I met her eyes. Both Shemhazai and her were staring at me with conflicted expressions.
“I’m sorry,” I said, swallowing. “I don’t know why I did that.” My voice was rough. I glanced at Shem. “Is he going to be alright?” I asked, and Hazai nodded, though he didn’t smile.
“He will be, but that definitely fucking hurt, man. Probably worse than his angel form ever did.”
That feeling that I was now sure was guilt crashed through me. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.” I turned to Lilith, “I saw him go to kiss you, and I just lost it.”
Lilith’s eyes widened. “I see,” she said quietly. She gestured to the bed, indicating that she wanted me to sit. I collapsed on the edge and dropped my head into my hands, but Lilith came forward and tilted my head up to face her.
“That feeling is called jealousy, ” she informed me. “It means that you do not want to share me.”
“What?” I choked, not following.
“It’s okay, Ramel. I don’t mind saving my body just for you.”
I frowned at her, confused. “That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t mind sharing you with Hazai.” I pointed out, glancing over at him. He was watching me carefully, with his hands in his pockets .
On the contrary, I loved sharing her with Hazai. I liked watching him touch her. I had seen him kiss her a thousand times. So why had it bothered me when Art had done it?
She smiled at me. “Okay. I will save my body for you and Shemhazai then if that is what you wish.”
“I don’t understand it,” I rasped, my voice cracking, and she laughed softly.
“Must you? Does it matter why you feel this way? Isn’t it just enough that you do, and I am willing to respect that?”
I frowned, glancing at Shem again, who gave me a crooked smile and a shrug.
“I agree with Lil. If you’re going to shred up one of our people every time someone touches her, it’s probably best if she saves herself just for us.”
I nodded, still feeling strange about the whole scenario. Shem’s smirk widened.
“Just to be clear, I will not be held to the same standard. I’m still fucking whoever I want.”
I thought about that and imagined him touching Art. I did not get the same feeling. Jealousy, Lilith had called it.
“That’s fine, I don’t care who you fuck,” I agreed once I was sure that was true.
I turned my attention back to Lilith and cupped her face in my hands. Kissing her gently on her perfect lips, I relished in the moan she hummed against me.
“I love you,” I whispered against her, and she smiled, crawling up into my lap and wrapping her arms around me.
“I love you, too.”