50. Sydney
Abaddon saved my life and lost his own in the process.
Unlike Asmodeus, he was fully prepared to die tonight for what he did.
I didn’t agree with literally anything he’d done.
He’d murdered my brother and cost me a childhood with my father.
But he never would have done any of that if it wasn’t for Asmodeus.
Lucifer, Satan, and Mammon were sitting over Abaddon and clearly grieving.
I walked over to place my hand on my father’s shoulder.
I didn’t know if he would have forgiven Abaddon after finding out what Asmodeus did.
I still didn’t know if I forgave him. I did know neither of us would get that chance now.
“I’m sorry.”
Because what else could I say?
“Don’t be. He must have figured out how to control the Beast of Eden and at least known he was going to die tonight. It’s the law. Kujo had the vision when he did so we got the full story and didn’t totally blame Abaddon.”
I wasn’t going to say it because everyone was grieving. I was completely shocked when Mammon, of all people, did.
“Maybe the law should change because as it stands now, we can say what we like to each other, we just can’t raise a hand.
Asmodeus didn’t technically break the law until he held a knife to Sydney.
It’s not against the law to manipulate any of us to do dirty work.
Besides, I think if Asmodeus had done to him what your child just did more often, he probably wouldn’t have acted up.
Maybe you should release the Hellspawn on more of us. ”
Mammon gave me a small smile, so I gave him one back. I wasn’t sure if we’d ever be good friends, but he was trying, so I would.
“Why did he do this?” Satan asked.
“Asmodeus hated all three of you. He thought Lucifer, Satan, and Abaddon had some cool kids club and you do, in a way. You are the original members of the rebellion. The rest of us joined later. You are also the strongest. And to be fair, you didn’t like him much either,” Belphegor said.
Neither did I, but that was because of his sparkling personality. I’m guessing it was the same for my dad and uncles.
“It was the demons,” Beelzebub said with a mouth full of food. “He resented Lucifer for letting Lilith give them free will.”
“You don’t let Lilith do anything. She just does.”
Right on.
“Yeah, but Asmodeus wanted them to be mindless sycophants like some of our brothers were with our father. He took it personal he never got his own demon like Satan and Abaddon did. Abaddon got incubi and succubae and Satan got the Furies. Even Mammon got his own demon.”
“I didn’t create them for them. I created them for everyone in Hell. They can take down angels. To protect you. I swear, do the rest of you feel this way?”
“We didn’t like him much either. We hung around him because you made us feel unwelcome,” Belphegor said. “I never guessed he would go so far as to orchestrate Kir’s murder. If I’d known, I would have come to you. He didn’t like us either, but it didn’t feel like he was hiding it.”
“And that’s the problem,” Mammon said. “I was not part of the original rebellion and joined pretty late. I was never a general and frankly, they had to rescue me. I’m not as close to Satan and Abaddon, but Lucifer has always treated me like a friend.
We got in this mess because we don’t talk and just made assumptions.
“People died and the Gates of Hell nearly shattered. Abaddon messed up terribly. I’m not disputing that, but he was right about one thing.
If we can’t even govern each other, we shouldn’t be ruling over demons too.
No one should be in power as long as we have and we’ve been so focused on that and moving pieces that we’ve lost joy.
Do any of you actually enjoy this game we’ve been playing? ”
I was starting to see why my dad actually liked this guy. He was passionate, and he had no problem calling his brothers on their shit. And he was trying to make an effort, so I could too. I agreed with everything he said, but it also wasn’t up to me.
“I think I’d rather do what Abaddon did,” Satan said.
“Not the plotting and murdering, but when he checked out of day-to-day ruling, he dove into fostering excellence with all demons. He didn’t care if they were lower demons or where they came from.
I think it was his penance for what he did to Kir, but we had so many breakthroughs because he ignored the hierarchy. I’ve never agreed with it.”
“I didn’t either. We were outvoted,” Lucifer said.
“Well, I’m changing my vote,” Mammon said.
“If the Beast of Eden came out, we all would have died. The only reason we would have had a chance of making it out was the Fury and the incubus. I have no interest in sex like the rest of you and I know that makes me defective, but I know what love and loyalty looks like. It’s against the law for the incubus to use his magic like that and he would have risked it for her.
There’s clearly more to demons than I thought. ”
Wait, what? I walked around and thumped every single angel except Mammon upside the head. Because I was starting to understand Mammon a little better.
“Okay, fuckers. Listen up. I have zero say in how you run Hell, but Mammon isn’t defective, he’s just asexual and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Mammon, if someone convinced you that you’re just a prude, they are wrong.
No one should be pressured into having sex.
I’ll give you some books. If I catch anyone giving him a hard time, I’m going to kick your ass. ”
Because yeah, he’d made a big deal about my shirts and I said some shit too, but he wasn’t wanting to have sex and refusing to because of some purity angel thing like I thought. He just wasn’t interested, and that was totally fine.
Lucifer and Mammon just smiled at me.
“I’d listen to her,” Lucifer said. “Someone taught my little girl to throw a punch, and I’ll let her. Sydney, I’ve been telling him there’s nothing wrong with him for thousands of years.”
“The rest of us didn’t because we didn’t know better. I’m sorry. You’re also right about all of this. Belphegor and Beelzebub, you’re outvoted, but are you going to fight us?” Satan asked.
“No,” Belphegor said. “It all went too far. I wasn’t as close to Kir as some of you, but he was special. Your latest Hellspawn is crude, violent, and abrasive, but she found you when none of us could. She’s special in her own way.”
I flipped him off and grinned.
“Thanks.”
He just smiled at me. This entire time, Beelzebub had never stopped eating. I was fairly sure he was stuffing his face when I was beating the shit out of Asmodeus and probably didn’t even react when I had a knife to my throat.
“I’m bored. I’ve had sex with every type of demon.
Some of the things you blamed on Asmodeus and could never pin on him was actually me.
I’ve got an entire room of shit I’ve stolen from all of you when I was at your houses.
I slept with most of your wives, but that didn’t do it for me either.
Ruling is boring. All your parties are stupid.
I want more time to figure out what makes me happy, so let the demons run things. ”
That was fair. One of these days, I was going to ask him about his exploits. The other angels agreed. Belphegor was still pissed about his wife and Satan demanded the return of his property.
I looked at my demons. We’d done it. I nearly died, but we’d done it. I knew when Kujo started seeing angel stuff that we might be able to find my dad, but I wasn’t sure about changing Hell.
But we’d done that too.