Chapter 1
Chapter One
Ash stared at the darkness before him. The soft growl built in his throat until it reverberated throughout his entire body. Shit. He needed more control of his emotions if he was going to get through this.
Everything was different now. Not just him.
Even the Underworld was changing, and right before his very eyes.
Fire and brimstone gave way to clean streets and sweet smelling air.
From a pit of despair meant to reign terror and punishment, to an urbane looking environment thriving with life and possibility. He could scarcely believe his eyes.
But what could he expect when the Lord of the Underworld himself was no longer a miserable old sod?
Happily mated and more powerful than ever, Lucifer had truly done a number on things in Purgatory. Shops, cafes, boutiques, nightclubs, and even an office offering psychiatric counseling to those who needed it were springing up left and right.
Odd.
Very odd.
But not unwelcome.
Truth was, it didn’t matter to Ash in the least what the Underworld looked like.
Why should it?
He had a job to do, and he did it well. Protecting its borders and keeping the citizens of Purgatory safe was his purview.
The rest was none of his business. Even if all these changes were due to a certain Lord aiming to please his lady.
Blech.
Why should he, the Demon of lust, a Prince of Hell in his own right, care if Lucifer had found his fated mate?
Let the happy couple do whatever satisfied them. It meant no difference to him.
Nor did he care if Eve and Aphrodite ran a speed dating service for the denizens of Purgatory. It was none of his business.
Period.
The end.
Sounded bloody ludicrous in his opinion, but no one asked him. As such, he wisely kept his opinion to himself. Ash had enough on his plate without angering those two powerful ladies. Besides, there was a rumor of an uprising starting somewhere in the south borderlands.
As General of the Daemonium Guard, Ash was obligated to report the bad news to the Lord of the Underworld. Just another ducky perk. He exhaled, frowning hard.
Lucifer was not known for his tendency to forgive less than perfect results. Now more than ever, he demanded the Underworld be safe from all threats. Ash understood this, and even though he’d only just returned to his position, he assumed all responsibility for the Guard.
The Lord of Purgatory had a reputation for having little patience for error. An impending threat to his kingdom was not to be tolerated. He would demand answers and results, as was his right.
Unfortunately, Ash had neither.
“My lord,” he began. “The soulless are stirring. I’ve had legates reporting unrest in the southern borders of Purgatory.
These officers are trustworthy, my lord.
They are the best of their legions, hand chosen by me.
Be assured, I am doubling our efforts to squash these rumors and tend to any perceived threat, real or otherwise—”
“Yes, yes.” Lucifer waved his hand. “I’ve read your reports, Asmodeus, but that is not why I have summoned you here.”
“Then why have you, my liege?” Ash asked, careful to show his respect for the most powerful being in the Underworld, even if it galled him that Lucifer kept calling him by his more formal monikers. Yes, he was called Ashmedai or Asmodeus, but he preferred Ash. Always had.
His entire perspective had changed. Not that he could blame himself.
After the Demon who had held him under thrall, that evil bastard Molloch, who had been defeated and locked away by Satan himself, Ash had been freed and thankfully forgotten by the powers that be.
Indeed, with the end of the Curse of St. Natalis, that which had damned Werewolves for a millennium, by a certain teen aged Werewolf, Ash had been left alone and without direction.
Free for the first time in an age. But with no true purpose. No reason to be. He simply was.
And wasn’t that depressing?
A shell of his former self, he saw no other options.
Returning home was the only thing Ash could think of that made any sense at all.
And so he had. Ash had sped away back to the Underworld.
Alone in his manse for weeks to return to his former physical strength.
Molloch had left him an empty shell, but soon, he was himself again, if only on the outside.
But even with his strength returned, the home he once knew wasn’t what he’d remembered. No more public flaying. No fire and brimstone. True, there was still a hint of sulfur in the air, but it was so faint that even with his Demonically enhanced senses, he had hardly detected it.
The Underworld was starting to look mundane as Hell. No pun intended.
“Asmodeus?” Lucifer called his name. The Lord of Purgatory seemed both amused, and as if he were hiding something. On guard, Ash bowed respectfully before answering.
“Yes, my lord?”
“Enough with the ‘my lord’ thing, for fuck’s sake, how long have we known each other? I think you can call me Lucifer when you are in my office, Ash,” the King of the Underworld said with a rather frightening smile.
Ash nodded, though he had no intention of being so informal. He stood, back straight, head high, ready and at attention. Friendly or not, Lucifer was the ruling sovereign. He deserved the utmost respect from all his citizens.
“I said at ease, General,” Lucifer barked.
He rolled his eyes, probably annoyed at Ash’s disobedience, and caused a flash of white lightning cutting across the red-gray skies. It would have been beautiful if Ash had allowed himself the time to observe the phenomena. At the moment, he was trying not to piss off his boss any further.
“Look, you need to snap out of this, Asmodeus. I mean, why so formal? You should be enjoying yourself.”
“I should?”
“Yes! You aren’t getting any younger—”
“Demons don’t really age, as you know, my lor—, uh, Lucifer.”
Fuck no.
That did not feel right.
He clamped his lips together and tried not to wince at the Lord of the Underworld’s raucous laughter.
“There! Isn’t that better? Now tell me, Ash, doesn’t anything in Purgatory hold any interest for you at all? Aside from hunting down the soulless and tearing them limb from limb, that is.”
“Uh, no. Not really. I mean, of course I am grateful to you, sir. I appreciate you allowing me to resume my role as General of the Daemonium Guard,” Ash said, stumbling over the traditional courtesies due to his master.
“The current crop of legates is outstanding. I have charged them with keeping their legions and cohorts on point, ready for inspection at any time. They are working in tandem, patrolling our borders, using freshly trained packs of hellhounds to monitor threats. Their prime operative is to keep the soulless rogues at bay and to investigate the rumors in the Southlands.”
“You are the best General the Daemonium Guard has ever had, Ash. I trust you to do the job and to do it well. Now, does it look like they will try to invade?”
“It appears that way, sir.”
“Excellent! It’s been too long since I’ve seen battle.” Lucifer smiled. The Lord of the Underworld clapped his hands together once, then offered a slight fist bump to the air.
He always got excited at the thought of a good fight. Some things never changed, Ash mused, and was comforted by the thought. He could handle a skirmish any day of the week. As long as Lucifer did not want to talk about his feelings, he would be fine.
“Wonderful. Truly. I am exceedingly pleased by your progress, Asmodeus.”
“Thank you, my lord. And, please, call me Ash,” he offered, bowing once more to show his unending reverence for Lucifer.
From the time he came into existence, he had served Lucifer as best as he could until he was taken and held by the criminally insane Molloch. He’d thought about leaving altogether and finding some solace among the humans, but Ash rejected the idea.
How could he possibly go there after the damage he’d almost caused?
It was a mess, and he was in crisis, truth be told.
A Demon in crisis.
It was preposterous.
Whoever heard of such a thing?
Angels and Demons all had their place in the multiverse, and none of it was as black and white as it was viewed on Earth.
Fuck it, he thought with an angry growl. Lucifer raised his eyebrows, and Ash shook his head apologetically and waited for him to speak.
“What I meant, Ashmedai,” Lucifer said, using another of Ash’s longer names.
Sigh.
There was simply no telling Lucifer anything. He did what he wanted to, when he wanted to do it. As was his right.
“I’ve made some recent observations of your foul and melancholy mood, and I think you need something more to do than simply work. I think you should start dating again!” Lucifer announced with a chilling smile on his face.
Fucking hell.
The Lord of Purgatory had a mate, and now, he was on a mission to ensure everyone else had one too. As if Ash could follow suit!
Didn’t Lucifer know Ash would gladly welcome a mate if he had one?
If only.