Chapter Twenty
Nomi
Glacies danced around me, glowing brightly in distress and trying to get my attention, absent the usual red wisp who followed it around.
I was in a room now, sitting on a long couch, left with my own personal collection of demon guards. They didn’t have bodies like I did. More shape than anything. Red-orange eyes stayed fixed on me, never moving away. With twelve of them, I didn’t have any choice but to stay where I was.
The only solace I took out of my current situation was that no one had noticed my little colorful cutie, which was a damn relief.
I did what I could not to call attention to the blue wisp, and its flickering got more insistent as time went on.
It was trying to get me to do something, but I couldn’t even begin to understand what that was.
Lucifer was a name anyone would know. The first fallen angel. The Devil himself.
I wasn’t stupid. I didn’t think for a second I had any power to fight the beginning of evil itself, but I had nothing left to lose.
He hurt the man who used his last act in life to protect me.
He killed Felix, and I’d use that vengeance to find a way to do something—anything—even if it meant I died after death.
Even if it meant an eternity of torture.
A tear crawled down my cheek, my grief crippling.
I’d been ready to die, but I hadn’t been ready to see the man I loved most in the world die beside me.
The sight of Felix flying and hitting the ground played over and over in my head.
No torture they contrived here in Hell could match the pure agony of watching him die and being unable to do anything.
I hadn’t been this angry in a very long time. I’d nearly forgotten the feeling of it. It was a powerful, all-consuming rage that festered inside my chest. It twisted my thoughts into ones of violence and maximum damage.
I stared at my hands, uncomfortable with how white they’d become, how lifeless. After I’d been left in here—the cage that was far more luxurious than expected—I’d started to realize that I no longer needed to breathe. I did it purely on instinct, but the signs were glaring.
I was dead.
Glacies flashed again, icing my tears. I wiped at them and swept my gaze over the demons positioned all over the room, afraid they’d noticed. None of them moved or did anything that indicated they had.
I breathed out a sigh and tossed the little blue wisp a scowl. Speaking to my cutie was out of the question, so I hoped my threat came across. I needed to keep its presence hidden until I knew what to do. Assuming I could do anything, that is.
Suddenly, the demons around the room stood taller, reacting to someone’s arrival. Sure enough, my kidnapper came strolling in with all the airs of someone who ran the place. And he did. Hell was his playground.
His dark hair was combed back in a smart look and his suit was tailored to absolute perfection.
Some might’ve called him handsome, but all I saw was the monster who murdered my dad—the man who spent the last sixteen years putting the pieces of my heart back together.
To me, he’d be the ugliest, most abhorrent thing to ever cross my path no matter how pretty his face was.
My expression twisted with disgust as he turned to look at me after saying something to one of the demons near the weird area he’d come through. It was all black and liquid. Some kind of door or portal, but to where I couldn’t say.
His gaze first went to Glacies next to my cheek, making the air in my nonexistent lungs rush back out in panic, but then it quickly slid to mine instead. He didn’t mention Glacies, just beamed a grin at me as if he hadn’t torn my life to shreds.
Guess even the King of Hell himself had things he couldn’t do. My cold friend remained my secret for another day.
The Devil wandered over, and I couldn’t help how I retreated as far as I could get on the couch. The deadly stare he’d given Felix, the ease with which he killed the man who’d shown me what love truly was, it was in my head as he sat down and peered at me with an obnoxious smirk on his face.
“My, my, you’re a real beauty, aren’t you?” he murmured. “Lilith will be beside herself with jealousy. Well, I guess she already is. I’ll have a lot of explaining to do after I secure you as Hell’s queen.”
I lifted my chin, hoping to strengthen my posture, even if only a little. “I won’t be your bride.”
He seemed genuinely amused I’d say so. He leaned back and regarded me with laughing eyes. “Oh? Think you can take on the ruler of Hell, do you, little mortal?”
When he tried to touch my face, I smacked his hand away with a growl. “I’m certainly going to try.”
“That’s some spunk you have,” he mused, delighted instead of angry. “It’ll serve you well here. I think it’s time you meet the Fallen Brothers, my queen.”
Confusion got the better of me. “Fallen Brothers?”
“Mmm.” He gave my body another one of his long, assessing glances. It made me uncomfortable, but I’d been leered at by men my whole life. I wouldn’t give him the reaction he wanted.
His dark red eyes were nothing like Ghost’s. Nothing gentle or affectionate lurked inside them. Everything was greed and possession. But I wouldn’t expect anything less of the Devil.
With a snap of his fingers, I was suddenly in a dress that was the farthest thing from what Ghost left out for me the last two mornings.
It hugged every corner, every curve, and if I’d needed to breathe, I’d find myself unable to.
It was a dark blue that matched the color of my hair and starkly contrasted my ghost-white skin.
“Much better,” he murmured, licking his lips. My own mouth downturned in growing revulsion, and it only served to amuse him. “Don’t worry, little mortal. You might hate me now, but your afterlife body will love everything I do to it.”
I nearly gagged. My disgust was so strong it twisted my nonexistent stomach. Another tear threatened to fall, but I swallowed my anguish and steeled my nerves.
You’ve been through worse, Nomi. Don’t let him win.
And it was true. Because abuse took many forms. I refused to think about the ones that left marks no one could see. I refused to remember the nights I cried, sure it’d never stop and I’d never be safe or happy. But then he died and Felix and Mary took me in.
I’d seen the many faces of love. No amount of torture here could take that away from me. No matter what the Devil did to me, he could never take that love from me.
Ghost’s face was in my head as I stared back at my captor, expressionless, unfeeling, a perfectly stoic mask fitted into place. I wiped every emotion away and left nothing but bored apathy in their place. His amusement faded, and it was the closest I’d gotten to a win since coming here.
“Come,” he ordered.
Glacies flickered again, obviously annoyed with me. I tried not to look at it. Lucifer hadn’t once stared in my cutie’s direction, and if I did, it might mean whatever kept it cloaked would fail. I couldn’t risk it.
Hand out, he rose to his feet. I refused to take his hand. I got to my feet on my own terms. I’d dance the steps and move to his tune, but only until I had some idea of how to get the hell out of here. I had Felix to avenge and Ghost to return to.
I was confident that he’d be out looking for me. The quiet Horseman made it clear how much he needed me. He’d done everything he could to protect me. He might’ve not said the words, but last night I felt it in my heart: Ghost cared about me the same way I cared about him.
Still, as powerful as he might be, I doubted even he could take on someone like the ruler of Hell. The thought that he might try only spurred me on to make it so he didn’t have to. I wouldn’t let another person I loved get hurt because of me.
With a little flick of my determined eyes at Glacies, I trailed after my captor and stayed vigilant. The more I learned, the more I could assess my situation and find a way out of it.
The long chamber he brought me to was divided by an obnoxiously long and wide black stone table. Instead of walls, fire. Instead of floor, glass over lava. All the aesthetic of Hell ever told. Fire and desolation and totally expected.
Lucifer made me take the seat next to his, and then one after another, other men with black-feathered wings appeared. Each one claimed a seat around the table, keeping space between them. I counted six, but I’d overheard one of them was absent because he’d tried to overthrow Lucifer.
By studying the faces of the rest, they all wanted to.
No one at that table was interested in playing nice.
They were all vying for a shot to run Hell.
It was in their voice, in their body language, and sometimes right on their faces.
I wasn’t sure why he’d keep, let alone entertain, other fallen angels hell-bent on his removal, but I got the sense that this was a normal day in Hell for Lucifer.
“Good to see all of you,” he said, standing, his amused eyes passing from one to the other. “As you know, after Astaroth’s betrayal, I did a little…research myself. And now I’ve found you all the queen you deserve.”
The faces around the table grew abrasive and vengeful, the farthest thing from supportive, but he carried on as if he didn’t notice.
To outwit Ghost, I didn’t believe for a second this wasn’t all some elaborate ploy to put the other fallen angels, the ones he called the Fallen Brothers, in their place.
“Let me introduce you to Nomi, Counter Soul to Limos, and your new queen.” He gestured to me, and my gaze seared a path around the table, anger growing in my chest.
I didn’t speak as the men leered at me, practically undressing me with their eyes. I wouldn’t give any of them what they wanted. Nothing I said here held any sway or value. So, I’d take a page out of Ghost’s book; I’d observe and wait for the opportunity to escape to present itself.
One stood, angry, his light purple hair offsetting the darkness of his skin. “You have no need of a bride. Why bother, my King?”
As if he’d been waiting for the question, Lucifer stared at me. “Because her powers after death can only strengthen my position and give us an edge in the coming war with Heaven.”
My powers? What did that mean?
“War?” the others murmured.
I kept my face unreadable, but my curiosity was piqued.
Lucifer laughed, wholly entertained. “Yes. War. It’s coming, my brothers. Are you going to fight against me or by my side? Make your choice carefully. Astaroth already made his. Let his serve to guide yours.”
The collective silence spoke volumes. The threat of a war had given them all the same look. Unified them in a way I suspected was Lucifer’s goal. Nothing brought a bunch of bastards together quite like a common enemy.
“Tonight, I’ll bind her power to mine and we’ll ensure Hell doesn’t fall to Heaven’s agenda.”
Tonight?!
My heart gave one hard pang at the thought of being bound in any way to the creature who murdered Felix, who was evil incarnate. I didn’t have the time I needed. How was I supposed to escape after he bound us?
My thoughts raced, but I managed to keep it from my face. Glacies glowed in strobing beats again, dancing and moving around my face in urgency. No one saw it. The wisp was invisible to everyone but me.
Powers…
Something nagged at me. A thought. A theory.
It was so impulsive that I couldn’t stop myself.
I reached out and touched the fluttering wisp, and an icy sensation sliced down my arm.
In a breath, there were multiple flickering blue flames moving across the walls and table.
Ice buried the fire, the table, and the bodies posed around it.
Lucifer chased the ice developing across the room with a shocked gaze, his expression giving him away. The now frozen fallen angels made even the King of Hell pause in confusion and wonder.
Glacies and all its replicas shot around the room, before crawling up my captor’s body. Flames burned around him, his fully engulfed fiery wings bursting out in offense. But it was too late. The fire didn’t burn hot enough to melt the ice. He was soon encapsulated in it like the others.
My little cutie returned to me, rubbing gently on my face. The emotion beaming through told me I needed to run. The ice wouldn’t last forever. They’d melt eventually. I searched for the weird portal area. Glacies danced over to it, bouncing around the black liquid.
“You’re a goddamn genius, little cutie,” I squawked before running into it as fast as I could in this tight-ass dress.
I absolutely despised the fear-seizing sensation of falling. It made me scream into nothing, panic holding me hostage for nearly a minute before I landed on solid ground. Black shadows surrounded me, and Glacies flickered closer.
Intuitively, I touched the blue wisp, and it multiplied into thousands. I watched in awe as it swept the area and froze every demon surrounding me. Then it bounced as if to beckon me forward. I took a step, but fell into nothing again.
Again and again, we did this. I had no idea where I was going. Each step took me to more demons. Each area I froze with my little cutie. It felt endless, but I didn’t doubt my cutie’s intuition. Glacies had my back. It’d known it could help me. It’d saved me from someone as powerful as Lucifer.
There had to be a way out.
My feet hit the ground again and massive spires of fire reaching toward the sky and forming what almost appeared to be a massive doorway met my first glance. Around me, thousands of demons.
“Shit,” I breathed, not sure even Glacies was strong enough to take on thousands.
The shadowy figures pivoted, but then they were distracted by something coming through the huge blanket of fire. The doors, if you could call them that, opened to a bright glow. So bright I’d been convinced whatever it was moving across the ground was the sun itself.
But it wasn’t.
Flashes of feathered wings and the glint of swords caught my eye.
“Holy moly,” I mumbled.
It was a group of…angels? In Hell?