Scorn of Angels (11 page)

“Ten, easily.”

“Ishtar?”

“Maybe eight,” she said. “Assuming a straight charge?”

“Up and down,” said Nyx. “Saves getting attacked from above.”

“Definitely eight,” said Ishtar.

“Then I’ll take the rest,” said Nyx. “We have to be through them and out the door fast enough that Lucifer won’t be able to grab us before I can hide us again. Ready?”

Persephone and Ishtar both grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

“Now!”

Nyx released her grip on both Angels, drew her sword and whip, and hurled herself upward in the same motion. Her whip slashed out at the nearest Angel’s wings. The three heads of the whip were no longer black, but brilliant green like Nyx’s hair, the ends tipped with long, spiked thorns that ripped into the Angel’s flesh as Nyx shredded the feathers off his wings and sent him hurling to the ground. Her sword cut three times in the moment it took her to reach the ceiling, and two more Angels fell, their heads following a moment later.

Persephone and Ishtar sprang into the air behind Nyx, screaming their own battle cries and slashing out with their blades.

High above the Lake of Fire, guarding the portal that led to Earth, Lucifer felt Nyx’s presence. It flared like a burning light in the blackness of Hell, outshining Persephone and Ishtar, whom he felt fighting beside her. It was more powerful than he expected—vastly so—but he didn’t think about that.

“I knew that bitch would go after Ishtar!” Lucifer crowed. He raised his voice, roaring loud enough to be heard the length and breadth of Hell. “DROP IT!”

Ten thousand feet above Lucifer’s castle, five thousand Angels let go of the giant black stone that Lucifer had made them hold ready since he first learned Nyx had gone missing. It had been the top of a mountain, and he had it carved out eons ago when he and Nyx were first at war.

Glad I never got the chance to use it then
, Lucifer thought as he watched it plummet from the sky. He grinned. “Let’s see the bitch fight her way out of that.”

Nyx was halfway across the room, her body, blade, and whip all soaked with the ichor of the Angels she had slaughtered when she first heard the whistling noise.

“He’s doing it again!” she screamed and redoubled her efforts. Wings, limbs, heads, and guts flew in all directions as she hacked down the Angels in front of her, whose ferocious defense might as well have been that of newborn kittens. Persephone and Ishtar were making progress, too, but not as fast as Nyx. Persephone had already gone through five, and Ishtar was facing her fourth when Nyx screamed. Both responded instantly, charging straight for the door. The black and red armored mass of Angels tried to block their way but Nyx, Persephone, and Ishtar were far, far better than they, infinitely more determined, and Nyx was wielding all the power of Epiphenia inside her.

And I’m so not willing to go back to the Lake of Fire. Fuck you, Lucifer.

The whistling above grew louder and louder, becoming a thundering scream. Nyx reached the door first, then turned and hacked at the Angels between her and her friends. She reached Ishtar first and bodily threw her out the door. Persephone used the space Nyx had created to speed out the door herself. Nyx slashed one more Angel in two and flew out the door.

“Fly faster!” screamed Ishtar, who was looking up at the sky.

Persephone redoubled her speed. Nyx poured all her power into her wings. She zoomed past Persephone in a split second and grabbed her hand, dragging her along. Instants later, they reached Ishtar. Nyx caught her hand, too, and yanked her friend through the sky. At the same time, she focused on making the three of them once more invisible to the minds of other Angels, and beyond the notice (save for smell) of all denizens of Hell.

The falling mountaintop struck.

The shock wave hit first, knocking Nyx, Persephone and Ishtar from the sky. Then came the sound, louder than any other heard in Hell. Then the debris—rocks, Hellstone, and the shredded flesh of demons, Angels, and souls rained from the sky, covering the plains below.

It wasn’t really possible to lose consciousness in Hell. Unconsciousness brought freedom from pain, and Hell was built to prevent that. So when the shock wave and the terrible wind and the debris flying through the air drove Nyx and Ishtar and Persephone to the ground, it was agony, but not oblivion. For a moment they lost their senses to the pain, but they didn’t go unconscious, and they didn’t let go of each other’s hands.

Nyx was the first to regain her wits, the power of Epiphenia healing her faster than the others. She sat up and took stock while the other two were still groaning and squirming in pain.

Lucifer’s castle was gone, and a good part of the mountain it had stood on was sliding to the plain below. Dust from the explosion obscured all vision, and debris was still falling. She could hear the cries of pain from Lucifer’s Angels.

“Friendly fire. Gotta love it,” Nyx gasped.

Nyx pulled the still semi-insensate Ishtar and Persephone into the air and started flying as five thousand Angels descended on the ruins.

“Hey! Enough!” yelped Ishtar. Her wings began moving, and Nyx felt the near-deadweight of her lighten. “Not so fast!”

“No,” grunted Persephone from the other side as her own wings began moving. “Faster.”

“You said he can’t find us, didn’t you?” asked Ishtar. “If he can’t find us, and no one can sense us, then slow down and let us heal!”

“We don’t need to heal,” said Persephone. “We need to get away.”

“Bullshit,” said Ishtar. “You’re missing an arm for fuck’s sake.”

Nyx looked down. One of Persephone’s arms was gone, and she was leaving a trail of silver ichor that even a blind demon with no sense of smell could trace.

“And that’s why we need to get away,” said Persephone. “We need to cover some ground while I heal. The sooner I stop leaving a trail, the sooner we really escape.”

Nyx flew faster, pulling the other two along. Persephone groaned as her new arm began growing in. “Fuck, I hate this part.”

“Next time, dodge faster,” grumped Ishtar.

“Next time, I won’t have a fucking mountain thrown at me and a flying chunk of Lucifer’s castle wall rip one of my arms off from behind as I get blown out of the sky because I was trying to rescue
you
.”

“Like I said.”

“Shut up or I’ll drop you both,” growled Nyx. “Persephone, tell me when you’ve stopped bleeding so I can change course.”

It took longer than Nyx would have liked for Persephone to heal enough that the bleeding stopped. When she had, Nyx made a wide, sweeping turn that took them away from the plains of Hell and into one of the mountain ranges. Angels crisscrossed the sky all around them. Below, demons scrambled over the rocky ground, noses twitching for their scents. All of Hell, save the souls of the damned, was searching for them.

And I bet Lucifer would press them into service if he
could.

“How long can you keep us hidden from notice?” asked Persephone.

“No idea,” said Nyx. “I’ve got a lot more power than before, but I haven’t had it long, and I don’t know its limits.”

“Why don’t we use it to get to Lucifer and cut his fucking head off?” asked Ishtar. “Before he sends his army out.”

“Because there are only three of us,” said Persephone before Nyx could answer. “The minute we appear to cut Lucifer’s head off about a thousand Angels are going to drop on us.”

“Lucifer’s the least of our problems,” said Nyx. “Stopping his army won’t mean a thing if we can’t stop Tribunal.”

“And how the fuck are we going to stop Tribunal?” asked Ishtar. “He’s God. And last time he squished you like an elephant squishing a dung beetle.”

“Our mighty Nyx a dung beetle?” said Persephone.

“You weren’t there,” said Ishtar. “One moment Nyx had her sword out, ready to gut Lucifer, and the next she was a puddle of blood and shit on the floor.”

“I know!” snapped Nyx. “Now shut up and fly!”

She’s right,
Nyx realized
. There’s no way I can defeat Tribunal. Not by myself. And who will I get to help me? Epiphenia would help, if she could. But how will she stop
him?

They reached the first of the mountain ranges, and Nyx allowed herself to slow down their flight. She needed time to think, to plan. She needed more information. “Ishtar, what did Tribunal say to Lucifer? Exactly.”

“I don’t know exactly,” protested Ishtar. “I was pinned to the wall with a spike through my head.”

“I don’t remember the spike through your head,” said Nyx.

“It came after. Lucifer had you hauled out, then started toying with me.” Ishtar bared her teeth. “Fucker hurt me really bad a few times, too. What you pulled me out of was only his latest.”

“It didn’t look that bad,” said Persephone. “At least you were getting some action from that cute little incubus.”

“Slut,” groused Ishtar. “Anyway, Tribunal comes in and says that Lucifer can release his armies on the world once the Gates to Heaven are blocked.”

“So the Gates of Heaven are open?” Nyx frowned.
If we could get a message up to God…
“We definitely need to go back to Earth.”

“No, we don’t!” Ishtar practically spit the words. “We have no chance there! We can’t save Earth, and we can’t stop Tribunal. We should gather an army here, gut Lucifer, put him in a box in the Lake and rule Hell! Tribunal can do whatever the fuck he likes to Earth, and we can deal with him here!”

“Deal with him how?” demanded Nyx. “You think he’s going to honor any agreement we make? You think we can trust him after what he did to us?”

Epiphenia wouldn’t survive in Hell. She’s strong, but she needs
Earth.

“Not to mention what God’s going to do to Tribunal once he gets wind of what’s going on,” said Persephone. “Though God does take his time with things.”

“Tribunal
is
God!” Ishtar snapped. “Remember? “God’s Son and God’s Self. If Tribunal’s doing all this, God probably already knows about it, or Tribunal’s got a way of keeping him from finding out. Either way, we can’t beat him. So I say we gut Lucifer, gather the armies of Hell, and cut a deal with him.”

All three Angels were silent for a time. At last Persephone ventured, “It’s not the worst idea, Nyx.”

I know it isn’t, but…
“What about Epiphenia?”

“Epiphenia’s dead,” said Ishtar. “We watched it. Remember?”

“No, she’s not,” said Nyx. “I found part of her in my palace. She’s inside me now.”

“Then let’s gut Lucifer, take over, deal with Tribunal and then you can take Epiphenia back to Earth. All right? But let’s kill off Lucifer first!”

It made sense. It really did. The more Nyx thought about it, the more sense it made. She could take out Lucifer. She could stand right beside him, gut him, and take Hell back for herself. After that… well, at least after that, she could relax for a minute.

Before Nyx could think further, her awareness was consumed by a power so great it felt like a beacon ripping through the darkness of Hell and shining its light into every nook and cranny.

“Oh, crap,” breathed Ishtar. “Is that…?”

“Tribunal,” said Nyx. “He’s here.”