Scorn of Angels (6 page)

Nyx felt a tiny breath of mercy. “Your children are in Heaven, woman. You’ll not see them again, but they don’t suffer.” There was a moment of gratitude, of peace, almost as alien to hell as Epiphenia’s green. The soul would forget, of course.
Why must she stay in Hell, exactly?

Nyx had no time for this sort of question. She stood up and hurled the soul as far from herself as she could. The demons, scenting it, changed directions. Nyx sank back down to the ground and once more closed her eyes. She reached within herself, found the glowing green power that was Epiphenia and grasped it.

Pain.

Instant, excruciating, and nearly overwhelming, the pain arched itself from Nyx’s cheek through her entire body in an instant. There was no sense of Epiphenia herself, no trace of that sweet Angel, only a sense of being invaded in a way that Nyx had not experienced even when the demons had mounted her. This was the pain of something growing under her skin. It was even worse than giving birth had been, though it happened much more quickly.

Nyx’s eyes popped open. Tendrils of green were slipping through her skin, like roots growing beneath her flesh. As she watched, they spread down her arms, over her breasts and belly and down to her groin and her legs. She could feel them wrapping themselves around her spine and spreading out across her back and into her wings.

I have wings. I’ve changed back to an Angel! Shit!

The growing stopped. The pain vanished, and in its place was power.

Nyx stood tall against the wall, wearing her true shape, save for the twisted patterns of green that ran through her skin. She held out her hands and looked at the earthy glow. She felt stronger than she had in a very long time. She could completely hide herself from Lucifer or any other Angel. She would be invisible to any sensing with their minds.

Of course, if I do that, Lucifer will know I’ve
gone.

Nyx leaned against the wall, willing those who came and went to not notice her. To her surprise, it worked. Not a single Angel or demon looked her way.

It can’t be that simple. Can
it?

Given the power that was thrumming through her body, Nyx began to believe that it was.

What the
fuck…?

Nyx flapped into the air, circled, and flew in through one of the great windows. All of them opened on the central orgy room.

The floor below was a mass of naked Angel flesh, all of it engaged in carnal indulgence of the highest and lowest orders. Angels reclined on benches and beds, floated in the air, swung on swings, knelt or crouched or lay on the ground. They licked, sucked, fucked, bit, and scratched one another’s flesh. Male and female alike penetrated and were penetrated by others. The demon succubae and incubi were beautiful in a different way than the Angels, their faces sharper and more exotic, their sexual parts exaggerated. Demons enjoyed sex, but in lovemaking like this, they were mostly aping their betters, with no notion of the exquisite pleasure that Angels were capable of.

Despite the danger she was facing, the sight of all the Angelic flesh—the silky skin and perfect limbs, flowing hair, full breasts and muscular torsos—made Nyx incredibly horny. It had been more than a thousand years since she’d felt a male Angel’s embrace, or made love with more than two others. She sniffed, inhaling the glorious scent of immortal skin, of genitalia made only for endless and exquisite pleasure. Reproduction had been a much, much later idea.

Focus, Nyx,
she chided herself
. First I find Persephone. Then I kill her, I get Ishtar and go to Earth.

Then I’ll defeat the Son of God, Lucifer and all his
armies.

Then I can get
laid.

No problem. Really.

Nyx smiled to herself, knowing how farfetched the words were. She was far more likely to end up back in the Lake of Fire, or turned to dust by Tribunal, than she was to come out of this alive. She took another look around, drinking in the sights and smells of the orgy around her. She remembered thousands of years of pleasure, in Heaven, Hell, and on Earth, frolics with Angels and humans—she avoided the memories of her most perfect lover, Tribunal—as she slowly circled the room in search of Persephone.

The room had changed since she’d last been there. Of course, it changed regularly as the Angels got bored and redesigned it for new pleasures, or variations on old pleasures. This day, there was a large, rather gauche fountain in the middle of the floor, featuring a female Angel, arms, legs and wings spread wide and chained to pillars, and three male Angels wrapped around her, penetrating every orifice. Whoever had made the statue had designed it so streams of Hellfire spurted into the bound Angel’s orifices at irregular intervals, mimicking orgasms.

Tacky,
thought Nyx
. Unnecessary, and doesn’t really add anything to the eroticism of the room. Now where the fuck is
Persephone?

Nyx didn’t want to send her mind out in a room full of Angels. The power that was keeping her unnoticed was hardly sufficient to disguise a direct sending if it was intercepted by the wrong person. So instead, she circled the room again and again, trying to spot Persephone. She looked carefully at each tangle of bodies, sorting out limbs and wings, making sure she matched each body to a face, in case Persephone was hidden by her enthusiastic partners. She couldn’t see her. Nyx growled in frustration and landed by the statue. Hellfire spurted onto Nyx’s shoulder, but after drowning in the stuff, Nyx didn’t really care about a few droplets. She walked another slow circuit of the room and still couldn’t see Persephone.

She’s in here. I know
it.

Nyx ended back at the statue. It was as ugly as it had been from the air, only up close it looked even cruder, as if it had been slapped together over a rough shape, with barely any attention given to detail. The legs and arms were rough. The openings where the male Angels penetrated the statue were crude and barely rendered. The only solidly built parts of the statue were the chains. Even the eyes seemed little more than holes save that there was something behind them.

Realization dawned on Nyx the moment before she saw the eyes inside the statue blink.

Holy fuck. Persephone.

Lucifer hadn’t rewarded Persephone. He’d trapped her inside the statue, with Hellfire gushing up inside her body, so that she would be forced to continually watch and never be able to take part.

Nyx took her eyes off Persephone and looked around. Her don’t-notice-me command was still working. None of the other Descended even glanced her way.

How am I going to get her out of
there?

The only way to free her was to break the statue, and there was no way that Nyx could do that discreetly.

Nyx leaned back against the ass of one of the male Angel statues and enjoyed the view around her. Angel flesh was beautiful flesh, and there was a great deal of it engaged in passionate activity around her. She smiled and crossed her arms, like a pleased spectator.

And as soon as her skin made contact with the statue, she sent her mind inside it, feeling how it had been made.

It was carved Hellstone, of course, made by hacking off bits of Hellstone-trapped souls and reshaping them to the sculptor’s whims. The Hellfire that coursed out of the cocks of the male Angel statues came from a fissure deep beneath their feet. The cocks themselves were barbed, so that any attempt to rip Persephone free would give her incredible agony.

Nasty,
Nyx thought with a certain grudging admiration.
Lucifer always was about the
sex.

She began manipulating the Hellstone in the statue, starting with the cocks. She smoothed the shafts and blocked the ends so no Hellfire could escape. She weakened the base of the statue in a dozen places, then narrowed the pipes that led down to the fissure below. She could already feel the pressure building up beneath them.

She felt movement inside the statue as Persephone came back to her senses and the gaping wounds in her body healed. Nyx opened her mind to Persephone and said,
Wait.

Nyx!
The cry was both relief and joy.
What happened to you? How did you get
out?

Later,
Nyx sent.
Wait until the Hellfire sprays into the room, then break out. I’ll be waiting
outside
.

Nyx pushed herself off the statue, spread her wings and began a slow, lazy circle upward toward the windows. She had all the time in the world, now.

Or at least until the statue explodes
, Nyx thought with a grin as she flew out the window and hovered above the Palace of Pleasure.
Which should be
about…

There was a rumble, then a
BOOM!
followed immediately by screams and shouts of outrage and displeasure. Hellfire sprayed out the doors and windows of the Pleasure Palace and Descended Angels ran and winged it out of the building, many cut and bleeding, others squirming and trying to brush off the Hellfire. Some were still in mid-congress and immediately resumed what they were doing as soon as they escaped the fire.

Inside the now-empty room, something cracked, then something else. Nyx dropped to the window and looked in. Persephone was half-free of the statue. One of her legs and both her wings were still trapped. Nyx took a quick glance around. Other Angels were hearing the noises and starting to circle back. Nyx dove into the window and, for the first time since her escape, drew her sword.

The black blade had changed like the rest of her. Glowing silver and green patterns now raced up and down the length of it, and the black flames that had come from it before were laced with a brilliant green that glowed brighter than anything else in Hell.

Persephone looked up and her jaw dropped open. “Nyx? What the fuck…?”

It was as far as she got before Nyx descended on her, sword swinging. Three precision strikes smashed the Hellstone on Persephone’s leg and wings. Nyx grabbed her hand and spread the don’t-notice-me field she had created over them both. “Shut up,” said Nyx. “Come on!” She pulled hard, yanking Persephone into the air. Persephone flapped awkwardly for the first few moments as her wings, still healing, struggled to bear her weight. Then, as the feathers grew back, Persephone flew with more and more confidence.

Nyx!
Persephone said in Nyx’s mind
. How did you get out? I thought you were gone for
sure!

That’s two of us.
Nyx winged them away from the Pleasure Palace to the mountains beyond. She knew a cave where they could retreat to, temporarily.
They’re going to be after you soon. And then, they’re probably going to start looking for
me.

No chance they’re going to blame my escape on crappy
engineering?

Nyx could hear the humor in Persephone’s voice and grinned.
Glad you’re feeling
better.

Nyx felt Persephone shrug
. It was only pain,
Persephone sent.
Once it’s gone, it’s
gone.

Nyx looked behind them and saw Descended Angels circling the Palace of Pleasure. They were waiting, and Nyx didn’t need to guess for what. Lucifer would be coming soon, and then the search for Persephone would begin.

And then he’ll wonder how Persephone got out and start looking for
me.

Nyx spotted the cave and dove the two of them down. They landed at the mouth and slipped inside. Persephone wrapped her arms around Nyx and kissed her hard, her tongue driving into the other’s mouth. Nyx accepted the kiss for a minute before pushing Persephone away. “Not the time.”

“Not the time?” Persephone sounded anguished. “I’ve been forced to watch everyone else fucking for who knows how long, and you’re telling me now is not the time? For fuck’s sake, give me some relief!”

Nyx would have laughed if timing hadn’t been so bad. “Later! Right now, we have to get Ishtar and get out of Hell.”

“Screw that,” said Persephone. “We get Ishtar, we raise an army, and we crush Lucifer like an insect!”

“We can’t,” said Nyx. “Not yet.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Tribunal,” said Nyx. “We need to defeat him first.”

“That asshole.” Persephone looked closely at Nyx. “You do agree he’s an asshole now, yes?”

“Oh, yes,” said Nyx.

“Good.” Persephone nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll enjoy seeing him get a little of what we just suffered. Where’s Ishtar?”

“Lucifer’s palace,” said Nyx, wondering if it were possible to punish Tribunal as Angels were punished. She hadn’t thought it through yet, what she could safely do to the Son of God.

“Well. Fuck.”

“Yep.”

Persephone sat down. “So how do we do it?” She looked over Nyx. “And apropos of nothing, Nyx, why do you have green veins running all over your body and green hair?”

“Green hair?”

“Emerald green,” Persephone confirmed. “It looks kinda sexy.”

Nyx rolled her eyes. “I knew about the veins… the green is because I’ve got Epiphenia inside my skin.”

“What?” Persephone’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “Epiphenia died. I felt her die. It shook through Hell like an earthquake. Her presence just vanished.” She shook her head. “That’s the last thing I remember feeling before they took my head. I think my last thought was, ‘Well, we’re fucked,’ and then things went dark for a while. When I came back together, Lucifer was putting me inside that statue.”

“It was Lucifer’s work?”

“Asmodeus.”

“Ah. He never could sculpt for shit.”

“True. But that doesn’t explain how Epiphenia is alive.”

“Nothing dies in Hell,” said Nyx. “Remember?”

“Yeah, but…” Persephone looked confused. “The whole purpose behind bringing her to Hell was to kill her.”

“And somehow she survived,” said Nyx, looking at the green under her skin. It reminded her of the young moss that grew on the stones of her temples. Cool, quiet, dense with life. “Or, at least, part of her survived. There’s a lot of power in me that wasn’t there before, except when Tribunal put it into me…”