The ancient Archdemon of the dragons let out a haughty laugh. “Hardly. I’m but the first of many who want your downfall.”
I drew my darkness around me, preparing to fight. “Then you’ll have the honor of being the first to die.”
He let out a massive roar, making the floors and window shake, and dragonfire burst out of his mouth. I smothered it quickly with my darkness, almost offended. He should know better than to think that would work.
“Why?” I asked. “Has your greed overcome you? You think you can steal my throne and be the next Demon King?”
“It’s time for someone else to lead the demons.” He swiped at me with his claws, and I easily dodged and avoided them, my movements flowing like smoke around him. “You never should have forced us to abandon Hell. It was our home.”
“A home that could no longer sustain us,” I reminded him.
He ignored me as he kept attacking, knocking over all my furniture in the process. “And a truce? With angels? Come now Lucifer, surely you didn’t think that would work.”
“You’d rather we kept fighting forever, while our numbers dwindled to nothing?” I cringed as he threw a chair into my bar, destroying dozens of bottles of my finest alcohol. “I did everything to save our people. The future of our race was at stake.”
“Our race? You’re not even a real demon!” He blasted me with another mouthful of dragonfire, which I blocked with a wall of darkness. His face began to redden, his frustration becoming obvious. “Angels never belonged in Hell. Once we rid ourselves of all the Fallen, we’ll reopen Hell and begin to rebuild it.”
We’d neared the huge windows overlooking Vegas now, and I had a clear view of the battle going on outside. My dark-winged Fallen angels fought in the skies against both dragon and gargoyle attackers, with blasts of fire and shields of darkness fighting for dominance of the air. I spotted both Azazel and Samael out there, but no sign of Gadreel anywhere.
“You plan on destroying all the Fallen?” I asked, cocking my head. “But what of Gadreel? Isn’t he working with you?”
Mammon snorted. “Gadreel is nothing but a tool the Archdemons have used to weaken you. He gave us the information we needed, but he’s a pawn. An inside man, if you will. He serves us, like all your Fallen will soon. They’ll be on their knees before the Archdemons, where they belong…or they’ll be dead. Along with you.”
His threats against my people made rage boil up inside me. “I am the true Demon King, and you will kneel!”
With a wave of darkness, I pushed Mammon through the windows into the night sky and launched after him, my dark wings spreading as I dove. Blood red scales slithered across his skin as his own wings erupted, his body shifting into his massive dragon form faster than I expected.
We wove and dodged through the sky amid the other fighters, though they gave us a wide berth. Mammon scraped at me with his enormous claws, but I pulled back, trying to avoid the pointed tips. He was too fast though, and one of the massive claws caught me, gouging a jagged split from my collar bone to my abdomen.
I went into a spin as I fell toward the city streets below. Pain washed through me, but the darkness forced my body to heal, and I fought for control over my flight. My wings beat strongly, lifting me back up, chasing the man who dared lead a revolt against me, who dared endanger Hannah.
He banked and whirled, flying high over the city lights, above the fighting around us. Pushing out my wings, I soared upward as fast as I could, and moved just in time as a blast of orange dragonfire erupted from Mammon’s mouth, the heat intense even over the distance.
He’d left himself vulnerable by spewing the fire. It took him precious seconds to coordinate his massive body for movement, and while he swung his head to try to locate my position, I made my way around him. I dropped onto his back, almost grateful for the opportunity to rest a moment while my body burned with the effort of healing. His leathery wings beat against the night air as he fought against the sudden addition of my weight.
Dragon hides were nearly impossible to penetrate due to their scales, but I pushed my darkness into his ears, his eyes, his nostrils, choking him. I wished for a moment I had my sword, Morningstar, but it was in the library with Hannah. Probably for the best. Instead I unleashed my hellfire, bright blue and charged with the magic of both Heaven and Hell, fueled by both light and darkness. A gift I rarely used because it was so destructive, and one that only I possessed. Well, along with Belial, but I hadn’t seen him in years.
In a desperate move, Mammon dropped from the sky, unseating me as his weight plummeted from underneath me. He spun frantically, trying to put out the hellfire, the only kind of fire that could harm him. It went out, but I’d managed to injure him at least.
I followed him down, but he banked again and maneuvered around me. Staying on his tail, I chased him high into the air, before I got close enough to sling out my darkness like a whip and wrap it around the base of his wings. I yanked hard, and the popping of his wing joints reverberated through the sky like thunder and skittered along the threads of my dark magic.
He plunged from the sky as he tried to escape, but I made sure my threads of darkness held his wings just enough so that he couldn’t move. Pointing myself downward, I flung my feet onto his chest and held my darkness like a rope, pulling on his wings while letting another tendril of magic wrap around his throat. We kept falling, but I controlled it with my wings as Mammon struggled underneath me.
“You can’t kill me,” I said, glaring into Mammon’s eyes. “Concede defeat and I’ll let you live.”
“Never,” he growled, baring his fangs. “Even if you stop me, there will be others. This is just the beginning, Lucifer. You have no idea what’s coming. For you and your little bitch.”
Fury consumed me at his words. He could insult and threaten me all he wanted, but now he’d insulted Hannah, and I was done playing around.
Narrowing my eyes, I unleashed my hellfire again, the destructive magic rippling over his scales like lightning and tearing him apart. He let out a mighty roar as it consumed him, dragonfire spewing from his mouth in every direction, and I snapped my wings, sending me backwards and away from him. He lit up the night like a display of fireworks, until all that was left were his ashes as they blew away in the wind.
At his death, the other dragons below us let out a wailing roar, and then they loped away, giving up the fight. The remaining gargoyles hurried after them on their bat-like wings, the battle over. It surprised me to see it hadn’t been just my Fallen fighting the gargoyles and dragons, but a few angels had joined the battle—the ones I’d texted earlier. I hadn’t expected them to respond so soon, and I began flying toward them.
A scream and a crash from inside the penthouse struck me with sudden terror. Dread filled my chest as I rushed toward more battle sounds and noises of struggle echoing from the library—where I’d left Hannah.
32
Hannah
Lucifer had been gone for only a few seconds before I grabbed the sword off the wall—the same one I’d used against the gargoyles, the one I seemed able to use without even thinking about it. Lucifer’s sword, from back when he’d been an angel. Hopefully nobody would come into the library, but I had to defend myself if they did. Assuming I remembered how to fight again.
Long minutes passed by, and the noises outside the library filled me with fear and anxiety, including guttural roars that made the floor shake. Then I heard a huge crash as if the windows were shattering, like they’d done during the gargoyle attack, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to know if Lucifer was okay.
I threw open the door and ran out, swallowing hard at the sight of the penthouse torn apart again and some of the walls scorched with fire. Outside, Fallen angels clashed against gargoyles and dragons, while fire lashed across the night sky. I wondered if any humans in the hotel or down on the ground could see this, and if they thought it was another Vegas attraction. The magic of Sin City. If only they knew what really happened in Vegas.
Then Lucifer flew into view, and my heart pounded harder as he fought a red dragon a good three times his size. Was that Mammon? Dammit, I should have warned him earlier about what I’d heard at the ball, but it had slipped my mind after Jophiel kidnapped me. I gasped as Lucifer streaked upward, far out of my sight, chasing the dragon. I ran for the balcony, my slippers crunching on broken glass, hoping to see where they went.
My only warning of approaching danger was a faint whisper behind me. My instincts took over, and I whirled in time to yank up Lucifer’s blade and slice through tendrils of shadow magic that had been about to grab me.
The sword glowed bright white as Gadreel stepped forward out of the darkness. His grim smile sent tremors of terror through my heart, especially when he squared off, pointing a sword at me that looked similar to mine, except it blazed with darkness instead of light.
As Gadreel and I shifted positions, like we were about to dance, I prayed my muscle memory would hold and that I was a good enough swordswoman to match Gadreel.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “I thought we were friends! Or at least we were, back when I was Lenore.”