I slid behind a new boulder, burying the Spear’s head in a pile of ash. The ground dropped off only feet in front of me, a ten-foot plunge to another broad ledge.
Two figures walked out onto the shelf overlooking yet another endless chasm, their backs to me. I took a deep but silent breath, tasting a hint of rot in the air, but the wind was carrying the smell away from me.
The Dragon’s corpse was down there. I was sure of it.
Lucifer’s dark wings framed his chiseled body, tattoos a brilliant crimson. Despite the angry red of the soul-bond, he was here, in person, only feet away. I wanted to fly down and touch him so badly the longing actually ached like a physical sensation.
He looked down at the white-haired figure at his side.
Vyra was wrapped in a dark robe, looking smaller than ever. “Please don’t leave me here with him. Please, Lucifer.”
He just looked at her coldly. “It’ll be done soon enough. Make your peace with it.”
What the Hell were they talking about?
“He’ll hurt me. You know he will.” Vyra tugged her robes tightly around herself, as if it would shield her from whatever Satan had planned. “Lucifer, what would Melisande think?”
He stopped, turning back to look at her. I quickly dropped down face-first, getting a mouthful of ash in the process, but I was sure he hadn’t seen me.
“Melisande?” His voice was tentative, the faint recognition in it stabbing me in the heart. Even with the soul-bond consuming his mind, my name still had some effect on him.
“Your mate. She loves you, Lucifer, and if she knew what you were going to do… she’d be so ashamed of you.”
There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, and I flinched as Vyra cried out.
“I don’t know a Melisande.” Lucifer spat the words at her. She’d laid it on too thick, and any recognition in his voice was gone. “This isn’t a fucking democracy, succubus. There’s no choice in the matter. You’re just meat for our King. Now get back in there and make yourself presentable for him. They’re bringing the new one now.”
I frantically crawled under the edge of the boulder as the sound of wings rustling overtook their voices. A moment later, Lucifer shot into the sky, his shadow rippling over the mountains.
I barely breathed, slowly counting to a hundred in my head before I dared to move again.
Vyra was still standing on the shelf, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. I remained cushioned under piles of ash, but Lucifer didn’t come back. No light ripped through my back and tore me apart.
She wasn’t turning around to return to the cave. I was going to have to reveal myself, because this was the only chance I might get.
I scrambled up onto my feet and dropped down silently, catching a breath of wind. “Vyra-”
She shrieked like a siren, and I clamped my free hand firmly over her mouth. Her eyes were wide as saucers over my filthy hand, tears cutting tracks through the dirt on her cheeks and pooling on my fingers.
“It’s really me,” I whispered. “I’m here.”
I slowly took my hand away from her mouth, letting her take several sobbing breaths. She crashed into me like a landslide, her arms sliding out from the robes to wrap around me and squeeze tightly.
I allowed her to remain there until her sobs were stifled, although precious minutes were passing.
“You’re really here, you’re here, you’re here,” she chanted under her breath, then stiffened in my grasp. “You have to go. You can’t be here!”
Vyra looked up at me wildly, her hair a tangled halo around her head.
“I’m taking you with me.” I gripped her hand. “We’re going. Now.”
Vyra clasped her hands around mine, squeezing hard. I had to yank the Spear away so she wouldn’t accidentally touch it and be immolated on the spot. “He’s changing bodies, Melisande. He left the Dragon, and he’s trying to get a greater demon body. You’ve got to go tell the others. I think Lucifer is bringing him a Prince this time-”
“We already know.” I tried to tug her along, but she seemed frozen in place. “Azazel’s been watching. Vyra, please, let’s go now. This is the only chance we have.”
Lucifer would definitely see my tracks, if he hadn’t already. Every second counted, and yet she seemed so traumatized, like she couldn’t comprehend that help was here right now and ready to go.
I tugged on her again, and she nodded. “Right. We have to go. We’re going.”
She took a step forward, and I reached under my collar and yanked out the amulet Azazel had given me. “I have a portal-”
A comet plunged out of the sky, crashed into the shelf, and sent us flying backwards, away from each other. I kept my grip on the Spear, but almost lost the amulet. Only the string kept it from flying out of my hand and vanishing into the heaped ashes.
Lucifer’s quicksilver eyes gleamed as he looked at me, straightening up from his crouch. “You again.”
He hefted a body off his shoulder and dropped it on the ground. It was just like the Princes: beautiful, with long black hair and bronzed skin.
Then I realized it wasn’t a corpse. The body was still breathing.
“Come get him, Father,” Lucifer called, but he never looked away from me. The smile that stretched across his lips was like nothing I’d ever seen on his face. “I was hoping I’d get a second chance at you.”
His wings spread out again, the black feathers gleaming like an oil spill. I had a split second to make my choice before he charged.
I couldn’t bury the Spear in him. No matter what he’d done, I would save him too, or die trying.
I jerked the Spear aside and released it as Lucifer exploded towards me, planting his palms in my chest.
I flew through the air, my breath erupting in a harsh burst, and skidded to a halt only feet from the edge of the chasm. My lungs felt like they’d been hit by a train as I struggled to draw in a breath. Lucifer was between me and the Spear now. “Don’t you know me?”
“Why would I care?” Lucifer’s head tilted to the side, like the question genuinely confused him.
Vyra crouched fifteen feet away from us, digging under a drift of ashes. With a cry of victory, she lifted a scythe and got to her feet, knocking her cloak aside as her own wings spread out.
The cry became a short, shrill scream. She tried to take flight like a panicked bird, but Lucifer was at her side in an instant, gripping her by the shoulders and dragging her over to me.
I saw what had made her panic, and almost felt like screaming myself.
It was exactly like the waking dream I’d had of Lucifer.
A dying demon crawled over the rocks towards us, and even as we watched, it seemed to come apart at the seams like a broken rag doll, spilling to the ground in rotting pieces.
A pitch black, humanoid thing climbed out of the body and crawled over the ground toward the unconscious greater demon, leaving an oily slick in its wake, flies buzzing around its tar-like mass.
The head rose when it saw us, those eyeless sockets seeming to focus right on me, but the allure of the body in front of it was apparently too great to resist.
I felt Satan’s power spilling out of his essence, raw and unfiltered by his form. Bile rose in my throat, and I gagged, curling up on myself. My bones ached from the power coming off him.