The Road To Hell Part 29

"Bulls.h.i.t. You're one of the most powerful ent.i.ties in all of Creation. No one can tell you to do anything."

A smile quirked her lips: sour, devoid of mirth. "There are always rules, you who were Jezebel. Just because you broke them, don't think that others can blithely walk that path."

"Why can't you?"

Tears of blood seeped from her eyes, stained her cheeks. "We all do what we must."

Meg's words, Alecto's voice. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep from shivering. "So I've heard."

"I obey the King of h.e.l.l. That is the right thing."

My voice soft, I asked, "Is the right thing always the best thing?"

She stared at me, her eyes bleeding. Finally she said, "It's moot. Things are coming to a boil, far quicker than any had antic.i.p.ated. At this rate, humans will destroy themselves in a matter of years rather than millennia." Alecto glanced at the checklist on the whiteboard.

Tasting bile on my tongue, I said, "If He's not up to the job, get another King."

"Sure," she said, a grim smile on her face. "Are you planning on telling the Almighty that He made a mistake when He rea.s.signed the Light Bringer?"

Thinking about how Earth had morphed into a reflection of the Abyss, of how murder had become entertainment and other people's pain was a catharsis, I said, "I'm not even sure G.o.d exists anymore."

And to my surprise, Alecto nodded. "You and me both."

We looked at each other, a Fury chained to a desk and an ex-succubus chained to a soul. "You could always leave," I said.

She closed her eyes, a smile spreading across her face. "You had that choice. I do not. I have my duty."

We all do what we must.

I said, "That seems to be a nasty trait in your family."

"Perhaps." She opened her eyes, pierced me with her gaze. "Why did you decide to help me?"

"Because no matter how much Meg hurt me, I still love her." I opened my arms wide, palms up, trying to express with my hands why I had to act on that love. "She's my friend. I have to help her."

Pursing her lips, Alecto nodded. "Come," she said, rising to her feet. "I'll take you to her."

I frowned, waiting for the rest. This was where she would tell me about the bad-tempered dragon guarding her, or the roomful of lasers that I had to cross. Finally I said, "Just like that?"

Her b.l.o.o.d.y gaze meeting my eyes, she nodded again. "Just like that. My sister is in the next room."

We materialized somewhere else, and I teetered for a moment before I found my balance. I hated it when ent.i.ties bamfed me around without any warning. It was murder on the inner ear.

Alecto's office had been lit by the television screens and a few standing halogen lamps; this room blazed from ten crystal candelabras dangling from the vaulted ceiling like a string of diamonds. Elaborate silver sconces dotted the walls, stuffed with fat white candles, the wicks glowing softly, their light mixing with that of the chandeliers: electric candlelight. At the peak of the rounded ceiling was a spec of red sky-a window, perhaps, or a skyway entrance into the chamber.

Vertigo washed over me, so I tore my gaze away from that tiny skylight, focused instead on what was eye-level. Two tiers of rectangular mirrors decorated with ivory thorns lined the long walls, stretching the huge room-easily fifteen meters all around-into something gargantuan. The marble floor and walls reflected the light, casting the entire room in a pearl opulence. I swallowed, uneasy. White had never been my favorite color.

The elite weren't big on furniture, I noticed. Here, as in Alecto's office, there was exactly one piece of furniture: directly before me stood a dais, three steps swathed in red velvet. On the top step sat a large marble chair, high-backed and wide, its arms and edges carved with the faces of lions snarling in attack, of bulls charging, of eagles with open beaks and talons, ready to do violence.

The throne of h.e.l.l. It looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

Above it, fastened to the wall directly over the seat of the Abyss...

... was Megaera.

Staring at the ruined form of my friend, I bit back a cry. She hung, spread-eagled, manacled to the wall by her wrists and ankles. Her body drooped from the weight of chains wrapping her limbs and torso like iron vipers. The small flashes of exposed skin on her arms and legs were charred, blackened with glimpses of oozing red. Her head hung low, her long brown hair a tangled curtain hiding her features. Only her aura-pale blue, pulsing weakly-proved her to be Meg, my Meg, a creature of patience and terror, of pa.s.sion and steadfast duty.

My hand by my mouth, I whispered, "Meg."

She lifted her head, and this time I did cry out. Blood streaked from the holes where her eyes had been. Fixing those empty sockets on me, Meg spoke, her voice a harsh rasp. "Jezzie."

"Oh, you stupid thing," I said, running up to her, "what did you let Him do to you?" I strode up the dais, climbed onto the marble throne and reached up, touched her bare foot hanging over my head. The toenails had been plucked out, and spikes had been driven into her feet. Overkill, I thought numbly-the manacles were enough to fasten her body to the wall. The only purpose of the nails had been to inflict even more pain.

How long had she subjected herself to torture, all because of me?

Meg spoke again, her words lacerating me like hot blades. "You shouldn't have come."

"I know," I said, wondering if Angel could heal Meg's wounds, soothe her spirit. "After what you did to me, I should have left you here to rot."

She sighed, a sound of defeat. "No. You shouldn't have come because it's a trap."

Chapter 20.

The Throne Room I frowned up at Meg, hanging like a piece of performance art. "Be quiet. I'm here to rescue you."

"Jezzie," she said. "I'm so sorry."

"Hush. I need to think." It hit me then that I had no idea how I was supposed to free her, let alone return to the mortal coil. Mental note: Finish planning the rescue before executing it.

Meg said, "Please, go. Go before He comes."

"I'm not leaving you. Now shut up." What would my White Knight do? I reached out with my power, tried to unlock the chains, but something slapped me away like a metaphysical demon swatter.

c.r.a.p.

"Sire," Alecto said from behind me, "she is here, as promised."

YES.

The voice exploded in my mind, tore through me like shrapnel. I fell backward, barely felt the impact of crashing to the floor. My hands fisted against my head, tried to m.u.f.fle the reverberating sound.

I AM COMING.

Those words thundered, building in my mind until they were the roar of stars colliding, bursting in a supernova to rock the rim of Creation. Curled like a fetus, I chewed my lip to keep from shrieking.

Fuuuuuck.

His words echoed, then gradually faded, but the air remained charged from their power-the fine hairs on my body stood on end and electricity kissed my body, crackling softly as it traveled up my spine, my skull. Arms wrapped over my head, I shook with aftershocks of agony. Unholy h.e.l.l, I hurt all over. It felt like my brain was about to rapture. Fine with me, just please do it fast.

Through the lingering pain, I distinctly heard Alecto sigh. "He has a tendency to overcompensate."

I couldn't answer her; I was too busy trying to keep my brains from leaking out of my ears.

Above me, Meg whispered, "Perhaps you should tell Him that."

Alecto sniffed. "He already has one wall hanging. I'm not eager to add to His art collection."

"Jezzie, please. Run."

"Too late," Alecto said. "From the moment she first ran, it was too late."

Grinding my teeth to keep from screaming, I stared up at Alecto. Nothing on her face registered any guilt. "You asked me to save your sister." My voice was a raw wound, seeping with hurt, both physical and emotional. How could she have betrayed me?

"I asked many things." Blood gleamed in her blue eyes, turning her gaze a royal purple. "I asked Daunuan to entice you back, and he was all too happy to agree. I asked Lillith to force you back, and once I healed her, she swore on her name to do whatever it took. Between the three of us, I knew you would once again return to h.e.l.l."

Black spots swam in the edges of my vision, and I felt my heart shrivel. They'd played me. All of them. Daun and Lillith, I could understand-whether l.u.s.t for s.e.x or l.u.s.t for revenge, I could understand obsessive desire. But Alecto? "Why?"

"I promised our sovereign ruler that I would deliver you to Him, Jesse Harris, willingly, in exchange for my sister's freedom."

My throat tight, I asked again, "Why?"

The Fury smiled grimly. "While you are here, at His mercy, He will be distracted. And then I can do His job, far better than He. I can put h.e.l.l back to where it needs to be."

A gust of icy wind swirled around me, chilling me, freezing my pain. My teeth chattered, and when I ground them closed my body shook violently. I doubled over as the wintry gale teased my flesh with gooseb.u.mps. Pit swallow me, it really was a cold day in h.e.l.l.

Over the sounds of my shivering: the sound of wings slapping the air.

I looked up to the skyway above, my hair swirling around my face, stinging my eyes. Against the dot of red sky, a white spec winked. As I watched it grew larger, soon taking the outline of a man with bird's wings. I felt His presence-power, sweet Sin, such raw power!-long before I saw His face. The frosty air that surrounded me was nothing compared with the tendrils of cold fear that worked their way up my body, icing my heart, chilling my courage.

"Too late," Meg said like a sob. "Jezzie, I'm so sorry."

The shape slowly approached from above, the powerful wings beating the air as if it were insignificant. Now I saw His features: the frozen beauty of a winter sunrise, the threatening power of a snow-capped precipice a breath away from an avalanche. It wasn't so much that He glowed; He was the epitome of light, captured in flesh-alabaster, pure, a living statue of ivory. From His dove's wings to the thick wavy locks crowning His head, He was white-save for His eyes, which blazed with emerald fire.

I'd seen those eyes before, set in another's face, but on Lucifer, they had brimmed with bitterness and sorrow, had glinted with dying hope. On the creature hovering above me, those green eyes burned with cold fury.

His bare feet touched the dais, stark white against the b.l.o.o.d.y red velvet. His wings beat once more, then folded against His back, poised to strike, weapons even at rest. He wore beauty like a garment cut from expensive cloth; His naked body was too perfect to be handsome, far too cold to ever suggest the warmth of desire. He stared down at me, those green eyes weighing me, finding me wanting.

Michael, Archangel, King of h.e.l.l.

Cowering on the floor, my limbs half-frozen, I tore my gaze away and touched my forehead to the ground. Always show respect to those who could destroy you on a whim.

"Alecto Erinyes," He said, His voice as soft as falling snow. My heart jackhammered so loudly that I almost didn't catch the words. "You have succeeded where your sister failed."

"Yes, Sire," the Fury said-not smug, not proud. She spoke simply, as if she'd confirmed that yes, she did place the order for lunch. Nothing about her tone conveyed that she, like her sister before her, had betrayed me.

Mental note: Stop trusting the Erinyes.

Mental note, part two: Learn important lessons before imminent death.

I wondered what dying felt like when you were already dead.

"So," Michael said, "this is the tempter who thought she could outwit h.e.l.l." Something nudged my ribs-His foot. I hadn't heard him approach. Paralyzed from fear and cold, I remained p.r.o.ne, hiding my face. "She doesn't look like much."

"The Light Bringer held her in high regard, Sire," Alecto said. "His kiss is still visible on her lips."

He did? It was?

Lillith's voice, snide, mocking: He would ask about you.

That did it: all female residents of the Abyss were utterly insane. If I weren't beside myself with terror, I would have told Alecto that her mother obviously had dropped her on the head one too many times. (Not that she actually had a mother.) The prod jabbed into a sudden kick, and I grunted.

"You constantly remind Me that the Light Bringer had done this, or the Light Bringer had done that," Michael said, His voice like frostbite. "I grow sick of such constant reminders, Fury. What do I care for what the Light Bringer has done? His reign is over."

"Sire, I meant no disrespect."

"I grow sick of you, Alecto, you and your sister both. Perhaps Tisiphone would serve Me better as an advisor."

Tension hummed in the air like a diamondback's rattle before Alecto spoke. "I'm sure our other sister would be honored, Sire."

"I will think on it." The voice moved away from me, but my body felt even colder than before, as if His kick had laced me with ice. "Tell Me, you who were Jezebel. What was it that finally brought you back to h.e.l.l freely of your own accord? How did the Fury convince you?"

"She didn't, Lord." My words were a bare squeak. As mind-numbingly frightened as I was, I couldn't bring myself to call Him "sire." For me, there would be only one true Sire of h.e.l.l.

"No?" Amus.e.m.e.nt tempered the chill of His voice. "What, then?"

I swallowed hard before I answered. "Lillith stole the soul of my love."

"Did she now?" Frost, hinting of an impending blizzard.

"He was innocent, Lord," I said through clenched teeth. He could destroy me only once; I had little to lose by venting my anger. "She had no right to claim him for h.e.l.l."

"You don't say. Tell Me how your former Queen stole the soul of your love."

"I heard sounds from his apartment. When I entered, I saw Lillith seducing him. She had taken my shape, tricked him into thinking she was me." My voice wavered as my mind flashed on Paul bucking beneath Lillith, her hips on his, her eyes on mine. "And then she killed him and took his soul, abandoned it in the Endless Caverns."

"And how do you know this?"

"I returned to h.e.l.l to save him, and she attacked me. When I bested her, she admitted to me where he was."

"How do you know she did not lie?"

"I found him, Lord." The words fell from my lips, and as I spoke, something tightened in my chest: Antic.i.p.ation. "I saved him from the Caverns. He's Above. Safe."