Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

still sour on you imprisoning her in the first place in order to appease the angels,” said Mara. “Trust me, she’s not so willing to forgive and forget.”

“That’s fair, I suppose. Would be nice if she could let go of a grudge after all these centuries, though,” said Lucifer. “Very well, then I suppose the best choice is Beelzebub.”

“You’re certain of that?” asked Belial. “Outside of Leviathan, Beelzebub has experienced perhaps the most change of all the Hell Lords since The Fall.”

“Yes, but he’s always proven his loyalty. I believe he can be trusted,” said Lucifer.

“Then I can transport you outside the gates of his realm. Once he’s willing to grant protection, we can move on to Cocytus and speak with Erebus,” said Mara.

“Good, then let’s begin.”

Mara clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, beginning to chant in Dimoori Sheol, the language of the damned. She pulled her hands apart, and a stream of hellfire linked them together. Mara waved her hands in deliberate patterns in the air, the flames trailing after. The hellfire encircled her and then reached out, flowing around Lucifer as well. As it moved around them, the intensity grew until Belial could no longer see either of them. Once they were completely obscured, the flames began to dissipate, taking the pair with them.

Lucifer closed his eyes as he felt the transportation begin. He could feel the heat and a sense of dread formed in the pit of his stomach as he lost all concept of what was up and what was down. Although he felt as if he were still standing perfectly still, at the same time it seemed that his body was being tossed about a void.

The thing that hit him strongest was the smell. The scent of sulfur is what struck every human who entered Hell for the first time. It was overpowering to the point of being almost crippling.

Even though Lucifer had spent most of his existence in Hell, this was the first time he experienced it from a human perspective. He knew to expect some discomfort, as Mara had warned. But he never could have anticipated something this drastic.

When Lucifer opened his eyes, a red haze clouded everything. He fell to his knees and started coughing. The smell forced tears to his eyes and he could hardly take a moment to breathe. That unease in his stomach strengthened and before Lucifer could even process what was happening, he vomited, spilling the contents of his stomach out on the barren, rocky terrain.

“I warned you that it’s not very pleasant,” said Mara, kneeling beside him.

Lucifer wiped his mouth, but remained hunched over for a few more moments. He still felt as if he had another one in him, but mostly it was just dry heaves. With the sleeve of his jacket, Lucifer rubbed the tears from his eyes and carefully stood. The smell was still powerful and every time he breathed, it was as if the air was hot and ash-laden. But he found himself slowly beginning to adjust to it.

“I’ll be fine,” he said.

“Not if we stay out here much longer,” said Mara. “Come on, we should move along and hurry to Beelzebub’s realm.”

“Where are we anyway?” Lucifer looked around. The landscape was completely barren. Dark clouds filled the crimson skies. The air was laden so thick with fog that it made it impossible to see very far into the distance.

“The Badlands,” said Mara.

Lucifer groaned at that. The Badlands were the ungoverned territory that separated the seven realms of Hell. They were desolate and dangerous. When one came to Hell, they had to quickly find a realm in which to shelter. But the demons who couldn’t find one had to reside in the Badlands, which were populated by all manner of hellbeasts that could tear a soul to ribbons. Demons who inhabited a realm only ventured into the Badlands when they needed to travel to another realm. Those who lived in this territory were either quickly destroyed…or became savage enough to survive.

“I’m sure you’re aware that traveling through the Badlands without any sort of transport is a bit of a risky endeavor,” said Lucifer.

“We didn’t have much of a choice, did we?” asked Mara. “You didn’t want to go to Cross and we couldn’t go to Lilith. So there was no other territory I had permission to enter.”

Lucifer huffed but knew she was right. “Okay, so how do we get to Beelzebub’s realm?”

Mara pointed up ahead. But before Lucifer could start moving, she held him back with a hand on his shoulder.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked. “You’re the Morningstar, every demon in here knows your face and you want to keep a low profile. So walking around like that is dangerous.”

Lucifer looked down at his suit. “So what do you suggest?”

Mara held her hands in front of her, cupped over each other. She closed her eyes and whispered in Dimoori Sheol. Energy started to materialize and swirl in the empty space between her hands. She gestured forward and the energy flowed from her hands and wrapped around Lucifer from head to toe. His clothes started to change form. The fine, scarlet silk suit became drab, brown canvas. It scratched at Lucifer’s skin and transformed from a suit into a heavy cloak with a hood pulled over his head and casting his entire face in deep shadow. Once it was complete, Lucifer looked disapprovingly at his new outfit.

“Not exactly what I had in mind,” he said.

“Probably not, but at least this will draw less attention,” said Mara. She summoned her magicks again, working the same spell on her own clothing and transforming into a similar cloak. “If we look the part of vagrants, maybe we can get through here unscathed.

“You really believe that?” asked Lucifer.

Mara shook her head. “Of course not. But it’s worth a shot. At least this way, maybe we’ll be unassuming enough so if trouble comes our way, we’ll have the element of surprise.”

“Hardly fills me with