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

took her for a ride. It flew up higher into the crimson sky, twirling as it did to try and shake her off. Mara wrapped the end of the lasso around her arm. She continued to wrap it, shortening the length until she reached the manticore’s back. Mara planted both feet between its wings and gripped the lasso with both hands.

She yanked on it and it tightened around the manticore’s throat. The sudden pull-back forced the manticore to reverse direction and plummet towards the ground. As they flew together, the manticore struck her from behind with its tail. Mara fell off its back, but still held tightly to the rope. She flapped around while the manticore continued to try to shake her off.

They crashed together and the force threw Mara forward. Her grip loosed and she hit the ground and flipped over a few times before landing on her stomach. She stayed that way for a moment, stunned from the fall. The manticore moved gingerly closer, its head close to the ground. Once within reach, the manticore gave a roar and leaned in to feast.

A rock struck its eye. The manticore jerked its head in the direction, angered and distracted. Lucifer stood there, tossing another rock in his hand. He smirked and chucked it. The rock hit the manticore right in the nose and it bellowed to communicate its rage. It started on a charge, but Lucifer just stood tall and waited.

The manticore pounced and at that moment, Lucifer dove forward. Once he hit the ground, he transitioned into a roll, then sprung to his feet and began running. The manticore landed where Lucifer had stood and skidded to a stop. It turned and chased after him.

Lucifer chanced a look over his shoulder and saw the manticore building up speed, aided by the wings that propelled it forward with each leap. The beast raised up its tail and it lanced ahead, moving over Lucifer’s head. He tried to stop and slipped, sliding on the rough terrain just as the stinger struck. It hit the ground right between Lucifer’s spread-open legs.

The Morningstar rolled and stood, then ran again. The manticore continued chasing, firing off quills. Before they reached him, the quills struck a barrier of hellfire. Lucifer looked up and saw Mara flying overhead, the shield courtesy of her. She drew the hellfire back into her hands and reforged it into a bow. As she drew the string, a flaming arrow flared into existence. She released the string and then drew it back several times in rapid succession, generating and firing a new arrow with each movement.

The arrows cut through the air and drove the manticore into a frenzy trying to avoid them. Some it could evade or strike down with its tail, but others found their mark and the manticore yelped in pain with each hit.

Mara’s wings propelled her down, continuing to fire arrows as she did. The bow changed shape again, returning to the spear. The manticore bent its back and looked up, then leapt to meet her.

But before the manticore could reach her, Mara hurled the spear forward with all her might. It flew right into the manticore’s mouth and burned a path through its body, eventually coming out the other end. The manticore froze in mid-air, held for a moment, and then fell right back to the surface. When it struck the ground, it sent a small tremor through the area that nearly caused Lucifer to stumble.

Mara landed beside the manticore. With a wave of her hand, the spear returned to her body. She changed its shape again and now it became a flaming sword. Mara approached the manticore’s head and raised the blade up, then plunged it into the beast’s eye. The manticore remained still and all tension left its body, the tail and its wings falling limp.

“I thought the road was supposed to be safer,” said Lucifer.

“Supposed to be, but the Badlands are an unpredictable place,” said Mara.

Lucifer tilted his head and looked at the dead creature. “It’s a pity, really. If we could have managed to somehow tame it, this journey would go a lot easier.”

“‘If’ being the operative word,” noted Mara. “Manticores aren’t exactly known for being easily domesticated.”

“So I’ve been told,” said Lucifer. “Anyway, shall we continue on?”

Mara nodded and they returned to the path.

Mara and Lucifer had been so distracted by the manticore that they never noticed the lavellan, a kind of large rodent, that watched the whole battle unfold. Once they returned to their path, the lavellan scurried off.

The lavellan arrived at its destination, where a cloaked demon waited. Once the lavellan came, the demon turned his attention to the beast. The demon knelt down before the creature and it stood on its hind legs. The lavellan began chittering away and the demon listened intently to the sounds.

“You don’t say…” he said. “And you’re certain it was her?”

The lavellan continued to chitter, moving its head and front legs to gesture. The demon nodded and then proceeded to ask more follow-up questions.

“With a human, you say?” The demon paused and waited for the response, then said, “No…not a human…but something else?”

Once the lavellan had communicated everything it knew, the demon reached a hand out and stroked its head. The creature closed its beady red eyes and chittered in satisfaction.

“Good boy, Joran is very pleased with your work,” said the demon. “And I believe I know someone who will be very interested to learn of this information. Very interested indeed…”

Joran smiled to himself and rose to his feet. He was hunched over and had difficulty walking. His wings raised him off the ground and took him deeper into the Badlands, to a cave hidden in a cliff. There were other demons in here as well, all of them unable to find refuge in one of the realms. Joran moved past them, until he came to a chamber where one demon sat alone in a chair, manipulating hellfire between his fingers.

“Leader,