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

Raum away from the truth, but now he had reached his limit. Raum was about to learn the truth and once he did, there was no telling what he would do with that information.

His defenses were at their limit. The scene of the tower and his memory of speaking with Gabriel melted away. And it was quickly replaced with another memory. The banks of the Styx, with a ferry arriving on the plane of Earth. Lucifer watched the memory of Michael flying off the boat, and just as his memory was also about to fly, Charon’s voice kept him back.

“You’re different from your brother. From the other angels,” Charon had said.

“This is it, isn’t it?” asked Raum.

Lucifer watched the memory play out. Charon had passed the young Lucifer a special coin with a unique inscription.

“If you would like to know more, then go to the Styx and throw that coin into it. I will come for you and take you where you wish to go. But a warning—do not let anyone else know of this conversation. And do not let anyone see that coin or be present when you summon me.”

“This is where it started,” Lucifer told Raum.

The walls were cracking.

19

Raum stood before a massive, brick wall. He reached a hand out and ran his fingers over the surface. The wall had just sprung out of nowhere once the memory of Lucifer’s encounter with Charon had faded. The demon craned his neck to look over his shoulder.

“You think this will stop me?” he asked Lucifer.

“I have no idea what you mean,” said Lucifer.

“You’re trying to keep me out. It won’t work.”

Lucifer just shrugged. “I can’t be held responsible for what my subconscious chooses to do. Perhaps these are memories even I don’t want to revisit.”

Raum smirked. “All the more reason to see what’s behind this wall. Don’t you think it’s time you confronted your own demons, Morningstar?”

He turned his attention back to the wall and placed both hands on its surface. Raum leaned forward, pushing against the structure. Hellfire started to crackle around his strained fingers, channeling into the wall. Cracks began to appear across the surface, oscillating out in jagged patterns from their starting point. The cracks crossed and joined with each other, quickly forming a web-like tapestry across the wall.

Raum’s eyes burned bright and hellfire began to appear within the cracks. It created small beams of light that flowed back.

Lucifer knew he had to try something. He ran. Whether it worked or not was something he couldn’t predict, but he wasn’t going to give up to Raum without a fight.

We’re in my mind, which means I can take back control from him, he thought.

Lucifer focused on what he desired and as he did, wings erupted from his back. They raised him off the ground and propelled him forward. He dove into Raum, his feet slamming against the demon’s back.

Raum was flattened against the wall, his concentration broken and the energy fading. He spun and released a hellfire charge.

The blast succeeded in putting some distance between the two. Raum looked taken aback by the strike, but even more so by the sight of Lucifer’s wings.

“How are you doing this?” he asked. “I’m the one who controls things here.”

“No, you’re not. I’m the one who controls my consciousness, Raum. And any decisions about what I can or can’t keep secret remain my own, as do my reasons,” said Lucifer. “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Raum held out his hand and hellfire seared down his arm, forming into a sword in his palm. He didn’t even wait for Lucifer to forge a weapon of his own, simply moved in for an offensive attack.

Lucifer ducked the first swing and jumped back to avoid the second. He couldn’t concentrate enough to generate a weapon of his own. Even though in the mental landscape, he should have no trouble doing such a thing, he quickly found it too difficult to devote the necessary concentration.

“Don’t you see how pathetic you are?” asked Raum between sword thrusts. “You can’t even defend yourself against a lowly demon!”

Lucifer flapped his wings forward, hurling wind strong enough to keep Raum off-balance. His wings then lifted him off the ground and he landed behind Raum to deliver a kick to his spine.

Raum stumbled, but recovered and attacked with an upward swing of his blade. Lucifer pulled back and his wings instinctively closed around his body for protection.

The hellfire blade cut through the wings, sending feathers flying. Light emerged along the edging of each remaining feather and Lucifer felt the wings starting to fade.

“No…” he whispered as the wings grew transparent. Within moments, they had vanished.

Raum stood over him, resting the sword on his shoulder. “Well, well, how about that? So much for your much-vaunted control, eh?”

Raum swung his sword again, the hellfire cutting through Lucifer’s body. He felt the heat searing his soul and collapsed to the ground as the pain radiated throughout every inch of his form. While he was on his knees, Raum kicked him into the teeth, a blow that threw him onto his back.

“Now, where were we?” asked Raum as he turned his attention back to the wall. He swung the sword in his hand as he approached, and once he reached the structure, drove the sword into the brick.

The sword flickered as the hellfire energy that made it up flowed into the wall. The cracks lit up as they had before, but now Lucifer could do nothing to stop it. He just watched as the energy flowed into the wall and more cracks formed. Soon, there seemed to be more breaks than brick.

The wall exploded, light flooding the void where they stood. Lucifer struggled to get to his feet and called out to his tormentor.

“Raum, don’t do this,” he pleaded. “The secrets you’re about to discover…you don’t know what they could lead to.”

“I’m not a child, Morningstar. I want the truth and I’ll get it by any means necessary,” said