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

in him coming forth. Horns had already begun to emerge from his head, and when she tried to get in his way, he looked ready to destroy her as well.

“You want some, too?” he asked in a dark, sinister tone.

“If you kill Beelzebub, then we won’t know what Raum has done with Lucifer,” said Mara. “Like it or not, we need that little shit alive for just a bit longer.”

Cross huffed, shook his head, and then channeled the rest of Beelzebub’s power up into the ceiling. Once the smoke cleared, his breathing was heavy, but the demon had regressed.

Beelzebub lay on the ground in front of his throne, his insectoid body smoldering. The yellow glow of his eyes was dim, his wings had been burnt off, and his appendages weakly shuddered, the only real sign that he was still alive.

Mara generated a hellfire whip and wrapped it around his throat, then pulled him over to her. In her free hand, she forged a hellfire knife and knelt down beside the demon.

“Now it’s my turn,” she said.

21

Raum exited the caverns that he and his followers had been using as their base of operations. Since he’d been able to escape from Cocytus, he’d been building up an army. Some were like him, fellow inmates who had been able to escape the prison’s confines. Others had simply been exiled from whatever realm they were initially placed in. And as his movement began to spread, so too did his words breach the walls of the different realms. Offering people another option than the oligarchy that had dominated Hell since the beginning.

And his numbers had swelled to the point that now, he had an army of demons assembled at the mouth of the cave, waiting for his words. His wings emerged from his back and spread out. They raised him above the demons so he could address them all.

“For eons, we’ve been fed a lie. A lie that told of a false rebellion,” said Raum. “The Morningstar was held out above us as a shining revolutionary who had liberated us and given us a land of our own, where we could thrive. Whether you were born angel or human, Hell was initially promised as a realm free of the oppression found both on Earth and in Heaven.

“But that’s not what we got. Instead of freedom, we were given chains and torture. The Fallen were so twisted in their hatred for Heaven and so impotent that they had no choice but to take it out on all of us. Even the most benevolent of Hell Lords had become a sadistic bastard.”

There were jeers and curses flung from the crowd in agreement with Raum’s statements. The demons vocalized their hatred for their overlords and Raum was pleased with the response.

“And where, in all of this, was the great Light-Bringer, who was supposed to help us transcend the limitations of existence? Where was the Morningstar, who we’d always been told was the liberator of all liberators, who had the courage to stand up to the tyrants of Heaven and tell them, ‘no’? I’ll tell you where he was—hiding in his tower!”

Cheers of agreement swelled up from the demons. Raum paused and allowed them their moment of catharsis. When he was ready to continue, he held up his hands and the crowd’s raucous words shrank to a murmur.

“Lucifer spent all that time living in his own private realm. He stood atop his ivory tower—it’s literally an ivory tower, can you believe that?—and watched. He watched as the Hell Lords who had been his lieutenants during The Fall became twisted, vile creatures that turned their impotent rage on their own people.”

Of course, Raum wouldn’t mention that he had struck a deal with Beelzebub for support. He had even promised the most twisted demon in Hell a place by his side as an advisor. And Beelzebub was content to be able to indulge his own appetites than be burdened with the responsibility of governance—or so Raum believed.

“Lucifer even went so far as to fraternize with the very oppressors he’d claimed to despise. He had regular meetings with Gabriel of Heaven. He struck deals with the Divine Choir to preserve an armistice, one which required him to turn on demons like Lilith.

“What was her crime? To be a human who slept with a demon and gave birth to the first cambions. But the angels themselves had engaged in so much fucking and raping that they’d produced the nephilim. And were any of them punished?”

“NO!” the crowd responded in unison.

“Of course they weren’t. But Lilith was considered the dangerous one. And so when she came to Hell, she was imprisoned at the behest of the Divine Choir.” Raum shook his head. “Even after he rebelled against their tyrannical rule, Lucifer was still bending to their demands.

“And of course, there came Abraxas. One of his own lieutenants. But Lucifer once again turned to Heaven and worked with them to banish the first of The Fallen to join his cause.

“But it gets worse. Because after all this time of being an absentee king, in the face of an angel attempting to create another war, Lucifer then chose to abandon Hell and live among the humans.”

More insults and objections were shouted by the gathered demons.

“Now he’s back. But did he return because he wanted to make amends? To seek penance for his neglect?” asked Raum. “No, he returned because he lost his powers and wanted them back.”

Loud, raucous booing rose up.

“And all this time, do you know what Lucifer has been doing? He’s been preserving the greatest lie in the history of creation, a lie concocted by the first seraphim. His discovery of the lie is what led him to rebel. But he chose to keep this knowledge only to himself.

“Would you like to know what this lie is?”

Shouts in the affirmative followed, the gathered demons practically begging Raum to reveal the truth. He waited until their calls died down and then he spoke.

“The Presence