Ruler of the Righteous, page 17
part #9 of Hell Hounds Harem Series
Talk about feeling like shit. Lucifer bit his tongue and shook his head no. He didn’t have an explanation for this yet. For Bishop to think the Devil had the power to bring Heaven into Hell showed how much faith Bishop had in Lucifer’s capabilities.
“If I had the power to do such things, Hound, I’d have brought her to you a long, long time ago.” Shit, he was not going to cry.
Not… gonna… leak…
Lucifer cleared his throat and looked over at Gabriel. Yeah, that didn’t help. He looked over at Constantine next. Fuck, why had everyone come out to witness this? Lucifer knew better than to turn to Eve, there was no way he’d be able to keep his shit together if she was a blubbering mess behind him right now.
“Daddy,” Katie sagged in Bishop’s lap. “You gotta help us.”
“I’ve got you,” Bishop cooed. “You’re safe. You’re safe here.”
“But my friends aren’t! Everyone’s scattered! We were taken and split up.”
Bishop’s gaze sailed to Lucifer. Then he leaned back to get a good look at Katie. “Tell Daddy what you mean.”
“The Angels divided up. They didn’t say why. They just put us in groups and made us drink stuff. And then turned some of us.”
Everyone’s blood drained from their faces.
Lucifer descended down into a crouch. “Turned you how?”
“Birds. Some of us were put into birds.”
Lucifer blinked. That kind of magic was dangerous.
Eve dropped down next to Lucifer, “What happened after that?”
Katie hiccupped, “I flew and then I fell and then I was in a city.”
“Do you know where?”
Katie shook her head. “There was a Hound, fighting the bad ones,” Katie turned her attention back to Bishop. “I knew it was a Hound because he looks like you. All Hounds have the same colors.”
Lucifer swiped his mouth to hold back his gasp. Holy fucking shit, Katie could distinguish who was a Hound and who wasn’t by just looking at their colors. It took a specific purity for that. And strength. Kalfu was someone who had that gift…
“What happened then?” Eve asked when no one else said anything.
“The Hound opened a black hole and tossed a bad one in it. I ran out from my hiding spot and jumped in.”
Now Lucifer popped up on his feet in a panic. Innocents couldn’t just fall into Hell. What was going on here?
Bishop stroked her hair to soothe her, “Where are the other souls from Heaven? Where’d the other birds go?”
Katie’s voice trembled, “Most of them died. They didn’t make it further than the gates.”
“Of Hell?”
“Of Heaven,” she said.
Holy… “Okay,” Lucifer scrubbed his face. “We need to get up there. If Lilith’s locked Heaven down and sent birds out, then she must think Michael is going to reach them. This must have been her attempt to help innocents flee.”
“Or someone else did it behind her back,” Eve grumbled. “Either way, they took a big risk turning children into birds.”
“And if Michael was able to breach the first doors to Paradise,” Gabriel said, “he might have put something on the gates to destroy whatever tries to cross the threshold.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Eve argued. “Why would the Angels divide the souls up and Lilith let the kids out? For that matter, why would Michael destroy the souls that escape if he could use them instead?”
“Maybe the wards are weaker now,” Lucifer rubbed the back of his neck. “Or maybe he’s not reached them yet, but I don’t want to think Lilith would try to prime souls for anything.” Why on earth would she have done this?
“Anthony had us practicing,” Katie said. “He picks out certain souls and puts them in training with him.”
Gabriel frowned. “I’ve not heard of any of this before. What kind of training?”
Katie shrugged her little shoulders, clamming up and hiding in her father’s chest. She was probably nervous with Gabriel. The Angel was a grumpy son-of-a-bitch and most likely horrible with kids.
Lucifer’s head raced so fast he couldn’t catch a single thought that made sense. The universe was mocking him. Making him look like a fool. “We need Uriel back here, immediately.” No one knew Paradise’s magics better than Uriel.
“Speaking of which,” Gabriel frowned, “Where is he?”
“I sent him to verify what the Scourge said with Lazarus. He should return any minute now.”
“Provided Lazarus was waiting for him.”
“Every time we focus on one problem, six more pop up,” Gabriel growled. “This is like playing a horrendous game of whack-a-mole.”
Lucifer didn’t know what whack-a-mole was. “I’m going after Uriel. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He left the Hounds, Katie, and his mates in the hall and took off at a dead run. Lucifer practically sailed over the threshold between worlds and skidded to a halt in the empty bedroom.
“Uri!”
No answer.
“Lazarus! Uriel!”
The silence that answered him was as loud as a scream.
Chapter 22
So this was how it ended. God, how Uriel had come full circle and hated every step of this head trip. Tied up in knotted ropes, wings clipped, arms and legs bound and suspended from a tall ceiling, he faced the ground and stared at his blood staining the floor red.
Been here, done this, he thought. He didn’t even have the strength to cry about it. Nor the energy to fight his way out. Michael wasn’t going to let him go either. All the other times he used to string Uriel up like this, it was to preserve Uri’s energy. Push him to his limit, then back off, only to give him a little bit of hope and then crush it again.
Joke’s on Michael though. Uriel had no hope left.
The only thing that made this remotely relieving was the fact that his mates were safe in Hell. They weren’t going to see Uriel’s fall from grace or witness his tailspin into his final death.
His mates were strong enough to never be broken by a smile. And they were smart enough to stay away and stick together. Uriel was the half-cocked dipshit who tried to prove his worth and let his anger and hurt lead him here.
Right where he belonged.
Closing his eyes, exhaustion or the effects of whatever Michael injected him with earlier started to take effect. The world, his thoughts, his fears grew fuzzy. He numbed the fuck out.
And the darkness folded him into a lovely cocoon.
Eyes fluttering open, Uriel groaned. His tongue was desert dry. Trying to open his mouth, he winced at a sharp tearing sensation in his lips. Eyes watering instantly, his instincts kicked in and he tried to touch his lip where it stung like a bitch and found he was still bound and incapable of moving.
No longer suspended from the ceiling, Uriel was now upright and outside somewhere. Fuck his bones ached. His head had a marching band in it. Something tickled his nose and he couldn’t itch that either. Next, he needed to swallow and winced at the sharpness that pierced his throat when he tried.
He grunted from the piercing in his Adam’s apple. Holy shit. He had Lucifer’s old choke collar on him. That’s what pierced his throat every time he tried to move or swallow. But his mouth, what the—
Fuuuck. His mouth had been sewn shut. And whatever coated his tongue caused his salivary glands to shrivel up like fear shriveled his balls.
No screaming for him.
Sweat bloomed across his body in a hot flash. What else? What else was in store for him?
“You’re awake,” Michael came into view holding a long length of chain in one hand, a whip in the other.
Uriel pissed himself.
An automatic reaction whenever this part of the game began, Uriel’s body had been conditioned and trained to have this response with Michael. Uriel couldn’t stop it from happening. Just like he couldn’t calm his heart jackrabbiting in his chest. Nor could he force his body to anchor itself instead of trying to blow apart in the panicked state he was in.
“Relax,” Michael cooed. Stepping into Uriel’s little bit of space, he tipped his head to one side and stared at the collar on Uriel’s neck. “You’ll likely pass out again if you don’t calm down.”
Good. Uriel wanted to pass out. Then he’d be saved for a little while from feeling whatever Michael did to him. Uri wasn’t a fool. Michael wasn’t going to release him this time. This was a Goodbye.
And knowing Michael, he was going to send Uri off with a bang.
“You’ve been paralyzed, brother. Only your lungs will function. It’ll still be a struggle to suck in the air you’ll need to scream with though. Assuming, of course, you have the balls to rip your mouth to ribbons in order to unleash that scream. If I were you, I’d suffer in silence. A small mercy you can grant yourself.”
He pulled Uriel down from a hook. “Took me forever to learn all these knots and braids. Work of art, wouldn’t you say?”
Uriel stared blankly. It wasn’t like he could answer the monster anyway.
Michael clipped the chain to Uriel’s collar, then let him fall to the ground like a side of beef. Michael yanked the chain and drug Uriel’s lifeless body across the floor, out the door, and up the steps.
On the outside, Uriel was dead. On the inside, every molecule he owned fired off massive amounts of hysteria. His heart was a raging bull, kicking its back legs, trying to smash through Uri’s ribcage. His energy levels swung like a pendulum and the roller coaster ride made him sick.
“You’re turning green,” Michael said while walking backwards so he could keep an eye on Uriel as he dragged him along. “Do us both a favor and don’t puke. You’ll drown if you do, given you’re too chicken shit to bust those stitches free from your lips.” He got Uriel all the way out to a fresh set of racking boards. “And just so you know, you won’t die the first time around. I won’t allow it.”
Like he had the power to stop it?
“I won’t stop it,” Michael responded like he could read Uriel’s thoughts.
And the idea of that being possible did scare the ever-loving hell out of him.
“But I will bring you back from the dead,” Michel promised. “I’ll tie your soul so tight to your body you’ll understand how short a leash can actually get.”
He cut the ropes a little at a time and then pulled out a box of railroad ties. “Had to improvise,” Michael smiled. “I gotta say, these suckers are thicker than what I’m used to, but man can they hold a motherfucker down.”
He leaned over and grabbed something else next.
A sledgehammer.
Lovely.
Uriel squeezed his eyes shut. His nostrils flared. No matter how calm his body looked on the outside, he rattled apart on the inside.
Grappling for a thought that would make him fly the fuck out of his mind, Uriel struggled to think past his panic.
CLANK!
White hot pain rushed through his hand, up his arm and burst into the rest of his body. Uriel’s eyes snapped open and bugged the fuck out. He screamed through his stitches. High-pitched and trembling, his scream did nothing to relieve the pain of this torture.
“Oh good,” Michael purred. “The drugs are wearing off. Better hurry and get you prepared for your goodbye party.”
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
Uriel heaved. Puke flew out of his nose and from between his rapidly tearing stitches. Between the pain of the railroad ties and the rip of his lips, there was really no comparison on which hurt more.
See, perspective, was a helluva bonus when playing a game of torture with a master.
“Ahhhh, there’s that unassailable courage, warrior.” Michael smacked Uri’s shoulder cheerfully and started working on his feet next. “I knew you had some left in you.”
While Michael prepped him for death, Uriel filled his lungs with air and unleashed the loudest howl he’d ever made in his fucking life.
“They’ll never hear it,” Michael stepped back and wiped the blood from his hands. “I’ve made sure of that too. You’re so far out of reach, Lucifer – that fucking animal – will never hear you. Save your fucking breath for when you really want to scream.”
He finished pinning Uriel to the racking boards and admired his work.
“Now,” Michael paced back and forth, “I’m going to ask you this once and only once. Tell the truth, I’ll be merciful and make your death swifter than I’d like. You lie, well… use your imagination, because I’ll most definitely be using mine when I finally start working on your pretty body.”
Uriel gulped and the collar’s sharp spikes dug deeper into his neck.
“Where’s Eve?”
No, no, no. Uriel wasn’t giving her up. “Dead.”
“Aww, brother…” Michael clucked his tongue. “That was a big mistake. And the last one you’ll ever fucking make.” He pressed his face against Uriel’s neck and inhaled deeply.
Uriel’s heart ran around like a chicken with its head cut off in his chest having Michael so close like that.
“I smell her on you,” Michael growled in Uri’s ear. “She was the only creature who smelled that damned floral. I caught her scent on both you and Lazarus.”
Uriel shook his head and the movement cost him another round of spikes in the throat. “She died… a long time… ago.”
“That’s the truth,” Michael pursed his lips, “but she comes back. She’ll die over and over until her lives run out. Would you like to hear how I know that?”
No. Because to hear Michael talk about Eve made Uriel want to tear the fucker’s tongue out. Just hearing him say her precious name made Uriel furiously protective.
“I’ll tell you anyway,” he waved his hand like it was no big deal. “She cursed herself when she killed Merri. See,” Michael tweaked Uriel’s nipples playfully like he was a toy to tinker with. “Merri was trained by the Elders just like me. We were wielded as weapons in different ways. I’m not killable. Merri was. But,” he waved his finger at Uriel, “there was a catch. A death wish, as it were. Eve, the hot head she was, hated Merri. For good reason, I mean she was a nasty bitch… but I digress,” Michael pulled out a small dagger and pressed the tip into Uriel’s chest and twirled the point, burrowing it into Uriel’s skin. “Eve wanted her to die a thousand deaths and a thousand more. Merri’s death came, but that curse was transferred to Eve. Magic is a tricky thing, am I right? I know Eve died. I know she was beaten and left for the wolves. The problem with doing that to an Angel like Eve? She has the talent to come back leading the pack. Wolves wouldn’t feast on her. They’d obey her. She always had a talent with wild animals.”
Uriel’s breath punched out of his chest but he didn’t say a motherfucking word.
“I’m right,” Michael’s smile grew. “Just look at you swelling with pride for her.”
Pride… a sin of the Angels that just sealed Eve’s fate unless Uriel could spin this truth and use it as a weapon.
“My pride isn’t that Eve could possibly be that cunning and gifted,” Uri wheezed. “It’s that you have that much faith in one weak, legend of a woman. She was a cunt with wings. Now she’s dust and carbon. Jesus, Michael, how warped did your mind get down there in that hole in the ground?”
Michael backhanded him and Uriel’s relief came out with blood splatter.
“I know she’s alive. I smell her on you.”
“Take another whiff,” Uriel spat in Michael’s face. “I smell floral because I showered. It’s soap, asshat. That’s all. Fuck, listen to you going on and on about curses and endless lives of one weak ass woman from our past. You’re the pathetic one here.”
“She’s alive!” Michael yelled. “I know of the rumors of a look-a-like Eve running around the human world. I’ll find her too. So long as she lives, the souls have a food source. No Eve. No souls. No souls. No conscience. No conscience, the humans will murder each other and my job will be done. The world will kill itself and I’ll sit back and enjoy every second of it. Too bad you’ll already be dead by then. Unless…” he tilted his head, “Unless you want to help me find her and end this whole thing swiftly. I know how much mercy means to you.”
Uriel’s head smacked the board he was strapped to. “Fuck. You.”
“Ahhhh, that’ll happen soon too, sweet pea. Don’t you worry. But first, how about in honor of Eve’s miraculous survival skills and dying a myriad of ways…we play Death by a Thousand Cuts?” Michael disappeared and returned minutes later with a small fleet of Angels at his back.
Uriel knew every single one of them. “No,” he whispered. The betrayal threw him into shock. “No.”
Michael chuckled and flipped his blade in the air. “Uriel’s pain tolerance is high. Higher than any of yours. So, don’t worry, he’ll barely feel the slices you make.”
The Angel’s faces were impassive. Their daggers gleamed in the sunlight.
“How’s it feel, Uriel?” Michael’s nose touched the tip of Uri’s. “How’s the pain of betrayal feel now?”
Uri looked around and saw everyone staring at him. Saw the backdrop of utter destruction. Uriel realized in that moment exactly where he was. And no, his mates were never going to find him here. This was really how it was going to end for him…
Resolved, he tried to burrow into a headspace that allowed the world around him to fall away.
“As you each make your slice,” Michael directed his followers, “be sure to tell him why he deserves it. Tell him exactly why he earned this punishment.”
Because cutting his body wasn’t the torture. Cutting his mind was.
Uriel hated that he twitched with fear as the first Angel stepped up to make the first slice. Anthony glared at him with no warmth in his divine eyes. Like always, Anthony’s expression was blank. Jaw locked, lips a thin line, he made a shallow cut across Uriel’s cheek and told him why he deserved it.
Then the next Angel did the same.
Then another…. And another.
When that particular punishment was over, Uriel could barely breathe. He didn’t deserve the air in his lungs. Didn’t deserve to have a heart that beat so painfully strong. Didn’t deserve the merciful death he so longed for either.
