Chapter
"The whole earth has been corrupted through the Works that were taught by Azazel:
to him ascribe all sin."
- 1 Enoch 10:8
P.O.V. (Luci)
"I'm a demon, you're one of the fallen and Mr. Cocky over there is one of the cursed race, of course we are doomed. Cheer up, bro. It's only Raphael, you escaped him once when he had the Almighty behind him. Now he's a lonely sado with my psychotic mother on his side, it'll be a piece of cake. Just tell me about that stupid ring and we'll kick the bastard a couple of times in the head, steal the ring, find a place even more horrific than heaven and send the bastard on his way. Well, unless you have some cool super power that can make you call upon an object. Man, that would be cool. I'd never have to leave the sofa to get something from the fridge." I dreamed on
Mr. Cocky had gotten enough of his strength back to stand up. Most of his hair was back too.
"I wasn't always like this, you know." The fallen angel swallowed hard.
He had a twelve O'clock shadow beard and scruffy bedhair. The guy was sex on wings. Well, without the wings then, you kind of lose them when you fall. Sex on former wings. My eyes trailed lower to his shoulders, his shirt that clung to his tight body. When he moved his fingers through his hair his shirt rode up just enough to spot the taunt skin that lay-
"Hey! That hurt, Dracula."
I rubbed the sore spot where Mr. Cocky had pinched me, hard.
"Don't ever touch my butt again, Batman or I'll go all Poison Ivy on you."
"Are you offering me a sip?" His eyes dilated.
"You know vampboy, it's a real turn off when a guy gets hotter over the prospect of drinking a girl's blood then the idea of making out with her. Just so you know."
"Children, you're only children compared to my many years. How will two loved up kids save a race from complete extermination? You would have been doomed without the ring too, look at you. You're-"
"Yeah, yeah, doomed, we know! We're young and loving it, so just get to the point mister sex on former wings while we're still young." I interrupted.
For such a sexy dude, he sure nagged a lot.
"It was Solomon who started this dance. He asked God for help to build his temple. The Lord's answer was a magic ring, brought to the king by Raphael. The ring had the power to submit all demons, no matter how strong. Raphael learned Solomon to wield the ring, how to bind demons. It was with this slave labour that Solomon completed his temple."
"He taught a mortal how to control us?!" I yelled.
This was outrageous. A mortal who had had the power to control every single demon? It was disgusting. But... but why not use it himself, why use a human as his pawn? If the angels had this tool to overpower our entire race, why not use it for themselves?
"Why didn't the angels use it for themselves?"
"Why don't you let me finish my story, little demon?"
"Sure thing, grandpa."
I repeat, for such a hot dude he acted like he should be playing bingo and eating pudding.
"There is always a certain risk involved with these kind of thing. Free will is a powerful thing, it's not something you can take away without consequences."
"Let me guess, the demons broke free?" Mr. Cocky asked.
"No, not all of them. One did. His name was Asmodeus."
I had heard that name before; Asmodeus, he loved combat and war, but so did almost every demon, myself included. He was also an ardent hunter of the souls that were granted redemption, to lock them up in Hell, to play with.
He was also the son of a mortal women and a fallen angel. How he had become a demon, I did not know. His father had been one of the fallen.
"Asmodeus did not take well to slavery, he fought the king and the powers that heaven had bestowed upon the ring. Solomon was mortal, a mortal with desires. Desire for more, they always want more. Solomon asked Asmodeus the secret of such power, the secret of the greatness of the demon race. The demon was released from the influence of the ring completely, but still bound by enchanted chains. Chains that were forged by the angels to hold any demon, chains that would be easily broken if they would ever hold an angel in its captive."
I could see where this story was going.
"But he wasn't a full demon, not even a mortal turned. I even bet that being the son of the leader of the fallen gave him just that bit more to break free."
"Yes, he was one of the first one of my sons, but he turned towards the demons when I refused to save his mother's life."
"He made a deal with the devil. Wow, dad must have loved having him on the team. We don't have that much fallenblood in our armies."
"Why didn't you save his mother?" Mr. Cocky asked.
Silly vampire, such fragile emotions, so human.
"Why waste your power on something as trivial as a human?" I answered for Azazel.
"You must have cared for her? She was the mother of your son." He sounded chocked.
"It's one of the many differences between the fallen and pure angels. The fallen crave carnal desires. Sex doesn't have to mean anything. Sorry to burst your bubble, fangboy."
"You're saying you're not a cuddler, Luce? Just bang it and leave? Maybe you haven't been properly introduced to your carnal desires." He winked.
"Although us demons do love an occasional virgin to soil, we tend to stay away from things that have almost as much bite as they have bark."
"Better bed her now, kid. Soon she'll be exterminated together with her race."
Seth bared his teeth and the sound that came from his throat was not a human one. Goosebumps spread over my skin, it must be chilly in here. I had not even finished that thought and Azazel was already on his knees with his frantic beating pulse under Seth's razor sharp teeth.
How had he done this? How had a seventeen year old vampire brought an ancient like Azazel, who had been hunted down for centuries but never been caught, to his knees?
"You better talk fast old guy. If she dies, I will come after you with all I've got. Don't make mistakes, you little piece of shit, I have got a lot. I will make you suffer more pain than anyone in Hell has ever had to endure. I will keep you on the brink of dead for longer than you have lived up until now. So you better start talking and hope that what comes out of your mouth is useful to us, because you have no idea what I would do to keep her alive."
This did not turn me on. This did not turn me on. This did not turn me on. Okay, maybe a little bit, but only because he was so violent. I was a demoness, of course I appreciated the violence. It was not the boy that was turning me on, he really wasn't!
"There isn't much to tell, boy."
Azazel tried to get free, not a chance with the angry vampire prince. Seth nicked his skin in warning and Azazel went still.
"What do you want from me. I told you about the ring. My son killed Solomon and took the ring."
"How did it get back to Raphael?" I wanted to know.
"I don't know."
"And I think that you're lying! What did Asmodeus do with the ring after being freed?
Don't even try lying or I'll have the vampire suck you dry."
This was cool, I should make that threat more often. 'Give me the last cookie or I'll have Seth suck you dry!' I was starting to see the merits of these intertwined lifethreads.
"My son went to Satan and asked him to destroy the ring. No demon could destroy it, so they sent Asmodeus with the ring to me. They had hoped I had more knowledge of the ring since I once was part of its creator's world."
"Well, you obviously didn't succeed."
"I was only able to temper its power. The heavenly creatures felt me messing with their precious jewellery and sent one of their more cruel angels after me to stop me before I completely ruined the piece of metal."
"Raphael."
"I can see you've been at the end of his talents. Yeah, he came after me with a vengeance, hoping he could undo what I had done. He bound me by hand and foot, threw me into the darkness upon the rough and jagged rocks. I was supposed to remain there until judgement day, when I would eventually be hurled into the fire. They even quote my punishment in the bible, I feel important. I was buried in the desert, in Dudael. I must have lost the ring there. After I had escaped, I never looked back."
"You were able to temper with that blasted ring, your son was able to fight its power. Whatever you can do, it must have been passed along partly through your bloodline. Your son was able to fight it."
"I say I suck him dry and hope his blood will aid us through me." Seth growled.
"Or you can keep your fingers crossed and hope you inherited enough to fight it on your own."
"What's that supposed to mean? I've had it with all you ancient thing and your cryptic remarks."
"You don't think my sister passed along some of her blood to you?"
With that he freed himself from Seth's deadly grip.
"I have answered your questions out of courtesy for my dead sister and shared disdain for the sister who is still alive. I have listened to your troubles because I hate Raphael with a vengeance that competes with the brilliancy of the fires of Hell. Your mother, my sister, used to beat Raphael all the time in sparring games. I say you got a shot at beating him. Good luck, little niece."