31
Amanda’s tears dried into crusts on her cheeks – two salt crystal riverbeds of unbridled misery. She screamed again. It was the only thing that helped with the pain. Long wails echoed through the cave. It wasn’t fair.
Time froze inside the hollow of the mountain. Nothing but the popping of bubbles and the end of all hope. Forever it went on. Sorrow, despair, guilt. The emotions tumbled through her, wrecking her insides, slashing apart her sanity.
She hadn’t realized until now how deep the dagger had cut. Somehow, it had passed through Marc’s chest and found its way into hers as well. Her heart bled, and her lungs only allowed for the tiniest of gasps.
Sobs shook her as she cradled his limp body, her pent-up tears for Sarah finally bursting free as well. In just a few weeks her entire life had fallen apart. Maybe it was for the best if the world ended. And what could she really do to stop it? She was just a girl, way in over her head.
***
Amanda took a trembling breath and then pulled the dagger out of Marc’s chest. She weighed it in her hand, watching the blood roll down the dark steel. Etched runes curled along the sides, and black gems adorned the pommel and cross-guard. It was beautiful but despicable, just like Lucifer.
Perhaps the pain would stop if she pushed it through her heart. The sharp point rested against her sternum, drawing a tiny drop of blood. It was strange how something so small could make all the difference. Somehow the blade seemed so hateful.
Disgusting, cowardly, nasty, repulsive.
Amanda’s lips tightened. She rubbed her eyes and wiped the snot from her nose. Anger boiled up inside her. It wasn’t fair! If Marc hadn’t been the King of Hell, none of this would’ve happened.
Carefully, Amanda placed Marc’s head on the edge of the pool and stepped out, water dripping down her legs and wrath sparkling in her eyes. Nothing mattered anymore – life, death – only the all-consuming rage.
She would bury Marc later. Right after she buried Lucifer.
She stumbled out of the cave and into the nexus. The fires of the portal burned around her as she tumbled through cracks of Hell. She landed outside the Temple of the Damned.
The teeming masses of Marc’s remaining forces swarmed around the pillars of the ancient building. Some were cannibalizing the dead, others licking their wounds. The temple itself looked like a cyclops's skull, sunlight blazing in through the eye.
Just outside the portal, Baphomet and Lilith waited for Amanda, along with Grubnub who hid next to a boulder.
“Where is Marcellixis?” Baphomet rumbled.
Amanda steeled herself. “He is hurt and exhausted. He’s resting.”
“The battle is over.” The massive demon turned away. “The enemy has escaped through the gates, but Hell is ours for the taking. I will gather our troops and claim these lands.”
“No…” Amanda said. “We’ll follow Lucifer through the gates.”
Baphomet chuckled. “I don’t take orders from you, girl. I’m in charge until Marcellixis returns.”
“Wrong.” Amanda knelt next to Grubnub and pulled the scepter out of the round demon’s eye. “I hold the king’s scepter.”
Baphomet towered over her, his face twisted in outrage.
“I refuse to take orders from a mortal,” he thundered and reached out to snatch the scepter out of her hands.
But just as Amanda thought that her arm would be crushed in the demon’s grip, an eerie titter filled the air. Darkness fell over the temple. Wisps of shadowy hair and a chilling breeze followed Lix Tetrax as she drifted up in front of Baphomet. She whispered something that only the demon could hear and that caused the rage to drain out of his face. His grip on the axe tightened.
“You’re…. you’re just one…” Baphomet said. “I have an army at my command.”
The sound of great wings came from above. Valefor landed on Amanda’s right side, his copper mane flaring in the wind. He grinned. His fangs dropped far below his chin like icicles, and his arms vibrated with golden quills.
“I, alone, am many,” Valefor said, his voice ringing clear as wind chimes and his face splitting into four lion maws.
Sorath appeared in a burst of flames on Amanda’s left side, his blackened horns extending out of his forehead and curling over the top of his head. His skin glistened in a red sheen and his tail whipped underneath the leathery wings.
“Death…” he cackled, eyes sparkling with insanity. “Death…”
Lilith looked amused more than anything else. “I don’t mind. I’ve missed Earth.”
Baphomet sighed and shook his big head. “So be it.”