Kobal

The two hounds burst from my palm and hit the ground. They stopped before me. Their haunches lifted as their heads lowered and they sniffed at the air before surveying the room. Rising, they released a howl that reverberated off the stones.

They bounded forward to cover the distance between them and the throne in mere seconds. Leaping onto the stage, they prowled around the throne before sitting beside it, one on each side. Their amber eyes and sleek black coats reflected the color of the walkway as they sat proudly on the dais.

The symbols etched onto every inch of the black rock walls shifted with my steps. The vibrant thrum of power beneath my feet made me realize exactly what this room and that throne were… an extension of the Fires of Creation and the oracle. It was a source of power Lucifer had denied my ancestors, and me, when he’d invaded Hell.

Stopping before the dais, I stared at the black throne directly before me. It stood six feet high and was at least three feet wide. At the top of the throne, two howling hellhounds rose out of the sides to frame the arch in the center. Each of the armrests had the intricately wrought head of a hellhound on the ends of them. Ancient symbols covered the surface of the throne, many of them matched the symbols on me.

Everything about it beckoned for me to claim it.

More blood dripped from my palms as I gazed at it, but no matter how much it called to me, I didn’t move any closer.

Toward the back of the dais, hidden within the shadows, I spotted a throne nearly identical to mine. The only difference between them was that the one in the shadows was smaller than the one before me. Only two varcolacs before me had found their Chosen, but I knew the smaller throne was for the varcolac’s Chosen. It was River’s throne.

I would not sit on mine until she sat on hers.

Turning away from the dais, I faced the demons who spread further out in the room. The colors of the pathway started shifting again, the lights from it danced over the faces of those gathered within.

I strode back down the walkway to where Corson, Magnus, and Hawk slumped against the wall near the entry. Calah, Bale, Verin, and Morax stood near them. Hawk was healing slower than the other two, but his neck would be fully repaired by tomorrow. Until then, I would cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding.

Lopan sat on the floor on the other side of the entry with his head bowed. The four other leporcháins gathered protectively around him while he healed his broken bones. Lix and the remaining skelleins stood to each side of the entry, their swords before their faces, and their heads bowed in reverence.

As I approached, Lix lowered his sword and settled the tip of it against the floor. “Mah rhála, we will get the World Walker back,” he said with determination.

More blood dripped from my hands as my claws grazed bone. What would Lucifer do to her before then? He wouldn’t kill her, that much I knew, but what were his plans for her? Did he truly believe she could somehow get him back into Heaven?

I shook the questions off. I didn’t have the answers for them or the time it took to ponder them. “Did you get in contact with Shax?” I demanded of Morax.

“Yes,” Morax replied. “He reported that no one has left Hell since the Erinyes broke out.”

“Lucifer could have escaped out of the other gateway and entered Earth on the other side of the planet,” Bale said.

“He could have,” I agreed. I had more troops established around the gateway that had opened in Hungary at the same time the one in Kansas opened. “Can you communicate with someone there?” I asked Morax.

“I need the name of someone at that gateway,” Morax replied.

“Bettle is there,” Lix said. “You can speak with her.”

“Bettle is a skellein?” Morax inquired.

“Yes,” Lix answered.

Morax stared at him and didn’t blink for a full minute. “She says there have been escapees from the seals, but no angels. I will remain in contact with her in case that changes.”

“Lucifer is still in Hell,” I said. “Stay in contact with Shax too.”

“I will,” Morax said.

“Bring me the captives,” I ordered.

Morax, Calah, Verin, and Bale turned and walked out of the entryway. They followed the stones down the three-hundred-foot-long stream of fire leading to the waterfall and the demons I’d left on guard there.

On this end of it, the stream stopped at the entry way and dipped beneath the rocks we stood on. I suspected it flowed down to the Fires of Creation and the Oracle.

Behind me, Phenex and Crux’s claws clicked across the floor as they approached. They rubbed my hands when they settled by my sides. Their brethren spread out to stand beside them.

The others returned with two of Lucifer’s followers held between them. The lower-level craetons had all been slaughtered, as had most of the upper-levels and escapees from the seals that we’d caught. These two upper-level demons were the only survivors. That would not last.

Both captives hung limply in the hands holding them, their heads bowed as they were dragged forward. One of them finally lifted his head. His eyes went from me to the chamber beyond and his jaw dropped. Strangled sounds escaped him as he tried to get his feet under him to support his weight.

The demon beside him lifted his head, but unlike his fellow traitor, he sagged further as he gawked at the chamber.

“What… I don’t understand… What?” the one who kept trying to stand, and failing, stammered out.

I seized his chin and jerked his head toward me. He blinked rapidly at me while his tail thudded against the ground in a matching rhythm. His claws extended, but Bale and Calah held him so that he wouldn’t be able to swing at anyone.

“Where would Lucifer take her?” My nails bit through his flesh until they scraped against bone and his blood spilled free.

“We… we… were wrong. This…” His eyes spun in his head as he gazed around the room. “We chose the wrong side.”

This last sentence was uttered with a sense of doom. His shoulders fell and he went limp in Bale and Calah’s hold.

“Yes, you did,” I snarled. “Now, where would Lucifer take her?”

“I don’t know.”

The hounds echoed the ferocious sound I emitted as they crept closer. Releasing him, I swung my arm up to bury my claws under the demon’s chin. Bone broke with a crack and the wet sound of sinew tearing filled the room as I tore his head from his shoulders. My shoulders heaved, blood dripped onto the floor as I took a minute to steady myself. I hadn’t intended to kill him before learning everything he knew, but I hadn’t been able to stop myself. No matter what happened, I could not lose control again.

Stalking over to the other demon, I kept his friend’s head in hand as I stopped before him. The demon barely glanced at the head or his cohort’s body when Calah and Bale released it. Verin and Morax tightened their hold on the still alive demon’s arms. His gaze fell briefly to the head I held before looking to me. His eyes ran over the markings on my body, then the light of the pathway, and finally the symbols on the walls.

“We didn’t know,” the demon murmured. His red skin deepened in hue when he looked to me again.

“Didn’t know what?” I demanded.

“How wrong we were.” His white eyes closed. “I’ve been here, in this room, once before. It was nothing like this. Only darkness resided in here then, only darkness ruled… it all. The symbols couldn’t be seen. The stones were all black.” Opening his eyes, his resigned gaze met mine once more. “You are the rightful ruler.”

“Nah ssshhhit.” Corson’s words came out slurred from the lingering effects of the manticore poison.

“Tell me where he took her, and I will make your death as merciful as your friend’s. Otherwise, I will cut you apart piece by tiny piece. I will feed each of those pieces to the hounds while you regenerate, and then I’ll start all over again,” I promised.

“He was not lying, my lord,” the craeton replied. “We do not know where Lucifer would have taken her, or what he plans for her.”

When I retracted my claws, the head fell from my hand and thudded against the floor. The craeton bowed his head as I leaned closer to him. “Where do you think he would take her?”

“I don’t know. We weren’t exactly part of the inner circle. That is reserved for the angels alone. Sometimes, I think they don’t even know what he plans.”

The craeton spoke the truth, I knew it. No matter how badly I wanted to make him suffer for his betrayal by cutting him into little pieces, I didn’t have time for it. If Lucifer hadn’t left Hell with River, I could think of only one place he would take her. However, if I was wrong, we would be far from here, and the gateway, should he try to reclaim the throne or decide to flee Hell.

I glanced at the hounds behind me as I came to my decision. “Let the hounds have him.”

“Wait…” The demon started to sputter. “I… no… I…” His protests turned into a scream as Verin and Morax released him and the hounds pounced on him. His screams ended when Crux tore his head from his body and tossed it to Phenex who gulped it down.

I turned to face the rest of the demons gathered within the throne room. “Half the troops will remain here to keep watch for Lucifer’s return. Morax, you will stay with them to let me know if Lucifer returns. The hounds will search through the tunnels and chambers of Hell for her. The rest of the demons will come with me.”

“Where?” Bale asked.

“We’ll be returning to the seals.”