Page 18 of The Devil You Know

“You don’t know? God is dead,” I tossed over my shoulder, steadily making my way to my residence.

“God... is dead?” Abaddon stopped, frozen in his tracks.

“Yeah.”

“How sure are you? Lucifer, you better be goddamn sure to say that.”

“I have never been surer in my life,” I answered flatly.

“That’s— fuck. No wonder the angels are scrabbling. But that means... now that Michael is back...” He looked at me, his eyes wide in his usually expressionless face.

“Yes, there is a chance Heaven will attack us,” I said tiredly.

It was not a very well-kept secret that Heaven could have eradicated Hell when it was still in its infancy. But it was God who split the dimension in two and therefore some angels argued he gave the right to exist to Hell and its denizens. While it didn’t stop the cold war between our sides or the occasional skirmishes or even small battles, Heaven never used the full strength of its garrisons against Hell. And while I did everything I could to strengthen my domain, it may not be enough to stand against a full assault.

“We need to gather the war council. Let’s meet tomorrow. Can I leave contacting everyone who should be there to you?”

Abaddon’s gaze scanned me, his eyes searching, but he finally nodded.

I was left blissfully alone. As soon as I entered my home I collapsed on the sofa. My mind was just... empty.

And I didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing.

The universe just couldn’t let me wallow in the stillness. Only a few hours later, there was frantic banging on my door. I had half a mind to ignore it, expecting to see one of the other Archdemons came to fuss over me, but I made myself move off the couch.

“What?” I asked gruffly, throwing the door open.

On the other side there was a low-level demon instead of one of the Lords of Hell. A messenger.

“M-my lord! There’s a... a situation! In the main square!” the trembling demon said.

“I’m certain there are others who can handle it, just as they did for the past weeks,” I glowered.

“But my lord... there’s an angel! An angel in Hell!”

I heard only the sound of blood rushing through my head as I flew towards the square. Was I wrong in expecting Heaven wouldn’t be prepared to launch an assault so soon after Michael came back? Did I doom us all by not requesting immediate mobilization? How many angels were invading Hell?

One.

It turned out it was only one.

In the middle of the main plaza, Archangel Michael stood like a beacon of light, his white clothes and wings so bright it hurt to look at him. Demons crowded to see him but there was a circle of space around him, his sheer aura of power keeping the low level demons away. The higher ranked demons were too cautious to approach, so they stood on the edge of the circle, their faces grim. That is, except for Abaddon, who snarled at Michael from much too close and was barely held back by his colorful twink of a lover.

Michael had a snarl on his face as well.

Wait, no, after the island I could read him better. I had seen this expression before when he was trying to hide his pain. My eyes snapped to Michael’s left leg and even from this distance, I could tell he was putting most of his weight only on the right leg. He still had the injury. How? Why? The scrapes and small wounds I had from the island vanished as soon as I had my power back. The angelic grace should have healed Michael right up.

Except Michael didn’t get wounded on the island. Didn’t have fresh, bleeding wounds, only old scars, and mangled flesh. The wound that was my doing couldn’t be healed by magic. But, by all accounts, Michael lived with it for millennia, never revealing his injury or his pain to anyone else than his closest confidants. Why was his leg shaking now, then?

I dove from the sky like the wrath of God.

“You idiot!” I hissed in the angel’s face, my fists bunched in the front of his robes, pulling him towards me. “The demonic energy is hurting you, isn’t it?”

“I had to see you,” Michael said, his eyes hazy with pain.

“What do you want from me? Why can’t you just leave me alone!” I wanted to shake him and I had to fight to keep from screaming.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

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