Page 116 of All's Hell That Ends Well

As if to confirm my thoughts, Metatron continued, “With that first manifestation of Death, Life’s power became checked—while that of Death grew. God’s next creations, animals and humans, were mortal, their lives having a natural end point. And thus Life and Death had become true equals, a balance struck that neither of them could—or should—tip in their own favor. Though God never forgave Death for taking His creations. And if He had seen what Death had planned, that he had fallen in love with Lilith to the point where he intended to become corporeal to be with her, God would have tried to stop him. Alas, Death hid his intentions and the fact that he had crafted himself a body, and so he managed to bypass God’s vigilance.”

“And the gates of His realm,” Shekinah added.

Metatron nodded. “He snuck into Heaven, and there, he built himself an identity through subterfuge and manipulation. He became the brightest star among us, a shining example of our kind. By the time God saw him for what he was, it was already too late—Lucifer had successfully approached Lilith in the Garden, and she had reciprocated his advances. The rest, you know. She chose Lucifer over Adam, and in His fury over the betrayal, God cast her from Eden, and Lucifer from Heaven. And when Lucifer took her to his newly crafted realm to live with him, God pulled her back to Heaven, for He did not want his first human daughter to be Death’s bride.”

“Petty,” I said with a cough into my hand.

Metatron shot me a dark look. “And then the First War was fought, which ended in the original truce that granted Lucifer Lilith.”

“Question,” I said, raising my hand again as if I were in school. “I’m still not clear on why God didn’t do anything against Death being in physical form? Oh, and if Lucifer-slash-Death is really as powerful as God-slash-Life—and I assume we’re talking cosmically strong powers here, like, snap-your-fingers-and-everyone-dies kind of strength—then why was God even able to throw Lucifer around as if they weren’t evenly matched? I mean, yeah, later during the war, it sounds like it was a close call in terms of who’s stronger, but I don’t get why Lucifer even allowed God to toss him out of Heaven like one of his angels, when he was actually so much more than that, if what you’re saying is true.”

It was Shekinah who spoke up now. “He forgot.”

“Pardon?” I blinked at her. “Forgot what?”

“Who he truly is.” The color of her irises was so light, like fog on a cold morning, it nearly blended into the whites of her eyes.

“Are you saying,” Azazel cut in, “that Lucifer has no idea that he is Death?”

“Just so.” Shekinah nodded. “When he created his body, he also created a new identity, for he would need to hide his true nature in order to pass. He likely was not aware of the cost this change would demand, that for his mask to be convincing, it had to become real. He had to believe that he was Lucifer, an angel of the Lord, powerful, yes, but one of many, and bound by God’s grace. He had tobelieve,” she repeated with emphasis. “And with beings such as he…belief shapes reality.”

“He lost himself in the creation of his false identity,” Metatron said, his deep voice hushing the night wind. “And over time, all awareness of his origins and the true extent of his powers faded into oblivion, and all that was left was Lucifer.”

I shivered despite not feeling the cold. In a flash, I remembered all those moments when Lucifer had seemed so unnervingly alien, soother, like some creature from another world or dimension, not quite fitting into this reality.

Now I knew why.

It had been his true nature surfacing from deep below the mask he’d donned eons ago. Without him being aware of it, that ancient essence was still at his core, and in the wake of Lilith’s murder, it had come to the fore.

Goosebumps rose all along my arms and neck at the realization that I’d sat in the literal presence of Death.

Death! Personified!

Holy shit.

“Now,” Metatron intoned, pulling me out of my small bout of panic, “perhaps you understand why this knowledge is dangerous. God, being Death’s equal, was the only one who could see through the mask—after a time. By then, it was too late to reverse it. There was nothing God could do to separate Death from Lucifer, or destroy the camouflage. At that point, the transformation had already robbed Lucifer of any memory of his true self, and God decided to keep the knowledge from him. Thatwas why He was able to cast him out—because Lucifer believed himself to be an angel and God to have power over him.”

My jaw wanted to hit the floor. “He tricked him!”

A condescending look from Metatron. “God acted on the weakness that Death himself had unwittingly created.”

“And you’ve kept this from him for eons,” I whispered, disbelief hollowing out my chest.

“Because you fear what he could do with that knowledge,” Azazel purred. “Don’t you?”

“In the interest of the fate of the world,” Metatron shot back, “it is prudent to keep Lucifer in the dark about his true nature.”

I narrowed my eyes, the gears in my head turning. “But you just told us. How does that make sense?”

Metatron looked like he’d bitten into a lemon. He cast a dignified side-eye at Shekinah, who’d spilled the beans about all of this in the first place.

“Because you must know,” she now said softly. “In order to understand.”

I shifted uncomfortably at her echoing of what I’d said earlier.

“Enlighten us, then,” Azazel said smoothly. “What is it you haven’t told us yet?”

“He is Death,” Shekinah repeated, her voice once again dreamy. “And even if he does not remember, his power remains the same. He cannot help it. Neither of them can. There is a reason Earth is neutral ground. The center of balance. Neither Life nor Death may rest there, for their powers would tilt the scales, affecting all around them.”

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