Page 39 of The Road to Hell

“Hellspawn love a fight. My father bred them that way—vicious, bloodthirsty, nothing but killing machines,” I said. “Great soldiers, but not much going on upstairs.”

“They’re predictable,” Rathiel added. “Which is an advantage. They’ll fight us, and when they lose—because theywilllose—they’ll start to respect us. We’re here to spread word of our return and begin recruiting numbers. Best them in combat, and they’ll listen.”

“So, fighting is the only way?” Eliza asked. “We can’t, like, bribe them with better working conditions and a dental plan?”

I huffed a laugh, silently noting that she was starting to sound a lot more like Vol. “Yeah, no. They couldn’t care less about benefits.”

“How did you build your rebellion last time?” she asked.

“We didn’t,” Rathiel said. “It already existed, thanks to Lily’s friend, Levi.”

I blinked.Levi.

Oh, wow. I hadn’t thought about him in years, but Irememberedhim, and hearing his name brought a smile to my lips. It was so nice for once to remember something all on my own, and without suffering a splitting headache. Guess Rathiel hadn’t scrubbed Levi from my memories.

When I’d met Deidre, I’d thought him nothing more than her pet snake—primarily because that was all he’d ever shown me. He used to coil around my shoulders and bump his scaly nose against mine as a way of saying hello. I just hadn’t known he wasmorethan a snake. That’d simply been his disguise, to hide himself from Lucifer.

Because Levi was acelestial. And not one of my father’s fallen—but an actual angel. He was the one who had taught me about the prophecy and the rebellion. My memories grew fuzzy after that, thanks to Rathiel, and I knew not to probe any deeper, lest I suffer the consequences. And since we were about to face an outpost full of hellspawn, the last thing I needed was a raging migraine.

“Does someone wanna fill the rest of us in?” Eliza asked, her eyes bouncing between Rathiel and me like she’d just walked in on the middle of a soap opera. “Who’s Levi?”

“An angel,” I told her simply.

“And I assume you don’t mean that metaphorically.”

“Nope. A literal angel sent down from on high. Or rather, an angel who snuck through before the gates closed and stuck around areallylong time, waiting until the moment was right to teach me about the prophecy.” My thoughts were already spinning a mile a minute. “We need to find him. Is he still alive?”

“He’s alive,” Rathiel said. “Do you remember how I told you I had help escaping your father’s dungeon?”

I arched a brow. “That was Levi?”

Rathiel nodded. “He found me and got me out. I was barely on my feet, but he dragged me to the gate, then ordered me to find you.”

“We can find him, though, right?” My pulse quickened with a mix of hope and desperation. “He raised the rebellion last time. He can do it again.”

Rathiel hesitated. “We can try. But don’t get your hopes up. Levi isn’t exactly easy to track down. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

“Sure, but he’s a snake. And the only one in Hell,” I said with a huff. “At least he’ll stand out.”

Vol snorted from Eliza’s shoulder. “Unless he’s hiding in some shadowy crack, waiting to bite you at the worst possible moment.”

“Thatdoessound like something he’d do,” I admitted. My lips twitched at a memory that rose to mind, one of Levi doingexactlythat to me. The day he’d revealed himself, he’d slithered over to me, shifted, then bit me. The poison had knocked me out cold. And when I woke up, I’d found myself in a strange cave with a strange celestial, who’d told me an even stranger story about a prophecy.

“If anyone can help us, it’s him,” I said.

I turned back to the outpost and stared at the shoddy buildings in the distance. We were running on borrowed time—every second could be the one that brought Lucifer’s wrath down on us. But I refused to let that be the reason we made a mistake.

Storming into Fellmoor and announcing to the entire realm that I was back and ready to face my father againsoundedbold in theory, but it could also bite us in the ass if things didn’t go exactly to plan.

“They’re gonna recognize us eventually—that’s inevitable,” I said, glancing at Eliza, whose siren-perfect face belonged in a painting, and then at Vol, who was currently riding shotgun on her shoulder like a tiny gremlin. Then there was me, the only celestial in Hell without wings.

The only one of us who had any hope of blending in was Rathiel. Except, they likely knew exactly who he was, thanks to my father naming him a traitor.

Yeah, we wouldn’t be able to hide for long.

Sighing, I dragged a hand down my face. “Maybe we should try to look a little less…?” I gestured to our dusty clothes—all from Earth. We blatantly stood out in these outfits. Cotton blends didn’t exist in Hell. Down here, they made everything from leather and hide. If we walked into Fellmoor dressed like we were, we might as well put up a sign that readwe don’t belong here, please stab freely.

Rathiel nodded, his eyes narrowing on the outpost. “I’ll take care of it. I still look like a fallen, which means I won’t draw as much attention as you two. Fellmoor’s a trading hub. I’ll find what we need to blend in.”

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