Page 83 of The Road to Hell

Oh, for Hell’s sake.

Not for the first time since arriving at this encampment, I sympathized with Levi, who’d been dealing with this brand of military genius on a daily basis. That he hadn’t strangled anyone yet was a miracle. But I also now understood why Levi had sought me out for this job. These hellspawn weren’t just struggling—they were helpless. And understandably so.

My father created hellspawn by fusing the souls of condemned humans with the essences of his fallen. Lucifer wanted soldiers, not leaders. So intelligence and strategy were not qualities he gave when creating them. If anything, he avoided them. He wanted mindless creatures, and he’d succeeded—quite spectacularly.

I shared a glance with Levi. When I lifted a brow, he nodded and gestured toward the war table. This was, after all,myparty. I’d taken over as the rebellion leader after returning from the outpost with every single prisoner in tow. Calder had announced to anyone with ears that he would follow me into any battle, and once he’d regaled the other vampires about how I’d let him feed to his heart’s content, they’d also switched their loyalties to me.

“All right,” I said, stepping forward and drawing the three hellspawn’s attention. “Since Levi and I are the only ones at this table with functional brain cells, let me spell this out for you.” I tapped a point on the map—one of Lucifer’s key supply routes, and something the generals had completely ignored. “This is our next target.”

Confusion furrowed their brows, and I almost laughed.

Rathgor scoffed. “That’s just a supply route.”

“Yes,” I said patiently, reminding myself that these were my people now, and if I wanted them to succeed, I needed to lead, not insult. “Supply routes are incredibly important. When you cut them off, your enemy loses supplies. Things they desperately need. Like weapons, food for their ranks, etcetera. And do you know what happens when you cut off a supply line?”

Silence.

When no one answered, I tapped the map again and answered my own question. “They will pick another route.” I glided my fingers across the map, tracing the most likely path they would take. I’d sat through many of my father’s council meetings, after all. “And when they do, we’re waiting, and hit them again.”

Korrak studied the map, his thick brow still furrowed.

“We hit the supply runs, the food stores, the armories. We don’t just burn outposts—we gut them. You want to win? Stop throwing your people at him. Start choking him from the inside. So far, he hasn’t suffered any losses except the one outpost. But you’ve had many. Your supplies are practically nonexistent. We need to turn the tables on him. He won’t expect this. He keeps reinforcing his outposts, knowing that he can outnumber us. So we need a new tactic, a new means of depleting his numbers.”

Levi nodded, his expression smoothing into understanding. “You want to starve him out.”

“I want to destroy him,” I reiterated. “But I’ll settle for starving his people until they can no longer fight us. Plus, we get to keep the supplies for ourselves. Spoils of war, and all that.”

That got their attention.

All three generals’ heads lifted, their dark expressions shifting just slightly. Maybe it was awe. Maybe just begrudging respect. Either way, I’d take it.

Drek’thar traced the same route I did with his main claw. “And if Lucifer catches on?”

“He absolutely will catch on,” Levi said. “He’s hardly unintelligent. But by the time he does, we’ll have already cut his supply route off.”

“Exactly,” I said. “The weaker he gets, the stronger we become. Remember that.”

Silence stretched. Then Drek’thar grinned. “Well, celestial. Let’s see if you’re as good as you think you are.”

I laughed. “Oh, Drek’thar. I’m verygood. And you’re about to see why.”

Rathgor opened his mouth to speak, when a chorus of shouts rose to our ears, followed by the unmistakable clash of weapons and the dullthudof something heavy hitting the dirt.

Gorr’s ears perked instantly, his tail going rigid. Levi straightened beside me, celestial power humming faintly in the air.

Then another sound—like something being dragged over stone.

Korrak’s expression darkened. “What now?”

I was already moving before he finished speaking.

The tent flap burst open as a hellspawn stumbled inside, panting, blood streaking his face. “There’s—there’s a prisoner,” he gasped. “One of Lucifer’s fallen.”

I stiffened.

One of my father’s fallen?

How had they found us? The encampment was a well-guarded secret. Without Levi, I never would have found this place. Had they tracked us? Or had someone betrayed us and led them here? But also, why just one? The fallen didn’t do anything alone. They fought together, like a well-oiled machine. And if a fallen knew our location, then did that mean Lucifer was coming? Was this a precursor to an attack?

---