Page 135 of An Unexpected Ascension
“The city. The people you meet tonight are soldiers, a part of the army we’ve compiled over the years.”
I look around the room at each and every one of them.
“That’s a lot.”
“It’s not even half of them. Just the folks I trust will behave in a setting such as this one. The others, they wait for my call.” Lucifer crooks a finger at a nearby male in a clean black suit. He approaches with a glass of wine upon a silver platter. “Drink, Briar. Enjoy tonight. It might be a while before we have another like it.”
I take the glass from the tray and in its place appears another.
Raising it, I toast to Ada’s return and as I clink my glass to theirs, a fourth one joins.
Trailing the hand to my right, I find?—
Devil, save me.
I find a hand with black ink swirling around each finger, trailing up to a wrist and under the sleeve of a black button up. My eyes catch on a silver skull cuff link as it twinkles under the glow of candlelight. Damn, I haven’t even made it past his arm yet and I’m already salivating.
Perhaps my heart feels nothing, but the warmth in my core can’t say the same.
The black fabric stretches over the taut muscles of his biceps and chest. Whirls of ink peek out again just above his collar, curling around his neck and up into the back of his skull. His dark hair isslicked back, only a short piece of his bangs falls forward. I want to run my fingers through it and by the way his navy-blue eyes are watching me, I know he knows it.
“Angel.” He smirks at me.
“Demon.”
I try to scowl, but the damned heat inside my body spirals, causing an awkward grimace instead. Lifting the skirt of my deep violet dress, I retreat into the crowd away from the dangerous lure of the demon and towards...more dangerous demons, I guess.
Spinning, I find myself at a table surrounded by new faces. None friendly, but not menacing either. They survey me, assess me from head to toe, wondering what it is about me that’s worthy of sanctuary in the Devil’s home.
Sometimes I ask myself the same question.
After introductions, conversation comes easier. Lucy, the woman on my right in the black ballgown and silver tiara claims she and her husband, Clyde, chose Hell over Heaven. They never believed in either until death, so when the time came, they knew they didn’t want to be judged by any God.
The pair now live in the city, she bartends at a club, and her husband is an artist at a tattoo parlor. They’ve been dead now for a few decades and despite the heat, they’re happy.
As they talk about their lives it occurs to me that Hell is just like life only with weird nuances and death has already happened.
“That’s when we met Hermes. I was working on the piece covering his shoulder when he told me about the upcoming war. He shared his story and damn if it didn’t break me. I never really held a grudge against the Gods, since we never really believed they existed in the first place, but Hermes is a good guy. So, we extended our souls. Told him we wanted in,” Clyde explains.
“He shared his story?”
“Yeah.” Clyde shrugs, looking over to his wife. “It’s not really mine to tell, but he lost someone special to him and those damned Gods saved her perpetrators over her. It’s really fucked up.”
I nod. “That is.”
Looking down into my glass, I find that no matter how much wine I drink, my cup never empties. Which explains why my head feels as heavy as my chest right now. Thatreally fucked upstory has my family name written all over it and it never ceases to make my stomach churn.
“Excuse me.” I lift my glass in a silent farewell to grab some air.
I sneak up to the training room and as I traipse toward the opening overlooking Hell, the hem of my dress collects the dirt from the stone floor. Planting myself on the very edge, I watch my feet dangle in the open air.
Wine splashes across my tongue, and I think about what Ada had said earlier, about our promise. Maybe, someday I’ll get over all the things I never was, but for now, I still feel their weight.
The city sits in the distance, a black silhouette in the crimson glow. Desecrated land separates us from the crowded town where all the other demons dwell.
“There you are.”
Turning, I find Lynx standing in the center of the room, his hands in his pockets.
