“Exactly, it’s a legend,” Bale replied.“They can remove their wings, but it’s excruciating for them to doso, and they grow back just as Lucifer’s and his brethren’s have.Except their wings grew back different and more malevolent lookingthan what they’d been before.”
“I saw how hideous Azote’s were,” Hawksaid.
“Heaven is a closed portal, just like Hellwas before the humans ripped it open. Kobal can open a gatewaybetween Hell and Earth, and his ancestors used to do so for somedemons, but whoever controls the gates for Heaven only opens themto toss out the trash.”
“Is it God?” Hawk inquired.
Bale shrugged. “If that’s what you prefer tocall the controller, then yes, it’s God.”
“Can the angels survive on Earth?” Hawkasked.
“Before, they could survive, but they wereno longer immortal. They were far easier to kill and would haveeventually died, the same with demons who entered Earth and didn’treturn to Hell,” Corson said. “Now, with the unnatural gateway toHell opened, we are able to maintain our immortality while onEarth. The angels still floating above might be able to do thesame, but we have no way of knowing for sure. The only angels we’veever met are the pricks in Hell with us. They’re so different thanwhat they once were that they most likely can retain theirimmortality on Earth too.”
“Maybe God or whoever has decided to step upto the plate and help end Lucifer,” Hawk suggested.
“Don’t count on that, kid,” Magnus said.“You’re looking at Lucifer’s daughter. He started the rebellion inHeaven, and from what we’ve heard, many angels were slaughteredbefore they were able to toss him and their other brothers andsisters out. They’re not exactly going to be falling overthemselves to help his daughter, the king of Hell’s Chosen.”
“So you’re saying we can expect no help fromthe angels and Lucifer is going to keep breaking seals until thereis no shot of us defeating him. What can we possibly do to stop himthat you demons haven’t tried in the past six thousand years?” Hawkdemanded.
“Ah, young sir, the answer is lying in hisarms right now.” Magnus flicked his fingers at River, who scowledat him. “She’s the only thing we’ve never tried. The only hope wehave against the fallen angels, because on a basic, cellular level,she is similar to them, and by drawing on life, she can wield theone weapon all the fallen angels have lost.”
“Maybe, because of her, things are differentwith the angels now and they’re trying to help,” Hawk said.
“I feel no different,” River said slowly. “Ifeel no stirring in the world or universe that means the angelshave come forth, but perhaps I wouldn’t beneath all this stone. Orperhaps I simplycan’tfeel anything to do with them. Ormaybe it was just a dream.”
“Dreams are sometimes fickle things,” Magnussaid.
“Do you still feel a solid connection tolife?” I demanded. No matter what, we could not risk thatconnection being broken.
River lifted her hand and brushed herfingers over my jaw. “I do,” she replied. “It is different here, asit was by the gateway, and it takes me a little longer to draw onit, but I am already getting better at it. There is more life herethan I would have thought, and it is similar to what is above.
“I’m not sure if Earth’s flow of life isspreading down from above because the gateway is open, or if I amsomehow able to latch onto that life and draw it down from above.Maybe because Heaven, Hell, and Earth were all once so closelyconnected, the life flow has always been here. Different, buthere.”
“That could be possible as we have alwaysbeen able to look on your world, and humans were able to glimpseparts of ours,” I said and kissed the fingers she rested brieflyagainst my lips. “Are you sure it is not affecting you badly?”
She lowered her hand. “I am. I can handlewhat is here, Kobal. My connection to life has nothing to do withwhatever I just did.”
I nodded and kissed her forehead, inhalingher refreshing scent. I’d been so worried about what feeding fromHell would do to her, if she would be able to handle it, or if itwould break her, but for now, she was doing well with it. “You’lllet me know if that changes.”
“I will.” She squirmed in my arms and thenfroze. “I’m naked,” she muttered, her cheeks flushing at therealization.
“You are,” I confirmed and hugged hercloser.
“Ah, can I get dressed?”
“Come on,” Bale said and gestured foreveryone to leave the room.
I waited until the door was closed beforesetting her on her feet. “You really don’t remember anything?” Iinquired as she gathered her clothes.
“No.” She glanced at me over her shoulder,her raven-colored hair falling forward to shield one of herbreasts. “I would tell you if I did, and I really feel nodifferent.”
Her arms fell to her sides as she turned toface me. I couldn’t stop my hungry gaze from running over her lithebody and the marks I’d left on her. On my neck, the bites she’dleft on me heated in response to seeing mine. She may not havefangs like most demons, but she could mark me as her Chosen almostas well as I could mark her as mine.
“If they were trying to let me know thatthey’re planning on trying to help, or that they are coming, thenmaybe we’ll have a new ally in all of this,” she said.
“Perhaps,” I murmured.
“You don’t trust them,” she stated as shebent to retrieve her bra.
