All around us, the demons, Vargas, and Erin went to one knee and their heads bowed. Caim, Raphael, and the remaining humans remained standing until the humans also went to one knee. Gage looked to River before holding Bailey closer and kneeling before us. River made a move as if to stop them, but I gave a small tug on her hand. We couldn’t show any favor to anyone. Raphael and Caim glanced around before the two angels also went to one knee. Their wings unfurled behind their backs and they pressed a fist to their foreheads.
“Rise,” I commanded as the initial rush of power between River and I ebbed and the light faded away. However, the vast power was still there, waiting to be tapped into again if it became necessary.
“The king and queen of Hell are now also the king and queen of Earth!” Corson declared, and a cheer ran through the crowd.
CHAPTER 58
River
Three weeks later,
I set Bailey down in the vast hall. He immediately ran for one of the walls, his short, chubby legs carrying him far faster than they looked like they could. He ran his fingers over the markings within his reach. Above him and all around me, more markings had been etched into every inch of the wall.
Each one of those markings had been chiseled by Kobal’s hand, then stained with his blood as well as mine. The power within this room could never be as strong as what I’d felt in the chamber housing the Fires of Creation, but every time I stepped in here, it made my breath catch.
Energy sizzled over my skin, creating sparks at the tips of my fingers while Bailey continued to trace the symbols. At the end of the room, the hammering stopped as Corson, Hawk, Bale, Magnus, Caim, Raphael, and Gage lifted their heads to look at us. They were all working on finishing the last of the dais. My throne had already been placed on it. Lopan sat on the edge of the dais, swinging his small legs back and forth as he sang to himself. Kneeling beside him, Calah hammered a final nail into place.
So much had happened in three weeks that it felt like years had slipped by. Before we’d left my town, I’d made sure thateveryone Lucifer slaughtered was given a proper burial. It had taken four days to dig the numerous graves and to create whatever headstones we could to mark the loved ones who lay there. It would have taken longer, but the demons and angels worked far faster than the humans could.
I’d kept Gage and Bailey away from the field until all the bodies were removed, but I knew they had seen far more than they should have. Gage still had a haunted look in his eyes and jumped at things that never would have caused him to jump before, but he liked it here and he liked the demons. Bailey had woken screaming every night since Lucifer had taken him. The only thing that gave him any real comfort was being held by me, Gage, or Kobal, or coming to this room so he could trace the symbols. I couldn’t deny his connection to the angels, but I hoped to keep him sheltered as much as possible until he was older.
Unfortunately, while we’d been removing the bodies from the field, we’d also uncovered the bodies of Hawk’s family and his town and buried them. Caim and Raphael had taken to the sky to survey the towns further out on the Cape. The town of Sandwich had also been destroyed, their bodies mixed in with those we worked to identify before burial, but the people in the other towns were still alive. Lucifer’s wrath hadn’t progressed that far.
A set of mated hounds also perished in the battle. Kobal had stood with the other hounds, watching as their bodies burned on a fire he created. The hounds all howled and whimpered while they mourned their loss.
When we’d finally finished burying or burning the dead, I reclaimed Lisa’s duffel bag, filled it with more pictures and some things for Gage and Bailey. Then, we’d returned to the wall. When we arrived, Kobal ordered my mother taken to another section.
I didn’t argue the order. I couldn’t leave her to rot, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see her every day of my life either. Our lives would never intertwine again. Gage hadn’t protested the decision either, and Bailey had yet to ask about her, though he’d asked after Lisa and Asante more than a few times.
Tears burned in my eyes at the reminder of the loss of my friends. I’d found their bodies amongst the remains of the others, along with Lisa’s parents. I made sure they were all buried together and had wept over their graves. Never forgetting them was the best way to honor them, and I would make sure their memories lived on for as long as I did.
Verin had also been laid to rest in the field, in a fire that Kobal created. The demons didn’t believe in memorial services, but I’d asked for one for her and Morax. We didn’t have his body to burn, but I’d assembled a small grave marker for them both. They’d died to bring an end to Lucifer, and Verin died saving my brother. They needed something to honor them and to mark them as together again in the end.
I knew angels and demons didn’t go through the same birth and death cycle as humans, knew there was no afterlife for them, but I still chose to believe Verin and Morax were reunited now.
The door behind me opened and closed. A few seconds later, Vargas and Erin smiled at me as they strolled past with bundles of wood in their arms. Skelleins flanked Erin. They were still determined to get her to fail at answering a riddle, but I believed they’d run out of riddles before they stumped her.
Each of the skelleins wore some article of clothing or accessory that marked them different from the others, though they all had a flask hanging at their side or in their hand. They’d returned to their more jovial nature now that they were back on Earth. So had Corson, but he’d stopped wearing earrings.
The candles flickering in the sconces on the walls cast shadows across the wood floor as I followed Bailey. More ghosts than I’d anticipated arriving at the wall had shown up. More continued to arrive daily from all corners of the world, much to the annoyance of the demons and the dismay of the humans. The humans were still trying to get used to the sometimes abrasive, often selfish apparitions who unfortunately discovered they enjoyed materializing through walls to scare people.
However, in this hall, Kobal didn’t want electricity. I thought he wanted a small piece of Hell on Earth, and this place was it, even if it was aboveground. I preferred the much cozier feel of the candles in the hall too.
With his throne in hand, Kobal strolled in from the hallway connecting this building to the house my brothers had moved into. I knew Kobal hated living in human homes, but I couldn’t bring myself to be apart from my brothers anymore.
In compromise, Kobal had torn out a wall on the lower floor of the house and connected his tent to it for us to sleep in. We were no longer on the hill with the other demons, but the house was far enough away from the other humans that he assured me he didn’t mind it.
Kobal set his throne beside mine and stepped forward as Erin climbed the steps of the dais to him. They spoke briefly before Erin set the wood she’d been carrying down. She dug into her pocket and pulled something out. Kobal took it from her, said something to the others on the dais, and they all rose.
“Come on, Bailey!” Gage called to him.
Bailey tottered forward until Lix scooped him up and climbed the steps of the dais with him. Despite their lingering trauma over what had been done to them and our town, my brothers were both handling everything well. Gage was fascinated to have the king of Hell as a brother-in-law, and Bailey was fascinated by every demon, angel, and Hell creature he encountered. The skelleins were a real favorite of his, much to their joy.
They all disappeared down the hallway, and I heard the click of the door shutting. Kobal descended the stairs and strode toward me, a smile curving his mouth. My toes curled when I recognized the ravenous gleam in his obsidian eyes.
“I have a present for you, Mah Kush-la,” he said as he stopped before me.
“Really?” I inquired eagerly.
