Kobal
I felt the awe of those spreading out around me as they gawked at the massive throne room.Noneof us had ever seen it before, and many had probably believed they never would. It had been six thousand years since any follower of the varcolac walked freely through here.
Just months ago, standing in this place had been my entire goal for all my fifteen hundred and sixty-two years of existence. At the end of the room sat my throne, empty and mine for the taking. Lucifer was still alive, but weakened, his numbers drastically lessened, and he’d been removed from this place of power. It was far more than many of my ancestors had achieved.
Only five hundred feet separated me from my throne sitting on a raised dais at the end of the room, but it didn’t matter. Without River, it meant nothing.
The multi-colored stones before me created a walkway toward the dais. As I stood at the head of the walkway, the stones gradually changed color. The ones closest to me became pink in hue, while the ones in the middle shifted to a yellow, and further on they became orange, before turning a brilliant red near the throne. Then they rotated so that the red was before me and the other colors moved closer to the throne.
Overhead, the quartz rocks lining the arched ceiling danced with the colors of the pathway. Beside the pathway, the solid black rock of the floor emphasized the shifting color pattern and the way to my seat.
River would love to see this.
My claws bit into my palms until my blood ran freely across the stone. The colors stopped switching and became a solid red all the way to the dais.
Beside me, Morax glanced down at the blood. “We will get our queen back,” he murmured.
“Contact Shax and find out if Lucifer has left Hell,” I commanded.
Stepping onto the pathway, I stalked toward the end of the room. While I walked, I lifted my hand to free Crux and Phenex from me. Claiming my throne may mean little to me right now, but they deserved to see the place they had also been denied their entire lives.
CHAPTER 21
Kobal
The two hounds burst from my palm and hit the ground. They stopped before me. Their haunches lifted as their heads lowered and they sniffed at the air before surveying the room. Rising, they released a howl that reverberated off the stones.
They bounded forward to cover the distance between them and the throne in mere seconds. Leaping onto the stage, they prowled around the throne before sitting beside it, one on each side. Their amber eyes and sleek black coats reflected the color of the walkway as they sat proudly on the dais.
The symbols etched onto every inch of the black rock walls shifted with my steps. The vibrant thrum of power beneath my feet made me realize exactly what this room and that throne were… an extension of the Fires of Creation and the oracle. It was a source of power Lucifer had denied my ancestors, and me, when he’d invaded Hell.
Stopping before the dais, I stared at the black throne directly before me. It stood six feet high and was at least three feet wide. At the top of the throne, two howling hellhounds rose out of the sides to frame the arch in the center. Each of the armrests had the intricately wrought head of a hellhound on the ends of them. Ancient symbols covered the surface of the throne, many of them matched the symbols on me.
Everything about it beckoned for me to claim it.
More blood dripped from my palms as I gazed at it, but no matter how much it called to me, I didn’t move any closer.
Toward the back of the dais, hidden within the shadows, I spotted a throne nearly identical to mine. The only difference between them was that the one in the shadows was smaller than the one before me. Only two varcolacs before me had found their Chosen, but I knew the smaller throne was for the varcolac’s Chosen. It was River’s throne.
I would not sit on mine until she sat on hers.
Turning away from the dais, I faced the demons who spread further out in the room. The colors of the pathway started shifting again, the lights from it danced over the faces of those gathered within.
I strode back down the walkway to where Corson, Magnus, and Hawk slumped against the wall near the entry. Calah, Bale, Verin, and Morax stood near them. Hawk was healing slower than the other two, but his neck would be fully repaired by tomorrow. Until then, I would cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding.
Lopan sat on the floor on the other side of the entry with his head bowed. The four other leporcháins gathered protectively around him while he healed his broken bones. Lix and the remaining skelleins stood to each side of the entry, their swords before their faces, and their heads bowed in reverence.
As I approached, Lix lowered his sword and settled the tip of it against the floor. “Mah rhála, we will get the World Walker back,” he said with determination.
More blood dripped from my hands as my claws grazed bone. What would Lucifer do to her before then? He wouldn’t kill her, that much I knew, but what were his plans for her? Did he truly believe she could somehow get him back into Heaven?
I shook the questions off. I didn’t have the answers for them or the time it took to ponder them. “Did you get in contact with Shax?” I demanded of Morax.
“Yes,” Morax replied. “He reported that no one has left Hell since the Erinyes broke out.”
“Lucifer could have escaped out of the other gateway and entered Earth on the other side of the planet,” Bale said.
“He could have,” I agreed. I had more troops established around the gateway that had opened in Hungary at the same time the one in Kansas opened. “Can you communicate with someone there?” I asked Morax.
