“I need the name of someone at that gateway,” Morax replied.
“Bettle is there,” Lix said. “You can speak with her.”
“Bettle is a skellein?” Morax inquired.
“Yes,” Lix answered.
Morax stared at him and didn’t blink for a full minute. “She says there have been escapees from the seals, but no angels. I will remain in contact with her in case that changes.”
“Lucifer is still in Hell,” I said. “Stay in contact with Shax too.”
“I will,” Morax said.
“Bring me the captives,” I ordered.
Morax, Calah, Verin, and Bale turned and walked out of the entryway. They followed the stones down the three-hundred-foot-long stream of fire leading to the waterfall and the demons I’d left on guard there.
On this end of it, the stream stopped at the entry way and dipped beneath the rocks we stood on. I suspected it flowed down to the Fires of Creation and the Oracle.
Behind me, Phenex and Crux’s claws clicked across the floor as they approached. They rubbed my hands when they settled by my sides. Their brethren spread out to stand beside them.
The others returned with two of Lucifer’s followers held between them. The lower-level craetons had all been slaughtered, as had most of the upper-levels and escapees from the seals that we’d caught. These two upper-level demons were the only survivors. That would not last.
Both captives hung limply in the hands holding them, their heads bowed as they were dragged forward. One of them finally lifted his head. His eyes went from me to the chamber beyond and his jaw dropped. Strangled sounds escaped him as he tried to get his feet under him to support his weight.
The demon beside him lifted his head, but unlike his fellow traitor, he sagged further as he gawked at the chamber.
“What… I don’t understand…What?” the one who kept trying to stand, and failing, stammered out.
I seized his chin and jerked his head toward me. He blinked rapidly at me while his tail thudded against the ground in a matching rhythm. His claws extended, but Bale and Calah held him so that he wouldn’t be able to swing at anyone.
“Where would Lucifer take her?” My nails bit through his flesh until they scraped against bone and his blood spilled free.
“We… we… were wrong. This…” His eyes spun in his head as he gazed around the room. “We chose the wrong side.”
This last sentence was uttered with a sense of doom. His shoulders fell and he went limp in Bale and Calah’s hold.
“Yes, you did,” I snarled. “Now, where would Lucifer take her?”
“I don’t know.”
The hounds echoed the ferocious sound I emitted as they crept closer. Releasing him, I swung my arm up to bury my claws under the demon’s chin. Bone broke with a crack and the wet sound of sinew tearing filled the room as I tore his head from his shoulders. My shoulders heaved, blood dripped onto the floor as I took a minute to steady myself. I hadn’t intended to kill him before learning everything he knew, but I hadn’t been able to stop myself. No matter what happened, I could not lose control again.
Stalking over to the other demon, I kept his friend’s head in hand as I stopped before him. The demon barely glanced at the head or his cohort’s body when Calah and Bale released it. Verin and Morax tightened their hold on the still alive demon’s arms. His gaze fell briefly to the head I held before looking to me. His eyes ran over the markings on my body, then the light of the pathway, and finally the symbols on the walls.
“We didn’t know,” the demon murmured. His red skin deepened in hue when he looked to me again.
“Didn’t know what?” I demanded.
“How wrong we were.” His white eyes closed. “I’ve been here, in this room, once before. It was nothing like this. Only darkness resided in here then, only darkness ruled… it all. The symbols couldn’t be seen. The stones were all black.” Opening his eyes, his resigned gaze met mine once more. “Youarethe rightful ruler.”
“Nah ssshhhit.” Corson’s words came out slurred from the lingering effects of the manticore poison.
“Tell me where he took her, and I will make your death as merciful as your friend’s. Otherwise, I will cut you apart piece bytinypiece. I will feed each of those pieces to the hounds while you regenerate, and then I’ll start all over again,” I promised.
“He was not lying, my lord,” the craeton replied. “We do not know where Lucifer would have taken her, or what he plans for her.”
When I retracted my claws, the head fell from my hand and thudded against the floor. The craeton bowed his head as I leaned closer to him. “Where do youthinkhe would take her?”
