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Seren.
Seren attacked her.
Seren killed her.
Then showed up that same night and said a Seraph had sent him. Bought her a sword. Taught her how to fight.
Kissed her.
All that after he killed her.
Eden ran to the edge of the barge and dived into the Puget Sound. She knew how to swim and even if she didn’t, even if she drowned, she’d be back. After all, an angel had murdered her and failed. She died that night and returned. The Puget could do no worse.
Chapter 21
Agone passed through the walls of the conclave a suitable distance behind his prince. His asshole prince.
He pulls this shit after sending me to protect Eden! She’s defenseless out there.
Fear. Before Eden, he hadn’t known the meaning of the word. Now, he choked on the rancid taste. It lay on his tongue like glue. Only the thought of her beautiful face and the knowledge she was safe with Seren kept him from breaking the conclave.
As Belial’s First Order demon, only he could punish him. What his punishment would be, Agone didn’t care. As along as the conclave didn’t drag into the next century, he wouldn’t discover it.
The usual greetings were had. Each prince greeted Belial with a dose of scorn at his human appearance and an ounce of the respect due him as the strongest prince present. He’d had that role since Lucifer abdicated the position. Agone had an idea where he’d hidden himself. A place where no demon could venture.
The pleasantries done, Belial sprawled on his throne. “Today, we celebrate.” He produced a flagon of demon brew out of thin air and drained the flagon in one long gulp. He set the empty flagon on the arm of his throne and eyed the princes arranged in a circle around him.As they eyed him with a mix of ill-conceived rage and jealousy.
Four deadly sins were present. Belphegor, Prince of Sloth. Beelzebub, Prince of Gluttony. Asmodeus, Prince of Lust. And Belial, Prince of Pride. Nothing good emerged when the princes came together. Plagues. Floods. Famine. Wars. And that was without the Horsemen of the Apocalypse topside.
“I have made a pact with Iaiél, Seraphim of the Council of Seraphs.”
The uproar was immediate and deafening. The three princes lunged to their feet, their First Order demons backing them up. Protecting Belial was Agone’s duty. Torn between his duty or joining the others in ripping Belial apart, he froze. Luckily, Belial flexed his immense power and tossed the princes on to their asses. Their First Order demons were pinned to the walls behind the thrones.
“Good. I have your undivided attention.” Belial stretched out his legs, shifted his ass, and got comfortable. With a captive audience, why wouldn’t he. “Twenty years ago, Iaiél had a vision. We chose eleven infants to seed with my ichor — since I am the strongest — and her grace. A perfect balance,” he said proudly.
“You made babies with a Seraph?” Belphegor’s fangs extended, and he strained against Belial’s control, scrabbling against his throne and the floor for purchase. The rest of them were doing the same, trying everything in their power to break free.
Belial tossed back his head, slapped his thigh, and laughed. “I guess we did. Not the traditional way. I would’ve preferred that to the impersonal prick of my finger.” He held up the digit for inspection as if the insignificant wound still vexed him.
“Where are they!” Asmodeus drooled. Belphegor and Beelzebub wanted the Chosen dead. Asmodeus, Prince of Lust had different ideas.
Agone freed the hidden blade on his thigh. Asmodeus would die first.
“That is the billion-dollar question. We find, capture, and keep them until it’s time to drain them. Then we free our King and claim Earth. He is rising, brothers, and we can help him.”
“You lie,” Asmodeus snarled from his position on the stone floor.
“None of you felt it because you are too weak. But I did.” Belial pushed off from his throne with a fresh flagon of demon’s brew to stroll around the room. “She is determined to stop it. I am determined she not succeed.”
“You joined forces with a Seraph!” Asmodeus snarled and struggled to rise, but Belial hadn’t released his power.
“Yes. What better way to know your enemy than to partner with them?” Belial waited. And continued to wait under the glare of the princes.
Agone couldn’t blame them. They were confused, and so was he. Where was Belial heading with this? The pact wasn’t to protect Heaven. It was to protect Hell from the rising. That’s how Belial had sold it to him twenty years ago when he stumbled upon a little girl smelling like his prince before he agreed to be her protector. Now Belial wanted to free the King.
Belial threw up his hands and sighed. “I forgot how unimaginative you three are.”
“Unimaginative?” Beelzebub lay at an odd angle across his throne.
