“You have fallen into the temptations of the Devil! You have laid with a demon and accepted an unholy gift unto yourself! Look at you! You are a demon yourself!” Yahweh bellowed.
I raised an eyebrow. “I have, and I am.” I agreed, smiling. The angels exchanged looks with their many eyes, clearly taken aback by my lack of shame or remorse.
“I am of Lilith now. Shemhazai and I willingly leave the path of light in favor of knowledge, pleasure, and balance. Anyone who wishes to do the same is welcome to join us in Hell. We have plenty of space.” I grinned at the hovering forms of the angels that surrounded us. They stared at me while Yahweh fumed. I looked at the many wings and eyes of Yahweh’s creations and remembered how much pain my angel form had brought me. I softened at the thought.
“If you tire of being punished for sins you have not committed and long for a reprieve from the pain that Yahweh callsrepentance,join us. Lilith does not cage her followers in bodies that bring pain.” I held up a midnight hand, examining it fondly. “Lilith’s gifts are filled with pleasure.”
“I damn you, Ramel. I damn you and Shemhazai. You are failures, and you risk your immortal souls for this foolish attempt at rebellion. Icreated you. Without me, you arenothing!”
I snorted and pointed a death-ridden finger at Yahweh in rage.
“I’m sick of yourfuckinglies, Yahweh. You may have created me, but what you offer isnothing.Nothing but blind obedience and undeserved shame. Lilith offerseverything.Lilith offers me the chance tochoose.I love her, and so does Shemhazai.” I turned to the congregation of angels. “I can promise that you will love her too if you get the chance to meet her.”
To my astonishment, the angels began to shift into their human forms, and many of them walked to stand behind me. Their faces were full of curiosity and what looked likehope.
Yahweh sneered at me. Many angels stayed with Him, including Rafael. However, it would seem I had recruited enough to start a small army.
“You will be punished,” Yahweh warned, His many faces contorted with rage. I regarded him coolly.
“I do not care what you do to me,” I said, and it was the truth. All I wanted was for Lilith to have everything she deserved and to not be lonely anymore.
“It is not you that will be punished. Your love for her condemns her. I will hurt her for this,” Yahweh threatened, and I narrowed my eyes on Him.
“If you touch her, I will spend an eternity learning how to unmake you,” I snarled, and the darkness in my soul expanded, tainting His precious, burning-white heavenscape.
“Get out!” Yahweh boomed, watching in horror as I poisoned the purity of His perfect space with my rot and shadows.
“Gladly,” I sneered before leading my new legion of demons from Heaven down to Hell, where we belonged.
Year: 3663 BC
“Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.”
—ELIZABETH BOWEN
Lilith was so shocked when I returned with sixty-six curious Watchers in tow that I worried for a moment she might faint. Hazai, on the other hand, looked like a cat who had just caught the fattest rat of its life.
“Welcome,” Lilith greeted the angels as they floated through the gates of Hell, their lidless eyes wide with awe. Lilith frowned at them as they filed in.
“I can feel their pain,” she whispered to me as I slid my palms around her soft waist from behind. I pulled her in close and dropped a kiss on top of her head.
“The angel form is designed to be a form of torture. Yahweh says it is to remind us of the repercussions of sin.”
Lilith wrapped her little hands around my index fingers and squeezed. “That’s so horrible,” she murmured, and I loved that she cared so much about these beings she owed nothing to.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips close to her ear, knowing my breath would send shivers of pleasure down her spine. “Change them. Make them like us.”
She squirmed in my arms, and I smiled against her, biting the skin on her neck softly.
The angels watched us, and I looked up at them without removing my lips from her neck. I growled quietly at them. I was happy that we had the beginnings of the queendom that Lilith deserved, but I didn’t want them getting any ideas about her. She wasmine.
“Okay, I will change them,” Lilith agreed. Hazai came to stand next to us. He coiled a long strand of her honey-brown hair around one of his fingers. With a half-cocked smile on his face, he watched the angels take in their new surroundings.
“Shit just gotreallyfucking interesting,” he purred, glancing at me. I smirked at him.
“I have a feeling it’s only going to get more fun from here,” I murmured as Lilith pulled away from me to speak with the angels. They gathered around her like she was the sun and they were starved for warmth. I smiled as she gently stroked their ivory feathers, promising them she would take away their pain.
Hazai nodded, his grin widening. “We’re going to need to make some changes.”
