“What are they like?” I ask, morbidly curious. “Archdemons?”
Daniel shakes his head. “I’m not sure how to describe them in a way you could fully imagine… Think of the worst humans you have ever heard about and their transgressions, multiply them a thousandfold, and make their perpetrators all-powerful and grotesque. But that still might not be enough,” he finishes.
I swallow my food and put the half-eaten bowl away, feeling nauseous again. “And they’re on this council?”
“Yes. Most of them, and some powerful demon lords as well. But also many archangels and angels.”
“I see,” I say, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. “And these beings decided they would use us like…pions. Pawns. Cannon fodder.”
“Well, I believe you and your fellow half-bloods are more than capable of holding your own against the manifestations overrunning Hell,” Daniel says confidently.
“What are those like?”
“Like clouds without a particular shape. Their hunger is unending, and they burn and dissolve everything they touch. Similar to some sulfurous hot springs in the human world.”
“Lovely,” I say tightly. “I simply cannot wait to encounter them.”
The fallen angel acknowledges my joke with a small smile. “You will be more than ready when it happens.”
“Let’s go, then,” I say, resigned to my fate. I stand up and straighten my rumpled pajamas. “Show me your fortress. Then show me what I could become.”
“Very well,” Daniel says, and I think I detect a hint of pride in his voice. “I’ll be waiting for you outside your room. You may use the facilities, and there are clothes for you in the closet. Take all the time you need.”
“Oh, but…”
I hate making people wait on me. Whenever Thomas had to wait, he’d throw insults at me, telling me to hurry up, that I’m always slowing him down, and making him look bad.
“Do you want to take the chair?” I ask awkwardly, indicating the uncomfortable piece of furniture with a shaky hand.
Daniel chuckles, and it’s a beautiful sound. “I could stand in place for a century and not feel any discomfort, child. Do not hurry on my account.”
With a final smile, he leaves me alone in the room that felt like a prison for the last couple of days. Now? Now it might feel like an opportunity. I doubt I’ll stop looking over my shoulder overnight, expecting my family or Thomas. But maybe I’ll grow strong enough that they should be afraid of me instead.
4
SIMONE
“Look,” my team leader, Lana, says, her words slightly slurred from vodka she apparently pilfered from Maalik’s kitchen. “We’ve been here for four months, and I’m still not convinced the Fallen have dicks.”
Kevin groans, hiding his face in his hands. “Please, for the love of everything unholy, change the subject.”
My hand is over my mouth, a scandalized giggle escaping me, while Jessica laughs outright with a boisterous guffaw. Liam tries to shush her, and Ethan just looks like he’s enjoying the show.
We’re in Lana’s room, since hers is in a separate wing of the fortress, away from both the Cambion and Nephilim. It’s been our favorite hideout since we became a team, learning to fight and use the ether—which is a bit like Celestial magic—together under the tutelage of Maalik, Daniel, and a few of the other fallen angels that call Abaddon home.
During these months in the Underworld, I’ve learned to heal minor injuries, throw a punch, and I actually became pretty good at throwing knives. I’m not as confident as the rest of my team—orreally most of the Elioud here—but I’m growing into the person Daniel saw in me when we first arrived.
“Is there any Fallen’s cock you’d like to see in particular, love?” Ethan asks, ribbing Lana. “Daniel, perhaps? You two seem attached at the hip sometimes.”
Lana makes a gagging sound. “He’s such a dad. I don’t want to even think of him that way.”
“He looks the same age as us,” Jess snickers.
“It’s the vibe,” our auburn-haired team leader declares sagely. “Dad vibes, and I don’t mean Daddy.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Does no one else find it suspicious that Daniel and Maalik share a hallway, a kitchen?” I pipe in. “When all the other Fallen keep to themselves in separate towers. No one?”
Liam blinks at me. “You don’t think…”
