“I already do.”
“Good.” Turning back to Alexei and MJ, I asked, “How’s the military handling the news on the infection?”
Both of them frowned.
“There’s been no talk of it,” MJ admitted.
Lucifer said he’d send a missive out. If he did, I imagined there’d be some talk, fear, questions. Something. But as I gazed out at our squads, everything seemed normal.
Did he forget?
“Alexei,” I commanded.
I could see his smirk in my peripheral. He loved this part.
Lightning shot from his hand and slammed into the vaulted ceiling, followed by a resounding boom that rattled the glass windows circling the arena. Training halted. Conversations ceased. Every eye turned toward me.
“I hope you chose your squad wisely. As you well know, Hell prides itself on redemption through pain. You will be sweating, bleeding, and suffering through your leader’s orders with these squadmates forthe foreseeable future. Now more than ever, we need to weed out your weaknesses and eliminate them for the sake of your soul and Hell itself.”
The squadrons looked on with varying degrees of apprehension and confusion. Lucifer hadn’t sent out a missive.
For fuck’s sake.
“Some of you are aware that in the last twenty years, Hell has been having difficulties releasing redeemed souls from the Redemption Circle. But we’ve still been gaining souls from the Temptation Circle and…” I paused, eyeing our military. “The three lowest circles.”
Immediately, the lower-level squadrons started murmuring.
“The Damned?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Hell’s Circles don’t work that way.”
“What’s the king doing about this?”
“Yeah! We don’t want those disgusting freaks in our circle.”
On and on it went. Outrage, blame, complaints.
I shot Alexei a pointed look. He nodded, then sent one large bolt into the ceiling and another into the ground right in front of the dais, spraying up sand and silencing everyone.
“That’s better,” I stated. “Until we figure out a way to keep the gates open to the other dimensions permanently, souls and blood-banded alike are stuck in Hell. Even if Lucifer determines you are redeemable, you won’t enter Limbo until they open.”
Some of the new Bowel recruits began to whisper again. I let it go, knowing it was a shock to learn, but had my shadows at the ready for this next part.
“What you don’t know is the Damned infiltrating the Redemption Circle are infected and spreading a demonic disease that warps your mind and perverts your body.”
“What?”
“Demonic disease?”
“How does it spread?”
“How do you know if someone’s infected?”
“Are we safe?”
I unleashed my shadows, blacking out the entire arena. “Quiet.”
