Page 112 of Into Hell
Lucifer swung his leg off the throne arm and shifted Bailey to the side. If the hair on my arms stood up anymore, it was going to leap off my body and run away as shadows shifted in the forest beyond Lucifer and the angels. The demons and humans with us crowded closer to Kobal as more of Lucifer’s followers emerged from the woods.
“Am I still going to lose, Kobal?” Lucifer taunted.
Kobal turned his attention from the newest arrivals to Lucifer. When he smiled at Lucifer, I almost fell over. I’d expected many reactions from Kobal, but notthatas he actually seemed amused by something.
“Yes,” he said simply.
Lucifer didn’t look at all amused by this response as his fingers curled around the arms of the throne. The newest craetons came closer until they were mingling with the angels. I recognized some of them as the unicorn and hare-like things I’d first seen when the seals started falling.
Púcas, I recalled Kobal having called them when we had held up the seal housing them against my father.
Gage leaned away from a unicorn stepping close to him. The unicorn’s bright red eyes studied him hungrily as its horn nudged his shoulder.
“Get away from him!” I snapped.
The púca’s head turned toward me; its nostrils flared as it sniffed the air. It snorted before stomping the ground with a cloven hoof and prancing back. Shock ran through me as the hares beat their paws against the ground and more of the unicorns snorted. Some of them shifted into human form while others transformed into large cat-like creatures that could make a lion cower.
“What are they doing?” I whispered.
Kobal continued to smile while he studied the púca. “They’re confused,” he said.
“About what?”
“Lucifer organized their release, but technicallyyoureleased them, and they remember that. However, you are standing with me.”
I kind of, sort of, understood his smile a little more now.
“And they hate you,” Caim stated.
“And they hate me,” Kobal agreed.
The distant roar of the drakón drew my attention to the sky as one of the gigantic, skeletal beasts soared over top of the field again. Most of those standing in the open staggered back as they sought to avoid being lunch for the fire-breathing dragons.
“River, I’m going to step away from you,” Kobal said. “Donotgo for your brothers. If Lucifer gets his hands on you, that will be the end.”
“I won’t go for them,” I promised.
“The púca can’t speak,” he said. “But they understand what you say to them. Talk to them, get them to listen to you.”
“No pressure though,” I murmured and forced a smile.
He ran his fingers over my cheek. “None.”
His hand fell away from me and he stepped to the side. Some of the púcas moved closer as their eyes traveled between me and Kobal. Resentment blazed from their eyes when they gazed at him, but when they looked at me, I saw their confusion. Lucifer lifted Bailey and set him in his lap.
Instinctively, I stepped forward, my hand stretching out as I sought to get my hands on my brother. I stopped myself before I went any closer, and my arm fell back to my side. When more of the púcas crept toward me, Lucifer hugged Bailey to his chest.
“Let him go!” I cried as Kobal tensed beside me.
I glanced over the púcas as they continued to shift while more and more demons emerged from the woods. Most of them were upper-level demons.
“Kobal didn’t put you behind those seals. His ancestors did!” I declared unable to tear my gaze from Lucifer as he hugged Bailey closer. The coward was using my brother as a shield. “AndIam the one who brought down the seals!”
“But Kobal chose to keep them imprisoned, andIam the one who compelled you to set them free,daughter. You may have been the catalyst, but I am the one who orchestrated their freedom,” Lucifer purred.
“You set them free so you could use them,” I replied.
“And what do you intend to do with them?” Lucifer retorted. “Lock them away again?”
