Page 32 of All’s Hell That Ends Well (Infernal Covenant #4)

CHAPTER 32

Azazel

I found Zoe in the library—vastly bigger than the one she’d known in my previous residence—lying on one of the chaises longues with her nose in a book.

And about half a dozen hellcats snuggled on top of and around her.

One was even wrapped around her head to the extent that her eyes barely peeked out from underneath the silken black fur. Other than the lower half of her face and her hands holding the book, no part of her was visible underneath the pile of felines.

“Can you even breathe?” I asked with a laugh, eyeing the way her upper body was buried under more than one cat.

Her gleaming hazel eyes tracked to me. “Breathing is overrated,” she wheezed. “I don’t need to, anyway.”

In response to her speaking up, all hellcats started purring at once. The floor shook under my feet.

Zoe appeared to be blissed out. “See?” she rasped after a moment. “Who needs a weighted blanket when you have enough cats?”

“You can’t move.”

“That’s the point .”

I gave in to the grin wanting to sneak onto my face, though I sobered again a moment later when I remembered the letter in my hand—the reason I’d sought her out just now.

“A message from Heaven,” I said without preamble, holding the note up between my index and middle finger. “The meeting is set.”

Zoe’s eyes widened, a ping of alertness coming across the bond, and she twitched. The pile of cats shuddered but didn’t disperse.

“Guys,” she said, glancing down at the felines clinging to her, “I need to sit up. Could you, like, scooch a bit?”

“Just sit up, and they’ll rearrange themselves.”

“Noooo, I mustn’t!” She looked affronted. “Thou shalt never displace a cat!”

I raised a brow. “I thought we established that the universal cat law was fiction?”

Zoe scoffed and tried to wiggle upright without disturbing the felines, failing miserably. She gave up after a few seconds and groaned.

A flap of wings from above, and the next second, Mephistopheles landed on the back of the chaise longue. Spreading his wings, he puffed up his fur and snarled at his brood. In an instant, all of the cats lying on Zoe scattered.

She sucked in air and sat upright, swinging her legs around so her feet hit the floor. “Thank you, Mephisto!”

He blinked his luminous yellow eyes at her. I did not come to liberate. I came to occupy.

And then he elegantly snuck onto Zoe’s evacuated lap and made himself comfortable, complete with kneading her thighs, which elicited whimpers of pain from her.

“Mephisto,” I growled, ready to pluck him off her.

“No, no.” Zoe waved me off. “It’s fine.” With a wince, she added, “So, the letter? When is the meeting? And who are we talking to?”

“About that.” I sat down on a chair opposite her. “I was thinking…it might be best if you don’t join me.”

“Oh?” Raising her brows, she scratched Mephisto behind his ears.

“The archangels who are being sent to parley with us are Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael.”

Zoe paused in petting Mephisto, her expression darkening. The air grew thick with her power, and through our bond, I felt her fury.

“Both Gabriel and Raphael have seen you,” I continued, “and they know you’re the angel who was recently banished from Heaven for helping a demon prisoner escape.”

Her eyes narrowed, her mien becoming even more sinister.

“Now, I don’t think the fact that you’re a traitor to Heaven would negatively influence their response to the request to transfer the terms of the truce to me, even when it’s clear that you’d be Queen of Hell. After all, every single demon is considered an enemy of Heaven anyway, and all of the Fallen are considered traitors. It’s still in Heaven’s best interest to accept the truce transfer.” I tapped the letter against my palm. “But your presence might be risky for Naamah.”

Her face fell. “How so?”

“So far, they have not figured out that the demon they caught was me, Azazel. I never gave them my real name, and none of them had seen me beforehand to recognize me. And even Raphael is unlikely to realize the demon he saw was me because the only time he visited my cell, the angel in charge had just shattered the bones in my face?—”

Zoe’s power surged with such violence that it caused the lamps in the room to flicker and the air to vibrate. “Those motherfuckers,” she snarled with the kind of ferocity that made me want to tumble her right there on the couch.

“I want you to remember that mood,” I said with a smirk, “for later when I get back. You’re fucking hot when you’re vengeful.”

“Charmer,” Zoe muttered, but there was a smile tugging at her lips.

“Back to my point. Raphael likely didn’t see my face clearly because it must have been badly messed up, so it stands to reason that he won’t recognize me at the meeting. But if they see you standing next to me, with us obviously being a couple, that will change. Because the official story is that you fell in love with the demon prisoner, and that’s why you helped him escape. So when you show up a while later being my official lover, the correct assumption will be that I am the demon you rescued in Heaven.”

Her throat muscles worked as she swallowed hard. “And they’ll immediately connect the dots and figure that Naamah was involved in the rescue after all…seeing as the demon prisoner was her son.”

“Exactly. As soon as they put that together, Naamah’s excuse that she didn’t know what was truly going on and didn’t help you organize the escape won’t hold up anymore, because it will not be believable that she wouldn’t have known I was in Heaven, and that she wouldn’t try to save her own son once caught. Furthermore, they’ll have to—correctly—assume that she likely facilitated my infiltration, considering we’d been meeting regularly on Earth as part of the truce terms.”

Zoe was chewing her lip, her eyes troubled. “And that’s exactly what she was trying to avoid when we planned the rescue. Because it would have incalculable consequences if that knowledge got out.”

I nodded. “It’s highly risky. They can’t exile her from Heaven for treason because then the truce would be null and void. Neither can they punish her harshly within Heaven because it would violate the terms of the truce. But if word got out that she committed treason and is spared from punishment, it would incite unrest within the angel populace and could endanger the societal order in Heaven. They just had a conspiracy within their ranks, angels working with demons to kill Lilith and bring about Armageddon, and they would be rightfully scared what kind of new rebellion it would incite if Naamah were allowed to prance around Heaven as a traitor.” I paused for a moment. “Not to mention that some rogue angels might try to harm or even kill her in retaliation for her treason.”

Zoe blanched. “She wouldn’t be safe anywhere in Heaven anymore, would she?”

“She’d likely be put under strict house arrest or worse in order to protect her.”

“She’d be locked away again.” Her voice cracked, her expression one of horror. “Just like she was down here.”

And considering how much my mother valued her freedom, how much she craved being able to go where she pleased, being yet again sequestered away would crush her.

“Yes,” I said somberly. “Our best bet is to try to hide the fact that you’re with me for as long as possible—and therefore hide the connection from you to me that would indicate I’m the demon who escaped from Heaven. At some point down the line, I think it won’t be a problem anymore if they realize that you and I are a couple, because as time passes, it becomes more likely that you would have found another lover in Hell than the demon you’d fallen in love with in Heaven.” I shrugged. “As far as angels know, demons are fickle lovers. Lucifer and Lilith have always been the exception with how long and steadfastly they’d stayed together.”

Zoe nodded with a pensive expression. “Yeah, it’s best that I stay here. And not just because of the risk of you being recognized.”

I gave her a curious look. “Do tell.”

“If I see that bastard Raphael again,” she snarled with her teeth bared, “I can’t guarantee that I won’t launch myself at him and try to gouge his fucking eyes out. He owes me my pound of flesh for torturing you.”

Smirking, I shook my head. “While I am very enamored with this vindictive side of yours, what Raphael and his people did is nothing any demon in Hell wouldn’t have done to a trespassing angel in their territory. He was justified in his actions—it was his right. You’ll have to temper that blazing fury of yours when it comes to him.”

Zoe raised both brows and lifted her chin, giving me the kind of pre-triumphant look that heralded she was about to make a point that would put me in my place. “Tell me, darling ,” she said oh-so-sweetly, “how well would you be able to temper your fury if it were me Raphael had tortured?”

I narrowed my eyes, and an involuntary growl rumbled out of me at the mere thought of Zoe coming to harm like I’d had at the hands of Raphael and his angels.

“What would you do to him,” she whispered with fierce knowledge of the answer, “if they’d taken one of my eyes?”

Flashing my teeth, I snarled, “I’d incinerate him on the spot the next time I saw him.”

Sending me a sinfully sweet smile, she murmured, “There you have it. Let’s pray to Hell I never run into him again, because otherwise I will personally be the reason you’ll have to renegotiate the truce.”

“There they are,” Daevi murmured, her gaze on the three figures flying toward us.

She shifted her weight on the sloped roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the London landmark we’d picked as the meeting location. Next to her, Verrin, my second-in-command and most powerful seraph in my territory, snapped her wings in tightly to her back, the wind whipping at her sleek black hair.

Neither Daevi nor I had trusted any of the other archdemons to be privy to this discussion, so we’d opted to bring Verrin along, seeing as she was poised to replace me as head of my territory once I ascended the throne. She’d long shown signs of extraordinary power, and she stood a good chance of proving her claim to succeed me as archdemon.

I still didn’t like that the power differential for this meeting would not be quite equal, with three archangels facing two archdemons and a powerful seraph. It couldn’t be helped, though, and my unease was more of an instinctual nature, since there was little risk of this meeting turning into a fight. None of us would dare go there. It was simply my deeply ingrained sense of strategy that whispered it would make for a better impression to appear on equal footing.

Uriel was the first to land, finding purchase on the slope of the cupola with angelic grace. Like us, she kept her wings out, and the sunlight glinted off the gold striations in her otherwise pristine white plumage. The snowy feathers made for a striking contrast to her dark brown skin and the black of her tightly braided hair. She eyed us as the other two archangels touched down beside her.

A small leather band tied at the back of his head held the upper part of Gabriel’s wheat-colored hair off his face, his fair skin warmly dusted with gold. Like Uriel, he was dressed in warriors’ clothing, parts of his armor reinforced with the gleaming metal favored by angels. At his hip hung an intimidating sword, the hilt of which he had a casual grasp on.

When my eyes tracked to Raphael, my muscles tensed involuntarily, a visceral reaction to my only previous experience of meeting him—in a blood-drenched room, bound and beaten, feeling his blade cut into my skin.

Then, he’d looked just as cold and unfazed as he did now, his face of porcelain color calm, almost placid. His glossy black hair was tied back in a braid, thick lashes framing his ice-blue eyes, which were slightly tilted up at the corners, like Verrin’s.

When his gaze found me, he stilled, those glacial eyes widening the tiniest bit.

That tension in my muscles increased, and I kept a tight leash on my surging power.

Had he recognized me?

It was Gabriel who broke the strained silence and pulled my attention from Raphael. “We are here,” he said without greeting and preamble. “What is the reason you requested this meeting?”

Since I was the one at the center of the issue, and the designated leader of Hell, I spoke up despite Gabriel’s gaze resting on Daevi. It was a given that he’d address her, since, in his eyes, she’d be the senior demon among us. He probably knew her from before her fall.

“We come to you with news about the future of Hell,” I said.

Gabriel looked at me, surprise and curiosity written across his face. To him, I had to be but a babe. Like the other archangels, he’d been around since ancient times, had seen the birth of humanity and the original war, and he carried the weight of the ages on his shoulders.

I shushed the whisper of inadequacy inside me and focused on the fact that I held enough power to have climbed the ranks in record time, that I had earned this position with iron determination and an impressive amount of strength.

Age did not always correlate with power.

“Lucifer is abdicating,” I said into the weighted silence.

Uriel gasped, Gabriel’s hand spasmed around the hilt of his sword, and Raphael pressed his lips into a thin line.

“He cannot do that,” Gabriel said eventually.

“Yes,” Daevi cut in calmly, “he can. There are no laws forbidding him from doing so.”

“He neither needs nor asks Heaven’s permission.” I folded my wings tighter to my back to minimize the pull of the wind on them. “He will forsake his right to the throne and become but a regular demon. Eventually, he will stay on Earth and live out his life as a human.”

“He will become human?” Raphael asked with disgust written all over his face.

“What about the truce?” This came from Uriel, her brown eyes glinting with concern.

“It will be upheld by his successor.”

“And who is it,” Raphael asked with quiet menace, “that is going to succeed him?”

I paused for a beat, then I said, “Me.”

Awkward silence reigned for a moment.

It was Gabriel who broke it, again. His dark blond brows drawing together, he studied me. “And who are you?”

If Zoe had been here, she’d have laughed. Not just at the fact that these archangels hadn’t even asked for my name at the beginning of this meeting, dismissing me out of hand, but also at the irony that this demon they’d colossally underestimated would now be the one leading their enemy realm.

“Azazel,” Daevi said, “is my grandson, child of Naamah and Azrael. He is one of the seven archdemons and has been chosen by Lucifer himself to ascend the throne, and his connection to Naamah will guarantee that he will uphold the truce for the sake of her well-being.”

At that, Raphael’s gaze slammed into mine, and his nostrils flared as he looked me over. If possible, his expression became even more glacial.

“So, this is a fait accompli?” Gabriel asked. “You come here to present us with a change in leadership and a new partner to the contract and expect us to accept it like a change of weather?”

“Since when,” Daevi purred with a threat woven through her voice, “does Heaven have a say in the internal politics of Hell?”

Gabriel’s face hardened. “This is not just internal?—”

“Do not,” Daevi thundered, extending her wings to their full span and letting her power thicken the air, “dare to dictate how we manage the realm we carved out of existence with the blood of our people!”

All three archangels almost shied a step back. Almost. They caught themselves at the last second, firming their stance.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Verrin cock a brow, clearly impressed by Daevi’s outburst.

Daevi’s mahogany eyes glittered as she glared at Gabriel. “Lucifer has led our godforsaken kingdom since your master threw his rejected children at our feet, to be punished for their sins—by someone other than God, for he would not sully his holy hands. For thousands of years, my king has done God’s dirty work, with more faith than any of you could muster. He has every right to step away from it and choose his own destiny for once, unburdened by the past. He has done his penance. He will go free now.”

Gabriel returned Daevi’s glare for a moment, before he huffed and turned to me. “And this pup of a demon is supposed to stand in his place?”

“Careful,” I said with a growl—and let a pulse of my power shake the air.

The stone of the cupola underneath us shuddered and groaned at the impact of my magic, and with a crack that sounded like a booming clap of thunder, a huge fissure appeared in the roof—right underneath the archangels.

With a quick flap of their wings, they changed position and moved away from the crack in the cupola. The stone held at the moment, though the future stability of the roof might be in question. Shouts of alarm went up from the streets below, humans pointing at the fissure in the mighty cathedral, which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. They couldn’t see us, since we’d kept ourselves hidden from view for this meeting.

I glared at Gabriel in cold anger. “I have no qualms about destroying a house of worship on this Earth for every insult you deal me. I am”—I gave him a smile that was little more than an aggressive flash of teeth—“very much my grandfather’s blood.”

Gabriel regarded me for a moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “And your mother’s, it seems.”

“You’d do well to remember that.”

“And you will keep the truce for her sake?” Doubt shone in Gabriel’s eyes.

“Yes.”

“Were you not the one,” Uriel chimed in, her expression thoughtful, “who gave Daevi the information necessary to parley for a new truce after the death of Lilith?”

“That’s correct.”

Surprise registered on Gabriel’s and Raphael’s faces. They hadn’t known.

For the benefit of her fellow archangels, Uriel explained, “He approached Daevi during the fight above New York. They seemed to speak mind-to-mind. Daevi then asked to parley and proposed a new truce based on a pardon for Naamah.” Her ancient eyes studied me intently. “He is the reason the war ended, the reason we even have a new truce to speak of.”

Gabriel regarded me with a new kind of curiosity and—it seemed—respect. Raphael only glared.

“I, for one,” Uriel said with a flare of her wings, “do not doubt Azazel’s willingness to keep the truce. I believe that his intentions about this align with ours.”

I acknowledged her vote of confidence with a nod. I didn’t need her or the others’ permission to succeed Lucifer, but it would make things easier if they weren’t opposed.

“The transition will occur shortly,” I informed them. “After which, the terms and conditions of the truce will transfer to me, though I do have one amendment.”

Raphael bristled. “Which is?”

“I will be free to visit Earth as I please.”

Gabriel’s expression darkened. “That is a substantial change to the terms. The provision that the King of Hell not step foot on Earth has been a vital part of the agreement since its inception.”

“I do not give a fuck.”

Next to me, Daevi rustled her wings, whether in appreciation of my coarse language or in rejection of it, I had no clue.

The archangels, however, were clearly not amused. They stared at me in varying degrees of hostility and censure.

“None of you wants another war,” I said smoothly. “I am willing to give you the guarantee that there won’t be one, under one new condition. You would do well to accommodate me with this, seeing as I’m the reason we’re not standing on the ruins of human civilization by now. Not to mention that should I step back from my claim to the throne, because, say, my conditions aren’t met, and one of the other contenders for the position takes over, the truce would soon be considered entirely null and void.” I leaned forward, my voice steely. “I am your best bet for keeping peace on Earth—and in Heaven—and you would be smart not to alienate me.”

I felt a push like a mental knock and opened my mind to the communication request from Daevi. Well done , her melodious voice echoed in my head. You already know how to handle them.

All three of them regarded me silently for a moment, then Uriel said, “We will bring these tidings before our brethren to discuss. We shall be in touch.”

“Be sure to consider the fate of the world in your discussion,” I said with a smile that held a bite.

Uriel lifted her chin and launched herself into the sky, followed by Gabriel, their strong wings carrying them far away from us within seconds. Raphael didn’t make a move to leave. Instead, he caught my gaze and jerked his head at me.

“A word,” he said and stepped out of earshot of Daevi and Verrin.

We will watch , Daevi spoke into my mind. Be on guard.

Always , was my reply.

Priming my power to strike, I joined Raphael a few paces away.

I nodded at him. “Speak.”

“What did you seek in Heaven?” he whispered harshly, his light blue eyes blazing.

It took all of my might not to flinch or grow suspiciously still. Feigning confusion, I asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Do not pretend.” He bared his teeth, his power electrifying the air. “I know it was you. Did you think I would not recognize your face?”

“I sure would hope that my countenance is striking enough to leave a lasting impression,” I replied with a smirk. I wanted to grit my teeth at the effort it took to keep talking with him in a civilized tone, given that the last time we’d talked before this meeting had been with his dagger rammed into my stomach. “But since we have never met before, whatever recognition you believe to experience must be a conjecture of your mind.”

He wrinkled his nose. “I know what I saw. Your face might have been a bloody mess, but not enough to conceal your features. You were the demon who escaped our captivity. What is it that you sought in Heaven?”

I blinked and raised my brows. “Are you actually admitting that a demon made it into Heaven? And you lost him?”

The porcelain white of his face turned a little pink. Stepping closer, he snapped, “You can act innocent all you want, I know the truth. Just like I know that your mother must have helped you enter Heaven and subsequently escape your imprisonment. I always knew she was trouble, and now I know for a fact that her claim of loyalty to Heaven is a lie.” His features twisted with contempt. “Just as she is a liability.”

My hackles rose, and from deep within me erupted a growl that shook the stone on which we stood. Slowly, with surgical precision, I grasped the front of his armor and pulled him closer. “If your delusions about my being the demon who apparently tricked you and your security will have any negative consequences for my mother’s well-being, there will be a swift and devastating response from me. Harm a hair on her head, and I will kill a hundred angels. Restrict her freedom, and I will annihilate an entire religion on Earth, including burning their holy texts and erasing all human memory of that faith. Lock her up, and I will find the demon who snuck into Heaven and use his knowledge to breach your gates and destroy you all from within.”

I let him go with a push and shook my head.

“So whatever ‘knowledge’ of her supposed complicity you think you have,” I said with a smug look, “you won’t act on it. You know what’s at stake, and you won’t risk disturbing the status quo. Like I said, I am very much my grandfather’s blood, and I will not hesitate to rain fire on Earth in revenge for harm to my loved ones.” I sketched an exaggerated bow. “But I shall respect the truce as long as my mother is well and happy.”

With that, I signaled to Daevi and Verrin and then launched into the air without waiting for Raphael’s response. When I looked back, he was watching my departure with his jaw clenched and a look of frustration on his too-beautiful face.