Of Light And Shadows

“What kind of idiot uses a warehouse owned by his most prominent associate as a safe house,” Mammon muttered, staring at the squat grey building surrounded by chain link fences. To Jia it looked more like a prison than a safe house.

“The same kind of idiot that will give away our position if he doesn’t shut up and get behind the wall,” Lucifer replied. Mammon rolled his eyes and moved to stand beside his brother.

“Like we need the element of surprise, he snorted. “This guy is a small fry.”

“He also escaped last time and ran straight to our father,” Lucifer retorted.

“He won’t get away this time,” Jia cut in. “I won’t let him.” She detached herself from the cover and safety provided by a low wall and crept across the street, sticking to the shadows wherever she could. Lucifer and the others followed soundlessly, letting Jia take the lead.

She reached out with her senses, remembering what Lucifer had shown her whenever he’d had a spare minute. She sent her consciousness out towards the building, imagining it as a mist again. It swept across the ground in an invisible curtain, creeping towards a small side door and slipping under the gap at the bottom with ease.

The inside of the warehouse was mostly comprised of a large, square space filled with empty shelving units that stretched up towards the ceiling, but at the back there was what she at first assumed to be offices.

She was exploring between the shelves when the first brushes of someone else’s existence touched her mind. When she followed the slight nudge she found exactly what she was looking for.

“He’s in the offices at the back of the warehouse,” she whispered to the group. “He doesn’t know we’re here.”

Lucifer signalled for Mammon, Belphegor and Evander to split off and circle round the building to a door at the other side. Sellik looked between Lucifer and Jia for a moment before smiling.

“Just so you guys know, I am all about this,” she squealed quietly, gesturing to the mark on Jia’s arm. “Congratulations!”

“The marriage with Jezebeth forced our hand a bit,” Jia replied, “but we’re happy.”

“Stop it! You two are so cute, it’s making me jealous,” she teased, but her gorgeous green eyes were twinkling with excitement. It seemed oddly out of place when they were essentially about to assassinate someone, but Jia was grateful all the same.

“This isn’t the place,” Lucifer scolded, but he was clearly amused. Sellik winked at him and bared her sharp teeth in a dazzling beam.

“You love it,” she winked. The prince rolled his eyes and turned back to the building to listen.

“He’s moving.”

“Let’s go,” Jia said. Lucifer nodded and put a hand on their shoulders, a shadow portal opening up and depositing the trio in the dark confines of the warehouse floor.

Abaddon’s dress shoes squeaked slowly against the floor as he walked, his measured pace giving no indication that he knew any of them were there. Jia moved between the shelves silently, hoping and praying the industrial paint on the floor didn’t start making the same sounds as the ones giving away her father’s exact position.

At a junction between two huge shelving units they saw Mammon, Belphegor and Evander following a similar path towards the sounds. They converged into one group again with Jia at its head.

The footsteps stopped abruptly and everyone froze, hardly daring to breathe. Abaddon’s hearing wasn’t as good Lucifer or his brothers, but if a heart thundered hard enough he was sure to hear it.

Sellik split off from the group without warning, dodging Evander’s hand as he tried to stop her and giving them the thumbs up. Lucifer watched her with a calm expression despite everyone else’s alarm, trusting entirely that she knew what she was doing.

They watched as she disappeared around a corner, only daring to follow when Abaddon didn’t make any sounds of alarm. When they rounded it they saw Sellik’s pale green body pressed against the shelving unit, her eyes fixed on the Greater Demon just feet away from her.

He was tapping on his phone and paying no attention to his surroundings, which struck Jia as either incredibly suspicious or incredibly stupid. She began to grow concerned that he knew something she didn’t.

Sellik’s foot tapped against the corner of the shelving and the quiet ping echoed through the cavernous room. It might as well have been a gun shot. Abaddon’s head whipped towards the sound and he snarled. Dark shadows started to rise around him but the attendant moved faster.

“Oh no you don’t,” she snapped, tapping two fingers to the inside of her right elbow. A sigil appeared on her skin in glowing purple, and a moment later a whip that reminded Jia of a laser lashed out towards the portal.

The end of the whip hit the portal with a sound like shattering glass and the shadows snapped out of existence and didn’t return. The whip shot towards Abaddon again but he jumped back with a growl.

“That should stop you getting away again, you sneaky little shit,” Mammon drawled as he detached himself from the shadows. Abaddon backed away slowly, teeth bared threateningly.

“Hi dad.” Jia followed Mammon and revealed herself, keeping her chin up and back straight. She refused to curl in on herself in his presence anymore.

“What are you doing here?” he spat.

“I’ve come to kill you. You’re a danger to me, my mother, and the human realm as a whole. So I’ve come to put you down.”

“With what? Your bare hands?” Abaddon sneered. “I’d like to see you try, you little wretch.” A growl rumbled through Lucifer’s chest but Jia simply smiled.

“With this.” She pulled out the blade hidden in her waistband. It was curved like a talon and pure black, it’s surface refracting the light in odd rainbow patterns.

When Lucifer had first shown her the weapon she’d marvelled at how it glittered even in the dark. He’d called it Lazarus. She knew it could kill any Greater Demon if it was plunged into their heart.

“Where did you get that?” Real fear turned Abaddon’s tone shrill.

“She’s married to the Demon Prince. Where do you think she got it?” Evander scoffed, arching an eyebrow as he removed his mask. “Remember me?”

“You’re the human.”

“Not anymore, asshole.” He grinned, revealing his elongated incisors menacingly.

After that everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Abaddon roared and curved horns sprouted from his head, his eyes glowing insipid yellow at the same time as his muscles bunched and expanded. His true form was grotesquely different to the others she’d seen.

Where Lucifer and the brothers’ seemed to unfurl seamlessly from their bodies, Abaddon’s tore its way out like a caged beast. He gained two feet in height and his teeth became tusks. Jia watched in shock as his human body tore to shreds and dropped to the ground like a discarded suit, and the monster Abaddon really was stepped out of it.

His skin was a bruised, consistent purple and his hands were tipped with talons that could gut a man in a single swipe. When he opened his mouth and howled his tongue was black and grotesquely long.

This man, this thing, was her father.

“This is why I hate arguing with Greater Demons,” Belphegor muttered. His wings unfurled and shadows began to rise from his skin as he unleashed his own true form. The feathers of his wings were white, tipped in soft lilac that darkened to deep violet. The horns he grew were small and white, also tipped with bright purple, and his eyes glowed like jewels in the sun.

Mammon and Lucifer joined the fight at the same time, their own true forms equally beautiful as they shot towards the Greater Demon and slammed into him like a thunderclap. Sellik snarled and leapt, her whip lashing furiously and leaving stinking welts wherever it touched Abaddon. Evander wasted no time either, sprinting towards the beast and scaling his back. Jia’s father howled as Evander tore a chunk out of his throat with his teeth.

She tightened her grip on the dagger and ran at her father, ducking under the swing of his thick arms as he tossed Sellik away and kicked Mammon to the ground. Jia heard the air rush out of him with a pained ‘oof’ as he hit the floor.

She leapt, intending to slam the dagger straight into Abaddon’s chest. At the last second he saw her and swung his arm round, using Belphegor as a club. They collided and the dagger stuck into something solid as Jia was thrown across the room.

She hit a shelving rack with her ribs and landed in a heap on the floor, fighting to draw in a breath. She knew in the back of her mind Lucifer would’ve felt the pain from the impact too and worried he was distracted.

Then she realised the dagger was gone. Had she stabbed Belphegor by mistake? Would it kill him if she had? She struggled to sit up, scanning her surroundings frantically for the youngest brother. Relief flooded her when she heard him groan four feet to her left.

“Greater Demons are the worst when they get mad,” he grumbled, dragging himself to his feet and helping her up. He was miraculously unharmed, not even his hair out of place. “Where’s the dagger?” Jia turned and watched her father as he tried to drag Evander off his shoulders, a flash of black catching her eye.

“There, stuck in his left forearm.”

“Let’s go.” Belphegor looped an arm around her waist and lifted off, circling out of Abaddon’s reach. Mammon was angry, his amber eyes flashing as he threw punches that rocked the Greater Demon, causing him to stumble back. Lucifer joined Evander on Abaddon’s shoulders, both of them grabbing his horns and pulling back with all their strength. The beast teetered but somehow stayed standing.

Sellik laughed and danced towards him, snapping her whip around his ankle and yanking on it. The smell of seared flesh made Jia gag as the purple giant was finally unbalanced. As he fell, Bel swerved sharply and got her close enough to snatch the dagger from his arm. Abaddon howled in anger and pain as his back hit the floor.

“Now, Jia,” Belphegor said stopping above the demon and letting go of her. She plummeted towards Abaddon with both hands gripping the hilt until her palms started to sting.

She raised the blade above her head, and the second the soles of her boots hit her father’s chest she brought the knife down with every ounce of strength she had. The impact reverberated all the way up her arms and legs, rattling her teeth in her skull as Abaddon screamed in agony.

His cries became a gurgle, and then silence as the life left his eyes. Jia watched as he shrunk back into his human form, and then blackness spread across his chest, moving outwards until his whole body was encased in obsidian. She stepped off his chest and yanked the knife free, not looking away until the obsidian had disintegrated and left nothing but a pile of fine, glittering black dust in its wake.

She stayed for a moment, and then she ran outside to throw up.