“I was first made into this glorious form,” Luke said with a smile and a wave at himself. “Then I went to war with Jerry, and I took the fall. My image was altered, and I became Satan; the traitor and outcast. The Devil. I enjoy my status, and I don't regret anything that I've done, but if I were to accept the sacrifices of humans as they are offered—tainted by emotions like hatred, greed, and rage—then I would fully become the god they believe me to be.”
“Fuck,” I whispered. “A real Satan.”
“Yep,” Cid said. “And we like the boss as he is. No one wants him to actually be the Devil. Then who would make my souffles?”
“Baking souffles is an art,” the Devil said with complete seriousness.
“So, what does this mountain do exactly?” Re asked. “Filter the blood sacrifices?”
“It's blood laundering,” Cid explained with a smirk. “Instead of the power going straight to Luke, it gets directed here.”
“Where it's cleansed of the taint and distilled into pure magic,” Luke finished. “As with all magical things—especially our territories—imagery is very important. The blood magic streamed into my territory, and when I altered its course through the land, it reverted to its original form. Technically, it's a physical symbol of the purifying spell that is constantly at work.”
“It's a symbolic mountain of blood?” I asked with a chuckle.
“A symbolic blood volcano,” Cid corrected.
“And it hides a passage to Heaven,” Luke added with a smirk.
“You're one twisted mother fucker,” Re said with a tone of admiration.
“Thank you,” Luke said proudly. “Though you may not be so impressed when you see where the entrance is.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Don't fall in,” Luke said as we started our descent through the core of the blood volcano.
We weren't in the crater, but Luke had taken us inside the mountain; into its stone foundation. We walked through a tunnel with a river of blood flowing down one side of it; a vein feeding the volcano.
“What would happen if I did?” I asked out of plain curiosity.
“You would absorb the evil meant for me,” Luke said with deadly sincerity. “And we cannot have an evil Trinity-Star. That would be even worse than an evil Lucifer.”
Odin shifted so that he walked between the river and me.
“Oh,” I said softly.
“I can feel the animosity pulsing off it,” Re said with shock.
“The Human Race is in a bad place right now,” Satan said sadly. “There is a lot of hate and even more desperation. Quite a few people have turned to me in their despair.”
“Do they get what they're after?” I asked.
“No; not due to any intervention on my part, at least,” Luke said. “I don't want nor need to encourage them.”
“How ironic and truly pathetic,” I murmured. “They blacken their souls by sacrificing to you, and then get nothing out of it.”
“You'd think that word of their failure would spread, and they'd learn”— Luke side-stepped a human skull—“but they never do. Evil hope springs eternal.”
“And Luke gets blamed for every nasty thing humans do,” Cid said merrily. “Those who sacrifice to him sometimes do prosper, and they give Luke the credit. His infamy spreads without him lifting a finger.”
“And that makes you happy?” I asked in surprise.
“Luke shares his power with us,” Cid said. “Of course it makes me happy. I've learned to just accept the way things are and look on the bright side.”
“An optimistic demon.” Odin chuckled.
“A lot of us are happy and very grateful that we followed Lucifer out of Heaven,” Cid said. “You guys know that.”
“I'm happy that you sided with me as well.” Luke pounded Cid's back in a brotherly manner.
Michael looked away.
I felt bad for him. After hearing Mike defend his decision to side with Jerry, I had begun to see things differently. I knew I had been influenced by my relationship with Azrael and my personal interactions with Luke and Holly. I knew they were good people, and I believed them when they spoke of Jerry's bad behavior. But Michael also had a valid point; no matter how neglectful Jerry had been, Holly should not have cheated on him. If she had left him in the beginning, perhaps there never would have been a war in Heaven. Or perhaps it would have been so cataclysmic that it would have seeped into the Human Realm and affected the history of Earth. One thing I had learned through Alaric and Faerie was that some traumatic events are meant to happen; they produce results that progress the path of all races. Without the war in Heaven, Lucifer would not have created Hell. He would not have raised his son to be the Angel of Death, and I would not have been carried to the Viking Well by my reaper husband. Everything was connected; each life affecting many others.
My star flared within my chest, and a sense of peace seeped through me. Things were as they were meant to be.
I focused back on Luke without judgment. He had put his white wings away for the mission, and it made him nearly identical to Azrael—which made me subconsciously more sympathetic to him. Cid had his human body on; a swarthy man with dark hair and green eyes. It was better than his demon form, but it couldn't compete with the Morningstar looks. Standing together as they were, Cid made Lucifer seem even more beautiful by comparison. I wondered if that was what it was like when others saw me standing beside my husbands. Was I Cid to their Luke?
“Vervain?” Odin asked in concern.
“I'm fine,” I said with a smile. “Just thinking.”
“Well, focus that intellect,” Luke said as he stepped up to a small, wooden
