“The first one. Obviously.”
“Ah, then we’re getting somewhere. You’re clearly not as stupid as you look,” he said with another broad smile. He hastily added, “No offence intended, of course.”
Alice smiled back at him coldly, and recoiled as he sat down beside her. “So,” he said, “at least you’re considering my offer. Don’t get me wrong: I’m delighted. But I was hoping for something a little more...
concrete
.”
“Big decision. Can’t be rushed.” Her mother had said hold on. Hold on for
what?
Until
when?
Lucifer nodded. “True, quite true. But I’m going to need an answer from you now.” Before she could blink, he had snapped out a hand, and grabbed hold of her wrist. His fingers burned where they touched her skin. He stood up, dragging her to her feet. “You see, I’m stretched rather thin at the moment. We’re not used to quite so many visitors, you understand, and keeping things the way I like them is becoming quite a strain on my attention. I’m a perfectionist; what can I say? And it seems our guests are quite determined to outstay their welcome.”
“You mean you’re losing.”
“Look at it as a strategic sacrifice.”
“Oh, right. That’s totally what it sounded like when I was up there. Really strategic. You must be so proud of those henchmen of yours. They’re doing a grand job of running away, screaming like little girls.”
“Henchmen? You mean the Twelve?” Lucifer held her at arm’s length, staring at her. And then he started to laugh. “Child, the Twelve are long gone. As I said: a strategic sacrifice. Where would the strategy be in sending my best soldiers to slaughter?”
“All of that, everything up there...” Images flooded through Alice’s mind. A rocky field that ran red with blood. Angels who fell from the air. The Fallen running, hopelessly. “All of that...”
“All of that? I needed to make sure the Twelve were on their way. And that we had time to have our little talk, and fun as it’s been, I’m going to need to press you for an answer.”
“No.”
“No answer, or...?”
“No. The answer is no. Actually, the answer is to tell you to...”
“And that’s quite enough of that.” Without batting an eyelid, Lucifer tightened his grip on her arm and lifted her off her feet, swinging her upwards. She was flying and she was falling, falling fast and the ice was rushing up to meet her. Alice landed heavily enough to feel her teeth rattle. The back of her head smacked down into the ice and stars spun above her. Her hair felt wet, sticky, and her left arm throbbed. She tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea forced her back down and she groaned. There were footsteps coming towards her. Lucifer. She rolled over onto her stomach, tried to crawl, but before she could move, a foot connected with her side, lifting her into the air again. This time, she didn’t even notice coming back down. It all hurt too much.
But there was no fire.
Nothing.
There was another kick, and another. She was hauled to her feet and shaken, then knocked down again; thrown about like a toy.
And still there was no fire.
He must have known what she was thinking, must have felt her rising panic, because he crouched down next to her and stroked her hair.
“Is that the best you can do? I was hoping for so much more. If this is all you have... well. Perhaps I don’t need you after all.” He patted her head as she coughed and tried to wipe the blood from her eyes and nose. “A shame. I could have taught you so much. So much more than they can.” He sighed. “Mind you, given time, you’d have learned. They’re all the same, the angels. They
will
fail you.”
“Not
all
of us.” The voice came from across the lake. It was soft, and it was warm, and it was familiar. And it was angry.
Mallory.
“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to wonder when you’d turn up,” said Lucifer, without bothering to look round. “How did you like my mortars?”
Alice’s vantage point wasn’t exactly up to much, but she still saw Mallory flinch, saw a shadow pass across his face. And although she hadn’t dared to hope for it, she felt something spark at the tips of her fingers.
Mallory opened his wings, sailing across the ice towards them. She heard the rustling of the wind through his feathers; smelled the blood and naphtha covering his clothes. He looked Lucifer up and down as he landed.
“The mortars? They’re great.
Loved
them. Brought you one.” In one fluid motion, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a thin, club-shaped object, hurling it towards the block of ice. Lucifer screeched and dived after it. There was a loud roar; the world shook and Mallory ducked, clutching his ears and arching his wings above his head to shield himself. He scuttled across to Alice.
“You know, for a guy who’s not used his body in a few hundred years, he’s pretty prissy about it.”
“He’s...” Alice rolled onto her side. That hurt more, and she couldn’t make the words stick together. “It’s...”
“Alice, I’m Earthbound, not stupid.” He paused to consider this, tipping his head to one side. “Well, not
that
stupid. I know who he’s riding.”
“Riding?”
“Technical term.”
“Oh.”
“Come on, Alice. Work with me here. Last time I saw you, you were about to incinerate a Descended. So you tell me, do we need to talk about that?”
“He’s still alive, isn’t he?”
“Point taken.” He held out his hand, and gently pulled her upright. “This is going to hurt.”
“You, or me?”
“You’re funny.”
“Apparently.”
“Never mind. Let’s get you fixed up before he puts out that fire.”
As it happened, Lucifer was busy doing just that, protecting his ice-bound body from the mortar blast. Mallory held out his hands to her, and looked her up and down. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” he asked.
Alice gave the closest thing she could to a shrug. “If it’s any consolation, I’m not either.”
He laughed and closed his hands around hers, and she felt the familiar warmth spread through her body, the same jabbing pins growing stronger and stronger, and then stopping all at once.
He let his hands drop, staggering slightly, and spat out a mouthful of blood, then shook his head sadly. “He did a number and a half on you, didn’t he?”
“Is that a technical term too?” Alice shook off the echoes of the beating she’d taken.
Mallory smiled. “If you like. I’m proud of you, you know.”
“Whatever.” Alice wasn’t watching Mallory. She was watching Lucifer squatting, toad-like, in her mother’s body as he put out the last of the flames. Mallory followed her gaze, pulling his guns out from beneath his jacket and checking them over. Alice looked appalled.
“You’re going to shoot him?”
“If I get a chance to, yes.”
“But... my mother...”
“You’re not exactly
helping
, Alice.”
“And where did you get the second one from, anyway? I thought you only had one.”
“Vin. I know,” he said, watching her mouth drop open, “I was as surprised as you. But then he threw my drink in the river, so I can only imagine he was going for shock and awe.”
“Huh.” Alice looked back over at Lucifer. He had turned to face them, and stood with folded arms in the middle of the ice. He was smiling. Of course he was smiling. “You know I won’t let you shoot my mother.”
“And I won’t let you stop me. There’s more at stake than your mother. She Fell, years ago. That was her decision.”
“You sound like Michael. The only good Fallen is a dead one, right?”
“Something like that.” Mallory narrowed his eyes at Lucifer and stepped in front of Alice, between them. He raised one of his guns, slowly. Lucifer just smiled at him.
“No,” said Alice, quietly. Mallory took no notice.
“No,” she said, louder this time, and although he hesitated, he brought his gun up higher.
“I said no!” Alice grabbed at his elbow, just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet smacked into the rocky roof of the cavern.
Mallory rounded on her. “Do you think this is easy for me, Alice? Do you? Haven’t you listened to a single word I’ve said? This is about more than you. It’s about more than me. It’s...”
“Don’t tell me. It’s your duty, is that it?”
He was silent for a moment, then simply said, “Yes.”
“I won’t let you kill my mother.”
“She’s in hell, Alice. Your mother – the mother you knew – she’s already dead. Let her go.”
“No.”
“Alice, I can’t...”
He didn’t get to finish. Instead, he was sent sprawling by a kick from behind. So distracted had they been arguing with one another, neither had thought to keep an eye on Lucifer, and he had crept up on them, knocking Mallory halfway across the ice with a single blow. Alice watched in horror as Mallory skidded across the lake, crashed into a wall, and lay motionless.
“You see, child,” Lucifer said, “the angels are not on your side. The angels are on their own side. You are either with them, or against them. And if you dare to stand in their way, well...” He opened his arms.
High above them, deep in the rock, something groaned and shook, and a light shower of dust and snow settled on Alice’s shoulders.
“Ask yourself: what would your mother want for you, hmm? What would she tell her little girl, do you think? No. Wait. Better still: let me ask her for you.” He tipped his head back, as though listening to a far-off voice, and then snapped back to Alice. “She doesn’t want to die, Alice. Not at all. She doesn’t understand why you’ve brought them to kill her. She’s afraid – afraid of them, afraid of you. Afraid that you will judge her. After all, who are you to judge an angel?”
“And who,” growled Mallory, pushing himself to his feet, “are you to hold one hostage?” He was limping, and he was bleeding. Again.
Lucifer shrugged. “I’ve never pretended to be something I’m not, Mallory. Unlike you.”
The rockfall came from nowhere. One moment, Mallory was standing, the next he was half-buried in stone and ice and dust while Lucifer looked on with blazing eyes.
“And let’s just think about you, shall we? On the one hand, you’re a healer, aren’t you? That’s what you
do
, isn’t it, when you’re one of Raphael’s. That’s all you do. But here – well,
there
” – he pointed upwards – “as an Earthbound, you’re something. You’re special. They look up to you, don’t they? They treat you differently. They think you’re wise, you’re brave, but the sad little truth of it is that you’re damaged goods, aren’t you? You’ll never make it home because you drink, and you drink because you’ll never make it home. You were given a chance with a half-breed and you lost him. You lost him to me. And so you slide and you slide and you slide, burying yourself in all the wrong things, until you become what you are: a man with nothing, absolutely nothing to lose. Which is why you’re here. Because you not sure that you can keep hoping any longer. You’re afraid that you’ll lose it.” There was an ominous rumble overhead. “And without hope, there can be no faith. And without faith... well.” He clapped his hands together and a tumble of stone and dirt cascaded over Mallory, smashing against his wings, his arms, his face.
Alice watched Mallory sag under the weight of the rock. Blood ran down the side of his face and one of his wings was twisted back on itself. The feathers fluttered feebly. But Lucifer had not finished.
There was a sound like nails on a blackboard and a great sheet of ice lifted from the surface of the lake, tilting and tipping, spinning on its end... then slowly it slid towards Mallory. He eyed it carefully, and with a grunt of effort, he beat his free wing and sent rubble and stones flying, pulling himself loose and rolling clear of the ice sheet just as it smashed across the pile where he had been trapped. He dropped into a crouch, looking up at Lucifer.
“Is that the best you’ve got?”
“Was that a rhetorical question?”
The wind howled around Lucifer, still in Seket’s body, and Alice could see everything Mallory was thinking. It was why Lucifer had been so calm when he showed up, why he had made no attempt to attack her. It was the same reason she was out of ammunition, out of fire. He knew neither of them could do it. Neither of them could really kill him or, rather, kill the body he was in.
He had them both.
He had won, and she wished the ground would open and swallow her – again. Anything to get it over with quickly. Alice understood that he had won, and she despaired.
And Lucifer must have known, somehow, because he turned and gave her a smile that made her skin crawl.
It was all Mallory needed.
He leapt at Lucifer, knocking him flat and pinning him to the ice. Mallory straightened up, his boot on Lucifer’s throat, and before Alice could even breathe, he had fired a bullet neatly through his shoulder. Through Seket’s shoulder. Alice screamed, and Lucifer just laughed.
“Go on, Earthbound. Finish the job.”
Mallory raised his gun, ever so slightly. It was now in line with Lucifer’s forehead, aiming straight between his eyes.
Words were tumbling out of Alice’s mouth. Angry words, frightened words, any words she could get to stick together. Mallory heard them, but still he stared down the barrel of his gun into Lucifer’s bright red eyes.