Page 58 of The Angel's Kiss
“What... what will I get in return, Guardian?” Baal asked.
Azazel had pulled back as well, taking his place beside me again, his sword still at the ready, though. “Are you all right?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I said and he nodded.
He’d also been wounded in the fight, but they were healing.
“You’ll get to live, demon... Or shall I dispatch your soul into the ether. Banned from entering Hades, forbidden to enter Heaven. Lost drifting aimlessly... a disembodied mess?”
“No! Please, I beg you, show me mercy!” Baal whined.
Who knew a threat like that could terrify a demon that powerful? Shit, shouldn’t we have led with that before the bastard got a chance to show his ass? Even better, let’s just do it. Why keep him alive? I needed to ask Darius about that later.
“Answer me!” Darius yelled again and I’d never seen this side of him. The Warrior.
I liked it.
I wanted to be like him... to have that level of confidence.
“Fine.” Baal looked at Azazel. “You know this demon well, traitor. Birds of a feather and all.”
“Who?” Azazel asked.
“Saraphell,” Baal said.
“Ahhh,” Azazel said in acknowledgment. “So, she became a Seeker, the one who betrayed you.”
Baal nodded as he growled. “She is one of the four Seekers—Those With The Blood That Calls.”
“Does this mean that demons do have a way to free Satan?” Darius asked.
Baal nodded. “A thousand years ago, when demons attacked me in this very cell your kind has trapped me in, they were stupid enough to tell me their plan. As homage to Satan, they would bring him my horns as a trophy for him to display.”
“So, there really was a seventh woman?” I asked after stepping back into the cage, finally joining the party. Azazel had told me the rumors, but now it appeared it was the truth.
“There was a seventh at that time, hidden by the blood of Lucifer himself. That is what flowed inside of her. She gave birth to a human baby with his corrupted blood. The other women were simply decoys sacrificed for the slaughter,” Baal said, and I was happy he was being generous with the details. Not even the Guardians knew this shit, or demons as powerful and old as Azazel.
“If she gave birth then, why is Satan still locked away?” Darius asked.
“The baby born and many thereafter were not the Chosen One. The blood lays dormant and every hundred years, they search for the one child whose blood is the key to Satan’s cell,” Baal said.
“Only every hundred years? Does time run out?” I asked.
“In three days, as the door must be opened on the full moon,” Baal said. “However, that’s just for this attempt. They have nine others as the window is opened for a full year at the end of the century.”
“Fuck,” I cursed, that meant this month would mark their third attempt. I looked at Azazel. “Did you know about this? I mean, why demons were looking for children every century?”
Azazel shrugged. “Demons are always looking for children for various reasons. Nothing stood out. Also, the last whispers of a rebellion I’d heard was a thousand years ago and those demons were punished.”
“Not all of them apparently,” Darius stated.
“Is there anything else we need to know?” I asked Baal.
“That is all I know,” the demon said.
“And why do you even know that? I mean, I’m glad you do, but how? You’ve been trapped here for like—ever,” I pointed out.
Baal lifted his head to look down at me with those creepy red eyes. “Because they wanted me to know when they thought I wouldn’t be alive to see my enemy rise back to power.”
