Page 65 of Anarchy
“Unlike the last few press conferences, every Hellhound here has access to watch this one. Parliament asked for a representative for the Hellhounds, so they have one. They are scattered across all of my various properties and have chosen someone from each property to bring their needs to May and then to me.
“I could have done this privately or even among the Hellhounds, but all of you needed to see this. Akul planned to murder any demon to didn’t agree with him and then frame one of his friends for it. What do you think he would have done if he had gotten away with it? Do you thinkanyof you who disagreed with him on anything would be safe after that?
“If you counted him as a friend and agreed with his stance on the Hellhounds, do you honestly think he wouldn’t have betrayed you too? Giving those sigils to Dorian Gray would have damned everyone here. Two of Akul’s friends moved like they were going to try to free him. They wereloyalto him. One of those loyal friends was the demon he intended to frame for all of this. I want you to take a minute to think about that. All of that so he could continue to abuse one of my creations.”
Throats started clearing, and people got really uncomfortable. I was pretty sure they had heard all of this before, but maybe they needed to hear it a third time before it actually sunk in that one of them was way worse than any of the propaganda they spread about Hellhounds.
“All of my creations are sacred to me. I might not have met some of you personally, but you are important to me. I’m just as angry about what Akul would have done toyouas I am about the treatment of Hellhounds.
“Dorian and Akul kidnapped one of my witches and brought her to Hell. I think Dorian Gray always intended to return her to Earth unharmed because it was the only way he could survive Reyson’s wrath, even if that idea were completely misguided. I think Akul always intended to kill Dorian and my witch.
“They might not live here with you, and there might be distrust between the lot of you because of the deals, but the witches and warlocks are just as much your siblings as the Hellhounds are.
“All of you are precious to me, but we must make an example. I don’t want to deal with this again. I don’t want a single resident of Hell to think something like this is okay because it’s not. I want you to think about this incident if you think you want to commit violence against one of my creations. That goes for all of you. I don’t care if you’re a demon, Hellhound, or witch. I made you. I can easily unmake you.”
Lilith turned and pointed her finger at Akul, and he lifted off the ground. He finally woke up from that head knock and realized he was in front of his friends. He had to have a pretty shitty headache, but he started screaming for people to fight back and save him.
It was pretty beautiful. Yeah, these people counted him as a friend, and they were probably still pissed they lost their Hellhounds, but I think itfinallygot through to them that he’d never been their friend at all. They quickly drowned him out with chants calling him a traitor.
He didn’t explode into pink glitter. I was pretty sure Reyson would trademark that if he could. Instead, Akul’s body just sort of crumpled in on itself as he screamed in pain and terror. It didn’t take long at all for Akul to just disappear in a flash of light. The entire room went silent.
“In case you were wondering, that was agonizing for both of us. I didn’t enjoy it, but it needed to happen. Be kind to each other. I will be moving to my main resort to fix our sun with Reyson next. You are welcome to join us, all of you. This is a big moment in our history. The Hellhounds are staying there. Mingle with them. Talk to them and get to know them. You’ll see they are no different from you are. That is all.”
Everyone was clapping this time instead of shouting questions. I was sure some of them were still against freeing the Hellhounds, but they at least acknowledged Akul was a bigger monster.
When the clapping died down, Lilith opened more doors. I saw plenty of demons with tattoos disappear, but I didn’t know if they were going to be at the ceremony.
It was progress.
45
Reyson
Ihad been slowly reading my way through books at Ripley’s library. I enjoyed the books about werewolves having sex, and that opened a million questions for me, but after I had settled on a name, I moved to the history books.
I didn’t pay attention to the creatures on Earth while I was in the Aether, even when my services were required to bring balance. They really had come a long way, and not just in their inventions. Of course, they still did terrible things and thought it was the will of one of the gods. But they did plenty of remarkable things too.
Many of the things that people got away with the last time I walked the earth were now illegal, for a good reason. Supernaturals usually stayed out of the affairs of humans to keep their secrets. Still, if a particular human or group of humans was becoming so dangerous that several countries came together to end the threat, the supernaturals were enlisting and fighting right alongside them.
I missed all that while I was playing in the Aether, but it was quite an honor to be invited to Lilith’s realm to help with this event and to fix their sun. I was glad my witch got to be here to see it too. This would be written about like the history books in her library. I was stillfuriousthat Dorian and Akul assaulted her library and kidnapped her, but they were dead, so I dealt with it.
Lilith’s resort was something else. She put the Hellhounds up in style. They must do theatre out here because they constructed a large stone stage in an extensive field where people could sit and watch. Lilith must have provided clothes for all of them because there were a ton of Hellhounds sitting on blankets in the grass in much better outfits than the demons gave them.
They had picnic baskets and were snacking and drinking wine. I was happy for them. Plenty of demons started appearing using the means of travel Lilith had gifted them with her sigils.
I stood on that stage and glared at them. They rooted for Lilith to end Akul’s existence, but that didn’t mean they saw these Hellhounds as people. I only killed Dorian out of respect for Lilith and her creations, but they needed to get over the fact that they couldn’t buy and sell people anymore.
This ceremony was also a monumental moment in their history. We weren’t thinking of these people when we created the universe. Lilith was thinking about her creations when she made Hell, but none of these people personally. Not even some of the gods who came later got to see what they were about to see. They were about to witness two gods channel their powers to fix a dying sun.
They could at least show some fucking respect by being nice to the Hellhounds.
Demons who worked at Lilith’s resort came out to meet the newcomers. They started handing out baskets to each group. They’d better get one of those to my group because I wanted to show off. They’d only seen some of what I was capable of. My witch had seen me kill and use my more destructive gifts to protect her and her library, but she’d never seen me use them to create anything.
I knew that everyone at the library knew I helped create the universe, but they couldn’t even conceptualize that in their heads. Yet, I was there, and not even the best poets and storytellers in history could put into words what the experience was like.
But I could show them a little by helping Lilith and her realm. It was also just the right thing to do.
Lilith’s employees came on stage and handed baskets to the Hellhounds and my people. Felix took the basket, and Ripley wrapped her arms around my waist.
