Hellfire Crown by Meg Xuemei X.
CHAPTER 2
Tessa
A battle raged in the grounds of the burning castle.
All three dukes were busy crossing blades with three pureblooded archdemons. I recognized the high caliber of the archdemons’ powers. They’d been in the upper seats near the royal balcony where their king had lounged during the first trial. My attention had been with the king and his companions, like Mari and the demigods, and my adversaries in the pit, so I hadn’t taken in a memory of the pureblooded archdemons.
The pureblooded archdemons were more powerful than the dukes. Their every strike now forced the dukes to stagger back and try to find their balance despite the dukes’ ferocity and their loyalty to their king.
After all, the dukes were half-blood with a human side. The pureblooded archdemons were former fallen angels, like Lucifer, and more monstrous in every aspect. Their powers were corrupted, but that only made them more fearsome and unpredictable.
Esme wielded twin swords, trying to cover the dukes’ backs. She was having a hard time fending off the archdemons as well. The only thing in our favor was that the archdemons intended to play with the dukes first before cutting them open to brutally set an example, and their arrogance had bought the time Loki and I needed.
As far as I could remember, this was the first time that Esme’s dress wasn’timpeccable. Her thick auburn hair had half-dropped from its hairpin. Her white suit was ruined, the front tainted with black demon blood and her own red stains, the left side torn open.
All around them and spread to the end of the courtyard, other pureblooded demons were fighting Loki’s guards with spits and snarls. None of them cared about manners and grace, as claw slashed against claw. Fangs sought out flesh and tore out chunks.
Red and black blood splashed everywhere, flowing between the stones.
A cacophony of curses, screams of pain, battle shouts, and blades crossing blended into the crackling of flames and rumbling as parts of the castle collapsed in the background.
The air reeked of blood, burning flesh, ash, and sulfur. If I hadn’t been battle-hardened, I’d have doubled over and gagged for air. I appraised the battlefield, just as Loki was doing, and calculated which section needed help the most and which segment was already a lost cause.
With a battle roar, Loki spun into the rank of the dukes, instantly shoving off an archdemon and freeing Pythius and Esme.
“Protect Lady Tessa!” he ordered them while ramming his black sword into the giant, horned archdemon who had nearly taken Pythius’s head off.
That archdemon opened a slash on Esme’s shoulder when she lunged to the spymaster’s rescue. To their credit, neither Esme nor Pythius let out a sound even though they were both wounded.
“I let you live after I banished my father, and that’s how you repay me, Beelzebub?” Loki growled.
“You’ll never be our king, you impotent half-blood,” Beelzebub bellowed.
“Impotent?” Loki laughed.
I knew he wanted to search for me and share the joke with me, even on the battlefield. Sometimes, he just couldn’t help it, as the grandson of the God of Pranks.
I wasn’t in the mood for any joke while I had to cut off a few heads and keep mine.
“Pay attention to your foes!” I hissed loudly at him from several paces away.
“But you heard what he said, right, Bunny?” Loki yelled back.
“Who cares what the fuck he says,” I scolded, busy kicking away one demon and slicing my blade into another to my right.
“I just want to make sure you disagree with what he said,” he shouted.
I thought the guy only liked to talk in bed. I shook my head. And damn, we did sound like an old, bickering couple.
“I agree to disagree,” I said mildly.
“What does that mean, Bunny?” he asked, his blade clashing with the archdemon’s over and over, sparks jumping off the swords.
“Just take off his head so he won’t talk again!” I snapped.
“Vicious, I like it. And you worry about me, woman,” Loki said in satisfaction. “Beelzebub is a bad liar and has a horrible sense of humor. I never liked him. So I’m going to listen to you and kill him.”
Beelzebub cursed at the king as Loki crashed into him like a terrifying force of nature with a series of heavy stabs and hacks.
As I impaled a demon solider with my sanjiegun, I noticed that Loki, his dukes, and the archdemons all battled with angelblades. An angelblade was a specially forged weapon that could even kill Lucifer and Loki. I had one as well, and it cost me more than an arm and a leg. I’d equipped myself well before I headed to Hell to kill my target, before I knew he was my mate and the flame I’d been searching for.
An angelblade was often bound to the bearer through the mystic blood runes along its edge.
A powerful bearer could summon it instead of carrying it around. But if the bearer was weak in magic, the blade would drain the owner’s life force.
The other two archdemons were giving the Duke of Wickedness and the Duke of Envy a hard time, and the two were weakening by the second.
If I wanted to help my new friends eradicate the archdemons, I’d need my angelblade as well. Loki and I had made up. We still needed to work out our issues, but he trusted me a bit more.
It was time to let everything out in the open.
I snapped my sanjiegun closed, strapped it over my back, and summoned my angelblade.
A long silver sword appeared in my left hand just as Pythius and Esme cut a path toward me to guard my back.
Their eyes widened in shock at the angelblade materializing in my hand, but there was no time for any questions. They’d seen me come with their king, and he’d commanded them to protect me.
Esme and Pythius moved to watch my six, and I put my faith in them to do their job.
And then I heard the angelblade chime in my head, Are we going to kill the new king of the Underworld? He seems smitten with you, so he won’t expect you to sneak up on him and stab him in the back.
I startled and jumped, my eyes widening in alarm, before I recovered and clutched the hilt of the sword, my knuckles turning white. In the end, I might have to break this blade if I couldn’t control it.
I wouldn’t risk letting it whisper dark, dangerous things to me and to poison my mind because of the blood contract.
I darted a nervous glance at Pythius and Esme. If they could hear what the sword was saying to me, they’d do me in. And the chaos of the battlefield would give them the perfect cover story after they slew me.
They nodded at me to indicate they’d guard me to the best of their ability and then charged toward three demons coming my way. My shoulders relaxed but then tensed up again when I spotted a horde of demons surging toward me.
I sent a quick look to check on the two dukes as they fought against the archdemons. They could still hold their own for a minute or two. I needed to save the rest of the red castle, my mate’s home, especially when I heard faint cries for help from inside the castle amid the raging fire. There were still people trapped inside.
Pythius and Esme were doing an excellent job leaving a trail of bodies around us. They might not have an easy time fending off the former fallen angels, but fighting their minions was a piece of cake.
I threw up my hands and unleashed my ice magic. Thanks to the King of the Underworld feeding me his energy while mating with me, I was vigorous now.
Hail and icy rain pummeled down on the castle. A current of ice swept through the doors, windows, and any cracks, and poured into the rooms, halls, and courtyards. Ice battled fire mercilessly, until only plumes of smoke twirled up into the air.
Fatigue rushed through me again, the energy Loki had loaned me spent, for a good cause.
Pythius gave me a nod of appreciation, and Esme smiled faintly before she engaged in another fight. The two of them worked well together.
“I don’t need you guys to guard me anymore,” I told them, trying to hide my exhaustion.
I was used to fighting for hours, even when I was very tired. I just couldn’t use my magic when it was spent. But my angelblade would do fine.
But the two refused to leave me, giving me a dirty look, as if I’d insulted them.
“Seriously?” I snickered. “I’m a Morrigan, the descendant of a war goddess. I can kick a few tailed asses.”
It was the first time I’d told them more about me, and their eyes widened for a fleeting moment at the new information.
“I’ll be fine,” I said softly as I sliced my angelblade over a demoness’s thick head like it was butter. “Go help the other dukes. They need you.”
Originally, I’d planned to assist the dukes and send Esme and Pythius to watch their king’s back, but Loki would snarl at them for leaving me. So it was best I went to watch his six and fight by his side.
The two dukes could hold longer against one archdemon, and when Loki slew Beelzebub, he could go for the other archdemons as well and relieve the dukes. It was a good plan, and I wasn’t pleased at seeing my mate fight the archdemon while having to kick away a few other rebel demons that swarmed him in waves. We were unfairly outnumbered.
He had a couple of cuts on his thigh already, and I didn’t want to see more appear on his person.
Pythius and Esme hesitated for half a second and charged toward the pureblooded archdemons to aid Asmodeus andLeviathan.
I rushed to Loki’s side just in time to cut down a demon as he snuck up to stab my mate from his blind side. The red runes glowed on the silver blade of my angelic sword after I yanked it out of the corpse.
And then Snow White was there, jumping from the head of one demon to another, clawing out an enemy soldier’s eyes before moving in my direction.
Demons yowled and cursed. The cat could be really nasty, but she was my nasty cat, and she was handy and intelligent.
Loki kicked away another demon who tried a surprise attack from his other side before I could shout a warning. His hellfire blasted out of him, vanquishing a company of demons that rushed toward me, while he hacked at Beelzebub’s armored shoulder.
I fought more like a dancer while the king preferred to display his brutal strength with one blunt hit after another. Beelzebub staggered back again and again, rage and fear turning the archdemon’s eyes to a bottomless pitch black.
Lucifer had mentioned Beelzebub, his lieutenant, and advised me to seek out the fallen angel’s help if I met difficulties removing the head of his son. But I hadn’t approached any of Lucifer’s diehard fans ever since I’d arrived in Hell.
Chills swirled in my middle as I pondered whether this uprising had anything to do with Lucifer’s return. I dreaded that Lucifer was actually in the realm. Taking back the Underworld had been one of the devil’s most urgent goals, and sending me to assassinate his son was his first step.
But I hadn’t exactly acted on the blood contract yet. Instead, I got myself enrolled in the Bride Trials.
Maybe Lucifer was losing patience, but he hadn’t really set the exact time frame for the bounty. And that had given me some room to work around, the only loophole I had for the time being. He’d assumed that I’d off Loki as soon as possible so I could collect my gold, considering my resume and reputation: I had never failed to eradicate a target within a week.
Beelzebub’s unceremonious bellow pounded my sensitive eardrums. I didn’t get the demons’ love of loudness. But then, my mate had roared when he emptied himself in me, making my blood heat for him all over again. I blinked, reprimanding myself for thinking of sex in the middle of the carnage. I shifted my mind to violence again.
The archdemon brandished his crimson angelblade, dark runes dancing like music notes on the steel, and swung it down toward Loki’s neck.
Only when Loki bent his head back to avoid the hit and brought his own angelblade around to fend off the archdemon did I let out a breath of relief.
Loki stabbed Beelzebub in the leg. The archdemon shrieked in pain. Without missing a beat, Loki rammed his elbow into the demon’s chest while dragging out the angelblade in a flash and cut a slash across his opponent’s rib, all in one swift, brutal move.
I diligently covered his back while stealing an appreciative and worried glance at my mate. I’d gone from coming to kill him to being afraid of him being hurt.
I guess the plot thickened when you mated to someone.
And my fear wasn’t baseless. Loki was a powerful King of the Underworld, but he could be killed, and Beelzebub had rallied and delivered a series of stabs and thrusts with his threatening angelblade.
The fallen angel was an excellent swordsman. Lucifer had mentioned that he was more powerful than the other two pureblooded archdemons.
He’d pierced Loki’s armor and bled Loki in quite a few places. While a horde of pureblooded rebel demons still swarmed us, the best I could do was to stop them from getting to my mate and let him concentrate on battling Beelzebub and eventually killing the archdemon.
I eliminated one demon after another, even though they all towered over me. My arms had grown sore, but the angelblade only grew more excited. It thrilled the sword to be soaked in demon blood.
It comforted me to watch my mate’s six. As he swung his sword at his adversary, the king always noticed the enemies who were too close to me and aided me with his hellfire. He couldn’t unleash it carelessly and all at once, though, since his own soldiers would be burned to a crisp as well.
“Time to clean my house!” Loki shouted menacingly, driving the tip of his blade in between Beelzebub’s ribs.
The archdemon shrieked and pulled himself off the angelblade; a trail of smoke rose from the blade. Beelzebub spun away then lunged at the king with a big swing, even though he’d been weakened by the many wounds inflicted by Loki.
“You think my head is a watermelon, Beelzebub?” Loki hissed in irritation and slammed his blade against his adversary’s. His boot landed on the wound in the archdemon’s leg.
Beelzebub staggered back and glared at Loki with hatred in his black pits of eyes.
“I’m done giving you and your fanboys chances,” Loki said. “You won’t see the sunset again after today.”
Beelzebub spat. “There’s no sunset in Hell.”
Loki was a savage king to a terrible race, but he kept a thread of humanity within him, which was what the pureblooded demons hated about him the most. They could never let themselves forget their king’s “humble heritage”—his half-human side.
The irony was that the King of the Underworld didn’t have a drop of human blood, but only I knew the truth.
Loki moved forward and fought both Beelzebub and another archdemon, whose name was Mammon, relieving the Duke of Wickedness.
“Have all the guests and servants gotten out of the castle, Newman?” Loki asked while fighting two archdemons as an elite half-blood guard ran to his side. I recognized that guard.
The king could telepathically command the guards who had sworn a blood oath to him. He must have commanded Newman to supervise the rescue.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Newman said. “All who survived have gotten out, thanks to the lady’s ice storm.”
“What about the king’s harem?” I asked.
I wasn’t above being petty.
I’d heard the rumors about Loki’s new harem; my source was the Hell Cat. I might forgive Loki just once, but I was setting boundaries now. I’d gut him if he wanted to keep the women and me at the same time. I might just take the blood contract seriously.
Newman blinked, as did the dukes. “What harem?” they asked each other.
Realization flashed in Loki’s darkened eyes.
“How can you think that I have a harem?” he grated.
“And you regret that you don’t?” I hissed, turning back to stab a rebel demon.
“You’d prefer if I had a harem? What kind of mate are you?” he yelled at me and cleaved off Beelzebub’s left claw.
Beelzebub howled in rage and cursed profusely.
“The kind who will kill you if you take a harem,” I said coolly.
Loki chuckled.
“Try if you think I’m joking,” I said with a smile that was too sweet. “I know tons of ways to amuse a man.”
“You’ll amuse no one but me,” Loki demanded and stabbed Beelzebub again. “I’ll kill any man you try to amuse.”
I shook my head and murmured something.
“Shut up, you two insufferable cunts!” Beelzebub screamed, deciding he’d had enough. Demons really loved the C-word. “Think you’re cute lovebirds ready to mate? Chirp! Chirp! Back and forth nonstop. Driving me nuts!”
I blinked, confused for half a second, as I couldn’t believe that a fallen angel would talk like this. But then, Beelzebub had fallen to Hell an eon ago. His mind and power were both corrupted, and the archdemon was more of a beast than a functional male.
“You mongrel, you’ll never be the real king,” Beelzebub kept shouting. “You can never replace Lord Lucifer! You’re nothing but a great disappointment to your father. Oh yeah, we all know how ashamed of you he was. My lord should have snuffed out your pathetic life when you were a worm in your weak, mortal mother’s womb!”
Rage shot into me as a sense of protectiveness over my mate swelled in my chest.
“You shut the fuck up, shit-eater,” I barked viciously. I intended for the entire battalion to hear what I was going to say. I was beyond caring if the entirety of Hell’s force pasted a target on my back. “Take care of your filthy tongue before I cut it out. Pay your respect when you address His Majesty. King Loki isn’t just Lucifer’s son; he’s also the son of Goddess Hel of Asgard, and thus the grandson of the Asgard God Loki, the God of Shapeshifters.”
I’d let the cat out. Loki would have more words with me after he suppressed the uprising. He’d demand I reveal all my dark secrets and then demand more.
The truth bomb dropped and spread like a shockwave. So much so that the battle halted for a few seconds, dumbfounded expressions on everyone’s faces.
“You lying bitch!” Beelzebub spat and broke the silence. “You’re nothing but one of the mongrel’s cheap whores.”
“I’ll cut out your worthless tongue slowly,” Loki promised.
I chuckled. “He’ll do that. I’m not one of king’s whores. I’m his only mate.”
Time to declare what was mine, and I could see pride and satisfaction on Loki’s handsome, savage face.
“I’m no one’s bitch, Beelzebub,” I said, magic carrying my voice. “Unlike you, who is and always was Lucifer’s bitch. I passed through Asgard and met King Loki’s true grandfather. And before I arrived in the Underworld, I had a meeting with your cowardly former lord.”
A sharp pain stabbed behind my eyes, and it dawned on me that the blood contract was preventing me from revealing any information about my clients, but I carried on.
“Lucifer is so terrified of his own son that he had to send assassins to come after King Loki,” I shouted. “The uprising must be his plan. You shits are doing his dirty work, but you won’t be rewarded. You’ll die! Beg for mercy.”
“Slay the half-blood king’s bitch!” Beelzebub bellowed, swinging his sword around and pointing it at me. “Even if it’s the last thing you do, my proud fellow purebloods!”
The rebel army pushed in toward me as one. I spun and took a few heads with my angelblade. The Duke of Deception led a group of guards toward me, and Esme desperately tried to intercept the flux of pureblooded demons rushing in my direction.
A ferocious roar tore out of Loki’s throat. The king instantly shifted, not to the black wolf but to a half-archdemon and half-wolf. He now towered three feet over the giant Beelzebub. Predator power poured out of him and charged the air.
Beelzebub stumbled back, his ink-black eyes widening in disbelief and pure fear. “You… You…it can’t be. What are you?”
The demigod demon-wolf opened his massive jaw and grinned at Beelzebub savagely and roared.
“Behold your god king!” Esme shouted, her voice booming in every corner, amplified by her mage magic. “Glory to the son of the Morningstar and true heir of the Asgard God of Shapeshifters! Lucifer lied to you about our king’s true heritage because King Loki is more powerful than him. Lucifer fears our king! Rebels, this is your last chance to kneel and beg for forgiveness!”
The king’s ambassador could always think fast on her feet. No wonder Loki had invested in her and regarded her as a great asset.
Over half of the rebels tossed their weapons away and dropped to their knees, awed by the sight of the Wolf God and his formidable power.
The Wolf God gave me an unreadable look before his claws lashed out.
Yep, can’t wait for the talk. I stared back at him with an equally unreadable expression.
The Wolf God swatted at Beelzebub as if the archdemon were a fly. The king’s extended claws sank into Beelzebub’s chest and lifted him in the air.
Beelzebub cried in pain. “Pardon me, my king,” he begged. “Lucifer deceived me.”
“You are not forgiven,” Loki snarled in a deep, grumpy voice that sounded more like a wolf than a man. “You should never have threatened my mate.”
It didn’t matter anymore that he claimed me as his mate in front of his and the rebel armies. I’d been a target as soon as the Bride Trials had started.
The king raised his angelblade and split Beelzebub’s head into two. He grabbed Beelzebub’s remaining horn and roared, “Traitors must die!”
While Mammon, the other archdemon, was so shocked and distraught, I darted toward him like a flash and stabbed him in the back. Asmodeus took the chance and swung his angelblade all the way through the archdemon’s neck.
The third archdemon turned, took flight, and vanished in a trace of smoke and dots of hellfire before the rest of us could get him.
The King of the Underworld threw his head back and howled one more time, like a proper wolf.
When he turned his terrifying, blazing gaze over his domain, a surge of hellfire blasted out like tidal waves, burning the rest of the rebels like weeds.
