The Devil's Pact Pt. 42

Desiree strained against my body, the knife now only an inch away. But my body lay on top of hers. Jezebel had my entire weight pressing down on the blade. I struggled harder to take control of my body, but the bitch wouldn't relent. Every second I failed to reclaim my body, the bronze blade crept closer to my wife's nut-brown throat.

Despair filled me. I just wasn't strong enough. I would be forced to kill my wife.

"Alison, please!" Desiree screamed. "My love, mi Sirenita, I know you're in there! Fight! I believe in you!"

Bronze pricked her neck. A drop of blood beaded red around the point.

"Fight, Alison!"

How could I fight? Jezebel was stronger than me. This was like one of those sci-fi shows where the enemy invades the hero's mind. But the hero always realized that it was their own mind, taking control of what was happening and turning it around on the... invader...

Wait, could that work?

Could I control things in here? This was my own mind, not hers.

I needed to sever her control, snap the strings that bound me. I imagined a pair of scissors. They appeared in my soul's hand. I put the blades around the first string and squeezed. I strained and strained against the bonds as my wife fought against the knife. Both of us were failing. Jezebel was beating us both. The string was too strong for...

Stupid! You couldn't cut steel with scissors. You had to melt it.

The scissors became a blow torch that sputtered to life in my hand.

* * *

Mark Glassner

Lucifer's flail of light caught me in the side, sizzling against my armor and tearing gouges in the bronze. The world spun about me before I landed in a heap on the grass. I forced myself to stand. Chasity stood over me, fending off the Devil's attack, buying me time to recover. She was the only ghost left; the others had been shredded into silver mist by that fucking weapon. The flail swung fast, and had twice my reach.

Mary threw another fireball at Lucifer. He deflected the fire with a casual flick of his flail and then pointed his hand. Mary dived to avoid a beam of light that sprang from the Devil's finger. The grass and earth at her feet dissolved into coruscating gas--an aurora flowering out of the ground. I roared, throwing myself back into the fray, turning his attention back to me and away from Mary.

Mary didn't have my reflexes or my strength.

"Master!" a woman shouted.

I risked a glance. 51 led a squad of the bodyguards towards us, black rifles clutched in desperate hands. A wave of cold washed through me. What were they doing? They had their orders to stay back. More bodyguards ran across the park from the other directions. All three hundred of them charged into the fray. They would be slaughtered.

"You can disobey my orders only to save Mary's life or mine," I had commanded them.

"No!" I screamed.

Yellow fire strobed from each rifle, illuminating the attacking bodyguards: tall and graceful 211, dusky-skinned 24, fiery-redhead 77, feisty 44, petite 100, and more. Like a swarm of angry bees, the bronze bullets--inscribed with enchantments by Candy, allowing the bits of metal to harm supernatural beings--stung Lucifer. Light bled from him. He roared in pain. A shimmering wall sprang up before him, rippling beneath the swarm of lead. Then a beam of pure light swept across the field; both earth and women vaporized into glowing clouds. The surviving bodyguards scattered like a flock of birds before the swooping falcon as more light lanced out to destroy them.

Clammy desperation surged through me. I had to protect them. I brought them here. I killed Lilith and freed the Devil.

I swung my blade at Lucifer's shining leg. I ducked beneath his flail but missed his glowing flesh by inches. He flowed back. Shadows shifted around me. His glowing weapon swung again. I dove to the side as Lucifer raked the ground where I stood.

I rolled up into a crouch as Chasity leaped at Lucifer's back. She nimbly ducked his attack, but was driven back by the beam of light. It left a smoking crater. I tried to rush in, but that fucking flail swept around, batting my sword to the side. He flicked the flail and struck my breastplate before I could bring my sword up to parry.

My armor rang. I felt the shock through the metal. I grunted, my legs buckling. The blow battered me to my knees. Lucifer loomed over me. Adrenaline spiked cold through my veins. I cursed and dove backward. The flail snapped down and disintegrated a clod of dirt into a billow of glowing gas.

I regained my feet and faced the Devil.

"I am the Morning Star!" Lucifer bellowed. "Bow down to me, worship me, and I shall forget your transgression today, Mark. Continue in your defiance, and your torment shall be unending!"

This was not working. He felled another two bodyguards with his beam of light as they crouched behind playground equipment, their bodies reduced to a glowing mist that wafted away in the breeze. Sweat drenched my body as my lungs burned with exertion. I couldn't keep dodging his attacks. Trembling fear fought with the adrenaline flooding my veins, my stomach twisting.

I didn't want to die. I didn't want to see Mary die.

I licked my lips. Could I serve Lucifer? Could I worship him as my god?

If it meant Mary living, I could do anything.

Mark, I have a plan! Mary sent telepathically.

* * *

Alison de la Fuentes

The steel wire attached to my body's right arm glowed cherry red in my imagination and, with a steely twang, snapped. The dagger stopped as my arm was freed of Jezebel's control. Desiree forced the dagger away from her throat.

"Yes, fight!" Desiree encouraged. "I believe in you, mi Sirenita!"

I attacked the next cable.

You fucking slut! Jezebel roared at me. The blowtorch vanished from my astonished hands.

Damn; she could control things, too.

An imaginary wall appeared behind me. Rattling manacles snaked out from the wall and snapped about my wrists. They yanked me back, and I slammed into the wall. I focused all my will and pictured myself free. The manacles wavered as we both concentrated: calm wisdom versus fiery youth.

This is my goddamn body; get the fuck out of it! I roared at her.

Then drive me out, little slut!

I am a slut! His slut! And proud of it!

My surge of exuberance slammed into her. My pride stiffened my resolve. I was his slut. Master's slut. And he needed me. Everyone needed me.

The manacles vanished. I fell free to the "floor" of my mind and glared at the shadowy impression of her soul inside of me. I grinned at her, a gloating surge of exhilaration rippling through me. Let's see how she liked to be bound!

Adamantium manacles slammed onto her wrists and ankles. Stronger than steel, stronger than diamond. Nothing could break, melt, or destroy adamantium. It didn't matter that the substance wasn't real, so long as I believed it.

I did not endure endless torments in the Abyss to be beaten by a little trollop like you! she raged, thrashing against my chains.

Her will beat at mine, throwing every scrap of her indomitable personality against mine. She pummeled me. The manacles wavered, turning into billowing smoke coiled about her limbs. I grit my metaphysical teeth, and bore down with all my angsty, teenage passion.

This is my body! I am Alison de la Fuentes! I am Mark and Mary's sex slave! I advanced on her, my determination beating down her mind. I am their slut!

Smoke solidified. Chains rattled. I caged Jezebel.

Save me, my love! Jezebel howled. I imagined a bronze dagger gripped in my soul's hand. You promised me, Lucifer!

I stabbed Jezebel through the heart.

Her soul gurgled as she dissolved into mist, bleeding out of me, her essence exorcised. She squirmed, struggling to hold her form together.

Didn't an eternity in Hell teach you to never trust a demon? I gloated as she faded from my mind, exorcised from my body, and sent back to the Abyss to rot for eternity.

"Alison?" Desiree asked, staring up at me.

I felt my heart pounding. I sucked in deep breaths. Sweat fell down my face.

I was in control!

I tossed the dagger aside and kissed my wife. The battle faded from my awareness as I reveled in this moment. Just the two of us kissing, our bodies shaking as we cried. My tears ran down my cheeks to our lips, staining them with salt.

"I fought for you," I murmured between sweet kisses, her beautiful face lit by pulsating lights.

"Is this really the time for that, Alison?" Xiu shouted. "Get to some cover! It's Armageddon out here!"

The words slapped me.

The world slammed into my senses. Lights and sounds assaulted my eyes and ears. Trees crackled on fire and glowing clouds drifted through the air. Gunfire barked from every direction. At the center, Master and Lucifer dueled. My heart sank.

Master took a blow to his chest, knocked down to the ground. He rolled on his back, barely dodging a blow that surely would have killed him. The ground exploding into colorful, scintillating fog that drifted across the park.

"I am the Morning Star!" Lucifer bellowed. "Bow down to me, worship me, and I shall forget your transgression today."

Master froze, facing Lucifer warily. Mistress strode out, fire dancing on her hand. "As if we'd ever serve such a foul, loathsome creature as you!" she shouted in defiance. "Slither back to Hell and leave the world to your betters!"

Red pulsated through Lucifer's pure, shining body like the mottling on a serpent's body. Light lanced out from a pointed fist of light. Mistress tried to dodge out of the way. My heart stopped. The beam struck her body and birthed an aurora. Mistress dissolved into a glowing gas.

"Mary!" Master roared in loss, his sword falling from his grasp. It transformed into golden motes and vanished. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. His body shook. Such anguish burst out in ragged sobs.

Grief struck me senseless as the world spun around me. I could only watch as my Mistress wafted away in the gentle breeze. She was as beautiful in death as she had been in life.

* * *

Lucifer

Mark's cry of loss, of bitter anguish, sang in my ears. I savored every last second of it.

Love. The mortals' great strength, and their great weakness.

He stared in horror at the billowing cloud of atoms that had once been his wife. Hope died in him. I strode forward; my victory complete. Across the world, my demonic captains--Asherah, Dagon, Chemosh, Astarte, Baal-zebub, Hadad, Marduk, Tammuz, Milcom, and Ashtoreth--had burst free of the Abyss. They would subdue these pathetic mortals, reminding them just why their ancestors had worshiped us. Feared us.

Loved us.

The fires of sacrifices would be lit. Once again, the insects would create sweet and pleasing holocausts in our honor.

I looked down at Mark in disgust. To think the Creator had wanted me to bow down to such a weak, selfish, filthy beast as him and his ilk. He did not deserve to live! Not after he challenged me. I had promised him a long life. Well, a year and a half was a lifetime for most insects. More than enough time for a disgusting worm like Mark. He could roast in the Abyss for all eternity with that cunt of his.

After all, I had another promise to uphold.

I raised up my flail.

Pain exploded in my back. A piercing agony robbed my limbs of strength. I collapsed onto my knees, my flail slipping from my hand. I twisted around behind me and...

Mary stood behind me, a bronze dagger, gleaming with my blood, gripped in her hand. How? I killed the disgusting whore! I reduced her to the most elemental particles of creation! What had I missed?

Mark's sword appeared in his hands. Cold terror knifed through my shock. I scrabbled for my dropped flail. The sword descended. No, I would not be defeated. I won. I was free of His prison!

I grabbed my flail, and swung it with every last ounce of strength I possessed.

"I am the Morning Star!" I howled to the Heavens, to the Creator, to the insect. "I am the greatest and most beautiful being in all of creation! No one shines brighter than me! I am not about to be defeated by this filthy insect!"

Mark's sword severed my head from my body.

I was falling, falling, falling into darkness.

I bellowed, cursing the Heavens with every last scrap of my strength as I fell past the darkness and into fire. I appeared in the Abyss. Upon my bronze throne in the City of Dis. Rage--burning as hot as the one that had consumed me the day Michael had defeated me and had me cast into this pit--filled my soul. I slammed my fist into the throne's armrest. I had been bested by a sniveling, cowardly, disgusting, filthy worm! A creature only fit to grovel in the muck before my radiance!

"My lord Lucifer," purred a shadowy lemure, peeking its cowardly face around a column made of damned souls encased in bronze, each existence frozen in agony. "There's something... different about you."

My rage filled me. I had been so close. I held out my hand, summoning my flail. My anger needed a release. My minions needed chastisement. Then I would rise back up and tear Mark Glassner's body apart ligament by ligament.

"You seem... weaker, my Lord." Hunger burned in the lemure's shadowy eyes. It crept closer to me, like a feral dog cautiously approaching a carcass.

My flail didn't appear.

More lemures slinked out of the shadows. And not just lemures prowled towards me but the fiery souls--those damned fools that I kept forever burning as their punishment for selling me their souls--stalked towards me. Fear pounded inside of me, beating me with cold fists as I struggled to summon my flail again. I looked behind me; more souls, lemures, and demons stalked, drawn by the scent of my weakness.

Realization battered my soul. Mark killed me with a Priest sword. He had stolen my powers. Every Pact I had ever granted, every ounce of energy I had ever seized from my rivals, every last iota of the strength I had possessed since creation itself was gone, stolen by Mark Glassner. I was as weak as an insect.

As weak as a human.

The demons and souls and lemures swarmed me. All those millions I had oppressed, tormented, and punished over the eons gibbered in celebration. All the millions I had instructed in cruelties and torments so vile that even the worst of humanity would have blanched.

And they were all so eager to show me just how much they have learned.

* * *

Mark Glassner

Mary shone with light--pure, unadulterated, beautiful.

The power from Lucifer burst through me, overflowing my soul and surging across the chains that bound me to Mary. We lit the night, driving back the darkness staining the sun. There was so much energy surging through me. Molech's had been a mere swallow, Lilith's a small cup. What we drank from Lucifer was a river, a lake, an ocean.

Eternity.

Burning like a star, my wife came to me. I embraced her. Kissed her. Held her.

We beat the Devil. Lucifer. Satan.

Around us, dark figures gathered. Alison and Desiree clung to each other; whatever had possessed Alison was gone. Jessica walked between Xiu and Korina, hope shining in their eyes. Lillian's pierced face widened with awe. Violet trembled with relief. April's glasses reflected the glory of our power. And more gathered: 51 and her surviving bodyguards; Sam and Candy, their mouths open in disbelief; Willow and her nurses attended to the wounded.

"I can't believe that worked," Mary said, holding me tight.

I laughed. "Really? It was your plan."

"What happened?" Alison asked, staring at us with a mix of joy and befuddlement.

We were shining as bright as the sun, but our light didn't hurt their gaze. I concentrated on this new power, on this control of light, and realized I was unconsciously protecting my loved ones. I dimmed it anyways; a moment later, Mary followed.

"We saw you die, mi Reina," Desiree said, her voice brittle.

"Did you?" Mary asked.

"An illusion," Sam realized. "The Ashan spell combined with the Nun's Cathar prayer to turn yourself invisible."

"Yeah. I still can't believe that worked," Mary answered. "He was so fixated on Mark, he didn't even hear me walk up behind him. My heart was pounding so loud in my chest, I thought for sure he could hear it."

"He was arrogant. Did you hear him at the end?" I smiled, stroking my wife's face. Pride for her burned inside me--I had married the most amazing woman. "He thought he'd won. It never occurred to him that you could outsmart him. You saved us, Mare. You were amazing!"

Mary smiled and blushed. "You weren't half-bad yourself."

She kissed me, and time seemed to stop for a moment as I held my wife.

Then reality crashed back in. Gunfire erupted off in the distance. The Legion soldiers guarding the perimeter fought something.

"What's happening?" Mary asked, pulling away from me.

51 pulled out her radio. "51 to HQ, what's the sitrep at Bradley Park?"

"Spectres of unknown origin have been attacking our troops since the sun vanished," a voice squawked back. "The Legion is holding about your position. We're monitoring the local news feeds and social media and, well, there is chaos across the world."

"The prison was opened," I realized. The price for Mary's life. Lucifer wasn't the only being to escape. He was just the most dangerous.

Mary gave me a penetrating stare. "We made our choice, Mark. Now we'll have to clean up the mess."

I chose love over the world. Fuck, I was a selfish bastard. I glanced at my wife, and knew I would make the same choice again.

"Summon General Brooks," I ordered. "We have plans to make."

* * *

Doug Allard - Jebel al-Lawz, Saudi Arabia

I held my wife as we stared up at the blood-red moon. It dripped with crimson. The rest of the stars were swallowed by a darkness so thick they couldn't shine through it. The entire world groaned around our sanctuary. Below, the others who had fled the growing power of the Tyrants watched the prophecy of Revelations become fulfilled.

"It's begun," Tina, my wife, whispered.

"But it won't last," I told her.

"I know." She let out a sad sigh. "The world will be under the Antichrist's rule for so long. They'll suffer so much."

I nodded my head. The charge the Mother Superior placed on me weighed on my shoulders. It was so hard to stay here and let the world burn when I had powers, but we didn't have enough strength to challenge the Tyrants. We had to await the prophetess's arrival, sheltering hope.

* * *

For seven days and seven nights, a shadow stained the Sun and blood painted the Moon. Terrors from mankind's darkest nightmares stalked the night. The Powers of Hell each set up their fiefdoms and ruled their subjects with cruelty and malice. All of mankind cried out for deliverance, praying to their Living Gods. On the seventh day, our Merciful and Loving Gods descended upon Washington D.C., and there utterly destroyed the Power of Dagon the Foul. They held up his severed head and drove the shadow from the Sun and the blood from the Moon. It was Their promise to all mankind: Have hope, for We are coming to free you.

--The Second Book of Vivian 19:23-27

To be concluded...