Page 30 of Indecent

All in all, it was a long and dirty walk. Whatever the liquid was soaked into his boots and the bottom half of his jeans despite his best efforts to avoid it, staining him like black oil. His boots sank into the muck frequently, and he and Chaol both cursed colorfully throughout the day. They were both painted in the stuff soon enough, hands slapping into the muck whenever they lost their balance.

The sky was darkening, and Daniel was beginning to fret about being caught in the swamp after nightfall, when Chaol finally said, “Up ahead. We’re almost there.”

Daniel couldn’t see anything up ahead but more boulders, but he felt it when the ground changed, taking them down a shallow, slippery hill. At the bottom, a black pool spread out before them, cradled on the other side by huge, jagged rocks that almost reminded him of a stylized sun or star.

They stopped by the edge of the pool, which was a solid rock that appeared to have sunk into the pool, providing them somewhere solid to stand at last. Chaol doubled over, putting his hands on his knees and panting for breath. It had been a long and grueling walk, indeed, if even the demon was feeling it. He was coated in the black stuff. It covered both arms, and at some point during the day had wound up smeared all over his abdomen, too.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Daniel snorted out a laugh.

Chaol looked up at him in offense. “What the hell are you laughing at?”

Daniel gestured to him and then himself. “Us. Look at us. We’re a mess.”

Chaol shook his head, shooting him an exasperated smile. “Funny. Worth it, I hope.”

With trepidation, Daniel cast his gaze toward the black pool. “Yeah, I hope so, too.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” a new voice said, and they both whirled to face it.

A pale figure emerged from the shadows. Bald and wearing a sharp black suit, the man who approached them carried with him an aura of danger. His shiny black shoes didn’t sink into the muck; he walked on top of it as though weightless. His golden eyes found Daniel’s, and he smiled, baring canines that were just this side of too sharp. Dark veins were visible under his too-pale skin, and Daniel took an instinctive step back.

“Who are you?”

“Holy shit,” Chaol breathed, stiffening.

Daniel frowned over at him. “What?”

Chaol ducked his head, gripping Daniel’s wrist tightly. “Lucifer,” he breathed.

Shock—and fear—stole the breath from Daniel’s lungs, and his body tensed to fight or flee. Probably flee. There was no way he could go toe to toe with Lucifer. He’d barely survived the angel. How much more could this place throw at him?

Lucifer waved a hand through the air. “Please, don’t be afraid. I come to offer you a deal.”

“You want me to make a deal… with you,” Daniel said in disbelief, and Chaol’s hand tightened around his wrist in warning.

Lucifer’s head turned in the direction they’d come from, toward the swamp and Pandemonium somewhere beyond it. “I seem to have a snake in my hen house.”

Daniel swallowed hard. “The angel.”

“Yes. He came here not with Heaven’s blessing, and I wish to see him leave.”

“Why don’t you just kill him? You’re Lucifer.”

Lucifer smiled again. “An angel cannot be killed here in Hell. We could battle for eternity and neither of us would ever win. But he shouldn’t be here. What he’s doing is an abomination.”

“What is he doing?” Daniel asked. “I thought demons couldn’t be killed here, either, but he sure as hell killed that demon in Pandemonium.”

Lucifer sighed, his dark brows drawing together. “Exactly. He is stealing the Wrath of demons.”

“Wrath,” Chaol repeated.

“A human has a soul. An angel has Grace. A demon has Wrath.”

Daniel knew it. He knew demons had some kind of life-force. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Why does he want it?” Daniel asked.

“That I do not know,” Lucifer said, clasping his hands in front of himself and looking almost mournful. “For nothing good, I would imagine. Wrath, like Grace, is a particularly powerful substance. It grants demons their strength, their immortality. To steal it, to consume it, I assume would make him much more powerful. Why he wants that power, I can’t say. All I know is that he cannot be permitted to stay here.”