Lilith (Demonology I)

XIV

We didn't have time to recover from our shock. Not showing any mercy, a weakened Lucifer struck.

  He was in a human form now, as he didn't have enough strength to maintain his serpentine form. With two quick blows, he hammered Gabe's neck and drove Eric's face into the ground. They died instantly. Dale raised his gun, but Lucifer was too quick for him. He knocked the gun out of his hands and squeezed down on his head, slowly draining the life out of him. I tried standing up to stop it, but Thalia held me back. She gave me a harsh look and tightened her jaw. It didn't take me too long to catch on. I bit down on my tongue, masking my presence.

  Again, I tried to help Dale, but again, Thalia held me back. I knew I was weak and battered, but I wanted to help him. It was the least I could do after getting his daughter killed. Thalia, who hadn't let go of me even after Clay had closed the gate on us, turned my head towards something at the edge of the river. It was Eva, closing in on Lucifer, she raised her hands and Lucifer dropped to his knees, his skin peeling. I was in complete and utter shock. Eva didn't look like much; she was thin and frail-looking. But she had taken down the Lord of Hell all by herself. 

  Lucifer continued to writhe on the floor in pain. His body broke into hundreds of fragments and seeped into the cracked stone before us. We were safe.

  I began to spit up blood. I had been biting down a little too hard from all of the suspense.

  "What the hell was that?" Thalia was just as amazed as I was. "It took an entire group of us to contain him, and you took him down single-handedly."

  "Well, I know a thing or two about his weaknesses." She said, smiling. "After all, he is my father."

An hour later, we had burned all of the dead bodies. Dale had a gash on the side of his head from where Lucifer had caught him, but Thalia was able to heal him.

  I sat down where some of the altar shards still remained and buried my face in my hands. I was crushed under the weight of our predicament. We were stuck in Hell, and Lucifer was somewhere out there, waiting to strike back at us. 

  "Don't look so sad, now." I looked up to see Eva. She gave me a small smile. "Can I sit?" I moved over a bit and she sat down next to me.

  "I never should have trusted him," I said bitterly. "I knew from the moment I met him that he was a selfish twat."

  "Don't blame yourself for it," Eva said, trying to reassure me. "We were all fooled. He made sure that he was the only one to make it out. Besides, you did an amazing job. You almost killed yourself because of how dedicated you were to this plan." She put a hand on my back, which was beginning to heal. 

  "All of that doesn't matter, now," I said. "We can't finish the second part of our plan if we're stuck down here." I kicked one of the shards.

  "We can't do what we need to do if we're stuck here, true. But that doesn't mean all hope is lost. The altar was just destroyed, so there's still some power down here. If we can find another artifact - even if it's something as weak as a small stone. But we need to act fast. Soon, Lucifer won't have enough power to sustain the bridge between the underworld and the overworld. I'd say we only have a few days to get this done. And judging by that -" she pointed up to the sky, which had turned from gray to black "- time is ticking by fast."

  "You're saying that we can still make it out of this hellhole?" Dale asked. I could hear the desperation in his voice. He and Thalia walked towards us, both of them bandaged.

  "Yes," Eva stood up. "But what we're doing is very risky. Clay probably destroyed the statue that we used to get in here, so we might end up somewhere unknown in the overworld."