Death and Darkness

Chapter 10

"Delta!" I cried, hugging her.

"Good to see you again, too." She patted my back.

"Lucifer," Hades growled.

A man with black hair and very dark eyes appeared before us. He held a bow.

"Did I miss? Damn. Well, archery was never really my thing anyways." The bow disintegrated immediately in his hand.

"Lucifer," I breathed.

Delta stepped in front of me, tossing the arrow back at him. "Damn right you missed! You nearsighted or something?"

The devil smirked, arrow burning away before it could touch his face. "Oh? A Shadow? How interesting. No, I'm not nearsighted. I have beyond-perfect vision." His eyes glinted.

Delta pursed her lips together in thought. "Narcissistic bitch, much?"

"I commend you for your bravery, but I think that's far enough. Your tongue may land you somewhere you may not want to be."

"Like a bad-in-bed type of guy?" I joked under my breath. I didn't realize I said that aloud until I saw Lucifer staring at me blankly.

Delta laughed. "That joke was horrible, but Lucifer's face was priceless!"

"Of course you'd be the one person to make fun of the devil." I sighed.

Hades watched amusedly, not jumping in as he usually doesn't. Lucifer glared at Delta and me. He snapped his fingers. I winced in pain, but it was gone as soon as it came. We stared at each other in confusion.

"What— That was supposed to destroy your existence!" Lucifer shouted angrily.

"Bitch, I'm older than you!" Delta countered just as loudly.

"The Reaper's under my protection. As long as I want to, she can't be destroyed," Hades told Lucifer mockingly.

The devil fumed. "I will destroy you too then!"

"There's too much fucking dialogue happening," Delta complained, summoning her saber.

"You'll need more than your flimsy knife to defeat me," Lucifer said, grinning.

"I'm not gonna fight you with this. This is just extra precaution. Kiara, I'm gonna have to ask you to close your eyes again."

I glanced at Delta before closing my eyes. She mumbled some Greek incantations under her breath. A shiver tore out of my body. It felt like Hell dropped a hundred degrees. A guttural roar left my ears ringing. I heard the sound of bones snapping and a struggling cry. Silence settled as my surroundings grew steadily warmer. I hesitantly opened my eyes to see Delta standing in a triumphant pose while Hades's expression didn't waver in the least.

"Do I even want to know what happened to Lucifer?" I asked softly.

"Let's just say that he won't be leaving Hell for a while," the Shadow replied.

After about a week, everything seemed to be back on track to normality. The Wanderers were all taken to the Underworld and given another chance to pass on. Usually, Hades wouldn't care about any Wanderer-turned-soul, but with the help of Delta (and her colorful swears and insults and stubborn arguments), the God of the Underworld made an exception. Word of advice: don't argue with Delta. She's terrifying when she wants to be.

"It's raining! You know what that means?" Delta asked cheerily.

"Zeus is pissing on us?" I mumbled with a grin.

"I really hope you're joking about that," she replied, slightly horrified. "Raining means we don't have PE!"

"Huzzah," I added.

The indistinguishable chatter of the students filled the background noise while rain pelted over roofs and trees. This is a happy end, right? The book should be closed now... right? Unfortunately for me, life isn't that kind. You'd think a girl with PTSD would be left alone, but no.

The ground began shaking. This was never a good sign. After all, we just dealt with this problem, or so we thought. I hoped it was just a normal earthquake. I hoped it was a coincidence. But you and I know it isn't. The universe is rarely this lazy. Shades of red and black darkened the sky, as if a blanket was thrown onto the Earth. No sun. No clouds. Yet the rain grew harder and lightning began zapping on the ground like flashing columns of light.

"Delta," I called, truthfully terrified. "I don't know what you did to Lucifer, but he's pissed."

She didn't reply. Her shock was very evident on her face as she watched a figure ooze from the ground, like magma. It growled angrily, a sound I wish I could forget to this day. He gave a hissy chuckle, taunting and fake.

"Shadow..." the thing gasped, smoke trailing every breath it took. "Shadow Knight!"