“I aspire for that day, cousin,” he’d said enigmatically. “But you’ll have bigger fish to fry first.”
Did he want me to take out his devil father so he could rule Hell alone? Was that his endgame?
Patricide was common among the gods, so maybe demons had the same practice.
The Olympians had taken out the Titans, locking them in the forever prison of the Void. But I hadn’t heard of anyone ever trying to overthrow Lucifer.
There was always a first time for everything. If Loki’s goal was to off his father, I was game. We could start the revolution together in Hell, and for his favor, I’d spare the prince when the day came for me to slaughter all the other demonic motherfuckers.
~
The trial of cullingwas nothing but a horror show.
Demons thrived on blood, gore, and extreme violence—their favorite sports.
The scent of blood in the air called me to battle.
My demon part stirred, arose, and peeked out.
A thrill buzzed in my bloodstream. Fear, conditioned by my human upbringing, was purged from my every cell.
I was a demon princess, a daughter of an archangel and Queen of Hell.
I didn’t need to love this part of me, but I accepted it. I’d embraced it the moment I realized that I needed my demonic powers to survive and get my revenge.
I did not worry about the monster inside anymore.
In Hell, only the biggest, scariest monster could rule and prey on the smaller dogs. I intended to be at the top of the food chain, which was my birthright.
Today, I would slaughter other monsters.
They would all fear me.
They weren’t worthy enough to pump fear into me, but I would hunt and terrorize them. I would soak myself in their warm blood as I laughed and howled like a wolf toward the blood moon.
The heated battle suddenly paused in front of me as if by an unspoken code.
Over two hundred contestants remained.
Half of them peeled away from the other half and stalked toward me, flashing their claws or spinning their chainsaws. Some dark mages and black witches who were the demons’ minions trailed behind their alphas, also coming for my blood.
I didn’t move an inch from my crouched position, but my hands went behind my back to retrieve my twin swords. Last night, both Asmodeus and Leviathan had graced me with a sword. Asmodeus had offered me a katana while Leviathan simply gave me a demon sword.
The giant demons made lewd comments about me as they advanced on me. They took their time, their gaits swaggering, cocky, and intimidating.
Their victims’ blood dripped from their chainsaws, axes, and their steel-like claws.
“That half-blood is all bones,” a demon with twin brown horns said in disappointment. “One strike and she’ll be a pulp. Such a weak human!”
“Heard she’s the half-blood prince’s new pet,” a black witch said. She must be a demon alpha’s lackey. Demons despised humans, but they kept useful witches and dark mages in their houses.
“Then we should prolong the torture on the fragile thing,” a dark-haired demoness said, flashing her jagged teeth. “We should draw to decide who gets to open her up and play with her innards first.”
The stupid demons thought I was half-human like the prince they despised. My sense said that these were all low-ranking demons, graded no more than level-three. No wonder they couldn’t even smell my powerful demon heritage.
Or maybe it was me.
If my mother had stood in front of them in all her glory, they’d have all knelt, trembling.