Christine Warren - Huntress

Samael threw his head back and laughed. To Aaron, the sound was like a thousand cries of pain all unleashed at once. The devil laughed long and hard. When he finally calmed enough to speak, his voice still quivered with amusement.

“And why on earth do you imagine I’d be willing to strike such a lopsided bargain, my pet?” he asked, and the eyes he fixed on Lilli held something much sharper than laughter. Something more like hatred. “While it’s true that having the book in my possession would make everything much, much simpler, it certainly isn’t necessary for my plans. This war has been the fondest wish of Hell since the beginning of time. Once I bring it about, every inhabitant of the Nine Hells will owe me allegiance, from the lowest demon to the haughtiest prince. My dear, there aren’t enough magical texts in existence to make me abandon my plans, but if you would like to pledge your soul to me now, I would consider keeping your torment brief after my victory.”

Aaron heard the hubris that laced every one of the devil prince’s words and knew that Samael could already see himself as the newest overlord of Hell. The devil had, oddly enough, been telling the truth; he had too much at stake to accept Lilli’s bargain. Seeing that knowledge reflected in her eyes, he felt a surge of anger fill him. Their plan had failed, but while Samael remained in the summoning circle, they were safe from him. The only power he had to hurt them resided in his words. Still, Aaron couldn’t help but wish he could blacken the bastard’s eye without breaking the protective barrier between them.

“Oh, don’t look so disappointed,” the devil purred, all of his attention still focused on Lilli. “Just because the book doesn’t meet my price doesn’t mean that I don’t have one. I suppose there is one thing you could do for me that would make me consider postponing my plans for war.”

“And what would that be?”

Even before the devil answered, Aaron knew they had walked into a trap. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and the crawling sensation on his skin abruptly changed to the feeling of thousands of angry fire ants all stinging him at once.

The devil smiled a smile that made Aaron’s soul cringe and gestured in his direction. “Kill the magus. His family has never brought me anything but trouble. I thought I’d taken care of the last of them when I killed his uncle, but clearly I was mistaken. Correct my oversight and I’ll not only halt my work on that little pet project of mine, I’ll mark the last favor you owe me paid in full.

“What do you say?”

There it was.

Lilli heard the devil’s words through a of fog of pain and fought hard not to let him see their effect on her. Ever since she had laid eyes on that page of four prophecies, she had feared it would come to this. It was the only explanation she could think of that justified Samael sending her after the book. Like he’d said, he hadn’t needed it to foment the apocalypse; the only reason he could have needed the book back in his hands was to keep it out of Aaron’s.

Aaron—and his uncle, too, Lilli suspected—had looked at the problem from the wrong angle. Each of them had believed that the most powerful prophecy in the book was the one with the greatest potential impact on humanity, but Lilli knew Samael and she knew that he would always view the world through the lens of his own selfishness. To Samael, the question wasn’t how would a prophecy affect the world, it was how would a prophecy affect him . In the devil’s mind, the only prophecy that mattered was the one that spelled out his own downfall.

Samael had never cared about the apocalypse, at least not in the way Aaron and his uncle had assumed. Sure, he wanted to go to war with humanity and wreak havoc and destruction on the mortal plane just as much as any devil, but Lilli would be willing to bet the plans he had supposedly set in motion were a long way from completion. She would bet that he was more than willing to be patient. All that had mattered to Samael had been getting the book back before Aaron realized that the prophecies on the dragon page placed the devil’s downfall squarely in his hands.

It was the same reason why the devil had murdered Alistair—because the prophecies said that someone from Aaron’s family would be the one to destroy Samael’s power. Aaron was a smart man. As long as the codex remained in his hands, Lilli knew that chances were he would put two and two together and decide to take care of the devil once and for all.

But all of those worries would disappear, Lilli knew, if Aaron were dead.

And Samael wanted her to kill him.

“He must have been a pretty good lay,” the devil drawled, yanking her attention back to him, “otherwise it wouldn’t be such a hard decision. You can kill him, or I can lay waste to all of mankind.” He held his hands up like scales and pretended to balance them. “Hm, yes, I can see where that would be a tough call.”

Lilli turned her head and looked at Aaron. He was frowning, his brow furrowed, but the hazel eyes watching her were steady and unafraid.

“You do realize he’s up to something, don’t you?” he asked. “He’s trying to trick you. My uncle could count as the first sacrifice. If he gets you to kill me, that’s number two. One more and he’s won. Game over. The prophecy is fulfilled in one fell swoop, the world is ended, and oops, bad time to be human, I guess.”

That’s when it hit her, the most ridiculous bits of prophecy suddenly illuminated by an unintentional turn of phrase.

She felt like laughing and crying and knew that either would give her away and ruin her chances of saving the only things that mattered to her.

“Lilli.” Aaron’s insistent voice dragged her attention back to him. “You know I’m right. You can’t trust him. He’s the Lord of Deception. You don’t think they gave him that title because he’s got a talent for acting, do you?”

“I’m not lying about this,” Samael pressed. “Kill him and there will be no apocalypse. Is that the kind of offer you’re really willing to pass up?”

Lilli shook her head, unable to completely suppress her smile or her tears. She guessed her eyes were glistening as she drew her misericorde from its sheath and held it aloft, the blade catching the light of the candles and sending it bouncing around the circle.

Aaron reached out his hand toward her, his eyes full, not of fear, but of concern. “Lilli, you have to ignore him. You know he’s not being honest. If you were to kill me, what’s to stop him from reneging on his promise? Who would be able to hold him to it?”

Samael glared at Aaron. “I do not take having my honor impugned lightly, magus,” he growled. “I would watch my tongue if I were you.”

“You’re a devil,” Aaron snapped. “The only honor you have is the kind that suits you in any given moment. Lilli is too smart to fall for your lies.”

His faith in her made Lilli struggle even harder not to cry. She gripped the hilt of her knife in suddenly damp fingers and stepped forward to press her fingers to his lips.

“Sh,” she urged, replacing her touch with the brush of her lips, then repeating the gesture helplessly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Oh, spare me the touching display.” Samael’s voice grew louder, angrier, but Lilli ignored it. She was not about to let him intrude on the last moment she would ever have with Aaron. She didn’t care what the devil had to say. “Get it over with already. You’ve fucked him; now kill him! ”

Aaron gripped her upper arms, not as if he were trying to restrain her, but as if he needed to touch her, to feel her beneath his hands again. His palms rubbed at her skin as if to warm and soothe.