The Devil's Smile Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11: The Gates of Heaven

What are you doing? Get up...you have to do something! You have to...!

"No..." It was far too late for that. So be it. Warmth closed in, the night compressing like blankets to suffocate her, and the cool stickiness of crimson blood under the deep moon closed about her fingers in the night. Meanwhile the fires of hell burned. And Marchosias...

Marchosias is gone.

...

Zepar...

***

They should have been there by now. It was taking too long. Too long by far. He felt restless, checking the time by the stars alone to work out if he was imagining it. But the soft tumbling of the waterfall and the gentle rustle of the leaves in the wind of the Mirror Valley did nothing to calm him tonight. They were late. They should be here.

He waited.

But soon he could not wait anymore, and he gave in to his fears, heading northward towards the Heaven Gate, reaching out for his minion and summoning her with his mind.

But he got no reply.

And that was when he started to panic.

There was no way should could not hear him. His soul was crying out for her, its reflection, with every core of its being. He searched the woods of the Mirror Valley, afraid and anxious. When he found her, she would be in so much trouble...what if she had betrayed him. Or worse...

No. He did not want to think of worse.

He was almost to the Heaven Gate when he caught the stench of blood and the smell of burning. His feet shifted quickly, and his powers hummed to life within him, threatening and engulfing, the chasm between death and fire.

What he found at the center of all the scents and sensations, he hardly believed.

Enepsigos.

There was so much blood. She lay in it, and he rushed to her with a cry of alarm and panic and fear. He reached out to her, hoping against all hope to feel something back in return. Gathering her up into his arms he frantically sought out signs of life.

He did not need to know what had happened. Only one ether could create Hellfire: the royal ether. Enepsigos had not stood a chance.

He shook her gently, horrified, the true magnitude of everything sinking in slowly.

"Enep! Enep! Dammit, don't you do this to me now! Don't you dare! Speak to me! Enep!" he pleaded. She weighed next to nothing in his arms, his strong and fierce minion of passion, weightless and frail and broken and bleeding.

And then a miracle: she stirred. She was in pain, that much was clear, but she recognized him, clinging to her, and she tensed.

"My...Lord..."

Zepar lowered her carefully onto his lap so she was more comfortable, confused and afraid, unable to touch her for fear she might break. A tear trickled down her cheek.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a hoarse voice, hardly able to make a sound. He grimaced, shaking his head. "I tried..."

"No, no!" he said fiercely. "No. You have nothing to be sorry for. You fought! You fought bravely! You did everything I ever asked of you and more!" He insisted with a shaking voice, hardly able to contain the feeling of his soul being rendered in two. A part of him was literally dying with her. She reached for him.

"Mihr..." she gasped. He shook his head.

"I know." She reached up with what little strength she had left.

"Hold me?"

How could he say no? He wrapped his arms carefully about her, his fingers twining through her hair, and felt her fingers come to rest on his arm. A moment of pain and peace mingled together on her face.

"You love her. I know. I always knew. Because I am your passion," she said with some effort. "But, Zepar...I love you..." He felt his breath catch a little.

"I know," his whispered softly. "I always knew." He forced himself to watch her, and tears drew unbidden to his eyes now. "We're going to get you fixed up, and then we'll go home, and you can tell me all about it. And you can call me all sorts of names for never speaking of it before. And I will listen to you, because you're smarter than I am, and I should have always listened to you. You've always been right..." he murmured. His words brought true tears to her eyes and she sobbed, shaking against the pain of her wounds. A rush of hatred and anger went through Zepar and he vowed then and there that Marchosias would pay. But instead he bent down over her.

"I love you," he whispered to hear ear, tears rolling softly down his cheeks. "I always have. In my darkness you were my light. You saved me from myself, brought hope when all was lost. You reached into my heart and brought back peace. Over and over, I have always loved you, Enepsigos. Don't leave me. Please...It will all be okay now. I promise."

Her tears and sobs subsided, and he waited a moment, then slowly turned his face. And then he realized the real truth. He chest no longer rose and fell. Enepsigos of Hell was dead.

Something surged within him, a deep grief and rage, as he felt part of his soul die with her. The world felt like fire and pain and darkness. It threatened to swallow him, until all he had left, and all he could do, with what was left of his soul, was to scream as the tears of anguish, of pain, of horror, of anger, or sorrow, of hell flooded out, and in a single wordless roar he cried the only word he had left to him: "ENIGMA!!!!!"

She came like a crack of thunder that echoed about the sky, the final piece of him, his other minion, and he did not need to speak words. Already between them there was the understanding of loss. Half of them was gone. Half was missing. And where she had been, only an empty hollowness remained.

"Enepsigos..." Zepar bent over the body, burying his face in his heads, trying to comprehend the enormity of the pain that lanced through him, through them both.

"What now?" he begged, unsure. He had not been unsure for centuries. Enigma looked away.

"What was she doing here?" She waved a hand and darkness flickered, extinguishing the purple Hellfire that marked Marchosias's touch. "Why was she here?"

Zepar could not answer, so Enigma sank into a seat, unashamed of the tears that streamed down her face.

"I sent her here, to watch Mihr, the angel I love. And she died for me, and for Mihr, here on this field. It's my fault..." Zepar finally whispered, unable to look up. Enigma stared at Enepsigos's prone body, and she did not speak a single word.

They stayed so long that way, keeping watch over Enepsigos's body in their silent vigil until they were freezing from the night winds and shaking from the cold. Enepsigos remained, and her body grew cold, and finally Enigma murmured a few quiet words.

A deep glow, red like the fires of Zepar's ether, surrounded Enepsigos in a halo of flame. Her body shimmered, and then slowly faded, vanishing from existence, returning to the ether for the final time. Enigma watched, but Zepar could not look. He could only feel. His soul slowly returned, but it felt dead, numb, silent. He felt hollow.

Enigma watched the glow fade, her eyes flat and dark in the night, a veil of anger and cold vengeance settling over her heart. And then Enepsigos was gone for good, but the hole was still there, and the place she had occupied was now vacant, and it could not ever be filled.

Enigma hung her head quietly, tears still trickling down her cheeks. And finally, finally, Zepar moved.

He reached out and put a hand on her head, carefully acknowledging her and the loss they were both dying from inside. Then he took her by the chin.

"Enigma, I need your help," he said softly, but she felt the raw power and emotion in his voice. Somewhere inside his passion had been replaced by his steel and resolve. She felt it cement inside her as he began to rise.

"This was Marchosias's work," she said shortly. "She's finally made her move against you." She hugged herself close.

"If we want to make her pay, we need a better plan than marching on the Palace of Hell. She is dangerous, and fury alone will not stop her, even for Enep." She looked up towards him. "And now she has Mihr." Zepar was rising, his look suddenly full of anger, fury, and danger.

"I have a plan to handle that. Marchosias has demanded a war. Then fine. A war she shall get."

***

The moonlit night was unsettling. Since Enepsigos had vanished to escort Mihr that morning, the entire Eternal Tower had been restless, waiting. Ronwe was still about, waiting, and Ansiel had grimly resorted to watching the door. It had been too long. Something was the matter. Something had to be up.

"I don't like this," Ansiel said quietly. "It should not take this long." No one had needed to speak it, but now it was open anyway. "If she was only escorting, I should have done it myself. She's an angel. But she wouldn't let me go. She insisted she do it alone. If something has happened to her..." Penemuel turned his attention away from the angel who continued to speak and isntead focused with narrowed eyes on Ronwe who was sitting on the stairs, peering into space with an intense look of concentration.

She had not moved for a good three hours. Instead she sat, waiting, brooding. He grimaced. He was about to speak when she did it for him.

"Something is the matter. I'm going out to check what it is." And with that she pulled herself up and maneuvered past Ansiel towards the door. "I will be back soon. Stay here, and safe. I don't know what's going on out there but I don't like it one bit."

The night outside was chilly, brisk, and something about it stung with the ominous tint of evil. She recognized the feeling: the same one she felt when she returned to the royal ether, and shuddered.

But her revere was broken by the slap of a hand forcing her back against the wall of the tower, and she found herself eye to eye with Lord Zepar.

"Where the fuck is she?" he demanded fiercely. Nearby, one of his minions stood, eyes like frost, a cold and cruel look waiting in her gaze.

Ronwe's eyes went from one to the other.

"Lord Zepar, I hardly think - " she trailed off, her blood going cold. Could it be she had not sensed it happen? Could it be it had slipped past unawares despite all her efforts to track it? "Where is Enepsigos?"

"You are going to tell me where the hell I can find Marchosias and exactly how to get to her," Zepar said in a dangerous, high strung voice, "or I am going to wring it from you until you scream for mercy and howl for death!"

"Get your hands off my minion." The soft, quiet, threat in that voice could only come from one person: Penemuel. Zepar's eyes slid sidelong towards him, but he did not move. "I said," Penemuel said quietly, "back off."

"I'm not going to tell you again, Zepar." Zepar slowly backed a step away, dropping his hand, his look laced with hatred and destruction. Ronwe slowly let out the breath she did not realize she had been holding, and then suddenly caught it again as Zepar gripped Penemuel by the neck of his tabard.

"I swear on the throne of Hell itself if you have anything to do with this I will kill you, Penemuel!" Zepar spat, and Penemuel stared back, taken aback at the short twist of events. Then, casually, his eyes slid to Ronwe.

"Ronwe, what has happened?" he asked quietly.

"What has happened?" the reply was shrill, coming from the other minion waiting near the steps. "The Queen of Hell has waged war on Zepar, and Enepsigos is dead, and she has kidnapped an angel under Zepar's protection from the Mirror Valley, and where were the Guardians when all this was happening?!" Her voice was filled with righteous, cold, fierce anger. Zepar broke.

He dropped his hold on Penemuel's tabard, instead hanging his head. "She's dead, my Enepsigos, and Lady Mihr is captured," he spat. "And I was powerless! I did nothing to help them! Nothing!" The enormity of the situation suddenly took over Penemuel. Lady Mihr? The next Queen of Heaven? Under this boy's protection. And they had let it slip by unnoticed. Then he heard the sound of Ansiel within the tower.

"I know what to do," he said. "Marchosias has waged war, so a war she shall get." And with that he took Zepar's hand in one of his own and swung the door open enough to call in. "Ansiel, we need you. It's time to cross the Gate."

***

"Such a pretty little angel. One wrong move and I will carve my name into your face, little angel bitch. You will answer these questions, or you know what happens." Marchosias hissed in a voice dripping venom. "Answer: you're the one Zepar has been coming to see, aren't you?" Mihr hesitated, shaking, unable to think straight, unable to breathe.

"I...I..."

"You're the little angel whore that has fallen to the likes of the bastard Demon Prince." Mihr was frozen in terror. The wolf queen of Hell took it as confirmation. "You see?" she spat, but the words were not for Mihr, "he's a liability. He needs to be disposed of before it's too late." Marchosias jabbed her knee painfully into Mihr's back, dragging her down. When she spoke, it was once again for Mihr's benefit. "When I'm through with you, you'll just wish - " Whatever she might wish, Mihr did not get to learn. There was a soft cough and she was dropped to her knees on the carpet.

"Marcho, if you don't behave, I'll send you back." Marchosias stared up at the speaker with disdain but backed away, at least far enough away she was no longer touching Mihr.

"Burn in Hell for a thousand generations, Beleth. I'll do as I damn well please." But she had stopped, for whatever reason, and her words were cruel but fatigued. Mihr took a moment to stare down her new enemy, the Demon King Beleth himself. He watched her with cold eyes and a chill of greater danger settled over her heart.

"You are in the Palace of Hell in the south of the Valley of Hell," the King said after a moment. "Learn this and remember, angel: serve me well and I may let you live. Answer my questions and you will survive this. Betray us, question us, or work against us, and I will kill you myself." And she believed him. His cruel, cold presence was too nonchalant to not be taken seriously. If Beleth wanted her dead, she would be dead, before Marchosias could even lay another finger on her.

And it was all real. God, but it was not a horrible nightmare. And Enepsigos...

They had broken a thousand of the agreements written out by Lord Beleth and Lord Sidriel's own hands in the Covenant to drag her off to such a place. And now it would be worse. She grimaced. She had no choice.

"Demon King," she muttered, inclining her head, submitting to him the only way she was able. And the Demon King did nothing else but laugh.


***

"You had better," came the quiet, dangerous tone of the Archangel Sidriel from his Council seat, "have a good reason for breaking the Covenant and bringing two Princes of Hell into the Palace of Heaven, Ansiel, and you had better explain it now."

Zepar had never seen so much white. Marble and silk and satin and ash woods were all about him. Gold and silver abundantly gilded the Council Room. Convincing Ansiel had been a trick, since he had wanted to report immediately to Sidriel alone, but time was no longer on their side, and Penemuel had been more than useful in persuading the angel to lead them deep into the valley of Heaven where the pulsing heart and racing mind of the Council met.

"Lord Zepar requested to see you immediately, and Lord Penemuel, who has long been an acknowledged Guardian over the Mirror Valley, was also in agreement," Ansiel said quietly. Under the gaze of so many Councilmembers, he felt the pressure to get this right enormously. Something had to be done. He was still unhappy to have had to bring them, but Penemuel and Zepar had been right. Now, time was short. They had to move fast, and that meant pushing for Sidriel's intervention directly.

"Lady Mihr has been abducted from the Mirror Valley by the Queen of Hell Marchosias. She has disappeared from any traceable areas. Lord Zepar and Lord Penemuel are in agreement that she has been taken as prisoner to the Palace of Hell."

As Ansiel explained the situation in an quietly urgent tone, Zepar was gauging the reactions of the four sitting Council Members. Ansiel presented the evidence beside him, offering introductions and a basic synopsis of all that had occurred. Zepar let his eyes slide from one to the other among the Council of Heaven.

"I have one question," came Sidriel's sharp tone. "Why was Lady Mihr in the Mirror Valley in the first place, Lord Zepar? And what do you have to do with this?" Zepar looked up.

He had seen Sidriel before, at the many meetings where the Ceremony to switch ownership of the Mirror Valley began. The Mirror Valley, currently under demon control, was not technically off limits to him, nor was it technically (though it was discouraged) off limits to Mihr. He could feel the icy eyes of hundreds of years of solemnity bearing down on him.

"She was coming to meet me," he answered flatly. It was too late to hide it now. No, he had to own it.

Next to Sidriel, another blond angel, this one more sturdy and more cautious, was also staring at him. Lord Melios.

"Why?" The question was blunt. He hardly needed to ask it. Zepar felt the waves of threatening aura floating off him and braced himself. Melios was the head of the armies of Heaven.

"Because since the Ceremony, Lady Mihr and I have been engaged in an illicit love affair." There. It had been said.

"You have been taking advantage of the next Queen of Heaven?" The woman who spoke now was Lady Nemuel, Keeper of the Archives. She had a cold look to her eyes as she leaned forward to hear his answer.

"No," Zepar replied. "Mihr and I loved one another. There was no advantage to it. In fact, you will agree, the very idea of anything between us was a severe liability. But it existed. She was a willing partner, and I am loyal to her." That should sate them then.

"Lady Sachael," Lady Nemuel said quietly, "Mihr was under your tutelage. Did you know about this?"

Sachael looked over at her with a soft look, but she did not speak. Zepar felt a sharp twinge of fear. Of course she knew. Of course. Now was she going to pay the price for it as well.

His eyes slid to her, and he watched, and he waited. She finally drew a deep breath.

"Yes, I knew of it. Lord Zepar speaks the truth. Mihr was in love, and the fact the boy is here in person for her certainly proves he is as devoted to her as she has been to him." She did not look to him. She continued instead.

Zepar watched her as she carefully outlined the picture for them.

"Mihr met Lord Zepar at the Ceremony, and they began their love affair shortly thereafter. I found out about it, but if I am honest, I let it continue, because I truly believed in his good intentions. She glanced to him then, and her green eyes bore the weight of all the judgment of Heaven. He felt it settle over him heavily. "I still believe in them. This man, despite being the Prince of Hell, is one I trust, and Mihr was under my watch, true, but she is also a woman in her own right. What danger, I thought, could outweigh the benefit of a connection between the future Queen of Heaven and the future King of Hell?"

Against the wall, Penemuel was listening. His eyes narrowed, an eyebrow raised. An interesting turn of developments, certainly. He had expected something once he had learned what Enepsigos had been up to and why it had cost her her life. As soon as he had learned about Mihr, he had recognized the magnitude of the situation. It had been right to come, and Zepar was still young. He held authority, but Penemuel's own influence would weigh heavily here. After all, Penemuel had seen what an angel and a demon together could do. He had been there when Sidriel and Beleth had signed the Covenant and the Accords of Peace. And he had guarded that peace himself with Ansiel for centuries.

The Queen of Heaven had seen it too. For those who knew, and he suspected that Lady Sachael did, this was hauntingly familiar. To Sidriel, there must be some fresh sort of irony in these words.

And then suddenly Lord Melios rose.

"You dare," he spat, pointing at Zepar, "to sully the line of the Queens of Heaven with your filthy hands?! You dare to assume you had any right to her?! I don't give a damn if the Queen of Heaven thought it endearing! You are the scum of the earth, demon prince, and now you have caused a war!"

"Melios! Sit down. Now." Sidriel's voice was the command of Heaven itself. Melios slowly stepped back, and he lowered his accusing hand. Sidriel stared him down.

"Listen to your Archangel," Penemuel said softly, drawing up alongside Zepar and putting an arm about his shoulders. "Prince Zepar is just that: the Prince of Hell. Speaking that way to him will start a war. If we're in a battle now, it is not with all of Hell, as I am sure Lord Sidriel will agree. That is why Prince Zepar and I are here. This is a fight that Beleth has started, by kidnapping the future Queen of Heaven. That is something he would not do unknowingly, even now. This is a fight against Beleth, not against Hell." Zepar looked at him in surprise, then smiled slightly and his eyes slid to Sidriel as Penemuel continued.

"I was there the day you signed those Accords. I was there the Covenant came into effect. You and Beleth asked Ansiel and I to guard that Valley, and in so doing to guard that peace. I am here to tell you this -" he motioned to Zepar - "is the way to keep that peace. This boy is your legacy, the one you truly want. He will be the Demon King, my king. Beleth is corrupted, lost. But here...here is a true Prince of Hell, and the only one who can continue the peace you fought so hard to bring, Sidriel. I am the only other contestant for that throne, and I will not challenge him. Prince Zepar will be my king. And I will make Hell bow before him if need be."

"It sounds," Sachael said suddenly, "as though the winds are changing again, Sidriel." She looked past Nemuel to him. "I believe the Princes of Hell speak the truth. Lord Zepar has shown on many occasions to be different from King Beleth, and he has also proven to be a man of his word. The Nocturne Lord is not the same one who signed the Covenant. Here, I think, is a new Nocturne Lord, and it would be a mistake to turn him away. It is peace you value, and here it stands in your hands, to decide."

"The demons have stolen one of our own," Melios said coolly, his voice still laced with anger barely checked. Sidriel glanced to him.

"We will get Lady Mihr back. The Covenant has been broken, and will have to respond. We cannot let this go unpunished." His eyes slipped sidelong to Zepar and Penemuel, Ansiel and Enigma. "But Lady Sachael speaks the truth here. We cannot afford to turn the Princes of Hell away. They did not break the Covenant. They came to fix it after it was already broken. They came here in peace, under escort, to get our cooperation, and to strengthen those ties that are currently so weak between us."

Nemuel gave a soft smile, "We were one race once, angel and demon, called Ethereal. Here is the echo of those distant times." Sidriel nodded.

"Then we have only one thing left to discuss: what is it we are going to do?" Nemuel said. Sachael smiled.

"Lord Penemuel, tell us: what has become of the Nocturne Lord since last we spoke?" Penemuel sighed, stepped back from Zepar and considering them.

"The demon ether is corrupt. It spews poison, and that poison has tainted Beleth, or so I am told. I believe it. I think there must be some truth to it, and I had it from my own minion. None should know better than she. All the same, I think he is lost. my cousin was never strong, and he hated fighting to be strong, but to be the Demon King is to be strong, and so he had to. This, at least, you understand and know. Lord Zepar is not of the royal ether. He is the direct descendant of the line of Queens of Hell, and has the seven hundred generations of the royal bloodline in his veins, and yet he is new and refreshing. Beleth is corrupted, and lost. Under his reign, Marchosias has returned, and she rules Hell with an iron fist. In recent weeks she has made the Mirror Valley her hunting grounds, though we cannot stop her, and she has been, I believe, hunting Lord Zepar and Lady Mihr. Now that she has found them, Beleth will use Lady Mihr as leverage. Marchosias wants Prince Zepar dead, and Beleth is too weak to withstand her. I believe, truly, and in my heart, though it pains me to speak the words, that the only way to keep the peace he bade me protect, that you bade me protect, is by killing him." His look was somber. "To protect my cousin's dream, we must kill my cousin." He grimaced.

"The only problem," he added, "is that it will be more than difficult to do so. The crowning of a new Nocturne Lord has always been a difficult matter. Even in a clear-cut case, there are those who will not bend until they are broken and afraid of the new Lord. We are, in other words, fighting a losing battle. Since being in the Mirror Valley, I have not maintained many of my contacts in the Valley of Hell itself, for better or worse. And Lord Zepar, here, has been unpopular because of the circumstances of his birth, not to mention that King Beleth and Marchosias are one of the most feared leaderships Hell has known in many generations."

"So then what shall we do?" Melios asked shortly. "If Beleth is truly corrupt, the Covenant is broken, but Hell is here to fix it and the only way to do so is for you to be crowned in his stead, where do you believe we fit in?" There was suspicion in the air.

"As you said," Zepar answered with a small smirk, "Beleth is corrupt. He has stolen things from me I can never get back. And he has now stolen the Princess of Heaven from you. The Covenant, as you say, is broken. And, as Lord Penemuel says, I need an army to put it to rights. I think, my Lords, that you see the point I am making." He crossed his arms.

"As the Prince of Hell and the future Demon King, I make you a simple proposal: let me lead your armies into Hell. Let the full wrath of Heaven scream under the fiery skies in the valleys of ash. And let Beleth's kingdom topple about him. I make you a simple promise in return. Stand and fight with me, and there will be peace. Eternally. Forever. Lord Penemuel has also sworn to uphold this promise. The two of us together swear this now on the bloodline of Lucifer himself, the strongest vow a demon can make. We will fight and die for your peace. And I will give my life, if need be, to rescue Lady Mihr, who I love with all my soul."

Sachael gave a slight smile. Nemuel raised an eyebrow. Melios gave a heavy sigh.

And then, in an earth-shattering moment, Sidriel gave a clear and resounding laugh.

"So be it, Prince Zepar. We will march to war with you."


END CHAPTER 11