Scorn of Angels by John Patrick Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page B

beautiful, with olive skin and brown eyes, wide black wings, and a ripe body that sparked lust in all who saw it.
    “Poor dear,” the Angel cooed. Her name was Astarte, and she had neither sympathy nor empathy in her soul. “You’ve been so ill-used, haven’t you? And all because you lost your children.” She held out her hand and lifted Nyx to her feet. Did souls really buy this shit? “But don’t worry, my dear. I spoke to Lucifer. He promised me your suffering could end, if you could find them. And I found them!” Her voice went high, like that of an overexcited 10-year-old bully introducing a new kid to the rules of the game.
    She led Nyx down the hallway to a door that she opened wide. “There they are, the poor darlings.”
    Nyx recognized the room at once. She’d built it herself, and had made a hundred Angels crawl through it for penance. It was a hundred yards long, and the floors, wall, and ceiling were lined with jagged-bladed wheels that spun continuously. Every inch that wasn’t moving was covered in razor-sharp, pointed stone that would pierce anything. And on the far side of the room were three demons wearing the shapes of Aleyd’s dead children. Nyx snarled, though no one saw. The soul inside her shrieked with longing. Be quiet, she muttered. She knew what she had to do, and began crawling across the room, trying to avoid the blades.
    Astarte kicked her hard and impaled her on the nearest spinning wheel, ripping her guts out and spraying them across the room. Nyx screamed and thrashed her way off the wheel. Then, knowing what was expected, she kept crawling toward the demons. The only exit was on the other side of the room anyway. Astarte laughed and closed the door.
    About damn time.
    It was the first time since she’d been pulled out of the lake that there were no Angels around. Which meant it was the first time she could really search for Persephone and Ishtar without anyone noticing. She ripped her body off the wheels of blades and let it heal itself. The demons on the other side of the room called to her in piteous children’s voices, letting their bodies be cut on the spiked floor and begging their mother for help. Inside her body, Nyx felt Aleyd thrashing, trying to get free and call back.
    Shut up, stupid woman! Nyx screamed at her inside her mind. They’re fakes! They’re not your children. What the fuck would children be doing here? If I hear from you again, I’ll put you back into the lake.
    Aleyd broke down in sobs, but quickly silenced herself and said no more. Nyx was startled to realize that the woman believed her.
    Nyx cast her mind outward in slow spirals, searching for Persephone and Ishtar. She did not call for them because another Angel might hear. Instead, her consciousness slipped subtly across the surface of Hell, skimming over Angel after Angel. It dipped into the Lake of Fire to touch the Angels chained there. Those who noticed it felt a light brush against their flesh like the briefest of touches from a hesitant finger. Most didn’t feel anything.
    Ishtar was the closest. She was no more than two miles away, but she might as well have been on another world.
    She was in Lucifer’s palace, which was guarded by Descended from the 666th legion.
    Nyx had never posted guards when she had been Queen of Hell. She had gained complete control over the Descended and had little need of guards. It wasn’t until she left that Lucifer was able to raise the Angels against her. Apparently, Lucifer had not managed to equal her.
    No souls ever entered Lucifer’s palace that he did not order there himself. The ones inside were chained to walls when Lucifer wasn’t giving them his attention or tortured into Hellstone shapes for his use. There was no way that Nyx could get inside as she was, and if she changed form there was no way Lucifer and his guards would not know it was her.
    She was the strongest of the Descended, and could destroy dozens if they came after her.
    Too bad