Note: 90 Kudos? Thanks so much, I appreciate you guys! This is the final background chapter, then we get canon-present and all the fun shit.
Chapter Four
"Friend of the Devil"
1800 AD
Blood fell from the skies like rain and Caius threw his arms wide to embrace it, the cruel grin that had become synonymous with the blond Volturi King was as if painted on his face for the world to cringe and fear.
They had done it.
They had rid the world of the abominable Children of the Moon. They found and eliminated each and every pack. Ripped them apart limb from limb, none were spared. Caius' endeavor was made all the more pleasing by the Demons, who had insisted on joining in on his pursuit of eradicating the species.
They were a delicious culmination of chaos and wild unabashed wickedness—Caius enjoyed them. He relished their company. His life in the Volturi had become dull in recent years, he was a warrior. A man of action, now seated on a throne to collect dust. He'd been feeling incredibly useless—not that he resented the plateau in conflict, for it would come again.
Still, this last century had given him more purpose than the last millenia had. It was rare that a coven issued a challenge to the Volturi, now that they were well and truly established. They dealt mostly with lawbreakers, individuals rather than covens. It was important work, if mundane. He'd enjoyed this time, hunting these monstrous, mindless beasts. A break from the monotony of court life.
This realization had him dropping his arms.
He would return to his throne in Volterra now.
Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, and Abaddon would continue on wreaking havoc on the world and Caius would return to the head of the Vampire regime and collect dust on his throne.
"You gentlemen are behaving more vicious than usual today," one of the younger Volturi guards, Santiago, mused looking past Caius with an amused smile.
Caius turned to see what he was talking about and contained the grin.
In the last several decades he'd had the opportunity to see the Demons in action and catalog their abilities. What seemed to be a trait of the species versus what was unique to each of them individually.
And they were a different species.
There were similarities, certainly. Speed, heightened senses, strength.
It was the differences that were interesting.
Demons bled. They could be injured, but it took quite a lot to break their skin. In fact, the only time he'd seen them bleed was because a lower Angel called Jophiel had attempted to stop Beelzebub from destroying a certain pack of Children of the Moon and the resultant fight had led to a severely damaged Beelzebub. He healed quickly. Within a few hours it was as if no fight had ever happened, no injury existed.
Jophiel… Well, Caius learned that ripping the wings from an Angel would severely deplete their power. Mephistopheles had mentioned that Angels without wings operated at around twenty to thirty percent of their original capacity.
'With the exception of Lucifer herself, whose wings were taken and yet she retains more than seventy-five percent of her original power.' Mephistopheles had boasted with a proud smile. 'Right Hand of God and all. She was always powerful. He created her that way.'
Inevitably, Jophiel was forced to retreat.
"We are rejoicing this progress, young Santiago!" Mephistopheles grinned as he dropped a desiccated husk that was once a living being to the ground and stepped over it. "So many souls have been sent to our Mistress, she is sure to be pleased."
"Indeed," Abaddon agreed, still siphoning the soul out of one of the werewolves' bodies. "Toss the husk into the fire, Mephistopheles. Leaving the remains is bad manners."
Another difference. The Demon's did not feed. Instead, they sent souls to the Devil. Caius had asked what the purpose of this was, once, and Abaddon had told him that Lucifer had a purpose in Hell and that she required souls to build her forces.
That was the first of many clues that had hinted to him that there may indeed be a conflict between Heaven and Hell as depicted in the Bible. He was no fool—he'd read the Bible when he'd learned of the Devil.
Revelations intrigued him. Concerned him.
Armageddon.
If such an event were to occur… a predestined clash with a predetermined outcome. What would that mean for vampire-kind? They would be forced to join Lucifer's side, as they'd already developed relationships with three of her Generals? Caius had an inkling the Angels would not be so forgiving of such an alliance. The Volturi would have no choice but to side with those that, per the book itself, would lose.
Because how does one go to battle with an omniscient, omnipotent being?
"Since when do you concern yourself with my manners?" Mephistopheles mumbled, but nonetheless flung the remains into the fire with a flick of his wrist.
Gifts.
The Demon's had them too.
There were certain things they could all do, he'd observed. There were combat abilities that they used, barely. He hadn't had the opportunity to observe those.
They could make themselves invisible, intangible, and they could shapeshift. Most did not bother, he'd noticed, unless it was to manipulate humans.
They also had an uncanny ability to manipulate, now that he was cataloging in his mind. Just a few words here and there and most beings were like clay in their hands, molded easily into whatever they had in mind.
They spoke with the dead, even the unseen dead that existed in a place called purgatory. They could also send a soul from the body of a mortal without ruining the husk, and then inhabit the husk themselves. They called this 'possession' and once they decided to leave the body would decay in an instant.
He'd met several lesser demons that had been possessing humans during their travels. All of which claimed to be doing the Devil's work—mostly educating humanity. Or trying to, rather.
One had been working on developing a cure for the plague and spreading his knowledge of medicine. Another was a politician in Spain who was advocating for education reform and had been beheaded in several previous bodies for blasphemy.
One female demon in London had been working to revolutionize women's rights, starting with informing women that they should have rights to their own bodies, an opportunity to make money without a man, among other things. All of which offended the men. The demon had left the woman's body when she was assaulted and drowned, along with most of her supporters. On and on it went…
He was informed, by Beelzebub, that gifting mankind knowledge and agency had always been one of Lucifer's main goals.
Caius could respect this. The Volturi encouraged all of Vampire kind to do the same with their immortality.
It formed an entirely different picture of Lucifer in Caius' mind.
An entirely different picture of God, too.
"This is the last of the beasts." Caius interjected before Mephistopheles and Abaddon could begin to bicker, as they were wont to do. He accepted a kerchief from one of the guards and wiped the blood from his face and hands as the demons turned their attention to him. "You are welcome to return to Volterra with me and celebrate our victory."
"I would love to—" Mephistopheles was beside him before Caius knew he'd moved.
It is a boon, Caius decided, having a congenial relationship with these creatures.
He'd barely finished the thought when a glowing blue sword ran through Abaddon's chest and suddenly, an austere dark haired man with a severe face and black wings stood with a triumphant grin, twisting the sword as Abaddon sank to his knees with wide, resigned eyes.
Caius watched in fascinated horror as the Demon melted into the ground.
"Michael," Beelzebub hissed, a weapon blazed to life in his hand and Caius fought the urge to flinch at the heat of the sudden flame so close to him.
"Good evening, fallen brother," the newcomer said, his voice an even timber as he turned to face the giant.
Brother?
Mephistopheles gripped Caius' shoulder and forced him to run, leaving Beelzebub behind.
#
Lucifer could not recall the last time she'd moved.
Or spoke.
Or did anything, really.
She heard conversations happening around her, but none were important enough to acknowledge. The same drivel, a new century. Some human war dropped a thousand souls into hell that needed processing. Perhaps there had been news from above via one particularly malicious soul. So on and so forth, same thing every time.
Lucifer had shut it all off for some time now, tired of it all and almost begging for something to break the monotony of her existence. She'd banished Lilith to the upper circles, no longer capable of dealing with her while she had the bad grace not to take 'no' for an answer. Lucifer's typical appetite for sex was gone, replaced with a deep apathy and exhaustion she just couldn't pull herself out of.
She couldn't even peel herself off her throne.
"Mistress, I have returned," called a voice that she hadn't heard in some time. It sounded as though it were underwater and far away, but still she recognized it, and her mind began to clear.
Coming back to reality after however long she'd sat there, mindless, felt as if she were wading through thigh deep swamp, and it took some time, but her visitor… her friend… was patient. He said nothing as he waited, and when she was finally able to control her eyes again, they drifted down to see Abaddon, kneeling at the foot of her throne, eyes cast at her feet.
She wanted to raise her hand, to beckon his approach. It started with the twitch of one finger, then another. It took time, but she raised her hand.
"Abba…" her voice was quiet and harsh with disuse, but it was her voice and his head snapped up.
His hand was in hers a moment later and he stood on the steps beside her. The second his fingers brushed her palm, she knew all she had missed. The flashes of nearly two millennia of separation raced through her mind in a mere second and her lip twitched into a smile, before ultimately she watched Michael run Abaddon through with his sword and her smile dropped.
She may be seeing Beez and Mephistopheles soon, as well.
While she would be glad to see them again, it would not spell good things for the remaining lower demons topside if all three of her high ranking Fallen were to return to Hell–and to have been returned by Michael of all the archangels.
"I have missed you, my friend," Lucifer admitted quietly.
Abaddon's hand encircled hers, a flash of worry across his face, before he smiled and deflected.
"Well with the company you've had to keep I can imagine it has been quite dull here. I am glad to have returned to you, after all this time." He bowed his head until it pressed against hers, then quietly in the old tongue. "I have missed you dearly, sister."
She responded by placing both of her hands over his ears and relishing in the comfort of an old friend's embrace.
A small piece of her heart, which had previously hardened, softened as she smiled down at him. She squeezed his hand back.
"Come," she said, willing her legs to work. "I have long hoped for one of my competent Generals to return so they can help figure out how to unseal the portals. The Nazareen sealed them and no one here has been able to unblock us and I would rather head topside and put a halt to Michael's interference myself. Before my legions are returned. Should that happen we will have to start all over to spread our message across the Earth."
"As you wish," Abaddon nodded, lifting her until she could stand and compensating for her inability to walk without saying a word.