A/N: First off, I want to apologize for the long wait. Real life has been rough on me lately, and I'm having a lot of trouble writing lately. Hopefully I'll come out of the slump, but I have decided that quality is better than quantity, so I'm not going to make any promises about when the next chapter will be posted. I will be going back and editing some of the previous chapters, though.

Thank you so much to all that have been reviewing, favoriting, and following. It means the world to me, and I can never thank you enough.

Chapter Song: Radioactive (Imagine Dragons)

Disclaimer: Yeah, still don't own it. Yeah, still not happy about it.

~The Gates of Hell~

For a split second, Alec's world was dominated by a kaleidoscope of wildly swirling colors. He clung desperately to Lucifer, fearing he would get sucked into nothingness. Thankfully, it was over as quickly as it started and he was suddenly standing in a cemetery.

He was vaguely aware that he was near the New York entrance to the Silent City, but he was distracted by Lucifer hunching over, breathing like he'd run a marathon. "Are you okay?"

Lucifer waved him off, still catching his breath. The shadows around them changed strangely, and Alec realized with shock that Lucifer must be stretching out his wings. The fallen angel started to straighten himself up after a minute. "I'm fine; my wings are just a little rusty is all."

Alec pretended to not notice how shaky and breathy the statement was, instead turning towards the entrance. There were several indentions in the dirt from multiple people's shoes. He cautiously made his way forward. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Lucifer said, strolling confidently forward. He seemed to have regained his breath and strength from the flight around half the world. "But we're going to find out."

"Shouldn't we wait for the Clave to get here?" Alec asked. "So we have some backup or something?"

Lucifer scoffed. "They would get in our way. Besides, we both have bounties over our heads, so we need to keep our distance right now. Let's go."

Without waiting for an answer, Lucifer enthusiastically opened the doorway and all but glided down the stairs. Alec warily followed him, a hand going for his bow.

The Silent City was always silent, of course, but there were normally signs of movement and life. When they first walked out of the entrance, Alec felt a chill run down his spine and he immediately knew something was horribly, horribly wrong.

When Lucifer made a distasteful noise and stared at the bone-white pillars, he realized why. There was blood staining everything and dead Silent Brother bodies were littering the ground. It looked like they'd been ripped to shreds. Alec felt bile rise in his throat at the grotesque scene. Sure, he had never like the Silent Brothers, but no one deserved a death like that.

He then noticed the reapers. They were everywhere. Some were still swooping towards the ceiling with bright souls in their hands, but there were dozens standing still in place, watching Alec and Lucifer with emotionless solid white eyes. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rising.

Lucifer's lips were twisted in an odd expression as he smoothly made his way through the street they were on, easily stepping over the bodies. He seemed slightly regretful but not surprised at all.

Alec abruptly remembered that Lucifer had started a war against Heaven and slaughtered hundreds of his siblings for not agreeing with him. He had purposefully created demons that took enjoyment from torturing and destroying humans in any and all way possible. The fallen angel had allowed his creations to run amok the humans, feeding them horrible ideas, and leading to countless deaths. He shuddered, trying to push the thoughts away. Lucifer had changed.

Alec tried not to think what the minced, red colored piles were as he quickly hurried after Lucifer. The stench was stomach-turning. It smelt like death, blood, and the rancid fumes of demons.

Lucifer was starting to walk faster as he got closer to the main building in the city, and Alec frowned at him, feeling the strange energy he was radiating. When Lucifer glanced at him, he realized what it was. Lucifer was angry – no, furious beyond any human's comprehension. The air around him was practically sparking from his energy.

When Lucifer reached forward to slam open the doors, a large gust of wind pushed out, and Alec's eyes widened as he saw the dark shadow of Lucifer's wings. His wings were still charred and mangled, but there were more bright and beautiful feathers now than ever before.

Then Alec realized what had caused Lucifer to let his wings out. Raziel's sword was missing. His breath stuttered to a halt. "No," he whispered. "Oh, please, no."

Lucifer's wings were bristling with rage. He spun sharply on his heel, making his way instead to the entrance of the prison. His movements were lithe and predatory – ever movement controlled with the utmost precision. Even though he knew Lucifer would never hurt him, Alec felt a sliver of fear.

"We're getting Jace out of here, and then we are going to stop this now." Lucifer's voice was so cold that it could have given frostbite to an iceberg.

"Okay," Alec agreed, sure that it would be a bad idea to say anything else to Lucifer right now. Besides, he was beyond worried about Jace. He should be fine, since his parabatai rune hadn't acted up, but there was no telling what the blond had been through.

Lucifer descended into the dungeons, a swirling mass of icy fury and anger, shadowed wings still splayed out in an offensive position. Alec followed him, docking an arrow on the way. The smell of demons became stronger.

Lucifer immediately started making his way into the cells and Alec felt confused. "How do you know we're going the right way?"

Lucifer didn't answer for a long second. His hands curled into fists and his wings flexed. "Because Jace is the only living being in the entire city."

Alec almost stopped walking. His stomach dropped, and his eyes got wide. "But . . . but there are thousands of Silent Brothers in the city every second."

Lucifer looked at him grimly. "I know."

While Alec dimly followed behind Lucifer now, his head was spinning and he felt sick. That meant either Lilith or Valentine – or both – had ordered their demons to murder thousands and thousands of people for that sword. And if that's what they were able and willing to do just to get the sword, what would happen once they were able to summon demons straight out of Hell with it? He felt dizzy.

Alec didn't snap out of his horrified trance until Lucifer slowed his pace. Laying on the floor was a lifeless Brother Jeremiah. It looked as if every bone in the man's body had been snapped like toothpicks. Alec felt lost. He had seen this man so much over the years that he had seem like the one creepy, unnerving constant, and now he was dead.

He shook the thought off when he noticed the slumped figure in the cell in front of Jeremiah's body. The stark of golden blond hair easily identified the figure as a nearly catatonic Jace.

Before Alec could do something silly, like uselessly tug at the bars, Lucifer stepped forward, made a smooth movement with his hand, and a white light slashed through the bars, cutting through them like butter. Alec quickly pulled them away and jumped into the cell.

Jace blearily looked up, but he had a dazed expression on his face. He swayed slightly and his manacles clinked together as he shifted, drawing Alec's attention to his bloody wrists. Jace smiled blearily. "So, if I'm dead, do I still get to be on the Council? A kind of Heaven link or something?"

Alec huffed a relieved laugh. "You're not dead, you idiot."

"I'm not?" Jace tilted his head the side in confusion, looking a lot like a puppy. He winced suddenly. "My head is killing me."

Lucifer suddenly leaned forward and tapped Jace lightly on the temple. Light pulsed under his fingertips and flowed over Jace's body, getting rid of any scratches and injuries he had. His manacles fell off.

Suddenly Jace was more alert and he suddenly surged to his feet, a look of panic overtaking his features. "We need to get out of here right now before those things come back!"

"We will," Lucifer said, analytically watching Jace. "But first tell us what happened. We need to know now before the Clave gets here."

Jace eyes were flickering through the darkness, and his fingers kept going towards his belt where he normally kept a seraph blade. Alec passed over one of his knives, and Jace calmed a little. "Valentine came with demons. I don't know how many. I heard screaming – it kept happening for nearly an hour, then it got deadly quiet. Valentine showed up, told me he spared me since I'm his child."

Alec's eyebrows rose. "What?!"

Jace looked startled, then resigned. "Oh, did you not know? I'm Valentine's son."

Lucifer made a derisive noise. "No, you are not, but we don't have time to get into that right now. We need to get out of here. The Clave is about to enter the graveyard and we need to meet them there – make a flowery speech or something."

Alec and Jace both gaped at Lucifer, but the fallen angel's expression did not change, and he started to quickly walk back towards the entrance of the Silent City. Helplessly, Jace and Alec followed. Alec's brain was racing. If Jace thought he was Valentine's son – falsely, apparently – that would definitely explain how Jace and Clary had been acting around each other. They thought they were siblings but were practically in love with each other.

When they were back to the staircase, Alec realized that Lucifer had made his wings invisible again. They started to make their way up the stairs, and Alec's eyebrows furrowed when he realized that it was bright outside. That couldn't be right. It was supposed to still be dark.

"Witchlight," Jace observed out loud, and Alec realized he was right. There must be a huge amount of shadowhunters outside then. Alec stepped forward to stand beside Lucifer with Jace just behind them as they stepped outside. He had to rapidly blink when he was nearly blinded by the bright witchlight.

When he could see again he saw about forty shadowhunters, including the Inquisitor, staring at them incredulously. His family members had conflicted expressions on their faces.

"Now," Lucifer said, but his voice wasn't the right tone for a 'flowery speech' – it was deadly cold. "I'm tiring of your pathetic games, and this has gone on long enough. While you have needlessly wasted your time and resources chasing after Alexander and me, you have allowed Valentine to gather power."

He gestured towards the Silent City entrance. "Now, because of you getting in my way and making things more complicated by floundering around to protect your pathetic government, thousands of Silent Brothers are dead. When Alexander and I showed up to answer the distress call, there was a single living being inside."

He stepped to the side slightly to reveal Jace. "And the only reason he is alive is because of Valentine wanting to play mind games and distract you imbecilic shadowhunters. How many more are going to have to die for you to realize that Alexander and I are not your enemies?"

The gathered shadowhunters shifted nervously, looking at the Inquisitor. Imogen was scowling, but she had a shaken look in her eyes. "You expect us to believe you're not the enemy when you are fugitives, have just broken a prisoner out of his cell, and left a trail of death behind you?"

Lucifer was watching her unblinkingly, his gaze challenging. "I am a fugitive because of my past, Alexander is a fugitive because of his God-approved role, and Jace is a fugitive because of his false parents. The only thing I see here is an archaic government crumbling into dust under pressure."

Imogen blinked, startled and insulted. "The Clave is not crumbling. The only one here that is trying to do that is you."

A chilled smirk tugged at the corners of Lucifer's mouth, and the furious look in the fallen angel's eyes was enough to make all of the shadowhunters start to step back in fear. "I would deny it, but I am told that lying is a sin." He purred the word.

Imogen seemed to gather herself. "So you admit that you're responsible for this!"

Lucifer sighed. "No, you dimwit. I am saying that I want the Clave gone, but that is as a result of happenings like this. You are a member of a useless, biased government that even I balk at."

"To clarify," Alec added helpfully. "The Clave is stupid, and we fully plan on getting rid of it as soon as we deal with Valentine and the rebelling demons. You're welcome."

"But –"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Lightning shot through the sky in blinding strikes and thunder shook the ground. The shadowhunters all crouched into defensive positions. Imogen's eyes narrowed. "What was that?"

Lucifer had a put upon look on his face. "That, you ridiculous human, was my father summoning Alexander and I. We shall be off now."

Lucifer grabbed both Alec and Jace, and then they were back in the colorful vortex. They reappeared in front of a familiar door, where Lucifer quickly knocked. A moment later, a sleep-ruffled Magnus opened the door. His hair was sticking in odd directions, he wasn't wearing makeup, and he was wearing some type of robe. "How –"

Magnus's eyes widened when he saw who was there. He sighed lightly, stepping to the side. "Come in, come in. Did you have to bring the shadowhunter?"

Alec started to shrug, but Lucifer cut him off. "You take the shadowhunter, keep him safe from the Clave, and be ready for when we come back. Thanks."

Then he and Lucifer were back in the vortex, to faint protests form Magnus and Jace indignantly saying "This shadowhunter has a name!"

When they landed again, Lucifer was hunched over again. Alec put a hand on his shoulder in concern. "Are you okay?"
Lucifer waved him off again. "Yeah, it just takes a lot of energy flying to Heaven."

"Heaven?" Alec dumbly repeated, looking around him with wide eyes. It just looked like they were in a room that had an extraordinarily large amount of white and blue decorations.

Lucifer nodded, making his way to a door. He swung the door open with presenting arms. "Welcome to Heaven."

Alec's breath caught. You know the man that described Heaven as golden roads and pearly gates? Yeah, he was bad at describing things. It was set up in a way resembling impossible cities. Everything was bright and lively. The buildings were a white stone that reflected every color imaginable, there were little streams full of impossibly blue water, and the roads were made the most beautiful shade of gold Alec had ever seen.

There were trees scattered around. Some of them looked like lavish trees from earth, but others had sparkling trunks and gemstone colored leaves. There were whispy clouds swirling in the distance, and there were angels flying through the air. Cheerful laughter was a constant, and Alec felt overwhelmed. He couldn't even fully comprehend how perfect everything looked.

Lucifer had a wistful smile on his face as he looked around, anger disappearing, but suddenly one of the angels spotted him and froze. Soon, the laughter had stopped, and hundreds of silent gazes were locked on Alec and Lucifer. Alec felt highly uncomfortable.

Lucifer frowned and he had a sad look in his eyes, but he kept his chin held high. "Come this way, Alexander. Father is waiting."

Alec silently followed Lucifer, feeling weighed down by the silent gazes of the angels. He gulped and felt almost hallow. If he felt like this, then how must Lucifer feel? He was being rejected by his siblings.

Soon enough, they were approaching a massive white throne. There was a powerful figure sitting in the throne, and there were four angels standing in front of the throne, all with massive wings. Alec recognized one as the Archangel Raphael, but his attention was on the softly smiling being in the throne.

"Luci," one of the angels greeted, a grin on his face. His bronze wings were rustling in the wind, and he had a peaceful presence.

Lucifer smirked back at him. "Gabby, how nice to see you."

Alec's eyes widened as he realized that he must be looking at the Archangel Gabriel. His eyes quickly looked at the other angels, and he decided that the other two must be Michael and Raziel. Before he could confirm his suspicious, his eyes were drawn back to the throne.

"Lucifer, Alexander," the man in the throne greeted. "Thank you for making haste."

"Of course, Father," Lucifer agreed, tilting his head in recognition, and Alec felt like he was watching through a piece of fabric. God had just said something to him. By the angel, he was in the presence of God and four of the most powerful angels in existence. Should he bow?!

God was watching him with an amused and knowing look on his face. "Calm, Alexander. You are the ruler of the other major realm. You will be afforded the same rights as my Archangels. You need not bow or treat me any different than you would treat your father. After all, all living creations are my children."

Alec just nodded in acknowledgment, but he felt faint. Thankfully, Lucifer took back over. "What did you need, Father? I was in the middle of speech."

God had an amused expression. "I noticed, and I must say that you are still a force to be reckoned with. However, insulting the Clave and threatening them is not the way to progress, and you know that. Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment, my son."

Lucifer seemed slight embarrassed. "But the Clave is ridiculous, and it is partially their fault that Valentine ever rose to enough power for Lilith to use him!"

Alec realized he was actually witnessing a disagreement between God and Satan, and wow, was he dreaming?

God smiled, eternally patient. "Yes, but everyone makes mistakes. You know that more than anyone, Lucifer. You've planted the seed of doubt into the Clave, and quite a few institutes have already been visited by the Dubai Institute's agents."

"Already?" Lucifer asked, looking impressed. "They work fast. I take it that Raphael has been busy too?"

God seemed to know something they didn't. "You could say that. He actually came back to New York to talk to you. He will be requesting you presence soon, I expect."

"Hm," Lucifer hummed. "So what did you need?"

God looked amused. "Did you not have something to ask us?"

Lucifer looked confused for a split second before he realized. "Oh, of course. As I'm sure you already know, I am considering telling the mundane United Nations about the existence of the shadow world. If I do so, I will need your backing, and Gabriel will probably need to deliver a message."

Gabriel spoke up. "It has been a while since I've been able to deliver any good messages. The last one was to Mary, and boy was her reaction something to watch." At Alec's confused expression, he elaborated. "The Bible leaves out a lot of fun details, but oh well. It is written by humans."

"Gabriel," Michael said, shifting his dark wings. "Stop rambling, please, and spare us the headache. Do you agree or not?"

Gabriel pouted. "I agree, I agree."

"I do as well," Raphael and Raziel said as one.

Michael nodded, and turned towards God. "We are in agreement, Father. Do you approve?"

God smiled at his eldest angel. "Yes. It is an excellent idea. Who knows, maybe one day soon, it can become common knowledge that humans are not alone on earth."

"Great," Lucifer said, but he sounded weary, like he was already thinking of the possible repercussions of their plans. "I'll get some people working on it." He frowned. "Was that all? Alexander and I have a lot to do now that the ball is rolling."

God tilted his head. "Yes, actually. I know that Imogen Herondale is representing the Clave in the worst possible way, but I think that you'll find that she has an . . . interesting set of motives."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting? You think she has potential."

A smile tugged on God's lips. "Yes. Now, with that food for thought, Asmodeus and Esmeralda are quite desperate for your presence, so you should be going."

Before Lucifer or Alec could say anything, they were illuminated by a bright light that was prefect. Alec was swarmed in his best memories – the hot chocolate Jace had brought him that first week; Isabelle and him spending the whole day watching mundane movies and eating popcorn; Max getting him to read comic books to him for hours; Lucifer and him sprawling out in the living room, just relaxing after working all day; and him and Magnus having coffee.

He was so caught in his swirl of amazing memories that he almost didn't notice when they appeared in the dining room of their penthouse – the key word being almost. Immediately, they were swarmed by demons. Asmodeus and Esmeralda were at the center, but at least a dozen frazzled demons were speaking over each other.

"Finally!"

"Dr. Anderson needs to meet as soon –"

"The Brazilian –"

"Russia sent a repre –"

"The reapers have –"

"There have been concerns –"

"The South African president –"

"A wendigo is demanding your immed –"

"One of Lilith's followers wants a meet –"

"One of the angels is pocking –"

"BE QUIET!" Lucifer suddenly roared. The demons quickly were quiet, exchanging wide eyes looks. He turned to the two senior demons. "Asmodeus, Esmeralda, explain. Now."

The two demons looked completely ruffled. Their hair was going all over the place, their faces were flushed, and they both looked overwhelmed. Asmodeus stepped forward. "My lord, the entire world has lost its mind in the last tweny-four hours. We have frantic reports coming in from every corner of the world. Sightings of, well, everything has gone through the roof." He ran a hand through his hair. "We can't keep up."

Alec and Lucifer exchanged a look, and Lucifer took a deep breath. "Okay. Esmeralda, go back to Hell, and come back with as many demons versed in this work as you can. Bring at least three hundred, but make sure they're all trustworthy."

He waited for Esmeralda to agree and leave before he continued. "Asmodeus, congratulations. You're now in charge of all relations." The demon looked flustered.

Lucifer finally turned to the rest of the demons. "And you all are now going to be the knowledgeable group. We're about to have huge groups of demons coming in to help – you're in charge of getting them set up, and organizing this information. You." He pointed at a random demon. "Buy a hotel somewhere in New York City and set up a headquarters, complete with warding and high tech security. Go."

Once that demon scuttled off, he continued. "Make files for all of the incoming information. I want the low-security stuff in one pile; give it to Asmodeus, and he can make sure it goes to someone to get it all properly filed. I want medium security items, that aren't vitally important, but still needs to be looked over and considered for the larger plans to go somewhere else. I want the high-risk information that must be looked over by myself or Alexander to be taken to the main dining room table."

The demons started rushing around again under Lucifer's instructions. To Alec's horror, a large portion of the papers were being taken to the dining room table. He was going to need a lot of coffee.

. . .

Alec made a strangled noise, and sunk his head into a pile of files. They had been going through information – all vitally important – for ten hours! He was about ready to run away, dye his hair, change his name to Chris, and open a bookstore. That's how done he was.

The news was playing in the background, a grim voiced woman detailing another terrible weather event that was "unprecedented". This time, it was a massive electrical storm over the Great Plains. Five minutes before, it was tornadoes in the Middle East. Ten minutes before that, it was whirl pools surrounding the UK. It was getting ridiculous, and it made Alec feel useless.

Lucifer jabbed him in the leg with his foot. "Wakey, wakey, Alexander. Finish the stack you're on, and we'll pay the inquisitor a visit and get your little group involved in this."

Alec raised his head and made an incredulous motion between Lucifer, himself, and the steadily growing piles surrounding them. "They keep bring more stuff! I'll never be done with this pile!"

Lucifer sighed, looked up like he was asking for patience, then calmly told the eleven demons that had just come in with papers to start sitting them on the kitchen bar. He turned to regard Alec with an unimpressed stare. "Now finish your pile."

Alec did so, grumbling all the way. He had gotten pretty good at skimming through the information, so it only took about forty five minutes to get through about thirty file folders full. When he finished the last one, he cheerfully stuck it in a box labeled "Demonic Activity" and wiped his hands off on his pants.

Lucifer finished off his own file with an exasperated smile. His file went into the "Send to Archangels ASAP" box, where it conveniently disappeared with a gold tinted light. Guess that meant the angels were busy too.

"Come on," Lucifer said, easily stepping into the elevator. Alec scrambled after him, eager to be out of the penthouse. Lucifer easily leaned against the wall, watching Alec with thoughtful eyes. "What have your reports told you?"

Alec huffed a breath. "That the entire world is doomed unless we get this situation in control within two weeks, tops, and that a ridiculous amount of people are dying to things that could only be caused by Lilith."

They stepped out of the elevator and started to walk out of the building. Lucifer was frowning. "Yes, that seems about right. Hold on, I'm going to put up a barrier so no one can tell what we're talking about." There was a pulse of light, then everyone's eyes seemed to slip right off them.

Alec glanced at Lucifer. "How much did you get done? You kept typing on that laptop, talking to people both in real life and on your phone, and were reading through files all at the same time."

"You'll learn to multitask," Lucifer assured him. "Wen have ten demons and ten angels going to the institutes that are accepting us – there are about eighty so far, but there are several thousand in total. We're expecting an influx within the next forty-eight hours."

He turned a corner, heading in the direction of the institute. "We're meeting with the UN tomorrow morning. They are . . . eager to meet with us. All they know is that we know what's happening. Dr. Anderson has made a breakthrough about the Antarctic battlefield, and I sent five hundred of the new recruits there. We can't spare anymore than that."

He shook his head. "Esmeralda said she can maybe get about six thousand more through by tomorrow night, but with how thin the thousand she sent earlier are getting spread . . ." He shook his head again. "Our resources are a lot more thin than I thought. I expected we would have more time to get our demons set up."

Alec frowned. "Why don't you see if one of the angels can go to Hell and speed things up? Can't they ease open the doorways more?"

Lucifer tilted his head. "That's a brilliant idea! I don't know which one, though. Raziel is working overtime with the institutes, Gabriel is sending messages left and right, Raphael is helping some of my demons set up infirmaries, Michael is trying to prepare a legion for the war . . ."

Alec's eyebrows furrowed, thinking over the angels he knew, verses the angels he had heard Lucifer talk to or about so far. "What about Azrael?"

Lucifer shook his head. "No. He would definitely be a good choice, but with all the deaths . . ." He sighed. "Azrael's duties as the angel of death are taking up all his time, and he still has to help Death with the reapers."

"Ariel?" Alec suggested.

Lucifer stopped, then grinned. "The lion of God . . . now that might just work. Ariel was going to stay out of the actual battle, but to help with the plans . . ." He nodded. "I'll have Michael ask."

When Lucifer's eyes briefly slipped closed, Alec knew he was communicating with the head Archangel. His eyes opened a moment later, and he had a smile on his face. "Ariel has agreed. Hopefully the number we can get of Hell just doubled."

"Good," Alec said, feeling a little less stress. At this rate, he'd get gray hair. Wait. Could he get gray hair? He was so busy musing about it that he almost walked into Lucifer when the fallen angel stopped. "Huh? Why'd you stop?"

"We can't just stroll inside," Lucifer said, looking at him with some amusement. "We're close enough now that I can easily fly us to the inquisitor's room. I'll silence it and put a ward up the second we're inside, then we can confront her. Hopefully, she'll decide to join us like Father seems to think."

Alec wasn't very optimistic, but he readily accepted Lucifer's arm so the fallen angel could fly them inside. In the next second, four things happened simultaneously: they arrived in the inquisitor's bedroom, heavy wards slid into place, the inquisitor let out a shrill shriek, and a seraph blade imbedded itself in the wall two inches from Lucifer's head.

Lucifer blinked at the blade as he looked between it and Imogen's wide gray eyes, her arm still extended from blindly throwing the weapon. He let out a deep breath and tsked. "You're aim really is rightful."

Imogen looked cornered and ridiculous in her gray pajamas, clutching a second seraph blade with wildly darting eyes. "What are you doing here? This is a place of God, not you."

Lucifer's eyebrows shot up, and he placed a hand dramatically over his heart. "Ouch. That hurt. Now put down that blade so we can have a conversation like adults." With a vague gesture of his hand, her blade ripped its way from her hand, clattering uselessly against the wall and falling to the carpet.

Imogen looked like she was seriously considering diving after the sword, but Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Do stop looking so pathetic. My father seems to think you have some potential, and while I don't see it, my father has the annoying habit of being correct."

Imogen sputtered. "Your father? As in God?"

"Yes," Alec quickly said before Lucifer could add any other remarks. "He suggested that you might be willing to listen. It's quite possible that you just don't have the correct information."

Her eyebrows rose. "The right information?" she repeated with an incredulous scoff. "What is there to know? The world's going to Hell in a hand basket because of demons, he's Satan, and you're working with him. It's blatantly obvious what's going on here."

Alec shook his head. "No, it's not. This isn't some cliché mundane movie; this is real life. Lucifer has changed, and his first demon Lilith was not pleased. She's using Valentine to get out of Hell, and she plans to destroy everything until one of two things happens: Lucifer goes back to his old ways, or she rules everything."

Imogen still looked doubtful, but there was a spark of doubt in her eyes now. "And what proof do you have?"

Alec and Lucifer exchanged a victorious look.

. . .

Hell had been thrown into chaos. Millions of demons were desperately trying to get approved to leave for earth, and the gates of Hell were about to be opened. This particular exit of Hell was exactly as it sounded: massive gates. The gates were over a hundred feet tall and looked like something out of a high-budget movie.

In front of the gates was a hundred thousand demons that had been approved to leave. Esmeralda was directing crowds of those hoping to get accepted to leave, and a brightly winged figure was flying just in front of the gates preparing to open them. The demons eagerly waiting rippled with movement like an ocean.

The angel, Ariel, surged forward with blinding speed and opened the gates. They made a loud rumbling noise as they slowly swung open. Then, hundreds of thousands of ghastly cheers went up, and a tsunami of demons surged forward.

Far away, watching the proceedings with dark eyes, a slim woman leaned back, a smirk curling on her wine red lips. She was sitting in a throne reminiscent of Lucifer's, and there were two elephant sized hell hounds sitting on either side of her.

Her fingers tapped on her chin, and her minions watched her with utter adoration mixed with a fair amount of fear. She leaned forward with predatory grace. "Within the week, the earth will be ours to destroy." Her voice was deceptively soft. "And it will tremble before us."

"Yes, Lady Lilith," her most important minions agreed.