She crept toward him, watching her steps so she did not fall. In spite of the fire roaring nearby, the floor was wet, slippery. . .she shuddered to think why.

Lucifer placed his hand on her shoulder. "This is Adryel, one of my chief lieutenants."

"An orb?" Robiel looked like he was going to be sick.

Lucifer chuckled. "Ah, yes. Interestingly, the powers were quite aptly named. They developed into very powerful, ferocious warriors. Michael's army is mostly powers, I regret to say."

"Indeed?" Robiel seemed to be impressed.

"Adryel is quite intelligent too."

She felt embarra.s.sment sting her cheeks, her face warming even though she was facing away from the fire.

"Thank you, Lord Lucifer." She cast her eyes down.

"Remarkable. An intelligent orb. I'd have said there could be no such thing. . .And a female." He seemed to have just noticed, and he leered at her. "I have not even seen a female of any kind for. . .eons." He scanned the new arrivals. "Are there others?" He giggled like an adolescent and rubbed his hands together.

Lucifer looked questioningly at Adryel.

"Mia and Ami are here," she said. "We fell in close together."

"So there are two others, at least." Lucifer clapped Robiel on the back. "I will introduce you." He turned to Adryel. "Robiel knows where to procure food. I'll send them with him. Perhaps they will do a bit of bartering."

Lucifer and Robiel both had a good chuckle at that.

"Sit and rest," Lucifer told Adryel as Robiel led the others deeper into the cave. "We have much to do. Much to plan."

"Much to plan? What could we possibly have to plan now?"

Lucifer laughed heartily. "My dear Adryel, Michael and Adonai are fools. They believe that dropping us into the pit, consigning us to h.e.l.l, as Robiel calls it, spells the end of our struggle. Well, it's not the end. It's only the beginning." He began to pace.

"You surely do not expect me to sit in this place and molt, do you?"

He paused, as though in thought, a finger tapping his chin before he thrust it in the air and began to wag it for emphasis, while simultaneously resuming his pacing. "I say bah and double bah. Adonai thinks that's what I'll do. It's what Michael expects."

Adryel flinched as Lucifer stopped walking and lunged toward her, his face inches from hers. "They're wrong. We'll find a way out." He glared into her eyes for several seconds as though searching her very soul. Finally, he stepped back.

"You told me Adonai created a human. One of the soldiers said there are two of them, now, a male and a female. They're on their planet. They are happy. They are. . .good."

He turned to stare at the fire, the finger going back up to tap a beat on his chin. "We'll have to do something about that."

He stood entranced by the fire for several minutes, and Adryel used the reprieve to sit quietly and contemplate the past few days, everything from her audience with Adonai to her consignment to the pit.

Just then, Robiel, Ami, and Mia returned pushing a cart loaded with a dark moss.

"It looks awful, but it tastes good," Mia called.

Ami pushed the cart into the cavern while Mia hung back. "It is cooler if you move away from the fire."

Adryel noticed Robiel's hand resting on Mia's shoulder.

Mia looked up at Robiel and smiled. She rubbed his arm. "We have beer to drink. Robiel made it himself by boiling the moss and distilling the mash."

"Come and eat." Lucifer turned to face the others, his arms spread wide in welcoming. "Michael believes we are finished," he called. "He believes we are powerless, relegated to this pit, but he is quite mistaken."

A murmur began to filter through the eager rebels, and Lucifer reveled in it, his voice and arms rising higher. "Mark my words. We will escape from this place. We will go back and take what is rightfully ours."

The crowd began to cheer.

Lucifer leaped onto a boulder, his face split into a wide grin. "We will not stop until we bring Adonai to his knees."

The meal had ended, and Adryel leaned against one of the large boulders, about to fall asleep. Lucifer knelt beside her, observing the remnants of his army.

A few had already drifted off. Others were talking, drinking, choosing sides for rokmon-a board game that was popular among the angels. They had sketched a board in the dust on the far side of the cave and had a.s.sembled small stones of various colors to use as game pieces. Ramael had been a master at the game.

Lucifer interrupted her thoughts of Ramael. "All of these angels who have followed me here. . .Inspiring, isn't it?"

Adryel nodded. "It truly is. I'm surprised more did not desert you at the mouth of the pit."

"Yes." He bobbed his head in reluctant agreement. "I was pleased." He gazed around the large room. "Not the quarters I would have chosen, certainly, but. . .perhaps in time."

Adryel studied the area. "I suppose it could be worse."

"Indeed."

"It is rather hot here though," Adryel added.

"Heat you say?" Lucifer pondered this. "I say, it's not so much the heat, Adryel. . ." he thrust his finger into the air, ". . .it's the humidity."

He grinned with satisfaction, and even Adryel found herself smiling. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"And. . ." Lucifer's face brightened further as he leaned toward her, "I even have a private s.p.a.ce. A smaller cave opens off of this one, right back there." He pointed.

Adryel's eyes followed his hand, but a large boulder blocked her view.

"Behind the boulder. Private," he said again, pausing to look into her eyes. "I want you to be my companion tonight."

Surely she had heard him wrong. He couldn't truly want her to. . .

Adryel found her voice. "But I. . .I'm paired, Lord Lucifer, you know that, and-"

"And your pair is dead. Even in the city you are free from that obligation." He stood, towering over her. "Besides, we are no longer in the city. Clearly. The old customs, they no longer apply. The rules have changed."

He bent down to her ear and whispered, "We have no pairs here."

Adryel looked out at the angels who filled the cavern. Ami was in the middle of one of the groups, matching the males drink for drink, waiting her turn to play rokmon. Her eyes strayed to Adryel and she frowned, then she flashed a bright smile at Lord Lucifer before returning her attention to the game.

"I had Beliel take a census," Lucifer announced. "As of an hour ago, one hundred of us had reached the cavern alive. Robiel and fifty of his followers were already here."

He smiled grimly. "Of those one hundred and fifty, well, the statistics are not in your favor, my dear. It seems we have only three females among all us brutish males-Mia, Ami, and you."

He paused as though to let his words sink in, which they were. Only three females, and a full third of the males had been holed up down here for who knew how long. . .

Lucifer clucked his tongue. "Robiel seems to be quite taken with Mia. They disappeared some time ago. So that leaves two." He smirked. "You and Ami. One of you will be my companion tonight." He licked his lips. "The other will be very busy indeed. . ." he swept his arm around the cavern, "with them."

Adryel couldn't help but follow his gesture, and his implication. She gulped past the lump that had formed in her throat.

"Should I whistle," Lucifer continued, "Ami will kick over the game pieces, and anyone in her way, as she rushes to my side." He smirked. "She's so eager to please. But you know me, Adryel, I value the intellect far beyond any bodily pleasure. More than food or drink or idle conversation, or. . .anything. So, naturally I'd prefer you as a companion."

Adryel's heart pounded and her breathing became shallow. She stared at Lord Lucifer, unable to form words. Ramael had often questioned Lucifer's intentions. When he had spoken of ravishing her, his example of how a human might behave, Ramael had been ready to cut Lucifer's throat. She'd dismissed it as simply a vivid example, but now. . .

"You have a choice, Adryel. You can come with me, for a nice relaxing evening in a private cavern, or. . ." he glanced at the raucous throng of males already drooling over Ami as she guzzled her drink, "you can stay with them, for something else entirely." He shrugged. "I know Beliel, for one, hopes you will refuse me. Maliel, too. And the others. . ."

He paused briefly, seeming to be waiting for her response, but she still could not find her voice.

"We could leave it to chance instead." He pulled the wooden disk from his robe. "You recall my disk, don't you? On one side we see an X, on the other side, a circle. Take it." He held it out to her. "Toss it in the air. Flip it. If the disk lands with the circle facing up, I ravish you. The X, well, Beliel will be first in line."

Adryel made no move to take the disk.

"All right, I'll do the honors." Lucifer placed his thumb under the disk and flipped it high into the air.

Adryel lunged for it, but it slipped through her fingers. And that quickly, finding her voice was all she had. She blurted out the words that would save her. "Lord Lucifer, I'd very much like to be your companion tonight. . ."

The disk hit the ground, the X visible. Adryel swallowed hard.

". . .and every night in the future."

A wicked satisfaction spread across his face. "A wise decision, Adryel. You'll not regret it. Come." He reached out to help her to her feet. He nudged her toward the small private cavern behind the boulder. "You'll be my first, you know. Could Ramael have said that? You should be honored."

Adryel drew back her hand to slap him, but she heard Beliel call out for Ami, and her arm fell to her side.

"Honored," she whispered, her eyes cast toward the ground.

Then, as Lucifer gently took her hand in his, Adryel lifted her gaze and allowed him to lead her to his room.

Mistress of h.e.l.l.

Several weeks had pa.s.sed in h.e.l.l.

Adryel stood in front of the pot of boiling water and poured in a handful of dark moss, then began to stir as her eyes took in the s.p.a.ce around her.

It certainly was a large cave, at least. And she had been right. . .it could have been worse. That was the mantra that had gotten her through it all.

The morning following their arrival, Robiel had given Lucifer and Adryel a tour. The cave seemed to stretch out forever, with multiple smaller caves opening off of it, like tiny alcoves in a large house. Robiel's followers and a few others who had been sent to the pit over the years lived at the far end.

And they did have some privacy. . .

But even though Lucifer had moved most of his army away from the fire, there was no escape from the heat-or the humidity, Adryel thought with a grim smile. The lake filled a large chamber on the lowest level, and its heat rose and spread through the entire cave. The plain that stretched outside of Celestial City was icy cold by comparison. She wiped perspiration from her forehead, a pointless effort, and looked down at her cooking fire. It only added to her misery.

Lucifer had been away for several days now, taking Beliel, Maliel, and Ami with him to explore more of the cavern, searching for a way out, he'd said. She frowned. The three of them had taken several trips of this nature and, although none spoke of it, she was certain Lucifer had relations with Ami when they were away.

"All three of them relate to her," she huffed. And who knew how many more. "Tramp."

With each trip, Adryel feared she would be sent packing on their return, that Ami would move into Lord Lucifer's room and she would be forced to spend her nights among the horde.

She shivered. While Ami seemed to revel in all the male attention-negative or otherwise-Adryel could not bear having to entertain the crowd.

When Lucifer had returned from his first trip, she had complained, questioned him about his activities, but she had quickly decided to hold her tongue. Sharing him was nowhere near as bad as having him share her.

She still thought of Ramael from time to time-how could she not? But each night that went by she thought of him less and less. Lord Lucifer could not compare with Ramael in any way, but he was her past. Lord Lucifer was her present. And it could be worse. A lot worse.

She stirred the porridge again, unable to hold back a snort of disgust. Why were the females required to prepare the meals? It was not as if the others had work to do. Since their arrival, most of them laid around all day long, playing rokmon, demanding drink, and making lewd comments when the females approached. And when they walked away again.

The day before, she had been on the level near the fire when Maliel had grabbed her arm and backed her against the cave wall next to the spot where eight of them were playing, pinning her there with his body.

She had cried out as he pushed her onto the hard, clammy surface, causing the males nearby, Maliel included, to laugh. "What are you doing?" she'd shouted. "Stop it."

This only served to make him laugh harder.

"I'll. . .I'll have Lord Lucifer chain you in the lake of fire. He'll do it too. He hates to share."

That shut him up, but the others had continued to snicker, shouting out random excuses for Maliel's behavior.

"He was expelled from the game for cheating."

"Has to entertain himself somehow."

Then they had continued the game, no one moving to help her. "Maybe the winner should have you next," one had declared.

Adryel slapped Maliel so hard then that he fell backward and slipped, almost sliding into the lake, but finally releasing his grip on her. One foot had crashed against a small boulder, halting his slide just before his other one had sunk into the fire, and he had sprung away, limping and shouting obscenities as his friends had roared with laughter.

"Would have served him right if his foot had missed the boulder," Adryel mused to herself.

Ami tapped her on the shoulder, causing Adryel to drop her stirring spoon. "Whose foot and what boulder? Never mind," she growled as Adryel bent down to retrieve the spoon. "Lord Lucifer wants you. Over there." She jerked her head toward the far end of the cave where Lucifer stood with several of the others. "I'm to finish your work for you." Her voice sounded like a reprimand, and Adryel whipped around to confront Lucifer.

"Adryel, I have a job for you." Lucifer motioned for her to come. His voice sounded cheerier than Adryel had heard it since before the debate.

"Yes. Ami will finish for you. This is more important. . .and much more interesting."

Adryel caught Ami's eye and smirked. Ami scowled as she s.n.a.t.c.hed the spoon from Adryel's hand and began to stir as if the porridge were as thick as mud.