“What? No more jokes, Sandman Slim? Here’s an idea. Run back to your cozy home upstairs. Drink. Watch movies. Fuck whomever it is you fuck these days and let the grown-ups get on with their work. We’re really awfully busy.”
I cut the last few pieces of armor off the soul and pull him out of the cage. There’s a metal restraint around his head holding a leather bit in his mouth. I slice through the lock and the restraint falls to the floor. I go back to Mammon, leaving the soul to rub his aching jaw.
“When is it happening?”
“When is what happening?”
I want to kick him in the throat but I don’t want to kill him, so I just give him the toe of my boot in the jaw.
“That was me being nice. The next thing that happens is I start cutting off the parts of your body you can still feel, starting with your fingers.”
Mammon rubs his jaw, considering his answer. When he answers, his voice is lo yo voice w.
“The troops are already massed. All that remains is to agree to the final details of plans and bring the troops under a single command. From there, Mason will lead us to Heaven.”
“Do you really think you’re going to win this time? Heaven has the high ground and they know you’re coming. Lucifer will have told them everything.”
His eyes narrow when he smiles.
“Lucifer is far from omniscient.”
“So you have a secret. What is it?”
“What is what?”
I grab Mammon by the collar and toss him across the room onto his desk.
He waits until I’m close before he attacks.
I’m walking around the desk when he moves his arm in a very particular way. He’s angel-fast, but I recognize what he’s doing because these days I can do it, too.
Mammon swings his Gladius back over his head, trying to slice me in half as I come around the desk. I dodge it just in time. Feel it burn through my coat sleeve.
He swings again but I’ve already manifested my own Gladius. I block the strike. Mammon is flat on his back, not a prime defensive position. When I block his next shot, I slip my Gladius under his, shift my weight, and flip his sword over and down onto his chest. He screams and I stab my sword into his fighting arm as far as it will go. I hold it there until his arm blackens and his Gladius goes out. Hellions smell bad at the best of times. Burning Hellions are like a bonfire in a garbage dump.
He lies on the desk blinking at the ceiling.
“You still with us, General?”
He doesn’t say anything. He just holds his burned arm with his good one. I don’t have time for him to lie around and go into shock. I open the bottle of wine, lift him up, and hand him the bottle. He takes it in his good hand and drains half the bottle. I pick him up off the desk and sit him in his leather executive chair.
He’s looking at me, but his eyes have the vacant stare of someone on a bad acid trip.
“What doesn’t Lucifer know about?”
It takes him a few seconds to focus on me.
“The key. The key Mason was building to get into the Room of Thirteen Doors. It will never open the Room, but it will do something else. It will open Heaven to us.”
“Maybe you„igbe you&9;ve made a passkey, but how can you break through all of Heaven’s defenses and get close enough to use it?”
“There’s a weak spot. One of the protective seals is missing.”
“You mean the Druj Ammun?”
His eyes go wide.
“How do you know about that?”