The children had gone to bed. They now had not one, not two but four supernatural beings in the suite who would protect them with the terrifying power of a mama grizzly bear. These were the royal children whoever tried anything would meet a terrible end. Not to mention Max who would gladly get a new chew toy. Of course, first and foremost Samantha and Jo but since their arrival Anna and Maila had assumed that role equally.
The four and Jasmine sat in silence in the sitting area while Alexander stood alone on the balcony smoking. Sam knew this was not the time to keep him company and she had to dissuade others from doing so. She had seen him in such a mood more often in the past. Amag had by no means been the only Demon he had burned out of existence before he had managed to establish some sort of permanent peace. He was steeling himself for what was to come. She certainly didn't like what he was about to do but she knew it was necessary. That he needed to correct his previously pronounced punishment. There was a soft knock on the door and Celine stepped inside without having waited for an invitation to do so. She was dressed from head to toe in black. He had felt her enter, snapped his fingers and suddenly he was dressed in his black outfit with the fire-breathing red dragon. He entered the living room and had eyes only for Celine. He deliberately did not look at anyone else and could not bring himself to do so. He held out his hand and she handed him his sword with a bow of her head. No words were needed here and with a nod of his head they left the suite. In the square in front of the palace, the rest of the party was already waiting for them. To his surprise, this time Aziraphael too was completely in black. He would have laughed at that would the evening had not been so serious, and he suspected it was Anthony who had convinced him to wear black for once. Both Michaels, Lucifer, Azrael, and Raphael, all in black, were waiting for him. He nodded to them and said:
"Last chance, Azi and Anthony, I really can't change your mind?"
Anthony said:
"Boss, why does it always have to be you who thinks of us? Why does it always have to be you who wants the best for us?"
He lit a cigarette, the last one before they were to leave:
"Since you made me God my dear Demon. Would you rather have a God who doesn't give a shit about your well-being, about your happiness? Who doesn't lose a second of his existence thinking about you? Yes of course I think of you and want the best for you. I'll be damned if I don't!"
"And with that, you have given the answer Alexander!"
Said Azi. Alex shook his head:
"This is something else, my dear idiots. This is going to be..."
He was cut off by Anthony:
"Stop it boss! Is this going to be very bloody and brutal? Yes, but we got through the fourteenth century this one we'll survive too. We're not doing it to see them punished. We do it to support you."
He looked at Raphael:
"We don't need a healer Raffa, not even as you said to establish that they are dead."
"I know and yet I do."
Nothing remained for him but to nod. He snapped his fingers, and they stood on the beach of a small completely deserted island. He said:
"I'll get them here in a moment. No one has to do anything. I just want to see them on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs along with their ankles. The rest I do myself! You Lucifer if you want you get Amenadiel the way you want, to look him in the eye! Then you will get him like that."
His father nodded with the blood lust clearly in his eyes. The others were equally cold-blooded.
Alexander knew there was no turning back possible. He was struggling to control his temper. His work was too important to be distracted by these twelve Zealots who had put his children through such pain. He drew his sword from the scabbard on his back and snapped his fingers. The twelve appeared on the beach and saw Alex and his entourage, terror beating about their hearts. Some tried to get away but where were they to go on a deserted island with a bunch of Angels and Demons looking at them as if they were something distasteful, they had found under their shoes. So, it took no time at all before they were on their knees in front of him. He made a lit cigarette appear, looked at them one by one, and then asked in a made-up neutral tone:
"I have a little question for you. The first one who gives the correct answer will get a cookie. Do you know what your new God is most afraid of when he crawls into bed at night next to his beautiful Goddess?"
He saw incomprehension on their faces, some looked uncomprehending that there was a new Goddess, and most including Amenadiel just looked uncomprehending that a God could be afraid.
"No, no one? Let me give you a helping hand then."
Said Alex and one heard the chill in his voice increase:
"I am afraid that my little daughter of three will see your faces in her dreams again which will scare her to death. I am afraid my ten-year-old son and my eleven-year-old daughter will be the next to relive what you did to them. Is a light beginning to shine?"
He looked at the faces one by one and all he saw was fear for their own lives. No thought of the children. He got down on his knees so he could look Amenadiel in the eyes and said:
"You have spent time on Earth God's favorite. You have seen firsthand what the consequences of your experiment with that killer did to Trixie and what it did to her parents. The pain in Decker's eyes and Dan's eyes when their little girl had nightmares yet again about what you did. Never had an ounce of guilt about that?"
He saw only the Angel's fear of what was to come. Alex continued:
"Of course, you had no guilt they were just little people, playthings of your father. If I tell you my three-year-old girl is afraid to go to sleep, do you feel guilty? She is not a toy; she is an Angel. Well, no guilt yet?"
His control was gone, now there was only the terrifying Crown Prince of Hell. He dealt Amenadiel a blow, a blow right to his mouth. His lips cracked, teeth broke off and blood spurted in all directions. He grabbed him by the throat and asked:
"If it were your son what would you do to the one who hurt him so much?"
Amenadiel looked at him not understanding.
"That's what I thought no idea in that head of yours. No feelings whatsoever for little Charlie because he was just an experiment for you. Well, this is what is going to happen. First, I am going to slowly bleed out your eleven little brothers here, very slowly like a pig. They will be the lucky ones because I am going to use my sword. You are not going to get off so easily, I want you to be able to watch them disappear one by one towards hell and then I will come back to you. Trust me you will love what I have in store for you, beyond belief!"
He took Amenadiel roughly by the collar and dragged him in front of the row from where he could see very well what would happen to the others. He made sure he would not be able to avert his gaze. He walked up to the first in line and let the katana do its work. It sliced through the air and opened the abdominal cavity from above the bladder to just below the chest. The intestines came falling out. Contrary to what many would think this would be a wound that resulted in immediate death. It is not if it was administered by a master. After six thousand years and countless battles and executions, Alex was an absolute master with the katana. Sometimes it was agonizingly slow until death occurred. Alex walked down the row one by one, each time continuing to look long enough in their eyes until the light in their eyes dimmed. His front became more and more soaked in the blood of the zealots that splashed on him. However, his people also saw that more and more blood began to emerge from his collar and from under the back of his black vest until it formed a little stream. Their God was losing blood, they had to get him out of there, but his work was not yet done. For some like Celine, Azi, and Anthony tears appeared in their eyes and on their cheeks but not for those monsters. When the last one was dead he came back to kneel before Amenadiel:
"Hmmmm tell me Amenadiel, do you think the children felt like you feel now when their siblings were killed one by one in front of them?"
The Angel wanted to say something but Alex gripped his mouth in an iron grip and said full of ice and poison:
"Hush, you have no right to say anything about those children. You have no right to say anything about all 144 children because they are all my children. The only right you have is to die. Oh, you know what's fun? Once I completely destroy you, Azrael has offered to be your VIP transport to hell."
He handed his sword to Celine:
"Darling would you hold this for a moment I don't need it for Amenadiel."
The Demon took the sword and knew the next thing was not going to be pretty. He took him by the throat and made sure Amenadiel could do nothing but look into his eyes.
"Amenadiel, I've walked around Earth for thousands of years and learned a lot. Some things are pleasing, other things not so much. Now yes for someone like you not so pleasing. I know exactly what wounds to inflict or what bones to break, that it really takes a long long time to die, and that it is extremely painful, pain that you as a former Angel cannot even imagine. Your human body has over two hundred bones and you will be amazed how many of them I can break before you die. I would say enjoy the experience, but you probably won't."
The next minutes were simply nauseating with the cracking of certain bones and the screaming God's favorite. It took almost thirty minutes for Amenadiel to be picked up by Azrael and taken to Hell. Every minute of it Lucifer had looked into Amenadiel's eyes tightly showing him his future in Hell through his flaming eyes.
Alex collapsed, his father scooped him up from the beach and followed by Celine they disappeared in the direction of the palace. They made their way to the suite where Samantha was waiting for them. She knew he would be in bad shape but clearly, she had not expected this. Silently so as not to wake the children she made a sign toward the bedroom and then toward their bathroom. Softly she said:
"Put him in the shower, I got him from here."
Lucifer looked at her uncertainly and she said with a smile marked by pain:
"I've always had him Dad and I'm always going to have him."
It did not register at first that she had called him dad, that would only come later but he did as he was asked. She made his equipment disappear and saw exactly how bad his condition was and it was bad. Tears shot into her eyes. His eyes opened and she heard:
"Sam, are you and the kids, okay?"
That his first thought was always for her, and the kids made her heart almost explode. She let the warm water flow and gently and laboriously helped him to his feet because his whole body was full of wounds. Softly he said:
"Please Red make it stop it hurts so much."
Tears were running down his cheeks. This was how he looked like ten years ago, the boy she had met so long ago. Not the God he was now.