Those with him in the banishment realm are, too. Therefore the Guardian teams must individually select those to exterminate and cannot enact a call to arms for the wholesale slaughter of the new Chairman's soldiers."
Her voice rose to a fevered pitch when her husband didn't respond. "Anything less than that will mean that the hundred and forty- four thousand Guardians' souls will be imperiled, if they make war against those entities. Think of it, my husband: compromising the entire earthly army of Guardians at a time like this... forcing them to commit murder."
A low, threatening chuckle filled the cavern.
She bowed and then fell to her knees, going prostrate in submission as tears of relief ran down her cheeks. "Let us turn our combined outrage to the more important matter at hand, rather than my continued torture.... I know and respect that you have the Armageddon to concern yourself with as a priority to your magnificent master plan. I could assist you in creating chaos among the young Neterus, so that distrust, dishonor, and fury replace their love for one another.... And just like the fragile balance between dimensions, permanent fissures among them will allow one of them to call your grandson from his banishment.
"The female Neteru's weakness is one of your most irresistible wiles, and it was encoded in your grandson's natural lineage. All is not lost; his torture may even be greater than Dante's. Through this new vessel, your firstborn can live again--if you allow me to correct the error I've made. It will even cause disarray among the Neteru Councils and the Covenant, which has already been weakened, and thus the angels above them, something we've never been able to achieve. Imagine how strategic that could be so close to the big war."
Silence made her swallow hard and shudder with anticipation, knowing her husband's decision could go either way.
"You were always my favorite, my most shrewd bitch."
She remained cowering on the pit floor as the slow clatter of hooves began a threatening circle around her body. Lilith closed her eyes, but dared not shield her body with her arm again. The situation had surpassed volatile; he could be thoroughly enraged that she'd devised a logical plan and he hadn't--or he could be temporarily mollified. His power charred her skin as he moved around her, thinking, but she didn't even breathe, much less cry out.
"I will install him on a dark throne," she whispered to the bloodied floor, her eyes shut tightly. "I will lead him by the hand to Dante's power vessel."
"If you fail," a low, dangerous voice said quietly, kicking up gale-force winds around her, "I will visit all the wrath upon you that was once Dante's--banishment from daylight, sterility, blood hunger, and you shall take a nonruling seat on Level Six, stripped of your powers here... and you will do so as a celibate, blind, ugly old crone, governing only human dark witches, without even the ability to create my most revered race of demons--vampires." He leaned down and spoke to her softly, his hot breath setting her hair aflame. "I will neuter you, seal up your pussy in stone, turn your breasts to marble, and you will know the pleasures of this realm no more. But you will hunger for it the way my dead son incessantly hungered for human blood."
"I will not fail you, will never fail you," she murmured as sensually as she could, standing and filling his embrace as his red, sulfuric plumes covered her. She petted his broad chest, trying to calm the massive beast that clutched her. Failure was out of the question. "I exist only for your pleasure."
"Yes. You do," he murmured, scoring her throat, making her shiver. "Then seal the new bargain with a bite before you fuck me."
Eve felt it the moment the earth shifted on its axis. The Devil was beating his wife, again, but more severely than ever before. It had rained through pure sunshine, off and on for a month. It was time to take matters into her own hands. She could feel the evil plot crawling beneath her skin like vipers, even though the details would never surface on their own. What was it?
She adjusted her golden armored breastplate and stood, legs wide, east of Eden, prepared for battle. This had been coming throughout the ages, and she would not be moved or denied. Aset couldn't talk her out of it, nor could Adam. Dante was dead, which gave the Neteru Councils pause