Rachel sighed as she watched the news. The fall of Dis had been bad enough, but that had just been the start. Taking the capital had started a domino effect, and every city in every circle had now fallen. Tophet had been the last, but it was now firmly in rebel hands.
"Looks like this Tammuz person is the Devil now," Parthenope said to Rachel. "What's he like?"
"Don't ask me," Rachel shrugged. "I've never met him."
"He's Lamashtu and Hecate's oldest child," said Maisy. "He's a staunch foe of elitism and corruption, so we're not getting a tyrant or anything. On the other hand, he's very loyal to Dad, so I doubt he actually wanted to be king. He might not be the one actually in charge."
"Not gonna lie, I'm fucking worried," sighed Rachel.
Maisy got up to ask Gunther for some sandwiches. Food would make the stress easier to take. Once she got into the kitchen, she sensed how eerily quiet it was in there. "Hey, Gunther?" she called out. "Gunther?"
No response.
Maisy slowly stepped deeper into the kitchen and looked around. After a moment, she found Gunther lying passed-out on the floor with a nasty-looking bump on his head. Suddenly, a demon wielding a cold iron dagger leaped out of a cabinet. Maisy grabbed a concealed dagger from her sleeve and lunged at the assassin to defend herself. As she fought, a second assassin burst forth from another cabinet and attacked from the rear. He managed to slash Maisy's arm, causing the Archdiablesse of All Hell to scream at the top of her lungs as she toppled to the floor.
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"What's that noise in the kitchen?" Rachel gasped. "That sounded like Maisy screaming!"
"I'll go check it out," Parthenope said, drawing her weapons. "Wait here."
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"Looks like we've caught ourselves a Morningstar," one assassin said to the other.
"And the Archdiablesse herself, no less!" the second assassin grinned. "Once we get rid of her, Tammuz's claim to the throne will be beyond dispute. Die, elitist scum!" He raised his weapon to deal the killing blow.
Parthenope as in the kitchen in a flash, wielding her spear in one hand and her sword in the other. She speared the assassin clinging to Maisy's back, killing him. The other assassin jumped to his feet and dashed to the other side of the kitchen. He grabbed a throwing dagger and threw it at Parthenope.
The angel caught the throwing knife in mid-air. "Do you know who you're dealing with, murderer? I am Lady Parthenope Morningstar, wife of Archangel Michael Morningstar! As a human, I was known as Joan of Arc! Perhaps you've heard of me?"
The assassin in trembled but forced himself to remain calm. He gripped his dagger tight in his hand and lunged at the angel. He ran with grace and skillfully dodged Parthenope's spear... and dodged right into the blade of Parthenope's sword. The Heavenly blade sliced right through the demon's neck, taking his head clean off.
Parthenope helped Maisy up onto her deer-like cloven hooves. "Are you alright?" the angel asked.
"I... I think so," Maisy said, clutching her bleeding arm. "I do need to get this bandaged, though."
Parthenope carried Maisy back into the main room. "Maisy!" Rachel gasped when she saw her fiancee's bleeding arm. "What happened?!"
"Assassins happened," Parthenope groaned. "We need to get out of here and onto Earth as soon as we can!"
Before anyone could answer, there was a knock at the door. Rachel ran to answer it. "Who's there, Rachel?" asked Maisy.
"It's my mom," Rachel said, "and she looks scared to death!"
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Leviathan Morningstar and his remaining family hastily threw what possessions they could gather together into suitcases. They had to get out of Hell and away from the rebels while they still could. Now that Hell was firmly under rebel control, time was running out.
"I feel like a coward for running," Dagon grumbled.
"We have no choice," Leviathan sighed. "They made their intentions quite clear when they executed your brother. This is total war on the Morningstar family aside from Tammuz and Naamah's branches. If I'm going to keep you and your nieces and nephews alive, I'll have to do it on Earth."
Sekhmet entered the room with several demonic children in tow. "I've gathered up all of poor Charybdis's children. It's time." She shifted into a human disguise, her cow-horned lioness face becoming that of a beautiful Egyptian woman.
Leviathan and Dagon nodded and shifted into their own human disguises. Leviathan conjured the portal to Earth and fled into it with his remaining family.