Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

to the seductions of mankind and lose their invulnerability to Hell, but it was hardly common, either. When they could be abducted and dragged into the abyss, the honor of breaking them was a distinction that all Princes fought for. Renat had done it once himself, but he had taken no joy in it. The angel he had tortured had been nothing like the one that haunted his every moment. Still, it was worthwhile information to have. "His name?"
    "Ungiven, as of yet. However, Semiazas has already laid claim to him."
    "Semiazas?" Semiazas was one of the Fallen himself, and he only ever bothered to exert himself for truly extraordinary purposes. Renat felt a stirring of unease in his chest. "What compels him to stake such a claim?"
    "My Prince, it seems that the angel is thus far untainted."
    "Untainted?" Renat frowned. "Then how could he be dragged into Hell?"
    "Word has it that he was not dragged at all, my Prince. It is said that he was waiting outside the Gate, and that he entered of his own free will."
    "Strange."
    "One might even say extraordinary, my Prince." Nergal hesitated for a moment, then pressed on. "I thought it particularly a concern for you, because from the glimpse I was able to catch of this angel, he greatly resembles a certain figure in your house."
    Renat went absolutely still. Nergal was one of the few demons he had ever allowed into his castle, and the creature was a master spy, so naturally he had found the likeness that Renat kept in his great room. He felt no need to hide the reason behind his fall, and it had been millennia since any of his demonic brethren had dared to mock him for his ill-fated love. If Nergal thought that this angel looked like Renat's, if this strange new angel was truly here of his own free will…it begged a question that set every last nerve of Renat's quivering with ferocious energy. If Nergal were right…
    "The Western Gate?" Renat snapped, looking for verification as he extended his wings. Nergal nodded once, then bowed low again. Renat could waste no more time. He beat into the air, crushing dozens of fragile human souls in the maelstrom of his ascent. The Western Gate wasn't far from his domain. He would reach it in time to stop Semiazas from doing any permanent damage to the angel. He had to.
    The Western Wall was a fire that stretched high into the sky, so high it was impossible to tell where the wall ended and the tainted red sky began. The Western Gate was the fire's only break for the entire length of Hell, a small gap at the base of the flame. Onyx pillars marked the edges of this gate, and its three-headed guardian had only failed a handful of times at protecting it from intruders. Just inside the gate was a thronging crowd, demons of every shape and size and allegiance, and in the center of that crowd, Renat could detect a light. The light was faint, dimmed by the proximity of so many hellspawn, but there was no denying that it was purely angelic. Renat had once glowed with that sign of the grace of God himself, and it struck a chord in him that was so deeply-buried he had forgotten its existence. This angel was indeed untainted.
    Renat landed in a whirlwind of cinders stirred up by the force of his wings. Minor demons immediately moved aside for him, shielding their eyes from the stinging heat. The inner circle, demons far more powerful than the madding excess driven by curiosity, were slower to move. Renat's eyes burned with red-gold fire, and a moment later his sword appeared in his hand. It was still sheathed, but that weapon's reputation had spread to every corner of Hell as something that no demon wanted to face, and they grudgingly shifted for him as well, closing their gaping jaws and retracting claws as they reigned in their constant menace.
    In the very center of the circle, providing the spectacle that had so many demons transfixed, was Semiazas. He was a huge creature, thickly built, with four squat centaurian legs and a torso that sprouted up from the very center of his worm-like body. The tips of his blunt, heavy fingers flickered with fire, and his face was a hideous blend of equine and human. He was great and ruddy and powerful, the nightmarish embodiment of one of Satan's first lieutenants. Lying on one side before Semiazas, his upper half barely held off the ground by his trembling arms, was the angel. As soon as Renat saw him, even though it was only the being's back, he knew Nergal had been right.
    The pale wings that had once been blinding