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  Overthrown

  Lucifer realized spell casters must have accompanied Luxana and her sprites when they fled the ruined spiritual realm of Galidel. Magical barriers and wards had been erected which the sprites had no ability to conjure. These multilayered energy fields had the effect of shielding the sprites and their new city in the Amazon Jungle.

  Passing through this barrier, Lucifer was not startled to see the glamour fall away from the sprites around him. He had been escorted to their village by a group of darkly tanned Indians wearing loin cloths and simple bowl style haircuts. However, their true appearance shown through now.

  Beautiful diminutive creatures, with flowing white hair and gazes that could charm humans and Descendants alike, glided before him. Their feet never touched the ground. There was no paint on their skin, which was pale instead of deeply tanned. The Sprites had only assumed these disguises in order to look like the native tribes that dwelled in the Amazon. Actually, they were nothing like them.

  The village was housed among the trees as had been the case in Galidel before its destruction during the overthrow by the three cherubim. The sprites had always felt safer off the ground. Of course, their unique ability to defy gravity made this sort of society easy to accomplish.

  His escorts lifted from the Earth, rising toward the village proper. Lucifer had no trouble following in like manner. He didn’t even have to employ his wings which were invisible at the moment.

  Unlike Wood Elves, who also built their villages and towns among the thick boughs of dense forests, the sprites did not employ any walkways or bridges between structures. Naturally, they had no need for them. And, in the event of an attack, their village would remain more secure.

  Homes had been constructed around the trunks with tree branches radiating out through the walls that had been built around them. None of the structures were what he would consider lavish. But they were not sloppy in appearance either. A simple elegance, he thought.

  Most of the sprites—there were exactly one thousand seven hundred and fifty three that he could either see or feel—were adorned in no more than wreaths of flowers and the occasional loin cloth. Clearly nothing had changed. This was exactly the way their simple communal society had functioned while in Galidel.

  It seemed that all of the village citizens had come out to see. This was curiosity pure and simple. He could sense their fear also. Sprites enjoyed control, and usually they had it in totality within the minds of those who gazed upon them. But this overwhelming persuasion they held over others did not extend to angels. His gaze swept over the crowd, and it was the sprites who in fear looked away.

  The crowd soon parted, making way for their queen. When Luxana emerged from her royal retinue, she was dressed in a shimmering gown. Her attire was sheer and not quite transparent, a garment so subtle yet striking that it might have been made from web and silver thread. A thin band of silver alighted upon her head with a single luminescent diamond shining at the center of her forehead.

  “As radiant as ever,” Lucifer said, admiring her.

  Luxana had aged, at least a little by appearance. However, the years had certainly not ravaged her fine features. She was still exquisitely beautiful. Only the sharp eyes of an angel would have noticed the subtle changes that time had wrought.

  Luxana’s mouth remained a grim line on her face. She wasn’t accepting any of his flattery. Truth be told, he had only flattered her to enrage her in the first place.

  Lucifer had come to this jungle in order to make a request of the Queen of the Sprites. He had come because of the request made by Adolf, however he knew that Luxana would not honor it. Her negative response would then give way to Adolf’s negative response, and this was the true reason he had come.

  Luxana stared at Lucifer with a mixture of fear and loathing in her expression. She had still not replied, had not said a word. The entire village became quite still. Everyone except Lucifer. He was grinning, his eyes sparkling with amusement, waiting for her to speak.

  When Luxana finally did, there was a slight tremor in her voice. “Why are you here?”

  There. She had asked the obvious.

  He smiled.

  “I want to employ your services,” Lucifer began. “Sprites are the best mortals for influencing the minds of humans. I want you to persuade the leaders of our adversaries to kill their families, both women and children, and then take their own lives.”

  It was an appalling request. Even had Luxana been the cold and calculated mercenary she once had been, it would have still been beyond her to cause men to kill their own children under her control. However, Lucifer happened to know that she was not at all the same sprite his son, Grayson Stone, had once employed. She had a conscience now.

  She shuddered at his request, as he had expected. But she did not back down from him. So, she is both weak and foolish, he thought.

  Her people looked from his face to hers, waiting for her reply.

  “I will not,” she said. “Surely, you knew that already.”

  He had.

  “I felt I had to ask anyway,” Lucifer said gently, his eyes never leaving hers.

  Luxana gave him a puzzled look. “You aren’t going to threaten me, or attempt to force the issue?”

  Lucifer appeared a little taken aback. “Would that have helped?”

  She mustered her resolve, lifting her chin in reply. “No, it would not.”

  “And yet I had hoped,” he lied. “I wanted to spare you what was coming, you know, for old time’s sake.”

  Luxana’s eyes darted around to the faces of her fellow sprites. She had noticed the collective gasp. A shiver of fear had run through them all. What was Lucifer referring to? What was coming?”

  She returned her gaze to the angel standing before her, forcing herself to remain steady. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Lucifer grinned in his devilish way. “Of course you don’t,” he said. “I didn’t think that you would.”

  The queen waited, but Lucifer said nothing more about it. Instead, he was scanned the faces in the crowd, looking over their village among the trees. He seemed uninterested in their conversation now.

  “Such a primitive lifestyle,” he remarked. “Why you would remain out here in the jungle, when you have the ability to merge with human society and enjoy its luxuries, I have no idea.”

  Luxana waited, looking between her people and the angel. They were growing anxious, wondering what this was all leading toward. But Lucifer simply stood there.

  Finally growing impatient, she asked, “What is coming, Lucifer?”

  He had been nodding to people in the surrounding crowd, seeming as friendly as could be. Now he turned his eyes back to Luxana, a toothy smile on his face. “Retribution.”

  Before anyone could react to this, Lucifer faded away like a mirage in the desert. No flash. No bang. Just gone, leaving behind that final word echoing in the minds of everyone present.