“So you conjured Morgal and got him to kill my mother and father.” My voice trembled with emotion.
“Yes,” Horne said without a trace of remorse. “I assumed that if one of the demon hunters was dead, the other would stop chasing me. I thought that targeting the family man would be more effective, so your father’s fate was sealed.”
Rage burned inside of me, and my heart hammered with hatred.
“In a way, I ought to thank your father. The moment I first laid eyes on Morgal, everything changed. I finally understood that my earthly ambitions paled in comparison to the demon’s power. A new idea took root inside of me, an idea that would dominate the next two decades of my life. What if I could become a demon myself? With your father and his partner out of the picture, my worldly empire grew, but it meant nothing to me anymore. No matter what I achieved on this mortal plain, death would come for me sooner than later. But if I could become a demon, I would be eternal. Far better to serve in Hell than to rule on Earth, don’t you think?”
The bastard thought he was being cute by riffing on the classic line from Paradise Lost. I concentrated on broadcasting the worst insults and curse words I could think of in Horne’s direction. If he really could read my thoughts, then he’d know exactly what I thought of him.
The Horne demon’s lips crinkled into a sharp-toothed smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I never felt like I belonged to this world; the dirt, the blood, the sweat and tears seemed beneath me. My body a flawed vessel doomed to shrivel and perish. Becoming a demon would be the ultimate act of transcendence, pulling myself up from the muck and leaving this crude matter behind for something far more glorious.”
He paused, his wings sweeping the air with greater control and precision.
“I needed to seize control of Morgal’s power the next time he manifested himself. That gave me twenty-one years to set the perfect trap for the demon.”
The insane extent of Horne’s plan, the crazy level of dedication it had required, started to dawn on me.
“You raised your children to be part of this madness,” I said out loud. “Your sons as well as your daughter. Brainwashed them until they were your soldiers, willing to blindly make any sacrifice required from them.”
In my mind’s eye, I replayed the murders of the three Horne sons but this time Eric, Gabriel and Robert all helped guide Celeste’s hand as she pierced their hearts with the Soul Dagger. They had offered up their lives and souls to aid their father’s insane quest to become an even greater monster than he already was.
“My offspring served only one purpose—to pave the way for my transformation.”
“You led them to their deaths,” I said. “Parents are supposed to love and protect their kids, not use them as pawns in some sick game.”
“We all die, Raven but we don’t all truly live. Their sacrifice wasn’t in vain, and they were glad to make it. They believed in the plan, and as you can see, everything worked out perfectly in the end.”
For you, you old bastard, I thought. But what about them?
Another insight occurred to me.
“It was you who taught Celeste magic.”
“I felt it might come in handy as we neared the day of reckoning.”
I considered this and asked, “How did you know about the Soul Dagger?”
“I kept close tabs on your father’s work, even as he tried to hunt me down. I read the reports on the Berlin Ripper case.”
The Horne demon took a step toward the edge of the still-glowing circle but didn’t pass beyond its boundaries.
“I’d always feared we might not be able to contain Morgal in the magical circle long enough for our souls to successfully switch bodies,” he continued, clearly pleased to have a captive audience to hear all about his triumph. If I could just keep him talking, maybe I could find a way out of his mess.
“You needed a distraction.”
“That’s correct. The Soul Dagger would allow them to attack Morgal in a way that would throw him off balance and allow me to successfully complete the ritual. For my plan to succeed, I needed to retrieve the blade.”
“Then why not just steal it? Why bother going through the whole charade with Celeste asking for our help?”
“I didn’t know if Hell was monitoring my actions. Morgal had to believe that Celeste’s offer was real so he would let his guard down. That scar on your chest connects you with Morgal. It’s why I can read your mind now, Raven. I knew he’d scan your thoughts once he entered the temple, and if you were convinced that Celeste had betrayed you, he would have no reason to be suspicious of my daughter.”
“So you wanted me to be here for all this? It was part of the plan from the beginning?”
“I leave nothing up to chance. You were always the key, Raven. Especially for what follows next.”
The Horne demon held up the Soul Dagger, the implication clear. He would hand deliver my soul to the Prince of Darkness.