Free The Third Throne: Angel of Darkness by Tabitha Barret

most of the room.  On the opposite wall from the door was a small wooden table with a handheld mirror and a hairbrush. With no windows in the rooms, the only source of light was two lit wall torches.  There was nothing else in the room.
    Caleb threw the black dress on the bed, pointed at it harshly with his finger, made a slashing motion across his throat, and then ran from the room.  She got the message: put the dress on or be killed.

Chapter 4
     
    Mark stood in the Hall of Winds and studiously ignored Sebastian, the Records Keeper, and Overseer of the Gates of Hell.  He was the one who kept track of all the souls in Hell and maintained the information on each of them.
    As the liaison between Heaven and Hell, it was Mark’s job to enter the pit of despair on a regular basis to deliver messages and news from Heaven.  He was also supposed to try to keep an eye on things.  No one in Heaven trusted Lucifer and his Fallen, but Father had ordained that Lucifer was in charge of Hell and could do with it as he saw fit.  While it was true that Lucifer was supposed to follow certain rules, he typically made them up depending on his mood.  Mark did his best to report what he saw, but he was not allowed access to anything.  He had to be babysat by one of the Fallen, since Lucifer did not trust him.
    Mark held his breath, hoping Sebastian did not harass him for any number of reasons.  Sebastian was the best at his job because he was neurotic, but he was also a pain in the wings.  In Heaven, Sebastian had been cheerful and kind.  He maintained the lists of all the mortal souls, even before the mortals had fallen from grace and been cast out of Heaven.  Shortly after they had been cast out, Hell was created and Sebastian’s talents were needed here.  He was not given a choice.  While many of the angels volunteered to fall from the Heavens to do God’s will in Hell, Sebastian had gone kicking and screaming.  Mark was told it was like putting a cat into a bath.  Of course, he did not have to make Mark’s life hell too, though he tried to give Sebastian as much patience and understanding as he could.
    Mark did his best to prepare himself for the onslaught of pain, torment, and agony when he descended into Hell.  He never liked spending more than a few hours and was desperate to leave as soon as he arrived.  Even though he had been visiting Hell for a number of centuries, he still could not get over the stinging sensation on his skin and the feeling that something was hunting him.  The depravity and decay turned his stomach and he hated it.  He wished Lucifer would hurry along.  He was not looking forward to seeing him.  Inevitably, there would be a torrent of swears thrown at him, most of them colorful and hurtful, but he would force himself to remain calm during the onslaught, or at least try to.
    Looking around the dimly lit hand carved cavern, he watched the expressionless prisoners file through the long corridor on their way back to the Mortal Realm and wished he could go with them.  He would prefer to wander the Mortal Realm for a few hours than stand in Hell.  He tried not to look at the inbound souls, the ones who were confused, scared, or worse, violent.  He moved a few paces to his right to avoid any possible troublemakers.  He had seen enough riots get out of hand.  It was always sad to see the outbound prisoners get swept up in the chaos knowing that their sentences would be extended as punishment for their unruliness.  He made sure that Xavier, one of the guards who kept the prisoners in check, was between him and the line of inbound mortals.
    Sebastian glared at Mark and tapped his fingers on his stone podium.  “What exactly do you want to tell him?  I’m sure I can handle a simple message.”
    “The last time I left a message with you, Lucifer nearly took my head off because he never received it,” Mark stared drolly at Sebastian.
    “That was fun, wasn’t it?”  Sebastian snickered as