The Devil's Daughter: Hell's Garden, #1

By Abbie Payne

BOOK ONE OF THE HELL'S GARDEN SERIES

 

Edelweiss "Eddie" Sullivan was born an angel and has the white wings of an angel, but the truth is, those are just about the only similarities she has ever had with the species. For the past thirteen years, she has lived in Hell as the realm's princess and she knows she wouldn't change it for the world - though that doesn't stop the angels from trying to change it by force. When Victor - the king of Hell - gets the idea to try to bring harmony between the three realms with placing someone over the Middleworld and Eddie is chosen to be that person, the Empyrean War officially breaks out. Victor has done everything that he could to keep her out of it for as long as he can, but after he goes missing, it's up to his most loyal followers to rescue him and put a stop to all of this before it's too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbie Payne
• Release date: Feb 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393281559

Abbie Payne

Abbie Payne is an author from right outside Houston, Texas. She writes young adult and adult about found families, hardships, and the things that make us different in hopes of inspiring people and offering people that are even just a little bit like her a way to escape and a little bit of solace that they aren't alone.

Book preview

The Devil’s Daughter (Hell’s Garden Vol. 1)

The following work comes from the writer’s imagination and only that. Any similar people, events, or places are solely coincidence.

Copyright © 2021 Abbie M. Payne

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, copied, or transmitted in any format, digital or printed, without written permission from the author.

To all the misfits.

The Devil’s Daughter

Cast of Characters

❖  Victor Sullivan - Demon; the second king of Hell; father of Edelweiss Sullivan

❖  Edelweiss Eddie Sullivan - Angel; princess of Hell; daughter of Victor Sullivan

❖  Lucifer Palmer - Fallen angel; the prince of Death; first-born on the Palmer brothers

❖  Pierce Palmer - Demon; the prince of Pride; second-born of the Palmer brothers

❖  Griffin Palmer - Demon; the prince of Gluttony; third-born of the Palmer brothers

❖  Sylas Palmer - Demon; the prince of Sloth; fourth-born of the Palmer brothers

❖  Gus Palmer - Demon; the prince of Greed; fifth-born of the Palmer brothers and twin of Elton Palmer

❖  Elton Palmer - Demon; the prince of Envy; sixth-born of the Palmer brothers and twin of Gus Palmer

❖  Wyatt Palmer - Demon; the prince of Wrath; seventh-born of the Palmer brothers and twin of Lachlan Palmer

❖  Lachlan Palmer - Demon; the prince of Lust; seventh-born of the Palmer brothers and twin of Wyatt Palmer

❖  Calvin Cal, Zavian, & Dante Bauer - Demons; older half-brothers of Phoenix Bauer; three of the four members of the Head Council

❖  Phoenix Bauer - Demon?; younger half-sister of Calvin, Zavian, and Dante Bauer; fourth member of the Head Council; best friend of Edelweiss Sullivan and Athena Forte

❖  Newt Forte - Demon; uncle of Athena Forte; leader of the Angel Hunters

❖  Athena Forte - Demon-angel hybrid; niece of Newt Forte; best friend of Edelweiss Sullivan and Phoenix Bauer; member of the Angel Hunters

❖  Kekoa Koa Waialiki - Demon; Angel Hunter; older brother of Kainoa Waialiki

❖  Nine - Fallen angel; Angel Hunter

❖  Finn - Fallen angel; the newest member of the Angel Hunters

❖  William Will - Minion of Pride; best friend of Oliver

❖  Oliver - Minion of Death; best friend of William

❖  Kainoa Kai Waialiki - Minion of Lust; younger brother of Kekoa Waialiki

❖  Gavin King - Angel; the second king of Heaven (The Big Man Upstairs)

❖  Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, Saraqael, Raguel, & Remiel King - Archangels; brothers of Gavin King

❖  Brayden Parker - Angel; shoo-in to become the next archangel; leader of the Corps of White Nightmares

Trigger Warning

THE DEVIL’S DAUGHTER contains material that may not be suitable for some audiences such as:

❖  Mentions (and descriptions) of abuse (physical, verbal, and spiritual)

❖  Brief, non-detailed mentions of sexual assault

❖  Abandonment

❖  Religion

Please only proceed if you are in the right headspace to consume this type of content or you are not sensitive to this type of content.

Prologue

Victor Sullivan

???

Heaven, Hell, & Everything in Between

EVERYTHING WAS A LIE .

Every. Last. Part of it.

The humans might have allowed Him to fool them, but no pretty wrapping paper or shining bow was ever going to be enough for me.

Shockingly, I didn’t have a good relationship with my father - the original Satan - and I spent much of my childhood trying to find a way to keep myself as separate from who he was as possible. That included trying to prove that he was the evil creature that everyone painted him to be.

At one point when I was a child, I read His book cover to cover. I wanted to believe every word. I tried to convince myself that He was the hero in the story and that we were the villains and the undesirables.

But then I looked at my father. I remembered all the things that He had put him through and the fact that He had taken credit for the few (and I mean few) good things that my father did. As soon as I did that, I began to see straight through the blatant lies that we all - the demons, the fallen angels, the humans, and everyone in between - were being fed.

God, His favorite son, and His followers were not the perfect little saints that everyone always thought that they were.

That fact was proven nine times over; once with Lucifer, then with each of his seven brothers, and then once more with the little angel baby that - little did I know - would change everything.

When I first met her, I vowed that I would do everything that I could to get vengeance for her one day, and I refused to rest until I did just that. I didn’t care what it took. I just wanted to know that she didn’t feel the way that I always did. I just wanted her to know that she mattered.

Even if she was going to be known for all eternity as the Devil’s daughter.

One

Edelweiss Eddie Sullivan

Princess of Hell

Palace of Darkness

THERE WEREN’T MANY PEOPLE known for being fans of the idea of an angel living in Hell - let alone being the princess of Hell.

Most of the demons and fallen angels were used to it by now (I was nineteen now, after all), but the angels? The angels were a vastly different story. That much I knew well.

Exhibit A: I was the whole reason that the Empyrean War broke out.

Victor always tried to convince me that it wasn’t the case, but I always knew that he was just saying that in an attempt to make me feel better. It was pretty hard to hide the truth, though. The war broke out directly following the announcement that there were plans for me to become the queen of the Middleworld.

Every other species was all for the idea, but the angels, the rest of the Big Man Upstairs’ followers, and the Big Man Himself weren’t. Of course, they had also ignored all of us until the voting was said and done with. Did that stop them from throwing the biggest hissy fit the world had ever seen when the news finally reached them? Nope.

Of course, it was probable that the war wasn’t entirely my fault - there was still the general tension between Victor and the Big Man Upstairs - but that was the straw that broke the angel’s wing.

The worst part was, there was nothing I could do about the war. While it raged on, taking hundreds of lives by the day, I had to stay in Hell. I knew that Victor wouldn’t ever be able to cope if something happened to me. Even if he was the king of Hell, Victor was a pro at blaming himself for things.

I just couldn’t help but blame myself for the war and feel responsible for the fact that it hadn’t ended yet. Victor told me once that this was all a part of a greater plan and that everything was going to work out in the end, but if that was the case... why did I feel so gross about this?

Still, I couldn’t dwell on that stuff too much today. I had other things I needed to do today, like meeting Victor downstairs. I was technically already late for that, but I needed to try not to be even later than I already was. Fortunately for me, Victor was used to the fact that I was almost eternally late to everything.

I walked downstairs and to the foyer of the Palace of Darkness, where Victor was standing with eight young men. I only half-recognized one of them.

Victor was a rather attractive man, though that was because the original Big Man Upstairs (or, as my best friend Athena called him, OGBMU) created the original king of Hell to be alluring and unbearly tempting to humans in particular, and he eventually passed those looks down to Victor.

Victor was almost seven feet tall (and over ten feet tall in his demon form) and had a lean, somewhat muscular build that a great deal of humans and other creatures would’ve killed to see in a... "different setting". He had sandy brown hair that did have a few gray streaks forming in it (he would’ve killed me if I ever said that out loud) and gentle blackish-brown eyes.

Another one of the odd things about Victor was that he had this thing about always wearing a suit whenever he thought someone was going to see him. It didn’t seem to matter what he was doing, where he was going, or who he thought he was going to see. Even when he would go to pick me up from elementary school, he would always wear a suit. I never minded, though. It at least made it easy for me to spot him in a crowd if his height wasn’t enough of an indicator.

I also vaguely recognized the eight men standing around him as the eight princes of Hell (who weren’t related to Victor or me at all, but were the eight princes of Hell nonetheless). I’d only ever met Lucifer once or twice several years ago, but this was the first time that I was seeing any of his brothers in person. I have to admit: they were all pretty awe-inspiring, but I wasn’t sure why this was our first time meeting after thirteen years of me living in Hell.

They came to the parties and other significant events that Victor put on, but I never interacted with them. There was no real reason why I never interacted with them. I just never felt brave enough to approach them, and I didn’t know too many people that disagreed with me on that.

Eddie, you’re late, Victor sighed as he stretched his arm out towards me, beckoning me into his embrace.

I welcomed that embrace.

Even though I was never able to bring myself to call him dad or any equivalent, Victor was my father, and I couldn’t remember a time when we weren’t close.

I was forever grateful for him and Lucifer. If it wasn’t for Lucifer, I would’ve died that night when I fell, and if it wasn’t for Victor, I would’ve spent my entire life alone. I owed everything to them.

After all, no one wanted to harbor a defective angel. The other angels made sure to drill that into my head from the moment I drew my first breath and continued to do it every time I had the misfortune of running into them. 

"Well, aren’t you a cute little thing? We’ve all heard so much about you, but seeing you in person is such a different experience!" One of the princes cooed.

Lucifer rolled his eyes and slapped the back of his brother’s head, "Lachlan Asmodeus Palmer!" He scolded.

"Lucifer Samael Palmer!" Lachlan pouted in return, rubbing the back of his head as he moved a safe distance away from the other prince.

Do I need to hang you from the stairwell when we get home or are you going to behave yourself from here on out? Lucifer threatened.

Lachlan didn't respond, but the smaller-built, blonde-headed guy beside Lucifer did let out a soft whimper. I wondered if that was how Lucifer always was, but I soon decided it was better not to know that.

I appreciated Lucifer’s attempt to help, but he was already too late. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as they spoke, and I knew it was only going to be a matter of seconds before I turned cherry red.

Unfortunately for me, I blushed a lot, and there was no such thing as a cute blush for me.

I dared to study Lucifer for a few minutes while I listened to the brothers continue to argue with one another.

Lucifer was just as foreboding as he was the last time that I saw him all those years ago. I knew that it wasn’t just me, though - almost everyone was afraid of the prince of Death, and those who weren’t were foolish. He was tall (though not as tall as Victor) and had a body covered in scars. His black hair was always kept neat except for a large chunk at the front that was allowed to fall in his face. Behind him was a pair of tattered, silver wings. Lucifer was the only fallen angel that I knew of that had the wings that he did, but I guessed that was because he was the first fallen angel.

As he stared at me, his scarlet red eyes seemed to pierce through my skin. I always thought that his eyes were the part of his appearance that made him the most intimidating. Even I couldn’t look into them for more than a few minutes at a time, and I lived with the king of Hell.

What are they doing here? I asked Victor.

I couldn’t figure out why they would’ve been here. It wasn’t like there was anything important going on today. At least, not that I knew.

Victor hesitated before looking at me.

Eddie, I’m sending you to live with the princes in the Palace of Sins - just until the war is over, he told me.

Immediately, I pulled away from him. He tried to reach for me again, but I didn’t let him touch me.

I don’t need to go anywhere. Why would you send me away when I’ve been just fine here? I demanded.

I didn’t go anywhere in Hell without Victor. Yes, Hell was my home, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the idea of getting possessed or killed by a demon that didn’t like me or Victor’s decisions. Sure, most of them tolerated my existence, but that didn’t mean eating me wouldn’t cross their mind if they were hungry enough.

Princess Edelweiss, if I may, one of the other princes - not Lucifer, Lachlan, or the one that whimpered before, but one of the other five - began, Your father is sending you to live with us for your protection. It’s in your best interest to come with us without struggling.

I backed away from him after he finished talking. Was that supposed to make me feel better?

Victor groaned when the princes started to try to step in.

Boys, can you butt out for a second? You aren’t helping anything.

He then wrapped his hand around my forearm before pulling me away into the nearest sitting room. He sat down on the couch and ordered me to sit beside him.

Pierce is right, he told me in a hushed tone, I’m doing this because you need to be protected. This war is getting worse and worse by the hour, and you know that I wouldn’t be able to cope if something happened to you.

I don’t get it, though, I protested, Wouldn’t I be better off here with you, Roscoe, and the Hunters?

Roscoe was my guard and had been since I first came here. The story went that he swore his life to protect me from the moment that he laid his eyes on me.

The Angel Hunters were the most loyal of all of Victor’s followers and the best fighters in all of Hell. If something ever happened and it came directly to Hell - regardless of whether it was on the surface level that we were on now or one of the lower seven levels - it was the Angel Hunters that Victor would call first.  

Currently, the