Better off Dead Book Two

by Odette C. Bell

Mary clutched her cross again, her fingers even whiter this time.

  “The Banished was ousted both by the Devil and God.” Sonos sat further back but never shifted his gaze off me once.

  I’d been listening to his tale – though reluctantly – until that revelation. I snorted. “I’m gonna stop you right there. God would never work with the Devil.”

  “Unless something were to threaten this entire realm. Unless there was someone – or something – out there that, if it were allowed to grow, would destroy everyone – every realm – every planet – every soul.”

  As Sonos listed every one of those, my heart skipped a beat. I quickly shook my head. “No such creature exists. And God and the Devil—”

  “Did work together, thousands upon thousands of years ago. As one, they dealt with the Banished, thrusting it from the realms of the living for good,” Mary hissed as she kept a hold of one of my hands.

  “And the realms of the dead,” Sonos added with a growl.

  I just looked at them. “And what, you think that Hilliker is going to use me as an eternal sacrifice to bring this Banished back?”

  Mary clutched her cross again. Once more she muttered the Lord’s Prayer.

  Sonos just looked at me, his gaze as steady as a spirit level. “Yes. That is exactly what Hilliker plans.”

  “Earlier, you said that this Banished, whoever the heck he is, would get rid of everything – every realm, every soul,” I repeated, subconsciously using his exact tone. “That would include Hilliker.”

  “No. The Banished can create a new realm. One where his favored would live in eternal happiness forever.”

  “Heaven?”

  He laughed. There was an all-knowing quality to it as if what I’d just said was the most naïve thing he’d ever heard. “I think you’ll find that paradises are objectively defined as good places. Whereas realms where the twisted hearts of men can play out their every dark desire are the precise opposite. They are places of brutal fantasy, not havens for the soul.”

  “What’s in it for this Banished, then?”

  “The same thing that’s in it for any god – omnipotence.” Sonos delivered that line with a completely straight face.

  It took me a while, but I let out a shaking laugh. “If you expect me to believe any of this, then you’re mad. Such a creature does not exist. And there’s no way I could be used to bring it back into existence even if it did.” I wanted to ensure that my voice was full of certainty and passion, but all it was was loud and boisterous. Anyone would be able to tell that my tone was poisoned with uncertainty. Though I didn’t want to admit this, there was something... there was something about the way that Sonos was looking at me. There was also something about the way his words hit the air. They were doing something – doing something to me on a fundamental level I was not willing to admit to, let alone show.

  I pulled back from Sister Mary, stepped away defensively, and crossed my arms. “So this is the story you are going to use to make me believe that Hilliker was responsible for the orphanage fire when I know full well that it was you?”

  “To call back the Banished, you need a sacrifice like no other. That is you.”

  “That’s it? You just need to kill me over and over again? If it were that easy to bring back this Banished, then why hasn’t someone done it before? I’m not the only person in the world who’s ever been cursed with a resurrection hex.”

  “Your resurrection curse is different,” Sonos said, a vacant edge to his tone. I doubt that he’d lost interest in this conversation. It was the exact opposite. This particular topic was obviously so emotional for him that he didn’t want to reveal that, so he was controlling his tone with everything he had.

  “Why?” I hissed.

  “Because it is a gift from the Deep.” Sonos couldn’t even look at me as he said that. He tilted his head back as he spread his arms wide along the back of the couch. He closed his eyes as if he would never open them again.

  My lips wobbled open. “The Deep? I’ve never heard of that. Is that a fancy term for Hell?”

  He opened his eyes and settled his blazing gaze on me. “It is what is at the heart of Hell.”

  My cheeks paled as what he was saying caught up to me. “So you’re telling me that this,” I beat my chest twice with a tense fist, “was a gift from the Devil after all? I’m not a child of God but a child of—”

  “The Deep,” Sonos interrupted.

  There was something about his gaze – something that held onto me, even though all I wanted to do was look away.

  It gave Mary the time she needed to shift in close and pluck up my hands. Her fingers shook, and they were slicked with sweat. “You are good, my child.” She gently brushed the hair from my eyes. “You always were.”

  I just stared at her. “But I come from the heart of Hell—”

  “The Deep is more than that,” Sonos tried.

  “You just told me it was the heart of Hell,” I spat through stiff lips. “Which means I’m a demon’s child, after all. I should probably just go and hand myself over to Hilliker—”

  Without warning, Mary suddenly slapped me.

  It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. I slowly brought my head back around and faced her as I palmed my cheek.

  “Never suggest that again, child. Do not give that monster what he wants.” Mary’s grip tightened on my hand.

  Sonos hadn’t freaked out and slapped me, but it was clear my offer to go and hand myself to Hilliker had affected him too. He’d gone back to clutching his tumbler. He was doing it with such stiff fingers, he could’ve broken through a mountain. “Do not act or think about anything until you understand everything. Hilliker is a madman, despised both by the dark and light. He intends to bring this world out of balance and use the Banished to rewrite reality. And he’s going to use you to do it. I have a question for you, Eve.” He pushed forward and settled his elbows on his knees.

  The last thing I wanted to do was ask him what that question was, so I just stared at him, my lips pulled back in an angry sneer.

  “Are you just going to hand yourself over to Hilliker? Or are you going to go down fighting?”

  Fighting. Every time. Every single bad thing that had ever happened to me in my life had only precipitated more fighting from me. I had not yet faced something that I could not overcome. No matter how bad – no matter how harrowing – I would always rise.

  I didn’t bother to answer Hilliker – my gaze said it all.

  He leaned back and nodded once. “You’re gonna go down fighting. Though, hopefully, not at all,” he added in a quiet voice.

  I clenched a hand into a fist and slowly pulled my lips open. “So this is it? This is the story you expect me to believe?”

  “Like I said – it’s ultimately up to you what you want to believe. However, you must do everything you can to stay away from Hilliker. And before you point it out, yes, I was the one who sent you after him. I thought you would have more of a chance. I thought you would be more powerful than this by now.”

  “So what happens now? I just hang around at home under my covers and never go out again?”

  “You know full well that we do not have that luxury. He still has many of your personal possessions, and he still has the Santini charms. He will be coming after you sooner rather than later. So we will have to be proactive.”

  “There is no we, Sonos. I have no clue if what you’re saying is true – but I don’t want to believe it. It doesn’t ultimately matter, anyway, because there is no we,” I repeated that through stiff white lips. I further made my point as I tried – but failed – to pull my engagement ring off.

  Sonos’s expression became impossible to read. I thought his cheeks hardened at the sight of me trying to yank that diamond ring off, though. It was almost as if he was disappointed. He didn’t actually think we were engaged, did he?

  Sister Mary grabbed my hands and held them in place. “You have to leave that engagement ring on. It is help
ing you in more ways than you can recognize. I would not have suggested it otherwise.”

  My head shifted quickly to the side as if I’d just been slapped. “Sorry, what?” My voice shook badly. “You were the one to suggest this thing?” I gestured with the ring, the light catching the diamond and sending glimmers dancing around through the room. “Sister, you were meant to care for me. You were meant to—”

  “She does care for you. So do not do her the indignity of questioning that fact,” Sonos snapped quickly as if he actually cared about Sister Mary’s feelings.

  “I’m done playing all of these games,” I snarled. “I’m getting out of here.”

  I turned. I hated myself for it, but I stopped at the door. It was almost as if I was waiting for Sonos to prevent me from leaving.

  “You need to think about more than yourself,” Sonos said quietly. “If Hilliker gets you, every single soul in the three realms could be jeopardized.”

  “Fine, so what should I do, Seventh General of Hell?” I spat.

  He rose. I could see the outline of his wings – it was getting more and more visible as if he was about to unfurl them and start hunting right here and now.

  My stomach kicked.

  “Stay by my side—” Sonos began.

  Those words had a chance to ring through the room, then blinding pain stabbed through my head.

  I grabbed my face, screamed, and lurched to the side.

  “Eve,” Mary hissed as she clutched my arms tightly.

  Searing agony continued to dart between my temples, getting quicker and hotter as it burned through my brain.

  “It’s begun,” Sonos hissed as he pushed past Mary, grabbed me, and completely unfurled his wings. They were massive – too big for this room. They bunched up against the walls.

  Out of one half-open, wincing eye, I stared at their deadly black outline and waited for him to cut me through with them like a knife through butter. That’s not what he did. He furled them around me. He didn’t place them on my shoulders – but he did form a cage around my body.

  Just as fear pounded through me and told me he was about to crush me, the pain stopped. It happened so suddenly, I couldn’t keep myself steady. I flopped against his chest. He settled a hand on my back, his wide grip spreading out and creating more points of contact as his warmth pushed in and thawed my fear.

  “What—” I began.

  “Hilliker has started to use the Santini charms. You just felt the first wave. You’ll be able to fight it – for a time. But soon it will become impossible.”

  “I... figured out that much. But where did the pain go?”

  “His charm can’t reach through my wings – yet. But you can’t stay here.”

  I looked up at him as I clamped a hand on my brow and sunk my fingers in.

  I couldn’t stay here, but.... It was hard to admit, but I was gonna do it anyway – a part of me wanted to remain right here, pressed up against his chest, safe under the protection of his wings.

  If my mind had been working – if even the smallest scrap of my psyche had been functioning – I would’ve thrown that thought out like unwanted trash. Yet there was nothing in my head right now but the sweet reverie that comes after blinding agony.

  Mary was still standing close by. Her face was pale with dread. “We need to get her somewhere safe.”

  “Get the door,” Sonos said. He leaned forward.

  I knew exactly what he wanted to do. Judging by the way his arms angled toward me, it was clear he was about to push one of his strong biceps under my legs and wrap the other around my shoulders to pluck me up.

  I placed a hand on his chest, trying to ignore the exact rigid touch of his muscles.

  “I have to get you out of here,” he tried to explain.

  “Why bother?” I hissed. “If you’re... if you’re right,” I said after a massive, belly-shaking sigh that suggested I was finally accepting the inevitable, “then Hilliker has only just begun. We need to take this time to attack him, not run.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Mary hissed.

  Sonos didn’t say anything – he just stared at me steadily as if the rest of the world dropped away. It was like... it was like he knew my mind when no one else dared fathom it.

  I held his gaze until he darted his head up and stared at the door. “Perhaps you’re right.”

  “General,” Mary hissed, her surprise obvious as it made her cheeks twitch. “There’s no way she can face Hilliker. She doesn’t have the power.”

  “We need to remove those Santini charms from him. The rest can wait. It will buy us time. But if we—”

  “If we don’t, I’m a goner, anyway.” I still had a hand on Sonos’s chest for some reason. I said for some reason, but my body was fully aware of what it was. It wasn’t just his warmth... it was... this need inside me. I’d never directly shared my burden with anyone in all my life. I’d always kept people at arm’s-length. Now, even though I was actively trying to push Sonos away, he would not leave my side.

  “How can we even begin to find out where he’s practicing?” Mary began.

  Sonos didn’t jump in to point out the obvious, so I did. Never letting my gaze deviate off him once, I managed a light laugh, though the greater situation certainly did not allow for one. “Use me. Follow me, and I’ll lead you straight to him.”

  “That’s an incalculable risk.” Mary locked her hands together, the white knuckles protruding as she ran her thumbs desperately over one another. “We cannot fight him by giving him exactly what he wants.”

  “Just... just how far are you willing to go for me?” I asked Sonos. And yeah, you heard that right – I had just pushed that question from my lips.

  Did I believe him? Could I even comprehend how it was possible for him not to have been the perpetrator of the orphanage attack?

  I didn’t know. But I did know this. For whatever reason – at this point in time – my body wanted to trust him. I had no one else to rely on. So I would... I would see what would happen next. If the inevitable occurred and he betrayed me, so be it. I’d fight him to the death.

  While I was prepared for that eventuality, I had no way to prepare myself for its opposite – for the endearing, entreating look in Sonos’s eyes to be as real as it seemed.

  Using Sonos’s chest as purchase, I pushed up. I was damn wobbly. I felt like my knees had been replaced by springs.

  Slowly but surely, Sonos stood. He kept his wings unfurled and locked around me in a circle. They were large enough that they didn’t touch me – and yet they were close enough that their proximity made me aware of their every rustle.

  Still looking at him, I rolled my tongue around my teeth until I closed my eyes. “Open your wings. I’m ready.”

  I could say those words. I could push them and any number of others from my lips. But actually being ready – truly being prepared for what would happen next – was another matter entirely.

  For the end was starting to near.

  Chapter 3

  Sonos stared at me. He didn’t let his gaze deviate once as he opened his wings.

  I clenched my teeth in preparation for hell, and hell sure did come – but not at the hand of the demon right in front of me.

  Pain engulfed me. I was no stranger to it. Having been killed thousands of times, I could tell you the very numerous ways the human body could stop working. But this was a different kind of agony. Reaching inside me, it clutched hold of my weakest side and shook it.

  I fell back, clutched my head, and writhed in agony. It was clear from the grim look in Sonos’s eyes that all he wanted to do was grasp my shoulders and hold me, but he bared his teeth instead. “We’ll be right behind you. Now, follow the compulsion growing inside you.”

  Which one? The one that made me want to get closer to him, or the dark energy that made me want to turn, run, and find Hilliker no matter what it took?

  I still had more I wanted to ask. Like what exactly would happen when we reached Hilliker. Sonos mig
ht be a General of the Damned, but Hilliker was no pushover. He also had a lot more backup. And... if he really was the footsoldier of this Banished, as Sonos had put it, he had some particularly heavy guns in his corner.

  Would Sonos just attack Hilliker all-out? And what if that failed?

  If I’d wanted to ask these questions, I should’ve damn well done it before relinquishing to Hilliker’s power.

  My eyes rolled into the back of my head, but I wasn’t given the option of blacking out. I turned and took a jerking step toward the door. My limbs felt as if they were being controlled by a puppeteer – a particularly cruel one.

  I watched as Mary clutched her cross and prayed.

  I reached the door. With several lurching movements, I finally managed to gain the coordination to turn the handle – then I was out into the corridor.

  This was obviously the well-to-do corridor of the light bar. There were only several rooms, and they were clearly all exclusive. As some particularly fancy guests exited them to the sight of me jolting around like an electric-shock victim, some of them screamed for security.

  Sonos simply took up position in front of me like an icebreaker. By the time we reached the actual bar, we’d already gathered quite a crowd. That meant that news of this wouldn’t take that long to reach Hilliker.

  ... As soon as I thought of his name, this process kicked off in my body. Though, to be fair, it had already been going on. It simply quickened. So too did my limbs. I suddenly broke into a run. I pushed past the surly bouncers outside the club from earlier. Then I sprinted down the corridor as fast as I could. It no longer felt as if I was being controlled by uncoordinated hands. I moved with grace and efficiency.

  When several revelers got in my way, their white-painted faces taking up my view of the corridor, rather than shove them out of the way, I simply ran up the wall and leaped right over their heads. I landed, my hair furling over my face. Then I shoved up and kept going.

  Maybe Mary muttered something from behind me, but I couldn’t discern her words – I couldn’t even hear them.

  The only thing that mattered to me – the only thing that had ever mattered – was getting to Hilliker. Thoughts of him destroyed my past, future, and present, melding them into one immovable arrow that pointed his way.