by Julie Hall
I whipped my head back and forth, still unable to find my voice.
Joe pulled me forward and squished my face against his chest as sobs wracked my frame. Rubbing soothing circles on my back, he let me cry.
I didn’t have the luxury to fall apart. Every moment we wasted was extra torture for Logan. And that vision confirmed my deepest fear—Satan was using Logan to lure me closer, but I still had no idea what the evil being wanted with me.
Terror pressed on my bladder. I beat the fear back as best I could; my welfare wasn’t my primary concern right now.
“N-no,” I stuttered. “You don’t understand.” Still seated, I pushed away from Joe’s chest so I could look him in the eye.
“I do.” His eyes bore into mine, a fire burning deep within them. He nodded, his gaze never wavering from mine. “I promise, I do.”
My pulse started to calm.
“And when the time comes, you’ll do what you think you need to do. Just know that you’ve already been forgiven.”
My heartbeat kicked right back into high gear with Joe’s bizarre statement.
“Huh?”
He placed his hand over mine, and sadness overtook the righteous fire burning in his eyes.
“You’ll know soon enough.” He squeezed my hand before standing. “We should keep moving now that you’re back with us.”
I hadn’t considered the rest of the group or even my surroundings for that matter, until Romona stepped into view.
We appeared to be in a cave. A fire burned several feet away, giving light to the cramped space as well as adding to the already unbearable heat.
I turned my head and located Kevin, Kaitlin, and Jonathon standing close by.
They all stared in silence. Seeing me jolt awake and then proceed to have a complete meltdown must have been unnerving. Did they have any idea what had happened while I was out?
They watched me with wide eyes and faces leeched of color despite the orange glow of the fire’s flames. They were spooked. Even Jonathon’s expression matched the rest.
“Audrey”—Romona drew my attention—“your hair . . . it’s white.”
I swallowed a gasp and brought a chunk forward to inspect. Color usually streaked my hair, but this time the white completely swallowed any trace of pigmentation. I shivered despite the heat then took a moment to change it back. It had never turned that shade before, but considering what I’d just witnessed, the color change shouldn’t have been a surprise.
I set my hand on the ground, intending to push myself to my feet, but snatched it back when I connected with something warm and sticky. My gaze tracked down, and with a yelp, I rolled-crawled off the makeshift bed I’d been sitting on.
Oh no they didn’t!
“Please tell me you didn’t drag me through Hell on a bunch of dismembered zombie tree limbs?”
Romona’s eyes twinkled. “Okay, I won’t tell you that.”
I spared a glance at my hand, smeared with—something warm and sticky.
“Is that blood?” My voice was shrill even to my own ears.
I glared at the pallet I’d been resting on. A dozen or so skinny branches had been secured together to make a semi-flat surface just wide and long enough to fit my frame. With caution, I leaned forward. The dim lighting made it difficult to see, but sure enough, something red was leaking from the broken tree limbs.
“Oh my gosh! Did they suck my blood while I was unconscious?” I frantically searched my body armor for rips or tears. “How could you put me at risk like that?”
“Vampires suck blood. Zombies eat brains,” Kevin piped up.
“Well then, why the heck are those things leaking blood?”
“It’s not blood,” Jonathon snapped, clearly over any concern he had for me. “It’s sap.”
“Sap?”
“Yeah sap. You know, like maple syrup.” Jonathon’s tone and eye roll made it clear he thought I was an idiot.
My stomach churned at the thought of pouring the blood-like substance on my pancakes. I slapped a hand over my mouth as if the action would somehow ward off my macabre thoughts, unintentionally spreading the substance over my lips and chin.
“That’s nasty.” I furiously scrubbed my face with the back of my clean hand, the bile in my stomach churning once again. “I can’t believe you guys dragged me around on that thing.”
“Well, technically we didn’t drag you; we carried you.” Kaitlin shrugged at the glare I shot her. “What? It helped disperse your weight and allowed us to move faster. You were all floppy and stuff.”
“This is by far the most bizarre thing that’s happened to me since I woke up dead.” A day jammed with firsts.
“That’s saying something,” Kaitlin noted.
“Truth.” I bobbed my head in agreement.
“So what happened?” Romona laid a gentle hand on my arm. Leave it to her to recognize my very real need for comfort.
“Yeah.” I swallowed in a vain attempt to wet my suddenly parched throat. “I saw Logan.” Correcting myself, I shook my head. “No, that’s not entirely true. I didn’t see Logan. I was Logan.”
Kaitlin gasped.
“Trippy,” Kevin whispered.
“He’s . . .” I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my clean fist before going on. “He’s in real bad shape right now. They’re doing . . . things to him that are beyond horrible.” Letting my hands drop to my sides, I speared each of them with my gaze. “If we don’t get to him soon, I’m not sure how much of him there will be left to save.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jonathon demanded.
How could I explain the horror Logan was experiencing right now? “It means he’s on the verge of breaking.”
“Was Alrik there?” Kaitlin asked in a small voice. Her eyes were wide and glassy.
Just the mention of his name spiked my anger. With gritted teeth, I nodded curtly. When I got my hands on that traitor, he was going to suffer.
“Audrey.” Joe’s soft but assertive voice broke through my haze of fury. “Alrik’s ultimate fate is one you wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
“Do you . . . feel sorry for him?” Every word came out with a bite. I wanted to expose my teeth like an angry dog and snap at him.
The skin was literally being peeled from Logan’s body while Alrik stood and watched. After witnessing his betrayal firsthand, I’d never have anything but hatred in my heart for him. He’d led Logan to a fate worse than death.
Willingly. Knowingly. For personal gain.
My muscles tensed, fingers curled inward, and knees bent as I readied myself for a fight. I was acting like a provoked animal—ready to fight dirty to protect what was mine.
“It is not Our desire that We would lose even one. If you truly understood what awaited him, you’d have a measure of compassion as well.”
I growled. Literally growled at Joe. He only shook his head and turned from me.
A moment of shame settled on my heart before I shoved the disgrace aside. I didn’t have anything to be ashamed of. I got that Joe’s ability to forgive was larger than mine, but no one responsible for the atrocities being done to Logan should be forgiven. There was no room for that kind of forgiveness. Their actions were unforgivable.
Alrik deserved the punishment coming to him, and nothing Joe said could make me feel otherwise.
I turned my back on him and walked away from the fire. “You’re right,” I threw over my shoulder, “we should get going.”
4
Rings
“You carried me through the rest of the eighth ring?” I asked in a whisper as we trudged along behind Joe. Sometime while I’d been unconscious, we’d left the zombie forest behind and entered a completely new terrain.
“Yep.” Kaitlin nodded.
“I don’t know whether to be impressed or embarrassed.”
“Definitely embarrassed.”
I half-heartedly shoved Kaitlin, lacking the energy to do much more. She took a step to the side and righted hersel
f, not even bothering to try and hide her smile.
Brat.
If Romona was my best friend, then Kaitlin was the annoying—and somewhat immature—older sister I hadn’t asked for. Rolling my eyes at my friend, my mind wandered elsewhere.
The ground crunched beneath my feet with every step. I’d been told the volcanic stones and cinder had disappeared when we crossed through the last ring. If I tried hard enough, I could pretend we were walking on bleached seashells, but the shape and general appearance didn’t quite line up with that theory.
But, whatever, I preferred it to the zombie trees. Shivers wracked my body when my mind even brushed against the thought.
The seventh ring had similarities to the eighth. The same jagged mountain range cut a crooked path along the horizon. When we’d emerged from the cave, I learned we’d actually been taking shelter within the black monstrosities to hide from any roaming demons. Joe explained that the creatures inhabited the rings closer to the center, but occasionally one would appear in this section. The height of our hidden shelter had also given us the advantage of being able to scout great distances.
How they hauled me up the sharp terrain to find the cavern was a mystery. Dragging my unconscious body straight up that hunk of rock must have been near impossible, but I was thankful.
Even without carrying my dead weight, it took the better part of a half hour to descend. From our perch, I had assumed the area was covered in desert sand.
I was so wrong.
The particles were larger than granules of sand, ranging from the size of a dime to a quarter in a variety of distorted shapes. A sickening snap and crack sounded with each heavy footfall.
No, this wasn’t sand at all. I knew these were bleached bone fragments.
I shoved all thoughts of the ground we traversed into a tightly sealed box and stored it in the far recesses of my mind. We were one ring closer to Logan, that’s all that should matter—even if I had to fight the urge to wince with every crunchy step.
As we’d been warned, the heat increased, but after experiencing what Logan was going through, I hardly registered the uptick in temperature. If anything, I was actually doing better than I was before. Perhaps I was just that much more motivated. Seeing the person I lo—
I caught my thoughts. Whoa, wait a minute. I almost just let the “L” bomb drop. Did I actually lo—lov . . . Oh. My. Gosh. I couldn’t even spit the word out mentally. There was a time I had thought my feelings ran that deep for Logan, but was it even possible I felt that way when I couldn’t even force my conscious mind to say it?
Our relationship had gone through so many ups and downs. Just when I thought I knew where we stood, he kissed me, and we were bonded. Then he was kidnapped and gone. My head and my heart ran into each other like colliding freight trains. I’d been acting mostly on instinct, but when I stopped to really think about us, my head throbbed.
I took a casual look around to make sure no one was paying attention to me and my existential crisis. Kaitlin morbidly kicked bone fragments as she strolled forward—blessedly ignoring me. Kevin and Jonathon trudged on in front of us, their attention firmly forward.
Up ahead of them, Joe and Romona led the way. I squinted and tilted my head just a bit as I stared at Joe’s back. His shoulders were hunched in a way that had my suspicion meter spiking. Was he . . . laughing?
He put a hand up to his face and shook his head. A moment later, he glanced over his shoulder and shot me a quick look before turning back again. The smile on his face said it all.
That booger was laughing. At me.
“Yeah, live it up!” I yelled.
His shoulders just shook harder, and he brought a hand up to wipe something from his eyes. Were no thoughts sacred?
Kevin and Jonathon looked my way, both set of brows furrowed.
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked.
“Nothing,” I grumbled and pushed forward, leaving our footprints as well as my thoughts about love behind.
“Sooo. This is it, huh?” I stared ahead at nothing. And by nothing, I mean the exact same thing we’d looked at for the last few hours: a sea of white with the angry dark mountain range to our right.
We’d followed the mountains until Joe called a halt and let us know we were about to enter the next ring. I cocked my eyebrow and pursed my lips, ready for another optical illusion of some kind that hid the entrance of the next ring.
“Do we need to hold hands again?” Kailtin asked. “Because if so, I think this time we should sing Kumbaya.”
“Did you have to do that when you passed between the eighth and seventh ring?” I asked.
“Sing songs?”
I rolled my eyes. Smart-mouthed blonde.
“Hold hands.”
She grinned back. “Yep.” She popped her p as usual. “It was tricky, since we were lugging around your dead weight. We all had to keep one hand on your zombie stretcher and another on you so we could all get through together.”
“Do not call it a zombie stretcher.” I cringed even saying the words.
Her smile grew.
“Join hands. No singing. I’m expecting company this time,” was all Joe said before he clasped Jonathon’s hand and walked through the invisible veil.
Company?
Wait, maybe we should discuss this “company” before going through an invisible wall.
Before I could voice my concerns, Jonathon grabbed Kevin’s hand and disappeared. Kevin grasped Romona’s, Romona snatched Kaitlin’s, and then Kaitlin grabbed mine and everyone was steadily moving forward.
“Seriously, peeps, I’m thinking that maybe we should . . . Oh shoot.”
Kaitlin vanished. This was happening whether I wanted it to or not.
Rotten eggs. I choked on the stench. Great, we were back to the stinky part of Hell. When I crossed over to the sixth ring, my eyes started to water from the intensity of the smell. The nasty odor had been absent from the last two rings but was back with a vengeance.
I waved my hand in front of my face to clear the air of not only the stench of rot but of some sort of smoke or mist as well. This ring was a little like stepping into a smelly, dense cloud. Foul-smelling and horrible visibility.
Someone to my right retched. Jonathon bent at the waist, dry heaving into the skeletal remains of a bush. The leafless twigs did little to hide the sight. A gag worked its way up my throat, but I managed to choke the bile down.
Everyone else’s complexions were tinged green, but the others fared far better than Jonathon. Most covered their mouths with their hands.
Pfft—like that’s going to do much. Not even a gas mask could clean this air.
Despite the distracting assault on my senses, something familiar rolled in my gut and punched awareness to the surface. And it wasn’t my Logan-GPS . . . this sensation was something altogether different.
Turning in a quick circle, I scanned our murky surroundings. We were no longer alone.
They’re everywhere.
“Huh?” Kevin asked.
I must have spoken that last part out loud.
“Demons,” I answered without allowing my eyes to rest on any of my friends. I was too busy searching for unseen enemies. In this crazy fog, they could be upon us before we spotted them.
“You know, my built-in demon-detector thing. It’s going berserk right now.” That indescribable feeling that wasn’t a feeling. The smell that wasn’t a smell. I’d never been able to properly articulate the freak power that had sprung to life on Earth that no one but me seemed to have. Right now my gut churned, and awareness poked at my senses.
I grabbed the sword from my back, and when the blade blazed to life, a fresh wave of heat flared along my arms.
“Where are they?” asked a straightening Jonathon. “I don’t see anything.”
I spared him a glance. He wiped his mouth with the back of his glove and scanned the hidden terrain with a squint.
Had Jonathon ever actually seen a demon before? It’s not like h
e would have had the opportunity to do so from the safety of our realm. This might very well be the first time he would come face-to-face with the reality of our enemy.
I hope he’s up to the task.
Something shimmered around us, and I recognized Joe’s dampening effect on the environment. The smell became somewhat bearable again, and the heat lessened.
“The Fallen do inhabit this and the remaining rings of Hell. We’ll have to be more vigilant than before.”
“Is that the company you mentioned before pulling us into this ring?” I was still wary, ready for an attack at any moment. Why hadn’t they already charged?
Joe nodded. He was the only one of us whose focus was on the group rather than our surroundings. “You’re feeling their presence because there are so many of them here. It’s overwhelming your senses. It doesn’t mean any are as close as you think. You’re feeling them like I do.”
My gaze snapped to Joe. His stare remained locked on mine . . . steady and unflinching.
“Yes, Audrey. That part of you comes from me.” He answered my unspoken question.
My muscles locked. So. Many. Questions.
“Whoa.” Kevin’s murmur reached my ears.
I didn’t disagree.
Joe shook his head. “Not now. We’ll have to discuss this later. Just know that you can’t trust your instincts down here. Not like you do on the surface. You’re going to feel suffocated by their presence sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you have one breathing down your back.”
“Are you seriously going to drop that bomb on me and just leave it hanging there? I mean . . . what? I’m not supposed to ask any more questions? All I’ve ever had regarding this . . . this ability of mine . . . has been questions.”
“We’ll talk later.” His eyes told me that was a promise. “Let’s find shelter and a place to rest first.”
I wanted to argue, but it would be fruitless. Joe’s answers would come when he was ready and not a moment sooner. I released an unintelligible grumble and let it go. Maybe this meant I was maturing?
