Life After: The Complete Series

by Julie Hall

  And then the chaos stopped.

  Pushing to my feet in one fluid motion, I whirled around, steeling myself to face the source of the pandemonium. Bending an arm behind me, I reached for a blade that was no longer there.

  I didn’t immediately recognize the beast as Satan. He stood tall, his body in some half-transformed state. Flesh-like skin only splattered his body now. Spikes jutted out from the joints in his arms and hands, some as long as six inches.

  He rolled his shoulders, and his leather-and-smoke wings stretched as far as possible in the confined space.

  In his right hand, he held what was left of my weapon and its blood-drenched blade; at his feet, lay the shattered pieces of the glass-like chain.

  He was free.

  I pressed a hand to my stomach to stop its revolt and only just managed to keep myself from falling to my knees.

  Satan’s head swiveled in my direction in a very inhuman manner. Fluid and fast. Not a single part of his body had moved except his head. It reminded me of an owl, and in my overwhelmed state, I vaguely wondered if he could perform a 360-degree turn. Would he vomit green bile next?

  “Perfect, my child,” he said, and his voice bounced painfully in my head. “You did well holding up your end of our bargain.”

  No, there had been no bargain. I hadn’t agreed to any of this.

  I shook my head. “No—”

  “Oh yes. This”—a claw-like hand gestured to the broken binding on the ground—“couldn’t have happened without you. No need to be modest, my dear.”

  He distorted the truth. It was an accident. Not a premeditated action.

  But in the end, Joe had bled and Satan was free, so did it even matter? Willingly or unwillingly, I had been the instrument used to release Evil Incarnate—and according to what he said before, I now belonged to him.

  The snakes in my gut writhed and snapped their jaws. I was going to be sick.

  Then Satan swept his wing out of the way, revealing Logan’s motionless body.

  A fresh wave of panic washed over me. Logan’s features, at least what wasn’t covered in blood and gore, were pasty white. The rise and fall of his chest was imperceptible.

  Since we were already dead, I didn’t know what his death-like vitals meant, but they frightened me nonetheless.

  “I believe per the conditions of our deal this now belongs to you; at least, what’s left of it.”

  Without thought, I rushed to Logan’s side. Practically sliding into his body, I fell to my knees to be closer to him.

  Was he breathing? His skin was that of a chalky vampire. Dirt and grime from the floor was mixed into every wound. Some seeped blood, and others were crusted over.

  He was bleeding. That meant his heart was still pumping . . . right? I held tight to that unverified hope. He couldn’t truly be gone.

  “And you,” Satan spat.

  I jerked my head up, but he wasn’t speaking to me. He was angled toward Joe, who was still bleeding freely from the wound I’d inflicted. “In your supreme arrogance, you never thought I’d figure out how to free myself from your chains?”

  Joe took a weary step forward. His gaze was locked on Logan and me, and Satan’s taunts went unanswered. The enemy did nothing to stop Joe’s advance. His eyes lightened when he reached us, and he lifted a hand to wipe the wetness from my face, but the warmth of Joe’s freshly spilled blood coated my cheeks in his hand’s wake.

  Satan continued to mock Joe, throwing words at him like stones. But whatever was said garbled and bounced off me as I looked into the eyes of my truest friend.

  Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Accidental or not, I’d done a horrible thing. But Joe had to be all right. There wasn’t a force in any realm that could take him out. He was literally the Creator of all, right?

  Satan’s verbal jabs continued . . . until Joe roared, “Enough!”

  I jolted. Joe spared a glance over his shoulder at the dark being. “Go do what you have been waiting to do.”

  Satan’s eye sockets narrowed, and his eyebrows pinched. His gloating had been interrupted and ignored. Served him right.

  His attention snapped to me.

  “I’ll be seeing you soon,” he promised. His body coiled before he sprang straight up, punching through the layers of stone that trapped us. Rocks rained down on our bodies in the wake of his departure. I once again threw myself over Logan’s defenseless form. We’d be buried in no time.

  Where was Joe? I searched for him—and breathed a sigh of relief. He was right beside me.

  “Fear not. You’ll both be returned to your realm shortly.”

  “Joe,” I coughed, knowing our time here was short. “I didn’t mean—or rather I didn’t know—”

  He laid a gentle hand on my cheek. “I know. Let’s go home.”

  Home.

  I couldn’t help thinking that the heavenly realm might not be my home for much longer if Satan made good on his threat. How much time did I have before I was dragged back to this pit of death and decay?

  I nodded, but mid-bob, something struck my head, and my vision swam. I blinked, and my vision was filled with Joe’s light-brown eyes before I was swallowed by black nothingness.

  I sat up with a gasp and a sob. I was blind, drowning in blackness.

  Wait, no, I was just in an unlit room. The muted outline of objects started to appear as my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

  Breathing was like trying to take in air through a straw. There wasn’t enough.

  My heart pounded so hard I could feel it without laying a hand on my chest.

  Where am I? Where are the lights?

  As soon as the thought flitted through my mind, brightness flooded the room. My eyelids fluttered at the sudden change.

  The Healing Center.

  That’s where I had to be. I recognized the chairs against the white walls as well as the small bed I was lying in. I brought a hand to my face and pushed my grimy hair behind my ear.

  Everything came back with crashing clarity.

  Logan’s and Alrik’s disappearance.

  Our journey through Hell.

  Romona, Kevin . . . fighting with me and injured.

  Discovering Morgan.

  Then Logan. Finding his broken and bleeding body chained to the wall.

  My sword shattering when I tried to attack Satan.

  And then the unthinkable. The blood I’d spilled that freed Satan from his chains and cursed my soul in the process. I didn’t want to believe Satan, but how could I spill holy blood and not be cursed?

  I put my face in my hands, but my tears had all been spent.

  How long did I have with my friends before I’d be dragged to Hell for my sins? I’d sold my soul to Satan the moment I’d unknowingly plunged that sword into Joe’s chest.

  A wail lodged itself in my throat. If only I’d kept my head and hadn’t gone after Alrik.

  Regret was a bitter pill. Regret for the things I wish I’d done differently, and regret for the things I’d never get to experience.

  Logan.

  I’d done what I set out to do. I’d returned him to our realm. He would be safe here. That was a small consolation considering what I’d done to bring him back.

  I’d been the tool that broke Satan free from the leash that had held him captive for eons. And to do so, I’d drawn holy blood.

  My soul was now surely a shriveled black pit.

  Would I end up like those poor souls tethered to the ground, begging for a drop of moisture? Or worse, would I somehow be forced to work against my loved ones?

  No. I’d never do that.

  There was nothing Satan could do to make me fight against the living, or against heavenly powers. I’d rather end up a wasted shell of a person in Hell for eternity.

  Which was a real possibility at the moment.

  I sucked in a deep breath. At least my lungs finally worked properly.

  How much did people know? Did they realize Satan was free? Had Joe returned? Was it pos
sible that he’d sent Logan and me back and not had enough strength to return as well?

  Questions swam and looped in my head like darting fish. Every time my mind reached out to catch one, it zipped out of reach while I was distracted by another.

  I drew my knees up and rocked back and forth in an unconscious effort to soothe myself. Too much had happened in the last few days—heck the last few hours—for me to process.

  But one thing I knew with absolute certainty: What I’d done was too horrific to ever ask for forgiveness, let alone receive it.

  If Satan didn’t haul me back to the pit, the Creator would eventually cast me there Himself. I couldn’t even turn to Him for help—which was what my soul was crying to do—because He was the one I’d betrayed.

  Captivity to Satan was what I deserved for my actions. Actions that had ramifications not only for myself but for all mankind—both dead and alive.

  Now freed from his tethers, it would only be a matter of time before Satan stormed this realm. Why else would he have fought and schemed to be free from his bondage? This had to be the one place his chains had forbidden him from entering.

  He was right: I didn’t know, didn’t understand the rules. Was he now an unleashed beast with the freedom to roam where he pleased?

  And should I out myself as a betrayer or hide what I’d done?

  “Oh thank goodness you’re back. We’ve all been so worried.”

  I snapped my head up and stopped my crazed rocking. Kaitlin rushed to my bed and pulled me into a fierce hug. All things considered, I was in pretty good physical health.

  It was almost annoying. The Healing Center and I had a tumultuous relationship at best.

  “How is—” I choked on my words, my face muffled against Kaitlin’s shoulder. So many of my friends had been hurt, and I couldn’t even find the inner strength to ask about them.

  Kaitlin pulled away and looked into my watery eyes. “Everyone is fine. They’re all going to be all right, Audrey. They are all safe. And it’s because of you.”

  No, I thought, no one will be safe. And that is all because of me.

  12

  Kindred

  Kaitlin left to find a change of clothes and grab me some water, but I slipped out of the room before she returned.

  Once again, I stared at the wrong mop of hair. Black hair that should have been sun-streaked blond. Why my feet had taken me to this particular room, I wasn’t quite sure. But here I was, standing at the foot of Morgan’s bed, watching his sleeping form like a creeper, and I couldn’t puzzle out why.

  Or maybe I just didn’t want to.

  “Should I be flattered?” Guess he wasn’t asleep. His usually smooth accented voice was full of gravel and grit. Raw as if his vocal cords had been stripped bare. Maybe they had been.

  Old me would have startled at his voice, but new me felt dead inside. New me no longer felt whole.

  When I didn’t immediately rise to the bait, Morgan cracked an eye open. The other was still swollen shut but looked considerably better than the last time we met. The swelling had gone down, and the blood, both dried and fresh, had been washed from his skin. With all the stitches patching his face back together, he looked like Frankenstein’s monster—but given time, the evidence of what had been done to him would fade to nothing. That was if he could work through the emotional damage that had been inflicted. If not, he might carry those scars for the entire realm to see.

  Through my numbness, I wasn’t sure if I even cared. Maybe this was what it felt like to be soulless?

  With effort, Morgan shifted on his bed, and the smirk that was flirting with the corners of his mouth dropped suddenly as his good eye took me in. Did I have a scarlet letter pinned to my chest only other betrayers could see? The change in his demeanor told me he’d picked up on something Kaitlin hadn’t. I didn’t have to wait long to find out what.

  “I know that look.” His voice might have been soft if his throat wasn’t so damaged. I resented that.

  “What look?” I went for neutral but heard the accent of defense in my tone.

  “What did you do?”

  “I got my friends back.”

  “How?”

  “By doing what was necessary.”

  Morgan let out a sharp burst of air. “Yeah, that’s what it looked like to me.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That you have the look of a girl who just made a deal with the devil and is going to live to regret it.”

  The hiss of air I sucked in was the only confirmation Morgan needed. I suspected he knew something, but not that he’d cut to the truth so quickly.

  “What’s worse, luv, is that I know enough about the monster to know he wouldn’t have been satisfied to just bring you down. The taste of your soul was likely only his appetizer. What’s to be his dinner and dessert?”

  Probably the destruction of the world and this realm as we know it.

  “What do you mean?” Why was I asking questions I already knew the answers to? I was perfectly and painfully aware of what Morgan was asking. And he wasn’t wrong. If all I’d done was damn my soul . . . well that would have been bad, but what I’d done was so much worse than that. I couldn’t even fully wrap my brain around the repercussions.

  Not now. I didn’t want to understand. Not now or ever.

  “What I mean is—”

  “Stop!” I held a shaky hand up in front of me. “Stop. I can’t. I won’t. I just . . . Everyone is back. That’s all I can focus on for the moment.”

  Morgan was silent. For once.

  His lips pressed into a grim line. We stared at each other for several moments before he gave me a sharp nod. A silent acquiescence to my request.

  The air slowly leaked from my lungs. Whatever conscious or subconscious reason I’d sought Morgan out had been a mistake. There were some hard truths I was going to have to deal with in the upcoming days, but my heart of flesh was bleeding freely. My deeds were too fresh to face today.

  I turned to leave but missed my window of escape when Kaitlin popped her head in the room.

  “There you are! You were gone when I got back to your room with some water”—she waved a bottle in the air—“been looking for you everywhere. Logan’s awake.” Kaitlin’s eyes were expectant and her smile radiant.

  “Oh.”

  Her smile dropped.

  My wooden demeanor was going to get the wrong person asking the right questions sooner or later.

  “Oh? Ah, don’t you want to see him?” Even the trickle of confused doubt in her voice wasn’t enough to snap me out of the tortured haze that blanketed my mind.

  Morgan saved me the trouble of a response by addressing Kaitlin himself. “It’s nice to see you too, beautiful. I was just about to call for someone to give me a sponge bath, but now that you’re here, it seems you’ll be able to save me the trouble.”

  Kaitlin’s eyes narrowed, buying me a few extra moments to pull myself together.

  “You wish,” she shot back.

  “Oh, I do. I do very much.”

  She scoffed at him.

  “Is that any way to treat someone who endured unspeakable torture on your behalf?” Morgan infused just the right amount of pout into his damaged voice. The man was skilled. I’d be worried for Kaitlin if I thought for a moment she might fall for his antics.

  “Whatever you had to endure rests solely on your own pathetic shoulders.”

  “Well, I suppose that’s true. It was my decision to rescue you from those demons.” A flicker of something akin to sympathy rested on Kaitlin’s face, but the emotion was erased by Morgan’s next words. “I can’t blame you for falling prey to them. You are only a girl after all.”

  “Ah, whatever.” Kaitlin rolled her eyes and fixed her attention back on me.

  I dug deep to find the shadow of an appropriate emotion. It was go time.

  “Yeah, Kaitlin, you’re totally right. Let’s go see Logan. I’m so . . . happy he’s awake.”

 
Face palm. That was some seriously bad acting. And the look on Kaitlin’s face confirmed it. But I was terrified of seeing Logan. Fear rode me hard, warring with relief that he was safe. I was worried he would take one look at me and see all my secrets, all the ugly deeds I’d done.

  And that when he saw them, he’d reject me.

  “Audrey? Are you okay? Do you maybe want to—”

  “No, I’m good! Promise!” Internal cringe. That was way too loud.

  “Smooth move.” Morgan coughed.

  Without sparing him a glance, I spun Kaitlin toward the exit.

  “Yikes.” The turn was so sudden she lost her footing before righting herself.

  “Let’s get going.” I continued with false cheeriness in my voice, nudging her toward the doorway.

  Kaitlin peeked over her shoulder at me as she moved forward. “Yeah, all right I guess.”

  I followed her while willing myself to hold it together.

  “Some things can’t be undone, luv. But others can.” Morgan’s final words were softly spoken, and they threatened to undo me.

  The straightening of my spine was the only indication I gave that I’d heard him before striding from the room.

  13

  Reunion

  Logan was awake . . . just as Kaitlin said, but even so, part of me wasn’t expecting him to be conscious considering the severity of his injuries. After ushering her out of Morgan’s room, I sent her on some other meaningless errand I’d already forgotten. I wasn’t ready to face Logan with an audience, but he apparently already had a visitor.

  One of the voices that floated down the hall as I approached was most definitely Logan’s deep timbre. It was scratchier than normal—making it sound as if he was recovering from a cold or had just woken up—but I still recognized it. The other voice was . . .

  Jonathon?

  I slowed my steps as I neared the open doorway, padding forward carefully. Was I planning on eavesdropping on their conversation?

  Absolutely.

  These two didn’t have a cozy relationship. And considering my history with each of them, I wasn’t about to pass up this juicy opportunity. Perhaps Jonathon’s visit was only medical . . . but then again, perhaps not. Thank goodness I’d sent Kaitlin off on another errand, or she never would have let me do this.