I continued to kiss him while I lifted my sword and plunged it into his belly before tearing my mouth away from his. Shock filled his eyes, his mouth slackened, and then fury blazed from him. That fury was like gasoline on the flames as they surged around us.
Leaving my sword where it was, I staggered to my feet and fled into the fire.
Chapter Forty-Three
Hawk
Corson and I were almost to the end of the cave when Bale burst from the flames and sprinted toward us. “Run!” she shouted.
We skidded to a halt. I’d never seen Bale so panicked as her feet slapped against the stone and her hair flew behind her naked form. She bolted past us. I glanced at Corson who gaped after her before turning and following her through the cave.
“Is the minotaur coming?” Corson asked when we caught up to her.
“It’s dead,” Bale panted. “The fire and a headfirst run into the mountain officially ended its life.”
“Good,” I said.
“Where’s the other horseman?” Corson asked.
She glanced nervously over her shoulder, and despite the reddish hue of her skin, she paled visibly. What the…? I looked back to the flames as I waited for the horseman to emerge, but there was no sign of him. He had to be a formidable opponent if he’d rattled Bale this much.
“Wrath’s still in the fire, but he’ll come,” Bale said.
“And we’ll kill him,” Corson said.
Bale shuddered but didn’t say anything as we ran.
“Are you sure it’s Wrath and not War?” I asked.
“I’m sure,” she said as we reached the end of the cave.
Everyone had moved outside where they sat on the ground holding their heads or huddled in small groups. About half the humans and demons were bloodied and bruised from fighting each other, and the other half still looked a little green.
Scattered amid the ashes of the horses and the bodies of the horsemen were thousands of dead flies. Even though they were dead, I could still hear the buzzing of their wings; I’d hear it in my nightmares for the rest of my life.
Aisling leaned against the wall of the cave with Oliver curled against her chest and her arms wrapped protectively around him. Nadine and Randy stood nearby as Wren helped them clean their wounds.
“Pestilence and Lust are dead,” Corson said to Bale.
“I see that,” she murmured, but she still didn’t seem to focus on what was happening here. “Seven down, four to go.”
“Unfortunately, one of those four is Death,” Lix said as he walked over to join us.
“And he’s been beaten before,” Corson said. “He wouldn’t have been behind the seal otherwise. We’ll destroy them all.”
Bale bit her lip and glanced toward the town nestled in the valley below. Fire still danced over some of the buildings, but the smoke choking the air masked most of the town.
“You okay?” Lix asked Bale. When she gave him a blank stare, he pointed to the side of her head. “You’re bleeding.”
“Oh.” She pushed her hair back to reveal her missing ear. “The minotaur got one in on me, but it will grow back.”
“Move faster next time,” Corson teased.
“Yeah,” she muttered. “I never should have stopped fighting.”
We all frowned at her as she looked back toward the town. Corson gave me a questioning look, but if he didn’t have any explanation for her strange behavior, then I sure didn’t. He’d known her a lot longer than me.
“We’ll go back inside and wait for Wrath to leave the labyrinth,” Corson said. “He’ll be easier to take out now that he’s alone, and we should be able to kill him before he gets close to everyone else.”
Bale closed her eyes before replying, “Yes, that will work.”
“Do you need Aisling and me for that?” I asked.
“Why?” Lix inquired. “What do you have planned?”
I pointed toward the town. “I want to see if the minotaur’s death brought down the barrier. There could also be survivors.”
“I think me, Wren, Lix, and Bale can handle Wrath,” Corson said.
“I agree,” Lix said and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Be careful not to get too close until you know the barrier is down.”
“Believe me, I’m not getting trapped in there again,” I assured him.
“We’ll see you soon,” Corson said.
I nodded before walking away. Nadine had taken Oliver back from her and was sitting against the mountain while he slept on her lap. I stopped to kneel beside her and brushed the hair back from Oliver’s face. He was so exhausted his eyelids didn’t flicker.
“We’ll find some food soon,” I told Nadine.
“We’re okay.” She rested her hand on Oliver’s nape. “He’s free.”
“So are you.”
“So are all of us.”
I rose and walked over to Aisling. Shadows rimmed her eyes, but she smiled when I extended my hand to her. “What about the minotaur?” she asked as she took my hand and rose.
“Dead,” I told her. “The fire was destroying it, and apparently it couldn’t run through the mountain.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she swayed toward me. “Thank God.”
“The others are going to wait for Wrath to emerge, but I want to see if the barrier has fallen and if there are any survivors.”
“I hope there are,” she whispered. “I feel like we abandoned them.”
“They made their choice.”
“I don’t think they expected the whole town to burn.”
“They knew it was a possibility, and they could have come with us. They were too scared to enter the labyrinth though.”
“Do you blame them?”
“Yes, because one way or another, they were going in there; it was either going to be with us or the minotaur, and they refused to fight for their chance at freedom.”
“They chose to cling to their lives for as long as they could,” she said.
I draped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to kiss the top of her head. Her hands dug into my back as she rested her forehead against my chest. I still considered them cowards, but it wasn’t worth arguing over it.
“Do you want to come with me?” I asked.
“Yes.”
She rose onto her toes to kiss me. Her fingers lingered on my cheek before she stepped away. I reluctantly released her before walking over to reclaim my ax. Aisling retrieved her spear and waited for me to join her by the entrance of the cave.
When I glanced inside the cave, I spotted Corson, Wren, Bale, and Lix striding toward the distant glow of the fire. A row of demons stood in front of the cave. Some of them faced outward while the others faced inside the cave. The demons would see any threat coming and alert the others.
Taking Aisling’s hand, I led the way into the trees and down the rocky terrain of the mountain. Pine cones and dried pine needles crunched beneath our feet, as did some of the smaller stones littering the ground.
The trees were sparse through here and consisted mostly of scraggly pines. When the descent became too steep, I released Aisling’s hand, and we went sideways to keep our balance as we moved from tree to tree and boulder to boulder.
We were halfway down the hill when Caim landed beside us. He transitioned from a raven before shaking out his wings.
“Are you okay to be around her?” I demanded as I pulled Aisling closer. I’d come to like Caim, but I’d destroy him if he tried anything with her.
“Yes,” Caim said as he settled his wings against his back. “Lust’s effect on me vanished when she died.”
“Did you see anything in the town?” Aisling asked.
“The smoke blocked most of my view,” he said. “When you get further down the mountain, you’re going to have trouble seeing.”
“Great,” she murmured. “Where are the hounds?”
“When I saw the smoke coming from the cave, I left them at the edge of the barrier to see if I could find you. Th
ey’ll stay there until we return for them,” Caim said. “Is the minotaur dead?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Olé!” he shouted and put one hand on his hip as he threw the other in the air like a bullfighter. “Too soon?” he asked when Aisling and I stared at him.
Then Aisling started to laugh. “No, it’s not too soon. We should celebrate the death of that monstrosity and two more horsemen.”
We should, but there was no time to celebrate now.
“When this is over, there will be lots of celebrating,” I promised as I brushed back her hair and kissed her temple.
She leaned against me for a second before pulling away and starting down the hill again. Caim hesitated as he looked to me before glancing at Aisling.
“What is it?” I asked.
Aisling stopped and turned to face us as Caim ran a hand through his hair. “The fog is moving closer,” he said.
“The fog with those people in it?” Aisling demanded.
“That’s the one,” Caim replied.
Aisling paled visibly. “How close is it to us?”
“About a mile.”
“Too close,” she whispered.
“We have time to go to the town and leave again before they reach us,” Caim said.
Aisling’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t say anything more as we started down the mountain again. When we were halfway down the hill, a flash of something across the valley and on another mountain caught my attention.
I squinted while I tried to ascertain what it was, and then I realized a ball of fire was climbing the mountain across from us. It wasn’t until the fire rose higher on the hill that I realized a horse and rider were within the flames.
“Wrath,” I muttered.
Before Wrath arrived at the top of the mountain, the fire engulfing him went out. He paused to look over his shoulder as he pulled something from him. It wasn’t until he lifted it in the air and the sun glinted off the blade that I realized Bale had been missing her sword.
Instead of tossing the sword aside, he laid it across his lap and continued up the hill before vanishing into the woods.
Chapter Forty-Four
Hawk
“If Wrath left through the other cave entrance, he had to go through the town, which means the barrier is down,” I said.
“We have to see if there are survivors,” Aisling said.
“We will,” I assured her.
The closer we got to the town, the more the smoke billowing into the air blocked out the sun and burned our eyes and lungs.
“Where did the other three horsemen go?” I asked. “Why weren’t they with Wrath, Lust, and Pestilence?”
“Maybe they’re hiding wherever they were before they attacked the wall,” Aisling suggested.
“They could be, but why wouldn’t they all return to hiding?” Caim wondered.
Only the horsemen had an answer for that, and since I didn’t plan on talking to them before killing them, the question would never have an answer.
“Maybe they had a falling out,” Aisling suggested.
“Anything’s possible with those crazy pony riders,” Caim said.
A few minutes passed before Aisling spoke again. “It’s the four worst ones left—or at least, I think they’re the worst.”
“Pride, War, Wrath, and Death are the most destructive,” Caim agreed.
Aisling took my hand and squeezed it. I felt the tremor in her fingers before she released me to grasp a tree branch while she climbed over a boulder. Our progress slowed when the smoke grew so thick it was impossible to see more than ten feet in front of us.
And then it started dissipating as we moved beneath the cloud and the dwindling tendrils of smoke, and the ruined town came into view. None of the buildings avoided the flames, but a few of them still stood while flames devoured what was left of them.
The remains of the toppled buildings glowed from the diminishing fire and hot embers beneath them. The charred stench of burnt wood permeated the air, and the smoke choking the sky created an unnatural dusk as it blocked out the sun.
“It’s awful,” Aisling murmured.
“It was necessary,” Caim said.
From the shadows of the trees outside the town, figures prowled through the smoke and slithered through the woods. At first, I couldn’t tell what they were; then the hounds materialized. Vivid against the unnatural dark, their amber eyes were luminous as they stalked toward us.
“Puppies!” Caim exclaimed and skipped over to the hounds.
Aisling gawked after him. “The last thing I’d call them is puppies.”
“Caim’s not exactly normal,” I said.
“No shit.”
We were almost to the edge of the barrier when a dozen humans and demons emerged from the smoke and trees. They froze when they spotted us, but then their shoulders slumped, and some of them smiled as they came toward us. I waited for them to walk into the invisible wall of air, but nothing hindered their progress.
“The barrier is down,” one of the women said.
“Good,” Aisling breathed.
“Where is everyone else?” I asked as I rested a hand on Aisling’s waist.
“Most of the survivors have gone their own way,” a man replied. “The minotaur took two into the mountain after you left the town.”
Aisling squeezed her hands as she clasped them before her. “Did they come back out?”
“Not that I know of,” a demon said.
“I don’t think they survived,” Aisling murmured and bowed her head.
“The minotaur killed them, not you,” I told her.
“The fire probably killed them,” she said.
Grasping her shoulders, I turned her to face me before taking her chin and lifting her face so she had to look at me. “That thing brought them in there. And if they hadn’t been too cowardly to help us”—I flicked a pointed glance at the newcomers; some of them had the grace to look away, but a few were unperturbed by my words—“they’d be alive now. Their deaths are not your fault.”
The sorrow in her eyes tugged at my heart before I embraced her. Resting my chin on her head, I held her close as I stared at the remains of the town. She dug her fingers into my back as she hugged me back.
“Is the minotaur dead?” the man asked.
“Yes,” Caim confirmed while he scratched one of the hounds behind its ear. When the hound turned into his touch and its tongue lolled out, I expected it to start thumping its hind leg in rhythm with the scratching.
“Good,” the man said.
“No thanks to you,” Caim said with a smile.
The man shrugged before speaking. “We didn’t think it could be defeated.”
“Everything can be defeated,” Caim replied. “You just have to be willing to fight, and you were a coward who let others fight your battles for you.”
The man’s face turned red as he started to sputter a response, but when Caim unfolded his wings and embedded his bottom silver tips in the ground, the man shut up. The steely look on Caim’s face made it evident he was fighting for the palitons now, but he would kill anyone who fucked with him.
“Do you want to join us?” Aisling asked them.
“Yes,” a different woman breathed. She shot the man a look as she hurried toward us.
“Now they’re all so eager to be around you,” Caim said and closed his wings as he returned to petting the hounds.
Aisling shot him a look, but I agreed with him; these people and demons were not ones I’d trust to watch my back. However, they may be cowards, but I wouldn’t leave them here.
“We should get out of here,” I said as I kissed the top of Aisling’s head. “With the barrier down, the fire might spread, and we have to tell the others Wrath is gone.”
“Shouldn’t we try to find more of the survivors?” she asked.
“They’re gone,” a demon said. “There’s no one left in town.”
I wondered if he was telling the truth or was eager to
get away from here, but it didn’t matter as Aisling said, “The fog people.”
My head jerked in the direction she was looking. A thick fog had spread to block out the trees on the edge of town; tendrils of fog slithered out as it explored its surroundings. Those feelers reminded me of a pit of snakes slithering over each other while they sought out prey. When one of those tendrils came up against something hot from the fire, it would jerk back, and the fog would shift away.
“It’s so… awful,” Aisling said.
“What is that?” one of the humans asked.
“A pit of monsters,” Caim said.
“Amber and her cohorts must have known the barrier and minotaur were here,” Aisling said. “That’s why they stayed in the valley and why they weren’t trapped in the town. I bet those tendrils sensed it.”
“And now they’ve come to scavenge whatever they can from the remains of the town,” I said.
“They have to die,” Aisling stated.
The steely look in her eyes was so different than the one of moments ago. No matter what I said, she’d always blame herself for the death of those people in the labyrinth, but she’d tear these fog people apart with her bare hands and never regret it.
Caim stopped petting the hounds and walked over to stand beside us as muffled screams erupted from the fog. Some of the survivors must have wandered into its treacherous depths.
“We are going to stop them,” Aisling said.
She pulled out of my arms, threw back her shoulders, and stormed toward the fog. I caught up to her and grasped her arm to halt her. “Wait!”
Her eyes flashed red when she rounded on me. “They can’t be allowed to live!”
Afraid she’d take off into the fog, I didn’t release her arm as I spoke. “I understand, but you can’t run in there without a plan.”
“I have a plan.” When she lifted her other hand, fire danced across her palm. “I’m going to torch them.”
“You can’t go into the fog again.” I didn’t care how badly she wanted to kill those people; I wouldn’t let her back in there. They had too much of an advantage against us in there.
Caim strolled over to join us. “Might I suggest sending the hounds in after them.”
Kiss of Death: Hell on Earth Series, Book 3 Page 26
