by Jen L. Grey
"There is no time like the present." Dax nods and takes a few steps toward me. "The longer we wait, the closer we get to that future."
"He's right. You should go now." Luke's brow creases, he sets down the paper, and turns to me. "But you should be very careful. As we discussed earlier, you're very important to both the council and our kind. We can't afford to lose you."
I have to bite my tongue to prevent the fit of laughter that wants to rattle my chest. Growing up, I always felt like I was a nuisance and could never do anything right in my parent’s eyes. So, to have the council tell me I'm important and they need me is a little surreal, even if I've never liked them. "My goal is to make it back unharmed." Isn't that everyone's' goal?
His eyes turn to Dax. "I need you to make sure she's protected at all times. She needs to come back safe and unharmed."
"The message is loud and clear." Dax lowers his head and lifts his shirt up revealing a gun on each side of his jeans and knife strapped to his side.
Holy crap, I didn’t expect him to be armed in here. They must trust him, which increases my suspicion twofold. I wish there was a way I could get down there and back without help from the council or Damien.
“We also can’t afford for her to fall into the hands of the wrong people.” Luke lowers his head and looks up. “Do you understand? I need her back here just as she stands now.”
“You do realize I’m right here?” I hate it when people talk as if I’m not even in the room. Hell, I have two artifacts inside me, and he even admits I’m powerful, so why is he treating me as if I’m inconsequential?
His head snaps over in my direction. “Of course, dear. It’s just I need him to understand how important you are to us.”
So, he can’t do that by including me in the conversation? Yeah, not buying it. “You can still address me as well, especially if I’m important.” They want to make me an Elder but still treat me like this. Something isn’t adding up. “I mean, if you believed that, wouldn’t you want to make sure I felt that way … felt valued?”
“How can you not when we risked one of our best men, so they could accompany you on your journey?” His tone is condescending, and he lifts a hand. “Yes, I can bring people back to life, but it’s not always guaranteed. There was a slight risk of losing him.”
If that’s the case was the risk of losing Dax worth it? Once again, it sure seems they have shady practices. “Are you sure you’re on the good side? Because I’m not sure you are.”
His mouth drops open for a second, before he closes it and forces a smile. “Of course, I am. I’m doing this all for our kind and humanity. We must maintain the balance.”
There is no point to arguing, but we didn’t have to reap Dax. We could have found someone who’s time is up and used them as the realm jumper. They could have just transported both Dax and me. Doing this to Dax is just an unnecessary risk that ties him to the council … or is that what they want?
“I promise I’m okay. I’m ready to go on to Hell if you are. I’ve been training for weeks now, and we need to get moving.”
Wow, how long have they planned this? “Fine, let’s go.” I do want to get this over with.
“Okay, so, Christina, this process should work the same way as the other jumper.” Luke heads over to me and motions for Dax to come close. “Picture the flame in your head in Hell and when Dax touches you, project it towards him.”
That is what I did with Becca, so we had figured out the right way. I guess some things just come to you. I do what he asks, and the flame springs up in the center of my mind. The orange and blue flames cascading into one another.
“Now, Dax, reach out and touch her.” Luke’s tone is filled with excitement. “When you see the image in your head, tug toward it. When I brought you back, I added a layer of magic to you, so you should be able to transport like us, just across realms as well.”
Well, that should be more convenient than Becca. With her, she had to draw a circle and we had to step through. If he can transport us, that’s one less step, which will help if we are in danger.
Dax’s hand warms my shoulder and I push the image toward him.
He sucks in a breathes and whistles. “That’s one wicked looking flame.”
“You’re telling me.” It’s mesmerizing and gorgeous. You can almost feel the power pulsing from here.
A swirling begins around us and soon we’re falling into thin air. The air swirls and churns around us and we drop into oblivion. Soon, we land on uneven ground in a dark, cold tunnel.
Where the hell are we? This isn’t anything like what was in my mind. I reach out to find Dax, but all I grab is air. “Dax, are you here?”
Rocks crunch under someone’s feet. “I’m here. One second. I’m coming to you.” More shuffling happens and soon a hand grasps mine. “Okay, whatever you do, don’t let my hand go.”
Yeah, he doesn’t have to tell me twice. Fire powers would come in handy right now. I can’t see a damn thing.
Oh, my God. I’m losing it. Now I’m wishing I had another artifact absorbed into me when I’ve been avoiding it the entire time. It is a real possibility that I’m becoming bipolar right about now.
“Can you get a reading on the flame again?” His body’s tense and shifting as if he’s looking around.
Focus, Christina. I should have already thought of that. I lock in on the flame again and it’s shining in all its glory, but I can’t get a read on its location now that we’re here. “Dammit, no I can’t. I can see it, but no clue where it’s at down here.”
“Don’t freak out.” He lets out a sigh but keeps his voice steady. “That’s the last thing we need to do. We must keep our heads on straight. Let’s get a move on and see where it leads but keep an eye out.”
“On what?” Has he lost his damn mind? “I can’t see a damn thing.”
Loud barking echoes around us. It’s so loud that my ears begin to ring. “What the hell?”
“Well, we now know we’re in a cave.” Dax yell louds and begins shuffling us to the side. “We need to get out of the way. That sounds like those are some big dogs. We need to find a place to hide.”
No…. This can’t be happening. “Wait … we are in a tunnel and dogs are coming at us.” My mouth goes dry and I stop moving. “I know what’s coming at us.”
The barking is getting louder and now claws are scraping against the floor.
“What do you mean?” Dax stops and turns my direction.
My eyes are starting to adjust to the dark. It's strange, reapers have awesome eyesight, so for us to struggle with lighting means something supernatural is interfering with it. I bet its part of the defense mechanism. "It's the three-headed hound, Cerberus. It protects the gateway of Hell from people leaving and entering. Only people approved by the Devil himself can enter and leave."
"How do you know about this?" His eyes are wide, and he looks off to where the sounds are coming from.
"From school. They taught us our last year before the on-the-job training began." It was after we passed all our tests. Oh ... that's what he doesn't know. He didn't pass those tests, so he never gained this knowledge. But you'd think the council would have filled him in on all things Hell prior to letting him agree on coming down here.
"Well, that explains that." He pulls out his knife. "How big is this thing? I don't want to use a gun in here. It might ricochet off the walls and hit one of us."
That makes a lot of sense and I would have never thought about that. "Yeah, it's about twice the size of us or, at least, that's what they said."
A flame bellows from a turn down in the cave, cascading light in our direction. Dax snorts and raises the knife in his hand. "Well, I guess we’re about to find out."
Multiple loud growls fill the air as the three heads take us in. It's surprising because this creature does resemble a dog on Earth. The entire body has short, merle fur and flames are bellowing out of their mouths as they breath. Their teeth are twice the size of a normal dog and
its eyes glow red.
"Stay back, Christina. Please let me take care of this."
He takes a step toward the animal with both hands in the air in surrender. "We aren't here to cause trouble." The head in the middle begins growling so hard it shakes.
I wish he'd come back over here. I don't think this is going to end well. Maybe we need to figure out another way in.
"Calm down, boy." His tone is soothing like talking to an injured animal.
Yeah, let's see if that works. I bet the Devil's guardian dog is just going to roll over and want its belly scratched because he's talking so nice to it.
A deep bark comes from the middle one and it strikes out at him.
He rolls out of the way and it hits the ground. The one on the right side blows out a huge flame right where he is standing, but he jumps at the last second and kicks the middle one in the mouth as he drops back down.
Lashing out, the head on the left attacks and he swirls around and jabs it in the eye with his knife.
It whimpers in pain and flinches back, desperate to get away.
Holding on tight, he is able to keep his weapon and turn to watch the other two heads that seem even more enraged now the other one is injured.
I'm impressed with his abilities and he's able to keep up with these things, even though he's never been down here in an environment like this before.
Not wasting any time, the middle head attacks again breathing out fire as its eyes stay locked on his every move.
He is able to dodge the fire, but the other head begins making its own blaze so both will intersect.
Shit, he's going to get burned alive. I don't know how to help him.
Despite logic, he turns and runs toward both of them. They follow him, their fire pouring out of them full force, but he doesn't hesitate. He just focuses on them. When he gets close enough, he jumps and stabs the middle one in the neck. It screams and turns its head to attack him but hits the adjoining head instead.
The other one reacts and jerks in the same direction and they burn each other. They both screech and jerk away.
Using this to his advantage, Dax jumps up and holds the knife out, slicing the throat of the middle head.
It gargles and whimpers until goes limps and falls.
The other head is in so much obvious pain, it doesn't realize what’s happening and it's just jerking and trying to get away. Dax spins around and stabs the knife in its neck.
A horrifying cry echoes in the cave. When Dax pulls it out, blood pulses from the wound in huge gushes. It doesn't take long before the whole creature lays down and stops moving.
The cave descends back into complete darkness.
I wait to make sure it's really dead before jumping up. Thankfully, my eyes are still adjusted. "Are you okay?" I run over to Dax.
He’s wiping the blood off the knife on his black shirt when I get to him before he puts it back in his harness. "Yeah, sorry it took so long."
Is he being serious right now? He just took down a three headed monster all by himself. "No worries. I'm glad you're not hurt."
"Come on, let's get moving. We've already taken too much time." He grabs my hand and pulls me around the animal.
We walk further into the tunnel and come to a door.
Why there is a random door in the middle of a rocky tunnel will never make sense to me, but I've learned this is just how things roll now in my life. It's a dark door, almost the same color as the tunnel walls. It is almost camouflaged, but something about it stands out to me. "Hey, do you see that?"
"Should we open it or keep going?"
For once, I'm the person expected to make the call. Wow, that's a new feeling. I close my eyes and look for the flame. I feel a tug that direction. I have no clue why, but I'm going with my gut here. That's all I have. "I think we should go through it."
"Then let me open it." He steps between me and the door and opens it. "Uh ... are you sure about that?"
I look over his shoulder and find a dusty, desert looking world in front of me. "I really want to say no, but yeah, I think we need to go through here."
He nods. "Okay, let’s go."
We go through the door and walk a little way. The sky is a dark red, and there is no sun. We continue walking for miles, yet there is nothing but sand and flat land. I close my eyes and still it pulls me toward the same direction we've been heading.
"Are you sure we still need to be going this way?" Dax's face is lined, but he hasn't complained.
"I don't know what's going on. I'm still being pulled this way, but my tracker power isn't working the same as on Earth." At home, I know exactly where things are. Down here, I'm just tugged in a direction. I don't like it.
Sweat tugs on my brow and I realize it feels as if the heat has increased at least ten to fifteen degrees since we've been down here. "Is it hotter to you or is it just me?"
"No, the heat has been increasing for a while." He wipes his brow.
Great, so the heat is rising, my tracking abilities are broken, it doesn't seem like we are getting any closer to the flame, and I'm getting tired. What if we don't make it? What will we go back to? I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
14
I’m not sure how much time has passed. It could have been minutes or hours. I’m not sure. My throat is parched, and my legs are tired. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going, but I can’t give up. The tugging keeps pulling at my core, but our destination never changes. Each step met with more sand, heat, and red sky.
Dax has been following me the whole time, wordlessly. His footsteps quicken and soon he’s caught up to me. With concern in his eyes, he turns his head my direction. “Are you okay?”
There it is. The question I figured would come eventually. I had begun hoping it wouldn’t the last little bit, but I should’ve known better. I’m exhausted, but I can’t stop. I need to get the artifact and get back to Charlie. He’s going to get pissed I came down here without him. “I’m fine. We just have to keep going.”
“Maybe we should take a break.” His tone is soft but stern.
It’s not a suggestion, but I don’t intend to listen to him. I don’t have the time for that kind of luxury. “We can take a break when we get back to Earth.”
Silence is the response I get. I sigh and pick up my pace. If I don’t find this flipping thing fast, he’s going to push the issue even further. I imagined Hell would be hot and red, but never empty with nothing to terrorize us with. This is throwing me off kilter. Even the place where the flame is kept is in an open room, not surrounded by sand and open space.
This is freaking ridiculous. How the hell am I supposed to find it when I’m stuck out here in this oblivion? My feet stumble on each other, and I land on my knees with my hands in the sand. Grit gets in my eyes causing them to water.
A hand wraps around my waist and helps me up. “You need to rest.”
I pull away and rub my eyes. “It doesn’t matter if I need to or not. We don’t have the time. We need to keep moving.”
“If you don’t take a break and get some sleep, you aren’t going to find the flame and there is no telling how long we’ll be down here.” He lets out a breath and puts something soft in my hand. “Get some rest so you can actually find the flame so we can get home faster. I’ll stand guard.”
The material in my hands feel like cotton. “What is this?”
“It’s my shirt. Use it to get the sand out of your eyes and as a pillow.” He pushes my hands to my eyes.
Not having the energy to fight anymore, I use it to help wipe the debris away. A strong musky smell fills my nose which surprises me. I figured it would be sweat. It doesn’t take long until it’s a lot more comfortable. “I think we should keep going.” I lower the shirt and find Dax standing before me.
His arms are muscular and he’s looking around. “No, you need your rest.” He focuses on me. “I really think that’s why you can’t locate the flame. Take a nap and I’ll stand guard.”
Maybe he’s right. It has been a long day and there is no telling how long we’ve been down here. I hate to give in, but what do I have to lose. We aren’t making any progress. I lay down on the floor and place his shirt under my head, balling it up like a pillow.
As soon as I close my eyes, I fall into a deep sleep.
The ground shaking wakes me. I sit up and glance around. Sand is in the air everywhere. I can't make out more than just a few feet in front of me. "Dax?"
"I'm here." His voice sounds close by, yet I can't make a single thing out.
I grab his shirt and stand but the ground is shaking so hard I almost fall back down. Holy shit. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." His voice is closer and soon a hand grabs mine. "Come on, let's go back the way we came. At least there we know eventually there will be a door."
Is he freaking wanting to back track all that way? The ground shakes harder to the point it feels as if it's going to open underneath my feet. "I... I don't think that's a go... oooddddd idea."
"It's our best option at this point." He tugs on my hand and finds my other hand, putting his shirt to my face. "Use this to protect your face and move now."
Not sure what else to do, I follow him as we make our way back to the door. I'm not sure what the point of it all is, but he's right in the sense that at least we know there is something if we keep going back this direction. There is no telling if there is anything going the other way. Maybe this wasn't the right way to begin with after all.
The ground rolls underneath our feet. It's hard to keep on my feet, but, with Dax's help, I'm able to.
After just a few minutes, a large gray wall comes into view through all the dust. "Is that the cave already?" There is no way that can already be it. We were walking for hours.
His hand tightens on mine. "I think it is."
Our pace quickens and we reach the wall within minutes. We walk along the outline of the cave for a few minutes trying to find the door. The ground still rumbles, but the wall protects us some from its wrath.
I look off to the side a few feet away and notice the coloring is a little off just like I had inside. It's just a slight shade light around the edges. "Hey, I think I found it." I rush over to it and touch the portion of the color variation right in front of me.
