Her Black Soul (The Dark Amulet Series Book 3)

by A. J. Norris

  He tried his best to smile. “Do not worry about those.”

  “Ohhhh,” the Damned soul garbled. Virgil helped Evie up and shielded her with his big body. The soul inched his way toward the cavern’s entrance on his stomach with his head facing up, leaving a bloody trail in his wake.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Virgil said, taking her hand. The cool metal cuff reminded him they wouldn’t be getting far. Pools of molten rock lay on either side of the path leading to the Void cavern. Leaving her side, he searched around for something to chip the stone wall surrounding the anchors to free her chains.

  On the far wall, near the people chained for punishment, Virgil spotted a pointed iron rod. Trying to break Aba’s chains was useless, but the walls weren’t under the Ruler’s control. Virgil focused on the metal staff as he approached. The chained Damned didn’t look as disgusting at a distance, although up close…oh Deus. Intestines spilled out onto the floor, eyeballs hung from sockets, and one was missing its lower jaw. Strike that. Not missing. On the ground in a pool of bodily fluids…

  Virgil covered his mouth until he realized his own hand was coated in feces and coughed in disgust. “Yuk.” He dreamed of a hot shower. Many hot showers. He grabbed the rod and ran back to Evie and started chipping away at the wall.

  “What are you doing?” she questioned.

  “Getting us…out…of here,” he said between jabs. Stone chunks flew.

  “But I don’t want to go anywhere.”

  His heart constricted and died a little bit, except he didn’t stop chipping away. He switched to the other side of the anchor. Pebbles and dust landed on the ground.

  “Stop…please,” she begged.

  “No. You’re coming with me.”

  “But I told you I don’t want to.”

  The last bit of wall gave way and the anchor clanked to the ground. They stared at each other for a moment. “You wanted me to tell you how I knew your name, did you not?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “That is the deal.”

  Evie narrowed her eyes. “That wasn’t our deal.”

  He splayed his hands and shrugged. “It is now.”

  “You can’t change the rules.”

  “Are you going to come willingly or do I have to carry you out of here? Your choice, but I’m warning you, I’m not leaving without you.”

  She blinked at him.

  Virgil groaned. “Fine.” Why did she always have to make things difficult? Some things never changed no matter how much of her memory Aba had erased. Leaning down, he picked up the iron sphere similar in size and weight to the atlas stones from the Strongman competitions Elliott liked watching, by the chain. Then he came over and grasped Evie around the waist. She stiffened against his body. Her reaction wounded him. The links attached to the ball slid through his hand. He decided dragging over 400 pounds would be easier than carrying it. He lifted Evie off her feet.

  “You reek!” she said, kicking and squirming. “Put me down!”

  Her logic defied all reasoning. “Why do you want to stay here?” he asked.

  “Tell me how you know my name.” Her silver eyes flashed white. He didn’t even think she was aware of it.

  “No,” he barked. He squeezed his eyes shut, irritated with himself for shouting at his beloved.

  “Well, I guess I’m not leaving then.” She set her chin defiantly, pushing on his shoulders.

  He ground his molars. “I’ll tell you once we’ve left this realm.”

  “Tell me now or you can put me down.”

  Virgil was sick of wasting time on an argument he likely in any other circumstance would lose. They needed to move. Now. He gathered his strength, grateful she didn’t know the extent of her own. Warrior angels could kick some serious ass if they wanted, including a male’s. He pressed her tightly to his side and sped out of the cavern. Without setting her feet on the ground, he positioned the metal ball over a pool of burning lava, his bicep bulging from the tremendous strain. Veins popped in his neck and arms and his face reddened. The links pulled through his hand and the heavy weight plummeted. His knees slammed to the ground. Evie slipped out of his grasp and landed on her hip.

  “Ahhh!” she yelled.

  Virgil smelled burning hair. The ends of her bright red tresses singed from the heat of the lava. “Get back!” he shouted.

  Evie shuffled away from the bubbling ore.

  He played tug-of-war. Leaning back, he held the links in his fists until the ball melted free from the chains. With a roar, he fell back onto his ass, releasing his only connection to her.

  ***

  Evita

  The angel lost his grip on her thick chain. Evita scrambled to her feet and took long strides away from him, dragging the links behind her. She leaped over the Damned soul that had escaped the pit with Virgil. The chain whipped him on the side of the head and he yelped. She didn’t care. A grin crept over Evita’s face. She was free. She was, wasn’t she?

  “Evie!” the angel yelled. He sounded different. Wounded. She fought the urge to glance over her shoulder. She told herself not to look back. He didn’t need her, that it wasn’t fear keeping her from leaving Netherworld with him. This fiery place was her home. Where she belonged. Except her heart, gut, intuition, or whatever one wanted to call it, told her something else entirely. Virgil knew her, and not just her name. When he looked at her with passion-filled eyes, an undeniable attraction warmed her from the inside out. They had a connection. She ran, but what was she running toward?

  Evita glanced over her shoulder. Virgil trailed after her, shouting and waving his hands. Why was he—

  She rammed into a wall, bounced off, and smacked the sooty ground. Black dust flew up, choking her. She gasped and wheezed. Clutching her elbow, she rolled back and forth in agony. “Oh, ow, ow.” Her vision fuzzed and she blinked several times.

  An animal snorted, and a cloven hoof scratched the terra cotta. She saw hairless legs and knew the sounds came from Berus. She snapped her head up. His beady crimson eyes stared down at her. The dark pupils were horizontal and rectangular, indicating his vision was nocturnal. She stared at him. Her eyes traveled from his head to his…oh, damn he was hung.

  She swallowed hard. “Sorry, I—”

  Berus tilted his head to the side. Something caught his attention and he rushed past her. The beast’s hooves ate up the ground, heading directly for Virgil who…jumped out of the way? Berus didn’t want the angel.

  Berus stooped down next to the lava pool, a few feet from the Damned soul. The bull-headed monster dunked his clawed hand into the lava like a ladle and raised a scoop of liquid ore with his unharmed hand. The demon tossed the lava at the soul—the skin on his chest sizzled. Berus plucked the Damned soul off the ground by the neck and trotted toward the Void.

  “Please, we must go now,” Virgil said, seizing her forearm.

  Berus disappeared into the cavern. This time Evita didn’t argue or pull away. Berus belonged in Netherworld. This was his home, not hers. Everything about the animal-headed demon was geared for living here. Even his red-toned flesh didn’t burn.

  “H-How do we get out of here?” she asked.

  “I know the way. If we can find—”

  “So you don’t actually know the way?”

  “I know there are six tunnels.”

  Evita pursed her lips. “Oh, I know what you’re talking about. Come on, it’s this way.”

  Virgil released her arm and followed her lead. His trust was surprising after his earlier domineering. The area leading away from the Void cavern tapered into a narrow passageway. They crept along the darker corridor and she stopped at the end, which led into the great expanse. The ceiling soared above their heads. This section of Netherworld teemed with mostly goat-legged demons and lost souls, some babbling to themselves as they shuffled along the interconnected pathways, never getting anywhere. They were in various stages of undressed.

  She looked both ways, grabbed the angel’s hand, and left
the safety of the passage. Approximately six hundred feet at the other end of the section were the six tunnels. They walked so they wouldn’t draw unwanted attention. Rivers of bubbling lava ran along each side of the footpaths. Fires flared every couple of seconds, blasting heat and hot embers all around. The flames scorched her cheeks. She looked over at Virgil. Sweat had loosened the grime from his face, revealing beautiful masculine features, however, she couldn’t get a good look at his eyes. Evita wondered if they had an unusual pigment like the goat-demons. She imagined there may be a connection between the two. Why, though?

  Virgil tugged on her hand. “We better run.”

  “Huh? Oh, good idea.” The solid ground ended and they jumped over the lava moat surrounding a small landing in front of the tunnels. “Which one?”

  “Far right,” he said, dragging her toward the opening.

  “You mean the one with the broken wall?”

  “That is the one.”

  “Uh, are you sure? I have a feeling that’s been blocked off for a reason.”

  Virgil pivoted toward her. “It’ll be…fine.”

  Evita shook her head and smiled a toothless I-don’t-think-so grin. His tone hadn’t been comforting.

  The angel held out a hand. “Shall we?”

  No.

  She must have been crazy to think she wanted to leave this place. Who knew what was on the other side of the crumbling wall? She’d heard Shadow-demons roamed the tunnels. Evita shivered like spiders had crawled up her spine.

  The angel rubbed the back of his neck. He assessed the numerous rocks piled in front of the passage, then approached the opening. A gap at the top was large enough for them both to scale the wall at the same time.

  To Evita’s surprise, he started his ascent before her. Why was he so trusting? What had she done to deserve it?

  “Come on,” he said. “The wall is easy to climb.”

  She sighed heavily, took one last glimpse behind her, and weaved through the small boulders at the base of the stone wall. He reached the top. After swinging one leg over the other side, he leaned down with an outstretched hand. She batted it away. “I got it.”

  He raised his palms in surrender. “All right.”

  After their descent to the other side, Evita’s eyes only adjusted to the dimmer lighting a little bit. Burning torches lit one side of the cavern high above them, though their glow didn’t quite illuminate the ground enough to see clearly.

  She stepped forward and something stabbed her foot. “Ow! Ow!” She limped around on her heel. Virgil offered his arm but she pretended she didn’t see it. “What did I just step on?”

  He bent down and patted around. “My guess is bone.”

  “Bone? You’ve got to be kidding me. How are we supposed to get across this mess of…bones?”

  “I’ll carry y—”

  “No, you won’t.”

  “Really, it isn’t a problem.”

  She made a face. “Who are you?”

  “I’ll tell you once we’re on Earth. Now let’s go.” Without waiting for a response, he shuffled forward. “Stay behind me and I’ll clear a path.” Bones rattled and clinked together as he kicked along, swearing occasionally when he stepped on a sharp shard.

  As the sea of bones thinned and the light faded into blackness, she plowed into his backside; he’d stopped without warning. She reeled backward with a mouthful of shit covered feathers. “Ew, that’s—” She fell onto the skeleton bed, bone fragments slicing her hands and knees. The amount of pain she’d have to endure pushing herself to her feet deterred her from trying. She gagged and blew feathers and gunk out of her mouth.

  The angel grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the human remains. Blood trickled down her forearms while she held her hands close to her chest. She sucked in air. The only good thing about Netherworld was wounds healed quickly.

  “We have to keep moving,” he said.

  She nodded and kept a hand extended out in front of her in case he stopped again. And he did. “Why did you stop?”

  “Thought I heard something.”

  They walked forward.

  Hisssss…

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  A hot breeze blew past them. Her hair tickled her neck. She touched the place that tingled.

  Hisssss…

  “There it is agai—”

  “Run!” Virgil shouted.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Abaddon

  Where in the Netherworld was Berus? Abaddon threw his hands up. He’d looked everywhere for him. Well, everywhere but the Void. The Demon Ruler hated the place. The stench. The sins the Damned souls committed while alive on Earth. He purposely ignored the cavern unless he had a specific reason to enter. He’d already been there once today. Tossing Virgil into the pit had been necessary if he was going to get one of his poisoned amulets back. The way things were going lately, he needed the hidden talisman as a spare, because the last two amulets had failed at reining in female one hundred. Once he completed his harem, he’d rise to his full potential and finally take over Earth’s realm. And not even Deus could stop him.

  Abaddon morphed into his ebony-skinned beast and trotted through the tunnel leading into the Void. He bashed his horns on the low ceiling, nearly falling backward. “Sonofabitch!” His head throbbed for a moment. “Damn, that hurt.” Groaning, he pressed forward and entered the Void. Berus stood at the edge of the great pit.

  “Good, you’re here,” Abaddon muttered.

  The lesser demon held the twisted and battered carcass of the Damned soul, Reed, over the deep pit. How had the psychotic fool gotten out of the bottomless hole? The Damned soul’s head faced the wrong direction based on the orientation of his ass. Aba snort-chuckled at the sight. His bull-headed assistant looked over at him and loudly sniffed a sound of inquiry.

  “Well, throw the fucker in,” Aba said. The bull-demon cocked his head to the side and dropped the wide-eyed bastard. “How’d he get out, anyway?” Aba didn’t know why he bothered asking, Berus couldn’t speak. He grunted, made a series of clicks that probably meant something, and pointed at the Void. The Ruler stomped forward. Berus kneeled before his master and Aba sighed. “You may rise.” Peering into hole in the ground, he searched for Virgil the Redeemer. All he found was a dirty feather stuck to the side near the top. “Evie’s gone too?”

  Berus nodded.

  “You have her scent?” Unlike angels, true demons couldn’t teleport on Earth. Berus would have to track Evie and Virgil by smell alone.

  He grunted in reply.

  “Good,” Aba clapped his hands once, “come with me.”

  The bull-demon followed him to the cathedral. Aba had come up with the nickname for the place, although it wasn’t used for worship. Giant dripstones rose from the floor to the ceiling of Netherworld, creating a structure resembling the appearance of Saints Peter and Mary Cologne cathedral. Inside, high above their heads and set into the domed ceiling was a multi-paned round window. Flames licked the glass, casting red and orange light onto the polished black marble floor.

  Berus and Aba’s cloven-hooves clicked across the shiny expanse toward a platform in the middle of the room. Fire pits lined the perimeter equal distance apart. Soot marks climbed up the walls above the flames. “Sit,” he barked at Berus, who immediately complied, sitting on the marble slab. “On second thought, you should lie down.”

  This is going to hurt.

  Aba wrung his hands. What he was about to do required a lot of energy and he’d need to re-charge afterward. He only hoped like Netherworld it paid off and he’d get one of the few remaining amulets back. Thank Deus for his harem. Their combined energy brought him strength, although the power didn’t last long.

  The Ruler came around the table and stood behind Berus’s head. He gripped the long horns jutting from the demon’s head, snapping them off as close to the scalp as possible. Berus made no sounds even though blood trickled from the jagged n
ubs.

  Okay…weird…

  That shit had to hurt yet you wouldn’t know based on the bull’s non-reaction.

  Aba tossed the horns over his shoulder. They clattered and spun on the floor. He looked at Berus’s eyes and realized he had more work than he thought. The red eyes had to go too. But first, he passed a hand over the beastly legs. They transformed from animal-like hocks and bovine hooves into human knees, ankles, and feet. Bones cracked and popped as they settled down and stopped twitching. Berus pitched his head back and released a guttural sounding moo—the first time Aba had ever heard this vocalization from the demon. He stifled a chuckle.

  With another wave of his hand Berus’s talons retracted and the red-pigmented skin faded away. Aba took a deep breath, feeling weaker already. With one last hand-pass, the bull’s skull morphed, becoming that of a human man, and the red leached out of his eyes, leaving behind pale crystal blue colored irises. Okay one more time, the guy needed hair. Aba decided to have a little fun and gave him a long dark Mohawk. He also hadn’t forgotten about the ring through his septum, it shrunk in proportion to his size. The nipple ring remained as well.

  Berus lifted his hands and patted his face. He let out a sound that seemed to surprise him, a cross between a moan and gasp.

  “You can talk if the need arises. And I know you understand English. Oh, and if you couldn’t tell, I left in your…piercings.” Aba sneered on the last word. The former bull felt his chest and looked down his body. He flexed his ankles and spread his toes. “Yeah, you look human, but you’re not, so remember that. You still belong here.”

  Berus nodded. Demons tended to forget where they came from after a trip or two to Earth’s realm. Aba had never tested that with a native of Netherworld, but he was willing to bet it held true for them as it did for the fallen angels/goat-demons. Jeremiah had been the most recent defector. Not surprisingly, he remembered being an angel. Aba had sent him to Earth one too many times.

  “Rise. You need some clothes.”

  Berus stood, staggered a bit, then bumped his hip on the marble slab. He held onto the edge and picked his feet up one at a time, getting a feel for them.