by AJ Mullican
Kamran crosses his arms over his chest and rubs his chin. “Perhaps I could go with them? But I don’t want to leave Calliope alone. Lena would kill me.”
What are we, chopped liver? “Alone? She’ll be with us! We may not have teeth and claws and hellfire at our disposal, but we’ve got plenty of defenses on our own. She’s probably best off with us, if you think about it, because Oren can heal any injuries if she gets hurt.”
“He says there are five of them and six of us, so it’s, and I quote, ‘six of one, half a dozen of the other.’ He says they’ll take Kamran if they have to, but they insist I should stay with you fae.” Callie turns to Holden. “Do I get a say in this? Because I don’t like the idea of the wolves going off without help, and I don’t like the idea of splitting from Kam. I mean, it isn’t dividing evenly, but what if we both go with the Hunters? I might be able to stretch my abilities and link with Molli, too, so we can still keep in contact.”
I pause to think about it. I mean, I agree with Callie to an extent. If we’re going to split, we shouldn’t leave the shifters on their own. From what I understand, they’ve tried going into Hell without humanoid help and had a shitty time of it, so it doesn’t make sense for them to do the same this time. However, I don’t want to put too much strain on Callie’s limited powers. She’s young and strong, but she doesn’t have the power reserves that she would have if she was an adult carnal witch. Right now, she has no way to build more energy.
Whatever we end up doing, Kamran needs to stay with Callie. That much I know. So the question is, can we fae make it on our own in Hell? None of us have ever been there, so we’re the least experienced on how to get around and what to expect inside. Then again, Hell doesn’t know what to expect from us. They may not be expecting seasoned fighters when they look at us. They might assume we’re weak just because we’re paler than most humans they’re used to. We have the benefit of being unknowns in Hell. It might behoove us to go off on our own, because with Callie or Kamran—or both—they’d know what to expect, and how to target them. With the four of us, the demons might make more fatal errors.
But are we ready for this? I mean, we’ve all been to another realm, but Faerie and Hell are two entirely different places.
Only one way to find out. I lock gazes with Finn, Oren, and Kalen, and they all nod. I turn back to Callie and put a hand on her slender shoulder.
“You guys go with the Hunters. We’ll be fine.”
I hope I don’t prove myself wrong.
Chapter 22
Despite the presence of flames all around, I am woefully unprepared for the heat that blasts my face when we cross the threshold into Hell. Sweat drips between my shoulder blades, down my forehead, and even in my cleavage as I fight the urge to douse myself with one of the remaining jugs of berry juice to cool off.
I don’t know what the fuck I expected. I mean, it is Hell, after all.
Hey. It’s me, Callie.
Her mental voice shakes, and I wonder if it wouldn’t have been a better idea to have her and Kamran stay behind completely. Are we really sending a teenager into literal Hell? I know, Cal. It’s okay. You don’t have to be nervous. Kamran and the Hunters will take good care of you in here.
Even over the screams of who-knows-how-many dead souls, I hear Callie’s sigh of relief. Thanks.
A firm hand lands on my shoulder, and I turn to Kamran. “Yeah?”
“Lena is not kept with the others. She and Calliope were held in a different region of this Hellscape than me and my brothers. I think it should be you four who go in search of Lena. Oren can heal her if she has been injured, and you can remove any curses that have been placed upon her and her child.”
I nod and inspect his life-light with my fae sight. The line connecting him to Lena is faint, but traceable. If we head off in the general direction of that light, then no matter where in this Hell she is, I should be able to find her. Once I’ve singled out the light linking him to Lena, I trot off down the rocky, spiked path with a wave over my shoulder to the others.
I can’t look back. Looking back is like saying “Goodbye.” It’s bad luck to do that.
Better to just move.
At first I take point, but after a few dozen yards Kalen pulls out in front, swords in hand. I’m not sure where the Hell he thinks he’s going, but when I take a sharp turn to follow Lena’s lifeline he swerves right with me. I guess I underestimated his battlefield awareness, because he stays with me for every single twist and turn despite being several paces ahead. Our steps pick up as the ground slopes downward, and I wonder if we’re descending into the original Hell from here or if we’re just down the street in this fucked-up overlay of Nowhere.
Time freezes in Hell, or maybe my watch does, because it can’t be three fifteen forever. I’d heard from the others about how time passes differently here, but to see it reflected in the digital device unnerves me. This thing’s supposed to get satellite signal from my phone to keep its time, but I guess it’s not surprising that signals aren’t getting through down here.
I crouch behind a large outcropping and lick my cracked lips. The thin, dry air stifles, and we didn’t exactly bring a water bottle. Since Oren and I have a direct line to the fae magics, we left the leftover concentrated Molli-juice with Kamran and Callie. A blue light flashes in the corner of my vision, and Oren produces some of his berries for me. I take them with a grateful smile, though I want to chide him for wasting energy on me when he could be saving it up for Lena’s eventual rescue and extraction from Hell.
After the fourth switchback, I start wondering if they’re moving Lena around. I follow a mostly direct path, occasionally cutting through the rocky terrain in favor of taking too many turns on what passes for a road here, but my sense of direction is good enough that I can tell we’re not on the same trajectory as when we started out.
“Kalen! You notice that we’re not following a straight line?”
“I am merely following you, my love, though your path is indeed indirect.”
I come to a screeching halt and bend over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath. “They’ve gotta have her on the move. I’m one hundred percent sure I’m still following the same life-line, but we’re damn near going in circles here. You think they’ve caught on that we’re coming for her?”
“Likely.” Oren cracks his neck and surveys the area with a steely gaze. “What shall we do, Molli? Do you wish to continue in the same vein knowing that the demon horde could be aware of our movements?”
Hm. “Good question.” We can’t keep up with a full-on frontal assault if our whereabouts are known, but we also can’t lose sight of that life-line. I lose that, and we lose Lena for good. There’s really no going back, but how should we go forward? “Thoughts, guys?”
“Are the movements predictable, Molli? By which I mean, do they appear to be moving in a consistent direction?”
Finn’s question gives me pause, and I think about it for a second. “There’s no real pattern to the way we’ve been moving so far, which suggests one of two things: Either they’re keeping her constantly on the move, or something about the weird physics of this place is fucking with our senses.” The second possibility makes slightly more sense, given what we know—after all, moving a pregnant captive around as much as they appear to be could be more trouble than it’s worth—but if my instincts are right about their awareness of us, going with Door Number Two could be deadly.
“A trap, then?”
“I’m guessing.” Crap. That means they know we’re here, and they’re probably setting us up for some grand shitshow if they catch us. I’d make a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” joke, but this is neither the time nor the place.
Okay, so it’s kind of the perfect time and place, but that’s beside the point.
“Onward, then?” I raise a brow in question at my boyfriends. Oren nods, Kalen adjusts for a firmer grip on his swords, and Finn growls.
Ooh, growling. That’s kind of hot
. I make a mental note to request it later.
Without another word, I go back to following Lena’s light trail. If it’s a trap, it’s a trap. Nothing we can do about it now. We need to save her as quickly as possible; she’s not going to last long before she gives birth, and when she does, the demons will have a baby who’s genetically primed for possession right at their fingertips. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, let alone an innocent kid.
A disturbing though almost stops me in my tracks, but I shake it off and step up the pace.
What if they possess Ben, and I can’t exorcise him? What if Lena can’t exorcise him?
Shit, shit, shit. This just got tricky. We’ve got to find Lena in time, rescue her, and protect her and Ben until we’re back in the relative safety of Nowhere. Chaperoning a brand, spanking newborn through Hell? Sure. No sweat. All in a day’s work. Fuck.
I lose track of how far we’ve gone or how long we’ve been here, but one thing I don’t lose is a growing sense of dozens of pairs of eyes following our every move. No one’s bothered us so far, and that concerns me almost as much as the threat of demon hordes waiting around the next corner.
Where are all the demons? If this is their new home on Earth, why aren’t they, y’know, home?
I signal Finn to veer from our path in search of the little buggers. He trots off and returns a few minutes later with a shrug and a shake of his head. No demons in the immediate vicinity, or at least none that he can find. Hm.
Curiouser and curiouser.
We finally reach an upswing in all this downhill marching, and my thighs and calves scream in protest at the change as we climb the steep slope. For once, the rocky ground proves beneficial as I use the spikes in our path as hand- and footholds. Kalen, Oren, and Finn climb alongside me without complaint, though I take note that Finn’s hands leave glittering fae blood in their wake. I’d better have Oren fix that next time we stop.
Upon cresting the top of the mini-mountain—because “hill” just doesn’t adequately describe this massive mound—I bite my tongue to keep from swearing out loud.
Down at the bottom of the opposite side, bound and gagged, lies Lena.
Inside a crude pentagram carved into the rocky ground.
Surrounded by no less than thirty demons. I quit counting at that point, so there’s more for sure. With just four of us against those numbers, the exact details don’t matter. We’re fucked, plain and simple.
I try to zoom in on Lena’s life-light to see if she’s okay, but we’re too far away. I can’t even see Ben’s life-light from up here.
Oren lays a hand flat against the small of my back as he crouches next to me. “Shall we use our magics to weaken them? I believe I could extend my spray to encompass most of our foes, should you wish to try such. You would have to conjure, though, and I am not certain that it is wise to expend too much of your energy at this point, when we do not know the type of effort it will take to rescue and heal Miss Lena.”
“I don’t think we have a choice. We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place if we don’t.”
“Molli, my love, we are surrounded by rocks and hard places.”
Oh, my God, Kalen, not now!
“It’s a turn of phrase, baby. Now hush.” I reposition to make myself as comfortable as I can at the sharp peak of a spike-laden mountain in Hell. With a focused thought, I summon a handful of berries and clench them in my fist. “Whenever you’re ready, Oren. You let loose, and I’ll spike it.”
I pray that Lena’s right about my magic not affecting “good” demons. Ben’s half-demon, and I’d hate to do something that could harm him before he’s even born.
Blue light flares as Oren fires up his water magic, and I raise my hand over the stream and squeeze the berries as hard as I can, releasing a splash of juice into the water. It takes a second or two for the spray to hit the demons below us, but once it does the hiss of steam fills the air, soon followed by the grating screeches of dozens of demons getting hit by the mix of fae magic.
I can’t detect any movement in Lena’s prone form from here, but to my relief no demon comes slithering out of her when the magic hits. That means she wasn’t possessed, but it doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods. We still have to get her out of there, get her out of Hell, and make sure there aren’t any death marks on her to take care of.
I still worry that I can’t see Ben’s light, but I chalk it up to us being so high up. Maybe once we get closer I’ll be able to see better.
With all the demons in some form of distress from the hydro-assault, we fae draw our weapons and slide down the rocky slope. A few demons attempt to intercept us before we reach Lena, but we cut them down with little effort. Heads roll down the hill, spraying black demon blood in their wake, and the discarded bodies shrivel before our eyes.
At the base of the outcropping, another handful of monsters swipe at us. I take a claw to the shoulder before I’m able to slice off the arm it’s attached to, but I don’t let that stop me. Kalen, Oren, Finn, and I whirl around in a deadly dance, cutting the demons with fierce precision. Within seconds, we clear the area, and the only living things that remain are us and Lena.
I crouch at Lena’s side and dive into my magic, searching for Ben’s light inside her. Why can’t I find it?
I move my gaze to Lena’s heart, where the life-lights connecting her to her incubi and to Callie spread out in a wide array. The demons must have separated Lena’s incubi to prevent any further escapes. I make a mental note to discuss this with my boyfriends when I discover something strange.
There aren’t just five lights emanating from Lena’s chest.
There are six.
Oh, no. Oh, shit, please no. Don’t let that mean what I think it means…
I put a hand on Lena’s shoulder and shake her as hard as I dare. “Lena! Lena, it’s Molli! Wake up, Lena. We killed the demons; you’re safe for now, so wake the fuck up!”
Lena groans and rolls onto her back. Her belly, though still large, is smaller than I remember, and when the fabric of her cardigan shifts I realize that she’s naked from the waist down. She’s drenched from the fae water spray, so I can’t be certain, but I’d bet hard money that we’re too late.
She’s already given birth.
Chapter 23
“Ben … Where’s Ben?”
Lena’s first words after I remove the gag bring a heavy lump to my throat. I try to clear it but end up sounding like a congested frog instead.
“Lena, he’s not here. I think they took him.”
Her face crumples, and the wail that comes from her lips breaks my heart.
“He’s alive, Lena. I can see six lifelines coming from you, so he has to be alive. He’ll be okay, but you have to get up so Oren can check you out before we go find him.”
“They took him. They took my baby.” Heavy sobs wrack Lena’s shoulders, and even after Kalen cuts her bonds to free her, she wraps her arms around herself and curls into a ball. Oren strips out of his armor, slips off his shirt, and lays it across her hips to cover her nudity. “They sat there while I went into labor and they laughed, and then once Ben was out they took him. They took my son, and they’re going to possess him. They’re going to put a demon in my baby boy…”
“Finn?” While I try to scan Lena’s body for demonic spells, I whisper under my breath to my purple-haired lover. “Can you help her?”
He nods and places a hand on her head, ostensibly to offer a comforting touch, but in reality he’s flooding her with his spirit magic. At this point, I don’t know if even Finn’s magic can help drag Lena out of her darkness, but we need her somewhat calmed down and level-headed if we’re going to find her son.
Oren makes a show of adjusting his shirt, tucking the hem around Lena’s hips, and he meets my eyes with a shake of his head. “She is not injured. There is no physical ailment that I can find.”
Well, that’s a relief. Now that we’ve got the physical and spiritual bases covered, I refocus
and peer into Lena with my fae sight to see where her life stands. No new tattoos, no infernal magic, no death mark. She’s clean as far as that goes, though her heartache dims her life-light dangerously, and I wonder if it’s possible to die from a broken heart. “Lena? Honey, you have to snap out of it. They might have Ben now, but they’re not counting on us. We’ll find him, we’ll get him back, we’ll kick whatever demon they’ve put in him out to the curb, and we’ll put him safely in your arms where he belongs.”
Lena sniffles and hiccups, but the sobs fade. She sits up, careful not to disturb the shirt on her lap, and looks at me with teary eyes. “Did Kam make it? Is Callie okay?”
“The answer to both of your queries is yes, Miss Lena. Your mate and your sister are healed and safe with the Hunters. They are searching for your other mates.”
Kalen’s words are intended to comfort her, I’m sure, but she surges forward and wraps her hands around his neck, her face twisted in a snarl. “Who the fuck let them come back down here? The Hunters are leading them straight back into the thick of it! I wanted them safe, back in the Hunters’ house, or better yet, my house. We fucking enhanced the wards for this very reason!”
Finn’s purple light surges, and Lena’s hands release my lover’s throat. She blinks and looks at her hands as though seeing them for the first time. “Shit. Sorry.”
Kalen rubs his neck, and his Adam’s apple bobs as he gulps. “My apologies, Lena. I did not intend to cause you undo stress. I thought you would be pleased to know they are in good hands with the wolves.”
She lowers her head, blonde hair falling in sheets around her face. “I know. Holden and Cherry would never let anything happen to them. I’m just—I’m so tired and scared. My baby’s somewhere out in this Hellscape, and I just found out my little sister’s back in Hell, along with my boyfriend who barely escaped this place.”
“And we’ll get you all back together. You just have to calm down and get yourself together first.” I put a hand on Lena’s shoulder. “Lena, we’ll get them out of this.”
