by Diem, J. C.
“I suppose everyone expects me to kill the remaining seven princes and find the rest of the pieces of the mystery object in a single weekend,” I said with more bitterness than I’d realized I was harboring. A lot of pressure was riding on me. I felt weighed down by it and was frankly a bit resentful. This was exactly why I snuck off to meet Zach whenever I could. My life couldn’t be about saving the world all the time. I needed some time for myself, too.
“Maybe not in one weekend,” he said with a grin. “We just did not realize that it would take so much time to locate a portal to each of the different realms.”
“Have you considered the possibility that it’s supposed to take me this long to find them?” He looked startled by that prospect. “Fate shows me the next step when I need to know it, not beforehand.”
The notion had just come to me out of the blue, but it made him thoughtful. “You could be right,” he agreed. “Sophia only receives her visions when something of importance happens, or is about to happen. She cannot force them to come to her ahead of time.”
Scanning the street constantly for the raven and for any other threats, I realized we were nearing the entrance to the portal where we’d first encountered Sam. To anyone but me, and probably demons, the entrance was hidden behind a brick wall. A tattered poster marked the spot where the doorway was.
I could see through the illusion to the dark alleyway that led to the shadowlands beyond. It was the only passageway that wasn’t blocked by the wards that surrounded the city. Or it had been before I’d unlocked two more of them. Our enemies didn’t know where the unlocked portals were yet. Even if they did stumble across them, they’d have to conquer the hellgates in the shadowlands before they’d be able to use them to get into hell.
Just as we reached the passageway, a demon captain and his five lackeys appeared out of thin air. They weren’t alone. Each one had a struggling human in their grip. Grabbing Leo’s hand, I pulled him into a doorway and nodded at the group. “A pack of demons just arrived.”
He turned in time to see the captives being forced through the illusion of a wall. They disappeared from sight as they moved into the dimness beyond.
Both demons and angels had the same ability to teleport without being noticed. Now that I thought about it, that didn’t seem to be the case for me. I could always see my friends and enemies whenever they came and went. I put it down to my general strangeness and apparently being somehow different from everyone else on the planet.
“Perhaps they are taking them to hell to become imps,” Leo said grimly. “It is possible they have displeased the captain and he is planning on punishing them for their transgressions.”
I had a really bad feeling about this. “I don’t think so. I think they have something else in mind. Let’s wait for a few minutes and see what happens.”
We settled down to wait and only five minutes passed before they returned.
When they stepped out through the seemingly solid wall, the captives had become vessels for six more demons. Their faces flickered constantly, changing from normal to hideous then back again. One of them had stubby horns growing from her forehead that indicated she was a captain. They split into two groups and headed in opposite directions.
Leo couldn’t see their true faces like I could, but his bracelet enabled him to see a faint red glow around their forms. The stronger the demon, the more intense their aura was. “It seems you were right,” he said. “They have subverted the humans to their will.”
“What do you think we should do? Follow them, or head back to the store?” We hadn’t been gone for very long and I didn’t relish the idea of returning already.
He was undecided for a moment, then reached a decision. “We should follow one of the groups to see where they are hiding.” They’d gone underground and it was rare to see them emerge out into the open these days.
With that decision made, we hurried after the closest pack. At least we knew how fresh troops were entering the city now. If they came through as pure souls and went in search of a vessel, they were instantly drawn to me.
Someone had been clever enough to think of a way around that. They were forcing humans to enter the shadowlands where it seemed they could become possessed just like they were here on Earth. It probably only worked when they were on the border between our world and the shadowlands. That was roughly halfway along the passageway, judging by the story that Sam had told us about the captain who had taken him to hell. He’d evicted himself from the body and had killed the vessel rather than allowing him to return to Earth. The reverse had happened to these poor humans, but the principle was the same.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twelve
We trailed after the demons at a safe distance. They didn’t give any indication that they knew they were being followed. When they turned a corner, we hurried to catch up to them before they could disappear. I caught sight of them as they headed into an underground parking lot.
Crossing the street, we crept over to the lot. We peered through the entrance and watched as they took the long ramp downwards. A demon rune had been painted just inside the entryway. It was only faint at the moment and Leo probably couldn’t even see it. The blood had dried, which meant it wasn’t a fresh symbol. It would only become active once a demon put its bloody flesh on it. It was the same rune that had trapped us both before and I wasn’t about to fall for that trick again.
Leo turned to say something and his eyes widened. I saw the raven reflected in his pupils a moment before it slammed into my back. It hit me so hard that I staggered forward into the trap. The demons had almost been out of sight when they sensed an alarm being triggered. The symbol on the wall was now glowing faintly. Turning, they started running back towards us. One of them would have to activate the rune in order to trap us inside the garage.
Spinning around to face the raven, I managed to raise my hands just in time to save my eyes from being punctured when it came at my face. Its beak tore at my fingers, trying to get at the soft orbs beneath them. Sam was right, it wanted revenge on me for taking its eye.
Leo didn’t hesitate to think about the danger he was putting himself in and leaped into the parking lot after me. Grasping the bird by the wings, he tore it off me. I pulled my dagger out of my pocket and the crimson glow flared to life. The raven cawed in rage and flapped towards me again. I fended it off and glanced over my shoulder to see the demons closing in on us. We’d drawn their direct attention, which had the nasty side-effect of nullifying Brie’s spell that hid us.
“It is Hellscourge!” one of them shouted when she recognized me. Teleporting to the entryway, she sliced her hand open and slapped her bleeding palm on the rune. It blazed to life and the trap sprang shut.
Conjuring up his sword, Leo slashed at the raven. It managed to twist itself in midair and the blade narrowly missed slicing its head off. It let out a croak of laughter then flew through the exit. Landing in a tree across the street, the raven perched on a thin branch. It settled in to watch the battle that we were about to become embroiled in. The trap had no effect on it at all, but we wouldn’t be able to travel through the invisible barrier quite as easily. We’d have to deactivate it before we would be able to leave.
We were surrounded by five lesser demons and their captain, but I wasn’t particularly worried. We’d faced worse odds than this and had lived to tell the tale. I shucked off my heavy coat so it wouldn’t restrict my movements. I wished I had the same strength and skill that I could call on in the shadowlands and in hell, but here I was just a frail human. My legion gave me some extra power when I was in this dimension, but not much.
“Well, well,” the captain drawled. “Look what the raven dragged in.” He smirked as he circled us. Leo and I stood back to back, waiting for them to attack, as we knew they would. “It was very stupid of you to allow yourself to be led into our trap.”
“Can we just get on with it?” I said in a mocking tone. “Do we have to listen to your pathetic attemp
ts to gloat first?”
His face darkened at the insult and he made his glowing red sword appear. “Have it your way then. Dispatch the angel’s vessel,” he told his minions. “Then we will take the girl before our master.”
Neither Leo nor I were willing to go along with his plan. Thanks to the training the twins had instilled in me, I was able to hold my own in battle now. I still became tired far more quickly than my foes, but at least I was no longer helpless.
Leo was shorter than me, but he was a skilled warrior. His experience in battle made up for his small size and he took down two of the lesser demons easily. Our enemies didn’t believe in fighting fair. I was trying to fend off the captain as well as two of his minions. They were doing their best to disarm me without harming me too badly. At least there were still some hell spawn who weren’t trying to kill me outright. Some preferred to try to take me into their custody so they could receive a reward from the Hellmaster.
Leo cut down another lackey and I managed to stab the captain in the heart. Together, my young friend and I finished off the final minion.
“Well, that was easy,” Leo said and his sword disappeared.
I was too busy absorbing their displaced souls to answer him. I concentrated hard, but didn’t pick up any clues from the barrage of memories that I received. When my vision cleared, I shook my head at his unspoken question. “They didn’t give me anything new to go on.”
“Perhaps you will learn something next time,” he said with a shrug. We’d reached the stage where ejecting demons from their vessels so I could absorb them was now commonplace for us.
We turned towards the exit just as something materialized right in front of me. Vaguely humanoid, the figure seemed to be made of living shadows. It was around seven feet tall, and evil emanated from it so thickly that it was hard to catch my breath. A sword appeared in its hand. Instead of glowing red, the blade was dead black. It was also made of living shadows. It was like a humanoid version of one of the nightmares that drew my carriage when I was in hell. The only difference was that its eyes were black rather than crimson. That was if it had eyes at all. I couldn’t make out any features in its misty face.
“My master has a message for you, Hellscourge,” it intoned in a deep, hollow voice that was distinctly masculine. I changed the gender from ‘it’ to ‘he’ in my mind.
“I can’t wait to hear this,” I said, trying to hide my trepidation behind a flippant tone. “Lay it on me.”
“Stay out of his realm, or suffer the consequences,” he warned me. He moved so quickly that I barely managed to react in time when he thrust his sword at me. I tried to deflect it with my own blade, but his weapon passed straight through it. Piercing my stomach, the shadowy metal turned solid. The creature wrenched the blade sideways and hot pain flooded through me. Finished with his task of slicing me open, he faded then dissipated to nothingness. His hollow chuckle lingered in the air.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirteen
In too much pain to voice my screams, I fell to my knees, trying to hold my intestines inside my body. Leo let out a cry of horror as blood sheeted out of me. He grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to teleport me to safety, but we were still caught in the demons’ trap. “This is going to hurt,” he warned me, “but I have no choice.”
He hauled me to my feet and I groaned in agony. I came close to passing out when he pulled my arm over his shoulder. He dragged me over to the rune and took hold of my hand that was still clutching my dagger. Holding my hand so only I had contact with the weapon, he scraped the blade across the symbol to deactivate it. The glow flickered and died, releasing us from our imprisonment. Bending to grab my coat, he zapped us back to our lair.
“Nathan!” he shouted as soon as we appeared in my bedroom. He sat me down on my bed then lifted my feet up so I could lie down. I curled on my side, still trying to keep my guts from sliding out onto the floor.
My guardian materialized a moment later. Taking in the blood that was draining out of me, he pushed Leo towards the door. With a final worried look over his shoulder, the teen left, closing the door behind him.
Nathan dropped to his knees beside me. His expression was intent and anguished as he looked into my eyes. “You know what I have to do,” he said in a low voice.
It would be dangerous for him, but I would die if he didn’t heal me. I managed a pained nod of acknowledgement that doubled as permission. Sliding a hand behind my head, his fingers became tangled in my hair as he bent to kiss me.
The moment our lips touched, the pain faded and bliss swelled inside me. It took longer than usual for it to spread throughout my body. My wound was so terrible that it wasn’t easy to heal. Then my flesh knitted back together and I was suddenly bursting with his holy essence. Filled with strength, I pulled him onto the bed. He lay sprawled on top of me, chest to chest as we kissed like our lives depended on it. Our groins were also pressed together. I felt him react to my nearness, proving that his vessel was a healthy young male who felt lust just like any normal human.
My hands were sliding down his back towards his butt when the door burst open. Neither of us cared that we had an audience. Our hungry mouths devoured each other and we both fought it as he was torn away from me. We reached for each other, but Brie and Leo dragged him away while Sam and Sophia pinned me to the bed. The angels disappeared as they teleported somewhere else. I went limp when the connection to my guardian was severed.
Dizzy and reeling, I shook my head. “What just happened?” I asked. I remembered grabbing Nathan’s butt and my face tried to flame in embarrassment.
“That was a very close call,” Sophia replied. She and Sam cautiously released me and helped me to sit up.
“What was? What did I do?”
“You were ravishing Nathanael,” Sam told me. He meant it as a joke, but it hit me like a bucket of cold water to the face. I had very nearly despoiled a being that was very close to perfect.
Rubbing my face with both hands, I looked at Sophia. “We can’t let that happen again.”
“I agree,” she said solemnly. “Unfortunately, it was necessary this time. If he had not used his grace to heal you, you would have died.” She gestured at the blood that soaked the bed and the carpet.
“What happened?” Sam asked.
“It was all the raven’s fault,” I said darkly. My body was starting to feel the effects of Nathan’s infusion and I bounced to my feet. “Leo and I followed a pack of demons to their base then the raven pushed me into a trap. We killed the captain and his minions, then something else appeared.”
“What was it?” Sophia asked.
I described it and her face went pale. “Oh dear,” she said in a faint voice. “The Demon Princes are getting desperate indeed if they are resorting to these measures.”
“What was that thing?” I asked.
“I have heard that they are the embodiment of evil and that they are impossible to kill.”
“How am I supposed to defeat it then?” Pacing up and down, my frustration was high.
“That I do not know. Any one of the Princes could be responsible for unleashing it upon you.”
“Great,” I said and threw my hands in the air. “I still have seven of them to whittle down. He could send his creature after me anytime.”
“I think not,” she refuted. “He only appeared after the trap was triggered. As long as you remain unnoticed, he will hopefully be unable to locate you.”
Feeling surly, I knew I was pouting like a child. My body yearned for Nathan to finish what we’d started. The lust that I felt with Zach was nothing next to the need that was inside me right now. I felt as if a part of me had been torn away and that I’d never be whole again unless we were together.
“Are you feeling alright?” Sam asked. He wore an uneasy frown as he watched me pace up and down.
“No. I feel strange.” The energy was growing inside me until I thought I’d burst from it. Sophia caught my eye and gave a soft gasp. �
�What?” I asked.
“Your eyes are glowing,” she said in awed wonder.
Freezing for a moment, I raced down the hall and into the bathroom. Instead of glowing crimson, my eyes were blazing with blue light. “What the hell?” I said in confusion.
Leo appeared beside me just as Sam entered the room. Taking in my eyes, Leo grabbed us both and teleported us to a rooftop somewhere in the city. Bending down, he tore a large sheet of plastic off the ground then gave me a hard shove.
Pin-wheeling my arms for balance, I fell backwards and landed in water. It was shockingly cold and I sucked in a breath. Water filled my lungs and I thrashed my arms and legs until I reached the surface. Coughing up liquid that tasted of chlorine, I swam towards the ladder, but Leo barred my way. “You have ingested too much of Nathan’s grace,” he informed me. “Swimming in near freezing water should be an expedient way to burn it off.”
“I hate you so much right now,” I said with chattering teeth. Sam’s lips quivered, then he let out a snigger at my pitiful tone. “I hate you, too,” I snarled.
At the imp’s wounded look, Leo put his arm around his shoulder. “You do not hate either of us. You love us and you will prove it by doing as I ask.”
Muttering beneath my breath, I knew he was right and started swimming. I was infused with far too much energy. It would be dangerous to allow it to grow. I had to get rid of it somehow and this was as good a way as any.
₪₪₪
Chapter Fourteen
Just as Leo had planned, the combination of frigid water and exercise did the trick of sapping away my extra energy. I managed to catch glimpses of the rooftop as I swam up and down the long, narrow pool. Most of the furniture lay beneath plastic covers. Snow was heaped right up to the edge of the waist high glass walls that surrounded us on three sides. I spied a door that led deeper into the building near the shallow end of the pool. The snow wasn’t as deep there. It looked like someone periodically exited through the door to clear the path.
