With that, we all shut up. When Ramiel spoke, we had to listen. He had that commanding aura about him. It was impossible to resist. In more ways than one. Something I wish I could very much forget. This whole thing would be a hell of a lot easier if they weren’t all so ridiculously hot.
I cleared my throat, strapped my sheaths around my thigh, and then grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows for good measure. I’d spent far more time training with a sword and a bow than I had daggers, but they’d become my go-to weapon-of-choice since arriving on earth. They were light and quick, and they dealt a surprisingly impressive amount of damage when paired with my enhanced strength.
Ramiel took the lead, and we all fanned out behind him. He eased slowly through the archway, holding up his hand for us to wait for a signal. After a long, silent, tense moment, he gave a nod and moved forward. I inched forward, sandwiched between Lizzie and Uriel. Lizzie’s face had gone a strange shade of white, and her hands trembled as she held the heavy sword up before her. Uriel’s long dark hair blew in the light breeze, the ends catching on his chiseled jaw and—
Damn it, Erela! Focus!
I tightened my grip on the bow in my hands, glancing around at the courtyard we entered. The entire ground was littered with bodies, and it made my stomach twist in my gut. The stench was overwhelming. So much blood and death.
And fear. I swore I could smell the bitter scent of it drifting toward us on the wind.
Sucking in a deep breath, I turned my attention on the buildings surrounding us. There were doorways that would lead into the inner walls and down into the tunnels below. Despite the horror of the courtyard, the portal was nowhere to be seen here. So, it must be somewhere inside.
“It feels as though it’s coming from in there.” Lilith pointed her long fingernail toward the nearest wooden door. It had been splintered, practically cut in half.
“It’s too quiet,” Ramiel whispered. “Be on guard.”
He moved toward the door and pushed it open. The sharp creak reverberated through the courtyard, making every hair on my body stand on end. The door opened to a grimy set of stone stairs that led into nothing but darkness. Dried blood painted the top step. Anyone else would take all of these things as signs to turn around and get the hell away as fast as possible. Instead, we continued moving forward.
Down we went, into the darkness. The light became nothing but a rectangle of steel gray as we went further and further into the dungeons. The tunnels stretched on. One after another after another. In each one, we passed more bodies. Stench clung to the walls, filling our nose. It was hard not to gag from the intensity of it.
When we reached the end of the fifth tunnel, we turned the corner, and there it was. The portal to hell. My skin buzzed, the fire brewing within me. I had the sudden urge to step toward it, to disappear into its depths. It was almost as though it was singing to me, tempting me, yearning me to walk closer. Begging me to step my foot—
Sam’s arm shot out, “Erela.”
I shook my head, my mind going clear. I didn’t know what the hell was going on with that portal, or if anyone could feel the pull of it the way I did, but it was pretty freaking terrifying.
“There’s someone here,” Ramiel said in a low growl. “Humans, show yourselves. We’re angels. We aren’t here to harm you.”
A figure stepped out of the shadows. Lizzie and I both gasped in unison. This was no human, even though he wore the unassuming skin of a man who might have worked for a technology company before the apocalypse, complete with a thick-rimmed pair of glasses that perched on his thin nose. Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
It was the demon. The one from the bar. The one who had been trying to eat Mr. Whiskerson.
The one who had cast me and Lizzie out of Celestia.
“You,” I said, my eyes widening. Immediately, I dropped the bow and grabbed for my daggers, but he pulled another figure out of the darkness before my fingers could curl around the golden hilts.
This one wasn’t a human either.
“Isaac!” Lizzie yelled and took a step forward, but the demon put a sharp blade against Isaac’s neck. A warning.
I grabbed Lizzie’s arm, pulling her back to my side, my heart pounding so hard that it was next to impossible to hear over the roar of it.
“Fantastic,” the Archdemon said with a brilliant smile. “Now, let’s all calm down so we can have a little chat.”
Chapter Seventeen
Erela
“Asmodeus,” Uriel muttered underneath his breath.
“Wait, what?” My heart thumped hard, and I had the urge to glance Uriel’s way, but I kept my gaze locked on the demon. “This is the demon who sent me down here. No way in hell is he Asmodeus.”
“I’m afraid your fallen angel friend is correct, Erela.” The Archdemon from the Halfway Zone pub dug the blade a bit deeper into Isaac’s neck. My old friend’s face was pale, his dark eyes wild with fear and anger. “You didn’t just steal a random Archdemon’s dinner. You stole mine.”
Huh. Well, shit. Obviously, I’d never met Asmodeus, so I’d had no way of knowing who the hell he was or what he actually looked like these days. He tended to cycle through a variety of appearances, ranging from scary-as-hell to harmless, like this one. I’d seen a couple of portraits of him in books, donning the scary-as-hell options. If I’d known it was him...
“Why the hell were you out having drinks in the Halfway Zone? Aren’t you supposed to be Lucifer’s second-in-command or something?” I blurted out the words before I could stop them.
Because yeah. The demon I’d pissed off? Let’s just say that if Lucifer had been a human president, then Asmodeus would be his vice president. Rumors had even circled for years that he was the one behind every decision, and Lucifer was just the face of the ruling demonic world. Needless to say, if this Archdemon truly was Asmodeus, then I really had messed with the wrong demon.
Whoops.
He narrowed his eyes. “You presume to question me when I have your friend at knife point? Perhaps this realm has corrupted you far more than I expected.” He shot me a glittering smile and pierced the skin on Isaac’s neck. Isaac being Isaac didn’t make a sound, though I saw the flash of pain in his eyes.
“I think what Erela is trying to say,” Uriel said through gritted teeth, “is that she obviously did not know from whom she was stealing.”
“If she had known, would she have still stolen my dinner?” Asmodeus arched a brow toward me.
You’re damn straight I would have.
I figured I’d probably just keep the answer to that question to myself. No way in hell I’d have done a damn thing differently. Mr. Whiskerson was no one’s dinner, not even the ruler of the Underworld.
“That’s what I thought.” The blade sunk in deeper; blood streamed down Isaac’s pale neck. “Where is my rat? Give him to me.”
Was that really what all this was about? Had he chased us here, abducted Isaac, just to get his rat back? That seemed…like an extreme reaction. I mean, it was pretty extreme to have thrown me out of Celestia in the first place, but shouldn’t he be over it by now? So I took one tiny meal from him. Surely he’d found more food since then, though I shuddered to think of all the other cute little creatures who had lost their lives to this demon. For once, I was glad we’d left Mr. Whiskerson behind. I hated abandoning him when we went on missions, and he always looked a tad forlorn when we left him behind. But rats and demons didn’t mix. Literally.
“He’s not here.” I spread my arms wide and spun in a slow circle. “Feel free to have a search if you don’t believe me.”
He narrowed his eyes, clearly contemplating just how much he was going to trust me, but then seemed to decide that I was telling the truth. “Where is he?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t?” He flared his nostrils. “Or won’t?”
“Don’t give it to him,” Isaac managed to say, even with the blade in his throat. Our eyes met, and he gave me the s
lightest of nods. It made me want to rush toward him for one of his signature bear hugs. He got me. He always had.
“Just give him the damn rat, Erela,” Rourke whispered from where he hulked behind me. He, of course, had no idea about any of this. As much as he understood about demons and angels, we hadn’t filled him in on the detailed events that had led us all to land on earth. And he could have no idea how much the little creature meant to me either. He’d probably seen Mr. Whiskerson at some point at Lilith’s house or on the boat ride across the ocean, scurrying around or riding on my shoulder. I had to hope he wouldn’t blab to Asmodeus where he was.
I would not give my little friend to this demon. The thought alone made my heart ache.
“Yeah, that’s not happening, Asmodeus, and it isn’t even up for discussion. You’re not getting the rat back,” I said quietly. “That said, I’m sure we can work something else out. What else would you want in exchange for Isaac’s safety?”
Not this old chestnut again. I swore, it seemed like every damn day I was getting myself into a situation where I had to make a deal with a demon. The first time I’d done it, well, it had been a dumbass mistake that I should have thought through a lot better. I’d had tunnel vision, too focused on getting back to Celestia to see the bigger picture. The second time had been with Lilith, based on an instinctual trust that had proven to be true.
This time…well, this time, it might be our only option.
Asmodeus’s red eyes flashed. “There is very little that could make up for the loss of my rat.”
What the hell? Give it up already.
“Well, you’re going to have to come up with something, because I am not giving him back!” I shouted the words and stepped forward, my entire body trembling with the need to release all my pent-up fire emotions. My skin pulsed, and my heart throbbed. I gritted my teeth to hold it back, desperate to keep the truth of me hidden from Asmodeus. If he discovered my secret origin…word would get out about a Nephilim charging around Lower Realm with the Order of the Fallen. And then the Archangels would no doubt come for me. My existence was an abomination to them. They would want to snuff me out.
And they would go after my father. I knew what the Archangels had done to Az’s family when they’d only heard a whisper of a rumor involving fire demons. Me? I was flat-out proof. Regardless of how many secrets he’d kept hidden from me, regardless of what he’d done to avoid me in the past, he was still my father. The only father I knew, and the only father I loved.
I couldn’t let Asmodeus see what I was.
Asmodeus arched an eyebrow. “An angel with a temper. Maybe you fit in with the fallen angels more than I thought you would. Don’t you all look positively sweet standing there in a protective huddle? And Lizzie there, your friend. She’s chosen to stay in this realm and so have you. You must love the humans. Do you not?”
This was a trick question. I knew it was. He was going somewhere with this, and I didn’t think I was going to like it.
“You can’t send us back to Celestia,” I countered. “You can try, but it won’t work. We haven’t just chosen to stay. We’ve fallen. The magic of Celestia won’t allow us to return.”
Thank the heavens that I could lie now. Because while I had truly fallen, Lizzie hadn’t. She hadn’t done anything to cement her fall. She’d merely chosen to stay. She didn’t want to go home, but she wasn’t bound here. Not like the rest of us.
His grin widened even more, sending a storm of goosebumps down my spine. “Nice try. I already figured that out myself. But you’re forgetting one little thing. The magic of Celestia might keep you out, but there’s nothing to stop me from sending you to the Halfway Zone, and you’d have a beast of a time getting back here if I did.” He jerked his thumb to the portal behind him before shoving Isaac straight through. “Or I could send you there.”
* * *
Everything happened so fast after that. The world became a blur as I felt a pair of strong, powerful hands yank me forward. It felt as though he’d pushed me right over a cliff, like I was falling. Down, down, down into nothing but pitch black. Clouds swirled all around me, thick and gray and hiding my surroundings from view. Evil pulsed around me in waves.
And then it all stopped. My feet found the ground, and I fell into a crouch, my hand finding the dirt before I stood. Isaac hadn’t fallen so lightly. He was sprawled on his back, groaning as he blinked up through the thick fog. My heart hammered hard. He was safe. Kind of.
“Are we in hell?” he whispered as he cracked open his eyes.
“Oh, Isaac.” I dropped to his side and brushed his messy mop of brown hair off his damp forehead. I’d wanted so badly to see him, but not like this. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“I mean, it is kind of your fault, but I don’t blame you,” Lizzie whispered, dropping down beside me, too. Her eyes were shining, her hand clutching the fabric of her shirt at her chest. “Isaac. I’ve missed you so much. Are you okay?”
So, he’d pushed Lizzie through the portal, too. I glanced up to see that Ramiel, Az, Uriel, Lilith, and Sam had also joined us. Oh, and Rourke, which…yeah. Great. Fanfuckingtastic. A human in the demonic realm was not a good thing at all.
“Where the hell are we?” Rourke asked, spinning in his massive boots to take in our surroundings. And not finding much, since we were still standing in some kind of thick black smog on what appeared to be rolling hills of gray. I’d always imagined hell to be all fire and mountains of char. Instead, it was…well, there wasn’t much to it.
“This,” Lilith said, clipping her words, “is my previous home. Welcome to the demonic realm, or as humans like to call it, hell.”
“How do we get back out?” he asked. “Where’d that portal thing go? Don’t you have the necklace to open and close the damn thing? You can get us out of here, right?”
He sounded a little bit hysterical, but I didn’t blame him.
“He has a good point,” I said, turning toward Lilith with a frown. “Shouldn’t we just be able to go back through the portal?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” she said dryly. “Nothing is when it comes to the demonic realm. This portal was designed to be a route from hell to the human realm, and not the other way back. Or rather, they designed it so that if an unsuspecting human stepped through, they wouldn’t be able to return home.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Rourke muttered, gazing around at our nebulous surroundings, his face a new shade of pale. “Are you telling me we’re stuck in the goddamn netherworld?”
“Stuck? No.” Lilith gave him a glittering smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “The portal back will be somewhere. We just have to find it. Unfortunately, we’re likely to run into some…obstacles along the way.”
“Can’t you get us out of here by going through the Halfway Zone?” I asked Lilith. “You’re an Archdemon.”
Lilith sighed and shook her head. “It’s not as simple as that. I can get us all to the Halfway Zone, but then the magic of the realms would prevent us from going to earth. There are precautions in place, to prevent demons from invading. That’s why we need the portals. Any traveller from hell can only return to hell. So, the Halfway Zone solves nothing.”
I turned toward Ramiel, as if by instinct. Obviously, I’d never been to the demonic realm myself. Neither had most angels, at least not until they joined an Order. But even then, most battles were fought at the borders of Celestia. At one point in time, much of the fighting had happened here. But the demons had slowly inched their way closer and closer until they were practically knocking at our door.
“I’m afraid that now is not the time to look to me, Erela.” Ramiel’s eyes were like ice. “I’ve never been here. Lilith, you’re going to have to take the lead.”
Chapter Eighteen
Erela
Our first order of business was determining where the hell in hell we actually were. The portal had plopped us smack dab in the middle of a field full of shadow
clouds. Lilith explained that these fields were fairly common in the demonic realm. They had cities here, just like we did in Celestia and the humans did on earth, but there was also plenty of countryside for the demons who wished to get away from the hustle and bustle of the frantic city life.
The grass was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Tall and sharp along the edges but as soft as a cloud on the flat, black sides. They waved against the light breeze, a sea of pure black, glittering underneath the light of a bulbous moon. We followed the sloping hills until we reached a small village with only a cluster of sagging buildings. It was the kind of place that looked as though it had been abandoned centuries ago. The roofs were tin; the walls were made of pure black stone. The brush surrounded it had overgrown, and dark vines climbed up the sides and choked all the windows out of sight.
“Now, this is more familiar,” Lilith said, propping her hands on her waist and gazing around. “To the west of our capital city, Agartha, there are a few small abandoned villages. Much like this one. No one has lived there for at least fifty human years.”
“How come?” Lizzie wandered through the small square, stopping at a well and trailing her fingers along the black stone.
“There are rumors,” Lilith said, her voice clipped. “Of a particularly nasty demon who will rip the head off of anyone who enters.”
Lizzie’s hand stilled on the black stone, her face paling. “Oh.”
“Don’t worry. No one has ever seen him.”
Lizzie loosed a breath. “Probably just a rumor then.”
“Although there are many demons who have gone missing after making a trip to one of these villages.” Lilith shrugged. “Either they wandered off and got lost, or…”
“Enough of the urban legends.” Ramiel’s voice was clear, even though his face was almost as pale as Lizzie’s. “We need to work in absolutes. Facts. This is one of those abandoned villages, yes?”
Nebulous: Order of the Fallen - Book Two Page 9
