Gambling With Souls

by Amy Starr

  “My blood I spilleth, mine curse I giveth, I shalt fight f'r as long as I liveth. By blood of the pact I doth proclaim, go backeth from wh're thee wrongfully came!”

  Hudson quickly shouted the last few words as Mammon lunged for him. Before the melting demon could reach him, he started being pulled away by an unknown force. It did not take Hudson too long to realise what was happening. A blood red portal had opened on the other side of the room and the demon began to slide towards it.

  “No! No! Don’t let me go back there, I hate it there! Please, let me stay! I’ll do anything!”

  Hudson and Poppy said nothing, watching as the demon shrieked for its life.

  “You can go rot!” Poppy shouted. Letting out an indignant cry, Mammon leapt forward and went to grab the psychic. Hudson pushed Poppy out of the way and the demon snatched his leg instead.

  Hudson fell to the ground and tried to pull away from Mammon, but his grip was too strong. Poppy raced forward and began pulling Hudson by his hand, but it was no use. The two of them were getting dragged with the screaming demon into the vortex.

  Hud struggled against Mammon, the sound of the roaring vortex growing louder as they grew closer. It was only when Mammon himself was halfway through the swirling portal that Hudson first heard the voice calling to him.

  “Forsaken soul! I can sense you are close. Come to me!”

  Hudson whipped his head up to Poppy. She nodded her head, acknowledging that she that she had heard it as well. It was the unmistakable sound of Harkness the reaper’s gruff voice.

  Holding each other’s hands tightly, Poppy stopped fighting against the demon’s pull. With little effort, the three of them were flung inside the spiralling red vortex.

  Chapter Twelve

  Poppy was twirling about as if she were being tossed inside a tornado or a whirlpool. She couldn’t tell if the substance within the vortex was a liquid or a gas, but it was noxious. She began to cough and splutter, struggling to breathe. The psychic went to take in a deep breath, and it disappeared. She did not know how else to possibly describe it. It was as if her breath was no longer needed.

  Spinning about in the vortex, Poppy came face to face with herself and time suddenly stopped. Blinking, she examined her own face. She wasn’t looking in a mirror or any sort of reflection. It was her, but with a few disconcerting changes. Poppy’s doppelganger’s eyes were half-lidded, giving her the appearance of being sleepy. The double’s skin was a deathly pale, and Poppy could almost feel the coolness radiating off her.

  With a slow movement, Poppy reached her hand out and touched her copy’s forehead. Her vision filled with red and then everything went dark. When Poppy awakened, she was in her little black room. Glancing around in confusion, her eyes finally rested on an ornate brown door. Approaching it, she noticed it had an unusual plaque attached to the door.

  The bronze plaque depicted a crimson hand balled into a fist. The hand was holding what appeared to be a knotted stick with a scruffy tuft of bristles on the end of it. Reaching a hand forward, Poppy opened the door, and all at once she was lying on her side on a slab of something cold and bumpy which she was certain was a rock.

  The room she was in was cool and quiet. She could see a burning torch attached to a stone wall in front of her, but that was not what immediately caught her eye. All she could stare at was Hudson’s body which was lying on a large rock beside her, his arm wrapped around the Demotome. His eyes were like her doppelganger’s – half lidded and glassy.

  It was at that moment Poppy realised whose eyes she was looking through – it was her own. She was possessing her own lifeless body. Despite her hardest movements, she could not move any inch of her body. It was as if she was trapped in a small coffin. Out of the corner of her unblinking eye, she saw another body lying on a small boulder. It was a small, slender body with long brown hair that shrouded their face. Even at this angle, Poppy knew exactly who she was looking at.

  It was Emma-Lee.

  The shock of the discovery woke Poppy up. Letting out a gasp for air, the psychic found herself lying on a tattered blanket in a place that was dark. Sitting up slowly, something large bounded over to her and began licking her face with a hot, stinking tongue that smelt like garbage. Letting out a cry, Poppy went to hit whatever it was, only to catch a flash of golden eyes that made her freeze in shock.

  “Seri…”

  The hell hound tilted its head to the side as it sat down on its haunches in front of the psychic. She petted the beast on the head. In response, it emitted a happy whine and wagged its crooked tail.

  Turning her head around, Poppy saw two figures sitting around a blazing fire pit a few feet away from her. One of them was Hudson, his eyes wide as he stared directly into the fire. The other figure was wearing a thick black cloak. At its feet was a long scythe. Poppy got to her feet and approached them, rubbing her temple. Strangely enough, she did not feel any aching in her head.

  “Hudson…Harkness…”

  Hud gazed over and jumped up when he saw Poppy was awake. He raced over to her and wordlessly hugged her. Feeling a little groggy, she embraced him back before her eyes fell on the reaper. Although she could not make out its eyes from underneath its hood, Poppy could tell that it was looking directly at her.

  “Thank you for coming here for me.” It hissed in a rough voice. “With your help, we shall find a way out of the infernal region.”

  Behind them, Poppy could hear the sudden sound of screaming. Whipping her body around, she got her first glimpse at the world outside the cavern. The sky was a deep crimson and black tufts of smoke hung in it like dark rain clouds. The landscape before them was bleak and bare. A single dead tree met her gaze, drooping under the weight of what she assumed was a plump fruit. The screaming continued, before it ended in a choking sob.

  Now she understood why Hudson had seem so scared.

  “We’re going to die here.” Hudson muttered.

  The reaper made a strange noise and Poppy swore it sounded like a dry chuckle.

  “Death means nothing here; I am surprised you of all mortals do not know that.”

  “Hud, I saw Emma-Lee’s body.” Poppy said.

  Hudson snapped his head up. “Where?”

  Poppy shook her head. “She was in a room made of rock. We were all there you, me, her…the Demotome was there too.”

  She lifted her hand up and stared at it. It was solid, but it felt different. She placed her hand over her chest. She could not feel her heart beating. Hudson did the same and he nearly doubled down.

  “We’re not in our bodies anymore.” He murmured. “I’ve lost my body again.”

  “I know exactly where all of your bodies are.” Harkness said, standing up. He towered over the two humans. “They are linked to this place. I can take you to them, but only if you assist me in returning to the Purgatorium.”

  Poppy gave a small nod to the former reaper. Hudson seemed taken aback by this, and in response Poppy took his hand in her own and leant in close to him.

  “It’s okay if you’re scared.” She said softly, whispering into Hud’s ear. “I’m scared too.”

  Hudson gave the psychic an appreciative smile as he squeezed her hand. Seri ran around their legs and let out a few playful barks. A small smirk formed on Poppy’s lips and she gave the hound a small pat on the head.

  “Good thing we’ve got you around, eh boy?”

  Seri let out another bark before racing out of the cave. Together with Harkness, Poppy and Hudson walked out of the cavern and entered the bowels of the hellish landscape.

  Meanwhile, on a distant cliff, a small and hunched figure watched the trio step out into the Infernal Region. It sniffed the air and smacked its lips in delight.

  “They have returned! They have returned!”

  It grabbed the medallion from around its neck and stared at it. It depicted a red hand holding a bristled stick. With a slight skip in its step, the creature raced down the incline towards a shroud of dead trees.
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