by May Dawson
He made a sudden attempt to get up and run, scrambling to his feet, but Ash kicked his legs out from underneath him. He grunted as he went down, and she straddled him, tying his arms behind him.
“You’re going to take a ride on my pet wraith,” she said. “I offer express delivery service.”
“Ash.” My voice came out a horrified whisper. I wasn’t sure that my sister could even hear me.
The wraith turned. It hissed at me.
Ash climbed to her feet, but she pinned the man with a foot on his shoulder. “Hey, Ellis. Took you so long coming back, I took a job.”
“A job? This is what you’re doing in the Far?” I looked from her to the man under her foot. “You’re running a pizza delivery service for the demons?”
“That’s a cute way to put it,” she said. “These people would just turn into wraiths. You don’t want that, do you?”
“They have free will,” I said. “They get to choose whether they walk toward Heaven or Hell.”
“You don’t understand. Life’s a choose-your-own-adventure novel, but that doesn’t mean you get to flip to a new page when you realize you’ve screwed up,” she said. “You choose. You live with your choices.”
“Well, you have a choice right now.”
“I know where they’re holding Nimshi!” she said. “Because I drag these idiots to Hell.”
“Ash,” I said. “You know this isn’t right. Don’t you?”
“Look at me.” Her voice was soft and warm. “I’m your sister, same as ever. I’m a Hunter, just like you.”
I pretended that my heart hadn’t begun to hammer like mad as she reached out, offering me the hilt of a sword. My fingers brushed against hers. My twin. My second self.
“I have a lot to tell you about.” She sighed and pulled a knife out of her belt, reaching down to slice quickly through the man’s bonds. She prodded him with her foot. “Go on, run off. If I were you, I’d pick a destination before we meet again.”
He stumbled up, slipping in the sand as he started to run, and then took off as fast as he could.
“Heaven’s that way!” she yelled at his back, jerking her thumb in the opposite direction. “You might as well have just taken the wraith-ride.”
The wraith took a step toward me, its gaze malevolent.
“Go on, Pam.” Ash gave the wraith a gentle push. “My sister and I have business to attend to.”
“Yeah,” I said, as the wraith spread its wings and flew off. “You definitely have a lot to tell me. What are you now?”
She grabbed my wrist suddenly, pulling me to face her. “Ellis. Listen to me. This is where I live now, this is who I am. This is my home.”
“You don’t have a home with me?” My voice came out small.
“I never fit into our world,” she said.
I thought of the two of us, tiny babies—the same baby, twice over—handed over to a woman to raise. Neither of us exactly belonged in the world, not the way we’d entered it. The Company had wanted to use us, and they’d been willing to see Ash and me dead in order to activate our powers.
“Do you remember anything from the night we…”
Ash glanced over sharply as I trailed off. Then she pulled her sword out of its sheath, flipping it up and out in a clean arc. “It’s time to fight, El. Not time to get distracted.”
“I miss you,” I said in a rush. I wanted her to know why I had been so desperate to bring her back into our world.
“I’ll help you get your boyfriend back,” she said. As if that would fix the gaping hole in the world that had been left behind when she was ripped out of life.
I was about to tell her that wasn’t enough, when she suddenly dove into me, pushing me across the field, into the woods and against one of the trees. I was caught between her and the rough bark of the tree at my back. In the dim light, she widened her eyes at me. She raised one finger from the hilt of her sword to press to her lips.
I heard the demons.
Feet crunched over leaves near us, although I didn’t see them. I heard a low voice, musical and lovely, call something to another demon. There was a low grumble of a reply.
Then their steps faded into the distance.
Ash took a step back.
“I miss you too,” she said softly.
Then she turned. She grabbed my arm and pulled me quickly behind her as she took off running again through the woods.
I lost track of where we were going in the twisting, turning maze of the forest.
I finally slowed, then came to a stop. I wanted to call Ash’s name, but I was afraid to alert the demons to where we were.
Ash stopped, turning her head over her shoulder, and I flashed back to all the dreams I’d had where she looked back at me before she disappeared into the flames. I’d thought we were both running from a monster in our dreams, but I was the monster; I was the one who wanted to drag her out of the Far and back into the land of the living.
But this time, she turned and came back, choosing her footing carefully.
“What’s wrong?” she mouthed as she neared me. Her deep blue eyes met mine evenly. Our friends used to insist they could tell us apart—Ash’s nose was shaped slightly differently, we had different scars and dimples and freckles—but now when I looked at her face, I realized we’d imagined our differences.
Except for the ones that mattered: I wanted life, and she wanted the world of death.
“Trust me,” she said softly. “Please. It’s still me. It’s Ash.”
I nodded.
She pulled me with her, and I followed.
Before long, we came to the edge of the dark forest; through the lacy tangle of branches and leaves, the world looked brighter. Ash stepped to the edge of the woods, looking out carefully over the still night. Her dark hair was teased off her shoulders by the wind, and I looked past her at a path lit silver-gray by the moonlight. The grass on the other side of the road seemed to ripple with the breeze.
Her fingers tightened on the hilt of her sword, but she nodded and stepped out. Together, the two of us walked forward onto the road. We began to pass little cottages, made of log or stones or sometimes pressed-earth. All of them had closed wooden shutters blocking the windows.
“Who lives in the houses?” I asked.
“Most of them are unoccupied,” she said. “It’s the damndest thing. But this one…” She pointed up ahead to a pressed-earth cottage, with a slanted roof. “That one is mine now.”
“You have a house in the Far,” I said.
“No, Ellis,” she said. “I have a home in the Far.”
The cottage windows stood open, and she led me through the thick grass of the field to her front door.
“You stay in here all by yourself?” I asked.
“I like being alone,” she told me.
“Since when?” I asked, but she ignored me. So I asked another question, since I still held the hilt of the sword she’d given me. ““Aren’t you worried you’re going to turn into a wraith?”
“Of course not,” she said. “I’m a Hunter. Someone has to keep these things under control.”
“There are Hunters here,” I said flatly.
“So much for retirement, huh?” She grinned at me brightly and swung open the door.
I had so many questions for her, but when I opened my mouth, she pressed a palm over my lips, just like she’d done when we were kids. She said firmly, “Save it for after the fight.”
I yanked her hand away from my mouth, as annoyed as I’d always been by that move when we were kids. “The rescue?”
She shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to her what the purpose was. She just wanted a fight.
“You’re acting kind of weird.” I said.
“Ellis. I’m dead. I’m kind of weird now, and it’s fine.”
“You’re not dead,” I said.
“I am. Promise.”
My heart dropped. “What if I could bring you back?”
“Like I said. After the fig
ht.” She smiled at me encouragingly. “We’ll sit down and talk about everything. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“But for now, we’ve got to move. Samael is expecting you to wander into his trap, and we’ve got a trap to set for him.”
“The five of us versus Hell,” I said.
“Sounds legit.” Ash smiled at me, the usual familiar smile, and walked into the cottage in front of me.
I took one last glance at the dark night outside and then followed her in.
Ryker jumped to his feet when I walked in. He grabbed me in a hug.
I smiled with my face crushed into his broad chest. “Missed you too.”
I craned my head over his shoulder, bobbing onto my toes, eager to see Levi and Jacob. I breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of their faces, and when Ryker released me, I hugged both of them.
The dimly lit house smelled like smoke. There was a loft above us, a rope ladder hanging down; the room we were in was dominated by a stone fireplace and a low, rough wooden table. Remnants of a meal were spread across the table: roasted meat, bread, beer. I guess my boys always found the beer.
“What took you so long?” Jacob asked.
“I had a surprise visit from the council,” I said. “They came to get Dani.”
Jacob rested a hand on my shoulder. “What did you do?”
His voice was low and even, without judgment. Which wasn’t what I was used to from Jacob, who judged everything from my accent to my love for what he called ‘flat’ lemonade.
“I let them take her. I couldn’t stop them.” I bit down on my lower lip. “They saw you. Calla told me to get back in here, that you might be in danger.”
“We’re fine.” Levi rubbed his hand across my back.
“I hope they don’t hurt her. I think somehow they might be listening in on us. I asked Calla what they were going to do with her, and she told me they’d reverse the spell. They said not to worry, that they were the good guys…or close enough. Just like that conversation we had in Turner’s shop. She used the exact same phrase.”
Ryker cursed. Levi shook his head. “Great. Well, we’ll sweep the house for bugs when we get home. Not a word when we get home, everyone just spread out and search. Keep Nim quiet, we don’t want them to know he’s alive.”
We all nodded.
“First, let’s go get our little brother,” Ryker said.
Jacob held a lantern out to me. “The lantern is enchanted. It won’t buy us much time, but they should suck any demons in a one-mile radius inside. Once you use the spell. ”
“Giving us time to get to Nimshi, free him, and get him out of there.” Levi said.
“Out of where?” I asked.
“Out of Hell,” Levi said. “Ash thinks she found him. Since Samael likes to bring him top-side so you can watch him being tortured, he’s being held near the doors.”
“And what happens if the lantern fails? And we end up trapped in Hell?”
“We fight our way out,” Levi said. He half-shrugged. “And if that doesn’t work, we move right on to the afterlife and skip the whole pesky dying business.”
“Sounds great,” I said flatly. I held out my hand for the lantern.
Ash knelt at the fireplace. Her hand cupped a small flame as she returned to me, lighting the wick inside the lantern.
“It doesn’t matter if the flame goes out or not,” she told me. “But you’ll need to activate the spell. And the lantern itself can’t get broken.”
“Latin, yeah?” Jacob asked, looking at me for confirmation. “Atque extinguere flammas in malum.”
“Or you can just say, extinguish the flames of evil,” Levi said.
“If you have no style,” Jacob added.
“I mean, she’s going to be face-to-face with Samael, we don’t want her to be scared and forget the freaking Latin she never learned in school.” Ryker said.
“She won’t be scared.” Jacob said confidently. It was a confidence I didn’t share. “She finally gets to give Samael exactly what he deserves. We’ll be right there with you this time, Ellis.”
He’d been right there with me last time, and I’d seen him tortured, almost to death. Those memories haunted my dreams.
“Samael is watching the field,” Levi said. “Where he thinks you’ll emerge. We want him to think that you were trying to trick him by sneaking in to rescue Nimshi, and that you slipped us, too. It’s one reason to attack at night.”
“I get it,” I said. “I’m Too-Stupid-To-Live in this scenario, right? You guys told me not to go after Nimshi to rescue him…”
“But you did just that.” Ryker nodded. “Sneaking into the Far once we were asleep.”
“Overconfident teenager problem,” I said.
“Once he realizes you’re on the move, he should come to you.” Levi said. “Wait until you see him before you activate the spell, if you can. The lantern will hoover up any demons in the area, but catching him gives us the best chance.”
I nodded.
“We’ll be right outside Hell’s gate,” Ryker said. “Ready to go. Once he thinks he’s trapped you, you trap him, and we rescue Nim together.”
Jacob looked at my face. “You wanted to be bait,” he reminded me.
I smacked his arm. “I do. I am good with this plan.”
“I’m not,” Ryker said bluntly. His gaze was troubled, and I knew he wanted to call the whole thing off. Do battle rather than send me into Hell’s mouth alone. But he just reached out to touch my jaw gently. “Good luck, Firestarter.”
“Let’s do this,” I said. “Before I get too freaked out.”
Ash shook out a black cloak and threw it over my shoulders. It carried a distinct scent of Sulphur, and I crinkled up my nose as I felt a sneeze coming on. I couldn’t resist it, and I sneezed.
“Bless you,” Jacob said. “Try not to make any of those adorable little cat-sneezes in front of the demons. They take away any intimidating you have working for you.”
“I took this off a demon,” Ash told me, tying the strings into a jaunty little bow that didn’t match my mood at all. She pulled my hood up, and then took a step back, her expression self-satisfied as I fought another sneeze. “I doubt it would trick Samael, but it should make it look as if you think you can sneak through the gate. Hopefully you make it all the way to Nim before you have to activate the lantern.”
“You took it off a demon?” I asked.
“It’s what we do,” she said.
We. She was still so close to me, and my eyes fell to the tattoos on her arms. “You said there aren’t many people here who haven’t turned into wraiths. Who created your runes? Who taught you about the lanterns?”
“The lantern trick is my very own invention,” she told me. “Just for you. For Nimshi. I was going to use it, but I waited. I didn’t want to tip our hand to Samael.”
I nodded.
She pulled my hood a little further over my eyes. “Let’s go fuck up some demons, huh?”
Chapter 26
Ash and the guys walked part way with me, and then melted away into the night. I was alone on a long, moonlit path, clutching my lantern in one hand and my sword in the other. Which made me feel like Little Red Riding Hood, walking off to meet the wolf knowingly.
We tell kids stories like Little Red, but walking through a dark night toward the gates to Hell, I imagined it all a bit too vividly: the snarling wolf, foaming and bloody around the muzzle, the small girl almost—but not quite—powerless before snapping jaws. If a girl is very clever—or if she screams loud enough and there’s a woodcutter nearby who gives a shit—she might escape the wolf’s clutches. Or she might not. When I have kids—if I survive the wolves and I want kids—we are sticking with Winnie the Pooh.
I reached the fork in the path. The path to the left curved back to rejoin itself, ultimately, an endless loop that ran through the Far between Heaven and Hell. The path to the right was wide and well-paved and inviting; the trees that overhung the path glistened with
white blossoms and fruit, even in the dim light.
It turned out the path to Hell wasn’t actually paved with good intentions.
I took a deep breath and headed toward Hell. I expected something to happen, something dark and magical, but nothing did. The blossoms on the trees waved slightly in the breeze. Fireflies flitted among the trees.
The lantern bumped against my thigh as I walked quickly down the path, my sword at the ready.
The path curved, and ahead of me, the trees led toward an enormous silver-stone castle. It looked magical—putting anything at Disney to shame—and for a second, I was struck with its beauty. It seemed to perfectly reflect the moonlight, shimmering against the dark night. It was hard to believe this was Hell, not Heaven. Hell was beautiful and captivating.
A demon walked down the path from the castle. A tall man with an angel’s face, he glanced at me and then away; he barely spared a glance for the sword and the lantern. My breath froze in my chest, sure as we neared each other, expecting that he would suddenly whirl and attack me. My legs ached with the tension. His eyes flickered toward me as we grew abreast of each othe. I thought I was a goner. He walked on. My spine itched until he was well behind me.
The door stood propped open, welcoming. Light seeped out from inside, as if it were brightly lit. My heart hammered in my chest.
I reached out and wrapped my hand around the doorknob.
“Good evening, Lilith.”
The voice behind me was rich and warm and familiar.
I spun around.
Samael smiled at me. He was handsome, beautiful really, and when his smile was so big and bright it seemed unreal that he was a sadistic monster.
But when I looked into his face, I remembered the way he had looked at me with his chest heaving and fury in his eyes as he raised that rock. The breeze ruffled his hair the same way that it had the day that his face was a mask of murderous rage, as if the man I had once loved had been locked away behind his own anger.
“Samael,” I said. “You have something of mine.”
“I told you to come alone,” he said.
I stared into his eyes, neither confirming nor denying.
