"Follow me," Alyx said. I expected her to be amused by my modesty. Instead, she seemed bothered that I was being subjected to the display. Was that progress?
We made our way off the left of the stage to a guarded and locked door. The guard recognized Alyx and slid his access key across the reader before we had even arrived. We went through without slowing.
I thought the floor of the club was bad. Behind it was even worse. There were private booths here, open out into the corridor we walked along, where patrons were receiving special attention from the dancers. I was sure most of it was illegal, and I did my best to ignore the sights, sounds and smells as we cleared that area and reached the offices behind.
"Are you okay?" Alyx asked.
I nodded. "I just hope Hell is nothing like this."
We kept walking until we reached a heavier steel door. Alyx pushed it open, and we descended some steps, heading down into a sub-basement below the place.
I could hear voices ahead of us as we entered a dingy, earthy corridor. Alyx came to stop.
"Cabal is in with Damien. Damn it."
"What do you want to do?"
"Did you come up with another way to pay for the trip?"
"Yeah." Elyse wasn't going to like it.
"Then let's get this done." She started forward again.
The voices gained in volume as we drew nearer to another door, this one made of stone and covered with demonic runes. One of the voices was a booming bass, the other equally loud and scratchy. The two demons were so busy yelling at one another that they didn't notice immediately when Alyx pulled the door open.
I didn't know which demon was which. They were both around six feet and thick with muscle, dressed in silk shirts and nice pants. They were arguing in the center of a ring of runed stones on a dirt floor. A Hell Rift.
"How many times I got to tell you to keep your hands off?" the deep-voiced one was saying to the other. "Girls start getting hurt in my club, they tell their friends, and before you know it I can't get any decent talent in here."
"She came on to me. What was I supposed to do?"
"You say every girl I bring in comes onto you."
"Well, they-" His eyes flicked over to Alyx, and he stopped talking. The other one noticed a moment later.
"Alyx," he said. "What a pleasant surprise."
"You're a terrible liar, Cabal," Alyx said, identifying the demons for me.
"Okay. Truth is you're the last thing I wanted to see in my joint. Your husband is looking for you."
"He isn't my husband," Alyx said.
"Whatever. I don't care about that stuff. I do care that he told me he would burn everything I own if you turned up and I let you walk."
"Like you could stop me?"
Cabal smiled. "Yeah, I didn't tell your husband that, not that he would have listened anyway. Just walk and I'll pretend I never saw you."
"Sorry, I can't. My new master wants to hire you."
His eyebrows raised at that statement. So did mine. How many times did I have to tell her not to call me master?
"Oh," he said, noticing me for the first time. "You aren't talking about this thing, are you? It isn't even strong enough to have an aura."
I didn't like the way he called me "it." I gathered my power, using it to throw him to the wall and pin him there. Damien tried to come to his master's defense, but Alyx stepped in front of him, turning one of her hands into a large claw.
"Have a little respect for the diuscrucis," she said.
His eyes widened, and he looked at me a little closer. "You're him?" he asked.
I let him go. "Yes."
"You have a knack for getting mixed up with interesting individuals," Damien said.
"Better him than Espanto," Alyx said. "That's why I'm not afraid of that asshole. I'm under Landon's protection. He's my true mate."
I could see the jealousy in Damien's eyes. Cabal just laughed. "How come Espanto didn't tell me you ran off with the diuscrucis?"
It was because he wouldn't have remembered how Alyx left. Only that she had.
"I need a ride, and a guide," I said.
"From me?" Cabal asked. "Where to?"
"You're standing in it."
He laughed again, harder. "You want to go to Hell?"
"Want? No. Need? Yes."
"Why would I help you get there?"
"I can pay."
"Oh? What do you have?"
I clenched my teeth while I removed the stone from my pocket and summoned the sword. "You can have this after we get back."
"Before you go," Cabal said, his eyes lighting up. "That thing is legendary."
"No. I might need it while I'm there."
"What if you don't come back?"
"I will."
He considered for a few seconds. "Deal. Damien was about to go out on a run. You can tag along. He'll get you where you need to go, and if you survive he'll bring you back."
"Fair enough. Don't even think about double-crossing me. I'm not an easy one to get rid of."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Cabal said. "I like my head attached to my neck. You want to seal it in blood?"
"Not necessary. I'll take your word."
"You have it. Damien, make sure the diuscrucis here comes back alive. I want that sword."
"Yes, master," Damien said.
"If Espanto comes back here, you haven't seen me," Alyx said.
"Of course not," Cabal replied. "Step aside and we'll get you on your way."
We cleared the circle. Damien vanished from the room while Cabal drew some additional runes on the wall by slicing open his hand with a knife and dipping his finger in the blood.
"What are those for?" I asked.
"I'm binding Alyx to this Rift," he said. "I can't have you deciding to take another path back here and getting away without giving up either her or the sword."
"Nobody said anything about this."
"You don't want to go; you don't have to."
"Give me a break, Cabal. We both know when we come back Espanto is going to be here waiting for us."
He shrugged. "Chance you got to take, diuscrucis. I thought you were a tough guy?"
I glared at him. Alyx squeezed my arm and leaned in to whisper to me. "It'll be okay."
"No, it won't be," I whispered back. "If we come back through that Rift, and Espanto is here, you'll be back under his control. I can't fight both of you alone."
"You can take a different path."
"And leave you with him? Not a chance."
"Won't you come to save me again?"
"Of course I would, but-"
"But what?"
My mind flashed back to the meat locker in China, to the sight of Espanto's brand and Alyx's story about how he used her. It wasn't an uncommon thing amongst demons, and I had become numb to it most of the time. Not with Alyx. I couldn't stand the thought of his hands on her body.
"If I don't do this, then I'm hindering you again," she said.
Damn. Why did my words always get me in trouble?
"Well?" Cabal asked.
Alyx pulled away from me before I could respond, using a claw to cut her other hand open. Cabal dipped a finger in it and finished the rune. It burst into flame, and I could feel the demonic energy pass between the circle and Alyx, binding her to it.
I suddenly felt guilty for not doing more to stop her.
"Even if you take another Rift, she'll be passed here through the Nether," Cabal said. "There's no way around it, so you can either come with or leave her behind. Either way I get paid."
Damien returned to the room, three more fiends trailing behind him. They arranged themselves around the circle with Cabal. Apparently, the fiend wasn't strong enough to activate the Hell Rift on his own.
"Damien, don't forget to make the pickup. This isn't just a sightseeing tour."
"Of course, Master," Damien replied.
The four fiends knelt, putting their hands on the stones and whispering. A moment later, a ring of fi
re enveloped the edge of the circle.
"Let's go, diuscrucis," Damien said. "Ladies first."
Alyx looked back at me, her eyes apologetic, before stepping into the Rift and vanishing.
A moment later, I did the same.
Twelve
The trip between Earth and Hell was instant. One second I was in Cabal's subterranean lair, and the next I was much, much further down.
Of course, that wasn't an accurate description of where Hell existed. At all. It felt like an eternity since Josette had explained the physics to me. My version was that each realm was in its own plane, stacked together like a hamburger. Purgatory was the cheese melted on top of the mortal realm while Heaven and Hell were the buns. From what Cabal had said, I guess there was another layer called the Nether. That would be the mayo, or the mustard, depending on how they build burgers wherever you happened to be from.
In any case, we had arrived. I tested my power before I even considered looking around, not wholly convinced that it would translate.
It did.
"Are you okay?" Alyx asked, taking my arm again.
"I am right now. I'm not thrilled about what will happen when we're done here."
"I'm sorry, Landon. There was no other way. You need to do this."
"I wish I didn't."
I finally noticed our surroundings. If the walls of the room hadn't been darker and clear of runes, I wouldn't have known we had gone anywhere.
"I have to say, if this is Hell, I'm a little underwhelmed," I said.
"Please," Damien said. "You see one tiny little crap room, and you think you know anything?"
He smiled, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth that he didn't have topside.
Then he tried to hit me.
I was caught by surprise. Even so, I still managed to shift my feet, grab his punch, and keep going with his momentum, throwing him hard into the wall. He hit it with a grunt, and then turned and came at me again.
By then, I had the spatha out, and I summoned it just in time to leave the blade an inch from his chest.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"Just testing you out. You need to be quick to survive as a free soul out here."
I glanced over at Alyx, who hadn't moved a muscle. "You knew this was coming?"
She nodded. "I could smell his aggression. I knew you would be fine."
I let the spatha go back to the lettuce, or the tomato, or wherever it went when it wasn't in use. I pocketed the stone again.
"Lead the way," I said to Damien.
He headed for the exit, and we followed. We moved through dark corridors, up a flight of iron stairs, and back out into what was still a club. It resembled the club we had left somewhat, but it seemed as though it had been passed through a strangely distorted filter. It was still vice, but it had changed into something darker and more sinister.
There were girls up on the stage. They were still naked. They were still bumping and grinding. The music they moved to was discordant, off-tempo, like listening to the Beatles in reverse. They clawed and bit at one another, tearing into one another's flesh and drawing blood.
The patrons of the place had their eyes on them, but they didn't all seem to be watching. Most looked disheveled and downtrodden; their eyes glazed over with a look of utter hopelessness. There were a few demons in the club, a fiend and a pair of devils. They weren't like the kind that existed on Earth. They were bigger and more imposing. I noticed them noticing us.
"It's depressing, but not much of a departure from what I'm used to," I said.
"Hell isn't for the free souls," Damien said. "Do you see those mortals at the front?"
I followed the dancers down to the front of the stage. Four men in ratty old suits were positioned there, heads drenched in the dancer's blood, eyes frozen on the display.
"What about them?"
"They're always there. In that spot. They can't leave." He laughed. "An eternity of being forced to watch, and covered in a reminder of their weakness. Those devils back there can come and go as they please. They like the show because they choose when to see it."
"You're saying the main torture of Hell is a lack of choice?"
"Bingo. Sure, you have some of the worse offenders who are also subjected to pain day in and day out, but they don't have a choice either. The lesser damned get stuck with their vice, be it lust, sloth, greed, whatever. They get the version of it that the Big Guy chooses, and they live it until they either become numb and lost or until they man up and break free."
"Break free? I thought Hell was eternal?"
"Where do you think the devils and all of the other free souls of Hell come from? Where do you think Lucifer gets his stock to send back to Earth? Some souls manage to break loose of their bonds and go on the run. When they do, if they can survive for a day without being captured or killed, then they get bumped up to a minor demon and can start earning more and more freedom."
"You did that?"
"Yup."
"How long were you down here?"
"Fifteen years." He shuddered visibly as he said it. "Then another ten working up to fiend and getting sent back to the mortal world. Most people think of Hell, and they think of chaos. There is a level of it, especially out here, but don't forget that Lucifer used to be an angel. He still keeps the underlying systems running like clockwork."
I was surprised by the information. I had always known that many of the demons on Earth originated in Hell and were sent back to sow chaos and destruction there. I had never learned how that process occurred.
"So how does a damned soul break loose of their bonds?"
"Usually it's because the torture doesn't work on them. Instead of growing weary and hopeless at the endlessness of it, they come to enjoy it instead. Even then, many will choose to remain for that reason, and Hell almost becomes Heaven to them. If Lucifer senses that and the soul doesn't try to claim free will, their punishment will be altered."
"Use it or lose it?"
"Pretty much."
Damien guided us to the exit. We were at the door out into the wilds of Hell when the two devils decided they had done enough watching. They took up a position in front of the doors, crossing their arms and trying to look more frightening. Each was over twelve feet in height and solidly built, their red, leathery skin bulging with strength.
"I don't recognize these two. Do you, Skalax?" one asked the other.
"Who are your new friends, Damien?" Skalax replied.
"Careful, Dilix," Damien said. "These two have business in the Pit. Let them pass or you may find yourselves starting over."
"Two creatures from the mortal realm are supposed to frighten us?" Dilix said.
Apparently, these two had never come across a Great Were before. Being born on the Earth plane, Alyx's kind probably didn't travel to Hell very often.
"Just let us go," I said. "I don't have time for your bullshit."
Dilix and Skalax glanced at each other. A moment later, massive swords appeared in both of their hands.
Damien backed away at once. I gathered my power while summoning the spatha to hand. It was a toothpick compared to their huge blades, but it was equally powerful, if not more so. The angelic scripture would lessen the brutality of any parry.
Alyx remained in human form, her eyes glued to the demons' every motion. She was keeping her demon form a secret. If they didn't know what she was, she wasn't going to tell them unless she had to.
"You're sure I'll be fine?" I asked.
She smiled and nodded at me, just before she slipped away from a falling blade.
I threw my power out at Skalax, hitting him hard enough to send him crashing into the wall and make a massive dent in it. At the same time, I scampered in toward Dilix, getting close before he could bring his blade around. It was a terrible weapon for this range. I pushed off, leaping up high and bringing the spatha around. His neck felt like soft butter as the sword eased through it.
I landed, spinning toward Skalax,
who had regained his feet. He saw what had happened to Dilix, and his sword vanished.
"What manner of demon are you?" he asked.
"He's not a demon," Alyx said. "He is the diuscrucis."
"Diuscrucis?" Skalax didn't know the word or its meaning.
"It doesn't matter," I said. "Get out of the way or I'll take your head, too."
Skalax stepped aside. "Of course, Master," he said, bending into a subservient pose. "As you command."
We stepped through the pile of ash that had been Dilix only seconds before. Damien pushed open the door and held it for us.
Demons who were killed on Earth were sent back to Hell. What about demons killed in Hell? "What will happen to Dilix?"
"His soul will return to its original state as one of the damned. His torture will be greater for his failure. He may or may not ever become free again."
"It seems risky to start fights with consequences like that."
"We're the damned, diuscrucis. It's in our nature to cause conflict. You would have more luck teaching a pig to sing."
Thirteen
We moved from the club out onto the streets. There was a lot more to take in outside, from the constant, faint smell of sulfur to the red and black sky, where heavy clouds of smoke sent a constant dusting of ash falling across everything. It was already two inches deep in the streets.
The city was similar to New York, but it clearly wasn't the Big Apple. Everything was damaged to some extent. Broken windows, dented light poles, and cracked facades were everywhere, along with downtrodden pedestrians making endless loops barefoot through the streets, the glass from the windows slicing them up and leaving trails of blood in their wake. There were other damned souls here as well. Women that Damien said were adulterers were being chased through the streets by devils with massive, erect penises while their male counterparts were running from harpies carrying any one of an assortment of sharp instruments. Murderers were paraded on the back of slow-moving trucks as if part of a twisted Thanksgiving Day Parade, some in nooses, some in guillotines, some in the electric chair. They were killed, reformed, and killed again, over and over while we waited for them to meander past.
There were others, of course. So many others. This was Hell. It was also a city. A hundred different tortures prepared for all kinds of sinners and assholes.
Execution (The Divine Book 6) Page 5
