It was odd behavior from her. "What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"I knew that I loved you because I was intended to be one of Ulnyx's mates, and you were once the Alpha of my pack. But-"
Her voice trailed away. She looked uncomfortable, and vulnerable in a way I hadn't seen and could barely imagine.
"But what?" I asked.
"I have other... feelings. From here." She put a hand on her heart. "And from here." She put her hand on her gut, where I believed the soul rested. "Not just obligation and a desire to mate with you. Something more. We've been together for the last three weeks, and when I think of being parted from you, I don't like it."
I stared at her, my heart ready to thump right through my chest. Was she telling me that she really loved me? Not only in the way she had believed love was but for real? I knew demons were capable of real love. Izak had loved Josette and Sarah.
"What does it mean?" she asked when I remained silent for too long.
"It means you're more than a demon. A lot more."
Sixteen
The two stops before the Desolation were the Spikes and the Pit.
The Spikes were a series of sharp mountain peaks where the torments of the damned echoed from the spires, the actual torture generated deep within the mountains. I didn't know what kind of souls were sent there, but I could hear the difference in their screams from those of the Kitchen, and from those fueling the train. Judging by that, they were not in a happy place. Not. At. All.
The Pit was the more classic representation of Hell. It was where the fire and brimstone hit it hard. The train paused at a station there to take on more passengers, who seemed to pick up on their counterpart's attitudes and instinctively know not to look at me. From my position near the window, I could see the massive pit in the ground, and the cliff faces where damned souls were chained and screaming out as fire licked at their bodies. I had wondered as we began moving again how those souls ever got free to become demons. They didn't have use of their hands or feet to get themselves out of the chains. Did they call out to their keepers? Or were the eternally trapped? Maybe that was what happened to the demons who died?
The Desolation made me cry.
I did it silently, and I tried to hide it from Alyx. I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to look weak. I was glad none of the demons would notice anyway.
"What's wrong?" Alyx asked me, noticing the tears.
I pointed out the window. "I've been here before."
"In Hell?"
"It wasn't in Hell, but it looked just like this."
It was inside the Box. A broken Earth. A post-apocalyptic, destroyed world. Buildings turned to slag and scrap, corpses everywhere. It was the Beast's world. The one that he had destroyed with his power. Or at least, it was a reproduction of it. I had defeated the Beast, but I had lost Charis. I had lost Clara. I had almost lost myself.
It hurt to see it again.
"It isn't the same place. Whatever hurt you there, I won't let it hurt you here."
I reached out and took her hand without thinking. I squeezed it, and she squeezed back.
"It will be well, my love," she said.
"Thanks," I replied.
The train slowed to a stop. Most of the demons were getting on the train. Only a minority departed with us.
"Damien said Cain's palace is near the center. He said you can't miss it."
It was going to be the Freedom Tower. I just knew that it was. It would make the entire nightmare complete. Dante had said Lucifer wouldn't bother with me, but I couldn't help thinking that he was watching, and he had done this to torment me as best he could. A joke only he could make.
I took her hand again, and we started walking, picking our way over the corpses and through the destruction. We hadn't gone too far when I realized that the corpses weren't dead, per se. They were more of the damned, souls left to hunger and thirst for all of eternity. The gluttonous, I assumed.
We covered a lot of ground in two hours, but the broken city seemed to stretch forever. Turning in circles revealed more of the same as far as we could see, as true a desolation as I could have ever imagined.
"If Cain's palace is too far away, we won't make it back to Damien in time," I said.
"We have lots of time left. We can move a lot faster than we have been if I change."
"I'm worried a Great Were running across this landscape is going to attract the wrong kind of attention. I don't want Cain to know we're coming."
"You don't think two people walking across the Desolation will attract attention? There's nothing else out here but the damned, and they aren't upright."
"My plan hinged around sneaking into Cain's palace." I knew it wasn't much of a plan. But then, how could I plan anything when I had no idea what we were walking into.
"I think we need to change the plan. We've been walking for two hours, and I don't see anything. How do we even know we're going in the right direction?" She gave me that mischievous smile again. "Besides, it's the only way I can get you on my back."
I could feel the heat on my face, and it wasn't from being in Hell. I stood silently for a minute, looking around and thinking.
"Okay. You're right. We only have three days, and I don't want to waste them all walking through this."
She leaned in, nuzzling my neck. One second, I could feel the softness of her skin against mine. The next, I felt the rougher fur of a massive muzzle.
Our eyes met. I could still see Alyx behind them, but it was an understatement to say her demon form was nowhere near as attractive as her human form. At the same time, I could still feel our growing connection there.
"Get on," she growled, her voice rougher.
She dropped to all fours, dipping lower so I could climb onto her back. I used my power to plant me to her, and we were off.
Alyx bounded across the landscape with ease, leaping over shorter walls and debris and pushing aside burned out cars and other garbage. Within minutes, we had pushed our past location beyond the horizon, and within an hour we had traveled nearly fifty miles. I knew Alyx was enjoying the run, and having me riding her. Part of me didn't want to be having a good time in Hell, but I was a balance of good and evil. I did enjoy it, and I leaned down and wrapped my arms around Alyx's thick neck, holding on tight.
We covered another twenty miles. We saw nothing but more of the same. There had to be a million souls or more out here, laying among the ruin, barely able to move. It was horrible to see them, knowing there was a semblance of life in the withered frames. I had to remind myself over and over that they had been gluttonous enough in the mortal world that they had been delivered to this one. Was it fair to torture them for all of eternity? I never expected anything to be fair.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," I said, growing frustrated by out lack of progress.
Alyx came to a stop, and I slid off her back. She changed back to human form, looking sweaty and maybe even a little tired. I didn't think Great Weres could get tired.
"Damien didn't tell us which way to go," she said. "Maybe he wanted us to get lost?"
"And piss off Cabal by not bringing us back with the sword?"
"Good point."
"In any case, I think we need to start over. Head back the way we came until we get to the station. We can try a new direction, or maybe ask one of the demons which way to go."
She nodded. "I think that's the best option."
"Do you need to rest?"
She was hesitant to tell me she did, but I could see it in her posture.
"It's okay if you do."
"I don't know what it is. Back home I can run for a day without tiring. I know it's hot here, but I'm not used to this."
"Have you fed recently?"
Weres were like any of Lucifer's children. They needed human blood at least occasionally to survive.
"Not since you freed me from Espanto."
"That was almost a month ago."
"I know. I have gone longer. I feel like being in
this place is draining me when it should be energizing me."
"You're still a creature of the mortal plane, even if you're Hell-made."
"You aren't tired."
"I'm technically not alive. In fact, I've technically died twice already. We can rest a while." I pointed over at a low wall that used to belong to an apartment building or something. It was clear of the damned. "We can sit there. You can feed."
I said it without thinking. Alyx's expression changed to one of shocked pleasure.
"Are you sure?" she asked, noticing my sudden discomfort.
I had let Rebecca feed on me when she was tired. That hadn't worked out well. Alyx wasn't Rebecca.
"Yes. I'll heal as fast as you can drink, and it should give you your energy back. You're going to need it."
We walked over to the wall, and I sat down against it. She was going to sit next to me, but I reached out and pulled her into my lap.
"You pick strange times to be interested, Mast-Landon."
"It will be easier for you to reach my neck."
"I'm not a vampire. I don't need your neck."
"It's easier to reach."
One of her fingers extended into a razor claw. "You're sure?" she asked again. Her face was close to mine, and I could smell her sweat mixed with her normal scent.
"Yes," I said, taking her hand and putting the finger on my neck. I felt a light sting as she cut me, and then her mouth was against my flesh, drawing out my blood.
She murmured softly as she drew it out, her hands wrapping around me so she could hold me tight against her. The murmur changed into a pleased growl that was almost a purr.
I focused on restoring myself, pushing my energy into my body to heal as fast as she fed. She was thirstier than she had admitted, and I soon found myself closing my eyes and relaxing into it. I put my attention on the feel of her weight in my lap, her lips against my skin, her bottom against my thighs.
I opened my eyes. She had stopped drinking and was leaning back, looking at me while she rocked gently on top of me. Of course, I had gotten aroused.
"Alyx," I said softly, lost for breath.
She responded by leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. Half of me begged to push her away, feeling guilty for the sudden rage of emotions I was feeling and telling me I was dishonoring Charis' memory. The other half was a demon in Hell, and it returned the affection with an equal and opposite response, gripping her tighter and opening my mouth to accept her tongue.
What was I doing? Why was I doing it? Lust? Love? Something in between? Or was it the atmosphere of the place, driving me mad?
I didn't know, and for precious minutes I didn't care. I held Alyx tight against me, returning her kisses with equal passion. It felt wrong. It felt wonderful. I hated myself for it, and yet I didn't want to stop.
I should have known that nothing so perfectly flawed was meant to last.
I heard the demon before I saw it, and I broke off our latest kiss in a too-late effort to defend. Large hands grabbed Alyx by the shoulders, pulling her from my lap and throwing her across the wasteland. She went fifty feet at least until she crashed into a dilapidated car, hitting it hard enough to roll it over and bend the frame.
I pushed out with my power with all the force I had. The demon standing in front of me didn't even flinch, and I felt his power peeling mine aside like it was nothing more than a nuisance.
"Diuscrucis, I presume?" the demon said. As powerful as he was, he had to be an archfiend. He was six feet tall, with dark, chunky hair, narrow features that would have made him a great runway model, and an overly pleasant smile. He wore a dark purple leather duster on top of a neatly worn suit.
There was only one demon this could be.
"Cain, I presume?"
Seventeen
"How did you find us?" I asked.
We were riding in the back of a carriage that had followed the son of Lucifer out into the city. Alyx was beside me, dazed but unharmed by the throw while Cain sat opposite us, his posture that of supreme confidence. And why not? He had made my power look like a water pistol instead of an assault rifle.
"This is my realm, diuscrucis. How would I not find you?"
He smiled disarmingly, casting his eyes over at Alyx. He had made it clear that he thought she was something special when he had helped her back to her feet, apologizing for being so rough and dropping to a knee to kiss her hand.
Of course, Lucifer's son was handsome. Lucifer was supposed to be doubly so. Alyx seemed oblivious to it, and her expression didn't change when his gaze fell on her.
"My apologies again, Alyx. I needed to make a statement to your companion."
Alyx didn't respond.
"I know you wouldn't have come all the way to Hell without reason," he said, putting his attention back on me. "And since you decided to grace the Desolation with your treasure, I assume that reason has something to do with me."
He had the look of a man who knew.
"Go on," I said.
"There's only one reason I can think that you might have gone through the trouble to come to Hell and seek me out, despite the fact that you must have been warned that your power is a pittance compared to mine. Here, at least." He smiled again. "Abaddon's soul has been ripped from his realm and returned to yours while I have captured the so-called Fist of God, an interesting mashup of mortal technology and Divine energy that may be the only thing that can contain Abaddon indefinitely."
I tried not to look surprised. "What do you mean, indefinitely?"
"Of course, you didn't know, did you?" he asked, pleased with himself. "The prison the demons have constructed to keep him will not keep him forever. He is more powerful than they realize. He is almost more powerful than me."
That was bad news, and Cain was giving it freely. I didn't like anything about that.
"But the Fist of God definitely can?" I asked.
"It can now. We took the damaged shell and managed to get it reconditioned, and then we added our special sauce to the mix. Demonic runes, allowing it to be controlled by the mind. All you need is a pendant like this one."
He reached under his shirt and produced a metal disc with runes scratched all over it. I think it had been taken from the FOG.
"You made it work?" I asked, almost impressed.
He shook his head. "Not quite yet. I was waiting for the right soul to put in it. I had been hoping maybe for an archangel." His smile changed, and I realized I was right to be worried about how much he was divulging. "I think your arrival has been most timely, don't you?"
"You can't put me in the Fist of God," I said, fighting to keep my exterior appearance calm.
"No? Why not?"
"My power isn't Divine. It came from the Beast."
"His smile lessened, and he rubbed at his chin. "Hmm, interesting. That would make for quite an experiment."
"I won't let you hurt him," Alyx said, pouncing toward Cain, her hands shifting to claws.
He didn't even flinch. Without moving a single muscle, she was thrown back against the seat of the carriage and held.
"Feisty. I like that."
I stared at Cain. Dante had warned me, and I had rushed ahead with the plan anyway. At least now I knew the mortal world was screwed if I didn't make it back with the FOG. Abaddon would escape, and his power would pull the life out of everything he crossed until there was nothing left.
How the heck was I going to get the armor away from Cain when Cain was completely owning me? I couldn't fight him. I couldn't hurt him. We were stuck. Totally stuck.
Damn.
"So now what?" I asked.
"I'm taking you back to the palace," Cain replied. "You'll be chained up while I discuss the potential of using you in the armor with my team. If they don't think it's possible as you claimed, I may simply mount you as a trophy. Or I might gift you to my father."
"I don't suppose we can bargain for the Fist instead?"
"Out of the question," he replied. He looked at Alyx again. "As
for you, I think you're rather exotic, and I admire your spirit. You'll be brought to my harem and prepared as one of my concubines. I should like a taste of you."
"Forget it," I said before I realized how stupid it sounded.
"I don't think you're in a position to argue," Cain said, patronizing me.
Alyx was trying to move, and to shift. Her muscles were bulging from her arms, and her face was wrinkled from the effort. She paused for a moment, her eyes sadder than anything I had ever seen. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to be made prisoner to a demon again after finally managing to get free.
"Next time, you should be a little more prepared before you plan to visit the son of Lucifer," Cain said, still patronizing.
I glared at him in angry silence for the rest of the trip. I wasn't going to let Alyx be a prisoner again. I was going to find my way out of this, and I was going to destroy Cain.
Somehow.
Eighteen
Cain's palace was pretty much what I expected. Think Taj Mahal, with a bit more gaudiness, iron spikes, and ugly statues. It was a massive place, and probably the only location in Hell that had a pool. Or was it a moat? As the carriage rode over the bridge crossing it, and I looked down, it was hard to tell.
It separated the palace from the rest of the desolation. It also had some succubi and incubi in it, splashing, swimming, and being frisky with one another. It was like crossing over to the Playboy Mansion; orgy included.
"I can let you go for a swim before I string you up if you like?" Cain said.
"No thanks," I replied.
It had taken twenty minutes or so to arrive from the time Cain had pinned Alyx to her seat. She had alternated between complete calm and total struggle a few times, fighting hard to break free of the demon's hold. It was no use, even with all her power and her recent feeding. Cain was just that strong. The more interesting part was that we had gone back in the direction Alyx and I had come. Either Cain had hidden the palace from us, or it had moved.
Execution (The Divine Book 6) Page 7
