Elizabeth had come for me.
“I won’t go with you.” Pushing myself off the ground, I jumped into a battle-ready position, just as Gabe had taught me. I’d fight if I had to—she wouldn’t take me.
“So strong,” she cooed, drifting closer. Her eyes shone red, but the rest of her remained cloaked in darkness. “So stubborn. Everything you should be.”
She stood only inches away now. In the eerie darkness, I could see a serene smile light up her face.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” I warned, my voice breaking.
The intensity of the fear coursing through my body presented as muscle tremors down my thighs and in my arms. I shook like a leaf in a summer storm, clinging to the back wall of my cell. The air began to shimmer around me and I knew I was about to lose control. Light shone through my skin, burning like the hot touch of a firing brand. I tried to scream, but couldn’t manage to make a sound.
“Be still, my child.” Elizabeth reached out with her hand, placing it on my forehead.
I was surprised to find her fingers icy cold against my skin. Like a balm, they put out the heat and immediately the pain subsided. Elizabeth remained standing with her hand upon my head, the other grasping my elbow.
“Sleep,” she whispered.
Suddenly, my eyelids became heavy. My knees buckled and the room tilted. She gently led me to the floor where I curled into a ball on my side. Dark, heavy clouds filled my head, making it impossible to stay awake. Like a sleeping potion, somehow she’d drugged me into submission. I lifted my weary head and ran a tongue over my dry lips.
“Please...don’t...”
“Shhhh.” She stood over me, like an animal over her prey. Bending down, she brushed the hair from my face and smiled. “Sleep now.”
❖
A cool breeze tickled the back of my neck as I struggled to wake. Somewhere above me, an owl hooted and a cricket sang. The crunch of leaves and pine needles beside me indicated that I wasn’t alone. A hand closed gently around my arm, pulling me up into a sitting position.
“Come.” Elizabeth swept the dirt off my shirt. “It’s time to wake up.”
I peered through heavy eyelids at her. The darkness of the forest told me it was still very late. A sliver of a moon hung above. Somehow, this five-foot-one woman had carried my limp body into the Black Hills Forest without getting caught. I grasped my sides, thankful to still be alive. For a moment there, I thought she was going to kill me. I was no use to her, anyway.
“I’m not going to kill you,” she said, pulling me up to my feet. “That has never been the plan.”
I gaped at her, my head reeling in alarm. “You can hear my thoughts?”
This was something new. As far as the Nephilim knew, demons couldn’t read minds.
“I’m not a psychic, my dear.” She smiled and wrapped a thin arm around my shoulders. “But you and I are intricately laced. Not only are you the daughter of this body, but you house a piece of me inside of you. Once in a while, I get a wave of your emotions. It’s like the scent of salt from a strong ocean breeze. Nothing tangible, but enough to help me get a reading.”
Swallowing my panic, I sucked in my cheeks and tried to calm down my racing heart. The less emotional readings she could get off of me, the better. I didn’t need another demon inside of my head. One was enough.
“Where are we?” I asked. The darkness hid most of the distinguishing features of the forest. If it had been daylight, I could’ve picked out our location in seconds.
“Turn around.” She waved her hand. “Have a look.”
I spun to look behind me and gasped. I should’ve known she’d bring me here. Not ten feet in front of us lay the Hell Gate, a cavernous hole leading into the Earth. It was here that Margaret Thatcher had nearly taken me. My blood had soaked into this very soil. I thought I was going to die that day. The memories rushed back to me, making me shiver with fright.
“This is your destiny,” Elizabeth said, pulling me closer to the gaping hole. She leaned over the darkness, the moonlight glinting off her teeth as she smiled. “I’ve been watching you this summer, my dear. You have become everything you were meant to be. A strong warrior of epic proportions. A means to a new world. I couldn’t be prouder.”
She wrapped me in a hug and I stared over her shoulder, my jaw slack. All I’d wanted this summer was to become just that—a warrior who could change the world. Little did I know, my demonic mother wanted the same thing for me. Yet, as close as I was to her goal, I felt further and further away from my own.
A Nephilim warrior couldn’t be part demon. And she couldn’t be with Gabe.
“It’s time,” Elizabeth whispered into my ear. “Goodbye, my daughter. Good luck to you.”
With a solid push on my back, she shoved me into the pit. Caught unaware, I cursed and tumbled down the steep drop, clawing at the soil for a handhold. All the while, my mind whirled with anger. What kind of mother sacrificed her daughter like that?
Dirt rained on my head, blinding what little sight I had in the blackness of the hole. My fingers clutched for rocks and fists full of gravel, anything to slow me down. But they came away empty, scraping roughly on the rocks and leaving layers of my skin behind. Further down I tumbled, unable to stop my descent into the hellish gaping mouth. It wasn’t until a blast of icy cold winter hit my face did I manage to roll to a stop.
The atmosphere around me had changed. Gone was the cool night air of the Black Hills National Forest. In its place was a dry, charged environment that chilled me to the bones. I looked up and gasped. Bare hills rolled for miles and miles, as far as my eyes could see. An eerie dim light shone upon the land. In the sky above, the sun was eclipsed by a moon, its rays struggling to warm the world below. No trees or grass grew around me. Beneath my bare and bloodied feet lay only the dry and crumbling dead earth of a land too barren to thrive.
This was Hell.
So much for the fiery pits Granny had railed on about. This was the opposite of that. An icebox of evil. I rubbed my hands on my arms, trying to create some heat. The pajamas I’d thrown on this evening had been torn and tattered during my fall. Blood seeped through the fabric over my knees, trickling down my shins.
There wasn’t enough time to assess the damage. The echo of footprints made my heart jolt in fear. Something was coming. I sprinted in the direction of the nearest hill and crouched in its shadow, pressing my back up against some large rocks. If this was Hell, then I didn’t want to meet the residents. Who knew what they’d do to an angel in Hell?
Even a demonic angel like me.
About fifty figures came into view over the next sloping hill. Their shape was very human, yet slightly translucent. They shifted and blinked like ghosts in the night. Despite their ethereal appearance, their feet stepping across the land made sick crunching noises. They marched like men on a battlefield, ever closer to my hiding place, making me crouch even lower into a ball. Soon enough, the sound of clicking and snarling reached my ears as the creatures called to each other in a language too ancient for me to comprehend. It raised the hair on the back of my neck and irritated my ears like nails on a chalkboard.
I’d never seen anything like it. It was too terrible for words.
I held my breath as they passed by. Every muscle in my body tensed. The acrid scent of rotting meat lingered on the stale air, causing my stomach acid to bubble up to my mouth. Still, I remained deadly still. One little sound, and these creatures of Hell were going to find me. I was inches from death.
And then suddenly they paused, only feet away. Close enough to touch now. Thankful for the darkness and the shelter of the hill, I held my breath. My heart called out for my family I’d left behind. Despite my frequent claims this summer that I wasn’t a child anymore, I wanted nothing more at that moment than to hide in my father’s arms. To make the monsters go away. I wanted to close my eyes, pretend I was back in my bed at the manor, but my eyes remained glued to the awful sight.
The ghostly figures we
re naked, but void of any distinguishing male or female features. Everything about them felt alien. As they talked in their strange languages, their eyes flashed red.
Instantly, it clicked for me. This was a pack of ferals in their habitat. The foul demons that I extinguished on Earth. This was their natural form, what they looked like before they took a human shell on Earth.
I crunched a handful of dirt in my hand to keep from shaking. There was only so much longer that I could keep this position. My calves screamed in pain and my shoulders ached. The muscles in my thighs shook with the effort to squat, but I had to be ready to run for it. At any moment, they might spot me. This wasn’t exactly the greatest hiding spot.
How do I get out of here?
The question bounced around my head as I kept a wary eye on the band of ferals. They had surrounded the base of a hill, the very hill I’d landed in front of when I’d been thrown here by my loving mother. The creatures shifted, allowing me a glimpse of a dark gaping hole in front of them. Wide enough to drive Granny’s 1988 Buick through, it shimmered like the surface of a dark lake.
That must’ve been the gate—the very gate I’d been shoved through. In my panic, I’d missed it. Hope sprang alive in my chest. If I could get back through, I might have a chance. A chance to get back to the manor and warn them. A chance to see Gabe one last time...
“Come on,” I whispered to myself, feeling the screaming of my muscles. “Move along. I want to go home.”
The ferals finally ended their screeching discussion and disappeared one by one through the gate. As soon as the last one left, I made a move to sprint for it. No time to lose. But it was at that moment the low deep cry of a horn stopped me in my tracks. It bellowed over the hills, reverberating in my very bones. Following the horn were the cries of a crowd, snarling and snapping. Something about it made my blood turn to ice.
Part of me wanted to ignore it and run straight for the gate. To say screw it and let preservation kick in. But another part of me needed to know what exactly was happening in this shadowy realm of Hell. To do my duty as a warrior.
The warrior side won.
Crawling out from my shadowy hiding place, I circled the next hill and peered out from the side. The land hollowed out to form a huge basin, bigger than five football fields. What I saw below me took the strength right out of my legs.
Collapsing to my knees, I watched an army of thousands of demons writhe in an ugly mass. They stood in militarized lines, as if waiting for the order to charge. At the rear of the basin was a field of gigantic reptilian beasts, each with seven heads and gigantic claws that raked the ground. A large tent had been erected next to them, with long spiky poles sticking out of the top, sharp enough to impale a giant’s head.
“The armies of Hell,” I whispered to myself.
There was no way the Nephilim could withstand an army of this size. I doubted that even all the Nephilim in the world could take on this hoard of demons. And now that I was here and the gate had been left open, there was no telling how much longer they had. I had to get back. I had to warn them. I had to find Gabe.
My feet scrambled for tread on the gravelly soil and I took off in the direction of the gate, my heart pounding in my throat. I couldn’t be sure the gate would close behind me. Maybe it was permanently open. The thought made me quiver with fear. If that was the case, I had to get to the manor and warn them. Tell them to run. Maybe it wasn’t too late.
The yawning mass of the gate was only feet away when something grabbed my ankle. Its touch burned like acid, peeling off my skin. I screamed and kicked. My foot made contact with something solid which let out a high-pitched scream that threatened to burst my eardrums.
Covering my ears, I looked down to see a feral demon, its ghostly form gnashing pointed teeth. The dark shadow of its flesh faded for a moment, revealing a skeletal layer underneath and a gruesome skull for its head. A frightened scream tore from my throat. I’d never seen anything so awful. Worse than the scariest horror flick on late night TV. A creature of nightmares.
It grabbed at me again, wrapping an arm around my calf and sending me crashing into the dirt. My head hit the ground hard and little flashing lights appeared in front of my eyes.
As I tried to catch my breath, all I could do was stare at the gate, only feet away. It was so close, I could feel it. All I needed to do was crawl, but the demon clasped its hand around my other ankle, causing me to scream out again in agony.
I wasn’t going to make it.
Chapter Fifteen
The feral hissed as I kicked out of its deathly grip.
“Let me go,” I snarled, reaching for the last depths of strength I had left.
My legs felt like they’d been dipped in boiling water, but I didn’t let that slow me down. Lunging toward the gate, I looked over my shoulder to see a dozen more ferals storming down the nearest hill straight toward me. The sight sent shivers of fear down my spine. Their mouths opened wide in ferocious war cries, their arms pumped in an all-out sprint.
Reaching the gate, I didn’t hesitate. There was no time. My feet leapt forward. A warm liquid encased my body as I momentarily hung, suspended in darkness. Behind me, the doorway to Hell shrunk to the size of a pinprick. The ferals who had been hot on my trail disappeared from view, although I could still hear their shrieks.
This wasn’t so bad. At least they hadn’t pulled me right back.
In front of me, a warm light appeared. I reached for it. My fingers stretched through a membrane as thin as the surface of a soap bubble. It sent my whole body propelling forward, dumping me unceremoniously on the ground in a heap.
The scent of pine needles and dirt filled my nostrils. Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes as I reveled in the smell of home. I’d never missed something so much. I never wanted to leave again.
Leaves crunched under my knees as I pushed myself up. I squinted at the bright midday sun above, the rays bursting through the trees. Confusion and panic filled my chest. It had been nighttime when Elizabeth brought me out here. And I could’ve sworn I’d only spent a few minutes beyond the Hell Gate, hiding from the ferals. It couldn’t be the afternoon. Not yet.
Suddenly, I remembered the small army of ferals who’d escaped through the gate before me, which pushed any worries about lost time out of my head. I had to find Luke and Gabe. Their lives might depend on it. The Nephilim had never fought such a large force of ferals before now. They could be caught unawares.
I had to warn them.
My feet slipped on the rocky gravel of the entrance to the Hell Gate, but nothing stopped me from propelling forward and into the forest. Although cautious enough to keep an eye out for the swarm of ferals, I ran with near abandon, faster than my feet could carry me. Tripping over a rock, I landed hard on my wrist and felt it twist painfully. Crying out, I picked myself back up and ran even harder. The manor was just ahead. Hopefully I wasn’t too late.
Tears wet my eyes as the brilliant green lawn of the manor came into view. There were no signs of battle on the long expanse of grass, nor the dozen or so cottages that took up the southern part. Laramie’s horse stables were all intact in the north. As far as I could see, nothing was changed, except for the utter silence. No one greeted me at the manor door. No one bumped into me as I charged up the great staircase and down the corridor. It was empty. Everyone gone. Panic stuck a dagger into my lungs as I went for Gabe’s room, hoping against hope that he was there.
My feet had practically carved a path in this very route to Gabe’s room. That had been during happier times. Nights when we would meet after training and dinner was finished and we could steal some moments alone. It felt like a lifetime ago. We’d been so content. And so naive.
“Gabe?” I shoved his door open and stood in the doorway.
A dark room met me. Dim light from the partly draped window fell upon an unmade bed and a pile of clothes on the floor. If it had been lighter in there, I would’ve been able to see Gabe’s sketches lining the walls. He’
d developed his skill masterfully during the last century. Several of the sketches were of me. I wondered if he’d added any since the news of my parentage came out. It was probably best that I couldn’t see.
“Gabe?” I called again, but it was clear that no one was at home.
Turning on my heels, I ran toward the only place that could be housing all the missing Nephilim—the ballroom. Silently, I prayed that they were all there. The eeriness of an empty manor was starting to get to me. The littlest noise had my nerves bouncing like a thousand rubber balls down a staircase.
The doors to the grand ballroom came into view. Giant wooden beasts with carvings of swords and wings on their faces. I pushed through with all my might, not caring who might be on the other side.
“Help!”
A hundred pairs of eyes fell on me at once and the room went silent. I breathed a sigh of relief as my Nephilim family stared at me with open mouths, shock evident on all their faces. Silvia stood at the front of the room in a black blazer with matching sleek black pants and high heeled boots. She pointed a finger at me, anger blazing in her eyes, but didn’t speak a word.
“They’re coming,” I cried, once I could catch a breath. My throat had suddenly turned dry, not helping the situation. “The ferals, they’re on their way.”
“Lizzy.” My father stood from the middle of the crowd. He pushed through a row of people, swimming toward me. “Lizzy, are you alright? Where have you been?”
I nearly cried when he took me into his arms and hugged me tight. It felt so good to be back with my family. I’d never push them away again. Never.
“Elizabeth kidnapped me,” I panted. “She threw me into the Hell Gate. I managed to escape, but not until at least fifty ferals got through the gate.”
He looked down at me, his light blue eyes growing wide. “Fifty? We’ve never had to fight such a large force.”
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