by Donna Grant
Ivy smiled, the tears gathering quickly. “My mother would never say such a thing to me. She would never make me feel guilty for my illness or for her selling her soul.”
Her mother smiled maliciously. Then the form changed and it was once more Liv. “Well, aren’t you the smart one? I’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
“As if I would ever believe I was talking to my mother after this,” Ivy snapped.
Liv raised a blond brow. “Oh, you poor thing. You had no idea that it wasn’t your mother at first, did you?”
For the first time in her life, Ivy wanted to hit someone. “Go away.”
“We’re not nearly done,” Liv said in a sickeningly sweet voice. “We’re just getting started.”
Ivy felt her stomach churn when she heard a scream filled with pain, and then recognized her mother’s voice begging for it to stop.
“That’s what happens when you sell your soul,” Liv said. “That soul is ours. To do with whatever we want. And we do love our torture.”
“Threaten me all you want.”
“You?” Liv asked with a laugh. “Why would we do that when we have your mother?”
~ ~ ~
The sun had barely sunk into the horizon before Christian stood at a crossroads. He recited the words his family had gathered generations ago to call certain demons.
Christian didn’t have long to wait before a young man of Italian descent appeared before him in a suit. Christian looked into his soulless eyes and fought back a glare of disdain.
The demon looked at Christian, then spoke with a heavy Italian accent. “Christian Chiasson. I never expected you to call to me. You come to sell your soul?”
“I would never.”
“Not even to save your precious Ivy?”
Christian ground his teeth together to hold back his temper. He forced a smile then. “I’ll save her. Just not by selling my soul.”
The demon laughed and put one hand in his pants pocket. “So conceited. How many of your family have to die before you all realize we’ll win.”
“If it were so set in stone, you wouldn’t still be trying to kill us.”
“Good and evil. We will battle until the end of time.”
Christian looked past the demon to see Kane rise up from the ditch. “With good gaining ground at every turn.”
“Ne-” The demon spun at the last minute as he heard Kane. “What are y-”
His words were cut off as Kane plunged a dagger blessed by the church into the demon’s heart. The demon jerked, his face going blank with surprise.
Christian rushed to the demon and grabbed hold of his arm as the earth opened up. It took everything they had to keep a grip on the demon as his human form fell away and his demon form began to burn from the inside out.
“We better reach the bottom soon!” Kane yelled over the demon’s screams as they fell.
Christian’s hands began to burn. If they held on any longer, they would be killed. “Let go!”
They released the demon and tumbled through the darkness. Christian was the first to hit the bottom. He landed on his stomach. A second later, there was a thud as Kane landed.
Christian opened his eyes to the darkened corridor. He turned his head to see Kane on his back, moaning in pain. He knew exactly how his cousin felt. His entire body ached as if it had just fallen twenty stories, which they probably had.
They didn’t have time to stay there. They had to get moving before the demons found them. With great effort, Christian got to his hands and knees and crawled to Kane.
“Come on,” he said hoarsely, his head pounding so fiercely he wanted to throw up.
Kane rolled toward Christian. They used each other to climb to their feet before rocking unsteadily.
“Let’s hope we don’t meet a demon soon,” Kane whispered. “I think I broke my arm in the fall.”
Christian was sure he had a concussion, but there was no time to think about that now. He had to find Ivy. Davena had done the tracking spell to find Ivy before they’d called the demon. It just needed to kick in.
“We’ve no idea how big Hell is,” Christian said.
Kane chuckled and looked at him. “Copious demons. Abundant souls trapped. This place will be huge.”
“Why can’t anything be easy,” he griped.
Kane’s lips twisted in annoyance. “And why does everything have to be dark?”
Christian was opening his mouth when he felt a pull to the right. He looked in the direction of the tug as it grew stronger.
“I feel it, too,” Kane said. “Let’s go find Ivy.”
For the first time in days, Christian smiled. Ivy was close.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Christian plastered himself against a wall after glancing around the corner and seeing two demons coming his way. He nodded to Kane, who stood beside him, knife at the ready.
Christian had his own blade, and as soon as the demons turned the corner, he and Kane killed them. That made eight they had killed since coming to Hell. He would gladly gut thousands more if it meant he could find Ivy.
The screams were the worst to hear. The pain and suffering echoed through the halls. It was music to the demons, but all Christian wanted was for it to stop.
They had been walking the halls for thirty minutes. With every step, the pull became stronger as he got closer to Ivy. Yet, the farther they went, the more demons they encountered.
Neither he nor Kane mentioned it, but both knew the chances of either of them leaving Hell were slim.
They hurried to the next turn. Kane reached it first and peeked around the corner. He leaned back and inhaled deeply before looking Christian’s way.
Their gazes locked. Then Kane said, “Don’t worry. The others will be fine.”
Christian glanced at the blade in his hand. “Their distraction isn’t working as I had hoped it would. Then again, I’m not all fired up about them surrounded by demons.”
“It’s what we do,” Kane said with a grin.
“That it is.”
Kane glanced around the corner again. “There are four of them. Ready?”
Christian was nodding when there was suddenly shouting and a commotion. The uproar grew, and through all the voices suddenly coming from around the corner, he heard one name – Chiasson.
Kane took another look and let out a string of curses. “There must be over two dozen now.”
They couldn’t turn away. Ivy was near. But neither could they go forward and face so many with just the two of them.
“Ideas?” Kane asked.
Christian gripped the handle of the knife tightly. “The distraction from the others is working. Let’s hope that means the demons will leave soon.”
The voices grew. Kane motioned Christian back to a doorway where they quickly hid just as the demons rushed passed. It wasn’t the only hallway where the demons had gathered.
Kane whistled low after the demons passed. “We need to watch Riley if she survives this. Her idea to trap a second demon after us and torture him was smart, but it’s moves like that that’ll get her killed.”
“Don’t I know it,” Christian mumbled.
It seemed to take forever for the halls to grow quiet. Christian and Kane waited another few minutes before they snuck out of their hiding place and once more followed the pull they had to Ivy.
~ ~ ~
Ivy heard the loud, angry voices seeming to come at her from everywhere. Liv’s gloating was erased as she listened to the demon speak, something Ivy couldn’t understand.
She desperately wanted to ask Liv what was going on, but her curiosity wasn’t great enough to get the demon’s attention back on her. Instead, Ivy watched Liv’s face twist with fury.
Liv slid her gaze to Ivy and closed the distance between them. She poked Ivy hard in the shoulder. “The Chiassons will die tonight. They think they’re strong enough to trap a demon and torture him. We’ll show them who has the stronger numbers.”
And then Liv wa
s gone.
Ivy slumped forward. She was delighted the demon was gone, but she began to worry about Christian. What was he thinking, trapping a demon? From what she’d learned while staying with them, the Chiassons didn’t torture. They killed.
So what the hell was going on?
Ivy walked around the square room and began to run her hands along the walls in an effort to find a way out. There had to be a doorway. She just needed to find it.
She went around the room twice before she slammed her balled fist into the wall and screamed her frustration. Christian was fighting demons, not having any idea that those demons were trying to learn anything they could to take the Chiassons down.
“Christian,” she whispered.
This trap the demons had set was too good. None of them had thought she was being tracked by the Hell Hounds for anything other than her mother dying before the ten years was up.
If only Ivy could let Christian know somehow. This was a nightmare that felt as if it would never end. The despair was overwhelming, but it was nothing compared to the stark fear that Christian might die.
While her mother may have been devout in her religion, Ivy wasn’t. No matter how many times she prayed to find out what was wrong so she could be healed, nothing ever came of it.
As a child, her first thought was that she hadn’t prayed properly. That’s when she asked her mother if the priest could come to their house on occasion. Not even that seemed to help.
No matter how many times Ivy prayed, God didn’t seem to be listening. As the years wore on, she prayed less and less. After she was healed, Ivy only went to church with her mother because she didn’t want to tell her mom that she didn’t believe in God anymore.
But now...now that she knew there were demons, there also had to be a God.
Ivy pressed her cheek against the wall and closed her eyes. “If you’re listening, I need your help. Please. I know I turned away from you for many years, and I probably have no right to ask anything of you now. But I am. I’m in Hell, trapped by demons that want the Chiassons. Christian and his family are good people. They protect others. They don’t deserve what the demons have planned. If there is a way to let Christian know they’re about to be swarmed by demons, please tell them.”
Ivy sniffed and pushed away from the wall. She tried to remain calm for all of a minute, and then she snapped.
She slammed her hands against the wall and began to shout until her throat was hoarse. “Let me out! Let me out!”
“Ivy!”
She paused in her screaming. That was Christian’s voice she heard in her mind. Was she breaking that quickly? She had to be stronger.
“Ivy?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. He wasn’t there. That sexy voice wasn’t close. It was all a trick from the demons, or her mind – or both.
“Ivy Pierce, turn around and look at me!” Christian demanded.
She laughed then. How quickly she had gone insane to believe that Christian was really there. She slowly turned and looked at the wall where his voice had come from.
“Go away, demon! I won’t be tricked by you again,” she declared.
“Dammit, Ivy. It’s really me. I came to find you.”
Ivy threw back her head and laughed, the sound hollow to her own ears. “Right. Just as you were my mother not that long ago while trying to find out all you could about Christian and his family. Not going to happen, bitch.”
The silence that followed felt like a punch in her gut.
“Ivy, sweetheart,” Christian’s voice said in a low tone. “I’m standing right here. See me. See that I’m real.”
She threw her hands out. “You’re not here!”
“Listen to my voice,” he said calmly. “Track it to where I am. Look past the walls the demons erected in your mind and understand that there is nothing holding you.”
Nothing holding her? What did that mean? Did he actually mean there weren’t walls around her? Ivy fisted her hands and shook her head.
The demons and their tricks. If they could make her think she was talking to her mother one minute and it be the demon the next, why couldn’t they also make her think she was locked in a room?
“That’s it,” Christian said in encouragement. “You can do this, Ivy.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated on Christian’s voice. Even if he was a figment of her imagination, he was calm in a storm of chaos. She would listen to him only because he gave her the confidence to face what was before her.
When she opened her eyes, the walls weren’t as thick as before. She looked at the one she had been banging on and tried to hit it again, only to have her hand go through the stones.
As if that was all her mind needed, the walls vanished.
She turned in a circle to find herself in a large room with corridors leading in different directions. It wasn’t until she saw Christian and another man beside him that she felt her knees weaken.
Ivy wanted to run to Christian, but she kept still for fear it was a demon again.
Christian smiled widely. “This is Kane,” he said and motioned to his cousin. “He came to help me find you.”
“You can’t be in Hell,” Ivy said.
Christian shrugged. “It seems I would walk through Hell itself for you, Ivy Pierce.”
She shook her head. “I’ve been tricked before. This isn’t you.”
Kane held up a large knife that dripped with something dark and kicked at a burning body at his feet. “Trust me, Ivy. It’s us. We went through a lot of pain to get here, and have killed many demons. If we don’t get out of here soon, the demons will figure out what’s going on.”
Ivy noticed Christian had his own blade. She looked into his face and gave him a sad smile. “Make me believe it’s you.”
In two strides, he was before her, yanking her against him and kissing her.
No one else could kiss like Christian Chiasson. Ivy wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, overjoyed that it was really him.
She ended the kiss and hugged him. “It’s really you.”
“I tried to tell you, sweetheart. Now, are you ready to get out of here?”
“Please,” she said as she released him.
Christian entwined his fingers with hers. “Let’s go.”
Together, the three of them ran down first one hallway and then another and another. They began to blur together, and Ivy soon got turned around.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
It was Kane who said, “Back where we landed.”
Ivy wanted to ask how they were going to get home, but she trusted Christian to have already thought of that. He wasn’t the sort to go into a place without having a way home.
They rounded another corner when Christian said, “It’s just up ahead.”
Before they could reach it, six demons appeared before them, led by Liv.
Ivy took the knife from Christian and rushed Liv. The demon never saw the blade until it plunged into her heart. Christian grabbed Ivy and the blade and spun them around. He bent over her while Kane battled two demons.
And then suddenly there were no more sounds of battle. Ivy lifted her head and blinked at the bright light to find Davena sitting in the middle of the living room with candles all around her.
Davena smiled at them. “It’s good to have you home, Ivy.”
Kane and Christian jumped up and ran out the front door. Ivy moved slower, but when she stood on the porch and saw the demons and the Chiassons fighting them, Ivy couldn’t breathe.
With Christian and Kane joining in the fray, it was enough to allow Olivia and Ava to get back to the house. Ivy couldn’t take her eyes off Christian.
He was right in the middle of it all, fighting demon after demon as they fought to get at him.
“Davena!” Beau shouted.
With a few simple words, the demons burst into flames. Their screams filled the air for a few seconds before they disappeared.
Ivy ran down th
e steps and straight into Christian’s arms. “You came for me.”
“I didn’t lie when I said I would walk through Hell for you. I love you, Ivy Pierce. Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said as she pulled his head down for a kiss. “How can I when I love you so?”
EPILOGUE
A week later...
Ivy sat in Christian’s arms on the swing. The Chiasson house was getting very crowded, even though Kane returned to New Orleans after the demon battle. Riley remained, but she was packing her bags to return.
“This isn’t going to be good,” Christian said when voices from inside drifted out.
Ivy patted his leg. “Vin needs to let her go.”
“He’s right though. Riley belongs here. We need her.”
“And she needs New Orleans right now. Give her time. She’ll return.”
Christian’s arms tightened around her. “I hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right.”
“Oh, really?” he asked with a laugh as he nuzzled her neck.
Ivy nodded. “Get used to it.”
“I’ve already gotten used to quite a lot of things. Like going to bed with you and making love all night.” He turned her so that she could look at him. “And watching the morning sun come through the window to touch your face before you wake up and give me a smile.”
She touched his cheek. “I never wanted to love, but now that I do, I’m surprised at how fast it grows. I didn’t think it was possible to love you more than I did yesterday, but I do.”
“I know,” he said and kissed her.
She turned so that she straddled his lap and began to tug his shirt up. They were interrupted by the sound of a car approaching.
“Marshall,” Christian said.
Ivy got off his lap and straightened her clothes. Christian stood at the top of the porch steps and waited for the patrol car to park.
A tall man with short black hair got out of the car and put on his cowboy hat. He wore jeans, a button down shirt, and boots, and had a holster slung around his hips.
