by G. Bailey
“Hold on to me, love. I got you,” Nix’s voice says next to my ear, his warm breath relaxing me. I turn in his arms, seeing a yellow vest jacket that is full of air on his chest, holding him above the water. I wrap my legs around his chest, and my hands on his bag straps on his shoulders as the river rushes us down towards the waterfall. My arm stings with the pain of the movement, but I don’t have time to think about it as I stare at him. There isn’t anything to grab onto, or anyone around us either. Where are Trex and Connor?
“Thanks,” I mumble to him, and he rests his forehead against mine. I give him a confused look, which he only grins at as water splashes against us.
“We are about to fall off a waterfall, and likely die. I want to hold the hottest girl in the world before that happens. It will give me a good memory to die with,” he explains with a cheeky grin.
“Charmer,” I mutter with a laugh, and lean forward, pressing my lips to his cold ones. He groans, kissing me back gently. The kiss seems like a goodbye, a sweet seductive one, and he moves away only seconds before we fall off the edge of the waterfall. I have to let go, only seeing his green eyes blazing as he reaches for me, but the water takes me, instead.
I cough as I blink my eyes open, seeing nothing but the top of a cave which has gaps that light everything up, and hearing the rushing water in the distance. I can feel the little wet rocks I’m lying on, the gravel sticks to my fingers as I sit up, crying out when I put weight on my left arm to get myself up, and remember hurting it in the river. I look around, seeing the waterfall, and nothing other than the beach we are on. Where are the Protectors?
“Are you hurt?” Trex’s gruff voice comes from behind me, and I turn around to see him picking himself up off the ground. I spot Connor on the ground near us, but Trex spots him, too, and goes over to wake him.
“I’m fine, nothing I can’t heal myself,” I reply, slowly pulling up my sleeve to show my white rune.
“Good, get on with it. I’m going to wake Connor up, and find Nix. He can’t be far,” Trex tells me firmly. I don’t argue with him, knowing I need to fix my arm to be able to fight, and get us to the gate. I call my rune, feeling the healing power slam into my arm, and slowly healing it. My wrist snaps back into place, and I bite back a scream.
“Blue, shit, I wish I had my rune powers to do that for you,” Connor says, getting to my side. I give him a tight smile as I finish healing my arm and cutting off my power, then falling on my butt, worn out. Connor offers me a hand once I get my breath back, and I get up, looking around. I can see the yellow light of the gate behind us, just out of these rocks and the small stream of water that flows towards it.
“We need to follow the stream and get to the gate,” I point at it with my newly fixed arm and Connor looks at where I’m pointing.
“I think we should dry off first and have a rest,” Connor replies, giving me a worried look like he thinks I need to rest like a weak girl or something.
“No, I want to get to the next level. There have been way too many things looking and waiting for us on this level of hell. I’m ready to leave,” I tell him firmly.
“It’s a good plan,” Trex says from my right, and I frown at him as he walks over with Nix at his side.
“You’re agreeing with me? Seriously?” I ask with a laugh that even surprises me.
“Don’t count on it often, but this time, yes,” he says as he crosses his arms. Nix pushes his hair off his face, showing me the long cut on his cheek that is bleeding.
“Grab the bags and weapons. I’m going to heal Nix’s face,” I tell them, and they nod, doing as I asked. Nix smirks as I place my hand on his face, covering the cut.
“You just wanted to touch me again, didn’t you?” Nix asks, and I shake my head.
“Shut up, and stay still,” I mutter to him with a small smile, and call my white rune by simply closing my eyes this time. I don’t need to touch it, I still have some of the power connected to me.
“I made you smile, that’s enough for me, love,” he states, and I open my eyes to see him staring down at me with his own smile. He has a really sexy smile, too, and the memory of his lips makes me want to test kissing him again.
“Your cheek is healed,” I say, clearing my throat, and stepping back. I look over at Trex and Connor talking quietly, and to the stream of water.
“We are ready,” I say.
“What about the demon?” Trex asks.
“Azi will portal to the gate, he knows that’s where we will be heading,” I tell them, and walk ahead, knowing they will follow. I walk down the stream quietly for a while, drinking some of the water from my bag, and eating another breakfast bar and some crisps from my bag. Unfortunately, only one bag of crisps survived the journey and the rest are too wet to eat. Trex catches up to my side, with the others behind us, and I give him a questioning look.
“I’m sorry,” Trex bites out, looking like it was difficult for him to say it.
“What for?” I ask.
“For not listening to you, and running out to those demons. It was stupid, and my mother taught me to say sorry for doing stupid shit. So, here I am,” he admits, and it’s the first time that I don’t find Trex to be a total asshole. Colour me shocked.
“Apology accepted, I expect you back to your dickhead self any time now,” I say, making him laugh. He has one of those deep, sexy chuckles that could get any girl into bed, and I find I want to hear it more.
“Sure.”
“What are the princesses like then? What’s your fiancé like?” I ask, curious about who we are going after, and needing to remind myself that he is going to be married.
“They are triplets, Emily, Esther, and my fiancé, Erica,” he explains, walking around a large rock as I go the other way and comes back to me. “Erica has black hair, blue eyes, and she is sweet . . . like her sisters are, too. That’s why we have a trial coming up to decide a new queen, it’s a fair way to choose a queen without just choosing the eldest like most do. Their mother died while we were under attack by demons, and our king died a few years later because of a great injury he got when he defended the children from another attack.”
“So, there are no other royals?” I ask.
“They are all of the royal family we have left, and we need them. Every race has its strongest, and the royals are the strongest of our blood,”
“Wait, did you describe your fiancé as ‘sweet’?” I ask, taking in all of his history lesson. Of all the words I expected him to call his fiancé, sweet wasn’t it, and I notice how he talks about the royal family’s past, rather than saying nice things about the woman he is meant to be in love with.
“Yes, ‘sweet’,” he replies, “Why, what’s wrong with sweet?”
“I just didn’t think sweet would be your type, that’s all,” I shrug.
“What do you think my type is then?” he asks.
“Not sweet, that’s for sure,” I say, and stop, seeing the gate, and Azi a few feet in front of us. He walks over, and when he gets closer, I start to see that he doesn’t look happy when he gets closer.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, walking to his side.
“Come and see,” he nods his head behind him, and I run up the little hill then pause.
“Crap,” I mutter, seeing the massive gap in-between us and the gate on the other side. There is a rock in the middle, which I think I could jump to, and the wooden bridge is hanging down the side of it. There’s a river underneath, and parts of the cliff are falling into it. Someone doesn’t want us following them to hell, that’s for sure.
“I found a bridge across, about three miles that way but I can’t portal for a bit. I’ve used up too much energy,” he points to the left as he explains. Three miles? That will take ages. “I’m going to tell the others,” Azi says and walks over to Trex and Nix who are sitting near the stream, going through their bags. Connor comes to my side, and something in his eyes makes me think he knows I’m going to do something a little bit insane.
> “Want to do something crazy?” I ask Connor, who frowns at me, as I keep an eye on the others.
“Like what?” he enquires.
“Jumping onto that rock, and then to the other side,” I whisper, and he shakes his head, but he can’t stop me as I run and jump, slamming onto the edge of the rock, and using what’s left of the wooden bridge to pull myself up.
“Now or never, Connor!” I shout, seeing Azi and the others looking around and spotting where I am. Connor shakes his head, stepping back and running, jumping at the last second and landing pretty much in the same space I did. I grab his hand, pulling him up as the others get to the cliff and see what we have done. I ignore them, looking at the other side of the cliff right by the gate.
“Don’t do it, Vi, I swear to the damn devil I will spank your ass if you do,” Azi shouts at me from the other side, as I unclip my daggers from my belt, and hold them at my sides. If anything, the idea of him trying to spank me just makes me want to jump more.
“Connor, fucking stop her!” Trex shouts from where he is standing next to Azi, and I look up at Connor. He is dripping with water like me, but it sticks to his leather outfit, making his gold hair stick around his face, and his gold eyes are ablaze with mischief.
“Let’s have some fun,” I wink at him, and he laughs lifting his two daggers in the air and twirling them.
“Ladies first,” he waves a hand towards the massive cliff that is falling apart, but it’s the only way to get where we want to, quickly.
“I’m no lady,” I laugh, but run forward. I run fast towards the cliff and jump, lifting my hands with the daggers in the air and slamming them into the soft rock wall, sliding down a bit but managing to save it. Well, save myself.
“You are both fucking crazy!” I hear Trex shout, just as Connor lands next to me.
“All the best people are! Good luck on the long way around boys!” I shout back and pull one of my daggers out, lifting it up, and slamming it into the soft rock above my head and pulling myself up. No one ever said anything easy wasn’t crazy.
Evie
I wave once more at the guys, seeing their annoyance, but luckily not being able to hear what they are shouting at us. Connor nods his head towards the gate, making me look away from the guys. The gate is literally a huge gold door, that glows. There is a line of souls being led into it like they can’t go anywhere else, souls that are not meant to be in hell for long. They will be reborn, lucky for them. I doubt my soul will be.
“We can join the line, no one controls this gate, or protects it like the next one,” I tell him. We walk the few steps to the line, sliding in between a gap, and walking towards the floor. The soul in front of me is an old lady in a long night dress, and her long hair is down. She looks so peaceful as she glides along, not even noticing me behind her.
“Who protects the next gate? Or do I not want to know?” Connor whispers as we walk.
“The three triplet guard dogs of hell. They aren’t dogs, but they can turn themselves into massive creatures that look like dogs,” I explain. I haven’t met them myself, I only know what Azi has told me. He said they are immortal, and bound to the gate, knowing they will die if they try to leave the gate unprotected. He also said they are assholes with appealing faces. And that the appeal was that he wanted to punch them every time they opened their mouths.
“How are we meant to get past them, exactly?” Connor asks, and I glance him expecting to see fear, but he just looks curious.
“Basically, by having Azi with us. They are forbidden to stop him, and anyone he wishes, from going into the third layer,” I explain what I’ve heard. It’s not like anyone asks to go down to hell, anyway, so I doubt the guard dogs will stop us.
“Why?” Connor asks.
“It’s his home. Azi said he, and his brothers, were born there,” I say quietly, and we finally get to the gate before Connor can ask any more questions. The soul in front of me walks straight into the gold wall like it’s not there, disappearing on the other side. I step through, feeling like a warm breeze hits me and smile as I open my eyes at the second layer of hell. It’s a desert, the snow quickly changing to the open sands, and the large pyramid in the middle of it. The gold tip is shining in the sun. The distance catches my eye, and I know that’s where the next portal is. I look around, seeing nothing for ages. I know it’s getting dark, and we need to find somewhere to hide before we try to make it to the next gate in the morning.
“That’s weird, and this place is not what I was expecting,” Connor says behind me, and holds his hand over his eyes as he looks around.
“We need to find shelter for the night, somewhere the others can find us,” I say, and Connor puts his hand on my shoulder, turning me.
“That looks good,” he points at a small section of rocks, one is big enough to have a ledge that casts a shadow, and we can use it for a shelter for the night.
“Let’s go,” I say, walking to the rocks. I keep an eye out, but there would only be demons here, and most will be near the pyramid. I doubt they will bother us. Souls can’t be in here, they disappear once they go through the gate. We get to the rocks, and I instantly pull my bags off, and then my cloak, my jacket and just leaving myself in a vest shirt that is see through. Connor does the same, and I turn just in time to see him pull his shirt over his head. I trace my eyes over his muscular, toned chest, the rune name I can see written over his heart. I move my eyes up to his, seeing him staring at me with just as much desire as his eyes sweep down my body. I walk over, watching how he stays very still, but doesn’t move away. His rune name just looks like symbols to me, all different ones that make no sense. I gently place my hand on them, tracing them with my finger, and making his breath hitch.
“I should push you away,” he whispers as I lock my eyes with his. I smirk, leaning up, so our lips are inches apart.
“You should, but you won’t. It will feel so much better because it’s not allowed,” I tease him, brushing my lips against his. He loses control quickly, grabbing my hips and pulling me into his arms as he harshly kisses me. I didn’t expect his kiss to be like this. Demanding, harsh, controlling, and utterly amazing. It’s always the quiet ones you should watch out for. He walks us backward, pushing my back against the rock wall, breaking away from my lips to kiss down my neck. I open my eyes for only a second, seeing red ones glaring at me from a few feet away. I don’t stop Connor as he sucks on my neck, and Azi’s eyes glow as he storms towards us, grabbing Connor and sending him flying away from me into the sand.
“You. Are. Mine!” Azi demands, stepping into my space, and grabbing my arms, pinning them above my head. I could fight him off, but I don’t when I see how close he is to losing control.
“Like fuck I am! You’re a cheating bastard!” I seethe, not scared of him one bit.
“You never let me explain! You just walked away, you left!” he growls right back.
“I don’t need an explanation, I know what I saw!” I shout back.
“You don’t know fuck. The woman you walked into the room to see in-between my legs was sent as a present from my brother. I didn’t even know she was in my apartment as I walked in and sat down. She practically ran to me as the door was unlocked, and everything happened so fast,” he tells me, and I don’t breathe as I think it through. Could that have happened? I was so angry, so upset that I didn’t give him or her a chance to say anything to me before I called a portal to hell. “You know what I think? You wanted a reason to run . . . you can’t stand the chance that someone is actually on your side. That someone cares about you, and that you’re not alone.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” I eventually say, but my voice comes out in a whisper because I hate how right he might be with his statement, how I usually run from anyone that is close to me because they will leave or die, anyway. I’ve had twenty-five years of people doing that, starting off with my parents who left me. I keep my eyes locked on his, with more emotion than I ever wanted to show this d
emon.
“I have never lied to you. Never, Vi,” he says firmly, and lets me go, stepping away as Connor runs over to us. I spot Trex and Nix walking over the sand hill in the distance and know I have to focus on the mission. I have to get the princesses back, so Hali is safe, nothing else matters.
“I can’t deal with this, not here, not now. I can only think of Hail, she needs me,” I tell him, trying to make myself forget everything between us for now. I hate the fact he can scare me so easily by being truthful.
“I know, that’s why I’m not pushing you . . . but don’t push me,” he warns.
“Everything okay, Evie?” Connor asks, moving closer as he wipes sand out of his hair, and keeping his eyes on Azi the whole time.
“Yeah, everything is fine. Azi got the stupid notion that I belong to him when I don’t. I don’t belong to anyone, and I can do as I damn well please,” I say, moving away from them all, and going to my bag. I look over my shoulder once at Azi, seeing him watching me as he talks quietly to Connor, who watches me, too. I shake my head as I look back at my bag. I can’t trust him, I can’t believe him, and I can’t risk thinking about my ex while I’m literally in hell.
Evie
“I see something, everyone up!” Nix says, from his look out at the front of the rock. I sit up quickly, grabbing a dagger, and running to his side. I look at what he is pointing at and blow out a sigh of relief as I hold my hand up to pause the others.
“They are traders, nothing that will bother us,” I say loud enough, so the others can hear me. Traders are demons who literally do what their name suggests, they trade. A few years back, a bunch of them decided to try kidnapping humans and trading them to demons here as a new business venture. They were all killed by Protectors, even with the help of some demons who thought they had gone too far. I’m surprised to even see any trader demons alive anymore. These ones must have hidden when everyone went after them. These traders look like they are trading junk, though, and a lot of it. I look at them when they get closer, seeing how they are not good-looking demons at all. They have green skin, covered in bumps, with large round stomachs and beady eyes with long green cloaks on. There are two of them, pulling, what looks like, a couple of stolen supermarket trollies behind them that are overflowing with junk and tied with rope. How they are even getting them moving in the sand is beyond me.
