by G. Bailey
“Karaisa?” the woman asks, looking at the little girl who is still holding my hand. She lets go, running to the woman who grabs her, and holds her tight. Her eyes full of tears meet mine, standing up, and holding the little girl.
“I speak English. At least some,” she says slowly and clearly struggling to think of the words. I go to speak Latin but decide that Nix might want to hear what she has to say. He helped save them after all.
“Is she your daughter?” Nix asks, and she nods, giving him a fearful look. They are all clearly scared of men, I can see it, and I feel sorry for them. Hopefully in time, they will forget being here.
“It’s okay, we mean you no harm. You are free, all of you,” I say firmly, and she gives us a confused look as Connor, Azi, and Trex walk to us. The children run into the cage, and the women grab them when they are near, crying as they hold their children. “Free,” I repeat firmly.
“Thank you. Can I have your name?” she asks.
“Salvator,” Karaisa says before I can answer, and her mum nods, repeating the name louder. All the women and children repeat it, as they stand and walk out of the cage, each one bowing their heads at me. Karaisa and her mum are the last ones to come out, and she stops right in front of me.
“We return to our husbands. We never forget, Salvator,” she tells me, and walks away. I look at my old sword on the ground, running over and picking it up and running after the slaves. Karaisa pulls her mum’s hair when she sees me, and her mum turns around, giving me a confused look.
“This is yours. It will keep you safe, or you can trade it,” I say, pushing the sword into her spare hand.
“We never forget,” she says, and I know it’s her way of saying thank you. I watch her turn and walk away until she has disappeared into the market of people that watch us carefully.
“Do you think they will be safe?” Connor asks, as he walks to my side. The others come over as well, and I look up at Connor.
“I hope so, but we gave them a chance. Everyone deserves a chance,” I say, and he places his hand on my arm for only a second.
“You’re right,” he whispers, and steps away.
“Time to go. I don’t want to be on this level of hell when it gets dark,” Trex tell us as he walks ahead, and we have no choice but to follow.
“Azi, you should go in front,” I say to him when he stays near my side.
“I know,” is all he replies, but he stays right next to me. Nix and Connor walk behind us, and I keep flashing my eyes back to them, remembering how I’ve kissed them both, and we have been interrupted each time. I would like not to be interrupted at some point.
“You like them, the Protectors,” Azi comments, and I look back at him, playing ignorance.
“I don’t have a clue–”
“I like it,” he interrupts me, and I laugh.
“Seriously? Sharing was not something I had you down for,” I say, still chuckling as his red eyes stare down at me. “Not that sharing is even an option for us as we aren’t together.”
“We will be together, and I think you will be with them also. I see the way you look at them, and how they look at you. At first, I wanted to cut their dicks off, but now, I believe they are good for you,” he says, his eyes watching my own as I look up at him. I don’t even want to touch the cocky subject of him thinking we will be back together.
“Why do you think they are good for me?” I ask, curious.
“They bring out this side to you, a different side than the defensive Vi I’ve always known. You never let me in, not ever, not even if you tell yourself that you did. There has always been this wall, and I think you need more than one person to knock it down,” he says.
“I didn’t put a wall up with you, I gave you what I could,” I argue, but it’s weak.
“You can’t even see the wall because it’s been there since you were a baby. You don’t know how to trust, how to fully love. Life for you has always been a fight, a struggle, and you never had someone fully at your side that you can trust,” he says, and I look away.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say, stepping in front of him, and he doesn’t stop me. We walk in silence up to the entrance of the pyramid, and Azi finally steps in front of us all as we pass through the open stone door. The pyramid is empty inside, with sand floors and one spiral staircase that goes all the way up to the top. At the top, is a gold light, but it’s so bright that I can’t see anything else up there.
“The only way is up,” Azi says, walking to the staircase and walking up. I jog to catch up, and the others follow as we walk up the dusty, sand-covered steps. The steps are huge, causing me to have to pull my legs up high to make each step.
“What where these steps built for? Giants?” I mutter, making Azi laugh.
“No, there used to be a royal family of hell, and it is said the very first queen of hell was a goddess. There are no royals around to tell us if that was true or not anymore, though,” Azi tells us. Royals of hell? Sounds like a terrible inheritance. It takes ages to climb all the steps to the top, and I’m out of breath by the time we get to clearing.
“You should do more cardio, you clearly need it,” Trex comments.
“You need the stick that is stuck up your ass removed, but you don’t hear me offering you advice,” I reply as Trex glares down at me, going to step closer.
“Enough,” Azi snaps, making me look away from Trex, to see him waving a fire-covered hand over what looked like an empty circular space. The ward or whatever it is burns away with Azi’s touch, and a bigger room appears. This one isn’t empty, no it has five doors, and polished stone floors with fire in pots around the room. Four of the doors are wooden, nothing special about them, and the one in the middle looks like it’s made of solid glass. You can’t see anything other than smoke through it, and if I had to guess what a door to heaven looked like, this would be it and not the door to the deepest level of hell.
“Azi, my man, what do we have here?”
Evie
I follow the deep voice of the man that spoke to see the door to the far right was open and a demon leaning on the door frame. He only has jeans on, a cheeky grin on his attractive face, and a mop of messy red hair. His black eyes look at us all, before settling on me.
“Azi, tut, tut, tut. You shouldn’t bring a beauty such as her to place like this,” he comments as he walks over to me, but Azi places his hand on his chest, stopping him from coming too close.
“Touch her, and I will enjoy killing you, Cody,” Azi warns, and Cody laughs, pushing his hand away and walking over to the other doors. He bangs on them both, before leaning on the wall in the middle of them.
“Who have you let into hell recently? And was there three women with them?” Trex asks, stepping next to Azi. Cody’s eyes go to Azi, who nods, and then back to Trex.
“I will tell you what you want . . . for a price,” he replies as the door on his right is opened, and a demon who looks the image of Cody steps out, narrowing his eyes on Azi.
“The wayward overlord returns,” he looks at us, “with friends, it seems.”
“It’s none of your business, Caleb,” Azi snaps.
“You’re right, it’s not. You and your brothers are playing with fire, and every single one of you will be burned for it,” Caleb replies dryly.
“What does that mean?” Azi demands, and Caleb looks at Cody rather than answering.
“Have my key and let them in, I want no part in this,” he says as he pulls a necklace off and hands it to Cody before walking to the door he came out of and slamming it behind him.
“Sorry about that, my brother is a dick,” Cody explains.
“At least you know it. Let’s hope he realises it sometime soon,” I say, and Cody laughs, standing up.
“So, a price for the information? You want to make a deal, man?” Cody asks Trex, who looks at the smoky door, and then back to Cody.
“Yes.”
“I will tell you some shit you are sure
to find interesting, if you promise to do anything I ask when I call you. I’m not crazy, so it won’t be killing anyone, or any shit like that, but that is my offer,” Cody says, but I wouldn’t trust him. He smiles like the creepy Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland when Trex offers his hand to shake on the deal, and Cody shakes it.
“Done. I will keep my promise,” Trex says.
“Oh, I know you will. You seem like one of those serious fucks that keep your promises,” Cody grins.
“What do you know? We don’t have all day,” Nix interjects.
“About a week ago, one of his brothers came through here with three women. All of them were tied up and had bags on their heads, so I couldn’t see their faces,” he tells us, and I watch as Trex tightens his hands and looks back at Connor and Nix.
“Which brother?” Azi asks, the seriousness on his face makes me a little concerned for a second.
“Roth,” Cody says quietly.
“Shit,” Azi replies, rubbing his face. “Cody, go and find your other brother and give us a minute alone.”
“Sure, no thanks for the advice or anything,” Cody grumbles but walks over to the door he knocked on that no one came out of and opens it up, stepping inside and slamming it shut behind him.
“Is Roth someone we should worry about?” Connor asks just what I was thinking.
“I was hoping this had nothing to do with any of my brothers, but it looks like it has,” Azi admits, not looking happy about it.
“Why would your brother steal the princesses?” Nix asks.
“Roth has a thing for science, and not a good thing. He likes to create creatures, mix bloods, and in general mess with nature. When I saw those green creatures that came after us, I wondered if Roth could have sent them,” Azi admits. “His sin is curiosity.”
“Didn’t your brother ever hear the human saying ‘curiously kills the cat’? Because that would be a good lesson for him,” I remark, but they all ignore me.
“Then your brother has to die,” Trex coldly remarks.
“I can deal with one of my brothers at a time, and possibly kill him. That’s only if Roth hasn’t gotten the help of any of my other brothers.”
“We need to get to them quickly then, if your brother is going to be doing weird tests on them or something,”
“Yes, we do,” Trex answers, and the door Cody left through opens at the end of his words. Cody walks out first followed by his brother. His brother just looks like a slightly older version of Cody. He has a full red-haired beard that matches his trimmed hair, and black eyes that watch us all for a brief second.
“You want entry? You sure?” the bearded man asks in a deep voice.
“Yes,” Azi says simply, no need for messing around.
“Let’s get this out of the way, then,” Cody says, clapping his hands together and stepping up to the door. I watch as he gets the necklace his brother gave him out of his pocket and places the trianglular, metal symbol in a space on the door for it. It glows red as Cody’s brother pulls a bracelet off his wrist, with a metal circle symbol in another gap and it glows red, too. Cody finally pulls a ring off his finger, and it has a square symbol on it. The moment it touches the space where Cody puts it down, it glows red.
“Patentibus,” Cody almost growls out and presses his hand to the door. The glass just melts away into smoke, the smoke still holding the shape of the door. Cody steps back, waving a hand at the door.
“Time to go,” he says and looks over at me, trailing his eyes over my body slowly. “Though, you are always welcome back.” Azi whacks Cody on the head as he passes him and walks into the smoky door.
“Ouch, dickhead! That’s not how you say thank you!” Cody shouts as Trex walks into the smoky door, and Nix follows him. Connor just waits, crossing his arms.
“I’m not leaving him alone with you, go on,” Connor states. Cody laughs, “Smart man.”
“Later, boys,” I say, walking forward and stepping into the smoky door. The smoke smothers me for what seems like a few seconds, making me cough before the third layer of hell appears.
“Watch out!” Trex shouts, just as a dagger comes flying through the air towards me.
Evie
I fall to the ground, watching the dagger fly over my head, and disappear into the smoky door behind me. I hope Connor is okay. I quickly jump up, looking around and seeing Azi holding a demon in the air by his neck, and there isn’t anyone else around. The dagger distracted me for a second, but now I can’t help but look around. It is beautiful. There are fields and fields of green grass, trees with large red apples hanging from them for as far as you can see. I spot a building in the far distance, and I can hear the sound of running water in the distance, too. This place reminds me of the Garden of Eden that I read about as a kid. Where the first humans were said to have come from. I look up at the sky, seeing thousands of stars, which is impossible because there can’t be stars down here. There are so many that it’s bright enough to look like it’s day.
“Who threw the dagger? It missed me by an inch!” Connor exclaims as he comes through the portal, holding the dagger up in his hand.
“He did,” Trex points at the man Azi is holding in the air. The man, well demon, has red skin and hair, and leather clothes. His cloak is on the floor, as it a range of weapons that Azi has clearly taken off him.
“Why did you wait for Evie?” Azi demands, shaking the demon as we all walk over.
“Sent. Kill,” the demon coughs out. Azi grabs his head, snapping his neck, and letting the demon’s body drop to the ground before anyone can ask anything else.
“I don’t get why he waited for you,” Azi growls.
“If you didn’t kill him straight away, we might have been able to find out,” Connor replies sarcastically.
“He wouldn’t have talked. I could tell,” Azi shrugs.
“The demon clearly knew to take out the deadliest opponent first,” I say, and each one of them turn to glare at me.
“That is not the reason,” Nix states firmly, and the others nod.
“It is, and you all know it,” I say with a wide smile, leaning down, and taking off my bag. “We might as well have a food break. It looks safe here, and you’ve already killed the danger.” I don’t wait for the guys to agree or not before putting my bag down, and grinning at Star, who is still sleeping in the bag.
“You like to sleep a lot, huh?” I ask, and she also yawns as I pick her up and take her out of the bag. I pull my last water bottle out, drinking half and then pouring the other half in the small box I kept my food in. She happily drinks away as Azi comes over, kneeling down next to us. Star watches him, almost narrowing her eyes at him until I stroke her back, and she goes back to drinking her water.
“You like her, so I like her,” he tells me as he places a small box full of broken up jerky and what looks like bacon rasher crisps. “It’s all we have that she might eat, but we can get real food when we are out of hell.” I look over to see the others watching, but they all quickly look away when I see them, making me smile.
“Thanks,” I tell Azi, and he smiles at me before going back to his bag.
“Spoilt already,” I say to Star, stroking her head, and sitting down next to her. I pull out what is left of my food, eating it and watching the protectors and Azi. They all sit near me, occasionally looking in my direction. I have the feeling they are protecting me, when I don’t need it. I finish off my food, waiting for Star to finish hers before putting everything back in the bag as Star goes off for the toilet. I copy her idea, walking to a nearby tree and relieving myself. I walk back to the guys to see Star on Connor’s lap, and he is doing something to her collar.
“What are you doing?” I ask, stroking Star’s head that she nudges my hand with. Fussy tiger.
“I found rope in the demon’s stuff, so I made a lead. It will be good for her to stretch her legs,” Connor says, lifting the thin rope he has tied to her collar and handing me the handle hoop he has tied.
“Thanks, I’m sure Star will appreciate it,” I say, walking away a little and gently encouraging Star to follow by pulling the rope. She jumps off Connor’s lap, after licking his face first, and wanders over to my side.
“How are there stars here?” I ask Azi as he tightens his straps on his bag and walks next to my side. Trex walks with Nix just behind us, and Connor catches up, coming straight to my side with Star in-between us.
“They aren’t stars,” he says.
“I’ve heard a rumour that the lights down here are the souls of angels,” Connor says, his words seeming to echo around us.
“Everyone knows angels don’t exist anymore,” I say, remembering the story Hali’s mum told me once. Humans didn’t always know demons or any supernaturals existed until an angel fell from heaven. Not just one angel, but five. The angels were evil and started killing everything they could find, so the supernaturals and demons stood in front of the humans and defended them. Working together, they killed the angels, but thousands lost their lives. Angels were more powerful than anything. The laws for supernaturals and demons were introduced, and the Protectors were the ones made to enforce the laws.
“My oldest brother told me something once about the stars, and he is so old that it could possibly be true,” Azi says.
“Tell us then, Az,” I nudge his shoulder, and he looks up at the stars for a second.
“He said that once this place and heaven were so very close together, that angels would come and spend many of their days living with demons. It all changed one day when an angel killed a demon, and a war erupted between them. Thousands of angels and demons were killed right where we stand. The stars were said to appear when an angel died here, and the darkness was the demons who were lost. My brother swore the sky was nothing other than blue before the war,” he says, almost sadly.
“That’s a beautiful story,” I say, looking up at the stars or lights. Or angels’ souls. Whatever they are, they are stunning.
