by E. A. Copen
“There’s no vending in the arena,” Yama grumbled, taking the paper.
“Then how do you explain all the wrappers in the stands?” Clipboard guy scribbled something else down. “Refusal to cooperate with inspectors.”
“Wait a moment.” Yama held his hands up. “You have my full cooperation. There’s no need to inform Osiris and levy further fees. Besides, these two are here in Naraka by choice. Simply passing through. Isn’t that correct?” Yama looked to us expectantly.
Josiah rolled his eyes. “Absolutely. Here on holiday. It’s the ambience. Torture is so refreshing.”
“I’m sorry?” Clipboard guy lowered his clipboard and cocked his head to the side.
I clapped Josiah on the shoulder. “What my friend meant to say is that Naraka is only a stop off on our way to She’ol. If you check with Osiris, he knows all about it. Yama was just about to give us the key to the next door, so we could be on our way. Right, Yama?”
Yama bristled, but his sneer faded under the watchful eye of the inspector, shifting to an accommodating smile. “But of course. I was on my way to fetch the key when I was notified of your arrival.”
The inspector’s frown deepened. “This is highly irregular. I’ll have to call the home office. Excuse me.” He turned and slipped back through the ranks of Yama’s soldiers.
Yama turned as if to go but changed his mind. He marched down the stairs, stopping two rows up to toss a bundle of white cloth to us. It rolled over the dirt and came to a stop against my foot.
I grabbed the bundle and unwrapped it, revealing a human skull with rotten teeth. “Alas, poor Yorick seriously needed a better dentist.”
“The key, you moron,” Yama growled. “Take it and go before you cause me more trouble.”
I lowered the skull. “You’re just giving it to us? What about all that punishment and justice mumbo-jumbo?”
Yama crossed his arms. “It is not yet your time, or so others have decided. I could keep you here, but to do so would anger the other gods and cause me no end of headaches. Besides, it has come to my attention that you are on a quest to kill Lucifer Morningstar.”
“I thought you two were pals.” I stood and dusted off my knees.
His lip twitched. “Morningstar is an ally, not a friend. He understands the necessity of punishment, though he enjoys it far more than I. Morningstar has me in a difficult place. On the one hand, if he is overthrown, there will be a civil war in She’ol which could destabilize the entire underworld. However, he has broken the rules of a longstanding treaty and interfered directly with humanity on a catastrophic scale. I see only one fitting punishment for his deeds. You.”
“We’re to do your dirty work then?” Josiah stood next to me and swayed on his feet.
“The universe sometimes creates its own justice,” Yama said with a shrug. “I am but an arbiter. Even half-wits such as yourselves can be of use in such a case.” He smirked. “I look forward to our next meeting in a few years, gentlemen.”
“Hey!” I called as he turned away. “You didn’t tell us where to find the door.”
“Follow the black path to the Gate of Fire,” he shouted back without turning. “You can’t miss it.”
“Saved by underworld bureaucracy. How do you like that?” I turned to Josiah. “See? Everything worked out. No god-killing today.”
He grunted and almost fell over. I caught him and slung his arm over my shoulder to hold him up. That summoning spell had really taken it out of him.
“You’ve made an enemy,” Josiah observed as I half-carried him to the stadium stairs.
“I think we’ve made an enemy, but at least we don’t have to deal with him until we’re dead.” I shuddered to think what special punishment he had in store for us.
Josiah shook his head. “My soul’s damned, but Yama will have to get in line if he wants a piece of it. There’re bigger fish in this murky pond than him that want me.”
At the top of the arena, I adjusted Josiah’s arm and searched the landscape for the black path Yama had mentioned. Everything in Naraka looked black and shadowy, making picking out a single path impossible.
To the south, a line of pure darkness curled toward the horizon, so black the dark rock on either side looked bright by comparison. It wasn’t just black. This path was completely devoid of color as if it would swallow anything colored that touched it.
“Looks like we’re in for another long walk,” I told Josiah.
“And me without my walking shoes,” he grumbled, and we set out on the path.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The walk to Yama’s palace might’ve been awful, but at least there were things to look at. Our trek down the black path didn’t offer many sights. No pools of boiling blood, no screams of the tortured. Dark, rocky land stretched out on either side, broken only by dead, craggy cliffs. Occasionally, we would pass a small depression where old ashes stood, evidence of a fire, but those pits were no longer in use. The land was as dead and desolate as any I had ever seen. Silence reigned. For miles, the sole sound was the hollow echo of our bare feet slapping against the rock.
Josiah started to nod off, which I took to be a bad sign.
I shook him awake. “You can’t die yet. You owe me some answers.”
“I don’t owe you shit.”
“Back at the arena, you could’ve killed me with that stunt.”
He sighed and worked to get his feet back under him. I’d barely noticed I’d been dragging him. “I didn’t know you were there or else I’d have never done it.”
I shivered, remembering the way the demons exploded when that light—whatever it was—struck him. “What was that?”
“Ever hear of a guardian angel?”
I turned my head to give him a quizzical look. “I thought angels were supposed to be the good guys.”
Josiah threw his head back and barked out bitter laughter. “Oh, that’s rich. Tell us another. There are no good guys. There’s us and them. When it comes down to it, not much difference between angels and demons, really. Just demons have the decency not to lie about being the way they are.”
I dragged him on in silence for a few steps. “Sorry, but I’m having a little trouble figuring you out. You kick demon ass, yet you speak more highly of them than anyone else. You summon your guardian angel to cream a demon, yet they’re the biggest pricks in the cosmos. What are you? Touched by an Angel?”
He planted his feet and pulled his arm free. “Pull ya head in a sec. D’ya hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Shut it and listen!”
I listened and heard only the same silence I’d heard the entire walk. I was just about to tell Josiah he’d finally lost it when a small crackling sound echoed through the valley, the sound like the rattling of plastic bags in the wind.
Josiah pointed ahead where a faint glow danced. Strange shadows interrupted the light and flickered against the rock. We weren’t alone on the black path. They had yet to notice us, which meant we had two choices. We could either sneak up on them, or sneak past them. Chances were good they were some of Yama’s henchmen, which meant they could be trouble if we didn’t deal with them. Josiah would favor taking them out to keep them from attacking us from behind, but I wasn’t so sure killing a god’s servants was the best way to make friends in the After. Still, his argument would have a lot of merit. Naraka’s natives hadn’t been very friendly.
I turned to Josiah. “We should see how many there are.”
He agreed with a nod, and we crept forward. Once we reached the small rise of black rock near them, the voices got clearer. I pressed myself against the rock and listened to the hissing laughter, counting voices.
“All the fight’s gone out of this one,” growled an inhuman voice.
“No fun if they don’t fight,” said another. “That’s the problem with doing the same things over and over. They get used to it.”
So far, I’d only heard two voices. To verify there were only two, however, I’
d have to have a look. Slowly, I inched around the side of the rock and leaned forward. Two black creatures with the wings of flies and arms like orangutans sat at a small campfire as if they’d just stepped off the road. A large, flat-faced rock marked the back of their campsite where they had pinned a naked woman by driving spikes through her hands. She was covered in glistening black blood, cuts, and bruises of all shades. Someone had sawed through her hair unevenly, or maybe just pulled it out by the roots, leaving her half bald.
“Well then, we’ll just have to be more creative with the next punishment,” said the first demon, rising and adjusting his belt.
He walked over to their captive and woke her with a slap. “Rise and shine, whore. Ilthrix has an itch that needs scratching.”
The woman bared her teeth and lashed out at the demon with her foot only to have him grab her leg and twist it. I winced as the bone snapped. She cried out, and my blood ran cold. I recognized that voice.
Khaleda.
Morningstar, you bastard. After she’d tried to kill him, I knew he’d punish her, but handing her over to this pair to do with as they wished...It was despicable, even for him. I had to do something, but what? My only help was half-dead. A good wind could blow him over. With a broken leg, Khaleda would need to be carried out. I couldn’t carry them both.
“Oi, fuckheads.”
Was that... I turned to my left and found the spot Josiah had been a minute ago was empty. While I’d been deciding what to do, he charged in there like an idiot. Those demons were going to turn him into a streak of vegemite on the rocks. Might as well back him up.
I stepped out from behind the rock as the demons turned around to face Josiah, which put their backs to me.
“What’s this?” said the first demon, the one closest to Josiah. “What’re you?”
Josiah cracked his knuckles. “I’m the fella about to give you a very bad day.”
“Get him!” shouted the second demon, drawing a twisted knife.
Josiah grabbed a handful of black stone and hurled it at the closest demon’s head.
I darted forward, activated my Vision and shoved my hand into the demon’s chest. Unfortunately, I moved before I bothered to look. I felt nothing but chilly emptiness inside him. No soul. Shit.
He jerked, grunted and looked down at my hand coming out the front of him. With a grimace, he spun and drove his elbow into the side of my face. My head bounced off the nearest rock and back into the demon’s hand who decided it’d make a good basketball and bounced me again. When I came back the second time I stomped on his foot, spun, and threw a punch to his gut. My fist sank two inches into spongy flesh, but the demon barely felt it. He slashed at me with the knife and caught my left forearm when I threw it up. It felt like someone had drawn a sub-zero ice cube over my skin. I spat in his face, momentarily blinding him.
I had a split second to do something, anything, to turn this fight in my favor. I couldn’t beat him at hand-to-hand, and he didn’t have a soul for me to pull out, but I still had my magic. I dropped and slammed a fist into the ground, pumping as much of my pain and anger over what they’d done into the spell.
The black rock shook and split open beneath the demon’s feet. He stumbled, trying to keep his footing, only to step back into the hole. His hands shot out to grip the ground, still clutching the knife.
I walked up to the edge of the crumbling ground, staring down at him, waiting for him to die. “You work for Morningstar?”
The demon struggled to find something to grip. “What’s it to you? We were only doing what we were told.”
“I’ve got a message for him.” I picked my foot up and stomped on the hand still holding the knife, grinding in my heel. It hurt, but I no longer cared. All I could see was Morningstar’s face, lurking inside Nikki, behind the whip snapping at Emma.
The demon growled and cursed, but he couldn’t get free, especially when I shifted all my weight forward onto his hand. Bone crunched under my foot. He’d fall soon, but I had to make sure he heard me first.
“Tell the Devil the Pale Horseman is on his way. I’m coming for Emma Knight’s soul, and once I get it, I’m going to crush him and anyone who stands in my way. Got it?”
The demon hurled a string of curses at me.
I took my foot away and waved as he fell into the chasm.
Behind me, Josiah struck the puddle of blood and bone that had been the demon’s head one more time with the rock and wiped a hand over his blood-drenched face. All that achieved was to smear the black blood into streaks, making it look more like war paint. “Did ya get him?”
“He’s gone.” I bent to pick up the knife. It might prove useful.
“Lazarus?” Khaleda’s voice came out trembling and small, so at odds with how I knew her to be. In my head, she was still the fearless and strong woman who’d tried to help me take Morningstar down. She was here, suffering, because I had hesitated. “Lazarus, is that you?”
I turned around and avoided her eyes. “Help me get her down.”
Josiah took the spike on the left while I eased out the one on the right. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty. Khaleda screamed and wept while we pretended not to notice.
Every desperate sob of pain stoked the flame of anger growing inside me. Khaleda wasn’t a good person. She’d lied to me, traded me to an Archon for an envelope full of cash. I knew she’d used her succubus powers to enslave and feed on unwary men. Hell, I’d let her feed on me and knew how dangerous she could be. Whatever sins she’d committed, she didn’t deserve to be pinned to a rock in Naraka and assaulted by demons. The very thought of what they might’ve done to her made my stomach turn. She might never recover.
The spikes slid out with one final pull and another frantic growl of pain from Khaleda. She crumpled, leaving behind bright red streaks. Blood pooled from the holes in her hands.
Josiah glanced around for something to cover her with, but there wasn’t anything. We were still naked, our clothes having burned away on our way there. Eventually, he settled on the demon whose head he’d bashed in. He pulled the ripped, blood-and-brain-stained shirt off the monster and reached to drape it over Khaleda’s back.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Khaleda flinched away from him only to put weight on her broken leg. She grabbed for it with another cry and fell over, curled tight, tears flowing free.
“I won’t hurt you.” He eased the torn shirt over her back. “No one’s going to hurt you.” He looked to me. “You know her?”
“I do. She’s Morningstar’s daughter, Khaleda. She tried to help me take him out. It’s my fault we failed the first time. He took her. I knew he was going to punish her, but this is too far, even for a monster like him.”
“He said he couldn’t kill me.” She tugged the bloody shirt closer. “That I was too valuable. I had to be taught my place. He apologized for spoiling me. Said I needed to learn what true suffering was.”
I clenched my fists. “I’m going to kill him. Slowly. Painfully.”
Josiah shook his head. “That’s not going to help her, mate. She needs to heal before anyone can even begin to assess the damage.”
She’d be suffering from more than just physical damage too. Whatever Morningstar had let those demons do to her would’ve left scars on her soul.
“How do we get her back?” I asked. “We’re not here physically. She is.”
“I can do it, but I’m tapped. I’ll need a boost from somewhere, and I don’t know what we’ll find here to do it. I don’t run on death like you do.”
“What do you need from me?”
Josiah’s eyes went to the knife in my hand. “Sybille.”
“Sybille’s still in the tomb.” I cocked my head to the side. What exactly was he getting at?
“So are we, mate. I’m here because of a ritual I used to bind myself temporarily to you, allowing me to follow you into the After, but my heart’s still beating. I’ll open a portal from the other side with Sybille’s help. I might be tapp
ed, but she’s not. If I leave myself linked to you, and you remain on this side, it can be done. It’ll just require a hell of a lot of magic.”
True, Sybille had a lot of power, but I didn’t know if she’d agree to help Josiah open a portal to Hell. She didn’t like me that much.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Sybille might not go for it.”
“Trust me. I’ve got a way with words.”
I didn’t like the way he said that, but his way was the only one we had. “Fine, but it’d better work. I don’t want to be stranded here forever.” I went to scoop Khaleda up.
She hissed and cursed as soon as I touched her before pushing me away. When stepped back, she had a fresh set of hand-shaped blisters on her side where I’d touched her. Shit, I’d forgotten about that.
“You’ll have to carry her,” I said, turning to Josiah.
He studied the blister, frowning. Cogs moved behind his steely eyes, adding things up and coming to a conclusion. “I see.”
“Watch the leg,” Khaleda grumbled as Josiah bent to pick her up.
He grunted. “Heavy for a half-starved and beaten thing, aren’t you?”
She put an arm around the back of his head to try and support her own weight. “Drop me, and I’ll take that knife from Laz and stab you.”
“There’s the Khaleda I know.” I sighed and went to the road, looking up and down it for more surprises.
“No worries. I might be knackered, but we’ll get there. Happen to know how far it is to this Gate of Fire we’re hunting?”
She gave an exhausted shake of her head and closed her eyes. “I’ve been on that rock so long...I didn’t think I’d ever get free.”
I wanted to question her as we made our way down the black path, surrounded by dark nothingness, to find out if there were others who’d hurt her so we could hunt them down too. But there wasn’t time for that, so I just imagined ripping Morningstar’s rotten soul out and crushing it to jelly between my fingers. Ultimately, this was his fault. How could anyone, even the Devil, treat his own flesh and blood like that? I kept trying to wrap my brain around it only to find the task impossible.
