Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress Book 2)

by J. L. Weil

  Soren was a dead man. If I didn’t kill him, Ashor would.

  The demon hauled me tighter against him, whispering in my ear, “You and I have unfinished business. I really hate unfinished business.”

  My breath became tight in my chest as my ears picked up the thunderous hooves from the riders in front of us. Whimpering echoed from somewhere in the mist, someone begging and pleading for his soul to be found. I ignored the throbbing pain at my scalp and went for the dagger tucked into my boot. I never left home without it. “Uh, yeah well, I hate you. Does that make us square?” My fingers grazed the top of the blade’s handle. Just another inch and…

  Soren jerked on the reins, signalling for his horse to make a quick right that jostled me in his lap. I let out an audible growl of frustration as my hand slipped off the hilt. Motherfucker.

  He tsked. “Nice try, but I don’t think so, little demon. Let’s save the swordplay for later.”

  Tossing my hair out of my face, I spat, “Fuck off.”

  “The things that come out of your pretty mouth.” His eyes flicked to my lips, an incorrigible half smirk on his own. “Imagine if you were my mate.”

  Bile churned in my stomach. “I’d rather not, unless you’re trying to make me sick.”

  He chuckled, his pointed nails embedding deeper into my skin. “There is always something sweeter about the ones that fight back. My mother might have an infinite amount of patience, but I do not.”

  “She will never make you her heir,” I seethed. “If that’s what you think to gain by bringing me back.”

  Like a cobra striking its prey, his fingers were in my hair again, snapping my head back as he hissed in my ear. “You know nothing.”

  I knew that I was on borrowed time. The further Soren took me away from my family, the harder it was going to be for me to get away from him. Even if I managed to break free, I still had to combat against the mist. Finding my way to the Gate was going to be the real test.

  But first, I needed to get off this horse.

  An idea formed, a very dumb and potentially harmful plan, but it was all I had. Anything was better than what sordid crap Soren was drumming up in his corrupt mind. Not giving myself time to comprehend all that could go wrong, I wrapped my arms around the spawn of Satan, suppressing a shudder of revulsion. I never wanted to be this close to the evil brother again, but if it got me my freedom, it would be worth it… or so I kept telling myself over and over again as I clasped my hands behind his back and threw my entire body weight over to one side—all one hundred and twenty-five pounds.

  It was enough. Just barely, but I managed to throw us both off balance and off the horse.

  His fingers untangled from my hair in an attempt to stop gravity from winning. “Dammit, Lexi—”

  As we fell, I released my grasp and slammed my hands into his chest. Then I shoved, separating us so we fell to the ground feet apart. My foot came up, connecting with the side of his face.

  Crack.

  His head snapped to the side. It was all the space I needed.

  Scrambling to my feet, I took off, not waiting to see if I’d broken his jaw. I prayed I had, regardless that he would heal. I wanted the satisfaction of having hurt him.

  The frigid air froze my lungs, but I didn’t stop, didn’t dare call out for my family, fearing Soren would find me and carry out all those disturbing things he’d spent months fantasizing over, every detail of pain and torture.

  I did not want to die.

  I did not want to be imprisoned.

  I did not want to be the queen’s pawn or Soren’s plaything.

  One moment the ground was under my feet as I ran, and the next I was sailing through the air. I hit the earth, elbows and palms scraping against rocks and dirt I couldn’t see. The impact jarred me for a breath or two. Get up! Get up! My instincts were screaming at me.

  I moved my legs, but something was holding me back. Boney fingers were twined around my ankles, nails digging into my skin as the coppery scent of my blood tinged the air under my nose. “Bastard,” I hissed between my teeth, blindly kicking out with my other foot.

  Thud.

  A groan sounded, to my satisfaction, as one of my blows struck Soren, and I was up again, running.

  Don’t look back. Just keep going. Keep going!

  And I did. My feet flew over the ground, dodging at the last second any trees or obstacles that appeared in my path. The longer I ran unable to tell left from right, the more fear began to overtake the anger I’d been reliant on to keep me from falling apart.

  I remembered what it was like to be broken and unwhole, my soul splintered. To be locked away, shackled and helpless. I remembered what it was like to want to live, to be willing to do anything to get home.

  Keep it together, Lex. You’re not going to be lost forever. Ashor won’t let you. It was absurd for me to assume the Prince of Darkness would come for me, considering he himself was trapped.

  And yet, his voice purred in my head.

  “Damn straight, I won’t.”

  A shadow of darkness danced in front of me, and sweet relief burned through my lungs. I didn’t question the sudden appearance of the otherworldly darkness and surged forward, following as it weaved in and out of the mist, making sure to stay close behind for fear of losing my guide.

  Had Ashor really found me? Was it his powers hurtling through the in between, paving a path for me? Honestly, I didn’t care, as long as it brought me to Ashor.

  Faster—I had to go faster. My demon strength only got me so far. Eventually, even I would run out of steam. I only hoped I’d be far from Soren when that happened.

  Just when I didn’t think I could run anymore, I broke free from the mist, stumbling over uneven ground.

  It wasn’t Ashor who waited for me in the clearing. It was Cayden.

  And my family.

  Although I was filled with relief, there were also traces of disappointment. I’d been desperate for Ashor to be the one to find me, a part of me clinging to the hope of it.

  But he wasn’t here.

  No. I was here to save him, I reminded myself with steely resolve.

  “Where is he?” Cayden demanded, eyes dark with fury.

  “I don’t know,” I panted, taking in greedy breaths of air. “Not far behind me.”

  The punisher was dressed from head to toe in black, his blond hair secured at the nape of his neck. Strands escaped, framing his face. “We need to go before he gets to the queen first. We don’t have much time,” he warned.

  “Are you okay?” Angel asked.

  I nodded. “I’m fine now.”

  “We didn’t know if we’d be able to find you,” Emma said, an arrow grasped in her hand.

  “How did you?” I asked.

  “He did,” Chase said, glancing pointedly at Cayden.

  “There’s no time to talk.” Cayden reprimanded us with exasperation. “We need to get to the gate. Stay close,” he ordered, moving in front of us to lead the way. The mist parted for him, receding from the darkness Cayden carried with him like a whip.

  Angel wound her fingers through mine as if she was afraid we would be separated again. I hated that she was here, but I also knew this was her way of protecting her future and her baby’s future. If we didn’t find a way to stop Kali, then Angel’s life would always be threatened.

  Emma took my other hand, lacing her fingers with mine, and one by one we interlocked our hands, like a massive train as we started our voyage to the underworld.

  Things hadn’t gone according to plan. In no time, Kali would know we were coming, making my plans to rescue Ashor difficult, to say the least. She would know Cayden aided us, another betrayal that wouldn’t go unpunished. She would know why I came back. For her son. What she didn’t know was that I refused to leave her court without him, no matter what she threw at me.

  I’d find a way to free us both.

  I wondered if the queen expected Cayden to deliver his own punishment. Would that be part of t
he game to mess with his head? I hated to imagine what she had in store for Cayden when she found out what he had done, but I couldn’t dwell on it. My head needed to be clear and focused or I stood no chance at outsmarting her.

  The mist was a maze, designed to confuse and trick the mind—another sort of game. The vapors wound around me like a second skin, clinging to my body and snaking into my nostrils. If it wasn’t for Emma and Angel holding my hands, I would have believed I was alone in a world of emptiness. Nothing stirred. No wind. No life.

  It felt as if we walked for days through the endless labyrinth of mist. My legs were bone tired, feet dragging, and I was near the point of weepy for a bed. But when I didn’t think I could take another step, the mist cleared, revealing the towering gate of Hell, as if the underworld sensed my surrender.

  We came to halt in a line behind Cayden, staring at the iron gate jutting up into the sky. “Are you sure this is the right gate?” Emma asked, her eyes panning over the landscape beyond the fence that went left and right for infinite miles.

  Instead of the never-ending night and sea of stars, the land was a jungle of lush green. Wild trees bordered the fence. A thicket of moss coated the ground, climbed up tree trunks, and clung to the rocks. Soft, enchanting music emanated from deep in the woods, luring the wandering to the other side like a Siren’s song. “It does look different,” I agreed.

  “Vastly different. This isn’t the Court of Darkness,” Angel said, eyeing the tangle of vines choking the metal rungs. Her gaze flung to Cayden’s, and I didn’t like the accusation I saw in them.

  “No, it’s not. This is the gate to the Court of Envy,” Cayden explained.

  My body ached, and I wanted to collapse, too tired to deal with more complications. “I don’t understand.”

  “If you step foot in the Court of Darkness, Kali will hunt you down. She will have your soul ripped out, and there will be no one to stop her,” he explained. “I don’t know how Soren knew of our plan, but he will search for you, and he won’t stop until he has found you.”

  Cayden didn’t have to explain Soren’s obsessive tendencies. I was the one that got away. “What about Ashor? I can’t leave him there.”

  “The prince is in Gardeness. I hope,” he added.

  “What do you mean, you hope?” I growled his name when he didn’t reply immediately.

  Cayden shoved the loose strands of hair out of his face. “The queen sent him here.”

  The darkness inside me rumbled. “So, it’s happening. He is going to fulfill his oath.”

  Cayden nodded.

  “Shit.”

  There was no smirk on Cayden’s face. None of his usual charm. “You have to stop him.”

  “I’m going to fucking try.”

  Cayden eyes were glowing emeralds. “This is where my journey ends. I can’t go through the gate with you.”

  “I know,” I replied reluctantly. It surprised me that I wasn’t ready to let Cayden leave. I didn’t know what waited for me on the other side of the gate, and perhaps that was where my trepidation stemmed from.

  His eyes shifted to my crown. “Tell the prince that I said, ‘you’re welcome.’”

  I gave the demon a funny look.

  “He’ll know what it means.”

  “Will you be okay?” I asked. The queen was bound to make him pay dearly for his betrayal.

  “Don’t tell me you’re worried about me?” He winked, the corners of his mouth twitching. There was the facetious demon I knew.

  “She is going to make your life hell.” I pointed out the obvious.

  He backed away, grinning. “It wouldn’t be Hell if she didn’t.” Then he was gone, the mist devouring him, and me never getting the chance to thank him.

  Exhaling, I stared at the entrance of the underworld, and doubts crept in. Was I doing the right thing going after Ashor and against his mother? Was I sentencing us all to death? I chewed on my lower lip while I had an epic stare down with the Gate of Envy.

  “Lex?” Chase prompted, brows lifted. “What is it?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts now,” Travis moaned.

  I was, but that wasn’t what I had to say. “No. There’s something I need to tell you.” Before I took the final step into the underworld, I had to get this off my chest.

  Chase’s silver eyes narrowed. “And you decided seconds before you cross over into Hell would be an appropriate time?”

  “When is there ever a good time to tell my family that a part of the Prince of Darkness’s power attached itself to my soul?” I blurted out.

  Silence followed and lingered in the air as they each processed my outburst. Angel blinked, the first one to understand what I was trying to tell them. “What are you saying? That you can… what? Summon shadows? Spit darkness? Or rain night upon the earth?”

  Those were pretty damn good theories. “Maybe,” I admitted. “To be frank, I don’t know the extent of what I can do, but when our soulbond snapped into place, a fragment of Ashor’s power transferred to me. I only just recently became aware of it.”

  “How long?” Chase demanded. “How long have you known or suspected?”

  “Shortly after I came home,” I said with regret.

  “And you never said anything,” Angel said, pain clouding her crimson eyes. She was my best friend. We were supposed to tell each other everything. The good and the bad.

  “Why wouldn’t you come to us?” Emma asked.

  “I didn’t want to involve any of you more than I already have.”

  Emma wasn’t having it. “When are you going to get it into that head of yours that what happens to one of us, happens to us all?”

  If the situation was flipped, I would have said the same thing. I shrugged. “I can’t control it. Not really. But Ashor, he can—”

  “Hello, luv.”

  13

  Like synchronized swimmers, five heads whipped toward the direction of Ashor’s silky voice. Before my gaze even landed on him, the sound of that ancient dialect poured into my veins like liquid darkness, sending a chill through my body. I raked my gaze over him, searching for injuries, but he stood as arrogant as ever, leaning a shoulder against the other side of the gate. His midnight hair hung over the side of his face as shadows draped over his form. He kicked the gate open and raised a brow as if to say, are you coming in, or are you just going to stare at me all night?

  I darted through the gate and was in Ashor’s face, my repressed anger and hurt bubbling to the surface. “Don’t ‘Hello, luv’ me!” I shrieked, poking him in his firm chest. My finger more or less bounced off. “Really? That’s the first thing you say to me after leaving me. You selfish, arrogant, prince of asshole prick.”

  The stupid grin on his lips only widened. “I missed you too.”

  “God. You are so frustrating. Why do I even bother? I don’t know if I want to hit you or…”

  “Or what?” he prompted, his hands curving around my hips and pulling me closer.

  He didn’t play fair. “Kick you in the dick,” I said with smug satisfaction, crossing my hands over my chest before I got any funny ideas about touching him. Nope. Not going to happen, regardless of how relieved I was to see him.

  His chuckle was like a winter night against my face, fluttering over my lashes. Cool tingles bloomed at my cheeks, my pulse quickening. The mark at my nape burned like the brightest star in the sky. Without saying another word, he crashed his lips to mine, and the fracture on my soul I didn’t realize was there mended.

  The kiss was possessive and frantic in a way that made the world disappear. It was just the prince and me. His lips were skilled, coaxing mine to open up to him in utter surrender. My arms wound around his neck, and I pressed myself into his comforting coolness as his fingers roamed over the curves of my body.

  This was everything I’d been missing the last few months, this sense of completion I’d never really felt before. My heart was bursting out of my chest, and the world around me lost all mean
ing, all purpose.

  My mate, my soul sighed in sweet delight, but there was another, more persistent and powerful voice inside me. Claim him, the demon within purred like a siren’s song. Claim him, before it's too late.

  Why shouldn’t I? He was my mate? Denying it would get me nowhere, and I no longer wanted to resist him, couldn’t remember why I’d ever wanted to.

  I nipped at his lower lip, running my tongue along it. His growl vibrated over my mouth, and I wanted to be anywhere other than in Hell with an audience. In truth, I’d forgotten about my family and that we weren’t alone. Ashor had the power to make me lose myself completely.

  My fingers longed to trace his demon marks and stare at his face for hours. “You’re okay,” I whispered, taking in every inch of him, every angle.

  Darkness dispersed from Ashor like oil in water. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  He was here in front of me, and now I didn’t know what to do. “I saw her take you.” My voice trembled over the memories: seeing him surrender, Soren shackling him, him chained to the dungeon walls and walking up to the Court of Envy.

  His hand moved to the side of my face, brushing aside a stray piece of loose hair. “What else did you see, Lexi luv?”

  I averted my eyes, afraid he could see inside my head, which might have been pointless because if Ashor really wanted inside my mind, I couldn’t stop him. My gaze lingered on his lips, entranced by the curve of them. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here.”

  He hooked a finger under my chin, tilting my face upward until I looked at him again. The color in his eyes was flecked with gold. “I am. But the real question is, why are you here?”

  The realization of his words echoed inside me, bouncing around in an unattainable thing I couldn’t catch. I never considered that he might not want to be released from his oath to his mother or rescued from the underworld. He had sacrificed so that I could escape, and yet, here I was, back in Hell, back in the line of danger.

  Would he be angry with me?

  Disappointed?

  But only amusement and something darker sparkled in his violet eyes.