She didn’t bother glancing at me. “No. It’s like this all the time. Except that the color changes. I quite like this green.”
I flicked my gaze at her long green lock of hair. “So when did you meet Erasmus?”
“I really want to stab you with something,” she hissed.
“All right, already! Jeez.”
We walked along. There were mountains of a sort in the distance. They formed a jagged skyline and looked thoroughly unpleasant and treacherous to traverse. Of course we were heading there.
“I met him sometime in Mesopotamia around 500 BC.” Her voice was wistful, and she’d lost her snarky tone. “We were both fairly new then. I was just getting to know things, understanding where I was in the worlds. Erasmus already had his purpose. He followed your ancestor around before making himself known to her. First thing I did was tease him about it.” She laughed softly. “He growled at me. He hates it when you make fun of him. He has so little sense of humor.”
“I don’t know. He seems to have a wry sense.”
“Yes. I suppose he does. He helped her as much as necessary and then…well. You know.”
“Yeah.” I touched my neck, missing the familiar weight of the amulet. I stuffed my hand in my pocket. It was still there, still cold.
“And then he was gone. And it wasn’t until a few hundred years later that I ran into him again. I just thought he was intriguing. So set on his mission. He enjoyed hunting the creatures with her, though each Chosen Host was afraid of him. They had every right to be.” She looked at me then. “Until you came along. Were you ever afraid of him?”
I thought back four weeks ago when it had all started. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Maybe that was it. You were fearless in your own mission. That must have appealed to him. Whatever I did, whatever I tried never seemed to interest him enough.” She laughed. “I suppose you thought we’d been lovers.”
“I assumed.”
“You were wrong. He treated me like a nuisance. And that intrigued me all the more. He never once looked at me like—” She cut herself off and scouted around to hide her face. I gave her room to do it. She swallowed. “If he had only looked at me as he looked at you…I might have lost interest. Instead, his continual brushings off only made me want him more. And so I hatched a plan to get the book. It was a stupid plan. But I had nothing else.”
I said nothing. If I told her I was sorry one more time, I think she would have thrown a curse at me.
“And now here we are,” she said softly. “The lover and the spurned one. It’s all so ridiculous.”
“I think it’s very noble of you.”
“Oh, do shut up.”
I did. We continued getting infinitesimally closer to that mountain range. How long till we reached it, I wondered. I took another swig from the canteen. What was I going to do when we caught up to him? I guess since he was human now, he couldn’t put up a fight when we got him out of here. That gave me courage. But then we still had the problem of Satan and the Booke. No, Kylie, we don’t. You know what you have to do. Yeah, I did know. I’d get Shabiri to get him out of here and I’d…stay.
What would Satan be like? Would he do what I asked after I offered my soul? Could I trust him? I had to hope that I could. I hoped…that it would be fast.
I sighed and looked at the scenery before me. This landscape could never be considered beautiful. I had been to plenty of deserts in California and the southwest. Those were stunning in their stark beauty, their vast spaces and rocks and canyons carved by ancient waterways and wind. But there was nothing to recommend this. Every tree and shrub was blackened by some disaster. Or at least they looked that way but probably just grew like that. Twisted in agonizing silhouettes with short and stumpy shrubs near the ground. Even the grass—what clumps of it there were—were black and droopy. It was like the dark place the Booke had shown me. It had been trying to warn me.
I looked behind and there it was, floating along. I could feel it trying to pull me back, trying to get me to escape this place. It might only take a thought from me to do it, so I looked away, trying not to think of it at all.
Something caught the corner of my eye and I turned to look. I thought I had seen something moving. I shrugged. Just my imagination. These weird twisted trees sure gave you the notion you were seeing figures, like saguaro cactuses with their human-like arms.
But now there was something on the left, and when I turned, nothing.
“Shabiri,” I whispered.
“I see them,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “They’ve been tracking us for some time.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“They weren’t as close before. There are about ten of them. Maybe more.”
“What are they?”
“Imps. Small demons. More primitive than my kind.”
“Are they…dangerous?”
“Of course.”
“What can we do?”
“Let me handle it.”
I adjusted my grip on the spear. I wished I had the crossbow too and all those handy charms and incantations the Wiccans had worked on to protect me. I didn’t have any of that. So much for all our preparations.
“Why can’t you just transport us out of here?”
“It’s a handy trick. But it only works on your world. As do many other handy tricks.”
“Erasmus can heal others there. Well, he could when he was a…” I hated the idea of him being as helpless as I was. I hoped he was okay. I hoped that he stayed a demon as long as he could to get through all this.
“A healing demon,” she scoffed. “Must be because of all that sticky sweet love.”
This time I was sure I saw something move. When I turned, it wasn’t hiding anymore. It looked like a solid black figure no more than three feet high. It was almost a cartoon version of a demon you’d see in those old Walt Disney animations. Horns and pointy tail and all. And it wasn’t alone.
They seemed flat and two-dimensional as they moved over the rocks like a shadow, probably an illusion because of their color. They were like little black holes, because no sickly green light slide over their surfaces. They were just…dark. Absences of light. Except for cat-like eyes that shone, blinking at us like animals stalking us would.
“Can they reason?” I asked.
“No. They are very basic creatures. They probably smelled your blood. They are the vultures of the Netherworld, cleaning up the carcasses of others.”
“I have no intention of being a carcass.”
“I don’t know that it’s really up to you at this point,” she said between clenched teeth.
I could tell she was coiling to spring. Because the creatures were coming out of their hiding places and slithering over the rocks with their eyes fixed on us. Well, on me.
“What do we do?” I tightened my grip on the spear and lowered it to jabbing position.
“For one…I’d run.”
“We should run?”
“No. You should run.”
Chapter Seventeen
I took off over the rocky plain and zig-zagged between the fangy outcroppings.
When I looked back, there was suddenly a swarm of those little black creatures. They completely skirted around Shabiri. Definitely after me. I thought about different strategies since I knew I would tire soon. I looked back again and saw them defying gravity, crawling upside down up a rocky fang and over the other side like ants.
That eliminated a few ideas.
I scrambled up into a canyon, the loose rocks under my feet making it all the harder. It was too late when I realized I was boxed in. “Shit,” I muttered. I got to the wall and looked up. Even if I could scale that, those little devils were far more agile than I was. I turned to face them. They were coming toward me fast from the floor of the canyon and up the sides.
When they got close enough, I could see rows of little razor-sharp teeth. Great. Their spindly little arms reached for me with little talons for
fingers.
And then my Chosen Host skills kicked in. It all happened in an instant. I steadied the spear on the ground and swung around it like a stripper pole, kicking out with my boots at their greedy little faces. Imps flung outward, tumbling in the air. It was entirely satisfying when boot met imp, like kicking a football. I ran along the cliff face and swung around again, kicking some more.
But then the footballs were coming quicker and in greater numbers. There was way more than ten of them. It was a swarm. I couldn’t swing on the spear forever. And sure enough, something grabbed my hair. I was yanked backward, hitting my head against the stone wall.
They were on me. I tried to scream, but too many little mouths were biting, too many talons scratching and tearing at my clothes. I kicked out wildly with my hands and feet, shaking my head to loosen them but it didn’t help. I was sinking into complete panic, all traces of civilization slipping away. I screamed. I flailed. There was nothing left to do but die.
Then, a fireball!
The creatures all stopped and looked. Tiny, dreadful hands were still on me, still yanking my hair taut, but they had all frozen to stare at the fireball coming at them. Some were engulfed in flames and screaming in high-pitched whines, while others burst into puffs of black smoke.
They dropped me and started running. Up the cliff face, under rocks. But it didn’t save them. Wherever they were, they burst into flames and disappeared in puffs of smoke.
Soon I was alone, sprawled on the ground, my clothes in shreds, my hair all over my face and in tufts on the ground around me from where they had yanked it out. A figure walked forward through the hazy smoke. When it dissipated, she was standing there.
I cried from relief. “Thank you, Shabiri!”
She didn’t offer to help me up. Just stood there in a superhero pose…or was it super villain with her in her black catsuit?
I got up shakily, brushed myself off. My jeans were now very stylish with their rips but my shirt could have looked better. It barely covered me.
She waved her hand and the shirt and jeans stitched themselves back together. I watched in amazement as each tear repaired itself.
I smoothed out my hair as best I could and caught my breath. I was so happy to see her I almost hugged her but decided that would probably be a bad idea. “I don’t suppose you could conjure a bazooka,” I said unsteadily.
“Mortal weaponry? That’s very crude, isn’t it?”
“Not from where I’m standing.”
“You have to fight magical creatures with magical means. A bazooka might be fun but it would hardly do the job.”
“That’s too bad.”
She looked around. “Well, everyone knows you’re here by now. The next several miles should be a lot of fun.”
“I take it we have to climb these mountains.”
“Ten points to the annoying human.”
I followed her out of the canyon, checking to make sure I still had Erasmus’ amulet. It was important to me and I just wanted to have it, to hold onto something of him. Please still be alive, I chanted in my head. I wiped impatiently at tears I didn’t have time for.
“For the first time, I feel a little useless,” I said as we set out again. “I was always the one doing the fighting and killing.”
“Interesting. Not Erasmus?”
“No. He was always a little…standoffish. But he did get in the way of the kelpie now that I think about it.”
“Well, this book business is up to you, after all.”
“Yeah. And I guess I get to finish it.”
She started slow-clapping. “Oh, very good seventies telly dialog. Bra-va.”
“Can you be more of an ass?”
She smiled. “I’m sure I can try.”
I watched her walk away and contemplated what she’d just done. Not only had she saved my life—again—but she got me out of my funk by making me mad. She was so not fooling me anymore.
“Shabiri, why did you ask me to save Doug?”
“Simple self-preservation, darling. He had my amulet.”
“Oh? And what would have happened to it if he’d died?”
She fell silent and simply hiked on.
Yup. Not fooling me.
* * *
We hiked for hours, steadily moving up the mountain. I leaned against a black tree and then was sorry I had when it left a tarry residue on my hand. “Shabiri! Look, I have to rest.” I wiped the black gunk on my pants.
“You want to rest now? We have miles to go.”
“I know.” I sat on the ground and took a deep breath. “But I’m only human.”
“But Erasmus—”
“Is only human now too. He’ll also need to rest.” I took out the amulet and held it in my hand, gazing at it. It sure was ugly. And I loved it.
She stood at the edge of the road, fidgeting. Maybe she thought “resting” meant mere seconds. When she realized it didn’t, she plopped herself down and hugged her knees. “Being human has got to be the absolute worst.”
I ignored her. I knew her game now. She was more like Erasmus than she wanted to admit. She didn’t come to my world because she wanted to get away from the Netherworld. She liked my world, she liked the culture, and she liked humans. Maybe she even liked Ed but wouldn’t let herself get involved. After all, she was in love with Erasmus. And, clueless as any guy, he’d never noticed.
I glanced over at her. She was combing bits of stuff out of her hair. It might have been pieces of imp.
“I wonder what the coven is up to back in Moody Bog.”
“What a funny little town that is.”
“Would you go back?”
“Why in the twelve worlds would I?”
“Because you like it there. You like Ed.”
“I do not.”
“I think you do.”
“Oh really?” She got that spoiled look on her face that I was beginning to think was just an act. “Don’t start projecting your sentimental crap onto me. That’s not who I am.”
“I’m just saying, Ed is a pretty nice guy.” For some reason, I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one else was listening, even though that was an impossibility. “And he’s real good in the sack.”
She stared at me a long moment before she rocked back with laughter. She laughed and laughed, the sound rolling up and down the canyon. “Kylie Strange, could it be that I might be starting to like you?”
I smiled. I hadn’t thought I was capable with all that was happening, but I was. We were comrades in arms and all that. “I think you do already. Even as you hate me for…you know.”
“Yes, I do hate you. Erasmus should never have fallen in love with the likes of you. But…well.” She flicked her hand. “C'est la vie.”
“You should have let him get to know you. You should…you should let him when this is over. He’ll need you.”
Her smile faded. “And you are still set on offering yourself to…Him?” Quick as lightning she crouched over me, grabbed my wrist, and shoved back the sleeve. “Except for this.”
The tattoo. I’d forgotten about it. Erasmus didn’t think it would really work. But would it?
“Oh shit. Can I burn this off?”
She let my wrist go and sat down in front of me. “Just how insane are you? You were going to walk in here and offer your soul when you had that on your wrist?” She shook her head. “I admire your chutzpah.”
“Do you think it will work? Should I get rid of it?”
“Not until you’re standing in front of…Him. Then he’ll know you’re serious.”
“I am.”
She rested her chin on her hand and gazed at me from under her lashes. “If you succeed and are dead, Erasmus will be stuck as a human.”
“Yeah. He’ll need lots of help. He’ll…have to eat real food. He’s probably wondering right now why his stomach hurts. I know you don’t eat…”
“Yes, I do. I told you not all demons are of the soul-eating variety.”
“Oh. W
ell, if he’s stuck as a human then you can show him. I’ll let him know you helped me.”
“That will endear him.”
“I mean…that you didn’t try to sabotage me. That maybe you didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“He can tell when a demon lies, you know.”
“Not as a human, he can’t.”
Her brows rose. No, she hadn’t thought of that. Now there was a real chance in her mind. She’d help me, all right. Step this way into Satan’s mouth, young lady.
When we looked at one another, we suddenly knew each other very well.
Chapter Eighteen
Erasmus awoke and opened his eyes. Everything—his sight, his mind—was hazy, and for a moment, he couldn’t quite remember anything. When he sat up and looked around him, it all flooded back.
The red sky, the smoky flavors in the air, the jagged mountains in the distance. He was in the Netherworld. He had traveled as far as he dared as a demon, past the lava fields and lakes of fire, over the mountain, and down into the desolate valleys, and once he had nearly come to the place where the Powers That Be would usually call him, before they could reach out with their minds and find him, he finally broke the wax seal and muttered the incantation. It had blown him on his arse and knocked him out.
His head hurt. He rubbed at it and then looked down at himself.
Nothing seemed to have changed. His clothes were the same. His hands were the same. But he certainly felt…different. Had it worked? Out of curiosity, he opened his shirt. He swallowed hard; the tattoo that had characterized who he was for all the eons of his life was…gone.
He slowly rose, standing unsteadily. He had encountered no one, which was a blessing. Of course, as a demon, no one would have noticed him. But as a human, his time would be short.
He had tried to get himself as deep into the Netherworld as he could without the Powers That Be interfering, and he seemed to have done it. Now to make it the rest of the way.
He had been in such a hurry to leave Moody Bog before Kylie could discover what he was doing that he had failed to bring a weapon, forgetting he’d need one as a human. Of course, he’d had no idea what being a human would be like.
The Darkest Gateway Page 16
