Unlike the trees of Earth, the calamuts didn’t shed their leaves in the fall. They lost leaves throughout the year, but never went utterly barren. When a strong gust of wind blew through the forest, the massive leaves created gentle, flowing music as they swayed.
These trees didn’t tolerate any shit from anyone, they protected the nymphs, and they could slaughter us in less than a second. I’d seen the damage they could inflict, and I never wanted that kind of wrath unleashed on me.
“Inside does sound like a good place to be,” Corson said, and the bird earring dangling from his ear flashed when he tipped his head to the side. “I’d like somewhere warm to relax for a while. I’m sick of the cold.”
Wren playfully bumped his hip. “You’ve got to toughen up, demon, if you’re going to survive Earth.”
His orange eyes glittered with amusement when he grinned at her. “I’m tough. I just don’t understand how you humans tolerate the cold.”
Wren laughed. “Because, unlike you demons, we weren’t pampered in the bowels of Hell.”
A smile tugged at my lips, but I turned away from the happy couple when Corson kissed Wren’s forehead. I was extremely happy for my friend; he’d found love and a home on Earth, and if we defeated the horsemen, he would also find peace here.
For centuries, Corson and I fought together by Kobal’s side, and I considered him a good friend. He deserved the happiness he found here. They all did, even Magnus, who still irritated the shit out of me.
“Then let’s go,” Lix said. “I’m ready to have some fun with some tree nymphs.”
There was a renewed spring in Lix’s step as he all but skipped toward the doorway. The leaves of the calamuts rustled again, and though they wouldn’t attack unless they were provoked, I recognize the rustling for what it was… a warning.
If we did anything here, they would destroy us.
But then, that worked the other way too, which was why we traveled deeper into the calamut forest when we discovered it. We couldn’t fight here, but neither could anyone else. If someone tried something here, the calamuts would destroy them.
The safety of the trees was too tempting to resist, but sometimes the most tempting things were the worst.
Chapter Six
Bale
Once inside the building, we discovered the nymphs had turned what Hawk said was a gymnasium into a retreat for humans and demons, consisting of tables, booths, and a bar. Behind the bar were bottles full of liquid. I couldn’t tell the color of that liquid as the bottles were all dark.
The bar was a simple piece of dark wood with stools and chairs set up before it. A male and female nymph fluttered behind, pulling down bottles and removing glasses from under the bar as they poured drinks.
Glowing candles were set out every few feet on top of the bar. From a door to the right of the bar, a nymph emerged with more bottles. Throughout the large room, the rest of the nymphs ran around half-naked and giggling as they fluttered from one lap to another.
Most of the demons inside the cavernous room didn’t fight for either side. Sometimes, I couldn’t decide if they irritated me or if I envied them more.
I couldn’t imagine what it must be like not to have to fight for something. However, I longed to one day possess such knowledge. If the cowards would choose a side, this might all end sooner. And they better choose my side.
The room wasn’t full of neutral demons as a couple of craetons sat at the bar. One of them was a lower-level demon with a pig snout and floppy ears, while the other was an upper-level who stared at us with hostility simmering in his green eyes. His black hair hung around his shoulders and broad, handsome face.
When I spotted that familiar face, my fingers itched for my sword, but I wouldn’t pull it here. My demise would not come from the limbs of a calamut tree.
“Calabar,” Corson muttered when he spotted the upper-level demon at the bar.
“More like asshole,” I said.
Calabar was once on our side, but the coward flipped and joined Lucifer. He’d taken some of our fighters with him, along with the knowledge of our numbers and location. Kobal managed to get us out of the area before Lucifer attacked, but it was a close call.
“We can get him when he leaves the forest,” Magnus said.
“I think we’d have an easier time of getting the calamuts to tap dance,” Corson said.
I had to agree. “He’s too much of a coward to leave now that he’s seen us.”
“We’ll get him eventually, but for now—” Lix clapped his bony hands together as he surveyed the dancing tree nymphs with interest— “we have nymphs to please!”
Before anyone could respond, Lix jumped into the air and clicked his bony feet together. When he hit the ground, he grasped the hand of a passing tree nymph and spun her around. The tiny woman laughed, and her brown hair fanned out around her as she twirled.
“I could use a little tree nymph fun myself,” Caim said as he strolled past me. “We can stay for a few days, right?”
“No,” Corson and I said at the same time.
Caim didn’t acknowledge us as he focused on two tree nymphs who giggled coyly and blushed when he approached them. The nymph’s breasts were exposed, and the sheer material draped around their waists revealed everything beneath. They would have frozen to death if they stayed outside.
Raphael stepped forward to stand beside me. His jaw clenched as he watched his fallen brother settle into a booth with the two nymphs and drape his arms around them.
“It is not right,” Raphael grated through his teeth.
“Who are you to judge what is right or not?” I asked.
His violet eyes flicked to me before he focused on Caim again. “He is an angel.”
“He is a fallen angel, a man, and he’s as imperfect as you or me. Seeking pleasure in the arms of another isn’t wrong.”
Raphael turned away and stalked out of the room.
“I think he should get laid,” Shax said.
It no longer surprised me to hear such a human term as “laid” come out of a demon’s mouth. “Don’t we all?”
Shax’s yellow eyes were bright with amusement when they met mine. “Damn right, we do.”
My gaze returned to where Raphael disappeared. I understood his frustration. I would love to ease my own sexual needs with one or more of the demons in this building, but the idea of being with someone other than Wrath doused my lust.
With a sigh, I made my way over to one of the booths in the building. My boots clicked off the brown floor as I walked. I studied the lines on the floor, but I couldn’t tell what they were as calamut leaves covered most of the ground. The nymphs danced around us while they stripped away what little clothing they wore.
They kissed each other, and occasionally one would straddle the lap of a nearby demon. They would ride them until the demon rose and carried them from the room or laid them down on the table and screwed them.
The male nymphs sometimes broke away to kneel between the legs of a woman or man. Their grunts were the only music the nymphs danced to, and the musky aroma of sex and the sweet scent of the prury fruit filled the air.
The candles on the tables and a small fire burning in one corner were the only sources of illumination in the room that was as warm as a late June day. Behind the fire, an open window set high in the wall let the smoke waft out.
I welcomed the warmth and safety of this place, but I was already impatient to leave. This whole place was a giant reminder of what I couldn’t have. My dreams of Wrath had awakened an insatiable hunger in me that would never be satisfied. That reminder caused my hands to fist. I couldn’t wait to kill Wrath so this could all end.
Focused on the show the nymphs performed, few of the demons acknowledged my passing before I slid into the darkened recesses of one of the booths. I shrugged out of my form-fitting, brown coat with its soft padding and warm hood.
My coat fell onto the seat behind me. We’d cleaned ourselves with snow before coming h
ere, but the lingering spots of blood on my coat shone in the light. There was nothing I could do about those stains though.
I settled into the booth and focused on the glass holder in the center of the table. The dancing flame of the candle within cast shadows across the table, and while I was able to block out the spectacle around me, I wasn’t as successful with the sounds and smells.
Staring at that flame, I became mesmerized by the orange and yellow glow as it jumped and danced and twirled. Fire was a part of me. It lived and breathed inside me. Unlike my father, who could wield it at will, I couldn’t create a flame, but I could withstand it.
My mother, a visionary demon, passed on her ability to see things to me. Like my fire ability, my vision wasn’t as strong as it would have been if both my parents were visionary demons or if both were fire demons.
However, I possessed two gifts when most demons only had one. I’d never been sure if it was better to have two not as strong gifts or only one. Over the centuries, I’d come to realize I would never know the answer.
It had been years since I last received a vision, unless I counted the dreams about the darkness, which I didn’t. That wasn’t so much a vision but a consistent warning. When I received normal premonitions, I was awake, and they were often flashes of what was coming, but they never revealed everything.
When I received a vision about Lucifer having a living progeny, I wasn’t shown what the progeny looked like. But I did know to travel to a specific section of the wall and to look for someone with abilities.
I had no idea what those abilities were until the soldiers brought River to the wall. I didn’t know she was the progeny when she arrived, and I hadn’t expected her to be Kobal’s Chosen, but we found her because of my vision. And it was the last one I had.
Corson, Wren, Shax, Hawk, and Aisling settled into the booth with me. The three remaining humans went to the bar while the rest of the palitons paired off with some tree nymphs. Magnus and Amalia had wandered over to a table near the fire. They were talking to a pair of jinn.
The presence of the jinn caused my skin to prickle, but if they were talking to them, then they were probably fighting on our side now. However, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the idea of relying on a jinni. We’d grown up with the knowledge they were tricksters who were locked behind a seal because they were untrustworthy and caused a lot of chaos in Hell.
The jinn, with their mystical abilities, were something to be wary of whether they were on our side or not. I’d prefer it if they were all dead, except for Amalia, of course. I liked her a lot more than Magnus.
However, there was no denying they were a happy couple as Amalia touched his arm and Magnus looked lovingly down at her. Despite the constant peril of death we faced, all the couples were happy, but then I’d never met a Chosen pair who weren’t happy together.
I’d never given much thought to meeting my Chosen even as my friends were pairing off. If it happened, it happened, and if it didn’t, then I was quite content in my life and with my casual relationships.
Discovering Wrath was my Chosen ruined that, but I wouldn’t let him turn me into something I despised by wallowing in the unfairness of it. I missed the me who existed before the revelation of my Chosen, but I’d lost and missed many things throughout my life.
If the loss of my parents and my little sister hadn’t broken me, the gain of my Chosen definitely wouldn’t.
A stab of sorrow pierced my heart as I recalled the day my parents died. We were fighting one of the many battles we waged against Lucifer without gaining any real ground against him. But then, staying alive and keeping our king safe were victories in themselves.
They killed my mother first. A fallen angel had broken through the ranks and swooped over us; it caught her hair and pulled her off the ground. Even after the many centuries since, I could still clearly recall her startled cry as she twisted in the monster’s grasp.
The angel held her by her hair, a deep shade of black, as he used one of the spikes on his wing to cut off her head. The clashing of swords and shouts of the dying drowned out my anguished cry when her body plummeted to the ground. However, from beside me, I did hear my sister Fiora’s distressed shout.
I didn’t see where my mother’s body landed. Demons scattered to avoid being hit by it as my father’s bellow rebounded off the walls until it resonated endlessly within the cavern. His suffering was so evident in his voice that I still felt it inside me.
Devastated by the loss of his Chosen, my father ran into the craetons blocking our escape from the cavern. I didn’t witness his death, but his sacrifice enabled us to get away. I returned later for his body; Kobal and Corson helped me and Fiora throw him and my mother into the fires of Hell.
If I survived the loss of those two demons who loved me so deeply and who I still loved so much, then I would not allow my fate of having to kill my Chosen beat me down. I’d gotten through the loss of my parents, and later I endured the loss of Fiora, I would get through this too.
Chapter Seven
Bale
“This is an interesting place the nymphs have created,” Shax murmured.
“It’s still strange to see demons in human settings,” Wren said. “Kids used to play basketball in this gym, and now they’re banging on the free-throw line.”
“They used to play with the parachute here,” Aisling said.
“Oh, the parachute.” Hawk smiled as he draped his arm over the back of the booth to rest his hand on Aisling’s shoulder. “I loved the parachute.”
I lifted an eyebrow at his obvious joy over this thing I never heard of before.
“I think we all did,” Wren said.
“What is a parachute?” I inquired.
“It was a big piece of colorful cloth that kids took turns holding onto while others ran under it,” Hawk explained.
“Sounds… fun,” I said, though it sounded bizarre.
The three ex-humans chuckled.
“It really was a blast,” Wren insisted.
I’d been here for almost fifteen years, and I still didn’t understand humans. However, I did like them a lot more now. In the beginning, I found them all to be unappreciative, bumbling assholes who had fucked up the Hell, Earth, Heaven cycle that kept us all alive.
Over the years, I’d started to understand them a little more, but I would never understand what was so fun about running around under a colorful piece of cloth. Judging by the look on Shax and Corson’s faces, they agreed with me.
“I guess you had to be there,” Aisling said.
“We also enjoyed throwing balls at each other and dodging them,” Hawk said. “We called it dodge ball.”
Corson laughed. “How original.”
“Sometimes simple is best,” Wren said with a straight face.
“If you’re ever feeling nostalgic, we could always have Aisling, River, or Kobal throw balls of fire at you, and you can dodge them,” I suggested.
“No thanks,” Hawk said. “Dodgeball is another one of those things where you had to be there.”
“They must have pulled the bleachers out or burned them,” Wren said.
“Bleachers?” Shax asked.
“These things we used to sit on. They would fold up against the wall, but they’re gone, or maybe this school didn’t have them.”
Before anyone could reply, a tree nymph wearing a sheer dress bounced up to the table. “Can I get you all something to drink?” she asked.
“What do you have?” Aisling asked.
I listened to her list of drinks, which included mostly human concoctions, as I watched Calabar at the bar. He’d turned sideways to keep an eye on us, but he couldn’t see Lix, Magnus, or Amalia; the lower-level demon with him was watching them.
Calabar was a coward and a fool, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try something here. Or at least I hoped he wouldn’t. Calamuts didn’t always care about who started the fight; they only cared about ending it.
However, I didn’t
understand how the calamut trees could end a fight in here. There weren’t any inside of the building, although their leaves littered the floor. At first, I assumed they were brought in from outside, but the answer dawned at me as I tipped my head back to take in the ceiling.
The ceiling was high enough that sound should have echoed around the room at least a little, but that didn’t happen here. And that was because the thick branches of the calamut trees were entwined around the beams and hidden in the shadows encompassing the room.
The calamuts wouldn’t break through the ceiling to take out an enemy because they were already inside and plugging the holes they’d created. An uneasy feeling twisted in my stomach when my attention shifted back to Calabar. Did he know the trees were aware of our every move, or was he stupid enough to think he might have a chance to attack us before the calamuts could do anything about it?
When the male nymph behind the bar said something to him, Calabar turned away from us. The nymph nodded and walked away, but Calabar didn’t turn back toward us. From the corner of my eye, I watched him as the others ordered their drinks.
“Would you like anything?” the nymph asked me.
“Mjéod,” I said. Now wasn’t exactly the best time to drink, but it had been months since I tasted the demon brew, and I missed it.
“It’s made form the waters of the Asharún,” the nymph said proudly.
“How is that possible?” Corson asked.
When the gateway closed and Hell collapsed, the Asharún vanished. The nymph gave him a smile that caused Wren’s eyes to narrow as the pretty woman batted her lashes.
“Oh, the river Asharún isn’t far from us,” she replied.
“You’re shitting me,” Corson blurted. “The Asharún is on Earth?”
The nymph smiled. “Yes. It’s right out back. It’s why our mjéod is the best you’ll ever taste.”
I hadn’t seen the river Asharún in a while. I never would have guessed the river or ferrymen had made it to Earth, but the collapse of Hell had created more of an upheaval than I realized if the Asharún rose to Earth.
Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4) Page 4
