“Your grief touches me. It gives me hope. It gives you protection. As long as you have this grief, you will remember where you came from and who you are. It will save your life in the end.”
“Another deep one. But about the others…”
“It is not me you need to give your word to. It is the soul of your mother.”
“Ah. Checkmate. Nice setup.”
“As for your friends, I cannot help them. I cannot leave you, even if I wanted to. Lucifer and his watchers would notice my absence immediately, and they would hunt me down and capture me. My magic doesn’t work as well with demons. They are used to the shadows. They would find me.”
“You’re speaking from experience, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why did Penny and them come in here?” I murmured to myself, my mind whirling.
“You know why.”
“Yes, but…” I did, obviously.
“Durant is the most cunning vampire I’ve ever known, aside from Ja. He is highly intelligent. He will know you need to get training. He will know that, inevitably, you will also need to escape.”
“And I doubt he knows what he’s getting himself into.”
“He has asked me many questions about Lucifer. I have told him all I know, which is extensive.”
I pulled away so I could turn and look him in the eye. “He did?”
“Yes. He will not be going into this blindly.”
I resumed sitting straight up, and my heart swelled. Of course he’d found out everything he could from Cahal. He’d probably done a crapload of research, too. Read everything he could get his hands on. He’d kept all of it from me, shouldering the worry by himself. That might have annoyed the old me.
“I miss him.”
“Good. Then you will want to return to him.”
“Bud, look, I’m not that last guy. I will leave this place. I’ll get my training, and then it’s adios. If Lucifer tries to hold me, I’ll leave violently. Otherwise I’ll say goodbye. But I will leave. I bet the other guy never said that.”
“No, he did not. He didn’t want to leave, even when this place was killing him. But it won’t kill you. It’ll call you.”
“Home calls to me too. This place is just a nice vacation.”
“I hope that remains true. For the sake of your future, I sincerely hope that remains true.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you take a course on melodrama? Because you really have a gift for it.”
“Yes.” He was quiet for a moment. And then, in a small voice, he said, “I never got to see the dragons with the last heir. He went off to see them, but we weren’t friendly at that point. I’ve only seen them in the air, or from a distance.”
“Yeah. Dragons.” A surge of excitement cut through my grief. “It’ll make this whole trip worth it, I bet.”
“I hope so. I think we could use a bright spot at the moment.”
I just hoped that bright spot didn’t come with a heavy debt.
Ten
Penny crouched behind some sort of stone that felt like half-baked clay, her clothes grimy, her belly empty, and her energy nearly depleted. They’d been on the run for a week so far. The camp or sect or whatever the goat’s tits it was called they’d first landed in had been filled with bloodthirsty creatures armed with huge teeth, large claws, and an appetite for human flesh. Sneaking around hadn’t worked out so well—they’d only gotten a few hundred yards before a swarm of the creatures came out of nowhere and attacked. The three of them had left a trail of demon blood behind them. A trail that would be super easy to follow.
Darius had decided they couldn’t then go straight to their destination. He was sure they’d be hunted, and he wanted to erase their scent, so to speak. They’d gone a roundabout way through a docile camp that had tents and flowers and a lovely smell to the air. No one had noticed them, too busy painting and making daisy chains and singing. It was not what she’d expected of the Underworld. She would’ve been just fine staying there!
But no, they’d only stopped for a moment in some sort of rest area, where there was apparently some rule barring communication, which worked out well for them. She’d eaten and slept for a while in a fluffy pink bush, too tired to be weirded out by the strange foliage, while Darius stared at the sky. He hadn’t mentioned what he was looking for up there. Penny had been too afraid to ask. Bad news waited around every turn in this place.
Here they were now, though, in a part of the Underworld that was absolutely what she’d expected.
Fire covered the charred ground ahead of them, sweeping across it and curling upward into the sky. Within it, large cracks emitted blue flame, hotter than the garden-variety red and orange that swirled around the rest of the area.
On the other side of this field of awful sat their objective—a stone archway with metal gates. The gates stood open, the surface as blackened as the ground. No light shone from the sky, but it wasn’t night. As they’d gotten closer to this field of despair, deep gray clouds obscured the glowing orb that passed as a sun. Unfortunately, the fire was bright enough for them to see the danger that lay ahead.
“The good news is, the metal on the gate isn’t hot,” Penny said, sandwiched between Emery and Darius. One looked just as haggard and bedraggled as she did. The other was somehow still pristine, in his stupid designer sweater and styled hair. It was like he’d just turned up to take the next shift, rather than being the saving grace that had led the way and kept them alive through some extremely hairy situations. Sure, Penny and Emery had definitely pulled their weight, and Emery’s gift of foresight had saved their butts a few times, but Darius was the mastermind who kept them moving in the right direction, who changed strategies at a moment’s notice to keep them just on the right side of harm’s way.
“How do you know?” Emery asked.
“It’s steel, I think. Or iron. Those metals glow a reddish color when they are very hot. It is not very hot.”
“Exactly,” Darius whispered, his forearms on his knees, his gaze acute as he looked out over the burning fields. He’d reckoned it would take too long for them to go around, upping the odds they’d be discovered, and was hoping there was some way through. The sect they were going to was on the other side of Hell’s Gate. A name she’d made up, which fit a little too well.
“So the flames are not hot,” he continued.
“Well, wait…” Penny held out her hand, her nails chipped with dirt crusted beneath them. She lowered it again. “I didn’t say that. Just that they weren’t making the gate hot. So if we needed to close it…we could.”
“I don’t feel any heat,” Emery said.
Penny’s gaze roamed across Hell’s Field. Blackened rocks in front of them led to the flat ground covered in flame. They were only about ten feet away from the open fire. If it was as hot as normal fire, they really should feel some of it.
“Don’t you say it,” she murmured.
“We can probably walk across,” Emery said anyway.
“I have some ability to withstand the heat of fire because of my bond with Reagan.” Darius adjusted his backpack, obviously getting ready to try what Emery was suggesting.
“I thought your bond was…muffled or broken or something.” Penny licked her lips. She’d done a lot in this past week. A lot of running. A lot of spells. A lot of swearing. She didn’t think she was ready for fire walking. Fighting was one thing, but fire walking? She had to draw the line somewhere.
They all did.
“Hey.” Emery looked at her before slinging his arm around her shoulders. “We’re almost there, okay? We’re going to make it. Somehow, someway, we’re going to make it. And if we get caught, we’ll get to see Reagan rescue us again. Because she will, remember? She’ll risk anything to rescue us.”
A tear slid down Penny’s cheek, and the memory of Reagan’s last stand resurfaced. The feeling of walking away from her.
Penny choked back her fear and the desire to sob, hardening herself yet again.
She fisted her hands and nodded. “Yes. Okay. Dogs dumping, okay. We can do this.”
“Your swearing has certainly gotten much more…colorful after this past week,” Darius said, standing slowly and looking behind them. “It will still annoy Reagan to no end. And no, the bond itself is not…subdued, just our awareness of each other. I retain her gifts, and she retains mine, I am certain of that.”
“We’ve got the concealment spell going strong. No one should be able to see you,” Emery told him.
“I think your spells will need to be tailored to the different demons we face. They aren’t like humans.” Darius checked over his sweater, of all things, like he was going to a meeting. “The suspicion has been growing since we passed through the first sect. I am not certain, of course. That is not my domain. But…think about it.”
He stepped forward as what he’d said pulled at Penny’s mind. Different spells for different demons?
Darius reached the edge of the fire, glancing behind him again. Seeing no one, he stepped out.
“Huh. That makes sense, since they don’t all have the same magic. Some have ice, some have fire.” And Reagan and Lucifer had both. The vampire tensed and lifted his hands away. “That means it hurts.”
Her brain skittered off in another direction. She could make fire, even without Reagan present. She should be able to do the opposite…
She pulled down elements from her magical cloud, always hovering above her head, organized and ready for use. Darius stepped back onto the part of the ground that wasn’t dancing with flames and bent to check his leather-clad legs. Emery saw what she was working on and leaned toward her somewhat, analyzing. In a moment, he jumped in, adding little fixes, plugging little holes. They worked so incredibly well together; it was miraculous. He was miraculous.
“If we get out of here—”
“When…” he interrupted.
“When we get out of here, I’m going to marry you. I don’t care what my mother says.”
“I’d like that.” She heard the love in his voice. The hopefulness.
She wished she had hope. She was operating on determination alone. All of this was too much for her. She’d seen and done plenty since leaving her incredibly sheltered life, but this was beyond anything anyone could imagine. So far beyond that it was traumatizing. Who even had the imagination for all this crazy crap? What sort of twisted individual was behind it?
“I miss Reagan,” Penny said, another tear falling. She infused that emotion into the spell, her spells always stronger because she didn’t just use magic—she poured herself into it. “She would take all of this in stride.”
Darius crouched back down before them. “She didn’t, actually. She thought a lot of it was a mind-fuck.”
“She did?” Penny lifted her eyes to the vampire’s. “Really?”
“Yes. She nearly broke on the boat ride. With the drops from the ceiling. Then we got to a circus sect and she about unraveled. You are showing your true grit, Penny Bristol. You have earned your place in Reagan’s company. We all have.”
Lead lined her stomach and more tears dripped down her cheeks as she continued to work on the spell. Creating something more than just a cooling spell. Creating a barrier of protection that would keep them safe and invisible. Fire and ice. She was using what she knew of Reagan, of her multifaceted magic, and infusing it into the spell.
“Thank you,” she barely got out. “That helps.”
He touched her knee briefly before standing and stepping to the side.
“This will work,” Emery said to Darius, not looking away from the spell. “Penny has it. This will work for what we need, here and beyond.” He chuckled. “You’re a genius, baby.”
“I am barely holding it together, actually.” She tied off her portion of the spell and let Emery add the final touches.
“How hot is it?” Emery stood as the spell fluxed and boiled, condensing into a little ball.
“It is painful for me, but I could make it,” Darius said. “You would…not.”
Emery watched as the spell reduced, smaller and smaller, and then began to shimmer. Blue coated its surface, then white, before it began to balloon in size again, the color losing saturation as it became first cloudy and then wispy. Finally, it drifted to each of them and enshrouded them.
“This should withstand both types of magic, to a degree,” Emery said, putting out his hands and watching the magic coat him. Darius, unable to see magic, just watched them. The spell had no feeling in it. No warmth or coolness. No impact. If Emery hadn’t seemed so confident, she would’ve thought she’d created a dud.
“Let’s go,” Emery said.
She grabbed the back of his shirt and followed him toward the fire. If the ground weren’t so rocky, she would’ve closed her eyes.
“We’re almost there, Turdswallop,” he said softly, stepping into the flame.
“Buttercrack fizzleshits,” she said, following him.
“I’m telling your mother,” he replied, laughing.
“I’m not sure what would be worse, her or this field,” Darius said, stepping in beside Emery.
Taking a deep breath, Penny followed, her foot touching down on the crispy ground. The flame licked her ankle. Heat coated her calf. The bite of pain didn’t chomp down.
“We’re good?” she asked, following with the other foot. “We’re okay?”
“You did it. Let’s go.” Darius was walking quickly before she could properly prepare herself.
“Okay, but…” She jogged to catch up with the other two. “What if it stops working?”
“That is why we are hurrying,” Darius replied, and picked up the pace.
The flame rose as they hastened across the field, reaching past her waist now, up to her stomach. The heat pulsed, thick against her body. They passed through a short wall of blue flame, and pain slashed through her awareness.
“Holy flapjack crusty barnacles!” She hopped and danced, speeding up. “Screw this. Get me outta here!”
She ran past Emery and Darius and jumped over the next wall of blue. Her toes didn’t quite make it over, and searing pain curled through her body. The heat intensified as they neared the gate, but it wasn’t unbearable yet. She could withstand it. She could do this!
A waft of blue reached for her as she passed, like a pair of hands. It clutched her leg, blistering in its intensity. She cried out and wrenched away but refrained from using her godly magic to kill it at the root. She didn’t want their passage through this field known. She didn’t want Darius to force them through another week of torture.
The gate was just up ahead. Crackling orange flame reared up as she got closer, filling the entrance. The black gates still didn’t glow with heat, but it was an illusion, obviously, because it was hot. She could feel its scorching heat, the flames at the onset nothing compared to these. Sweat drenched her brow. If it weren’t for her spell, she’d have been roasted to a crisp. As it was, she bit her lip, pushing through the pain.
Trap. Scorch. Kill.
A trap. This field was set up as a kind of trap. Let creatures who thought they could handle it (like lesser powered demons) wander through, only for the heat to turn up at the end, like a stove dial cranked to high, and burn them alive. She wondered if someone had set it up for them. Or maybe this place was always this terrible—there was no way of knowing.
Regardless, they’d triggered the trap. Now, they had to get through before the heat bled through her magic.
“Hurry,” she grunted out, putting on a burst of speed. “Hurry, Emery!”
Darius was beside her in an instant, looking at her face.
“Yeah, danger. Danger, danger!” she yelled. “Oh sure, now the metal starts glowing!”
The wall of flame waited. If Darius was to be believed, a safe haven waited for them at the other end of that field. She wanted that. Needed it. She could not handle another week of picking through back roads in this hellish landscape.
The fire raged ahead of her, heat
blanketing her body and forcing out all of her air. Pain pounding, aching, throbbing. It overcame her thoughts. Blacked out rationale.
She increased her magic, feeding in a cooling effect. More of it. Trying to make ice and instead conjuring a chilled blast of air. It would have to do.
She flung it at the flame filling the archway right before she jumped through, the others behind her. Her hair crackled and lit on fire, the flame racing toward her head even as heat coated her face. Agony scratched along her skin and dug in, all the way to her bones. She hit the other side and turned, taking the pain, needing to make sure Emery would make it.
She needn’t have bothered. He must’ve seen the elements she’d pulled and formed his own spell, one that worked a little better. The flames reduced within the blast of cold, and then he was by her side, grabbing her arm and ripping her along. Darius zoomed through a moment later, not needing the blast of chill air.
He shoved them from behind to get them moving again, and then they went rolling through the smoky agony.
It took a moment to realize that was a residual affect. The flames were gone. Her scorched cheek lay against green grass…
“Here. Quickly.” A little vial was put to her mouth. Darius leaned over her. “Please, drink. Quickly!”
She opened her mouth and the most divine taste filled her senses, sparkling and fizzy and full of life and light and all things good. Energy filled her limbs. Her magic jumped and surged. The pain eased from her skin.
“Emery, here. Drink,” Darius said, bent over him now, his sweater burned away. He still had his hair, though, the jerk. How’d he manage that?
“I’m naked, aren’t I?” she asked as the invigorating elixir worked through her body, her cheek still pressed against the springy grass. It felt cool to the touch. But anything probably would’ve, given what she’d been through. “And I’m bald. I’m bald, aren’t I? Do I have eyebrows?”
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