What the Hell

by Hunter Blain

  With a smirk that told me just how much fun she was having, she pulled out her wand and pointed it my way.

  Everything went black.

  I was standing in nothingness, shooting my head in all directions looking for something. Anything.

  Something caught my attention and I saw a man standing with his back to me. It was as if he were illuminated by a single spotlight overhead pointing straight down on him and obscuring his features with shadows.

  I walked to the man and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he didn’t turn around, I walked around him, keeping my hand in place. It was Da, and he was staring out into the inky black of nothing.

  “Da?” I asked weakly, wanting to throw my arms around him.

  He pointed a finger directly in front of him while narrowing his eyes as if trying to see something in the dark. I followed his finger and saw an obscure lump on the ground, just on the outskirts of my vision. I couldn’t make it out.

  I turned back to Da, who was moving his mouth.

  “What?” I asked just as a giant armor-clad being held up blinding fire, causing me to drop my hand from Da’s shoulder and shield my eyes while crying out.

  I opened my eyes and saw Warden Broadway over me, spilling a red liquid down her palm and toward my face.

  My tongue tingled and I tried to move my mouth, only to be met with intense pain as nothing worked. It was as if my muscles and skin were petrified wood.

  The more of Hayley’s blood that flowed into my mouth, the clearer I could see. My sense of smell started to come back, as did my hearing. Finally, my taste and ability to move my mouth returned. It felt like my whole body had been dehydrated like a piece of beef jerky. Boy, I was getting sick of that.

  “Wha ’ah ’en?” I asked while trying to keep my mouth open. The blood was important; I just didn’t know why.

  “John. John, can you hear me?” Locke asked. I moved my eyes in their sockets, which felt like they were made of sandpaper all of a sudden, and saw Locke above me. He was cradling my head.

  “What . . .” I started smacking my lips to wet them as Hayley pulled back. “What happened?”

  “Get me a few bags from the fridge there,” Locke instructed Hayley as he looked at her.

  “Shit!” she cried out. “I didn’t need to cut myself and give him my blood?”

  “It’s good you acted so fast,” Locke assured her. “Now grab me two bags, please.”

  “What happened?!” I asked on the verge of raising my voice. I think I would have, had it not felt like razor blades up and down my throat.

  “Hayley evaporated all the moisture on you in an instant. And . . . and in you, too.”

  “Do fucking what?” I asked, trying to push myself up. My muscles creaked and joints popped in refusal of my brain’s commands. “Ow. Ow-ow. Owwwwwwwah,” I protested as I let my head drop back to Locke’s lap.

  “Here,” Hayley said meekly.

  Locke popped a hole in the bag and began pouring it into my open mouth.

  My muscles filled, eyes glided smoothly in their sockets, tongue returned to normal size, and brain began to work all within a few seconds. Lilith, I loved that enchanted blood.

  After the first bag was empty, I pushed myself up to a seated position, pivoted my waist to face sideways to Hayley, and snatched the other bag from her grip. She let me as she lifted her palms up to me in placation and took two steps back, making a face at me that suggested she knew what she had done, but I shouldn’t be that mad at her.

  “What did you do to me?” I asked as I brought the other bag up to my mouth and punctured it with my fangs. It was dramatic, admittedly, but I wanted to get a point across. Ha, get it? Point?

  As my fangs retracted, I all but inhaled the contents of the second bag, feeling the power rushing into me. Odd that she hadn’t touched my well of power, which showed I could probably die even with a full tank. Maybe it wasn’t power I was feeling, but the blood that was mostly made of water.

  “I flash-fried all the moisture around you.”

  “And in me? Is that right? So, like my freaking brain and stuff?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms and grabbing both her elbows. I took it as a sign of embarrassed vulnerability.

  “Hey, listen, if you weren’t such a bitch, this wouldn’t have happened,” she argued.

  I took back my thought on vulnerability.

  I shot to me feet, eyes flashing red, just as Ludvig came into the room, wearing only a pair of black Under Armour compression briefs. He saw my face and instinctively stomped to stand between Hayley and me. That pissed me off.

  I squared off with the man, noticing how thick he was. He had a powerlifter’s gut, but there was still a six-pack etched into it.

  Feeling something was off about how mad I was, I looked inward and saw Baleius with the tip of one finger on the steering wheel.

  Hey! I screamed, making the wheel vanish.

  I was booooored. Besides, I wasn’t going to make you do anything, even if they did almost kill you.

  I glared at Baleius and his childish sense of humor before forcing myself to turn back outside.

  Ludvig was still standing, protecting Hayley with his massive bulk.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” I drawled while throwing a hand up and letting it drop. I made my way to my room.

  I walked right past the Hunter and Warden of the Council, stopping for a half second to narrow my eyes at Hayley. I could tell she was embarrassed under her tough facade.

  Deciding to let it go, I shut the door behind me and then plopped face-first on my bed. I had seen Da again, and it made my heart ache.

  Chapter 20

  After a few minutes of just lying with my face in the comforter, I rose and noticed both my sleeves were crispy.

  “Right,” I said, chastising myself for almost conflagrating my own sexy body. “Heh, flaming,” I chuckled to the empty room as I tore off the black hoodie and tossed it toward the small trash can. It smacked into it, knocking the little plastic can over. I didn’t care.

  “Lilith, I miss my coat!” I cried out, slamming my face back into the comforter. I flipped on my back, looked at my ceiling, and appreciated the recessed lighting for the first time. Locke had done a good job.

  As I stared at the bulb, the still image of Da standing in bleak blackness with a spotlight on him burned into my mind like a magnifying glass engraving a piece of wood with rays from the sun.

  There was a somewhat gentle knock on the door, prompting me to lift my head.

  “Yeah?”

  The door opened, and in walked Hayley, slowly closing it behind her.

  I arched an eyebrow as I continued to stare at her, dumbly.

  She reached a hand over her torso and grabbed one of her elbows while the arm she held dangled at her side.

  “Hey, listen, I honestly didn’t mean to . . . you know.”

  “Well I would certainly hope not,” I responded, pushing myself up to a seated position and resting my elbows on my knees. I was too depressed to sit fully upright, not having the strength for such a simple gesture.

  “Is, ah, everything . . . okay?”

  “Not really. Twice now you have nearly killed me, and twice I have seen . . .” I thought for a moment, questioning why I was sharing such private sentiments with this newcomer.

  “Da?” Hayley asked, catching me by surprise. I sat up straighter, then, and eyed her. “Hey, listen, it’s no secret that Da sacrificed himself to save you and prevent Armageddon. He’s a hero. I hope when the time comes, I can have the courage to do the same thing.”

  She looked at me, reading my reaction to her words. I wasn’t sure what faces I was making, but I was confident I was telegraphing my emotions clearly.

  “Though the particulars aren’t known, what was deduced is that you absorbed him in order to wield his armor and light the angelic gladius. You’ll, heh, you’ll be tickled to know that there is an entire team researching you at this moment, back at the C
ouncil. Part mortal. Part demon. And now, part angel. There has never been anything like you since the dawn of time.”

  I could feel my features relax as I understood Warden Broadway was approaching me with an olive branch.

  “Where are you going with this?” I asked, waving my hand in a small circle in front of me to further illustrate I was ready to be at the tail end of the conversation.

  “The reason you see . . . Da,” she hesitated on saying his name like it might send me into a blood rage to hear it from someone who hadn’t known him, “is because he is a part of you.”

  My eyebrows went up before descending again as I narrowed my eyes. I could feel my mouth was slightly open as I stared.

  “What are you saying?” I asked coldly, warning her to not mess with my emotions.

  “I think you are seeing him . . . because he’s not dead.”

  “That makes no sense,” I countered. “Even Father Thomes theorized that angels fade into oblivion when they are killed.” Something bugged me, and I sifted through my thoughts until I found the cause. “You know what’s weird?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I don’t think Da made me absorb him to be able to handle the armor and gladius. Think about it. King Oberon didn’t have an angel inside him, right? And why would Ulric want my armor that Da gave to me? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Was Oberon able to power the blade?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From what I remember, you were able to summon heavenfire on your gladius,” she paused for a moment as she looked at me, “and even hellfire.”

  “How the hell do you know that?”

  “Look, do you think it outlandish that the Council found out about celestial energy in the Faerie plane? Kinda throws up some big red blips on our magic radar.”

  I thought back to when Oberon had first completed the angelic set, his gladius burning with a combination of hellfire and dark Fae magic.

  “If you know I used angel magic in Faerie, how do you not know if Oberon could or not?”

  “He didn’t pop up on the aforementioned radar.”

  Something nagged me, and I reproduced my thoughts aloud. “He only used hellfire once, and that was when he first activated the armor.”

  “Do you think maybe it had residual magic and somehow he accessed it?” Hayley asked thoughtfully.

  My mind brought up the recent events when I’d put the armor back on and used some of the latent energy that was saved when I inhaled the fission bomb.

  “Actually, that makes perfect sense.”

  “But?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I sensed a but in there.”

  “Well, now that you mention it . . . why was the residual energy from the angelic armor manifested as hellfire?”

  “Perhaps it senses the intentions of the wearer?” Hayley suggested. “You know, Heaven stuff when the person is good and Hell junk when they are bad.”

  The image of white puffs appearing on my leather wings when wearing the armor came to mind. Now that I thought about it, they were small feathers. Next was the memory of using hellfire in Faerie when Baleius was driving.

  “Shit . . .” I drawled in realization. “I think you’re right.”

  “I usually am.”

  “I guess that explains why I had to make Da a part of me: so I could use more than just saved energy.”

  “That makes sense to me. Or maybe he just did it to become a part of you, ya know? So he could keep watch over you.”

  “Maybe,” I admitted, thinking deeply. “That does sound like a Da thing to do. I mean, he helped keep Baleius at bay until I was ready to confront him. And, ah, he has kinda been there for me in flashes that seem to happen right when I need them to.”

  “I don’t know for sure what’s happening or why. I don’t even pretend to have the first idea. But what I do know is that you are seeing someone who is a part of you, for a reason.”

  “It-it just doesn’t make sense. He had a chance to stay with me inside my head, but he said he had to go . . . to die, I guess,” I said to myself as my gaze fell to the ground. Charon’s skeleton face flashed in my mind, and the rough outline of an idea began to coagulate in my brain.

  I squinted at the ground, deep in concentration, as my mind played back the scene of the souls falling into the River Styx.

  “They do not cease to exist,” Charon had told me.

  “Sheol,” I drawled slowly, looking up to where Hayley was patiently waiting for me to speak again. “The place where the dead go when they die. He’s there, with Dawson!” I slammed my hands over my mouth as purple eyes widened in horror at the slip of my tongue.

  Hayley began staring at the wall next to me with a pained expression on her face, trying not to look directly at me but keeping me within her peripheral.

  Whispering, I pleaded, “Please. You can’t tell anyone else about Dawson.”

  Her gaze locked with mine and pain turned to the beginnings of anger as I asked her to share the weight of such a devastating truth.

  I shot to my feet and took the few steps to her, grabbing her by the shoulders. She had let go of her own elbow and had instead crossed her arms over her chest.

  As I tried to make eye contact, she deliberately stared at the wall again.

  “Hayley, I know what I am asking,” I said in a hushed tone, lest sensitive ears pick up what we were saying. “It’s not fair of me to ask it of you. But you have to keep this to yourself. Not even Ludvig can know.”

  “Why,” she said in a statement so I would reinforce the facts, rather than a flat-out question. Her eyes returned to me, ready to dissect my facial expressions as I answered her.

  “You know about what happened the last time Depweg thought he was responsible for his pack dying. Imagine if he knew Dawson was in the Hell of Hells.”

  “He would probably try and get himself killed in a foolhardy attempt to go save him,” she exhaled, shaking her head.

  I was rocked back as her words impacted me. “I hadn’t even considered that. I was worried he’d go feral again. But what you said is much more likely, especially if he thinks he can’t save his soul, anyway.”

  “I think I understand,” she admitted, looking down at the ground between us as I let go of her shoulders.

  “Plus, Joey was just learning to forgive himself and save his own soul. If he knew Dawson was below, he’d intentionally sabotage his own salvation to be with his brother. Whether it would be done on the subconscious level or if he would be aware of it, is up for debate. Either way, I’m confident of the outcome.”

  “Fine. But you owe me. Not for having to keep a secret to protect Depweg and Joey, but because you’re such a fucking retard that you carelessly told me the truth.”

  “It wasn’t careless. It-it was an accident.”

  “I’m actually quite sure you did it on purpose so you had someone else to share the secret with. Whether it was done on the subconscious level or if you were aware of it, is up for debate.”

  I scowled at having my own logic and words thrown back in my face. Then again, I wasn’t entirely sure she was wrong. Warden Broadway was the most alien to the group and would have little compunction about honoring perceived loyalties to the likable weres. I was convinced her only loyalty was to Ludvig, with Locke a distant second.

  “So what now, shithead?” Hayley asked as daggers flew from her eyes. Though she was furious, I could tell there was an aura of understanding dulling the knives as they flew toward me.

  “I’m going back to Hell, Hayley. I’m going to get Dawson out of there . . . and Da.” My heart felt heavy, knowing Da was in the worst place in the universe.

  “I know,” she sighed. “It’s one reason I actually like you.”

  “You like me?”

  “Well, like is such a strong word. How about respect?”

  “I’ll take it, actually. I’m, ah, kinda honored that someone on the Council respects me.”

  “Not to boost your already in
flated ego, but there’s more than a few on the Council who are rooting for ya.”

  I shot out a puff of air that was almost a laugh as I said, “Pfft, I certainly hope so!” I cupped my hands and began shaking them as if getting ready to throw a pair of dice. “Come on, baby, daddy needs the world to not end. Shit! Snake eyes, and I’m not talking about that classic piece of theatrical art starring Nick Cage.”

  “Hey, listen, I get what you are saying, but there are still those that don’t trust you. Can you honestly blame them?”

  “Bah. Bah, I says to you,” I responded, throwing out a hand to shoo away the notion. Everybody liked the John.

  “So, you are really gonna go to Sheol, huh?” Hayley said as she moved to plop on my bed with her hands behind her head in the ultimate expression of comfort.

  “No, please, go right ahead and make yourself at home. You already seem to have an affinity for my chair.”

  “I mean, the way I see it, you won’t be needing any of your stuff soon. ’Cause you gon’ die.”

  “I know you are joking, but you better hope you aren’t right because then there would be nothing of mine left to inherit.”

  Her eyes, which had been lazily gliding across the ceiling, fell back to land on me, her expression going slack.

  “Total buzzkill, man.”

  “Yeah, I get that sometimes. Well, all the time.”

  “Can’t imagine why,” she said, letting her gaze lift back to the ceiling.

  After a few moments of silence, Hayley asked, “Are you scared?”

  I was back in Hell, holding Dawson as his soul lay dying. “I’m scared,” he’d said to me. Then I was reading the pages of the prophecy. Those two words could fuck right off.

  “No,” I said with cold determination. “I can’t afford to be scared. Mistakes are made when you’re not thinking clearly. People are counting on me.” I turned away from Warden Broadway as I wiped at my glistening eyes. “I’m coming, Dawson. I’m coming, Da. Hold on,” I mouthed to myself.

  A question came to me and I turned to ask, “Are you? You know, worried, I mean.”