Brimstone Nightmares (Queen of the Damned Book 4)

by Kel Carpenter

  “Pussy,” Moira said under her breath, making me choke on a laugh.

  “You guys are ridiculous sometimes,” I said, brushing my hands together to get the clumps of sand off. Bandit threw himself sideways and the ground shook for a second as he started rolling in the sand again, his thirty-foot form steadily shrinking. I shook my head, muttering, “Completely ridiculous.”

  “You would do well to heed the warnings of your mates, child,” another voice carried from behind them. Jax came strolling up to the water’s edge, hands in pockets with a bored expression.

  “Bandit literally just killed the kraken. I think it’s alright to say I’m safe with him,” I replied rather pointedly. Bandit preened under my praise, sitting up nicely as he shrank the rest of the way to his regular size. I smiled and scooped him up in my arms while he chortled happily. “And if for some reason I wasn’t, I can take care of myself. But thanks for the input.”

  “Careful of that pride, Baby Morningstar. The Sins aren’t the biggest fans of that particular vice.” My lips fell open and then my jaw snapped shut.

  “Speaking of the Sins, aren’t you supposed to be taking us to one of them?” Moira asked sharply. He smiled bitterly and motioned to the burning forest.

  “You want to lead the way?” Judging by his expression, he didn’t know Moira was immune to the flames.

  Nevertheless, she said, “I don’t like this guy’s attitude. Can we get rid of him?”

  Jax glanced over his shoulder and let out a raucous laugh.

  “Why are you laughing?” I asked, completely exasperated and we’d only just arrived.

  “You think I wanted to do this? I was sent by one of the Six Sins. It’s not like I get a choice,” Jax said. I looked over at the Horsemen who seemed to be weighing the enigma’s worth.

  “Which Sin sent you?” Allistair asked eventually.

  “Lust.”

  My mother’s sin.

  “Fuck,” Allistair said. Yeah, that about sums it up.

  “You don’t turn down a present from Lust. She’s not one to take kindly to it,” Rysten explained.

  “Of course, not,” Moira grumbled. “Because that‘d be convenient or something.”

  “I owe Lust a debt and this is what she asked from me to pay it. Escorting you to Inferna is about as easy as it will get with her—”

  “Inferna?” Laran asked with a frown.

  “Did I stutter?” the enigma retorted, drawing a laugh from Moira.

  “Lust may have sent you, demon, but you forget who you‘re speaking with,” Laran growled.

  “Inferna wasn’t where we were supposed to start, was it?” I asked, a lead weight settling in my stomach.

  “No,” Julian said, brushing a hand over his jaw. “It wasn’t. Then again, Hell shouldn‘t have started burning either.”

  “Then why did it?” I asked.

  No one seemed to have an answer for that either.

  “Is there a way to test the chaos demon and see if Lust really sent him?” Moira piped up.

  “We could peel his fingernails one at a time—” Laran started, completely serious.

  “Or we could not,” I cut in, because I was clearly the only voice of reason around here.

  Laran shrugged.

  “I can hear you,” Jax called loudly.

  “Good!” Moira shouted back. “Maybe you‘ll be less of a dick since she’s the only thing stopping them from peeling your nails.” She turned away and let out a little huff. “Asshole.” I ignored them entirely.

  “Can we not just pyroport into Inferna and be done?” I asked, looking at Laran.

  “No,” Julian said. He faced the forest looking at something far away that none of us could see. “If Hell is on fire, it means the borders are destabilizing and the landscape itself is moving. From here on out we can’t use teleportation to get around.”

  I wrapped my fingers in a tight fist and pressed my lips against it in frustration, the cold metal of the ring bit into my chin. “I’m assuming the rings also won’t work?” It was a long shot, but one I needed to ask either way.

  Rysten shook his head. “Those can’t take you anywhere they haven‘t physically gone before, and since we had them made on Earth, they can’t go anywhere here yet.”

  “Even if they did, we could be entering any number of places with the current state of things, including the belly of a monster,” Laran answered.

  “This is shit,” Moira declared. She wasn’t wrong. Any form of magical teleportation was off the table, which meant we were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.

  “Sounds like we’re hiking to Inferna, then.” I rolled my shoulders, rocking back on my heels and into the squishy sand. Julian continued to stare off into the distance, but the other three all exchanged various looks of unease. “Unless you guys have a better idea…” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

  “It’s not that,” Allistair sighed. “Ignoring the many things we might come across traveling over land, the only way into Inferna is through the coliseum.”

  “Coliseum?” Moira stepped forward, sounding for too interested by this. Allistair nodded.

  “Hela’s idea of population control,” Rysten said. His fingers curled into air quotes while his cheeks were pulled taut in distaste.

  “Is there another option?” I asked.

  No one spoke. No one wanted to say it, but the truth was—no—there wasn’t. If we couldn’t get there magically, we had to find other means, which meant trekking through the forest.

  “Do you really think I’d be here if there was?” Jax asked us, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Not the point,” I said, focusing on the Horsemen. A warm wind blew down the coast, whipping my hair away from my face. Bandit let out a squeal of delight, his tiny paws scrabbling to grab the strands as they danced in the air.

  “I think…” Rysten started, “that we don’t have another choice. Lust will have already evacuated her province if she sent him to escort you.”

  “I don’t understand that,” Moira said suddenly. “You four are like a bajillion years old. You should know how to get there just as well as this guy.” She waved her hand in Jax’s direction.

  “Not if we’re dead, we can’t,” Laran said quietly. My muscles locked up at the very idea. “Hell is very dangerous, and Lucifer had a great many enemies. The Sins won’t want to take any chances on her making it back, with or without us.” He looked away, and there was something hidden in that gaze of his. A worry he did not want me to see.

  “No one is going to die,” I said sternly. Not that my heart listened to me. My pulse quickened and my palms heated at the very thought of losing any of them…fire arced across the sky and I stilled. “What was that?”

  Jax looked directly upward, narrowing his eyes. “If I had to guess: you.”

  “Me?” I pressed a hand to my chest as Bandit wrapped his tiny arms tightly around me.

  “Likely,” Allistair nodded. “If the fire is eating away at Hell it‘s because the magic that maintained the borders has failed, and it’s the same magic that runs in your veins. I wouldn‘t be surprised if all of this was connected to you.” He swept his arm wide, toward the forest.

  “Do you think I could put the fire out?” I asked.

  “Possibly. Though it would take a great amount of control to put it out and not spread it faster,” he answered. I swallowed hard.

  “If it’s happening because I took too long coming, it‘s really my responsibility to at least try.” Allistair cocked his head.

  “It’s worth an attempt,” Laran said, his axe appearing out of nowhere. He swung it with ease.

  “It’s not like we actually have another choice,” Rysten added. “The forest is burning and we have to go through it to get there.”

  “So, are we agreed? We’re walking to Inferna?” The four of them busted out laughing.

  “Walking?” Julian turned toward me, only a fraction of his expression visible. “You do k
now we are called the Horsemen for a reason, don’t you?”

  “Well, yeah,” I laughed nervously. “I figured it’s because, you know…never mind.”

  I broke off as four massive stallions appeared out of thin air. Moira let out a small shriek that had the forest quivering. “Are those what I think they are?” she asked, out of breath.

  “You see them too?” She nodded. “Thank the devil it’s not just me. The transition was enough crazy for one lifetime, thank you very much.”

  One of the horses, a dark chestnut red color, strutted forward, flicking its tail affectionately. Without waiting for me to put out my hand, it leaned in and bumped me with its nose.

  “Well, hello there,” I murmured, securing Bandit in one hand and patting the horse with my other. I expected my raccoon to lunge and bite, but he was being surprisingly docile for once.

  “Oh, of course, it’s War’s familiar that approaches her and the trash panda without a bloody reservation,” Rysten grumbled.

  “Familiar?” I asked. Rysten nodded and Laran beamed like he was damn proud. “You four have horses for familiars?” I repeated. Allistair shrugged, but it was Julian that caught my eye. His horse was ginormous. The thing had to be standing over eight feet tall. With a dappled grey body and silver mane, it was beautiful. Julian patted its side affectionately, not saying a word while I watched the private exchange between them.

  “Technically, they’re manifested familiars,” Rysten said.

  “Huh?” I asked, swinging my gaze around to him. His was pure white with a mane that practically glowed. “What do you mean manifested familiars?”

  “We were born with them,” Allistair answered, patting his pure black beast. It lifted its head and snorted, proud as the man who’d bonded to it. “They‘re technically a part of us, which is how we can go into our world without them, and when we‘re here we can communicate with them across great distances.”

  “Can they teleport?” I asked, looking down at Bandit. Could he?

  “Aye,” Laran answered, sidling next to the red one still nosing me. “Ours can teleport to us, but yours are a different type of familiar. They won’t be the same.”

  Bummer. That would have been cool if Bandit could have.

  “What’s your horse’s name?” I asked him as it tried to munch on my hair. I jerked back.

  “Epona,” he answered warmly, running the back of his knuckles along her side.

  “It’s a girl?” War had a horse for a familiar and it was a chick? I had a raccoon. Who was I to judge?

  “She is, as is Death’s familiar, Rhiannon.” Hearing her name, the silver mare walked forward and lowered her head. Instead of poking me like Laran’s, she waited for me to pet her. Expectant and intense, just like Julian. I reached out and touched her face.

  “I hate to break up this little reunion,” Jax snapped and didn’t sound like he was all that sad about it, “but we’re wasting daylight if we plan to ride.”

  Laran let out a dark chuckle. “Who said anything about you riding, enigma?”

  Chapter 3

  Turns out, he wasn’t joking. While the Horsemen’s familiars may have liked me and tolerated Moira, it wasn’t happening for the enigma. Jax couldn’t get within five feet of one without it snorting and rearing up to bash his head in.

  “There has to be a way to do this,” I groaned. We didn’t make it all this way to be thwarted by an asshole and some reluctant horses .

  “Anybody have a bottle?” Moira asked.

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “He’s an enigma,” Moira said, like that meant anything.

  “So…” I drawled out, waiting for an explanation. Moira sighed, running her palm over one of her horns. Her flaming wings fluttered almost irritably.

  “They can travel in hollow objects. Which means he can hitch a ride without the horses flipping their shit.” She hiked her thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the large male with amethyst eyes.

  “You can’t be serious,” Jax started.

  “How else are we going to bring you with?” she snapped. Her stomach rumbled even though we’d just had breakfast. A hungry Moira was a dangerous one.

  “No one has a bottle or lamp that I can ‘hitch a ride in,’ so—”

  “Actually,” Allistair paused. He rubbed his hands together, his lips twitching in a sensuous grin. “We have everything we need.” He waved his hand wide again, and this time saddles appeared on the horses, and in Moira’s hand was a small glass vial.

  “You mean you could do that this entire time?” I asked him.

  “When I’m in hell, I can.”

  “But not Earth?” I asked curiously.

  “My magic isn’t as strong on Earth. Here, I can make my glamors real.” He waved a hand to the world around us dispassionately. “Rather convenient, if I do say so myself.” He grinned.

  “Can you change clothes?” I asked. His lips curved up.

  “Yours, I can. What do you want me to take off?” My cheeks flamed under his golden stare.

  “Can we not do this whole foreplay-not foreplay-dirty talk-thing when I can still hear you?” Moira groaned. “Her transition was bad enough and I wasn’t even there.”

  That sobered me up instantly.

  “I’m sorry, Rubes, I just—”

  “No, it’s alright,” I said and waved her off. My slightly hurt feelings weren’t her responsibility, and certainly not over that. I turned my attention to Allistair. The heat in his gaze hadn’t cooled a fraction, though I was downright chilly in my wet clothes and squishy shoes. “Can you dry my clothes and give me better shoes if I’m going to be riding a horse?”

  With a wave of his hand it was done. Not only were my clothes dry, but they smelled clean as well, and the boots fit me perfectly.

  “Alright,” I said, hiking farther up the beach. “We ready to go?” I turned back, putting my hands on my hips. Jax and Moira were staring each other down as she held out the bottle. “You two alright?”

  “No,” Jax answered.

  “Yes,” Moira said at the same time.

  “Okay, then,” I drawled. “The sooner you get in the bottle, the sooner we can be to Inferna and you can be done with us.” That only made him glower more.

  “You have to let me out as soon as we stop,” he told her.

  “Yeah, yeah, I won’t keep you locked in the bottle like a sadistic bitch. I am one—but that’s not my style.” She continued telling him all the things she would do instead, and it really wasn’t helping our case.

  “Moira, just promise to let him out so we can get going. When that’s done, we’re out of here and we can find food.” At that she obliged, and with her genie in a bottle we mounted the deadly steeds and set off for the forest like this was some sort of fairytale and not a fucking nightmare.

  While better and faster than walking, riding on horseback wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be when you’ve never ridden a horse and are suddenly sitting astride a moving creature while attempting to put out the flames of Hell. We started a slow walk to give Moira and I time to adjust on Nessus, Allistair’s familiar. After several hours of gripping Moira’s waist rather awkwardly—thanks to her wings—I was over the novelty of it. She steered us as smoothly as possible, occasionally adjusting her grip at Laran’s quiet instruction. I focused on the forest, and more importantly, the flames.

  While in New Orleans, the beast had taken to teaching me how to finally control the cursed fire that only answered my call. I hadn’t thought this particular gift was a blessing apart from when I was in a stabbing mood. Fire was destruction. Death. The ultimate form of ending and becoming something else entirely.

  But it also gave me the power to stop the destruction.

  Hell was burning, but I could end it.

  I reached for the flames, lifting my hand towards them to act as a guide. Pressing my lips together and closing my eyes, I sent out a lick of magic—simply tasting what power sat in the forest, drifting lazily through the und
ergrowth like a heady fog—and Hell answered.

  My eyes flew open as magic shot from the very ground itself and fire erupted around us. The horses let out a sound of dismay and Nessus reared back. I clamped my thighs tighter to his sides, gripping Moira with all my strength as she held tight to the reins.

  Black flames only glinting with blue towered around us as I looked every which way.

  “Easy!” Allistair’s voice cut across the six-foot gap between his familiar and Laran’s. Nessus stilled under his person’s command, his hooves dropping back to the ground.

  “Uh, Ruby,” Moira called over her shoulder. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you made the fire worse—”

  “I’m well aware, thanks,” I ground out between clenched teeth. On Earth, it had been difficult to control magic because there was none in the atmosphere around me. It taught me to draw it out and use it as an extension of myself, but here...here my power was already everywhere.

  I didn’t need to send even a sliver of myself out to find it.

  “Hurry it up, babe,” Moira breathed. Nessus, while not actively attempting to throw us off after Allistair’s rebuke, wasn’t exactly happy either. His dark head thrashed back and forth, making his body jerk and my concentration slipped.

  “Almost there,” I replied, not wanting to waste more time when the dark tendrils of flame were already nearing Rhiannon’s beautiful hooves just ahead of us.

  Instead of flinging my own power out to search, I pulled it in, and even when every drop of my own magic was locked so tight it was stifling—I continued pulling. My hands clenched as if gripping the slippery whips of flame in my bare fists and I drew them into myself, even when there was nowhere to put it.

  “You good?” Moira asked as the horse lurched forward. His hooves hit the ground with a thud that rattled my bones and threatened to upend me despite the death grip I kept on Moira’s waist.

  “Fine,” I answered, not wanting to say much more when the magic writhed just beneath my skin, still searching for a way out. They’d said I might be able to control it, and they were right, but the power that was now restless within me wasn’t my own. Just familiar, like an imprint of a memory felt long ago.