The Devil Inside (Hell's Gate Book 2)

by Jane Hinchey

  “Lucy?” Levi turned to me, waiting for my answer, most likely expecting a plan of action for dealing with this. For once, I didn’t have one. How were we supposed to put a dragon back to sleep?

  “We’re going to have to go back to Hell,” I said, pacing the kitchen floor, thinking, trying to come up with a plan. I didn’t remember much about the dragons. I’d have to research them.

  “No can do,” Dacian said. “Ashliel warned me that I might not be able to get through due to the static in the dimension the dragons are inciting. She said it will settle when they’re either fully awake or sleeping again, but while they’re in flux, we can’t cross dimensions. Not safely.”

  “Fan-bloody-tastic.” Levi downed his coffee, slamming his cup a little too hard onto the kitchen bench. I opened my mouth, but before I could get a word out, he rounded on me, finger in my face. “Do not say you’re sorry! This isn’t your fault, so stop apologizing for someone else’s wrong-doing!”

  “But if we hadn’t broken the seal…”

  “Whoever trapped your dad set the seal. This plan has been a long time in the making. Eventually someone would have set the wheels in motion, whether you or another person. It doesn’t mean you’re to blame. The fault is with whoever set the seals up in the first place. Don’t accept blame that isn’t due to you.”

  “He has a point,” Dacian agreed. “It can’t be coincidence that you broke a seal with a dragon symbol, and then the dragons started to wake up. We don’t know how to put them back to sleep, or if it’s even possible, so our next best option is to find out who set the trap for your dad and rigged the seal. Did they put the dragons to sleep in the first place? Or did they wait until the dragons slept of their own volition, then lay the trap for your dad?”

  My head was spinning with possibilities, and a spark of anger flared to life. How I missed my quiet days in Hell, where my most pressing problems were sinners who wouldn’t break, or sinners who constantly broke and begged me to ease up on their punishment, with no real remorse in their hearts. It was easy. Simple. But this? The dragons who’d been slumbering beneath the earth for eons were starting to stir. How the fuck was I supposed to deal with that? And now, cut off from Hell, I couldn’t research them, couldn’t find the information I needed to determine my next steps.

  “Don’t lose your shit, Lucy.” Dacian watched me with narrowed eyes, recognizing the signs of my anger. “We’ve got enough going on.”

  “And you.” Dacian rounded on Levi. “Calm down. You getting worked up is only working her up, and when Lucifer gets pissed off, especially in this dimension, fire storms tend to roll across the land.”

  “It might dry up the water?” Levi shrugged, apparently unconcerned.

  “It might. But it would definitely toast the humans, and do you think she’s going to be happy about that once she’s calmed down? Her temper doesn’t come out very often, and for good reason. Let’s not prod the beast, okay?”

  “The beast?” Another rumble of thunder, but this time it wasn’t the storm outside. It was my own.

  “Just a figure of speech,” Dacian assured me. I kept my gaze on him and sucked in a deep breath. He was right. Now was not the time for a tantrum, no matter how much I needed it. I wanted to wail and scream and punch something. Hard.

  “Why not use some of that energy and go searching for the dragon?” Dacian suggested. “Or dragons. Since Shadow Falls is experiencing this weather event, I think it’s safe to assume that more than one dragon is under us.”

  “You could be right. There are caverns and tunnels beneath Shadow Falls, and I wondered why the first time I discovered them.”

  “You think it’s for the dragon?”

  “Dragon worshippers, at the very least. They exist.” The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Shadow Falls was a magnet for the paranormal. The veil here was thin between this dimension and the rest. Why wouldn’t a dragon choose to slumber beneath its surface?

  “I’ll come with you.”

  I shook my head. “No. Levi, you stay here and keep Sophie and Carl safe. Dacian, can you go searching for anyone who’s stuck and needs help? This flood came on so quickly, I bet a lot of people have been caught out. You can get to them. Bring them here if you have to.”

  “Are you sure?” Levi grabbed my wrist and tugged me to him. “I don’t like the idea of you out there alone.”

  “I’m Lucifer, Queen of Hell, remember? My strength has returned and a dragon isn’t going to phase me. As long as I know the people of Shadow Falls are okay, then I can focus on the task on hand.”

  “I’m not happy about you going alone.”

  “You don’t have to be,” I told him, determination in the set of my jaw. I’d been all over the place emotionally since finding my father, but this gave me something concrete to focus on. Another problem that needed solving. As much as I was pissed off about the circumstances, it also had my adrenaline spiking, and I was keen to bust my way through the earth in search of a dragon.

  “Be safe.” Levi relented, pressing a kiss against my mouth. He pulled away before it could deepen into anything further. “I’ll get some food going. Can’t believe the power has held out this long. Might as well make the most of it.”

  “I’ll be back soon,” I promised.

  Leaving his apartment, Dacian behind me, I made my way to the roof, where the wind viciously whipped at us and the rain was blinding. Turning to Dacian, I shouted, “Fly them back here. Don’t worry about them seeing your true form. I’ll wipe their memories later.”

  “Got it. What if there are too many and they don’t fit in the apartment?”

  “Take them somewhere else, to high ground. The highest building in town. I’ll find you.”

  Nodding, he spread his wings and took off into the night. A second later, I followed suit, heading toward the town center, where the yellow police tape still surrounded the crater that led to the caverns below. With a grim smile, I plunged down into the abyss. Time to go dragon hunting.

  17

  I searched the existing tunnels, caverns, and caves and found nothing. But of course, this wasn’t deep enough. A dragon would have been discovered this close to the surface. Blasting through the rock, I kept going down, further and further, until I broke into a cave. Using magic to light my way, I slowly made my way further into the massive cave. If there was a dragon in here, the last thing I wanted to do was startle it.

  The cave broke off into tunnels, not dissimilar to the ones above, and I wondered if they’d been built to mimic these ones. Did the dragon worshippers know about this? Reaching a dead end, I turned on my heel to backtrack when a breeze hit the back of my neck. Spinning back around, I peered at the rock wall before me. And waited. Eventually I found what I was looking for. An opening appeared, and another gust of wind stirred my hair before it closed again.

  “Okay,” I said, “I see you. Very clever, I truly thought you were a rock.”

  An eyelid slowly opened, revealing a golden eyeball. The nostril flared and the mouth opened in a grin. What I’d thought was a rock wall was actually the hide of a dragon, and he’d been playing with me.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, his voice deep and slow.

  “I think I may have awakened you. I came to find out if it truly is time for you to wake, or…?”

  The dragon sighed, and the wet, steamy gust blew my hair blew back from my face. I stepped sideways to avoid his breaths.

  “How would you awaken me?” he asked, turning his massive head toward me.

  I quickly moved further back, toward the main cave. “Shall we talk out here, where it’s not so…cozy?”

  “Are you scared I’ll burn you, human?”

  “Not at all. For one, I’m not human. I’m Lucifer, an Arch Angel. And two, I run Hell. Fire is my game. You can’t burn me.”

  “What is Hell?” he asked, lumbering toward me. He was so big that my head only reached his knee, and I couldn’t help it. I felt just a little intimidated
. A first for me.

  “It’s another dimension. Kind of like Heaven, only it’s for the bad guys. You haven’t heard of it?”

  He shook his head, his tail striking the tunnel wall. Rocks fell. I hurried along the tunnel before he caved it in on us both. When I set foot in the cave, I flew into the middle and waited, watching as the dragon emerged, stretching his wings and neck once he cleared the confines of the tunnel.

  “Why haven’t you heard of Hell?” I asked once he’d reached me. “There were dragons on Earth when man arrived. God made Hell not long after he created man. You should know about it.”

  The dragon dropped his head, his breath blowing out onto the ground and sending up clouds of dust.

  “I’m…lost.” His voice was incredibly sad, as were his beautiful golden eyes. Now that we were out in the cave, I could see his scales were a deep emerald and gold color. He was stunning.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m cut off from my family, from the other dragons. Someone tricked me, placed a spell on me.”

  “Tell me,” I encouraged. This could be it, the link I was looking for.

  “I’d laid my first egg and was guarding it in my nest when she came. She said she needed my help. She told me I didn’t have to do much, and that in return, she would ensure my egg—my baby—would always be watched over, and live a long and healthy life.” I filed away the fact that what I’d thought was a male dragon was actually a female, and made a mental note to not insult her by accidentally referring to her as a male. That wouldn’t go down well at all.

  “What was her name? What did she look like?”

  “She looks a lot like you. Her name is Lilith. And she took my baby.” The last words were said with a roar, and flames flew from the dragon’s mouth.

  “I’m so sorry.” I was doing what Levi hated—apologizing for someone else’s actions—but someone had stolen this dragon’s baby. How could my mother be so cruel?

  “You look like her. You know her.” The dragon rounded on me, fury in her eyes, and I raised my hands, spread my wings, and rose until we were eye level.

  “She’s my mother, and I swear, this is the first I knew of any of this.”

  “Where is my baby? Did it hatch?”

  “I honestly don’t know. You’ve been asleep way too long. You should have had several cycles by now, yet this is your first sleep, yes?”

  “Yes. My baby, my egg, was the first.”

  Holy shit. Mother had stolen the very first dragon egg ever laid. Why? And why this elaborate trap? Why seal Father in a hidden tomb in Hell and create the seal that would awaken the dragon whose egg she’d stolen? None of it made any sense.

  “I know dragons can communicate telepathically. Are any others awake?”

  She blinked slowly, then shook her head. “Enough of this,” she said, swishing her tail in agitation. “I must find my baby.”

  “Wait! Wait!” I cried. “Earth has changed a lot since you were last awake. There are millions more people and not much forest.”

  “So?” A puff of steam rolled over me, heating my skin and leaving it damp and slimy.

  “You’ll not only kill a lot of them when you rise through the earth, but I’m afraid—” I paused, thinking how to word what I needed to say. “—I’m afraid they’ll hurt you, or try to kill you. The humans have come a long way. They have weapons now. Powerful weapons that could hurt you. And dragons haven’t been seen on Earth for over three hundred years.”

  “I’m not afraid of humans.” Another swish of her tail, and another hot breath of steam.

  “You should be. Believe me. Look, your baby isn’t on the surface. I’d know it if we had a dragon roaming around. And neither is Lilith. But I’m going to find her, and I’ll do my best to find your baby, too.” I didn’t want to think that this poor dragon’s baby was dead. That would be too awful to consider, but my mother had stolen the egg for a reason. I had to find out why.

  “How can I trust that you’re not tricking me, like Lilith?”

  “Because I’m not going to put you to sleep. I’m going to ask you to wait here. I’m going to get answers for you, find the truth, and then I’m going to come back. I promise. I’m an Arch Angel and my word is my bond.”

  “Child of God?”

  I nodded. “Child of God.”

  A few seconds passed. I didn’t think she was going to believe me, but finally she sank down onto her haunches, tucked her tail around her body, and lowered her head onto her front paws.

  “Very well. I will wait one day, and then I will search for my baby. And Lilith.”

  “How about two days?” I hedged, trying to buy more time. I didn’t know where Lilith was or how I’d go about finding her. And if I was stuck on Earth, unable to travel between dimensions, I was screwed.

  “One day.” For the briefest of moments, her eyes flashed red, and I knew I’d pushed as far as I could with her. She was a mama dragon who was missing her child. My heart hurt for her, for what my mother had done. How could she?

  “I’ll be back. I promise.”

  She didn’t answer, just closed her eyes and blew out another breath.

  I left, flying back the way I’d come, up through the layers of the earth, until I was back in the town square. It was still dark, but the storm had stopped. There was no wind or rain, and while the ground was saturated and limbs had fallen from trees, it was over.

  “Are the dragons here?” Levi asked as soon as I stepped through the door of his apartment.

  I shook my head. “No. From what I could work out, it’s just one dragon. A dragon that Lilith spelled, and then stole her egg.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know. But the dragon has given me one day to find out before she comes up to look for her baby. And Lilith.”

  “Do you know where her baby is?”

  “I’ve got no clue. I had no idea about any of this. It was put into action eons ago. But it’s all connected, and it all seems to be coming back to my mother. She spelled a dragon and stole its egg—not just any egg, but the first dragon egg ever laid on Earth—then somehow trapped my dad in a hidden tomb in Hell, with a spell that, when broken, would wake the dragon. Why? I have absolutely no idea.”

  Levi pulled me into a tight embrace. “We need to find Lilith.”

  “We do,” I agreed, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his chest. This had turned into such a mess. Instead of getting answers, I was only getting more questions.

  “Where do you think we should start?” he asked.

  “Heaven. Dad said her name and bolted. He knows something about all of this. It had to have been her who trapped him. He might not know where she is, but he knows something, and I’m not leaving without answers.”

  18

  Now that the dragon was awake and the storm was over, we could travel between dimensions again. I’d found Dacian and instructed him to remain on Earth to assist the humans in recovering from the storm damage. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have interfered, but this wasn’t any old storm. Ultimately, this was my mother’s fault, and it wasn’t fair that humans had to suffer because of it.

  Levi had insisted on coming with me. He sensed just how much this latest blow had hurt. My mother, whom I’d always forgiven for abandoning me as a child, had done something worse. Something…evil. That was hard to stomach. In fact, the knot of angst in my belly right now was turning and roiling, and I wanted to vomit. Everything I thought to be true wasn’t. My whole world was changing so fast, and I couldn’t keep up.

  “You okay?” Levi laced his fingers with mine as we landed at the top of the stairway to Heaven and walked through the Pearly Gates. Dacian had been right. Heaven was healed and all was as it should be. The gates were pristine and standing wide open, allowing souls entry. The angel at the gate nodded at us in greeting.

  “I’m—” I didn’t know what to say. I was shell shocked. I couldn’t believe my mother was behind such horrible deeds. Add to that the
recent discovery that my father hadn’t been busy, but trapped in a tomb for thousands of years without my knowledge, and I felt lower than a snake’s belly. What sort of daughter was I?

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so quiet.” Levi nudged me with his shoulder, and I tried to smile, but it faltered and failed. So much was going on in my head that I just couldn’t voice.

  “Thank you for being here with me,” I said instead. His support meant the world. I needed him—his strength, his love. He kept me going when I wanted to curl into a ball and cry. I prided myself on living a life of discipline and order, but I was now in a world of chaos, doubt, and confusion. And I didn’t like it, not one bit.

  A silver hover car glided up and stopped next to us, waiting. Blowing out a breath, I slid into the back seat, Levi right behind me. “Angel Towers,” I instructed the driverless vehicle, then leaned back as we smoothly pulled away, gazing at Heaven’s pristine streets.

  “It looks good here,” Levi said, gazing out the window.

  “Yeah, different from last time, huh? This is Heaven.” The streets were busy again, flowers were blooming, and people were smiling. All was as it should be, yet I still had that heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just couldn’t shake it. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  The closer we got to Angel Towers, the more the pit in my stomach grew, and from it came a tiny spark of anger at both my parents. At my dad, for draining me so badly, and then leaving without an explanation. As for my mom, what she’d been up to was anyone’s guess, but everything came back to the two of them, and my anger about getting dragged into their marital squabble inched up a notch or three.

  “You’re angry.” Levi slid his palm over my knee, squeezing.

  “I’m furious,” I agreed, my calm voice masking my inner turmoil. I’d gone from a weepy emotional mess to an anger-filled angel within seconds, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I questioned my mood swings. But I shrugged it off almost as soon as the thought occurred. Of course I was all over the place. My parents were up to something and dragging everyone else into their stupid games.