“You are so stubborn,” she said, glaring at him.
“And you are so much trouble,” Yuri said, scowling back at her.
The two of them continued to gaze at each other, Yuri with narrowed eyes and Eden with wide ones. She placed the lamp on the table beside Yuri with a thunk, illuminating him so the Raiders couldn’t get close. But without the lamp, Aaron would be in trouble too. Unless…
“Remove your uniform, Aaron,” Eden said, whipping around.
“Excuse me?” Aaron said. “I like you too, Eden, but a public expedition in front of Yuri? Shouldn’t we do this somewhere—?”
“Ugh, no, no,” Eden said. “Where is your mind, Aaron? The Raiders are after guards. It’s all a part of the deal I made. Remove your soldier’s clothes, so they won’t come after you. I will be waiting in the hallway.”
She stepped outside the examination room, shaking her head.
****
A few minutes later, Aaron stepped out of the examination room wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She did a double-take when she saw him. Half of her had expected to see Aaron running around the place in naught but his undergarments, but this was much better. She rather would have faced a Raider than seen that.
“How did you do that?” Eden asked. “Put on new clothes?”
“I didn’t,” Aaron said. “They just, sort of, appeared when I took off the old ones.”
Thank heavens.
“Listen, Eden, about what I said in there,” Aaron said. “I do like you, you know.”
She whipped around, horrified. They were surrounded by Raider mist, and that was what he thought about?
“Aaron, we’ll discuss this later,” Eden said. “Now tell me, is Adanna okay?”
“Adanna is with Sergeant Dale outside of the prisoner,” Aaron said. “He’s guarding her.”
“Okay, then I won’t have to worry about her,” Eden said. “I won’t have to think she’s going to get hurt if the Raiders turn on me. Help me smash some more bottles.”
****
Eden stepped into the hallway again fifteen minutes later; it was so thick with mist she could hardly see a centimeter in front of her face. It’s odd, not being afraid of this. The Raiders have had me twitching whenever I walked out in the dark. Yet she still felt uneasy. As she walked forward, she heard the imp’s words in her head, “Never trust a Satan Spawn. We know no loyalty except to our Dark Lord.”
She had seen that first-hand, hadn’t she? She knew these Satan Spawn did nothing except that which enhanced their own personal gain.
As she walked with Aaron following close behind her, nearly stepping on her sneakers with every step he took, she heard roaring downstairs and smelled fire. She then heard a prisoner’s scream. An imp. I just heard an imp. The other prisoners.
“Hurry,” Eden said, “they’re in trouble.”
Before Aaron could say anything in response, Eden sprinted down the stairs and hurled herself across the threshold. On the next floor down, where she had been kept, she had to leap over one of the Demon soldiers rocking back and forth with black energy. It was Yuri’s right-hand man, Jared. When she went around a corner, she saw the imp terrorizing the prisoners.
The imp was bigger than the one she had released upstairs. The imp had to have been twenty feet tall. The horns on his head were the size of a strong man’s bicep and as sharp as the edge of a kitchen knife. His claws were so big they brushed his own knee, and he snorted and fire poured from his mouth.
In front of the imp, Don guarded five other prisoners who quivered against the wall. None of them had a sword. Eden whirled around and stared at Jared, and she spotted the Demon sword he had in his sheath. She stole it from him just as Aaron came down the stairs muttering underneath his breath. When Aaron saw the imp, he swore.
Eden spun around and looked at the imp. Though she was fearful, she knew she had to get the Satan Spawn away from the prisoners. She may not have released this imp, but it was she who had released this hell upon the prison. It was also she who had attacked the guards and made them have the need to release this monster from his bottle.
“Oy, over here,” Eden said, jaw taunt with fear. The imp ignored her because a bearded prisoner yelped and caught his attention.
The imp charged the group and seized the bearded man by his chest. Eden screamed and ran at the Satan Spawn. She attempted to stab her sword through its thick, leathery skin, but it was like stabbing a rock. Luckily and yet unluckily, the imp dropped the bearded man to the floor, swiveled around, and stared her down. The imp growled.
“Leave them alone,” Eden said. Aaron dropped back farther and groaned loudly.
“You are a puny, puny little soul,” the monster said, his voice deep and demonic. “Your sword can do nothing against me.”
Eden dug around in her pockets and found the vials of holy water. She hurled the vials at the imp and they shattered, causing his skin to catch aflame in dark black smoke. The imp screamed in pain. Eden dug around and shattered more vials around him. His deep voice went from low to high, and then higher and higher still. Finally, a tiny imp lay on his belly on the ground, tail-aloft, and Eden speared him with the tip of her sword. The imp screeched once and then disappeared. Eden looked up at Don, but he scowled at her and did not recognize her.
“Get away from us, Demon,” he said.
“Oh,” Eden said, looking down at her uniform. Her eyes were also concealed because of the brim of her hat. “I’m not a Demon.”
“Yeah, right,” Don said. “Don’t come any closer. We outnumber you.”
I have to get these clothes off, or else… She stole a look at Aaron and prayed she was not about to give an impromptu strip show and yanked off her hat and shirt. When she unbuttoned the buttons, her purple t-shirt appeared. The moment she undid the fly of her pants, jeans shown beneath it. It was like she wore clothes on top of clothes, even though she hadn’t felt that way in the uniform.
When she had the clothes off, she looked at the bearded man again.
“Wait a second. I recognize your clothes and hair. You aren’t a Demon,” Don said. “You’re the girl all of the Demons are after, the one in the cell across from mine.”
Eden stared at him a beat. “And you’re Don, the man who has been helping me, right?”
“I’m Don.” He nodded. “I’ve been trying to get you out for a long time.”
“Why?”
Eden awaited his answer, but down below, she heard the sound of more screaming, a thud, and then panicked footsteps.
“I think we should save introductions for later,” Aaron said. “Eden, if you want to be a hero again and make me have a panic attack, you might want to get to it.”
“This time, you won’t be alone,” Don said, and then he grinned at her.
She had never been more grateful.
Chapter Seven
Eden went down the stairs with Don, Aaron, and the rest of the prisoners behind her. When she reached the bottom floor, she peered ahead and saw what had caused the prisoners to scream. All of the Raiders, in their haste to leave, were in the same area and the floor was covered in thick white mist. The only thing which stopped the Raiders from leaving the prison was the glowing, white light of lanterns that poured in underneath the double-doors.
The prisoners cowered in cells as the white mist licked their legs and hunched. Morsus-infected soldiers lay on the floor moaning. Someone in a cell screamed again, a high-pitched trill, and began to bang their fists on the wall. Eden shuddered.
“Oh, no,” Don groaned. “This is worse than the imp.”
Eden walked into the hallway. The same Raider who had struck a deal with her appeared before her and grew tall at a frightening rate. Her cold white eyes glared at Eden. Eden looked right back at her, feeling chilled. All around her, faces appeared and then all of the rest of the Raiders became tall, cloaked women too. She stood before an army of the most feared Satan Spawn in purgatory. Behind her, she heard Aaron swear and Don groan. A prisone
r screamed again.
“We had a deal,” the Raider said. “Destroy the lamps and open the doors.”
“Let me get the prisoners out of their cells first,” Eden said.
“No,” the Raider said. “We have waited long enough. Open the doors. Remove the lamps and let us free, or you will regret the day you ever made a deal with me.”
Shakily, Eden nodded. She walked by the Raiders. The head Raider stepped to the side and allowed her to pass. Eden expected the Raider to turn around, but she didn’t. None of the Raiders did. Instead, heads twisted on their boneless necks and leered at her backward. They stared at her with empty, broken necks for a moment, and then their lower bodies spun too. Eden shuddered, not liking their eyes on her, and was grateful when she finally reached the door.
Eden pushed the door open and stepped outside. She surveyed her surroundings and saw the terrain was covered in thick white mist, thicker than when she had arrived. The Raiders are excited, she realized. They know they’re about to take over this prison. Fear filled her. Eden grabbed the glowing lamp, which had been stuck to the wall with hardened goo that appeared a bit like cement, and tore it from the wall. Glass shattered. Cool liquid poured down her hands and then disappeared into nothingness, leaving her completely dry.
Eden walked toward the other lantern on the other side of the door and tore it off too, causing it to shatter in her hands. Darkness came over the front of the prison. She shuddered as white mist left the prison’s entrance so quickly it was like a visible strong wind. The main Raider stopped before Eden and turned and looked at her with cold eyes. Eden remembered the imp’s words as the Raider stepped closer. “Never trust a Satan Spawn. We know no loyalty except to our Dark Lord.”
When the Raider drew closer, Eden stepped back farther, until her back was against the wall.
“You do not trust me now I have gotten what I wanted,” the Raider said, drawing herself upward and gaining yet another foot of height. Eden gripped the wall and shuddered.
“N, no, I don’t,” Eden said.
“Then you are wise,” the Raider said, reaching forward and grasping Eden’s head. “Once my touch is removed, you and the rest of your prisoners are—”
The Raider froze and then disintegrated in white mist. Eden gasped, quaking, and looked down at the swiftly retreating white mist as well as the light which seared her vision. She blinked and realized somebody stood before her. Two tall figures. The pair was Adanna and Sergeant Dale, each holding a lantern.. They had come from the side of the prison. Relief filled her heart at the sight of her friend.
“Adanna,” Eden said, “what timing.”
Adanna rushed forward and hugged Eden.
Eden hugged her back as hard as she could. I’m so glad she’s okay. With a sigh of relief, Eden buried her head into Adanna’s shoulder. She had missed her friend so much while she was in here, and now they could go back to Horace to find the remaining two people in order to save Earth and purgatory. She squeezed Adanna even tighter in gratefulness. The two of them released one another.
Sergeant Dale looked over her shoulder at the inside of the prison and his jaw tightened at what he saw.
“A week,” he said, putting up his finger in the one symbol. “One week and you manage to overthrow the worst prison on the whole continent that never even had a breakout before. You… You… I can’t even form words for what you are.”
Shrugging, Eden turned and went back inside. Once there, the prisoners pressed themselves against the bars of their cells and gazed at her with wide, pleading eyes. Just as she opened her mouth to assure them she would get them out of their cells, Don seized her arm with Aaron hovering behind him.
“You are amazing,” Don said. “You came out of that completely unscathed.”
“Thanks to Adanna.”
Adanna and Don gazed at one another. Adanna extended her hand to him and grinned. As Don reached forward to shake her hand, Aaron elbowed his way past them both and looked at Eden.
“What should I do?” Aaron asked.
She thought about the fast approaching mist and it swiftly pushed away any happiness she felt that Adanna was back. I think the Raiders aren’t going to be happy with me now that I thwarted them. If they can feel any emotion at all. Fear caused her to become rooted to the spot, but she thought of her mom and the gates of heaven and realized she had to get out of here. No matter what.
“Are there any more lamps?” Eden asked. “With a group this big, we are going to need a lot of protection.”
“Please don’t tell me we are going to be taking all of these prisoners with us?” Aaron said. “We can’t, Eden. The journey is going to be hard enough with just us.”
“They’re coming with us,” Eden said. “I’m not leaving anybody behind.”
Somebody in the prison cell gave a loud cheer. Aaron wrinkled his nose and nodded. “Fine. I’ll go and get the lanterns.”
“And all the holy water you can carry,” Eden said. “We’re going to cure the soldiers too.”
“Eden, no,” Aaron said.
She turned and looked at a nearby squirming soldier, and the black aura surrounding him, with pity. He, like Aaron or Yuri, probably had a dark past which caused him to be here. He deserved a chance, and she was going to give it to him.
“Please,” Eden said.
“Fine,” Aaron said.
“I’ll help,” Don said. “And Adanna too?”
Adanna nodded eagerly.
“While you guys do that, I’ll unlock all of the cells,” Eden said.
She pulled the key from her pocket and approached the first prison cell. When she unlocked it, the scruffy woman inside raced forward and hugged her.
****
Soldiers lined the floor as Eden poured holy water over them. As she knelt by the dark-haired man she recognized as Jared, one of Yuri’s men, he stared up at her in surprise once the Morsus had cleared from his eyes. He had a big beard, blue eyes, and messy dark brown hair. He was young but not as young as she. She placed his dying age in his late twenties to early thirties.
“Why are you helping us?” Jared asked, staring at her with large eyes.
“Well, this is sort of my fault,” Eden said sheepishly.
“We locked up the Satan Spawn to begin with and tortured prisoners with them,” Jared said. “It was bound to happen to us. No, you’re helping us for a different reason.” Jared’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I don’t understand you.”
What an odd guy. He obviously didn’t trust her, judging by the way he moved away from her. Shrugging, Eden whirled around and headed to pour holy water on the next Morsus-infected soldier, who groaned and squirmed on the ground while screaming the name Rosie over and over again.
Eden bent down by him as thundering footsteps came down the stairs. It was Aaron, who had his arms full of holy water. He kneeled down by Eden and deposited the bottles of holy water at her feet. She grinned at him gratefully.
“Thanks,” Eden said.
“While I was up there, I checked on General Yuri,” Aaron said, laughter in his voice.
“Is he okay?” Eden asked, her head shooting up. Worry coursed through her. “He didn’t do something dangerous in order to get free, did he?”
“Yes and no,” Aaron said. “He was attempting to get through the door with his hands bound and I knocked him over with it. The expression on his face… I can’t get over it.”
Frowning, Eden looked down at her hands. She didn’t think it was amusing at all.
****
The halls were crowded with people, prisoners and Demons alike. There were so many souls Eden had trouble pushing her way through them in order to get to the stairs. I’ve got to get to Yuri. I hope he hasn’t been trying to get through the door again. She frowned and bit her bottom lip, but she continued her path upward, toward the stairs.
Once she had reached the second floor, she heard the sound of movement and looked around. She paused, stepped out into the corridor, and walked f
orward. When she made it several steps, she stopped. That’s odd. I swore I heard something, but what is it?
The corridor appeared to be the same it always was. There were no lanterns so the only light was that which came off of her own soul. As far as she could see, nothing moved. Just as she stepped forward, she heard the sound of loud footsteps thundering down the stairs. She whipped around and saw Adanna, Don, and Sergeant Dale standing at the foot of them, wide-eyed and fearful.
“What’s going on?” Eden asked.
“Yuri’s gone,” Don said, and Adanna nodded her head vigorously. Don reached over and grabbed Eden’s shoulder.
“What?” Eden asked, feeling devastated. Her third soul, gone. “That’s impossible. Just seconds ago Aaron said he saw Yuri and hauled him back to — oh.”
Jared’s face filled her vision, and she sprinted toward the bottom floor again. Once she got there, she raked the crowd and started to shout, “Jared? Is Jared here? Come out.”
There was no response. Eden went rigid and realized the horrifying truth. Jared had listened to every word Aaron had said and had gone upstairs and freed Yuri while nobody was looking. She shook her head, shuddered, and realized why Yuri had been frustrated by Adanna’s disappearance. There was nothing more aggravating than having someone she needed being stolen away from her.
Yuri did not know how important he was. Yuri did not know he was a part of her tasks to get to heaven. Determination filled her, and she balled her fists. I will find him. I don’t care how long it takes me, I will find him. Turning around, Eden moved to sprint back toward the second floor when she nearly ran into Adanna and the others again.
“Eden,” Don said, “why is it so important some Demon got away? So what? Yeah, General Yuri was the most annoying out of the lot of soldiers because he was a lot smarter, but he’s probably running right now, heading for greener pastures.”
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