My eyes darted up to avoid catching a glimpse of all those agonized souls. Thick, filmy smoke hung high in the air, hell’s version of clouds. The firelight danced upon it. Beyond the smoke, all I saw was inky darkness.
While on earth, I’d never actually believed hell was below us. But right now it felt like I stood at the core of the earth, and the only thing that kept this place from being consumed entirely was the devil’s magic.
Despite my best efforts, my eyes moved back to the flames. I caught glimpses of souls here and there, and then the fire would roar up and swallow their image once more. And all those screams, they came together like a symphony, something haunted and hypnotic.
Somewhere out there the devil stood among them, or maybe he’d gone to the land of the living to make deals with the desperate.
Either way, he’d left me here to molder, and I had no doubt it was intentional. After all, I couldn’t spend an eternity cooped up in this building; I was barely managing a single day. Eventually, I’d seek him out.
Another frightening thought had me backing away from the window. I didn’t feel hollow. I didn’t feel like the wickedness of this place was trying to burrow under my skin. I could only guess that it had already claimed me.
My back bumped into the wall. The cold stone vibrated against my skin.
I was so fucked. So, so fucked.
My heart seized, as though it too realized the mess we were now in. I wheezed in a breath.
Not again. I thought I was done dying.
But it wasn’t my body giving out. Power washed over me, and then the cord that connected me to the devil flared to life.
Hello, little bird.
I sagged against the wall. “What are you doing?”
Strengthening our bond.
That was what caused the pain in my heart?
“I thought I was dying.” I rubbed the material covering my chest.
Not until all memory of our existence is wiped from the world and all traces of us have been destroyed will you face annihilation. Only then should you worry.
How reassuring.
“Where are you?” I asked.
Everywhere there is sin. Are you speaking out loud to an empty room?
My cheeks pinkened ever so briefly at the realization that I was, in fact, doing just that. I touched my cheek. I could blush again.
I wish to see this.
In the next instant, the devil stood in front of me.
I startled.
He tilted his head as he studied my face, and I had to look away because he was too much. Even though I’d shed my mortal life—along with the last of my humanity—the perfection of his features still felt almost painful to gaze at.
“I don’t like you inside my head,” I said.
“You also don’t like me inside your heart. Too bad for you, neither is going to change any time soon.”
The connection between us felt like a livewire. I could sense him on the other end, his glee and his anger and, beneath it all, his contentment. I hadn’t expected him to have human emotions, and I definitely hadn’t expected them to be so … normal.
“You make me feel human.” He said this with a frown. Someone didn’t like that fact.
Before I could react, he was gone again.
I breathed in and out through my nose, trying to control the cocktail of emotions welling up in me.
Hot damn, that man was unsettling.
Chapter 2
Gabrielle
I didn’t see the devil again until that evening. By then I’d discovered the castle’s (only?) library—if you could even call it that. A single bookshelf stood amidst the room.
Still, it meant respite from the boredom quickly setting in. The shelf contained a whopping thirty-two books. I knew because I’d counted them all. And now I’d begun the tedious process of flipping through each one.
I heard leather crack as I opened the newest tome. I winced. I wouldn’t think about the creature this leather came from. Nor would I think about the type of ink responsible for the brown pigment of each handwritten word.
I traced my finger over the letters. The language wasn’t English, and I’d never seen this alphabet before.
But I could read it. And when I opened my mouth and spoke the words out loud, I understood what I was saying. This had to be the language of the Underworld, a language I inherited the moment I had been made queen.
I began to read about a demon known as Razael who liked to—surprise, surprise—torture people.
Come to me, consort. Hades’ voice startled me from my reading.
No, I responded after I collected myself.
You used our connection. He smiled in my mind, and oh God, I needed a shower from the inside out.
I could help you with that. We could crack you ribcage open, disembowel you—
Ugh, stop it. That imagery … I shuddered.
Water is a scarce commodity here, he continued, but anything for my queen. I’d rinse you down then oh-so-tenderly put each bone and organ—
Asiri, stop.
—back. Another smile into my mind. You used my name.
I ignored him, flipping to another page of demonic book number twelve.
Come to me.
I focused on the chicken scratch scribbled onto the paper. Seeing him would probably be more entertaining than trying to read these texts, but I also refused to establish a pattern where he called and I came.
Silence on the other end of our bond.
Ignoring him might’ve actually worked. Served him right, trying to bully the queen of hell.
I read Razael’s account of how incubi got human women pregnant. Apparently, that whole myth about incubi fathering children—totally real. Only it was way more disturbing than I was led to believe.
Somewhere off in the castle, doors groaned. My head snapped up and I concentrated on listening to the sounds coming from that location. Throughout the day I hadn’t come across any other beings lurking in the castle, save for a few shades, shadow-like creatures that scurried off as soon as they saw me.
But now I heard the huff of breath and the thump of feet.
I closed the book and cocked my head. The noise was getting louder, and it was heading my way.
I stood and slid the tome back onto the shelf I’d pulled it from. A second later, the doors to the library crashed open and two gray-skinned demons strode in.
They looked like gargoyles with their large jaws and sharp teeth. Their faces were more beast than human, but their bodies looked like those of linebackers. Freakishly large linebackers.
Did I mention they were naked? Painfully naked. At least I knew for sure now that these demons had genders.
Vomit in my mouth.
I backed up as they headed straight for me. So this was the devil’s strategy—order me around, and when that didn’t work, have his goons fetch me.
The demons grabbed my arms, their claws digging into my skin.
“Get your hands off of me!” I struggled against them. The action sliced my skin open where their nails dug in too deeply.
My fangs descended at the smell and the siren rose.
It just keeps going from bad to worse, I thought as I felt her unfurl beneath my skin. The last thing I needed was her to make an appearance.
The demons sniffed my glowing skin.
“Let me go,” I said, the siren riding my voice.
Instead of doing just that, they began to walk, dragging me along with them.
Damn, doesn’t work on Underworld creatures.
We left the library and wound our way down to the first story. Then down some more. Did I really ever think that Peel Academy’s tunnels were creepy? They had nothing on the subterranean floors of the devil’s castle. Here the air felt sick with evil. Fires burned in basins set into alcoves on either side of the hall. Even these gave off less light than the scones on the floors above.
“Please let me go.” The siren still had full control of me, but she wasn’t ma
king much headway with these two.
I was met with silence.
“Do you even talk?”
Nothing.
“I’m just going to throw this out there: you two are no fun.”
My little speech did nothing to loosen these demons up. They carted me down several hallways. My arms started to ache.
The demons finally stopped outside a set of black doors. My captors tilted their heads back and bellowed, raising the hair along my arms.
In response, the doors creaked open. I stared down a long room. I hadn’t seen the throne room before this moment. An entire day wandering this place and I missed this room. Hell, I’d missed this whole floor. Not that I was complaining.
Unlike the rest of the castle, this room was packed with creatures—demons, I corrected myself. Some looked just like my captors. Others were more animal than man. But most looked entirely human.
At the far end, sitting in a large, onyx chair, was the devil. As soon as our eyes met, he smiled. “You will learn to follow my commands.” He lifted a hand and gestured to my guards. “Bring her here.”
My skin, which had been dimming, brightened as I passed the crowd of demons. Incubi watched me as they petted each other, their eyes drifting to my glowing skin. Others, beautiful men and women dressed in suits and gowns, stared at me with narrowed eyes and sinister smiles, their faces calculating.
I read about this particular group of demons earlier. They were part of the upper echelons of demons, the ones that probably started out as angels.
My eyes moved away from them and back to the devil.
My captors stopped at the foot of his throne and released me so suddenly I crumpled to the floor. Behind me, several demons laughed.
“You think that’s funny?” Pluto’s voice boomed.
The laughter cut out.
“You there and you,” Pluto said. I glanced up in time to see him point to two demons in the crowd, “think twice before you laugh at my queen. Belial, take them to the dungeon and slice them open until they no longer have the voice to laugh.”
Oh, crap.
I scrambled up to my feet in time to see Belial, one of the suit-clad men, nod to the devil. The demons slated for punishment began to beg, but Pluto ignored them, instead focusing his attention on me.
I had to force myself not to look away. The intensity of those dark eyes and the pull of our connection made me want to creep closer.
“Little bird, next time—” His voice cut off as he stared at my arms. Then, “Whose blood is on your skin?”
Beneath the fabric of my dress I could see smears of blood where the demons gripped me too tightly.
“It’s mine.”
“Did my guards do this to you?” he asked, his voice hypnotic.
My skin brightened as I realized where this was headed. I pressed my lips together instead of answering.
It didn’t make a difference.
Hades beckoned another demon forward. “Take these guards away and remove appendages until you believe they’ve learned their lesson.”
For a minute, the throne room was in an uproar as the detained demons screeched their outrage and others cheered and heckled.
The devil frowned. “Let it be known that if so much as a hair is out of place on my queen’s head, I will make you wish you were trapped in hellfire.”
A wave of vertigo hit me. This was my life.
“Now,” Hades turned his attention back to me and patted his lap, “come here.”
“I am not a dog,” I said, my voice harmonizing with itself.
He stared me down with those almond eyes of his. The entire hall waited, the tension ratcheting up. Undermining him like this, among all his subjects, probably wasn’t wise.
Just as I began weighing the benefits and drawbacks of defying him, a howling wind tore through the room. It lashed against me, dragging me up the dozen or so steps to the devil’s throne and throwing me against his black leather boots—which smelled disturbingly human—before thrusting me up into his lap.
His arms came around me. I could feel dozens of eyes on us, assessing the situation. “Defying me will get you nowhere.”
This monster had me locked in his embrace. He ran a hand up my still-glowing skin. It was putting off more light than any of the fires in this room. The siren hadn’t resettled inside me, likely because I still felt as though my life was in danger.
“I must admit, you are lovely. You’ve captivated my entire audience.” His eyes flicked to them. “Out.”
He watched me as the demons exited. When the last one left, the doors thundered closed.
His hand continued to stroke the flesh that peeked out between the lace of my dress, up and down, up and down.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t help but lean into his hand. I fixated on his mouth. The siren wanted her pound of flesh, and she wanted it from her mate.
“Troubling, isn’t it?” he said. “Reconciling two warring impulses.”
I nodded, leaning towards his lips. But even as I leaned forward, I fought the siren. With her, a kiss was never just a kiss. She’d want to do more. I ripped my eyes from his mouth and pushed her down, down, down and locked her up. The light from my skin extinguished all at once.
“Shame,” the devil commented, “she seemed to like me well enough.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why did you call me in?”
“Ah, yes, that.”
He released me. When I didn’t do anything immediately, he sighed. “You can get off my lap.”
Wary of him, I did so. Were the last few minutes just some weird mind game? Maybe he really didn’t like me all that much.
One glance at his eyes dispelled that possibility. They roved over me, looking hungry.
And there went that shred of hope.
My insides curdled. What happened a few seconds ago—that near kiss … that wouldn’t be the last of it. Between Pluto’s sinful nature and my siren, they’d make sure of it.
That howling wind swept through the throne room again, tossing my hair about my face. The devil’s, I noticed, barely fluttered.
He leaned his chin on his hand, studying me as the wind began to circle me. “I will miss you.”
“Miss me?” As I spoke, I caught sight of my toes peaking out from under the hem of my dress just as they left the ground.
I balked. “Oh my Go—”
“Don’t you dare utter his name,” Pluto warned.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
Even in your head! the devil hissed.
“My feet aren’t touching the ground!”
“Nor is the rest of you,” he added helpfully.
“Why?”
The howling wind tightened its circuit around me.
“Don’t you remember the myths, little bird? You only live here half the time.”
The wind spun around me, a dark, shadowy cloud made up of thousands of lost souls. They brushed against me, and I could feel their torment.
The bottom of my dress disappeared, swallowed up by the screaming souls.
“Pluto, help me!”
“Help you?” He stood from his throne. “If I could, I would join you.”
Why did I bother?
The tormented souls bushed against my skin, each one searing me until my entire body felt consumed by the same flames that had trapped all of the devil’s other victims. They obscured my vision, until the man himself disappeared from view.
They dragged me up and up—and I wasn’t just levitating.
I was flying.
Ohsweetbabyjesus no, no, no. I might no longer be bound by the laws of physics in this realm, but some things should just not happen, regardless.
Bring me back a souvenir, Pluto whispered in my mind.
“Wait, seriously, what’s happening to me?”
The souls that pressed in on me thickened until I couldn’t see anything beyond them—until I had no choice but to breathe them into my lungs, swallowing their anguish as they sw
allowed me up.
You’re returning to earth, and there, little bird, you will deliver my reckoning.
Chapter 3
Gabrielle
I tasted earth in my mouth, felt it sift through my hair, rake down my face. It pressed against the crown of my head and my body.
Shadows, darkness, and magic. It all coursed through me. The brush of it felt foreign and tainted and powerful. Now I was a part of the darkness, and now the darkness was a part of me.
Faster and faster it rolled over me, pushing, pulling, forcing me up, up, up. I wanted to scream, but too much soil already filled my mouth, and I couldn’t open my eyes.
This is hell. Everything else that came before now must’ve been a dying dream. This horrible sensation would last forever.
I needed to breathe. I wasn’t blacking out from the lack of air, but my lungs were spasming.
Just when I thought it would never end, the earth warmed and the texture changed. Looser soil.
The pressure at the crown of my head lessened. Then—
In one great burst, the earth purged me.
I coughed out the dirt and debris that weaseled their way into every orifice. My entire body hurt; I was just one giant bruise.
Distantly, I heard screams.
I stared down at the dusty soil, my fingers digging into the fine, dry dirt.
Get up, I commanded myself. I pushed to my feet.
The sky above me was dark, the moon hanging low in the sky.
Jeruselum, a voice whispered in my ear.
Holy ground had purged an unholy creature.
I shook off the dirt and brushed it out of my hair and off of the dress I wore. Only then did I realize I had an audience.
I’d gotten so used to the screams of the damned that I hadn’t noticed that I was the cause of these particular ones until now. A crowd had formed around me, and as I met their eyes, they staggered back, watching me warily. A few of them held up smart phones—smart phones. It was that, more than any other detail that hit me square in the chest.
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