by Tara Fuller
As if the little bastard wanted to remind me he was still in there, my own heart hammered a little harder just then. She rubbed her chest absently and I fought the urge to do the same. To reach out and feel the rhythm of hers, to see if it matched.
“Does yours feel like this?” she asked, staring at my chest with curiosity and awe.
“I doubt it.” I released her and grabbed the ash-coated black backpack from behind a big rock. I brushed it off and frowned at the blood spatters that stained the sturdy fabric. Damn blooderflies. I unzipped it and found two metal canteens, a spare knife, and a spare pair of clothes. I picked up a deck of playing cards and smirked.
“Sorry, Cyril. No game this trip,” I muttered.
I shook the canteens and found them full. Gwen was watching me, brows pulled together. “What’s that for?”
I darted a glance in her direction and decided it was safer to keep my eyes on the soul I’d carried down here. “Like it or not, we’re flesh and blood down here,” I said, slinging it onto my back and securing it into place. “To get where we need to go, we’re going to need provisions. It’s not much, but it should at least get us there.”
“Will it get us back?” she asked, sounding slightly alarmed.
“I’ll get us back,” I said. “You’re traveling with the best, sweetheart. This is going to be a piece of cake.”
Gwen eyed me skeptically. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re lying?”
I winked. “Because I am.”
In the distance, a horde of shadow demons grew, pulsing and moving like a single entity. As much as I dreaded the idea of Gwen setting foot in Hell, we were both in danger out here exposed like this in the shadow land. This close to Umbria they’d be able to smell the purity on her a mile away. And if that happened, they wouldn’t stop until they had it. I grabbed the soul I’d carried over and motioned to the monstrous mound of rock and ash ahead.
“That’s where we need to be,” I said. “Can you walk on your own?”
“That’s where Tyler is?” Gwen whispered.
“Yes.” I studied the soft quiver of her bottom lip, the fear making her eyes look glassy and faraway. “Still feeling brave?”
She shouldn’t have been. If she weren’t so damn naive she’d be screaming and running in the other direction, begging me to take her back. Instead she foolishly stared ahead as if bracing herself for the worst.
Her new body shuddered, but she nodded. “Yes.”
I walked forward, not allowing myself time to reconsider. If I thought about it too much, I’d just end up dragging her kicking and screaming back to the heavens where she belonged. Gwen kept a steady pace beside me, quickly learning how to navigate her new legs where she wanted them to go. Beside me, the soul in tow groaned and stumbled.
“He’s in pain,” Gwen said. “I could help him.”
“Nothing you could do will help him now.”
He seemed to perk up at the sound of Gwen’s voice, finally coming out of his stupor. “Help…” he croaked. “You said you could help me.”
“It wouldn’t be a big deal,” she said. “I do it every day.”
I looked over my shoulder at Gwen and shook my head. I seriously doubted Daddy Dearest let her anywhere near scumbags like this. No. Gwen’s kind of purity? That was the stuff of dreams, reserved for premature babies and nuns.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said. “You don’t want what’s in him. Trust me on that.”
The fact that she’d gotten a taste of what was in me made me sick. Someone like her should never have to touch my kind of darkness. It could ruin her. It would ruin her. And she was hell-bent on taking it. Determined to fix me. I could still see it in her eyes, feel it in the way she watched me like she was holding back something begging to be set free. She wouldn’t be able to keep it hidden forever. Saving souls was who she was. Telling Gwen not to cure another of his sadness was like telling me to ignore the demanding screams of the dead in my head. All the more reason to get this pointless rescue mission over with. The sooner I could put worlds between us, the better.
She dropped her outstretched hand and followed me up the ash-laden pathway to the smoking mouth of the mountain. Heat curled around us, beckoning, tempting. Sweat rolled down the side of my temple, and I raised my shoulder to wipe it away. I could hear Gwen struggling beside me, her breaths heavy, but I didn’t stop. If she couldn’t handle this, she’d never make it inside.
I ducked my head and shoved the soul into the cave ahead of me. My hand reached out behind me, searching blindly for Gwen. When her smooth fingers slid into mine, I fought the urge to tug away. Touching her like this felt too right…too wrong. I forced myself to squeeze her hand and ignore the strange sensation throbbing in my chest. What I felt didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I didn’t lose her.
At the gates, slimy fingers curled around the bars, and claws scraped the walls inside. No Ava. No Seline. Good. I didn’t think I could handle a twisted family reunion right now. A pair of red eyes peered out from a dark hood and the metal gate creaked as it slid open.
“Drop-off?” a low voice growled from under the hood. The red eyes slid Gwen’s way, their depths sparking with want. Somewhere in the dark, demons cackled and snapped their teeth. I reeled Gwen in to my side and slid my arm around her waist, fingers clamping down on her hip to keep her in place. She may not belong to me, but it needed to look like she did if we had a chance in hell of getting in and out of the underworld in one piece. She jumped at the sudden contact between us, but quickly followed my lead, slipping her fingers into my belt loops and holding on tight.
“Going a little deeper with this one, boys,” I said. “Maybe I’ll have something for you next go-around.”
I moved to slide past them when a clawed hand reached out to stop me.
Damn it…
The sharp point caught in the edge of Gwen’s corset and ripped the fabric an inch, just enough to spy a sliver of otherworldly golden skin underneath. A growl rumbled in my chest, and he pulled his hand away.
“We could take her off your hands,” he hissed. “This skin…it’s too clean. Could use a little damage.”
I could see it then, in the hungry gleam of his eyes. He wasn’t going to let us pass. Not unless I handed Gwen over. She was too pure. Too sweet. Down here, her scent was an unmistakable, irresistible force. Hell was going to rain fire on us, but I didn’t have another choice.
I ripped my scythe from its holster and shoved the hooded demon back against the wall. I slid my blade along his throat, exerting just enough pressure for a thin line of black blood to appear along his scaly red skin.
“You really want to tangle with me today?” I growled. “She’s a new recruit. That means off-limits.”
His mouth spread into a grin, and metal fangs gleamed from the shadow of his face. “You think that means something here? It never stopped us with you, reaper. Looks to me like she needs to be broken in. We had so much fun with you. And look at you now. Big bad reaper…”
Behind me, the demons lurking in the dark went into a frenzy, laughing hysterically. The scrape of claws inched closer. He was right. In the beginning, it hadn’t stopped them from torturing me. At recruitment, I’d been nothing but a helpless, freshly reaped eighteen-year-old kid. A broken soul whose only disappointment had been that an afterlife actually existed. With every soul I delivered, another brand of torture had awaited me. They’d broken me, ripped me limb from limb, violated me in every way, then stitched me back together and returned me to the world for more souls. The thought of them touching Gwen like that turned my vision red. I swallowed the rage burning my throat. I wasn’t a helpless boy anymore. I might still look the same, but I’d had nearly five hundred years to learn how to deal with these assholes.
“You know what…you’re right.” I grinned, drinking in the spark of fear that reflected in his eyes. “Thank you for the reminder. I’ve been meaning to pay you back for the warm introduction.”
I pulled back my elbow and with one quick slice of my blade, his head tumbled to the ground beside me. Gwen’s cry echoed through the corridors, and the demons around us scattered into the shadows. The screams in my head wailed as one of their own bled out at my feet. I looked down at the severed head, the puddle of boiling black blood forming around my boots, and a sick feeling churned in my gut.
“We have to go,” I choked out. “Now.”
I left the soul I’d carried over standing, dazed and slumped against a wall, as I dragged Gwen down a dark corridor, leaving him behind.
“Wait!” she cried. “Your soul…”
“We don’t have time to drag him around with us,” I said, stopping long enough to holster my blade and pull a flaming torch from the wall to light our way. “He was a means to an end, Red.”
“What if he escapes? Won’t you be in trouble with my father?”
A blood-curdling scream echoed from the walls behind us. I looked down to meet her horrified gaze. “No one escapes this place.”
Chapter 10
Easton
The heat was unbearable. The walls stretched, and steam whistled through the cracks in the stone that surrounded us. The howl of the furnace could go off at any time. When it sounded, the air ignited, burning everything in its path to the ground. I had to get us some shelter before that happened. Gwen couldn’t go through that.
I wiped the sweat from my eyes and looked at the angel trailing behind me. Her once-glowing skin looked flushed with the first hint of a burn. Her shoulders sagged under the weight of flesh and bone she wasn’t used to carrying. Her first experience with a real body, and this was what she got. Guilt danced in my chest, mocking me, clogging my throat with unfamiliar emotions. She’d probably dreamed of what it would be like to be alive. All she was going to get here were nightmares.
“You and that special connection of yours getting anything yet?”
She shook her head, her eyes looking glassy and dazed. “No. Not yet.”
“Gwen…we need to find some shelter,” I finally said. “You can’t keep this up.”
“Yes, I can,” she said. “If Tyler can endure whatever it is they’re doing to him right now, then we can handle a little heat.”
“A little heat?” I laughed and raked my fingers through my sweat-soaked hair. “You have no idea…”
I blew out a breath and stopped to case our surroundings. We’d been moving for what seemed like days, but we were still trapped in the nightmare caverns. Pockets of light beckoned within the stone walls, offering the false hope of protection. I’d been in those caves. The only thing that waited there was the madness that eternal terror brought to life.
I’d trapped my own best friend within those walls. Stood outside and listened to his screams and torment for days. It may have been on Balthazar’s orders, but I would never forgive myself for putting Finn through that. Even if he had brought it on himself by getting involved with a useless human. God…what would he say if he saw me now? Bending to the whim of an angel who knew nothing of life or death. Finn always had a way of telling me the truth I didn’t want to hear.
“Can I ask you something?” Gwen spoke up beside me as she touched and tested the walls. Her fingers came back black and she frowned, wiping them on her pants.
“Depends on what you want to ask,” I said.
“How long have you been doing this?” she asked. “You know…coming to Hell.”
“As long as I’ve been dead,” I said, blocking out the memories that came with these types of conversations. “So…four hundred and seventy years, give or take.”
Her eyes grew wide, and I could see the horror there. “My father has been sending you here for nearly five hundred years?”
“Why do you look like that’s a bad thing?” I leaned against a wall, crossing my arms over my chest.
“B-because…it is!” she stammered. “This place is horrible! What could you ever have done to deserve a fate like this?”
Her words hit a nerve, and I clenched my teeth, weighing my response. She was looking at me like I was more than I was. She believed I deserved peace and happiness. She didn’t know me. But I could tell her now and end this ridiculous charade.
“I killed seventeen men,” I said, deadly calm. Cold. “Slit them sternum to chin and left them to rot in the streets. And no, Red…I wasn’t sorry.”
She inhaled a sharp breath and took a small step back, fear crackling across her sky-blue eyes like lightning. Good. She needed to be afraid. She needed to lose this preconceived notion she had about me. I wasn’t someone worth saving.
“What’s wrong?” I smirked. “Things not as crystal clear as you thought they were? Let me help you out. Things never are. Don’t let this place fool you. Everyone down here is right where they are meant to be. Including me. The only one who doesn’t belong here is you.”
“And Tyler,” she said, softly. “Tyler doesn’t belong here.”
I nodded, watching a little of the hope in her eyes fade, hating that I’d been the cause. “You’re right. He doesn’t. That’s the only reason either of us are here right now.”
The way she was looking at me told me it wasn’t the only reason she was here, but I chose to ignore it.
Somewhere in the distance, a low howl began to pour through the corridors. The wail of a siren. The rush of unimaginable heat. The scream of a thousand souls being lit up and melted like candles made of flesh. Panic gripped my heart and I backed into Gwen, nearly knocking her down.
“Easton…” She gripped the back of my duster and steadied me. “What is it?”
“The furnace.”
I’d been caught in the heat of the furnace before. Been melted down to a puddle of skin and bone, only to be reanimated and melted down again. But Gwen… I thought back to the wonder in her eyes, the exhilaration of feeling a heart beat within her chest for the first time. The musical laugh that had spilled past the dam of her lips. No. I couldn’t let her go through that. The walls rattled around us and the harsh glow of a wall of fire lit the end of the tunnel ahead. I searched for anywhere to go…anything to shield us…
“There!” I pushed Gwen towards an opening in the stone wall, knowing what was on the other side and pushing anyway. The comforting blue ripple of light inside enveloped us, cooling my skin, promising a safe haven that didn’t exist. I didn’t care.
Don’t let her burn. Don’t let her burn.
Gwen stumbled inside and I shoved at a boulder, trying to block the entrance.
“Damn it!” I stepped back from the stone that wouldn’t budge and tore my duster off. I spun around and wrapped it around Red, tugging it up over her face. Her beautiful untouched skin. Skin that was about to be ruined by the darkness and heat of this place. I shouldn’t have cared. I didn’t want to care. Why the hell did I bring her down here?
Damn it!
The glowing pool of water lit the walls with an eerie blue light, dragging my attention away from her terrified eyes. No…not the water. The things in the water would be just as bad. Maybe worse.
Don’t let her burn.
“Easton…” Her voice shook and her knuckles went white around the grip she had on the duster. “What’s going to happen?”
I swallowed and turned back to the entrance, to the flames licking through the crack we’d come through. Gwen whimpered behind me as our skin began to smoke and sear.
“Oh God… Easton, tell me!”
Don’t let her burn.
“You’re going to get wet, Red. That’s what’s going to happen.”
I turned around and plowed into Gwen, knocking us both into the rippling pool of light. Cool water rushed over my skin, but Gwen still felt warm in my arms. I opened my eyes and watched flames roll over the surface, keeping my hand over Gwen’s mouth to keep her from flooding her lungs. Her screams vibrated against my palm. Her heart beat a frantic rhythm against my chest. I didn’t think about the nightmares that might be swimming around us, waiting to drag us under. I couldn
’t. Not with the furnace still burning overhead.
When the flames finally died out, I peeled my hand from her mouth and shoved her to the surface. I kicked to follow, but didn’t move. Gwen’s face rippled above me, screaming. Her hand plunged into the water, reaching. I looked down to find the nightmare I’d been running from for over four hundred years. The one that always found me. Fingers clamped around my ankle and black hair tangled around my legs like seaweed.
I grunted and pulled, but the grip held on to my boot. Fingers clawed their way up my legs. A pale face sifted through the mass of floating hair, and cold black eyes peered up at me from the bottom of the pool.
Dietrich.
Chapter 11
Gwen
“Easton!”
My hair, wet and heavy, slapped the water as I dived back into the pool and grasped for any part of Easton I could get my hands on. My body shook so hard it felt as if my bones were rattling under my skin. What had I done? I’d brought him here. Forced him to face this for me. Leaving him wasn’t an option. I grabbed hold of his shirt, fighting the pale, knobby fingers holding him under. Easton’s hand clutched mine and pulled until he was free. He kicked to the surface, gasping for air, choking on water that had turned murky.
I crawled back onto the scorching-hot stone floor, giving him room to escape the water. Water that was all over me, making my clothes stick to my body. My skin prickly and cold. I pressed my palms against my chest, trying to right the uneven pounding there as I watched Easton scramble onto dry ground, sputtering and choking. Bracing his palms on the ground, he sucked in lungful after lungful of hot, rancid air. His wet hair hung just long enough to hide his eyes, but I didn’t have to see them to know what they held. The way his shoulders shook said it all.
“Are you okay?” I crawled closer. His pain was a tangible thing in the air between us. Joy made my fingertips pulse with the need to take it all away. To give him the comfort he deserved. He might see himself as unworthy, but beneath his brutal confession, there was more. If he were that heartless, he wouldn’t be putting himself through such torment to help me. Slowly, I lifted my hand and laid it on his shoulder. The instant I made contact, a consuming darkness bled into my vision. He tensed under my touch.