“I think you’re lying,” she said sweetly. Something about it made my insides scream. Like this was the kind of Demon who’d trick you into thinking she was really repentant, then stab you in the back.
“I’m not.” I shook my hands, attempting to loosen the bonds, but only really succeeding in making a loud noise. Chains would do that apparently. Go figure. “Why do you want to go back to Heaven anyway?” I asked. Alright, maybe best not to poke a Demon, but she’d made me curious.
“I never meant to leave,” she said a little wistfully. Actually, I think this was the first thing she’d said that actually felt sincere to me.
“They made you?” I felt sorry for her, and given my situation that was pretty impressive.
“No. He did,” she spat the words and if I’d been able to, I’d have taken a few steps back to avoid the venom. Seriously, the woman needed to cool it while other people were so close. Spit was a serious turn off when it sprayed in your face.
“He?” I asked, feigning interest as I worked on one of the cuffs on my wrists. With small wiggles, it seemed to be budging. I re-evaluated slightly. Okay, I wasn’t feigning interest. I genuinely was curious, but I did also want to distract her.
“Ezreal, I followed him when he fell.” She sighed wistfully, and stared off into the distance, as if thinking back on the past. Well, that was weird. And definitely not what I expected when I’d asked. I wiggled my hand a little more, allowing it to finally slip from the shackle. I just about managed to keep my excitement to myself, and caught the shackle before placing it gently on the ground, conscious of not letting it make a sound and give the game away. I’d quite like to escape with my life.
“But he’s not around now?” I prompted in the vain hope that getting her to talk about her lover would distract her long enough for me to get my second wrist free. At least I had a free hand to help now. And that my legs only seemed to be tied together with twine. That’d be easy to undo, but difficult to hide. Oh well, I’d figure that one out shortly.
“No. He crossed me.” Uh oh, that didn’t sound promising. “So, I ripped his heart out and ate it.”
I gulped. Guess things could end very badly for me then.
“Okay, then…”
“So, don’t even try.” She pinned me with a shrewd gaze that completely undid any thoughts I had of innocence. That was something this woman wasn’t. It was almost like her personality switched between the two.
“Wasn’t going to,” I muttered, carefully releasing my second wrist. Good. Free arms were always helpful. Now maybe all I’d need to do was get her to touch me so I could get the option for Heaven and Oblivion again. Could it really be that easy? Damn, I hoped so.
“Of course, you weren’t. Now. Heaven, can you help me get there?”
“Did you try taking the first star to the left and going straight on until morning?” I asked sweetly, thinking of a children’s film I’d seen once. It’d had a little boy dressed in green and able to fly. I’d secretly loved it, but some of the others hadn’t been so sure.
“Don’t toy with me, Anima. Don’t forget I have something you want.” She snarled at me, contorting her face and turning it into something that definitely wasn’t innocent in the slightest. The about turn would be a little disconcerting if I hadn’t already been expecting it. I mean, she was a Fallen. Fallen just didn’t stay good. They didn’t redeem themselves. It didn’t work like that. My mind flitted to Lindsay. There must be a story there, though I had no clue what it was. She didn’t exactly come across as evil, but she must have done something to fall. I’d have to ask her. If I got out of here alive, and if I plucked up the courage to maybe piss off another of the Fallen. Yep, great idea there. Piss off more Demons by prying into their pasts. Somehow, it all clicked into place how I’d become the target in all of this. I just wasn’t very sensible.
“You do?” I asked, trying to feign my own innocence. She meant Than. She had to mean Than, but I wasn’t going to let on that I knew until she gave it away herself.
Chesca raised her hand and clicked her fingers, a small bubble showing itself to her right. It looked like the thought bubbles I’d drawn as a child. Normally next to a stick figure, and normally with some kind of picture of cake in it or something. I wasn’t a very inventive child. Sweets, cake and pretty things, that was all it really took to keep my attention.
The bubble filled with an image, not unlike the one I’d been shown in one of the random rooms. Except this time, it was just Than there. He was one a hospital gurney, unconscious, or at least with his eyes closed. There were small cuts across his chest, though none seemed deep. Or at least none that I could see. White hot rage filled me. It didn’t matter how hurt Than was, he was hurt. And when I found out who was responsible...well, Oblivion might look like a decent option.
“Worried?” She smirked at me and I very nearly lost it. She should just wait until I could touch her. Given the option of Heaven or Oblivion, I knew where I’d be sending her. Then again, maybe I didn’t get a choice between the two. Maybe it was more to do with her own soul and her own decisions. In which case, everything was doodle dandy. It was highly unlikely she’d get back to Heaven with all the kidnapping and shit.
“Why do you want to go back to Heaven so bad?” I asked. Given what I’d seen here, I didn’t think the light and fluffy clouds would really suit her.
“Because I never should have been made to leave.” She was back to being sweet now. Damn, keeping up was enough to make my head spin. She sure was something.
“But if you followed a man down to Hell, surely, they didn’t make you leave, you left of you own accord?” I cocked my head to the side, genuinely curious as to what her logic was. It made no sense to me whatsoever.
Before I could truly appreciate what was happening, Chesca surged forward and wrapped a hand around my neck, squeezing ever so slightly, but not hard enough to actually stop me breathing. That was a stupid mistake on her part. I stopped pretending my hands were still bound and clasped them around her wrists. The pale-yellow tattoos began to swirl and glow softly. Yes. My plan was definitely working then.
I focused as hard as I could, feeling the same paths I had with Camille. Like with her, there were two very clearly defined ones. Still Heaven, and still Oblivion. Now I just needed to work out how to send Chesca down the one I needed to. I mentally tugged at the connection between us, trying to pull her soul into me. After a few moments, and one particularly vicious tug, something slimy began to seep into me. It wasn’t even the same icky as it’d been with Camille. This was enough to make my own soul recoil. I didn’t know all the things that Chesca had done in her life, but this was enough to make me want to stay the fuck away. Shame she had her hand around my throat then.
“What are you doing?” she hissed, squeezing a little tighter, but I could still breathe, so it wasn’t too bad.
“You wanted to go to Heaven, right?” Hmm, maybe she was holding tighter than I thought. My voice had come out a little huskier than I would like.
“This isn’t the way.”
“It’s the only one I know,” I returned. Yep, definitely holding on a little tighter than I’d like. I tugged a little harder at her soul, urging it to come forward and to reach the place where the path to Oblivion started.
Chesca started to squeeze harder, and it was all I could do not to start kicking and trying to fight her off, especially when my breathing became a little more laboured. But I couldn’t do that. I had to keep going. The best way to stop her was to send her down the path she needed to go.
She shrieked. Much like the giant snake did, and I tugged harder, already feeling the sliminess of her soul begin to sink down the path within me. Her grip faltered slightly, and she dug her nails in slightly as I gasped for breath. I was surprised she wasn’t putting up more of a fight. Or at least saying more. Then again, hard to say anything when you were screaming like she was.
Her soul was almost completely within me when it chose its path. Lying to myself was impossi
ble. As was suppressing the little ball of joy welling up inside me. She was heading towards Oblivion. Question was, how much would she fight it?
She began to pull back on her soul, and she did a pretty decent job of it. Or would have, if Oblivion wasn’t so demanding. I’d have to find out more about that when I had the time.
She screamed, and I longed to cover my ears against the sound. But doing so would break the connection and stop what was happening now.
Complete and utter annihilation.
Another scream came.
A surge within me.
And it was done.
I was free.
She couldn’t hurt me anymore.
Nineteen
Holy fuck, what was that?
Alright, yes, I knew what’d happened. It was kind of hard not to considering the whole path-to-Oblivion-thing. But that wasn’t topping the shock that was coursing through my body. Especially when that had happened twice in the past...oh. I had no idea how long I’d been here. Less than a day? That seemed most likely. I didn’t feel tired in the it’s-been-over-twenty-four-hours way, just in the I’ve-been-through-Hell way. Literally in this case.
I snorted. Now there was a thought. Any time I used that phrase in the future, all I’d end up thinking about was my actual trip through Hell. Now wouldn’t that be fun! So long as it all ended well, I guessed it’d be good.
I leaned down to untie my ankles, trying to ignore Chesca. Or what was left of her. Turned out that sending someone into Oblivion left a little bit of a mess behind. Which made me wonder if the damn snake had just been a figment of my imagination, because I didn’t remember this much of a mess. Then again, maybe I’d just been a little more shocked over the fact I’d reaped something. If I was honest to myself, I was still in a little shock that I’d reaped. I’d spent my entire life believing I couldn’t. Except, that wasn’t true. There’d definitely been a part of my life where I’d known I could, otherwise what was the whole memory thing about?
Finally free, I pushed myself up and to my feet, feeling the aches that had accumulated throughout my trials. I snorted again. Well that just made me sound like some kind of mythological hero, facing trials to prove myself. So long as I got my guy in the end, I guessed. Wait. The heroes always got their loves, right? I sure hoped so.
I dusted myself off, already regretting bothering. These clothes would’ve been going straight into a fire even if they hadn’t been covered in whatever it was I was covered in. I didn’t really want to give it too much thought given the circumstances. And given the dead Demon who seemed to scattered around the room.
Which had me thinking, maybe it was best if I didn’t linger here too long.
All it would take was one wrong underling to stumble upon me and decide to exact revenge for its mistress. If that was even how these things worked. Maybe I’d become its mistress. Though somehow, I highly doubted that. Plus, I really didn’t want to become a Demon, and if that’s what becoming their mistress meant, I’d pass.
Now I only really had one problem. Ish. It was actually several big problems, but I was going to lump it all together or I’d definitely be losing just about all chances of getting through the next few hours. All I really needed to do was get out of this room, find Than, save Than, if he needed saving, that was, then find a way out of Hell. The latter one being the main problem. Considering that up until today I’d had no knowledge of how to even get here in the first place, getting out was even more of a mystery.
Even finding Than was a mystery to me. Though I guessed I just needed to leave this room and hope Hell took me where I needed to go. Technically, that worked so far, so there was no reason why it shouldn’t again...right?
However I was going to do it, now wasn’t the time to dither. I needed to get my ass in gear and get on saving my man. Though I somehow doubted that he’d like me thinking that. Men didn’t often seem to like it when the damsel in distress trope was reverted. Something to do with undermining their masculinity. Which was a shame. I’d have loved some good old-fashioned gratitude. He’d likely do whatever I wanted him to in bed.
My cheeks heated. Came to think of it, we didn’t seem to have much of a problem with that anyway. Based on the other night, day, morning, whatever, he’d have no problem doing anything I wanted anyway. Just another reason I should save him really. Plus, he’d probably be able to tell me more about my super weird reaping powers. They weren’t normal, I knew that much, but hopefully they worked in a similar way.
I dreaded to think if they didn’t. Otherwise I’d be going through the rest of my life having powers I didn’t know how to work. Didn’t that sound like fun!
I pushed a hand over my face and into my dark hair, finding it disgustingly matted. That was annoying, but expected at least. New item on the to do list. Save my man, get out of Hell, shower, then work out who’d been stealing my powers for my entire life. Piece of cake.
Surprisingly, the door was easy to find. Maybe defeating a Demon Queen was a way of getting Hell’s respect. Pfft. Like that was likely. I somehow doubted Hell respected anyone or anything. All it wanted was to destroy. Or to torture. If Oblivion destroyed, then Hell wasn’t exactly going to do the same.
As quickly as possible, I made my way to it, walking through it and out into the corridor below. A spider scuttled across the floor next to me, glowing a pale yellow like the tattoo on my arms did. Hmm. Maybe there was something in that? I wasn’t so sure. But my gut instinct was to follow it. That might be a stupid idea, wasn’t there once a character in a book that moaned about following the spiders? Eh, it hardly mattered. I wasn’t scared of an arachnid. For a start, I’d dealt with far worse during my time here anyway, and that was without taking into account that I wasn’t an arachnophobe to begin with.
The spider was joined by a couple of friends, which made me think I was definitely right to follow it. Which might have been a little crazy, but I was past caring.
It made its way through the twisty corridors, and I made sure to stay focused. Than needed me to, or we’d never get out of here. They scuttled through a door way, and I took a deep breath, preparing myself for whatever horror lay beyond. If I was honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would Hell give me more trials? Or would it let me go straight to Than? And what state would he be in when I got there? Maybe the trial would be what they’d done to him.
Rage began to bubble away inside me at the thought. If they’d hurt him...
But no. I had to stop. The person responsible for any injuries Than had was already dead, gone and obliterated, just the way she should be. The world really was a better place without her, especially if she was going to kidnap unsuspecting Reapers just to...wait, had she seriously kidnapped Than just to try and make me send her to Heaven? That was just fucked up. Not that I was really surprised. This whole situation was a little bit fucked up.
Summoning as much courage as I could, I stepped through the doorway and into a dimly lit room. A lump formed in my throat as I took in the sight of Than strapped to the hospital gurney. He’d been that way every time I’d seen an image of him while here, but that didn’t seem to stop it affecting me.
“Oh Than.” The words slipped out along with a sob, and I ran to his side far faster than any self-respecting woman really should. The cuts that had shown in one of the visions were real, and they were oozing with blood. My hands hovered over him, almost too scared to touch. He groaned, his head rolling from side to side, his eyes only half open. Oh fuck. This wasn’t going to be easy. I needed to get him out of here, and needed to get him some medical attention. I’d probably have to reach out to Gabriel though, or even Lindsay. I did not want to have to deal with the reactions of our fellow Reapers. They’d ask so many questions that I just didn’t have the answers for. Most notably; why were you in Hell to begin with.
Somehow, I didn’t think telling people I’d killed a Demon Queen would go down well either. They’d either just not believe me, want to know how, or cower in fear. Maybe the
last one could be fun though. A little payback for ostracising me. Of course, that would also mean having to explain about my tattoos. So yep, more questions. Then, on top of that, there was the man who’d wanted my powers. If he found about the new ones, then I’m sure he’d be after me again. It didn’t make any sense for him not to be. If I was honest, if I heard about a Reaper with my powers, then I think I’d want them too. Even if sending things into Oblivion was a little bit icky. Maybe that was just Demons though. Maybe sending an angel there would be all glowy and happy. I snorted slightly through my tears. Yep, didn’t seem likely at all.
“Than,” I said, shaking his shoulder gently. “Than, please talk to me.” I was close to begging. I really needed him to open my eyes. To see me. To know that I was with him and that he was no longer alone.
Wait...why were we alone? It seemed like an oversight on Chesca’s part to leave him without anyone guarding him. Or was she just that cocky? Maybe she thought she was untouchable on her throne, and no one would dare stand against her. I guessed the joke was on her in the end. That was the problem with believing you were invincible. Someone invariably brought you down. Normally the very person you were trying to destroy yourself. But the other thing was that the person doing the toppling would hate it. Or they would if they felt anything like I did right now. I was relieved she was gone, sure, but I was also more than a little disgusted by the process, and hated that I’d ended a life. Maybe a little bit of an odd statement for a Reaper. It was our jobs to send souls where they needed to go. And technically, I was just the channel she needed to take...
No, Nim. Stop it.
What happened to Chesca wasn’t my fault. She brought it on herself. I shouldn’t feel bad about that. I couldn’t let myself. Damn. What if this was how other Reapers felt every time they took a soul? If so, then maybe I’d gotten off lightly with not being able to. The guilt seemed like a heavy burden to bear.
“Than?” I tried again, shaking him a little firmer. “Please?”
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