Hell To Pay (Hellscourge Book 5)

by Diem, J. C.

  “She knew how to do it because the same thing had been done to her,” I replied. “She was a former angel and some of her grace had apparently been passed on to me when I was conceived.” That was the only information I was going to give her about my origins.

  She stared at me in utter disbelief. “You were born with angel grace in your soul?”

  I shrugged one shoulder and sat down. “That’s what Sophia saw in her vision.”

  Shaking her head, she asked the vital question. “Where could your mother have hidden it?”

  It didn’t escape me that she didn’t ask who my mother had been. She just didn’t care enough to question me about her. “I have no idea,” I replied. “It could be anywhere. The only way we’ll be able to find it is if Fate wants us to, I guess.”

  She made a face at that. None of the angels were happy that Fate was guiding my path. They believed they were far more qualified to direct me than she was. Personally, I was pretty sure she was far more powerful than any celestial being. I would put my trust in her and continue to follow my instincts.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Seventeen

  By some miracle, Brie still hadn’t tattled on Nathan and Leo for leaving me alone. They weren’t going to make that mistake again. At least not while Sophia was absent on her failed mission to find my soul.

  I had a personal mission that I needed help with and only one of my friends could assist me with it. It was hard to find a private moment to talk to Sam. The only time I was truly alone was when I was in the bathroom. It was now Friday night and I hadn’t yet had a chance to talk to him about my mad plan.

  Brie had been spending more time with us than usual. She obviously didn’t trust Nathan and Leo to watch me. She and her twin were currently in the middle of an argument with Nathan refereeing, which meant they would be distracted for a while.

  Catching Nathan’s eye, I pointed upwards. “I’m going to take a shower. Do you think you can keep the kids from killing each other while I’m gone?”

  “I will do my best.” A small smile tugged at his lips and I had to clamp down on the urge to crawl over the table and kiss him. His eyes darkened and tension built as our gazes held.

  Brie broke off her argument and turned to glare at me. “Go and have your shower before we have to throw a bucket of cold water over you both.”

  Leo sniggered and I shot him a nasty look. They resumed arguing even before I left the room. Leo was trying to pry Hagith and Orifiel’s plan out of her and she wasn’t cooperating with him.

  Taking the stairs to the second floor, I entered my bedroom to gather a change of clothes. Sam was sitting on the couch in the living room across the hall. I waved to get his attention then pointed to the bathroom that was at the far end of the hallway. Before his feet could thump to the ground, I put a finger on my lips, cautioning him to be quiet. Intrigued, he stood and followed me to the bathroom.

  Hanging my clothes over a towel rail near the shower, I turned on the water. Sam closed the door and we huddled together. “I need you to sneak me out tomorrow night,” I whispered as quietly as I could. His hearing was excellent, so I didn’t have to worry that he wouldn’t hear me.

  “Why?”

  “Zach will be going to a dance at his school.”

  He looked at me blankly. “This is important how?”

  “Because Candy is his date.”

  “Ah.” Understanding dawned on him and he smirked. “You want to exact your revenge on her for getting you arrested.” Clearly, he knew me well.

  “That’s the plan,” I said with a grim smile. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but I’ll come up with something.”

  “What time does the dance begin?”

  “At eight.” I’d looked it up on Sophia’s computer and had found the address of Zach’s school as well.

  “What time does it end?”

  “Midnight.”

  He turned thoughtful. “We will have to be very cautious, but I am certain that we can sneak out without being caught. What time do you want to leave?”

  “Around nine. That will give us plenty of time to get there and the dance should be in full swing by the time we arrive.”

  “This will be fun,” he said and rubbed his bony hands together.

  I gave him a light shove towards the door and he left me to take my shower. A small voice at the back of my head told me this was a bad idea, but I stubbornly ignored it. Candice Weller hadn’t just stolen my boyfriend, she’d also had me thrown in jail. She had no idea that Bob had almost raped me, but I was still going to make her pay all the same. I just didn’t know how I was going to accomplish that yet.

  Too excited to fall asleep straight away when I went to bed, I lay awake staring at the ceiling. Sophia was on her way back from Denver and would arrive home early on Sunday morning. I was disappointed, yet unsurprised that she hadn’t found my soul. I’d vowed to discover where her essence had been taken and find a way to restore it to her. Now I’d have to do the same thing for myself. Maybe getting my soul back really was the only way to cure my illness.

  When I finally drifted off to sleep, I was sucked into a nightmare.

  Standing in the middle of Times Square, I was surrounded by people, but they were frozen in place. Everything was eerily still and silent. I couldn’t hear any sounds of traffic on the nearby streets. I turned in a circle and nothing stirred. Even the electronic billboards were unmoving. A stray piece of newspaper was caught in mid-air, immobilized in the act of being swept off the ground by a breeze.

  A sense that something was about to happen began to swell inside me. Then a gigantic metal clanking sound echoed all over the city. I knew with utter certainty that every gate that led to hell had just been thrown open.

  Movement started up again and I was buffeted by people who couldn’t even see me. I was just a spectator to the apocalypse that was about to unfold. Screams sounded from streets away as the first demons escaped from their confinement.

  Expecting to see black souls boiling through the city, I stared in disturbed amazement when a Demon Lord appeared. She was in the flesh and wore her full leather armor, wielding a huge crimson sword. She wasn’t in her spirit form, but had somehow come through the gate as a solid being. As far as I knew, that shouldn’t have been possible.

  Horns blared and cars screeched to a halt as captains herded their soldiers through the streets. Black skinned, scarlet eyed and hideous, the hell spawn swarmed through the city. Overcome with joy at being freed from their prison, they were indiscriminately slaughtering humans with their weapons.

  My eyes were drawn to a pack of six robed figures. I knew they were hellscribes even before they raised shields made of petrified black wood. Runes had been drawn on the shields in their blood and they sliced their hands open and placed them on the symbols. Scarlet light flared as their spells were activated. I’d already seen what would happen to Manhattan if I failed my duty and was unsurprised when various forms of fire were expelled. Some expelled fireballs, others sprouted never ending flames like a military grade flamethrower.

  All throughout the city, people were dying and buildings were catching on fire. The last time I’d witnessed this spectacle, it had been from the top of the Empire State Building. It had been distant and almost impersonal in the vision Hagith and Orifiel had shown me. This time, I was seeing the devastation up close and in excruciating detail.

  A little girl about three years old had become separated from her family. She stood on the sidewalk clutching a doll to her chest. Tears rolled down her face and she was screaming in terror.

  The female Demon Lord who had been the first to enter the city stalked towards her with her crimson sword dripping with blood. From the corner of my eye, I saw something huge skulking in the shadows. Great red eyes watched me as the hell spawn drew her weapon back. Frozen in horror, I couldn’t turn my head to see who it was, but I knew it was the Hellmaster overseeing the devastation. I sensed his evil glee at my distress. Th
en the blade was rushing towards the little girl and I screamed in anguish.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Eighteen

  I started awake before I could see the blade skewer the girl’s tiny body. Bolting down the hall to the bathroom, I thudded to the floor in front of the toilet and dry heaved a few times. I’d already digested my dinner from last night and I didn’t have anything to bring up.

  Sensing a presence behind me, I knew it was Nathan even before he crouched down. “Are you alright?” he asked me softly.

  Shuddering in reaction, I shook my head. “I just had a dream about the end of the world.”

  He helped me to my feet and over to the basin. I rinsed my mouth out then washed my face. He waited patiently until I was finished and handed me a towel. “What did you see?” he asked when I’d dried my face and hands.

  “It was horrible,” I said and fought the urge to cry. “The hellgates all broke open at the same time and demons came flooding into the city. They weren’t insubstantial souls, but were in their solid forms.”

  He went still in shock. “They appeared in the flesh?”

  I nodded and moved to hang the towel back in place. Being in such close proximity to him was easing my fright. As if sensing that I needed it, he drew me in and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around him, uncaring that my hair was a mess and that I was wearing my pajamas. “They were cutting everyone down and hellscribes were setting everything on fire,” I told him.

  “Was that all you saw?”

  I shook my head and hugged him harder. “The Hellmaster was there, watching me from the shadows. He knew I’d failed and that there was nothing I could do to stop the slaughter.”

  Putting a finger beneath my chin, he tilted my head back until I met his eyes. “You will not fail,” he said firmly. “I know that you will prevail.”

  “Why do you have so much faith in me?”

  “Because I know you. I have watched you grow from a stubborn child into a willful teenager. Now you have become a determined woman.”

  I was only seventeen and a half, but he was right. I’d left my childhood behind and I was an adult now. “I wish I could be as sure of myself as you seem to be.”

  He smiled and my heart melted. “It is not in your nature to give up. You will find a way to save humanity.” The shadow in his eyes told me more than he wanted to. He was certain that I would save the world, but he wasn’t so sure that I’d be able to save myself from dying.

  Sam and Leo gave me concerned looks when I drummed up the energy to change and head downstairs. Overcooked toast waited for me in my spot at the table. “I made you breakfast,” Sam said. “I am sorry that I burnt it.”

  “That’s okay,” I replied, touched that he’d made the effort. “I don’t mind.” Frankly, everything was beginning to taste bland to me now. I managed to eat it, but I had to wash it down with tea.

  It wasn’t hard to pretend to be feeling under the weather. The nightmare had left me feeling dispirited and quieter than usual. Even Brie left me alone when she arrived a couple of hours later and saw my face. She focused on making snide remarks when Leo and Sam had a training session.

  I didn’t have the energy to be spiteful towards her, but Nathan finally grew tired of her constant harping. “If you have nothing better to do than to ridicule Samuel, then perhaps you should leave,” he snapped.

  Sam sent him a grateful look. Her constant commentary about his lack of fighting skills had distracted him to the point where he could barely defend himself at all.

  “Fine,” she said snarkily. “I will check in with Hagith and Orifiel.”

  “You do that,” he retorted and she disappeared.

  “Peace at last,” Leo sighed. “She is really starting to get on my nerves.”

  “Join the club,” I said. “Her voice gets so shrill when she’s annoyed that I’m worried the windows are going to shatter.” His smile was weak, but at least he made the effort.

  I felt better after resting for a few days, but the others didn’t know that. Only Sam was aware that I had plans for tonight and I didn’t want Nathan or Leo to know about it. I spent most of the day watching TV upstairs with Sam. We couldn’t whisper about our late night excursion without them becoming suspicious.

  After dinner, I sat at the table and tried to read. Tension was beginning to build the closer it got to nine.

  “Violet?” Leo said and waved his hand in front of my face.

  He’d apparently been trying to get my attention. I blinked and looked at him. “What?”

  “I know it is only eight o’clock, but maybe you should think about going to bed early. Nathan said you did not sleep well last night and you look exhausted.”

  He’d just given me the perfect excuse to leave the room and I wasn’t about to squander it. “I am feeling tired,” I said and covered a very real yawn with my hand.

  “I will stay with her until she falls asleep,” Sam said from the doorway. He’d come downstairs when he’d heard Leo talking.

  I felt guilty when Nathan nodded at Sam gratefully. If he found out what I was planning to do, he’d be furious with us both for deceiving him.

  Heading upstairs, I followed my usual routine of going to the bathroom before entering my bedroom. Instead of dressing in pajamas, I changed into a black t-shirt, jeans and hoodie. I zipped up my favorite black jacket over the hoodie. I usually only wore it when I went to hell these days, but this was a clandestine mission and it seemed to be appropriate.

  Sam helped me to rearrange the pillow and blankets. At a casual glance, it looked like I was still in bed and was lying on my side. With luck, we’d be able to sneak out and return with no one being the wiser.

  Again, the voice at the back of my head warned me this was a terrible idea and I throttled it to silence. Checking my watch, I saw it was nearly nine and turned to Sam. He took my hand and we crept out into the hall. We’d had a lot of practice at being invisible. It helped that we could hear Nathan and Leo talking in the front room as we cautiously made our way downstairs. To make it even easier for us, they’d closed the door that led to the kitchen.

  We crossed the floor to the exit that led to a back alley. Sam carefully unlocked the door and pulled it open just wide enough for us to slip outside. He left it unlocked so we would be able to sneak back inside later.

  Sam hadn’t even needed to camouflage us and our escape was almost anticlimactic. We hurried away and I pulled my hood up to hide my face and hair. Cop cars would be out on patrol and the last thing I needed was to be recognized. It had to be common knowledge among them that I’d been shot twice. It would be difficult to explain how I was walking around instead of lying in a grave somewhere.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sam’s ability to make us blend in with our surroundings came in handy several times as we hurried towards the Upper East Side. As I’d known they would, police cars passed by with monotonous regularity. Sam camouflaged us each time and we remained undetected. It seemed to be taking more effort than usual, but he didn’t complain.

  Zach’s school wasn’t far from his home and we made it there in forty-five minutes. Three stories high and made of dark gray stone, the building was intimidating. The main structure was flanked by two wings, one on either side. Only rich people could afford to send their kids here. It was a boy’s only school, so their dates came from elsewhere.

  Security guards were on patrol, watching every entrance. I could hear music thumping from within the imposing school. Getting in wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped.

  “This is like trying to break into the palaces in hell,” Sam said as we traversed the perimeter of the grounds.

  “At least they don’t have gargoyles or hellhounds guarding the place,” I said with a wry grin.

  “That is true, but the human guards are almost as diligent.” Dressed in black suits and white shirts, the security guards were earning their pay checks. Their heads turned from side to side, searching for any
one who might be stupid enough to try to infiltrate the grounds.

  During our circuit of the stone wall that enclosed the property, I saw several security cameras. The wall was only eight feet high and we would probably be able to scale it easily enough. I’d need help to climb it, but I was pretty sure Sam could get over it on his own.

  “I saw one spot on the back wall where we should be able to enter the grounds without being seen,” Sam said when we came to a stop. He’d kept us hidden from the guards as we’d been walking. We were across the street and far enough away from the closest security guard that he couldn’t hear or see us.

  A quick check of my watch told me our time was running out. I wanted to get in, seek revenge on Candy and get out before we were spotted. Trusting my best friend, I took his hand and we quickly made our way to the back of the property again. Sam pointed at a spot on the wall where none of the cameras were aimed. There was only one guard on duty back here since there were no entrance points.

  “We’ll have to time this carefully,” I said as I watched the guard. He wasn’t quite as vigilant as the others.

  We crossed the street while he wasn’t looking and Sam made us blend into the stone wall. Almost invisible now, we crept up to the safe point and waited for our chance. In a stroke of luck, the guard’s cell phone rang. Looking around to make sure none of his colleagues were in sight, he answered it.

  I nudged Sam into action the moment the guard turned away. He made a step with his hands and lifted me high enough to grab the top of the wall. I hauled myself over and dropped down to the ground.

  Sam landed beside me a moment later and automatically camouflaged us. His precaution wasn’t necessary. It was too shadowed next to the wall for anyone to have been able to see us even if guards had been stationed here. We were standing in a garden that ran the entire length of the wall. Staying in the shadows, we moved closer to the main hall where we could hear music.