Hell To Pay (Hellscourge Book 5)

by Diem, J. C.

  His lips tightened in annoyance. “I suggest you adjust your attitude. The more you cooperate with us, the easier your stay will be.”

  “If I do find the next portal, I assume you’re going to retrieve Sam so he can go with me?”

  His upper lip curled in an excellent imitation of how Hagith would have reacted to that question. “Hagith believes that it is best if you do not have any further contact with the imp. She believes that he is a bad influence and I agree with her. You will have to figure out how to find and retrieve the remaining metal pieces on your own.”

  “Hag said she wasn’t going to force me to do anything I didn’t want to do,” I said before he could leave. “Just to be clear, every single thing that has happened to me since you kidnapped me has been against my will. So is your idiotic plan to parade me through the city at night.”

  He looked confused for a moment then jerked his head for the lackey to leave. “Hagith would not have said that,” he said when we were alone. “You should not make up stories. Lying is a sin, you know.”

  “So is kidnapping people, last I heard. Maybe you guys should be worried about how far you’re willing to go to control me. Even angels can become corrupt.”

  Checking that his minion was out of earshot, he spoke softly. “God has abandoned us. Hagith does not care what happens to humanity, but I am still determined to do my duty.” With that, he turned on his heel and left, closing the door behind him.

  He might be willing to do his duty, but his partner clearly didn’t care. If it was left up to Hagith, she’d probably let me rot in this cell.

  Eating my cold toast, I washed it down with water. I was almost glad everything tasted bland to me. “Boy, I can’t wait to use the bucket,” I said to myself then managed a small laugh.

  It wasn’t so funny when I actually had to use it a couple of hours later.

  Well, that sucked, I thought when I was done and pushed the bucket as far away as possible. It wasn’t far enough since the room was only about fifteen feet square. Some toilet paper would have been nice. Fortunately, I had a few tissues stashed in my pockets. I didn’t have any soap, but used some water to wash my hands. Clearly, angels weren’t very good at anticipating the needs of their human captives.

  Several more hours passed and a lackey brought me more toast for dinner. We didn’t bother to make conversation.

  Feeling despondent and fighting down panic, I lay down on the pallet that served as my bed and spread the blanket over me. I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to pull me down and to smother me into submission.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  As I knew I would, I ended up in the shadowlands of my mind. Morax was waiting with the other Demon Lords. They looked about as happy as I felt. “How do you manage to get yourself into trouble so often?” Morax asked when I walked over to them.

  “It’s a skill I was born with,” I replied testily.

  “You should never have trusted the angels,” one of the female lords informed me.

  “Yeah, I should totally be siding with the demons,” I replied. “They’ve all been so warm and accommodating each time I’ve been to hell so far.”

  Morax almost smiled at my snark, but controlled himself. “Do you have a plan to escape?”

  “Nope. I’m stuck and I have no possibility of getting out.”

  “Then you are as trapped in that cell as we are in your mind,” the female lord pointed out.

  “I have one consolation for you,” I told her. “At least you don’t have to pee in a bucket.”

  Her nose wrinkled in disgust and I zapped myself over to Heather’s house. I knocked on the door and she snatched it open. “What is wrong with Hag and Orifice?” she asked and let me in.

  “They’re control freaks,” I shrugged, amused that she’d used my nicknames for them.

  “How can they possibly think that keeping you locked up in a filthy little cell is going to help save humanity?”

  “I’m not so sure that Hag even wants me to save them anymore.”

  We took a seat at the table and Sy joined us. He carried one of his many sketchpads beneath his arm and placed it in front of me. “I have been working on a rune that might be able to help you.”

  “Help me how?”

  “When we create our runes, we focus on a particular thought or emotion. We can never be sure what the result will be until we have tested it.”

  “Where are you going with this?”

  He flicked the sketchpad open and pointed at one of the symbols. “I have been musing about the imp’s ability to camouflage himself,” he said. “I wondered if it would be possible to duplicate the ability and this was the rune that I drew.”

  I shared a look with Heather and saw the excitement in her eyes. “That could work,” she said enthusiastically.

  “Do you have a rune that will nullify the angels’ spells on the door?” I asked.

  Sytry’s shoulders sagged as he realized the major flaw in his plan. “No. I did not think of that.”

  “Let’s see if the camouflage rune works first. Then we can figure out what to do next.”

  I would use the same wall that we’d used before to paint the new rune. A thought was all it took to clear the pictures and furniture away. The runes were unpredictable and there was no telling what this one would do.

  Pushing the sleeve of my favorite jacket up, I shook my head when I realized it wasn’t necessary to slice my flesh open. Instead, I pictured a cup full of my blood and it appeared in my hand.

  Sy held his own hand out and I made a paintbrush appear on his palm. “Your skills are increasing,” he said approvingly.

  Mentally wondering how I’d come to the point where a hellscribe was praising me, I held the cup for him while he painted the rune. When he was done, I dipped a finger in the blood then made the brush and cup disappear. “You’d better stand back,” I warned them and they stepped to the side.

  I didn’t have to cut myself to activate it. The combination of my flesh and blood was enough. Touching my bloody finger to the rune, I scurried out of the way as it came to life. Instead of a hole appearing as I expected, the symbol disappeared. “Huh. That’s weird,” I said. I put my hand where the rune should have been and it changed to the same cream color as the wall.

  “It worked!” Heather said in amazement.

  “I wonder how far it extends?”

  “Stand against the rune and we will discover the answer,” Sy told me. I did as he suggested and looked down to see a circular area of my torso had disappeared, but the rest of me remained.

  Heather was instantly deflated. “Well, that’s a bust.”

  Her demonic housemate had a different opinion. “Not necessarily. I will just have to make the rune larger.”

  “Or we could paint a bunch of smaller ones,” I suggested.

  “That would make more sense,” he conceded.

  I deactivated the rune by scraping my dagger over where I thought the edge was. The symbol reappeared when the spell was nullified, but I left it there rather than clearing it away. I conjured up another brush and we got to work. We ended up painting two columns of runes, five on each side. The edges just touched and it was barely wide enough to cover me. I had to activate them one by one. Lastly, I repaired the original rune then activated it again.

  “Let’s hope it works better this time,” I said and pressed my back against the wall. “Can you see me?”

  “Nope,” Heather replied. “You’re invisible, except for your feet.”

  I looked down to verify that my feet were showing and Sy pointed at my face. “You become visible if you lose contact with the runes.”

  “Okay. We know its limitations now.” I stepped away and deactivated each rune before clearing the wall and putting the pictures and furniture back in place. The spell nearly always had to be ceased before I could make the runes disappear. Magic was as strong as it was unpredictable.

  “Now that you know the runes will hi
de you, except for your feet, how are they going to help you escape?” Heather asked.

  “I have no idea,” I confessed.

  We sat back down at the table to brainstorm and Sy joined us. He was enjoying having the time to create runes, but he didn’t want to be stuck in my head forever. “You cannot make a magical doorway to escape if your cell is beneath the earth,” he said.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  “You’ll get zapped if you try to touch the door,” Heather added, as if I needed the reminder. My stress levels had been high enough that they’d all witnessed me being kidnaped by the angels and everything that had happened since then.

  “Was I really invisible, or could you still see me if you looked hard enough?” I asked.

  “It was like you weren’t even there,” Heather replied.

  Sy nodded in agreement. “The spell worked even better than I had hoped.”

  “Okay, so I can blend in with the wall, but I can’t get out of the room.” I thought back on all the times Sam had used his ability to make us appear to be a part of our surroundings. “The only plan I can come up with is to press myself up against the wall and hope the angels will think I escaped. Maybe they’ll come in, check the room then leave without locking the door again.”

  “That is not a very solid plan,” Sy said doubtfully.

  “What he’s trying to say is that your plan sucks,” Heather clarified.

  “Can either of you think of a better one?”

  “You could draw the rune that shoots out fireballs,” Sytry suggested. “It should be strong enough to destroy the door.”

  “The angels know I can use demon runes. They’ve probably warded the door against all forms of demonic damage.”

  His face fell when I pointed that out. “You are probably correct. It would seem that you have little choice but to attempt your dangerous plan.”

  “Be careful,” Heather said and leaned over to hug me.

  I hugged her back then stood up. “Wish me luck.”

  “Good luck.” She crossed her fingers for good measure.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Willing myself to wake up, I checked my watch to see that only ten minutes or so had passed. Hearing footsteps approaching, I lay still and pretended to be asleep. Opening my eyes a crack, I saw an unfamiliar angel peering in at me. She stared for a few moments then walked away.

  Throwing the blanket off, I climbed to my feet and tried to decide where I should place the runes. The door opened outwards so either of the side walls would do. I picked the one on my left at random. Since I didn’t have a paintbrush, I’d have to use my fingers. I could have tried to call my dagger to me as I’d somehow done in the past, but the angels might notice that it was gone. I couldn’t afford to tip them off that I was going to make an escape attempt.

  Biting my left palm open, I winced in pain and started painting. Half an hour later, I heard the door at the far end of the hallway open. I raced back to the pallet and waited for the guard to glance inside and leave before returning to my task. It wasn’t much fun using my own blood for paint, but taking action helped to keep my claustrophobia in check.

  There wasn’t enough light to see what I was doing, which made it hard to tell if the symbol was correct. I had to stop just before I finished it off as the guard arrived again. When she was gone, I returned to the rune and added the final touch. Then I pressed my wounded hand against it to activate it. Only after it flared to life did I wonder if they’d have some way of sensing what I’d done. Freezing at that possibility, I waited for the guard to come running, but she didn’t appear.

  Relaxing again, I saw that the symbol had blended in with the wall. I put my hand on the rough wooden board and it disappeared. That was one rune down and now I only had nine to go. It crossed my mind that I could create fewer of them and crouch down instead of standing, but it would be harder to stay still and remain in contact with the spells. Frankly, I wasn’t sure I had enough strength to remain in a crouch for long.

  My hand was throbbing in pain and I was feeling woozy from lack of sleep and blood loss after a few hours. I decided to stop and take a rest and ended up falling asleep.

  The sound of the door opening early the next morning woke me. Tired and groggy, I found it hard to wake up. An angel entered with more toast and water. “Don’t forget to wash out the bucket,” I said and almost laughed at the look of disgust on her face. “You might want to get me some toilet paper and something to put it in when I’m done. Unless you expect me to use my blanket as toilet paper?”

  Her disgust deepened and she muttered something about talking meat bags. She picked up the bucket and held it away from her as she stormed off. “I’m going to need that soon!” I shouted through the window, being careful not to touch the door. She flinched and shot me a haunted look over her shoulder. “That was by far the highlight of my imprisonment so far,” I said and started eating the toast.

  Seeing her intense horror of the bucket when she returned with it, I shifted it over to the wall near the runes that had been rendered invisible by the spell. It should act as a deterrent to keep her away from the wall. She’d taken my empty tray and had left several rolls of toilet paper and a small trash can. Boy, I can’t wait to leave something a bit more solid in the bucket for her to take away, I thought and sniggered.

  To outward appearances, I was handling my captivity well. Inwardly, I was doing my best not to lose it. My claustrophobia was clawing at me from the inside, demanding to be let out. I was worried that it would turn into rage. Unleashing my wrath on my allies wouldn’t be a good idea, even if they deserved it. I already had demons as my enemies, I didn’t want to add angels to that list.

  When I’d finished constructing all ten runes, I wrapped some toilet paper around the cut on my palm. It was throbbing even more after being repeatedly broken open so I could use my blood.

  More toast and water were delivered at lunch time by another angel that I hadn’t met before. Average height and build, he had dark brown hair and eyes and was as handsome as all celestial beings that I’d met so far. He barely spared me a glance as he put the tray of food and water on the stool.

  “Don’t forget to empty the bucket and trash can,” I told him sweetly when he turned towards the door. He cringed, halted and reluctantly turned around. Instead of carrying them away, he concentrated and waved a hand to make the waste disappear. “You’re not supposed to use your celestial powers for trivial tasks,” I scolded him. He shot me a guilty look before leaving.

  Waiting for his footsteps to fade, I went to retrieve my lunch. I looked out through the window while I ate, examining the long hallway that led to a set of stairs. There were several more doors on each side of the hall with the same heavy wooden doors and small windows. None of them would give me an opportunity to escape. The staircase was my only way out and the chances of me being able to sneak out without being spotted were minimal. It wasn’t in my nature to give up without trying. I’d wait until it was dark before attempting my escape plan.

  It was difficult beyond belief to sit on the thin mattress with nothing to keep my mind off the fact that I was enclosed in a small, dark room. I missed Zach and my friends, but Nathan was the one who was on my mind the most. He’d sensed my peril when I’d been shot and he’d been drawn to me through the bond that his grace had forged between us. I wished I could will it to work now, but claustrophobia wasn’t enough of a trigger, apparently.

  Dinner was more toast and water. No one had offered me a shower and it was becoming apparent that my captors simply didn’t care about my physical needs. Feeding me bread and water wasn’t healthy. I needed vitamins, minerals and other nutrients now more than ever since I was tainted. As if in agreement, something moved inside my abdomen. I held back on the urge to vomit at the creepy slithering sensation. It didn’t hurt, but it was far from pleasant.

  The new male guard came to check on me every half hour like clockwork. His in
humanly handsome face was expressionless each time. It was hard to force myself to wait until it was dark. Just as I was about to attempt my plan, I heard several pairs of feet on the staircase.

  I tensed as they approached my cell, half expecting them to accuse me of casting demonic spells and blasting me with holy fire. The door opened and Hagith and Orifiel stood in the entrance. They blocked most of the light and I couldn’t see their faces. “You see?” Hag said imperiously. “She is fine.”

  “She does not look fine to me,” Orifice argued. “She is filthy and her hair is a mess.”

  My hand automatically went to my tangled hair. I didn’t have a brush let alone shampoo or conditioner.

  “We left her water to wash herself with,” his partner in crime said defensively and gestured at the jug of water. I thought it was for drinking and hadn’t realized it was supposed to serve as my bathtub. “It is not my fault if she refuses to use it.”

  I surprised them and their two minions with a laugh. “You really have no clue at all what it’s like to be human, do you?”

  She drew herself up and stared down her nose at me. “You have a bed, a toilet, food and water. What else could you possibly require?”

  “A shower would be nice, dumb ass,” I said snarkily. “A jug of water isn’t enough to wash my hair with and what the hell am I supposed to use for shampoo? Dirt?”

  “This is the thanks I get for keeping you safe from demons,” she retorted icily.

  “I was safe from demons. Sophia’s place is warded so they can’t get in. You have no possible excuse for keeping me here in this dungeon.”

  Orifiel shifted and I saw the guilty look on his face. He knew what they were doing to me was wrong, but Hagith was too controlling. She was the stronger partner and she’d always get her way.

  “Sophia has no power now that her grace has been harvested,” Hag lectured. “Nathanael and Leo have proven to be woefully inadequate at protecting you. We now control you and you will follow our orders.”