Hell and Back

by Patricia Blackmoor

  “How dare you wound Chthal’a?” the creature asked me.

  I pulled myself off the ground, wincing in pain as I tried to stand. It was very likely that at least one bone in my foot was broken, maybe more. It didn’t matter. I had to fight. I had to at least try.

  The beast turned to me, tentacles dancing in front of me, making me dizzy. Black goo was dripping from the ones I had stabbed.

  “I will personally oversee your torture,” the beast promised me.

  “Do your worst,” I said. Nothing could be more terrible than being ripped from Parker.

  The beast swung at me but I ducked, lying flat on my stomach as the tentacles swirled over me. Using the fire iron to support myself, I pulled myself back up, ready for his next attack. I aimed the pointed end at him, like a knight fending off a dragon. It was hopeless, but I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive either way, so I was going to fight with everything that I had. He wasn’t going to take me without a fight.

  “I will pluck you limb from limb,” he promised, “before putting you back together just to do it again. I will carve out your eyes. I will burn every inch of your flesh.”

  “And what are you going to do to me, asshole?”

  I looked over to see Parker standing on the other side of the house. The beast reared back, showing its claws as he lunged for Parker. I saw the chance and I took it. While the creature was distracted, I ran with everything I had in me, ignoring the shocking pain in my foot. Like a track and field star, I aimed and threw the fire iron straight into the neck of the hideous demon. The demon choked for a moment, black goo spilling out across the grass, and then, just as quickly as it had appeared in the street, it vanished.

  Parker and I stumbled toward each other, falling into the other’s arms as we collapsed on the slippery grass. The goo had a consistency like oil but smelled worse, like death and decay. It slowly pulled back, toward where the demon had fallen, until it, too was gone. There was no evidence that a monster had been slayed here.

  “We did it,” I gasped, leaning back on my hand to support myself. “We killed it.”

  “We didn’t kill it,” Parker said. “It’s gone back to hell to heal. It’ll be back soon enough.”

  “So you’re saying we should be going now,” I said.

  “The others will catch up soon,” Parker told me. “Chthal’a would have sent them our location.”

  “Telepathically, like he spoke to us?”

  “Right. The others will be coming soon. They won’t be far behind. It’s amazing that we managed to fight off one of them, but no way we’ll be able to fight off the other two plus the guards. We’re simply outnumbered.”

  “Nothing is impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible,” he agreed.

  “But still, we should probably get a move on?”

  He nodded. “Probably.”

  I pushed myself up with my hands and leaned down to help Parker up, trying to keep my weight off my rapidly swelling left foot. As Parker twisted to take my hand he winced and hissed.

  “Did it hurt you?” I asked.

  “A little.”

  “Where?”

  “My back.”

  I knelt down next to him. “Let’s see.”

  “Meg, I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s go.”

  “Parker,” I said sternly, pushing his shoulder so I could see. My heart dropped into my stomach. “Oh shit.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  The entire back of his shirt was soaked with blood, human blood. “Well, I mean, you can’t die, so…”

  He scoffed.

  I reached and lifted up the back of his shirt. Down his spine was a deep gash, the same thickness as the creature’s claws. The skin had split open, revealing white bone underneath. My stomach churned to look at it. I pulled the shirt back down, reminding myself that he couldn’t die, but holy shit, I was amazed he could even walk.

  “What about you, did he get you?”

  “My foot hurts, but I’m sure it’s fine.”

  “Meg…”

  “It’s probably broken. It’s all good.”

  “I’m not going to let you walk on it. Let me carry you.”

  “With your wound? Absolutely not. Look, there’s the fireplace poker. I’ll use it like a cane. It’ll be fine.”

  Parker shook his head as I crawled across the grass, grasping the iron in my hand. I used it to pull myself up and then, true to my word, walked with it like a cane. It was a little short, but I could live with it. It was better than hell.

  I reached down to help Parker back up. He winced once more as he twisted to meet my hand, but he worked through the pain and returned to his feet. We were both a sorry sight, even worse for wear than when we had escaped hell, but we were still free and that’s what mattered.

  We were about to start off when we heard footsteps and turned to see a figure coming around the house. We couldn’t see who it was until she stepped into the moonlight. I clutched Parker’s hand.

  Hope had come after all.

  Chapter Twenty–Four

  The poor girl looked terrified. Hope’s eyes were wide as she clutched a bag tight to herself. She glanced around the yard, unsure of where she was or where she was supposed to go. She stepped cautiously, her clothes all black and her braids twisted back in a bun on the top of her head. She was dressed for stealth but clearly wasn’t used to it. Her knuckles were white around the strap of her bag. Her profile was stunning in the moonlight; she could have been a Charlie’s Angel had she not been so terrified. I could understand; I’d tried to make the email as friendly as possible but it was still strange no matter what. I would have been terrified too if I were her. Frankly, I was surprised she’d come at all.

  “Hope.”

  I glanced over at Parker, who had whispered his sister’s name, the word still lingering on his lips. His smile was small and tight as he watched his sister. I could see the love in his eyes. I’d seen it plenty of times when he looked at me, but this love toward his sister wasn’t romantic but caring. He loved his sister dearly. It only made this decision even easier.

  I took his hand. “Come on,” I said.

  He turned to me, frowning. “What?”

  “Let’s go. Let’s follow her.”

  “We were going to leave, run away.”

  I squeezed his hand. “Parker, there’s no way we can do that. We need to follow your sister, make sure everything goes smoothly.”

  “What about us?”

  I swallowed. “If we have time after she finds the money, then we’ll run. But she’s your sister, and I can see how much you love her—”

  “I love you, too, Meg.”

  “And I love you. But there’s no way I can pull you away from her right now. We need to make sure she has what she needs. We can run after.”

  He nodded. “Thank you.”

  His hand still in mine, we crossed the grass to where Hope was still hesitating. She pulled out her phone, scrolling through her email until she found mine. Her eyes scanned over it, and she craned her head back to be sure she hadn’t woken anyone inside the house. She hadn’t; the house was still dark except for the faint light coming from the living room window. All was still.

  Hope started across the backyard for the tree line, and Parker and I followed close behind her. The trees were dark, no light reaching this far across the yard. Meg fumbled with her phone for a minute before turning on the flashlight, the bright beam hitting one of the trees.

  “She’s too far over,” I said. “She needs to move to the right.”

  “There’s nothing we can do. We just have to let her find her own way,” Parker told me.

  My anxiety mounted as she paused at the edge of the forest, glancing from her phone into the thick trees, turning behind her to make sure no one was following, biting her lip as she tried to decide if this was a good idea.

  “Come on,” I whispered. “You’ve come this far.”

  After a deep breath, she plunged into
the trees. There was no path here, and she had to step over and around bushes, navigating toward the sound of the stream. I could hear the water burbling but it was faint, and I could only pray that she heard it too. Hope rested her hands on the trunk of a tree as she tried to find her way, the other hand stretched out with the flashlight shining across the ground.

  We followed closely, not worrying about stepping on sticks or tripping on bushes or brushing against poison ivy, but Hope had to continue to move cautiously. She nearly tripped over a rock, and instinctively I reached out to help her, but of course, it didn’t make a difference. Instead she steadied herself on another tree as she continued her search. A few steps later, she looked down to see the stream at the bottom of the hill. She stepped carefully down the embankment toward the water. Once she had reached the stream safely, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

  Hope paused again to look at her phone, shielding the light from the screen with her hand. After checking the email I had sent her, she raised the phone up, using the flashlight to glance around at the trees lining the stream’s edge. She glanced down both ways and decided to head to the right, and once more I was able to breathe a little bit easier. She was headed in the right direction.

  A few steps later she paused again, shining her flashlight around. Her light lingered on the willow tree, and I almost let out a yelp in cheer. Beside me, Parker squeezed my hand, and I looked over to see the wide grin spread across his face. Perhaps it had been a dangerous decision to stay behind, but the look on his face, the light in his eyes, that made it all worth it. I squeezed his hand back, and we both turned our attention back to Hope, who was still forced to maneuver carefully along the bed of the stream as she made her way toward the willow tree.

  Parker and I sat down on the ground next to the tree as Hope stopped, checking her email once more, then looking up at the tree. She took a moment to look around, making sure that she was beside the only willow tree. Confident that there were no others that the money could be buried under, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small trowel.

  “Smart girl,” I remarked.

  “She is.”

  “You taught her well.”

  Parker shook his head. “Wasn’t me. She’s way smarter than I am.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “She did way better in school.”

  I scoffed. “That doesn’t mean anything. Still, I find it hard to believe you didn’t do well in school.”

  “I had a little bit of a rough patch,” he admitted.

  I rested my head on his shoulder as we watched Hope. She squatted down on the ground, trying to balance on her feet so she didn’t have to kneel in the dirt. Grasping the trowel in her hands, she pulled up the first clump of dirt.

  “Poor girl should have brought gloves,” I said.

  Parker laughed. “She’ll have money to buy some now.”

  I grabbed his hand, threading my fingers through his. “I’m glad we stayed behind.”

  “Me too.”

  From somewhere behind us, we heard the sound of a door shut, echoing through the quiet night, and all of us froze. Hope’s eyes widened as she looked up the hill toward the house, hands still buried in the dirt. We all breathed shallowly, waiting to listen for someone coming this way, but after several moments we still had heard nothing.

  I tried to relax, shifting on the ground. It was probably just someone stepping out back to smoke or something, not a big deal. Still, the sound breaking the silence put me on edge, and I willed for Hope to move a little faster so she could get the money and be done.

  Hope took one last look around, her eyes flickering to the hill, before resuming her work. Her hands had become dirty, and she’d given up squatting on the balls of her feet, switching to her knees. The dirt piled up on the other side of the root as she dug.

  “How far down did you bury it?” Parker asked me.

  “Far enough that it wouldn’t be easy to find.”

  “What does that mean?”

  I glanced at him. “Um, kinda far.”

  “Are you sure it’s still there?”

  I hadn’t really thought about that. “Yeah, pretty sure. The dirt didn’t look all messed up or anything.”

  Now he had planted an idea in my head, and my heart pounded in my chest as I watched Hope dig up the dirt, the pile becoming bigger and bigger and the hole becoming deeper and deeper. I thought I might have a panic attack, waiting for her to find the cash, until her spade hit something soft. She paused, brushing the dirt away from the plastic bag I had sealed it in. I could have passed out, I was so relieved. Hope had found it. The cash was safe in her hands.

  Hope yanked the bag out of the ground, jaw dropping. I excitedly squeezed Parker’s hand as he watched his sister hold more money in her hands than either of them ever had held before.

  “How much is in there?” Parker asked me, his voice rough as he looked at the thick stacks of dollar bills.

  “Like twenty thousand-ish?” I said. We had counted the exact number at one time, but I didn’t remember what it was off the top of my head. “Either way, it should be enough to sustain them for a while.”

  “That was almost what I made in a year last year,” he said. “Thank you. I honestly can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it.”

  “No one deserves it more than your family does,” I said. “I can’t imagine going through as much as they have and still coming out strong. And I’ll admit, it’s nice to know that Mitchell and Courtney are never going to get ahold of it.”

  He nudged me. “You sure this isn’t just about vengeance?”

  I laughed. “I told you, that’s only a small part of it.”

  “Small?”

  “Medium-sized.”

  We fell quiet for a moment. “I really am happy that we managed to get Hope the money. I’m happy they’ll be all right.”

  “It’s all I ever wanted,” he murmured. “It was everything I worked for when I was alive.”

  I squeezed his hand.

  “But,” he said, leaning to kiss me on the forehead. “Amazingly, it wasn’t everything I wanted after I died.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, then I had to split everything between them and you.”

  “That’s oddly sweet,” I said.

  “Good. I was going for sweet.”

  I nudged him, suppressing a grin. “You succeeded.”

  We looked back at Hope, still holding the money in her hands. She seemed in shock; I don’t think she had expected it to be as much as it was. Her hands shaking, she pulled the chunk of cash out of the plastic bag and began to flip through to see how much there was. At each flip of a bill, her eyes got wider. One stack, two stacks, three stacks, they piled up on her lap as she counted, pulling each out of the bag to find out how much she now had. She reached the last stack, her fingers lingering over the bills. When she was finished, she put them all back in the bag, pulled it to her chest, and began to cry.

  My heart broke as I watched her. She bowed her head, tears streaming down her face, rocking back and forth as she held the money. Her breaths came in short gasps as she cried. “Thank you, Parker,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

  Her tears made me want to cry too. I had never seen someone cry and look so simultaneously relieved. Her entire life had just changed.

  Hope sniffled. “Parker, where are you? Why did you do this? Are you okay?”

  Parker pursed his lips, watching as she cried. “I’m sorry, Hope. I’m so sorry.”

  Hope wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, leaving a little bit of a streak of dirt behind. She sniffled once more, swallowing, trying to pull herself together. Once she had done that, she used the spade to fill in the hole she had dug, then stuck it back in her bag. With the bag still clutched in her hand, she rose to her feet, packing down the dirt until it looked natural.

  I glanced over at Parker, who climbed to his feet, holding out his hand to me to help me up.

  “I suppose
we should go now,” I said.

  “We should,” he said, nodding, looking at his sister. “She’s all right now. She’s safe. She and my brothers, they’ll be okay.”

  “We can come back,” I told him, “after the demons have left and chased us across the world, we can come back.”

  “Where to first?”

  “Hmm,” I said, thinking. “Paris?”

  “Paris it is,” he said. “Paris sounds wonderful.”

  He took my hand and we started to head up the embankment when heard the sound of a gun cocking.

  Mitchell stepped out of the shadows.

  “All right,” he told Hope. “Put the money down.”

  Chapter Twenty–Five

  My heart dropped into my stomach as Mitchell grew closer to Hope, gun outstretched at her.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” Hope whispered.

  “I won’t. Just give me the money.”

  “Please, put the gun down.”

  “I will. Just give me the money.”

  Hope bit her lip, the same habit her brother had. “Please. I need this.”

  “Not as much as I do.”

  Hope had tears in her eyes, the money clutched tightly in her hands. “I doubt that.”

  “Just give it here,” Mitchell prodded. “Both of us can get out of this without anyone getting hurt. Just hand it over.”

  I turned to Parker. “We have to do something. We can’t let him take it.”

  Parker turned to me, worry filling his face, his eyes wide and worried. “I know. But Meg, I don’t know what we can do.”

  I clenched my hands at my side, watching Mitchell and Hope face off. I wanted to scream, wanted to throw something, shout. I had all this energy surging inside of me, and I could do something with it, if I could only think of what. Helplessness filled my body, mixing with the rage. Mitchell had a gun. All we had were our fists and sticks.

  “Please,” Hope sobbed, holding the bag of cash close to her chest. “I need this. I really need this.”