by Diem, J. C.
₪₪₪
Chapter Eleven
I had no idea how long I remained unconscious. From time to time, I could distantly feel power flooding into my body as either my inner angels, or someone else, tried to heal me. Not even they could reach me in the nowhere lands. I knew I’d have to leave soon, but I didn’t know what shape my mind would be in. The thought of falling into true sleep and being drawn to the shadowlands of my mind haunted me. I was afraid that I would discover that none of the demons had survived.
Morax and the other lords had started out as my enemies, but they’d eventually become my allies. We’d been through so much together and they’d kept me alive throughout some of my worst ordeals. Without their power, I would be nothing, but it was more than that. We’d never be friends, but it would be devastating to learn that they were gone.
The door to the carriage opened and my Wraith Warrior regarded me with her blank, shadowy face. “It is time for you to leave this place,” she told me in an inflectionless voice. “You must return to your body, or it will perish.”
She was a part of me and she wanted me to stay alive, or she’d die along with me. “I know,” I grumbled with a sigh. “I’ll just say goodbye to the gang.” I climbed out and my alpha hounds moved to surround me. There were six alphas in total now, but my original alpha shouldered his way through so I could pat him first.
Even the hounds that belonged to other lords felt at least some loyalty to me. I’d changed the nowhere lands from a dismal place into a more bearable dimension. I’d given them light, grass and soil and food. It was more than their creator, Satan, had ever done for them and they appreciated my kindness.
Working my way through the crowd, I gave both of my nightmares a pat then made my way over to the crab beetle. It held a claw out and I didn’t hesitate to take it. I was in my human form and it towered over me. It could easily slice my limbs off, but all it did was hold my hand gently. All eight of its eyes were trained on me. It didn’t have the ability to express emotion, but it was intelligent. I had a feeling it was lonely since it was shunned by the others.
“Have you been behaving yourself?” I asked. Its eyes shifted away and the twin mandibles on either side of its mouth moved guiltily. “You haven’t tried to eat any of the hellhounds or nightmares, have you?” Looking anywhere but at me, its multiple thin legs moved restlessly. “They’ll probably stop shunning you if you quit treating them like food,” I pointed out. It clicked its other claw in frustration. “There’s plenty of other things for you to eat,” I told it. I’d created all sorts of creatures that respawned after they’d been devoured.
Thinking about it, I realized that the problem was that it was the only one of its species. Maybe it was lonely and it just wanted a companion. “If I create a friend for you, do you promise to stop hunting my servants?” I asked. It clicked its claw eagerly in agreement. Letting go of its other claw, I concentrated and a second crab beetle appeared. It was a couple of feet taller and much larger in bulk. I was pretty sure it was a male, which meant the original was probably a female.
Squealing happily, the female sped over to the male. He hunkered down and raised his claws threateningly when he saw they were surrounded by hellhounds and nightmares. She made a series of noises that appeared to be their version of talking. After a short exchange, he lowered his claws and approached me.
All thirty-six of my hounds moved to intercept him. I was small and fragile without my demonic form to protect me. I’d been so badly wounded by the purge that I didn’t seem to have any magic right now. I could only hope that it would return in time.
Moving through the hounds, I reached the male beetle. He offered a claw and I took it gingerly. He clasped my tiny hand by the appendage that could crush me into mush and lowered himself to the ground. Recognizing it as a sign of fealty, I smiled. “Welcome to the team,” I said as he stood. He moved to his mate’s side and they ambled off to hunt.
“I will never understand your capacity for kindness,” my Wraith Warrior said from behind me.
“I get it from my Mom,” I said with a shrug. As a harvested angel, Asteraoth had unknowingly sacrificed some of her grace to me when she’d become pregnant with me. If I hadn’t had her essence, I would have become as evil as Zach.
“You must leave,” she warned me. “Your earthly body requires your attention.”
I made a face, but I knew she was right. Hiding out in the nowhere lands wasn’t a long-term solution. It was time to face reality again.
Closing my eyes, I relinquished my desperate hold on the nowhere lands and began to wake up. Agony immediately assailed me. I gasped in reaction and it cut off immediately.
“See,” a familiar male voice said in satisfaction. “I told you pain would bring her back.”
Opening my eyes a sliver, I saw legs encased in designer jeans standing beside the bed that I lay on. More pain hit me and I ground my teeth together to hold in my screams. The smell of scorched flesh rose and I realized it was coming from me.
“That is enough,” a female voice said and it was also familiar. My blood ran cold when I realized who I’d been handed over to. “She is showing signs of waking up,” Vepar added. “There is no use torturing her further until we determine the state of her mental health.”
“You saw the brain scans,” Zach said sulkily. “She was practically a vegetable to start with before you started healing her. She’s been showing signs of improvement during the past few hours. She’ll be fine.”
“That may be so,” Vepar replied, “but I do not want to break her just yet. I want her to suffer before I end her life.”
“I have a date with Candy anyway,” he replied and turned away from me. Walking over to a stainless-steel table, he dropped a metal rod on it. He’d been using a cattle prod to electrocute me.
He exited through the door and Vepar lingered for a few seconds. Her vessel was on the short side and had short black hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes. She favored black clothing that was as tight as possible to show off her figure. Since she was parading as the captain of the police force, she was wearing her uniform at the moment.
Waiting for her to leave and close the door, I let out a small whimper. I could feel burns all over my arms, legs and body. Thankfully, I was still fully clothed. Apparently, not even Zach was sick enough to defile my unconscious body.
Realizing cameras might be watching me, I opened my eyes a bit wider and surreptitiously looked around. I was in a room with white walls and a gray concrete floor. It was cold, but my hoodie and jeans kept me from shivering. Other implements of torture rested on the stainless-steel table that stood a few feet away. I shuddered hard enough to make the bed squeak at the thought of being subjected to them.
Turning my head, I saw a shower, toilet and basin directly across from me. A machine sat to my left. Wires were attached to my forehead. I couldn’t see the screen from this angle, but assumed it was scanning my brain. As far as I could tell, the room didn’t have any cameras.
I was in a cell again, but this one didn’t have a bare dirt floor. The cot was old and the springs sagged. The mattress was lumpy, but it was better than lying on the floor.
I tried to sit up and realized my wrists and ankles were shackled to the bed. Just as I’d feared, Hag had handed me over to her allies. Vepar and Zach were the two beings who hated me the most. All I needed now was for Bob to turn up and my nightmare would be complete.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twelve
As I lay staring up at the white ceiling, my stomach growled. My appetite had come back with a vengeance and I no longer felt ill. It appeared my plan to rid myself of the Wraith Warrior and the toxin he’d infected me with had worked. I was no longer in danger of my skin turning black and my insides rotting. Instead, I would be tortured to death. I’d been removed from the angels’ lair before I’d had a chance to steal Nathan’s grace back, or to save Leo. My agony hadn’t been for nothing, but I’d still failed my friends horribly.
An hour or so passed before I heard footsteps approaching. I closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious as the door opened. The feet approached until my visitor was standing right beside me.
“I know you are awake,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “I can tell by how tense your body is.”
Giving up on the pretense, I opened my eyes to see a stranger watching me. His face and clothes were bland. His hair and eyes were brown. There was nothing about him that stood out at all. Even before I saw his true form rise, I guessed who he was. “Gee, Bob, your new vessel is just as forgettable as your old one.” A captain of hell’s armies, stubby horns jutted from his forehead.
Bob’s demonic visage receded until I could only see his human vessel again. “I hear your Wraith Warrior was driven out of you by the angels,” he said. Yanking my shirt and hoodie up, he examined the scar on my stomach. I lifted my head up to see the mark had been leeched of color. It looked several years old and had faded to white. His eyes gleamed and a smile curved his mouth upwards. “This means you will not be able to infect me with your poison again.”
“Are you sure about that?” My tone was almost bored, which made him nervous. “I have two Wraith Warriors. The female was the one who beheaded you. I’d be very careful about what you do to me. You don’t want to piss her off.”
His hand went to his neck and he took a step back before he could stop himself. “Wraith Warriors cannot exist for long in this realm,” he said as if trying to convince himself of that.
“I don’t need her to stay long. She just has to turn up long enough to chop your head off again.”
He paled and backed away some more. I knew he was dying to punish me, but he was too scared to touch me. He’d already had one vessel turned into a shambling zombie. His master, Prince Valac, had forced Bob to remain inside the damaged human as punishment that I’d escaped from him again. Vepar was most likely his master now and she’d be even less forgiving if he made any stupid mistakes.
“Lord Vepar will return shortly,” he said with a forced sly grin. “She is looking forward to stripping you of your flesh.” His grin became more natural with his next words. “That pain will be nothing compared to what Zachariah plans to do to you for killing his father.”
My stomach flopped over at that threat. I knew exactly what my ex-boyfriend wanted to do to me. Zach had almost managed to talk me into sleeping with him, but had ultimately failed. Now he was going to take my innocence away from me by force. Bob had tried the same thing more than once. Sam had saved me from him twice, but I didn’t have anyone to rescue me this time.
Tears built up and I held onto them until Bob left. I cried silently until I managed to get a hold of myself. I’d been in some horrible predicaments since I’d become trapped in Manhattan, yet they couldn’t get much worse than this.
My tears had dried by the time Vepar returned. Bob came with her and stood in the background as she approached me. “I thought the angels had fried your brain beyond repair when they drove your Wraith Warrior out of you,” she said. “I am sincerely glad that you have recovered. Now I can repay you for stealing my favorite slave away from me.”
She was talking about Nathan, of course. He’d made the mistake of making a bargain with her. She’d given him a vial so he could harvest my essence. In return, he’d owed her a favor. She’d finally called in the favor and had taken him to the second realm of hell to become her slave. Vepar had done her best to break him and to bend him to her will. Even after his grace had been stripped away, he’d been strong enough to defy her. His purity remained intact, but I doubted mine would for much longer.
“The Hellmaster still wants me alive,” I reminded her. “What do you think he’ll do to you if you kill me?”
“He will never know I was the one who ended your pathetic existence,” she smirked. “Only myself, Zach and my faithful minion know you are here.” Bob grinned at me from his spot near the door. He was a captain of hell’s armies, but to her, he was just another servant.
“Hagith and her lackeys know you have me,” I said.
“Actually, Hagith is the only one who is aware of what happened to you,” she replied. “She teleported you to us herself then told her minions that you managed to escape from your cell.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Because of our bargain,” Vepar replied in fake surprise that I hadn’t figured it out for myself. “The angel had no choice but to hand you back to me. She is bound by our agreement. As long as she has the piece of the object of power that I gave her in return for Nathanael, she must relinquish you to me if she recaptures you.”
Deals with demons were even more binding than I’d realized. Coldness settled into the pit of my stomach as I realized the implications. Now that Vepar had called in the favor Nathan owed her, he would have no choice but to return to her and become her slave again.
Seeing the horror on my face, she laughed in glee. “I see you finally understand. Sooner or later, your guardian will end up in my bed,” she gloated.
“Over my dead body,” I said flatly.
Her pale blue eyes went cold. “Oh, you will die, Hellscourge,” she vowed. “But it will be a long, slow process. I promised young Zachariah some time alone with you before I kill you.” She smiled in relish at the fear that I couldn’t contain. “He shows talent for the art of torture. I am sure he will be able to make you suffer untold agonies while he satiates his lust for you.”
Walking over to the stainless-steel table, she surveyed the array of torture implements and chose a sharp knife. It was just a normal blade rather than a demonic one. Light flashed off the edge of the weapon and sweat gathered on my forehead.
“I am going to enjoy this very much,” the Demon Lord said with a fierce grin. Before starting, she ripped the wires from my forehead. She switched off the brain scanner and wheeled the machine aside to give herself room to work.
Shoving my sleeve up, she put the blade to my arm. Weakened by the loss of the demonic souls that had resided inside me, I didn’t hold out for long once she began cutting me open. She flayed my skin off, just as Bob had promised.
I soon passed out from pain and blood loss, but roused again when the cattle prod jolted me with electricity. Gasping in agony, my back arched when Bob stepped forward to heal me. Painful pins and needles swept through me as my body was repaired. The skin that had been stripped off my arm grew back and my blood was replenished.
“Why are you so weak?” Vepar asked with her upper lip curled. “You were not this pathetic before.”
“Hag killed the legion when she purged me with holy fire,” I said hoarsely. “I don’t have their power anymore.” A tear slipped out before I could stop it. I was amazed to find myself mourning the demons that I’d lost.
“The mighty Hellscourge has become a weak, helpless girl,” Bob scoffed. “She is no longer a danger to our kind. She is nothing without the power of the dark essence that she ingested.”
Vepar resumed her torture session, but I passed out again after a few slices of her knife. I woke when Bob healed me again and saw the lord glowering at me. “This is pointless,” she complained. “A toddler would last longer than this beneath my blades.” Tossing the bloody knife onto the table, she clicked her fingers for Bob to fall in behind her. Waiting for him to leave first, she paused in the doorway. “Zachariah will be back from his date soon. I doubt you will survive long once he gets his hands on you.”
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirteen
Staring at the door for a few moments after it swung shut, I closed my eyes and gave into my despair. Exhaustion quickly dragged me down into darkness. Mist swirled around my knees as I stood in the shadowlands of my mind. I looked at the ruins of the black house where the legion had lived. Just like the demons, it had been completely demolished by the purge of holy fire. Even the ashes had been destroyed. Only the arena remained. With no one to watch the show, it was empty.
Turning to Heather’s house,
I saw that it was badly damaged. Two of the walls were gone and the inside was scorched. Only Raziel’s house was untouched. I knew Heather and Sam had made it to safety, but Sy had been on fire when they’d carried him inside. I was afraid of what I would see once I entered the house, but I felt compelled to see anyway.
The door opened before I reached it. Sam stood in the doorway to block my view. He smiled and my bottom lip trembled. When he opened his arms, I ran to him. He held me tightly as I sobbed on his shoulder. Stroking a hand down my hair, he soothed me as best he could. “There, there,” he said and I almost laughed. It was exactly what he’d said the first time he’d ever attempted to comfort me, but it was far less awkward this time.
“Do I get a hug, too?” Heather asked and stepped up beside him. Sam relinquished his hold on me and I hugged Heather next. With her slender figure, long blond hair and green eyes, we were so much alike that we could have been sisters.
“What about me, master?” a hoarse voice said. “Am I worthy of your embrace?”
Peering over Heather’s shoulder, I saw Sy sitting on the floor. He was hunched over one of his beloved sketchpads and held a pencil in his hand. He was scorched in a few places, but he wasn’t as badly damaged as I’d expected. His robe was in worse shape and holes had been burnt in it.
I was amazed and gratified to see that a few other demons had also survived the purge. I counted eight withered, badly burnt bodies lying on the floor. Raziel and the other two angels were watching over them, but they couldn’t do much for them. Their magic wasn’t designed to heal evil beings.
I crossed to Sytry and knelt to hug him. He’d only been joking and stiffened in surprise. A look of embarrassment crossed his hideous face, but he succumbed to the embrace. Not everything had been destroyed in Heather’s house. The runes that he’d painstakingly created had somehow followed him across. Sketchpads were stacked up haphazardly around the room. My magic had linked them together and it seemed they went wherever he was.