Darkness Wanes

by Susan Illene

  “Have a little faith in us. Pray while we’re gone if it makes you feel better,” I said, squeezing her arms.

  She cocked her head. “Think it will help?”

  “Well, it certainly couldn’t hurt.” After all, it was the angels who’d set us up for this, whether they admitted it or not.

  “Okay,” Emily spoke the word slowly, doubtfully. I couldn’t blame her for being a little skeptical.

  “I have a gift for you,” Cori said, walking up to me with a clear squirt bottle in hand.

  I eyed it in confusion. “What is that for?”

  “It’s holy water. Don’t ask how I got it, but just know it’s been years since I stepped foot in a church, so it was a big sacrifice on my part.” She located a semi-empty pocket in my pack and stuffed it in there. “I figured spraying would work easier.”

  She’d really put some thought into this. “Thanks.”

  “I’d go with you if I could.” She sighed. “This is the next best thing.”

  “You’re helping by staying here and waiting for us,” I pointed out.

  Yerik gestured to a case of grenades and other weaponry. “These are for the people staying here. Demons can’t open the portal from the other side, but there’s a slight chance they can slip through when we come back. Until we’ve returned, you must be alert at all times.”

  “Wait.” I held up a hand. “You didn’t say anything about demon slippage.”

  He lifted a brow. “I’d assumed you would have considered it.”

  The idea had crossed my mind, but I’d dismissed it. “I thought for most of them their physical bodies couldn’t make it to this plane, and they needed to possess a human.”

  Yerik gave me an amused look that said I still had a lot to learn. “Under most circumstances, you would be right, but portals are different. Demons can come through them more easily and hold their form for a few hours before they have to find a host. We must kill them before that happens.”

  I gestured at Emily. “I wouldn’t have let her come here if I’d known it could be that dangerous for her.”

  Derrick joined us. He was holding a .50 caliber machine gun. “Nothin’ is getting’ by me. I’ve also got as much of the pack as I can spare on their way, and a few vampires will be joinin’ us after nightfall.”

  Having both races would be good, but sunset was about four hours away. I glanced at Yerik. “How long do you think we’ll be in there?”

  “I can’t say for certain.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m guessing a minimum of six hours if we’re lucky, but it could take a lot longer depending on how far we have to go. As I told you before, I’m not familiar with this portal and precisely where it will deliver us.”

  Damn, I was sort of hoping we could be in and out in less than two hours. “Alright.” I turned to address Derrick. “You’ll have vamps and werewolves here just in case?”

  He nodded. “About a dozen. Yerik told me they were more likely to follow you back than to come through when you go in.”

  “This is true.” The daimoun glanced in the direction of where he claimed the portal would open. “They won’t be expecting us when we enter.”

  “So, ideally, if we want a full regiment of backup waiting, we need to return here in under nine hours.” Before the sun rose and, the vampires had to get indoors. The location being far outside of Fairbanks put us at a disadvantage, but at least the werewolves could stick around. They’d just be weaker during the day and unable to shift.

  Lucas and his brother joined us. “Are we ready?”

  I nodded. “As we’ll ever be.”

  We exchanged hugs and goodbyes with everyone. I didn’t want to make a big fuss over leaving since that would put me in the wrong mindset. I’d done my proper farewells along the way here, but it was still tough to see Emily bury her head in Patrick’s shoulder as we readied for departure. Over her head, I met his gaze. He dipped his chin—a promise that he’d look after her.

  After we had grabbed hold of the last of our gear, we moved away from the others. They’d set up camp a few hundred feet from the portal with two tents, a campfire, and the supplies they’d need to stay for the night. There weren’t a lot of trees in this stretch of land, but they’d picked a spot with a cluster of them. Hopefully, we wouldn’t keep Emily and the others waiting long.

  Yerik fired up the portal in a similar manner to how Remiel opened the one to Purgatory, except the daimoun aimed his magic downward. It flared to life on the ground, shooting fiery sparks upward before settling into a sort of circular blob. The opening was an ominous red that sent chills down my spine. I was supposed to jump down into that?

  “I truly dislike Hell,” Kerbasi muttered, staring at the portal with disdain. It still amazed me he was willing to go along with us. He’d changed a lot in the last year he’d been on Earth.

  “Let’s go.” Yerik led the way, stepping into the opening. He sank fast and disappeared.

  Lucas gave me a lingering kiss, then followed him. Micah went next.

  Kerbasi exchanged a look with me. “You first, sensor. I shall watch your back.”

  That was comforting—sort of. For a brief moment, it struck me how insane this was and if I had any sense at all, I’d turn tail and run, but it was too late to back out now. Lucas and the others were already gone.

  “See you on the other side,” I said, taking a deep breath.

  I jumped into the red blob. My body felt weightless as I plummeted downward. All I could see were red streaks passing by me at an alarming speed. I also noticed an increase in the temperature. It heated my skin, making me more and more uncomfortable the deeper I fell. A rising sense of doom overtook me. Whatever was down there, I’d never felt such a huge wave of malevolence.

  With no warning, the portal spit me out. I crashed onto the ground feet first, my knees giving out from under me. Lucas’ strong arms wrapped around my body and pulled me away, helping me to stand. I looked up and saw the red portal only a few feet higher than my head. At least it wasn’t so elevated we wouldn’t be able to reach it on the way back.

  Kerbasi plummeted to the ground a moment later, landing on his ass. He rubbed at it. “That was most unpleasant.”

  Yerik worked his magic, sending out tendrils from his fingertips for almost a minute before the portal closed. I’d decided to time it so I’d have an idea how long it would take to open later—assuming, hopefully, that there was a later. It snapped shut, completely disappearing.

  I surveyed the area around us and discovered we’d arrived in some kind of huge cavern with a river of lava running through the middle. The sweltering heat coming from it was almost unbearable. Rivulets of sweat were already forming on my face and neck. Jagged black stone made up the high walls and the narrow walkways on either side. The portal had dumped us a few feet from the river’s edge. No wonder Lucas had grabbed me so fast to keep me from stumbling into the lava.

  I glanced at my watch to check the time. It was fifteen minutes until eight. We had about three and a half hours before the sun would set, and almost nine before it would rise again. I wanted to be out of here well before that so we’d have full backup upon our return.

  “Where do we go from here?” Lucas asked.

  Yerik scanned the area around us, his gaze pausing at several different tunnel openings visible from where we stood. He pointed at one located about fifty meters down the cavern. There was nothing special about it, other than it seemed larger than the others. “There. That one will lead us outside.”

  I frowned at him. “How can you be sure?”

  “During the first few centuries of my life, my father compelled me to spend a lot of time here.” His expression darkened. “I was weak back then and couldn’t resist him. I suppose he’d hoped to find some way to use me to his advantage. I always found a way to escape eventually, but that didn’t stop him from forcing me back until I grew strong enough to block his hold over me.”

  “Oh,” I said, unsure what to say to that. Not many people
could say their father put them through Hell and mean it.

  As if Yerik hadn’t just revealed a horrible secret, his expression brightened. “We are lucky the portal brought us here, though. Most of the others are located much farther from our destination and would require many hours of walking. This is as close to the center of the first level of Hell as we could hope to get.”

  We began walking, searching for a way across the lava pool. I couldn’t help but ask. “First level? What do you mean by that?”

  Yerik didn’t answer right away. The cavern extended for quite some distance, and he seemed to be searching for something. As we walked farther, the pool narrowed so that we only had about fifteen feet to cross as opposed to more than twenty feet at its widest point.

  He finally glanced over at me. “Yes, the first level has the lesser demons, which are ferocious but not impossible to kill. Even for Ariel, I wouldn’t risk descending any deeper. I’m not certain a nuclear bomb would be enough to kill the demons down there.”

  At least he’d thought this through before bringing us.

  “What about your mother?” I asked since there seemed to be no immediate danger of demons attacking. It was oddly quiet, other than our footsteps and the continuous flow of lava. “What happened to her?”

  “According to my father, she died giving birth to me. She hid on Earth during the pregnancy, but the pain of labor caused her powers to wane too much—she couldn’t shield herself at the end. A human whose aid she’d enlisted secreted me away just before the archangels attacked. As far as I know, nothing of her survived. Not even her soul.” He told the story in a neutral tone, but I sensed a hint of pain coming from him.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, not knowing what else to say. Sure, it happened over four thousand years ago, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t still hurt.

  “Don’t be. It was a better end for her than coming here.” He stopped and gestured toward a trail of flat boulders that sat on top of the lava. “This is our way across.”

  Most of the stones weren’t more than two feet wide, and a couple of them swayed a little. “Um, couldn’t Kerbasi fly us across or something?”

  “I have wings as well, but they are useless in here.” Yerik gazed around the cavern. “There isn’t enough room for us to get a proper lift with our wingspans, especially not while carrying our load and another person.”

  “Right.” And the walkway on the other side wasn’t more than a few feet wide, so landing would be tough. “The rest of you could flash over, though, couldn’t you?”

  Yerik shook his head. “There’s too much interference inside the caverns. It blocks us from pinpointing a location to travel.”

  “Really?” I looked at Lucas. There was so much magic bombarding my senses that I was still trying to figure it all out. I’d spent years on Earth learning the elements of various spells, but the ones here were unlike anything I’d encountered before. It would take time to filter and study them individually.

  Lucas nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

  While I mulled over other possible ways to reach the opposite side, Yerik began hopping across the boulders. The first one stayed steady, but the second and third ones swayed a little, so he had to use his arms for balance. The fourth one at the end held still, allowing him to leap the last couple of feet. After he had reached the other side, he turned around and beckoned us.

  “I will go next,” Lucas said, speaking to me. “But I want you to follow close behind.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Okay.”

  With his usual grace, he made it to the second boulder, hardly wavering at all, then said over his shoulder, “Melena, come.”

  Normally, I didn’t like being ordered around, but I made an exception this time. The men with me were older and far more powerful, so the environment didn’t affect them as much. None of them looked the least bit tired despite the low oxygen levels and strong gravity, which was greater than Earth’s. As for me, I was already starting to feel the weight of my gear, and wouldn’t turn down any assistance that might keep me safer.

  I stepped onto the first stone, testing it. Lucas took my hand, and we moved together to the next set. With his guidance, it turned out to be a lot easier than it first appeared. I supposed it was the boiling lava inches from my feet that inspired most of my terror. Micah and Kerbasi came next, also moving over the boulders with little effort.

  They’d just made it onto safer ground when sharp pain exploded in my head—something dark and malevolent headed our way. I pressed my fingers to my temples and rubbed them. “We have incoming.”

  “Where?” Yerik asked.

  I pointed straight ahead in the direction we needed to go to reach the tunnel opening. There was a bend so we couldn’t see around the other side. The sensations I felt began to take shape. As they spread apart and came closer, I detected they were actually a bunch of tiny entities. “That way. It feels like they’re…small spirit beings, but there are about a dozen of them.”

  “Demon sprites,” Yerik cursed. “They have no physical form, but they can slice into your essence and cause great pain. There is no way to fight them, just keep moving. They only inhabit the lower caverns.”

  “Then let’s get going,” Lucas said.

  Left with no other choice, we headed straight for the creatures. Yerik cried out when they reached him first. They zipped through the air, dimly visible phantoms that made no sound. Lucas jerked in front of me next, swatting at himself as if he could beat them to death. His attempts were ineffectual. I braced myself when one came at me, but as soon as it got close, it balked and went around. Several more passed by me and struck Micah and Kerbasi.

  I spun around, unsure what to do. All around me the men jerked and cried out as the sprites weaved in and out of their bodies. Micah stumbled too close to the lava river. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. For just a moment, the sprites left him, but as soon as I let him go, they returned.

  That gave me an idea. “Everyone get close to me!”

  None of them responded.

  The men were too busy fighting the sprites to listen. Oh, damn it all to hell—time for plan B. I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt where I had a set of throwing knives sheathed on my arm. Pulling one out, I sliced a small cut in my hand and coated the blade with my blood. Lucas had four of the twelve sprites weaving in and out him. I waited for one of them to fly out and struck it with my knife. It made an odd popping noise and disappeared. I kept hitting the rest until Lucas was free.

  “Take this and help Yerik,” I said, handing him the blade. The path was too narrow for me to get around him and reach the daimoun myself. Despite the distraction of the sprites, Lucas had seen what I’d done to kill them.

  He nodded and turned away from me. I took out another throwing knife and sliced a fresh cut on my palm—the previous one having healed already. As soon as the weapon was coated with blood, I went after the two sprites tearing into Micah, hacking and slashing until he was free of them.

  “Take this and help Kerbasi,” I ordered.

  He grabbed the blade. “Thank you.”

  The guardian was shrieking and jerking about, but Micah managed to finish off the three swarming him. I sighed a breath of relief as the presence of the sprites faded from my head. The way they’d buzzed against my senses had been more than a little irritating.

  Yerik was sagging against the cave wall when I turned to check on him and Lucas. He sucked in a few breaths and looked at me. “How did you know your blood would help?”

  “The sprites wouldn’t touch me, and since they’re mostly made of magic, I thought it was worth a try,” I explained. Sometimes, all you could do was go with your gut instinct.

  “Can I switch places with you?” Kerbasi asked Micah. “I want to be closer to her from now on.”

  “No,” Micah said, turning away from the guardian.

  “Most of the demons here have a physical form,” Yerik said, drawing our attention back to him. “Melena won’t be ab
le to kill everything that way.”

  I adjusted the strap on my rifle and got the weapon into the ready position. Before we’d left, I’d coated all our bullets with my blood. When I’d faced demons possessing humans in Juneau a couple of years ago, it had affected them. Hopefully, it would continue to make a difference today.

  “I’ll just be happy if I can slow them down,” I said.

  “You and me both,” Yerik answered grimly. “Let’s go.”

  We continued down the walkway until we reached the tunnel. Yerik paused and glanced back at me. “Let us know if you sense anything coming. Otherwise, I’m going to keep us moving as fast as possible.”

  “I will.” I waved him on.

  Yerik took off at a jogging pace. The tunnel started out flat, but then it veered sharply to the right and began an upward ascent. I stayed close behind Lucas but kept my mind on my internal radar. At least a hundred demons were within a half-mile radius of us, maybe more. The trick was figuring out when we were getting too close to any of them inside a large tunnel network. I was becoming grateful for my two incursions into Purgatory. Those trips had taught me how to gauge distances and depth more accurately.

  “Stop,” I hissed.

  Everyone came to a sudden halt. Yerik and Lucas glanced back at me. This particular demon was getting too close to risk making any more noise. I held up one finger, then mimed a big hulking creature, which was the impression of him that formed in my head.

  Recognition dawned in Yerik’s eyes. He put a hand up, indicating for us to stay put. Everyone held their breaths as the daimoun crept forward until he reached the next bend in the tunnel. Yerik left his rifle hanging from the strap over his shoulder and gripped his sword instead.

  The demon’s heavy footsteps were loud enough that no one needed my help to recognize when it was getting close. As soon as it came around the bend, Yerik’s blade swung through its neck, cutting until it stopped at the spinal cord. The huge creature with red and black skin and a large snout fell to the ground, twitching. Everyone gathered around it.