The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3)

by Brenda K. Davies

  I resisted the impulse to rest my hand against his arm, to feel that flow of power and add my own. There was no way to know what that influx of power would do, and I couldn’t take the chance it would have a devastating effect.

  My breath caught in my throat. I bit my lip as the symbols on his arm all turned and twisted toward the rock. His arms took on the same hue as what was emanating through the rock. As if the symbols on his body had been a set of keys sliding into a lock, I heard a clicking of something on the other side of the slab before it started to vibrate beneath Kobal’s palms.

  I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the stark beauty of him as the slab slid to the side. Thrusting his shoulders back, Kobal tossed aside the ruined remains of his shirt before turning to me. He didn’t say a word as he held his hand out.

  My gaze ran over him once more before I slipped my fingers into his. Power jolted from him and into me. His fiery scent flooded my nostrils; it had increased from his exertion, but he appeared unaffected by what he’d just done.

  Pulling me closer against his side, he locked me there possessively as he stepped forward. I braced myself to be magically thrown back, to spontaneously combust, or simply cease to exist, but none of those things happened as Kobal led me into the large chamber.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the others standing at the edge of the doorway, peering cautiously inside. They all looked so small as their gazes ran over the massive room. Corson was the first to take a hesitant step inside, followed swiftly by Magnus and Bale. When I saw they weren’t going to explode or be tossed aside either, I turned to focus on our surroundings.

  I somehow managed to keep walking as astonishment shook me. Instead of the black rock of Hell I’d grown accustomed to, what surrounded us now were rocks that shone like quartz in the light of the chamber.

  There were white, nearly see-through rocks, purple and pink ones, some were red and others were an orange color that reminded me of the glow that had released from Kobal and lit the slab. Firelight danced over the crystals and rocks surrounding us, causing them to sparkle and reflect colors the likes of which I’d never seen before. The vast color should have been overwhelming, but it wasn’t.

  The source of the firelight came from a hole in the center of the chamber. No flames appeared out the top of the hole as sparks danced in the air from the center of the circle. We were too far away for me to be able to look into it, but I felt an irresistible draw toward the hole.

  The chamber was easily a two-hundred-foot-wide circle with a high, crystal dome in the center of it. The dome arched over where the fire danced within the hole. As we moved closer to the circle, I had to crane my head all the way back to peer into the upper level nearly a hundred feet over my head. A tingle ran down my spine when I saw the top of the dome was charred and burnt. Smoke stains slid out from the center, obscuring the beautiful, quartz-like stones above us.

  Sparks burst to life at the tips of my fingers when power rushed up from the ground to flood me. My eyes widened when I realized the light at the end of my fingers was golden-white once more. I curled my fingers into the wall of muscle on Kobal’s chest as I sought some stability. “I can’t stop it,” I whispered.

  He enclosed his hand around my head and cradled me protectively against his chest. “This is a place where life is created. There is much power to be found here.”

  “Yes,” I murmured. I felt as if my body were being zapped with little electrical currents as the sparks on my fingers grew to encompass my wrists. “Kobal,” I whispered. “Will whatever created you think I’m the enemy if I can’t stop this?”

  “You are my Chosen. You could never be the enemy.”

  As if in response, a low rumbling filled the cavern. I jumped and nearly fell when I tripped over my own feet, but Kobal managed to keep me up. My head shot toward the source of the noise as the slab settled back into place, effectively closing off any retreat we might have made.

  “Easy, Mah Kush-la,” he murmured in my ear. “You will be safe here.”

  “How do you know that?” I demanded.

  “There are more than rocks guarding this place. I may be the key to getting in and out of here, and I may be the only one who knew what lay beyond that rock, but if someone is not welcome here, they will not survive it.”

  I didn’t think he realized those words weren’t exactly comforting.

  The clicking of the skelleins bony feet on the quartz surface drew my attention back to the others as they continued to creep forward. Their mouths gaped open as they tried to look everywhere at once. I’d never seen anything amaze the demons, until now.

  Kobal was the only one who strode forward with barely a glance at our surroundings. He kept his arm around my waist, drawing me onward. Walking past the circle in the center of the dome, I dug my feet in, pulling him to a halt near the edge when I realized the black around the circle was actually lava rocks surrounding the open pit.

  “I want to see inside,” I murmured.

  Kobal didn’t try to hold me back when I took a couple of steps toward the circle. As I neared, I saw all the rocks around the pit were carved with the same symbols as on the slab, and some of them were the markings on Kobal.

  “Who carved the symbols onto the rocks?” I inquired.

  “I assume the first varcolac to rise from the fires did,” he replied.

  “Hmm.” It was all so odd, but who was I to judge? I was a little odd myself. “Is it like magic?”

  “It’s power,” he said.

  The light playing over his face emphasized the angles and planes of it, making him look more lethal than he was. His arm remained locked around me; his obsidian gaze focused on the fires. Though no emotion showed on his face, I sensed a wealth of tension in his rigid muscles.

  Reaching out, I traced my fingers over the symbols on his arm. They were all still pointed in a different direction than they had been before. His head turned toward me; his nostrils flared as he watched me.

  I glanced at the light swirling up from the center of the rocks when a pop sounded and sparks danced into the air before us. Moving closer, I stopped and cautiously stretched my hand out in search of some invisible barrier the carved rocks may be emitting, but finding nothing to stop me from continuing forward.

  Stepping over the rocks, Kobal turned back to me, placed his hands on my hips, and lifted me over them. I didn’t breathe as, yet again, I waited for some invisible force to strike me down, but I didn’t burst into flames when Kobal lowered me to the ground on the other side.

  I looked back to find the others walking toward us. They stopped outside the circle to watch us as we moved within the center. Sweat beaded across my brow and caused the dress to stick to my back. I’d become accustomed to the heat of Hell, but I’d never experienced it quite like this as I neared the edge of the ten-foot circle. Across the circle, and beyond the rocks, shadows danced over the cavern walls, obscuring anything twenty feet away.

  A trickling sound drifted to me from somewhere within the cavern. “Is that water?” I inquired.

  “There is a small pool of water within the shadows,” Kobal confirmed.

  He drew me up when I was a foot away from the edge. Leaning cautiously forward, my mouth dropped open when I spotted what lay beneath us.

  CHAPTER 36

  River

  It was like all the pictures I’d ever seen of exploding volcanoes, lava flows, and forest fires, had combined to become the fiery wave of what snapped and sparked beneath our feet. The fires were the color of rage itself—a red so potent and vibrant it made anger slither through my chest and my fingers itch to claw at something.

  Not even the vibrant oranges and yellows mixed in with the red could ease the mood of what seethed below. The fires rolled over one another as they surged upward. They were a couple hundred feet beneath us, but when they leapt upward, the flames stopped only ten feet below, and the sparks from the fires shot up to float through the air around us.

  “It’s so…”
I had no words for this. So what? Angry? Beautiful? Terrifying? Awing? It was all of those things and so much more. There was history here and a power so potent I could taste the spicy tang of it.

  Golden-white light arced across my fingers and over my wrists. As if in response, the fires surged higher, nearly brushing over the rocks beneath our feet.

  “How did you possibly survive coming from here?” I asked as the others moved closer to see what lay beyond.

  Kobal moved me back a step when another flame snapped at us. “It is what I am. The fires and I are connected as surely as the hounds and I are.”

  “Hence the temper,” I murmured.

  He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and pulled me further away. “We must get moving. Leave the supplies in here. We will return for them when we are done.”

  A couple of the skelleins dropped the bags of food supplies and water for me that they’d been carrying. I suspected they’d also placed some alcohol into those bags.

  “What happened to the top of the dome?” Hawk inquired.

  I turned back to find him peering at the scorched area over us that had drawn my attention. “That is what happened when I rose from the flames,” Kobal replied without glancing back at them.

  He slid his fingers through mine, but I focused on the demons and skelleins as they glanced between the fires, the dome, and Kobal. On their faces, I could see exactly what I was thinking: how painful had it been to rise from those fires?

  Love swelled deeper within me as I clung to him, needing to convey to him how much he meant to me, how much he meant to all those who followed him. If he felt any of it, he didn’t acknowledge it as he led me past more of the quartz rocks to another large slab on the other side of the cavern.

  His gaze fell to me before going to where the others had moved away from the fires and were striding toward us. Resolution carved the planes of their faces.

  “In the beginning, they followed you because the varcolac had always been their rightful ruler. Then they followed you because you stood up for them and defended them. You are far more powerful than they are, but you became one of them as well as their friend and ruler,” I murmured. I focused on Kobal once more. “Now they’ll follow you because they know.”

  He tilted his head to study me. “Know what?”

  “What you went through to rise for them.”

  “I only went through what every varcolac before me has.”

  “No. The entire dome would all be scorched from the numerous risings if that were true. Instead, it’s only marked in that one area above and it’s from you. Your rising was worse than any other before you, and though you’ve never said it, you know what I’m saying is true.” A muscle twitched in his jaw, and amber flashed through his eyes. “How bad was it?”

  His hand cupped my face. “It is the way of things, River. It was nothing compared to what the pain of losing you would be.”

  My mouth parted on a breath. “You make me fall more in love with you every day.”

  “That’s the plan.” His attention was pulled away from me when the others stopped behind us. His thumb stroked my cheek before he stepped away.

  “Beyond this slab are the seals,” he said. “If another one of them has fallen, be prepared for a wave of something to come rushing at us. I can feel that the hounds are still alive, but whatever has happened to them, or is keeping them from guarding the seals, is something that could possibly stop us too. No matter what it is, go for the kill.”

  Hawk pulled his gun from his holster. Bale rested her hand on his arm. “Canaghs can kill through sex and their power thrives on it, but they also have other abilities. You are faster and stronger now. If your fangs and claws haven’t come in yet, they will. Do not rely only on your human defenses for this.”

  “I won’t,” Hawk replied, but he kept his gun in hand.

  The skelleins all took a swig from their flasks before lifting their small swords. Their empty gazes focused on the slab. “We would like some more beer or at least some mjéod after this, Kobal,” Lix said. I had come to realize he was a little taller than the other skelleins. “We are running low.”

  “I’ll do what I can to get you some,” he assured them.

  They nodded their agreement. Corson already had his talons extended; his citrine eyes were narrowed on the slab as he waited for Kobal to open it. Beside him, Bale had the small sword she wore on her back in hand and a look on her face that said she’d slaughter anything in her way.

  Magnus already had an image of himself standing beside him, and as I watched, duplicates of the others came to life around us. I managed to keep myself from jumping when around me, three images of myself materialized. I gazed at them in wonder, more so because he sought to protect me the most.

  Kobal turned to me. “I know I won’t be able to convince you to stay in here.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  “Then you are to stay by my side.”

  “I will.” He continued to stare at me. “I promise. I will stay by your side.”

  Taking a deep breath, he finally seemed to accept my vow as he rested his palms against the slab. The umber light spread outward from him again, illuminating the rock and revealing the symbols carved into it. I braced my feet apart to prepare for what we were about to discover on the other side. I didn’t bother with my katana as my hands spread at my sides and golden-white light arced over my palms and wrists.

  ***

  Kobal

  The symbols on my arms pulsed with power as they connected with the rock. I didn’t know how it all worked within this cavern or with these stones, but I did know it was a power so primitive it felt as old as the creation of the three worlds housing the different species.

  Each varcolac who had risen before me possessed the ability to open and close the barriers to the Fires of Creation, whether it be from the symbols on their bodies or something else within them. My key to the barrier was my symbols, and I could feel them working within me to move the stone aside.

  The rock groaned before vibrating against my hands as the slab started to slide away from the wall. Stepping back, I glanced down at River and the golden-white light flashing over her arms. The vibrant power of this room had somehow restored the original color of her ability to her.

  I’d always known this chamber housed the most power in all of Hell, but I’d never expected it to fuel her in this way. However, I hadn’t fully expected her to be allowed inside the chamber, or the others for that matter. I had a feeling this place somehow knew exactly what she was, what she was here for, and that she was my Chosen. It would not harm her, not when she was seeking to protect us all. And it would not hurt the others when they had so resolutely stood by my side through everything.

  The rock settled into place with a puff of air that kicked dirt and dust up around us. Immediately, the coppery tang of blood and the rancid stench of rotting corpses washed over me. Beside me, River gagged at the putrid scent and her eyes watered, but she didn’t step away or cover her nose.

  Something screamed from the end of the rock tunnel before us. A tiny creature careened out of the shadows. I realized the seventy-ninth seal had fallen as I took in the panicked creature. The gobalinus waved its hands in the air, shrieking in distress as it ran in our direction. The two-foot-tall creature, the color of sludge, didn’t veer off its course as its piranha-like teeth snapped in the air. Warts marred its oval-shaped head and stuck out nearly an inch from its leathery flesh.

  I lifted my hand to set the thing on fire when, from the darkness, a hellhound leapt out and pounced on it before I could destroy it. The hound’s jaws clamped down on the small creature and it gulped it down in one swallow. River gasped beside me; behind me, the others took a startled step back as confusion emanated from them.

  The hounds weren’t trapped somewhere. They continued to guard the seals with their normal ferocity, yet the seals were falling. “What the fuck is going on here?” I hissed.

  “How is that possibl
e?” Magnus inquired.

  I didn’t know the answer to that, but we were about to find out. The hound lifted its head to me when I stepped out of the chamber. Its relief beat against me through the bond connecting us as Phenex and Crux stirred within me, seeking to break free and help their brethren. They would have to wait until I knew what we were up against. I couldn’t take the risk of something happening to one of them, even if the others hadn’t been harmed so far.

  The hound bounded toward me. It brushed against my side before turning and spinning away. It howled as it sped back toward the seals. A couple seconds of silence followed before dozens of howls erupted from beyond the tunnel.

  “They’re all alive and free,” Bale said.

  “And they’re still under Kobal’s control,” Magnus said.

  “What do you mean by that?” River demanded.

  “I have to admit, I did think there was a possibility Lucifer had figured out a way to gain control of them and turn them to his side,” Magnus replied. “I knew it was highly unlikely, but I wasn’t willing to discount any possibility. Now I have no idea what is going on.”

  “It’s time we find out,” I growled and strode briskly down the tunnel toward the seals.

  From around the corner, another gobalinus barreled toward us. Its yellow eyes shone in the dim light filtering into the tunnel. Before it could get near us, I shot a ball of fire at it, incinerating it where it stood.

  “What are those things?” River inquired.

  “Gobalinus,” I replied.

  “Goblins?”

  “That’s what humans turned them into. They’re lower-level demons who feed on flesh as well as souls. They survive mostly on flesh as they adapted to their surroundings and the shortage of souls in the lower levels.”

  From behind us, I heard the slab sliding back into place to secure the chamber. The stench of blood and decaying flesh grew more potent with every step we took. River remained steadfast by my side as the light circling her arms steadily darkened to a deep blue once more. Turning the corner, the first of the fallen seals came into view.