By the time he finished speaking, his voice sounded identical to River’s. There would be no telling them apart, not by anyone other than me. River managed to close her mouth, but she continued to stare at him in dumbfounded wonder.
Finally, she turned back to the battle before us. Lucifer’s demons were carving their way across the field of bodies littering the ground. The upper-level ones moved in behind the lowers, convinced they would be able to attack with ease once their lesser counterparts were dispatched of.
A barta backhanded a hound, sending it flying across the room to smash against the wall. I snarled as the hound whimpered and rose unsteadily to its feet. Rage fueled me as I released a wall of fire into the lower-level demons and sent them spiraling backward across the floor.
The barta demons shook the fire off their mangy coats and turned back toward us. They hunched their shoulders up before releasing a roar. The others took up defensive positions around me and River as they prepared for the creatures to charge us.
River’s hand rested on my arm, drawing my gaze to her. “The bartas, I can take care of them,” she whispered. My gaze ran over her pale face and the circles under her eyes as she thrust her shoulders back. “I can do it.”
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked her.
“Yes.” She kept hold of my arm, ignoring the flames circling around it as she lifted it into the air before her. The flames wouldn’t hurt her, but still I tried to douse them. “Leave them burning.”
Over the top of the scattered remains, the bartas leapt forward as her midnight blue light raced up to mix with the flames engulfing my arm. Her sparks rippled over my flesh, the power in them enhancing my fire.
“Call the hounds back,” she said as another barta sent one flying through the air.
“Harga!” I commanded in demonish.
Displeasure surged through the bond connecting me and the hounds; their irritation at being called back beat against me, but they slipped through the carnage they had created and toward me. Two of them were carrying the arms of a barta demon in their powerful jaws. They fanned out before us to form a protective line. All of their thick black coats were slick with blood, but they were hungry for more as they eyed the bartas coming toward us.
The bartas’ red eyes shone as they advanced; their jagged fangs hung over the lower jaw of their snout. The lower-levels who hadn’t been destroyed by my fire managed to regain their feet behind the bartas. The demons’ skin was mottled red and charbroiled in many places, but stupidly they would come back for more.
River’s hand grew warmer against my arm. The others glanced nervously at each other as the bartas steadily progressed toward us. Twelve feet… ten feet…
“River,” Hawk said.
“A few feet closer,” River whispered.
Seven feet…
CHAPTER 43
River
A heart attack was not out of the question, I realized. Sweat coated my palms, and my throat had gone completely dry, yet I waited for the hideous creatures to come closer. If I couldn’t do this, they would be almost on us when I failed. There would be no fending them off.
Six feet…
The bartas hunched their backs and thrust their shoulders forward in a move I recognized as their physical preparation to spring at their enemy. My nails dug into Kobal’s arm. A fresh surge of power from him flooded my sapped body as the bartas raced forward.
Lifting my other hand, I released a blast of life so powerful that Kobal and the others turned their heads away from the radiant flash bursting across the room. I moved the light coming from my open palm over the creatures barreling at us. The life force crashed into each one of them, only knocking them back a few feet.
My shoulders heaved, and I struggled to get air into my lungs as the bartas stared down at their chests before lifting their hideous red gazes to all of us once more. They all released a strange chittering noise that sounded a lot like laughter. My ability hadn’t affected the other barta I’d killed during Magnus’s training at first either, but there were over a dozen of them gathered before us now.
What if it didn’t work? If it didn’t work, we’d be barta food.
Raising his arm, Kobal pressed it against my chest as he moved me back a step. His claws lengthened, and flames burst from his hands and over his body as one of the bartas took another step toward us. Hawk lifted his gun to take aim, but before he could fire a bullet, the barta stopped and stared in confusion at his chest.
The barta demon emitted a strange chh, chh, chh sound. The one behind him quickly picked up the sound as they glanced at each other before focusing on their chests again. The first one raised its claws to its chest, and like the one I’d destroyed before, it began to tear at its own flesh until it exposed its ribcage.
Kobal spun and wrapped me in his arms as a loud pop resounded through the cavern. Though Kobal shielded me with his body, I still saw the spray of blood bursting over him and splattering the wall behind us. More pops filled the air and more blood sprayed the walls around us as the bartas’ hearts exploded.
Kobal released me, but kept me behind him as he spun to face Lucifer’s group. I stepped out from behind his back to survey the wreckage of the bartas sprawled out around us. Beside me, the disconcerting mirage of Magnus as me was covered in blood. Magnus’s eyes met mine before the blood vanished from his countenance.
I couldn’t suppress a shudder at the spectacle of blood vanishing from my face like that. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head to take in Lucifer and the surviving demons across from us. After encountering the two lower-level demons at The Gateway truck stop with Azote, I found them easier to differentiate from the upper-levels.
Morax may have a tail and horns, but it was nothing compared to these grotesque monsters we currently faced. Some had pig snouts like the ones from The Gateway, others had cloven hooves and jackal faces. Others had alligator tails and jaws, while some resembled animals I’d never seen before, and a few were a cross between many different animals, some of which I assumed were also creatures who resided within the bowels of Hell.
My gaze settled on Lucifer standing amongst them. He was nearly as tall as Kobal, but lean with a powerful, whipcord-like frame. I held his empty black eyes as he grinned at me. He folded his arms over his chest when he leaned back to survey me. I hated the smug look on his face; if it was the last thing I did, I would destroy him.
“Stay here,” Kobal commanded.
“No!” I cried when he broke away from us and bounded through the piles of carnage with an ease matched only by the hounds running at his side.
I took a stumbling step after him and almost fell when my legs gave out on me. Magnus grabbed me back and pulled me against his side. I bit my lip as I turned to take in the ashen hue of Magnus’s face, or my face as it were. Nearly black circles surrounded his eyes, the blue veins beneath his skin were visible in the corners of his eyes. My fingers drifted to the corners of my own eyes before my head turned in the direction of Kobal.
I may be drained, and I may look like a corpse, but I’d still kill anything that tried to injure him. I tried to jerk my arm free of Magnus. He held on tight as Kobal dodged past one lower-level demon and then another.
Corson, Bale, and Hawk rushed forward behind him. “Let me go!” I shouted at Magnus, and a burst of fire shot up from my hands to encircle my arms.
Magnus yelped and released me. Free of his grasp, I ran forward. I kept my gaze focused ahead as Kobal sliced the throat of one demon before setting fire to another one. My foot caught on a tangled gargoyle wing. I nearly sprawled into the twisted mess beneath my feet, but Magnus had followed me through the carnage. He grabbed my arm again to jerk me up beside him.
“Wait!” he barked in my ear, jerking me back when I would have raced forward again. “You are weakened! If you go rushing in there right now, you’ll be playing into Lucifer’s hands, and though I’m willing to go with you, I’d prefer not to be captured because of rash stupidity
.”
I shot him a ferocious look, but even as I was contemplating clawing his eyes out, my knees knocked together, and I almost sank into the pile of remains around my feet. He pulled me upright again. I opened my mouth to shout at him that I had to do something as Kobal reached Lucifer.
Satisfaction gleamed in Lucifer’s eyes when he braced his legs in preparation for Kobal leaping at him.
“No,” I moaned when Lucifer’s black batwings spread out to nearly touch the sides of the tunnel he stood in.
One of those foot-long silver spikes lashed out at Kobal, slicing across his shoulder. I cried out when his blood spilled over his bronzed skin. Instead of going straight at Lucifer, Kobal darted to the side at the last second. Fire burst over his back to engulf his whole body. My breath caught in my throat, and I lurched forward when Kobal seized Lucifer’s shoulders and swung him toward the center of the cavern with so much force that Lucifer became a blur as he spun through the air.
Lucifer’s wings flapped, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from bouncing across the body parts littering the floor when he landed. At the entrance to the tunnel, Kobal leapt into the air and swung his arm up. His claws embedded in the thick, black rock twenty feet above where the angels and demons stood.
He swung his legs up so he gripped the rock of the entranceway with his knees and feet too. Using his free arm, he lifted it up and swung it at the rock at the same time a burst of fire erupted from his palm. The surface indented, and fissures burst over the rock face when his fist pummeled into it. He lifted his hand and drove it into the rock again. More fissures spread throughout as pebbles and dust rained down on the demons beneath him.
I couldn’t breathe as his powerful muscles bunched and flexed with his movements. I’d never been more in awe of someone before as I watched him move. One of the angels swung a wing up, slicing across Kobal’s back and spilling his blood.
I screamed in fury and threw my free hand up. Drained more than I’d ever been before, only a small burst of fire erupted from me, but it shot across the room and hit the offending angel with enough force to knock his next swing off balance.
The silver point of his wing drove into the roof of the tunnel instead of Kobal’s back. The rest of the demons turned toward me; smiles stretched across their faces as they all realized Magnus and I stood within the center of the cavern. Another angel unfolded her wings in preparation of taking flight, either at us or at Kobal.
A few of the demons stepped forward as the rock Kobal had latched onto gave way with a thunderous crash. Magnus jerked me back when I screamed again and lurched forward. My heart lodged in my throat as Kobal’s body was driven down by the force of the collapsing entranceway.
Dust and rocks rushed outward from the tunnel, pushing some of the hounds, a couple of skelleins, and Bale back into the cavern as debris spilled into the room. Lucifer had regained his feet. Corson and Hawk circled him with the rest of the hounds and a few of the skelleins, but they froze to watch the continuing avalanche.
Rock piled over rock in a clattering wave I didn’t think would ever stop. The black dust rising to fill the air became so thick I couldn’t see through it to where Kobal had fallen beneath the rocks.
“Magnus,” I breathed when the last of the rocks clattered into place. The silence following the deafening roar of the collapse was broken by that one word.
Anguish twisted in my heart. Not dead. I would know if he was, but if Kobal was at the bottom of that pile…
Oh God. My hand flew to my mouth; I choked on the dust-filled air. I didn’t care what it would take, what I would have to do, I would get him out of there.
The thick dust settled on the remains around us and plumed into the opening above us before slowly receding to reveal more of the avalanche and rocks now spreading almost to the center of the cavern. Those who had been closest to the collapse had a layer of black coating them.
Magnus’s hand tightened on my elbow as more of the cavern became visible through the receding dust. There was still no sign of Kobal beneath the twenty-foot pile in front of us, but I didn’t see how there could be with all of that rubble piled onto him.
Magnus yanked me back as three lower-level demons and four upper-levels who had been trapped in the cavern with us turned in our direction. None of the angels, aside from Lucifer, had made it to this side of the collapse. In fact, most of Lucifer’s followers had been effectively cut off from us.
CHAPTER 44
River
Magnus turned me toward him; his eyes scanned over me. More blue lines formed around his eyes, the circles shading his eyes darkened, and his skin took on an ashen hue as lips paled. I realized this was what I looked like now before he turned away from me. All around us, dozens more images of me shimmered into view.
“Whatever happens, whatever Lucifer tries to do, you take care of you first,” he said in my ear. “You are what is most important right now. Unless it becomes absolutely necessary, do not use your powers. I cannot mimic those and right now you are not strong enough to inflict any serious damage.”
“Kobal—” I started.
“Is alive. You know that.”
Before I could respond, he lifted me up and ran with me toward the entrance of the broken seals. Near the first one, he dove down, rolling over and over until the world blurred around me, and I wasn’t sure if it was my black hair or his battering my face. Somewhere along the way, the strap of my katana caught on something and was torn free. Above me, the weapon vanished from Magnus’s mirage of me.
My head spun when we finally came to a stop with my back flat against the wall of the first broken seal. Gunshots burst through the room seconds before the whistling of the wind reached my ears. Magnus leapt away from me and ran deeper into the seals. Black hair whipped like a banner behind him as did the ends of his dress.
Lucifer flew overhead, his gaze went between me and the receding Magnus before he flapped his wings once more and honed in on Magnus as he disappeared around a corner.
“River?” My attention was torn away from the disconcerting scene of Lucifer chasing clone me when Corson fell to his knees before me. His talons clashed against the floor of the seal, sending sparks flying up around us.
“Yes…” I swallowed in an attempt to get words out of my choked throat. “Yes, it’s me.”
I felt like a rag doll as he effortlessly lifted me off the ground and propped me against the wall. Another flap of wings jerked my head around as Lucifer soared into view with Magnus clasped in his hands. Magnus’s legs kicked in the air; his hands beat against Lucifer’s, but it did little good as Lucifer flew in low and dropped Magnus into the center of the pit.
Some of the images of me that Magnus had conjured vanished as he fell through them. Hawk opened fire, emptying the last of his bullets into Lucifer as he rose high into the cavern before turning and swooping toward Hawk. He tossed the gun away, widened his stance, and held out his hands as he braced for Lucifer.
Instead of diving down to snatch him up, Lucifer thrust the bottom spikes of his wings forward and drove them into Hawk’s shoulders. Hawk shouted as Lucifer pulled his legs up and propelled Hawk backward into the wall of the cavern. I lurched forward, trying to go over the top of Corson, but he shoved me back and pinned me against the wall.
“No emotion!” he hissed at me under his breath.
I hadn’t realized until now that Bale had moved herself into a position to protect Magnus as had some of the skelleins and hounds. I had no idea if they knew which one of us was the real one or not. Some of the other hounds crept toward Corson and me while the others formed a barrier between Lucifer’s remaining followers and the rest of us.
Hawk lifted his chin as Lucifer set his feet down. Lucifer twisted the spikes deeper, causing Hawk to wince, but he didn’t make another sound. My gut clenched as shouts to stop burned in my throat. I somehow managed to keep them from spilling forth as Lucifer’s head swiveled to look from Magnus to me then back again.
“
Which one of you is it?” he inquired in a velvety smooth tone.
I had a feeling he could find out which one of us it was, but he was looking to draw out Hawk’s torture. Removing one spike from Hawk’s shoulder, he pulled it back and drove it into Hawk’s stomach. “No!” I blurted at the same time Magnus yelled, “It’s me!”
A smile curved Lucifer’s mouth as he twisted the tip deeper. Hawk groaned and grabbed at the tip, but though his muscles bulged, he couldn’t pull Lucifer’s wing free. His face flushed as he struggled to keep Lucifer from digging deeper into his flesh.
“Think of the millions who will die. Stay still,” Corson whispered to me.
My hands fell on Corson’s shoulders; I went to push him away, but I froze when his words sank in. If Lucifer got his hands on me…
It would all be over. Everything we were fighting for would be lost. He may not be able to make me do what he wanted, though he would no doubt do everything he could to try to bend me to his will. However, if he made it out of Hell, with or without my compliance, there would be nothing left worth fighting for anymore.
Hawk was my friend, I’d risked everything to save him before, but the stakes were so much higher in here. I was weak now, barely standing. I wouldn’t be able to battle Lucifer as I had Lilitu, and all of those surrounding me now would most likely die because of it. Inhaling a ragged breath, I lifted my head to find Lucifer’s black eyes on me. He looked to Magnus when he took a staggering step forward with his hand stretched out.
Lucifer dug the spikes deeper, spilling more of Hawk’s blood and causing him to cry out. My fingers dug into Corson’s shoulders. I would forever hate myself for standing by and allowing Hawk to suffer because of me.
One life or millions?
No life was worth more than any other, but millions… millions of them!
Corson thrust his shoulders back before me as Lucifer’s gaze burned into me while he twisted his wing deeper into Hawk. Hawk screamed once more, and I was unable to stop myself from flinching as tears burned my eyes and sorrow swelled within my chest.
The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3) Page 31