We burst through the opening and only one thing escaped me,
“Oh Hell no!” This of course was in response to the river of fire that cut off any means of escape. The space we walked into was a huge cavern like an underground air pocket in the mountain. I couldn’t actually tell what the river was but at least it wasn’t lava. The liquid looked like black water and was covered by a fluttering of blueish flames dancing on the surface. It was almost like there was an invisible layer of gas feeding the fire. I looked around and counted at least ten holes in the rock face where the dark water poured from and cascaded down into the river below.
“What do we do now?” I asked only to find him near the edge by a strange looking boat. It looked as if it was made of cast iron and held together by strips of metal and riveted together. It was bent, twisted and charred and there was absolutely no way I was getting in that thing!
It was a long, wide rowing boat and as I walked closer to Bill I was horrified by what I saw. There, mounted on the sides, were six mutilated bodies that had no legs. Each had all four limbs amputated above the joints with their arms removed for a purpose. On the sides of the boat closest to the water these poor souls had prosthetic contraptions that attached to the oars for rowing. And if that wasn’t torturous enough then they also had their eyelids and mouths sewn shut. It was disgustingly dreadful.
“Oh no! No, no, no I am not getting on that thing, for starters I remember my last boat trip in Hell and that was quite enough for one lifetime thank you very much.”
“I’ll grant ya it ain’t no Mississippi river boat…” At this my laugh interrupted him and I looked past him to the creature at the stern of the boat that obviously controlled the disfigured lackeys. She too was missing her limbs and also mounted in what looked like an iron chastity belt. The obvious difference was that not only was she a woman, if her large naked breasts were to go by but also attached to the metal stumps on her arms were long whips that were meant for only one purpose.
“You think?” I said in response to the Mississippi comment. He nodded behind me at the shadows of Harpie bodies making their way through the passageway as they were nearly here.
“Okey dokey, creepy ass boat it is!” I said walking past him to said creepy ass boat.
“I thought so.” He said in all smugness, one I would let slide in light of the killer horde that wanted to render me like the unfortunate limbless souls that were strapped to this boat. To be honest the balance of insanity only just tipped towards me getting on the boat and if my rock climbing had been any better then I might have taken my chances playing spider monkey.
Once on the boat Bill stepped up to what I presumed was called the captain creepo and I watched him pull a leather coin bag from his pocket. He then flipped her a coin which amazingly she caught in her mouth and then swallowed it. It kind of reminded me of the action of a sea lion and I wasn’t far wrong in thinking about this like a freak show. If that was the case then did that make Bill the ring master?
In the middle of the boat was a black worn chesterfield couch with an overly sized high back that curled over at the top. I sat down in it not knowing what else to do and half expected to be cast off this death ride for doing something wrong. Bill came to sit down next to me and we set off just in time as all the harpies had just burst through the opening at once.
“Won’t they just be able to fly and get us?” I asked looking frantic with worry we would be sitting ducks out here, ripe for the limb picking.
“You watch now, it will be like hazing a tenderfoot.”
“Uh…a what now?” I asked having no clue what a tenderfoot was. In the end the sight of them all stopping near the edge and snarling as we drifted further away from them caught my attention.
“Why won’t they fly…oh…eww” I cut myself off when I saw one try its luck and as soon as it flew over the water it caught alight and was burnt to ash in seconds.
“No don’t you go worrying that pretty little head of yours darlin’, anything in this boat is safe as long as it stays in the boat, you get me?”
“Oh yes, loud and clear.” I said thinking he was going to be hard pushed even getting me out of this damn thing once we got to wherever we were going. I let things settle in my mind or more like the racing of my heart calm down and I only accomplished this if I didn’t look at the gruesome creatures that were powering this boat. The sounds of the lash hitting flesh made me flinch every time she threw her whip and I got the feeling Bill wanted to comfort me but didn’t know how. However I did receive a pat on the leg and an ‘It’s alright little lady’.
For what felt a long time nothing was said and after giving my mind time to bombard myself with unanswered questions I had to speak out.
“So let me get this straight, Aurora somehow managed to close the Janus gate, the way we both came in?”
“I reckon so and she wouldn’t have done it alone either, I’d bet my whiskey on it.” He said patting a hip flask that was tucked into his leather waistcoat pocket. I couldn’t see what was written on it but I was sure it had a picture of the devil on it.
“Seth.” I said his name on a hiss knowing now they were in league with each other. It made me wonder if his fake concern for RJ had just been a ploy to stay at Afterlife for this reason and if so, what were they planning exactly? And another thing I couldn’t understand was why they needed me alive or more importantly who needed me alive?
“You think that’s the Boot-licker that helped the charlatan trick you down here?”
“She mentioned leaving to be with him so it all makes sense why he didn’t help us at the Temple until the very end.” I said looking out at the vast wasteland we had been travelling down for a while.
“Temple?” Bill asked and I turned back to him and offered him a small smile before saying,
“It’s a long story.” To which he nodded back to the wasteland and said,
“I think we got time Little Miss.”
I had to laugh and looking at the blue flames flickering in the line we travelled down as far as the eye could see I decided he was right, we certainly had time. So I said the one thing that was necessary if I was going to tell him all that had happened,
“Call me Keira.”
The rest of the way we both shared information with each other. For example I told him everything that had happened to do with not only what was happening now but also what had happened last year with Draven pretending to be dead so that a prophecy that claimed he would take my life would never happen. When hearing this he referred the fates as being as useful as a bull with tits to which I burst out laughing in a fit of snorts. I think at one point he was worried I couldn’t breathe because he started patting my back and he continued to do so until I held up my hand and said,
“I’m good.”
In return he told me that this was the only way he knew of that could get us out of Tartarus because unless you had the right payment then it wasn’t possible. I asked more into this and he told me that having the right coin to pay the right ferryman was not something you could easily come by and with the barriers back in place it was literally the only other way in or out now the Janus gate had been disabled.
I remembered my own coin and the way it had taken me straight to the Prince of Lust or better known as Daddy Draven. So I gathered this was the way everything was done around here and in some way it made sense and I looked at it almost like a bus token. When I said as much it was Bill’s turn to laugh.
When I asked him what he was in Hell exactly he told me he worked as a bounty hunter collecting the souls of the ‘wanted’ or ‘marked’ as they were also known. I was really keen to hear more about this but as soon as I mentioned Draven’s name he shut down. It didn’t take a genius to know there was obviously no love lost between the two and even thought I really wanted to know I decided to leave this well alone. So instead I asked more about the ‘Dead man’s hand’ he had in his hat thinking that as he had already mentioned this once before it obviously wa
sn’t a touchy subject.
He explained his story and told me he was mainly remembered for his services in Kansas as sheriff of Hays City. But he also was a marshal of Abilene, where his ironhanded rule helped to tame two of the most lawless towns on the frontier. As you can imagine he said this with pride and I could understand how he accomplished this seeing how good a shot he was. I didn’t know much about the Wild West but what I did know from listening to my Grandad talk about watching his westerns was that the only thing that mattered for a longer life back then was how good your shot was.
I asked him if this was the case how he ended up playing poker and his answer was simple.
“If ain’t no longer broken then it don’t need fixin now does it.” To which my answer was just a simple sounding,
“Ah.”
“Besides, after one particular gunfight I no longer had a taste for using my lead for killing.” This surprised me and I wanted to know more but I could tell not to push it as his face said enough…guilt.
So after that he moved on to his other talents and that was usually with a deck of cards. He told me how he was known to be able to shoot all six rounds without sighting his pistol at the ace of spades from fifty yards away. Each was of course a direct hit at the spade, which was ironic he always used this card considering he was holding it when he died.
I asked him about it and was surprised he talked about it with ease. He told me while in Deadwood Dakota Wild Bill Hickok became a regular poker player at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. One afternoon a man came in and sat down at his table to try his luck but he didn’t know at the time his own luck at who should be sat opposite him and the offer he would receive. During the game the stranger told him he had heard about his recent brush with death by one young drifter by the name of Jack McCall.
Jack McCall had the belief that if he killed himself a famous gunfighter that he too would become famous for the act. Of course he was right but that fame wouldn’t last him long whilst still breathing. Less than a year later after avoiding his trial it only took two days once they had in him custody to find McCall guilty and on March 1, 1877 he was executed by hanging. And to the rest of the mortal world that was the end of it. And if the person he had been playing poker with at the time hadn’t have sat in that chair opposite him then it would have been.
But instead he gave Wild Bill Hickok, famous gunfighter of the west an offer he couldn’t refuse. He told me at first he thought that the man was not sound of mind but after proving to him he had certain gifts that could not be proven as false he decided getting drunk was the best answer.
“Well it was either finding my answers at the bottom of a bottle or at the end of my gun.”
“So what happened next?” I asked him, almost forgetting our grim surroundings and folding up my legs on the seat like a small child getting lost in the story.
“Well I got full as a tick and after taking my last shot and talking too fast and thinking too slow, I agreed if he won the game I would accept his offer.” I smiled knowing he obviously lost but I still had to ask,
“What hand did he win with?”
“Royal flush, yeah, that Big Bug city slicker had me good! I just put my hand on the table and the next thing I know that Dang, Young Whippersnapper, a boy so slow he couldn’t catch a cold had shot me in the back like some yellow belly, lowdown, dirty, sneaking polecat and then ran out the door before my head hit the table!” He said slapping his hands together to add the sound effects of him hitting the table.
“So what did you bargain for?”
“My soul.” He said calmly as if he was talking about making a deal for a horse and a packet of tobacco.
“In exchange for what?!” I shouted a bit too loudly.
“Calm your little britches Miss Keira, it all turnedout just shiny.” He went on to explain that the reason this ‘Big Bug’, which I found out was cowboy slang for big boss man, had come to that table because he’d heard of his skills at finding people. Of course none of those skills meant much if they belonged to a mortal so all the boss had to do was sit back and wait for something he knew was about to happen.
Bill had given him his soul in exchange for eternal life as a demon on the grounds that as soon as he completed the job he would be granted his soul back and be a free demon to do as he pleased. I had thought this wasn’t a bad deal until I found out that he still hadn’t completed the job, hence still having a ‘Big Bug’ to answer to.
“It ain’t all bad, not considering we became pretty good comrades over the years spent together, besides his cause is a sound one.” Bill said playing with what I now noticed was a strange coin hung from a black leather thong around his neck. It almost looked like two coins back to back held together by what looked like…
“Is that a bullet?” I asked getting distracted and reaching over to touch it.
“Hey what ya…” I didn’t hear the end of what he said because as soon as my fingertips came into contact with the coins I was a goner! The last thing I felt was my eyes roll back up in my head and my mind went blank.
“Hey now, come on little bean, your horse is getting restless.” I heard Bill’s voice speaking to me and felt fingers prodding at my face.
“For fuck sake Jim, she doesn’t have a bloody horse and probably doesn’t understand a fuckin word you say!” I felt myself frown at the voice that was familiar but one I hadn’t heard in a long while so I couldn’t be sure. And who was Jim?
“Bill? Where’s Bill?” I heard myself ask in a croaky voice that was starting to get panicky.
“Calling me Jim might not be firing all rounds Corncracker, seeing as she knows and trusts me as Bill!” I could tell it was Bill’s voice saying this without any doubt so had to wonder if Jim wasn’t his real name?
“Come on Darlin’ open those pretty eyes for us.” I had to wonder who the ‘us’ was and knew the only way I would find out is if I did what he asked. So I opened my eyes and Bill said,
“Good girl, now this here is the Big Bug I was telling you about.” As soon as my vision cleared like it does first thing in the morning after a heavy sleep I ended up shouting the one name I least expected to…
“Jared?!
Chapter 65
Ride Em Out Cowboys
I couldn’t believe when I woke up I was bombarded with the craziest sense of déjà vu and there was an easy answer as to why. I not only opened my eyes to the handsome sight of Jared stood over me but also the sight of an entrance to an entirely different type of Hell.
“Is that the Hellfire caves?” I asked getting up slowly and putting a hand to my head as I felt like I would pass out again at the slightest movement. I didn’t know what had happened when I touched that damn coin but now I felt like my mind had been violated!
“It is Kitten.” He almost purred my name and it took me back to the first time we ever met in his underground fight club. A pair of silver grey eyes was all it took for me to fall apart and burst into tears. I felt myself being picked up and placed in someone’s lap and when I heard Jared’s soft voice whispering in my ear words of comfort, I knew I finally felt safe.
“I made it…I…mmm…made…it…I…” I sobbed feeling the past hours of life threatening experiences finally float away just in the arms of someone I truly trusted and one I called friend. Poor Bill didn’t know where to put himself and in the end told Jared he would give us a moment alone.
“I know pet, I know.” He hummed smoothing back my hair. It took me a while to pull myself together and I felt embarrassed after my meltdown but I knew the whole experience had just topped my limit. There is something so mentally challengingly about survival that when it is achieved you become so overwhelmed and thankful for it that you need to get it out and express it anyway you can. Some people shout and dance about it. Some people pray and offer their thanks to the Lord they believe in. And some people, just like me, bawl like a baby to the first person they care about.
“You good?” Jared asked me after I had finally started
breathing normally and was no longer washing his t-shirt disgustingly with my snotty nose. I tried to wipe it as I moved away to which he just laughed.
“No worries Kitten, you should see me drool after a pretty girl when I’m…”
“All beasty?” I said interrupting him on a laugh and he smirked at me.
“Yeah, all beasty.” He repeated shaking his head at me and running a hand over his dark charcoal colour hair that for once was free from its usual leather tie.
“Eww by the way.” I said as he gave me his rough hand to help me up. You could tell he was a biker alright just from the look of his hands, well that and his boots.
They were the same cracked leather ones I had always seen him wearing with the laces only tied halfway up the calf. One flopped over more than the other and heavy buckles gave them that bad ass look he seemed to have down so well.
“I will give you ‘eww’ in a minute if you don’t get your sweet ass on my bike.” He said nodding to a group that must have been his biker posse.
“Why, where are we going?” I asked noticing his mammoth sized brother whose black skin looked like silky chocolate you just wanted to lick. He too was a handsome man but it was hard not to be afraid of him as the dude looked like he could snap my bones and then use them to pick his teeth after a Keira BBQ!
“Where do you think Doll, we gotta get you to a party!” He said winking at me.
“Uh, I think we have got more important things to think about other than a party, don’t you?”
“Oh I know you won’t want to miss this one, not considering who will be on the guest list.” I almost snarled out her name,
“Aurora.”
“The one and only Titan bitch.”
“But wait…” I said reaching out and holding him back by the arm. He stopped, turning back to me and followed my gaze to where Bill stood shaking hands with some of Jared’s men.
The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) Page 22