by AJ Mullican
She looks up at me, her eyes now bright red from the crying. Or maybe from the arid atmosphere in here. Could be both. “We have to find Ben first. If they have Ben, they’ve got access to both carnal and incubus magic, plus a fresh body to put one of themselves in. Poor Ben would’ve been a ripe target even if he hadn’t been born down here, but now? Now I’m sure they’re going to possess him. They’re going to make my baby old before I ever get to feed him or rock him or even hold him.”
Aw, crap. I don’t have a counter to that, because Lena’s probably right. I doubt the demons would hesitate to dump someone in a body with the kind of potential Ben has—probably someone important to them. Their leader, whoever that may be.
I wonder who that leader is. Not Asmodeus, because He doesn’t want Hell on Earth to come about. That doesn’t mean one of the other Princes doesn’t want it, though, and I start to suspect that once we find Ben, we’ll come face-to-possessed-face with the mastermind behind all this. After seeing the magnitude of this endeavor, I doubt that a low-level succubus like Rukhsana could have orchestrated the whole thing, let alone have a plan set up for after her death. But if not Asmodeus, which Prince is it? There are seven of them, right? I should’ve paid attention in Sunday school when I was a kid.
“Lena, tell me more about the Princes. Not Asmodeus—we know He’s a dick, but He’s not behind this. So what about the others? Who are we looking at here?”
Lena blinks, as though the question catches her off guard. “Well, there’s basically one for each deadly sin. As you already know, Asmodeus is the Prince of Lust. Then there’s Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Envy, and Sloth.”
“And they are…?”
“Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Mammon, Leviathan, and Belphegor.”
I frown and look at her sideways. “Aren’t Lucifer and Satan the same dude?”
Lena shrugs. “Depends on who you’re reading. I guess They got merged somewhere when the lore was forming, but They weren’t originally the same. Lucifer’s pride led to His fall, or the fall of the Morning Star, and Satan’s wrath led Him to start a war with God.”
“Hm.” I pause to think about this information. Asmodeus is off the list, because despite His assholery, I believe He’s genuine in His desire to protect the Earth for the sake of His grandson. Belphegor seems like a poor choice, because why would a lazy-ass demon Prince want to go to all this trouble? Envy? Maybe. Maybe Leviathan got jealous of the sweet Earth life that humans get to have. Greed? That’s a possibility, too. Gluttony? Nah. Cross off Beelzebub. So that leaves Lucifer, Satan, Mammon, and Leviathan.
I decide to cross off Lucifer, too. From what little I recall, He’s a pretty boy, and that doesn’t jive with the kind of madness we’re dealing with here. So we’re down to Envy, Greed, and Wrath. Well, if they’re turning Earth into Hell, that kind of seems stupid if you’re envious of Earth life or greedy for an Earth life of your own, so they’re out.
But starting a war with your creator and later on scheming to turn the home of God’s chosen children into an evil domain of hellfire and torture? That sounds like a pretty wrathful thing to do.
Shit. They’re going to try to put Satan into little Ben’s body.
Lena’s eyes meet mine, and from the murderous look I see in them, she’s come to the same conclusion I have.
“That fucking snake is going to pay when I get my hands on him!”
I don’t doubt it—but how? Would my magic exorcise a full-on Prince of Hell? Can Lena’s? Sure, she exorcised Lilith from Callie, but how can we possibly hope to exorcise Satan Himself?
Molli? It’s Cal. Any luck on finding my sister?
Oh, shit! I’d forgotten Callie was staying in “radio” contact with me. I hope I didn’t inadvertently let any bad thoughts through the link. She’s here, Callie. She’s safe. How are you guys? I don’t know how to break the news about Ben, so I decide to take the coward’s way out and leave it to Lena to explain.
Yes, I know; I’m a terrible person.
We’re fine. Taking out clumps of demons at a time, but for some weird reason, they’re mostly leaving us alone. Nobody’s been badly hurt, but Billy’s limping. He’s trying to tell me he’s fine, but I worry that something’s broken. He won’t even let Cherry or Holden stop to heal it, though. At first I think that’s the end of the conversation, but after a long pause Callie’s thoughts return to my head. What about Ben? Is he okay?
Crap.
I glance at Lena and point at my head. “Callie’s on the line. Wants to know how Ben is. Do you want me to field that question?” I really hope she says “no.”
With a heavy sigh Lena sits up straighter, and her eyes unfocus. Seconds pass without a word or sound from her, and I feel guilty for not womaning up and delivering the bad news myself.
Her baby blues snap back to reality, and she closes them and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Great. Now Kam thinks he’s going to go kill Satan.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I say with a shrug. “I mean, he would’ve braved death itself to come find you again. He almost didn’t care if I removed the death mark that the other demons had put on him, so long as he got you to safety before it killed him.”
“Death mark?”
I take my finger and draw the design from Kamran’s arm into the dirt between us. “This. It was branded on him—tattooed, whatever—and he said it activated when he left this Hell. I guess the other guys have them, too, but I figure they’re safe enough while they’re on the inside, so the faster we find them the better. I can get the marks off no problem, but we have to get back to everybody else first. We need to find them and get the Hell out of, well, Hell.”
With shaking hands, Lena takes off her cardigan and fashions it into a kind of wrap skirt, tying the sleeves to secure it around her waist. She holds Oren’s shirt out to him, and he takes it without a word. Lena sniffles, wiping her nose on the hem of her sleeve.
“Death mark I guess is a good enough term for it. Life leech might be better. Those things summon lesser demons that prey on life energies. Whoever has one of these marks is damned to die a horrible, painful death as the leech literally drains their life force bit by bit.” She sighs and scrubs her face with her hands. “I guess I owe you a debt of gratitude. You saved Kam’s life, and you’ve offered to save the others. So thanks.”
I put a hand on her shoulder and give it a squeeze. “We will save them. All of them. But first, are you okay? Oren and I can’t find any spells on you, no harmful demonic magics, and no injuries. So, like,” I make a wide, sweeping gesture at the desolate landscape, “wanna get off the ground and get started?”
Lena’s face softens, and she smiles. “You really think we can find them in this wasteland?”
I tap the center of her chest. “Your heart will lead us to them, Lena. You’re connected to all of them—Ben, the incubi, your sister—through your life-lights. I can see those lights, track them. It’s how we found you.”
With Kalen’s help, Lena gets to her feet. She dusts off her cardigan and tightens the knot on the sleeves. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you can track my fucking pants?”
Chapter 24
“Where to first, Lena?” I scratch the back of my head and look down at the array of lifelines emanating from her chest. “I mean, I’m sure you want to find Ben, but we’ve got to consider that we might need the others as backup if we’re going to exorcise Satan Himself from your son.”
Lena runs a hand through her hair, getting her fingers stuck on a tangle. “Fuck. I guess you’ve got a point.” Her face crumples for a second, but she regains her composure and blinks back the welling tears. “I really want to see my son, though. My heart hurts, Molli. Like, literally in pain.”
“Molli, you can determine which soulbond connects to little Ben?”
I nod in answer to Oren’s question. Any idiot would know that the brightest life-light has to lead to her own flesh and blood; no need to inspect the lights that closely.
&n
bsp; “Then it is settled. We shall endeavor to find your son, Lena. A mother should not have to fear for the safety of her child.”
My heart warms at Oren’s paternal reaction. He may not have children of his own—yet—but he understands Lena’s desire to find her son over anything else. Once again I wonder if I should try to undo Rhiannon’s sterilization magic, but again I hesitate. I just don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of responsibility at this point in my life.
After a quick back-and-forth between Lena and Callie to let her and the Hunters in on our plan, we head off in the direction of Ben’s life-light. Kalen takes the lead again, and I guide us through the Hellscape, striding right along the link between Lena and Ben.
The other lights, which connect Lena to Callie and the incubi, spread out wide, and it concerns me that Kamran and the Hunters don’t seem to be getting any closer to Lena’s other boyfriends. We’ve all been in Hell for what feels like ages. What’s the holdup?
My thoughts distract me so much I damn near plow into Kalen when he stops in front of me.
“What gives?” I whisper, though with all the screams in the air I would be surprised if Lena could hear anything over the noise.
“We are being followed.”
I scan the rocky horizon with my fae sight, and sure enough there are about eight angry red lights spread out behind various outcroppings. Demons, though all average-sized from the looks of them. No hellhounds or other ginormous beasts. Still, they outnumber us by nearly two to one. “Shit.”
“Why are we stopping?” Lena’s voice trembles, and I turn back to see her following Kalen’s gaze. “Is Ben out there?”
With a shake of my head, I draw a sword from my belt and test the grip. “No. Eight that I count so far, but Ben’s not with them. We’ve drawn some attention, it seems.”
Lena’s fingers twist, her tattoos flare, and a fireball appears at her fingertips. “Fine. Let’s keep going. If they jump us, they jump us. They’re not going to keep me from getting my son back.”
I gotta give her props for having the cajones to keep going despite being outnumbered. I wouldn’t want to be the demon that gets between Lena and her kid.
The red lights trail alongside us for what in Earth distance is probably a few miles, but here? Who knows? I mean, it’s still three fifteen according to my dead-ass watch. Have we been walking for miles and miles? Have we been walking in place? This realm confuses my senses more than Faerie did, and the landscape isn’t even moving. It’s a real pain in the ass trying to make sense of it all.
All of a sudden the red lights speed up and move ahead of us, and when I tear my eyes from Ben’s lifeline to Lena, I gulp as I see the rock walls on either side of us converging a few hundred feet ahead, with only a narrow opening allowing passage to the other side.
Fuck. They’re bottlenecking us.
I slow my steps, falling back to where Lena trudges along behind me. “You see what I’m seeing?”
“Not in the same way, but yeah. We’re headed straight for an ambush.”
“Yep.”
“Kalen will take point. Finn and I shall cover the rear.”
I bite my lip to keep from snickering. Oren’s being serious, and now is not the time to have a Beavis and Butthead moment. Besides, if I want people to quit treating me like a kid, I’ve got to start acting like the adult I am. Instead, I nod and tighten my grip on my sword. Lena’s fireball flickers, and Kalen raises his swords.
Ready or not, demons, here we come!
We reach the slit between the walls, and the red lights glow brighter. I can almost sense the anticipation, the bloodlust, and I wonder if it’s my imagination or some new manifestation of my fae magic.
Either way, this is gonna suck.
In a move that would make human parkour artists jealous, Kalen bounces off the walls that surround us, leaping from one side to the other and back, higher and higher each time, until he straddles the opening. He launches off the top of the walls and twists midair, landing in a crouch on the other side of the wall facing me.
Two deformed demon heads fall to the ground between us, each bouncing with a sickening squelch as tendrils of acid blood dance in their wake.
Wow! I didn’t even see him strike.
Angry shrieks fill the air, and I dive for the opening, opting to tuck and roll rather than go the aerial route like Kalen. When I get across, I slash at the nearest demon, severing an arm—or at least, I think that bit’s an arm—and as another moves to attack I let loose with a burst of pure life energy, slamming it so hard it falls back into the wall with a heinous scream before falling into a heap of twitching tendrils.
Lena’s fireball announces her arrival with much more dramatic flair than me and Kalen, and I duck as pieces of exploded demon go flying. As she strides through the rift between walls, I do a quick count of our opponents.
Five down—two beheaded, one minus an appendage and still howling bloody murder, and two more scattered in charred little bits around us.
Oren and Finn descend from the top of the wall on either side and dispatch the remaining three standing demons with swift, efficient swings of their blades. More heads roll, and I wipe some splashed demon blood off my face before it can burn me.
Lena stands with one hand on her hip and scowls. “That was too fucking easy. No way they underestimated us that badly.”
“Agreed.” Kalen makes his way around with his swords, decapitating the two demons who survived our initial attack. The screaming stops, and I breathe a sigh of relief as my ears quit throbbing. “Very poor execution on their part. Sloppy work all around.”
“It’s suspicious as fuck. Either they sent morons to jump us, or these guys were sacrificed to see what you fae are capable of.”
I blink at Lena as her words sink in. “You think they were sent to assess us?”
She shrugs. “Well, think about it: you guys are the only real unknowns here. Most of the demons have at least heard of the wolves from the other two times they were in Hell, and they all know me and my demons. But you guys? Total wild cards. My guess is there’s someone watching—whether just out of our range of detection or through some sort of demonic scrying—and reporting to Satan.”
Great. How are we supposed to get close to Ben-slash-Satan if He can spy on us from far away?
“Miss Lena, is there anyone you know in the realms of Hell that may be of assistance? While our Molli can track young Ben and locate him, perhaps more aid is needed than we four can provide you.” Oren cleans his blades and sheathes them. “Another demon, maybe, someone with inner knowledge of the workings of this plane of existence.”
Lena rolls her eyes and flips him off. “Why the fuck do you think I know any other demons? I found Asmodeus’s little corner of Hell easily enough way back when, but that was the original Hell. I don’t know any other demons besides Him and my boyfriends, and we don’t have time to go making new friends or vetting which demons might be on our side in this fucking pile of shit.”
I snap my fingers as an idea comes to me. “That’s it! Asmodeus! That rat bastard has been playing from the sidelines for too damn long. We need to find him and make him participate.”
“And how do we do that without wasting more precious time? We’d have to leave Ben’s trail, and I’m not willing to do that. Besides, do you know how Cherry summoned Him to recruit you guys? She had to talk her mates into a fucking orgy to grab His Royal Highness’s attention. That demon thinks with His dick above all else.”
“Well, do you have any better ideas? We’re going up against a Prince of Hell here. Let’s snag us another Prince to even up the odds a bit.”
Lena’s mouth opens and closes like a fish’s until a flash of resignation crosses her features. “I can’t believe I’m going along with this.”
Kalen frowns in confusion. “Does this mean we must copulate now? While I am not averse to sex with a witness, I was under the impression that you did not care for that, Molli. Has this changed? If so—”
I clamp a hand over Kalen’s mouth. “We are not copulating in front of Lena. We’re going to try something else.”
“What might that be?” Lena’s tone indicates her skepticism about my ability to summon the demon Prince of Lust without dropping trou.
“A detour.”
Four pairs of eyes stare at me in disbelief as I shift my focus to my fae sight and dive headfirst into Lena’s life-lights. Well, my spirit dives headfirst into the lights. My body’s just standing there right now. Reality flares into blinding brightness, and I swim along the lights that lead to Ben and the incubi in search of a common thread.
Ben is Asmodeus’s grandson. He may be only half demon, but if I can sort out the commonality between him and his father and uncles, I can probably trace the family resemblance back to Asmodeus Himself. I still don’t know if this Hell connects with the Hell Lena’s familiar with, but my guess is it does. In fact, I’m betting on it. I’m also betting that Asmodeus is enough of a decent demon that He’s going to keep tabs on His grandson, possessed by His asshole Brother or not.
It takes some doing, but after a few moments, or maybe an eternity, I root out the sirebond between the incubi and a single source, and I shoot along the life-light threads in a beeline for the demon Prince.
He’s closer than I first thought, and I find myself actually backtracking a bit towards my body as I sail along to Him. When I reach His sultry red light, I have to stop and brace myself for His innate sex appeal. Now is not the time to get smitten. I focus my thoughts as though speaking to Lena or Callie on their “witchy two-way radio” and hope for the best.
Asmodeus! Listen here, You ass, Your grandson needs You. Time to come out of hiding.
His light ripples with amusement. Well, well, well. The newly-fae has adapted her skills to include astral projection and telepathy. How interesting.
If I wasn’t incorporeal right now, I’d smack the smug fucker. Very funny. Now come help us get Ben back. Your dumb Brother stole him from his mother and took over his body, and we need all the help we can get to undo that.