by Elise Marion
A sob welled in her throat as she tore her gaze away, only to be confronted by another violent scene. Dressed in her customary G-string and fishnets, she knelt on the stage at Temptations, her hips undulating in a seductive motion. One of the men in the crowd stood and leaned against the stage, reaching for her. She recognized him as the one who’d attacked her in an alley one night after work.
“How much for a private dance, baby?”
She turned and growled at him, her eyes black as coals, red lips curled into a grotesque snarl. She reached out and grasped his neck, satisfaction coursing through her as she began choking the life out of him. He gasped, his face turning purple, his lips a dark blue in contrast as he struggled to draw air. Gritting her teeth, she dug her fingernails in, puncturing his skin and drawing his blood. Leaning down, she lapped his blood from her fingers, moaning at the taste, delighting in the flavor of carnage.
She sobbed, knowing that she gazed at her true self. Despite all the good Jack and Micah claimed she had inside of her, this was the one part of her they never saw, and would never understand. Hot tears splashed her face and neck as her sobs grew louder, rising to mingle with the whispering voices still urging her to confront her sins.
She’d fallen onto her back, held down by her arms and legs by four of the creatures, while another loomed over her, displaying another memory that caused her pain. Jack ran toward her down a dark street with familiar surroundings—Ethiopia. He smiled at her, reaching out with one hand. As he drew closer, she threw her head back and laughed, flames sprouting at her hands as a set of long, curved horns grew from her forehead. Horror replaced Jack’s smile as he slowed, trying to halt his forward momentum. As he skidded to a stop, she lowered her head and charged him, impaling him through his middle on one of her horns.
She screamed as he crumbled, blood soaking the front of his shirt.
“Jack!” she cried, trying to cover her eyes, but finding that her hands couldn’t shut out the images—they were seared on her palms, flickering across her skin like a projection, as if placed there by her own mind.
“No, no, no! Jack, no! I’m sorry … I’m so sorry!”
Shaking her head from side to side, she fought against the images, the replay of Jack’s death that seemed to loop itself like a CD track on repeat. Only this time, she was the killer. Her chest began to ache and the guilt of what she’d done—what she’d caused—held her down like a stone weight until all she wanted to do was die.
She was already in Hell, which was where she felt certain she was going after she kicked the bucket, anyway. These creatures had only shown her the truth about herself. No number of good deeds could ever wipe her slate clean.
Choking on another sob, she stopped resisting. As the demons loomed over her one by one, their eyes showing her the truth she’d been avoiding all her life, Addison laid there and admitted defeat. She relived killing her stepfather, Buck. She relived every dark, sick, maniacal fantasy she’d ever had, played out in front of her as if she’d actually committed them. Perhaps, in a way, she had. If her mind could conjure such terrible deeds, didn’t that make her soul capable of carrying them out?
She could no longer cry or conjure a tear, now numb to the images, accepting them as a part of her. Yes, this was who she had been created to become. This was who she would always be.
“Addie!”
The voice calling out to her was clear, resounding from the white walls and causing a vise to squeeze her aching heart.
Only one man said the shortened version of her name with such reverence and tenderness.
“Addie, you have to fight!”
Eyes darting left to right, she searched for him, finding nothing but a sea of gray bodies caging her in. Had her mind imagined him in an effort to bring herself solace?
“Jack,” she whispered. “You can’t be here. This is Hell … you don’t belong here.”
“Neither do you,” he replied. “Look at me. I’m here.”
She felt as if an incredible weight rested upon her, keeping her from moving. Yet, somehow, she conjured the strength to turn her head, finding him reaching out to her from beyond the bodies swarming her. She could see him through the gaps … a solitary pinpoint of light in one of the darkest places she’d ever been. It had always been this way. Even when he lay dead and rotting in the ground, he had been her light.
“Jack … I can’t … they won’t let me … I can’t do this!”
“Fight, Addie,” he urged. “You have to get out of here. Antoine, Derek, and Alice are counting on you. Me and Micah … we’re waiting for you to come home. You can do this.”
Finally able to close her eyes, she shook her head, tears streaming from the corners. “I belong down here. Don’t you understand? I’m not a good person.”
“That isn’t true. Listen to me … this is all psychological. Lilith is trying to break you. She is using all your insecurities against you. You can’t let her win.”
Opening her eyes again, she ignored the swarming mass, feeling stronger now that Jack was here. She avoided their stares, finding Jack in a gap between them and locking onto him.
“I’ve done terrible things … and even when I didn’t do those things, I wanted to. I wanted to so badly.”
“That’s not who you are,” he insisted. “That’s not the Addie I know …if Micah were here, he’d tell you the same thing. You have to confront this, and beat it, so you can get out of here. Don’t give up.”
Drawing a deep breath, she nodded, realizing he was right. She’d drawn her strength over the years from keeping her dark impulses at bay. The thoughts might have filled her mind, but she’d never acted on them … had never wanted to. She hadn’t reveled in her darkness—she’d fought against it every hour of every day.
Confront it, Jack had said.
Confront it, she would.
With all her strength, she reached for her inner light and drew it to the surface. The edges of her vision turned white, and she reveled in its purity—further proof that she wasn’t the monster they’d tried to make her think she was.
“Release me,” she growled, shoving the light outward in a rapid burst.
It seemed to stun them, silencing their grating whispers and throwing them away from her. Free from their clutches, she struggled to her feet, glaring at the demons as they regrouped, as if to converge on her once more.
“No,” she ground out from between clenched teeth, her voice gaining strength as she balled her hands into fists at her sides. “No, that isn’t who I am.”
They walked toward her, slowly, seeming to take on one mind and train of thought. Their voices collected into one.
Look … see yourself in our eyes …
“No!” she bellowed. “That isn’t me … I never hurt that puppy.”
One of the creatures fell to its knees in their midst, a scream resounding from the walls from its nonexistent mouth. It clutched its head and trembled, as if her words had physically wounded it. A satisfied smirk curved her lips as the thing exploded, torn apart from the inside by nothing more than an utterance. It splattered the others with black gore and an ash-like substance, but they seemed oblivious as they continued descending on her.
“That girl I fought back in the eleventh grade tried to cut my face with a broken bottle … I was defending myself, and I stopped before it went too far.”
Two more of them went down, their screeches unholy in their resonance.
“All I’ve ever done is try to survive,” she declared, stepping forward to confront them, no longer content to cower and let them advance on her. “Buck was a demon … and even if he hadn’t been, I would never regret killing someone who tries to rape a seventeen year-old girl.”
Three more fell to their knees, splattered with the innards of the two who had bit the dust just before them.
“That guy at Temptations attacked me … and I showed far more restraint than I could have in defending myself.”
Two more, gone.
; “And Jack …” she faltered, lowering her gaze.
While she hadn’t killed Jack herself, his death had been partly her fault. She could find no honest words to absolve herself of that, no matter how badly she might want to.
“I am not a demon,” she stated instead, raising her chin and squaring her shoulders. “I am not a monster. I am a Guardian, and there is light inside of me.”
Four more fell, leaving only two. Seeming angered by her triumph, they lunged for her at once, hands outstretched as if to take hold of her. She threw up her barrier of protection, the light arcing out from her chest to form a protective circle they could not penetrate.
Her eyes began to glow as she looked the first one, then the other, in the eye. “I am the bearer of the ring … and you cannot have me.”
Reaching through the barrier, she took one by the throat, then the other. Closing her eyes, she focused the light outward, feeling it course through her veins like a rush of blood. It left her fingertips, channeled from her flesh to theirs. Their black eyes brightened, showing the light that tore them up from the inside, fighting its way out. The first one disintegrated, staining her hands, then the other. Lowering her arms, she dropped her barrier and found herself alone in the room with Jack.
Meeting her wide-eyed stare, he approached, pausing when he stood just close enough that she could reach out and touch him. Breath racing from the effort it had taken to fight the demons off, she reached out. A disappointed sigh rushed from between her lips when her fingers found nothing but air.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “We begged Reniel to send us down here after you, but he refused. This was a compromise.”
She nodded. “I understand. I feel actually feel better, knowing you aren’t physically in this place. The energy here … it’s torture, Jack.”
His brow creased in pity, and his mouth tightened at the corners. “You can beat this, Addie. I know you can.”
Yes, she could, because he had given her what she’d needed to move forward. But, then what? Her life back home was in shambles. Her mother was dead, she’d destroyed her relationship with Jack, and she didn’t even know how to approach this thing with Micah. There were still seven demons that needed confronting, and there was this brewing war with the Nephilim. It all seemed like so much, and she hardly knew where to begin.
“Hey,” he said, bringing her out of her wandering thoughts. “Focus. Nothing else matters right now, but getting out of here. Once you’re home, everything else can be worked out. By the way, Micah wanted you to know if you don’t come back, he’s going to be pissed. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to come down here just to let you know how pissed.”
“Thank you for coming,” she murmured with a smile. “I wish … I wish I could touch you.”
He smiled at her, and that simple motion slammed into her, filling her with hope that things might be okay for them after this. Maybe … maybe she still had a chance with him.
“Yet another reason for you to get out of here. I’ll be waiting.”
“Okay.”
Backing away from her, his form began to waver, and she knew he would soon be gone. Taking a step toward him, she felt her tongue grow thick in her mouth. Yet, she couldn’t forget that someone else waited for her, too.
“Tell Micah I won’t let him down.”
He nodded. “Will do.”
Once he was gone, Addison swiped at the remnants of tears pooling beneath her eyes, then squared her shoulders. This second test had taken a lot out of her, and she knew the third would be even worse. But seeing Jack had resolved her to see this through. Aside from all she had waiting for her at home, there were still two people waiting for her to save them.
As an opening appeared on the other side of the white room, she strode toward it, prepared to finish this once and for all.
Derek waited for her on the other side, in a chamber identical to the one she’d found Antoine in. His relief was palpable as he shot to his feet, crossing the room toward her.
“Addison!” he exclaimed. “You came.”
She forced a smile. “Of course I did. I couldn’t leave my favorite teacher down here to suffer, could I?”
He tried to smile back, but from behind his sleek, rectangular glasses, his large blue eyes were wide and filled with fear.
“The next test … it won’t be easy,” he warned.
She snorted, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, neither were the first two.”
Derek shook his head. “This will be different. It’s the way they operate. With each test, the tricks become harder to discern. The illusion will feel so real, but you can’t let it claim you. Remember, Addison … none of it is real, and none of Lucifer’s promises come without attached strings.”
“Got it,” she said. “I’ll remember. Now, go home, Derek. Alice and I are right behind you.”
A portal opened for him, and just like Antoine, he disappeared, leaving her alone. Turning in a circle, she searched the cavern walls for a new opening.
“Come on, you little bitch,” she muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter Five: Conflict
Jack gasped as his wandering projection returned to his body, jolting him in the chair he occupied. It tipped back onto two legs for a moment before righting, the force of his return from Hell staggering—as if his soul had been a bullet released from a gun. The suddenness of it, in stark juxtaposition to leaving—which had been like getting sucked into a tube—left his head reeling.
His grip on Carmen’s hands tightened, and he trembled from the force of being yanked back into the realm of the living. Projecting someone outside of their body was a cake walk for an Oracle as powerful as Carmen. However, sending someone’s mind and soul into another spiritual plane could be dangerous. As she and Reniel peered at him to ensure he had returned intact, he gave them a nod to reassure them that he was fine.
Carmen breathed a sigh of relief and released his hands, leaning back in her seat across the table from him. Fatigue made itself evident in the dark circles beneath her eyes and the drooping of her eyelids.
“Lilith’s bringing out the big guns,” he said when their gazes became questioning. “Psychological torture … I’ve never seen anything like it. Addison was at her breaking point when I found her.”
Reniel grimaced. “No one does it like Lilith. Do you think she can beat it?”
Jack nodded, not even giving the question a second thought. He’d seen the fight in her eyes just before leaving her alone there. “She’s going to be in bad shape when she gets back, but she’ll survive.”
“Something our Addison excels at,” the angel declared.
Thinking of all she had endured, Jack agreed wholeheartedly.
The opening of the front door and subsequent footsteps announced the arrival of Nathan, the former angel who had married Carmen after losing his wings. His whiskey-colored eyes held annoyance as he speared Jack and Reniel with a glare when he noticed his wife’s state of exhaustion.
“You’re done here,” he declared. “I’m taking my wife home.”
Jack fought back a smirk at Nathan’s overprotective nature. While he had once been a warrior angel, in his human body, he was no match for his wife. Carmen was one of the greatest Oracles in existence, her abilities powered by a long lineage of seers and prophets in her ancestry. Still, as strong as she was, Carmen allowed Nathan to help her to her feet, resting her head on his shoulder as he gathered her close.
“Yeah, we’re done,” Jack replied. “Thanks, Carmen.”
The two left together, passing Micah on their way out. He returned to the kitchen, staring expectantly between him and Reniel.
“Well?” he demanded, eyebrows raised.
“Addison’s fine,” Jack said. “She’ll be home soon.”
Micah didn’t reply, but his shoulders sagged with relief as he leaned against the counter.
“You two will return to New Orleans tomorrow,” Reniel said. “We’ve broken every available angel
, Guardian, Oracle, and Naphil who’s declared allegiance to our side into groups of two and three. It’s an all hands on deck situation, as we have discovered thousands of Eligos’ children all over the world. However, during his time in New Orleans, the demon was quite busy. There are many children there around Addison’s age. Take Drew with you, and get to work. We need to be ready to take a stand against Eligos when he attacks.”
Micah snorted. “Never thought I’d see the day we would band together against a demon to save Hell so Lucifer can keep it.”
Reniel chuckled. “Balance, my friend. Guardianship is all about restoring the balance. If Eligos gains Hell, there will be no more equilibrium.”
He was right about that. Eligos was a rabid dog, Lucifer his owner. It had become their job to keep the dog from mauling its master. The entire balance of the spiritual world rested on Lucifer remaining in charge of Hell. At least he followed the damn rules.
“What about the rest of Eligos’ ten?” Micah asked.
“Until Addison returns, that mission is on hold. The Seal is in Hell with her, and she’s the only one who can wield it against them. Concentrate on recruiting until she returns.”
Striding for the door, Reniel took up his jacket and pulled it on.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked, watching his retreat.
“I have some more business to attend to while we’re still in New York. I’ll come back for you three first thing in the morning.”
Disappearing through the front door, he left Jack and Micah alone—the only people on the first floor of the townhouse.
Crossing to the refrigerator, Jack grabbed a bottle of water and twisted off the cap, chugging half of it in one go. Being projected, apparently, carried the side effect of extreme thirst. The water tasted better to him than anything else he’d ever drunk, and his dry throat couldn’t seem to get enough.