“But Laish—” Her face said she couldn’t believe it was over just like that and I was going…leaving her alone.
“I will return,” I said and hoped that it was true. Then, though it tore out my heart to do so, I turned my back on her. Trying to banish the picture of her pleading green eyes filled with tears, I left the tent.
Kurex whinnied softly when he saw me and I took a moment to lead him closer to the tent and tether him there. I pressed my face to his neck, drawing comfort from his heat and vitality.
“Watch over her while I am gone,” I told him, my voice sounding rough and strange in my own ears. “Gwendolyn is your mistress now. Keep her safe, Kurex.”
He nickered and I knew he would do as I asked. Gwendolyn had won his heart from the moment he saw her—just as she had won mine. I wondered again about the strange affinity the creatures of the Underworld had for my little witch but I had no time to solve the mystery now. There were steps that must be taken before it was too late.
I walked through the spot where the barrier had once stood and entered the region of the Abyss. Ahead of me I could see the bottomless pit filled with nightmare creatures so ancient they made even me seem young. It was quiet, for now at least. Good—if I could accomplish my task without waking the slumbering beasts, so much the better.
I started up the steep slope that led to the far edge of the vast trench. It was a narrow, rocky road enchanted to allow only one to climb it at a time. I had never intended to let that one be Gwendolyn. It was too easy to imagine her foot slipping on one of the loose rocks, the sound of her scream as she slid into the black pit. Or one of the tentacles of the Ancient Ones that lived below could easily reach up and grab her, dragging her down before I could do a thing to stop it. No, I could not let her take this journey, even though it was why she had come in the first place.
Ahead of me, at the top of the ridge, I could see the shining sliver of light that represented the slightly open door. I wondered once again where the HellSpawn was. Had it taken the bait I had put out for it when I sent the four lesser demons wearing Gwendolyn’s clothing, spreading her scent to four different corners of Hell? I hoped so but it seemed too easy. My instinct told me the creature was too smart to be delayed in that way for long. So where was it?
I cast a quick look back in the direction of the tent. The light had gone off inside but Kurex was silent—not agitated at all, which was a good sign. Maybe my little witch had gone to sleep as I had suggested. I certainly hoped she was asleep, anyway—I couldn’t bear to think of her lying in the dark crying over my betrayal and hating me.
I promised myself that as soon as I finished this task I would take her back to the Mortal Realm and give her the complete truth. She might hate me forever but at least she would have the option to be rid of me—an option I could not give her as long as the door into the Abyss remained open.
Speaking of the door, it was almost within my reach. I just hoped that the betrayal I had committed enabled me to close it. It was a great price to pay, having Gwendolyn hate me and believe that I did not care for her. But it would be worth it if my plan succeeded.
Reaching the door at last, I gripped it firmly by the cold metal knob and tried to push it closed. But it was stuck, somehow, wedged open by something I couldn’t see. I put my shoulder against it and pushed, using all the strength I could muster.
I knew, of course, that I could use my true form if necessary—I was much larger and stronger as my real self. But I didn’t like to change if I could help it. For one thing, the surge of power that came with such a transformation would almost certainly wake the sleeping beasts within the pit. And for another, once in my true form, it was incredibly difficult to transform back and take my human form again.
I didn’t want Gwendolyn to see me as I really was—didn’t want her to see my true form. I knew that she hated me—I could not blame her for that. But I didn’t want her to fear me as well. That was more than I could bear.
So instead of transforming, I reached deep within me to the stolen piece of soul I had taken and tried again, pushing with all my might to close the door.
And then I saw it…an oily black tentacle leaking in through the cracked door. Suddenly I understood. The HellSpawn hadn’t been tracking us through Hell at all—it had been here, all along. Waiting patiently on the other side of the door—waiting to attack.
With a shout that drew an answering neigh from Kurex down below, I pressed my shoulder even harder to the door. I heaved with all my might but it was too late, the black bulk of the HellSpawn squeezed through and launched itself at my chest.
I struggled with it, its knife-like teeth snapping inches from my face. Had I been more prepared it would have been no problem for me but as it was, I was scrambling on the edge of the precipice, trying to hold the thing at arms length while it continued its mindless attack. I shouted a word of power but it had no effect on the creature—it was strong, much stronger than it had been the first time I had encountered it.
I wondered how it had gained so much strength lying in wait on the other side of the door, in the Mortal Realm. Then I remembered that the spot where Gwendolyn had first opened the door was a place of power—a hill where dark rites and rituals had been performed since time out of mind. In fact, it was to save her friend Taylor, in the middle of just such a ritual, that she opened the door in the first place. Doubtless the HellSpawn had been feeding on the excess power it found—power that had been accumulating for centuries—as it waited like a noiseless, patient spider for someone to come and try to close the door.
That someone it had been waiting for was Gwendolyn, since only a person with her soul signature could close the door that she had opened. But if it was alarmed to find me here in her stead, it didn’t show it. It snapped and clawed, relentlessly determined to reach me and latch onto my face. I knew it could sense the stolen piece of soul inside me and wanted to suck it out—but I could not allow that.
I heard Kurex neighing again from across the great divide. The sound momentarily distracted me. The HellSpawn surged forward in my arms and my feet slid against the rocky scree. Suddenly I felt myself slipping, falling into the yawning black pit of the Abyss—a place from which there is no escape.
The situation was desperate—without my true form I was doomed. I shouted a word of power that illuminated the entire vast cavern for a brief instant, like a flash of lightning. And then my suit ripped away, as did my human form. I felt myself growing and changing—becoming what I once was, what I was always meant to be.
My true form emerged at last.
* * * * *
Gwendolyn
I don’t know how long I lay there in the dark crying. I couldn’t understand what had happened—how things had gone bad so quickly.
I’ll tell you what happened, whispered a spiteful little voice in my head. You were stupid enough to trust a demon—to even let yourself care for one—and now you’re paying the price. You’ve lost your virginity and with it, half your power. Hope you enjoy the rest of your life as half a witch—half of what you could have been if you’d been a little smarter.
I tried to push the mean little voice to the back of my head. I could still feel Laish’s hot seed leaking out of me and I closed my thighs tightly, wanting to erase the feeling, to deny his betrayal.
Then a new thought occurred to me—what if Laish had left me for good? Would I be able to close the door I’d left open on the edge of the Abyss myself? And once I did, would I ever get out of Hell and back home? What if I was lost down here, wandering in the darkness forever? Or what if the HellSpawn—
Kurex’s distressed neighing pulled me out of my morbid thoughts. I sat bolt upright in bed. What was going on?
Pulling on the green silk robe, I belted it hurriedly around my waist and jumped out of bed. I was about to leave the tent when, as an afterthought, I grabbed the thrak. I didn’t like the feel of it in my hand—it almost seemed to be thrumming as though it sensed something outside
the tent—something bad. But I felt better with some protection—even an evil-ass knife—than nothing at all.
Clutching the knife, I ran out of the tent. I saw that the road under the Sunless Sea—which had appeared to go on and on forever the last time I had looked at it—now ended abruptly. The underwater passageway had opened out into a vast cavern which housed the Abyss.
The last time I had seen that horrible, black, bottomless pit, it had been crawling with long, slimy dark tentacles. This time there was nothing coming out of it. But high up, on the far edge along a steep slope, I could see something happening. There was a scuffle going on beside long sliver of light. Clearly the light was coming from the door which I had left open—a door which only I could close, according to Laish.
Speaking of Laish, was that him, struggling with something on the edge of the Abyss? Yes, it was. And the something he was fighting had no head—only long, yellow teeth and a black, oozing body. It clawed at him relentlessly, trying to get a hold on him—trying to draw him into its deadly mouth. The struggle was hard to make out in the murky, diffused light coming from the Sunless Sea but my eyes were used to the darkness and I was sure of what I was seeing.
As I watched, my heart in my mouth, Laish’s foot slipped on the loose rocks and gravel. To my horror, he started to slide into the Abyss.
“No! Oh, no!” I gasped, running forward. I didn’t think what I could possibly do if I got to him—how could I hope to have any chance against the HellSpawn now that I had only half my strength and powers? But the thought didn’t occur to me—I only knew I couldn’t let him fall—couldn’t let him go. Not now…not yet.
But before I could get three steps, Laish shouted a word of power that echoed through the whole cavern. There was a brilliant flash of light and then he was gone—at least, the Laish I knew was gone.
In his place was a being that had to be ten or twelve feet tall. Or I thought he was—it was hard to tell because he was no longer standing on the ground. Vast, black feathered wings beat the air, causing a small hurricane around him. His skin was dark gray like marble and his eyes were flames—literally flames—in his face. In his hand was a fiery sword as long as I was tall and his hair was a wreath of fire—burning waves that moved and shifted around his face as he hovered in place.
With one slice of the fiery sword, the HellSpawn was cut into two writhing pieces. The being that Laish had become threw them down into the Abyss, still quivering and bleeding black, oily goo.
I think I may have gasped or cried out at that point—I don’t know. All I know is that something caused him to turn his attention to me. His face was beautiful and terrible—I felt like looking at it for too long might cause me to go blind and yet I couldn’t look away. I was caught—trapped in that impenetrable gaze.
For the first time I truly understood what Laish was—what I had allowed myself to care for. He wasn’t human, not in the least. But he wasn’t truly a demon either—or he hadn’t used to be.
He was a fallen angel.
Again I tried to look away and again I couldn’t. I had suspected something like this for a long time but to have it actually confirmed this way sent my mind reeling.
Holding my eyes with his flaming gaze, Laish reached over with one huge hand and casually pushed the door to the Abyss shut.
How? my mind gibbered. How did he do that? He said only someone with my soul signature could shut it. So how was he able? And what will he do now? Is he coming for me?
For the huge, black wings, as vast and broad as the wings on a commercial aircraft were beating slowly, stirring a hot wind from the pit that stank of sulfur and death. He was flying towards me.
“Laish?” I whispered, almost unable to get his name out. Was it really even his name? Was he called something else in this form—in his true form? Because this had to be his true form. Even in my dazed state, I could feel the realness coming from him—the authenticity.
This huge, flaming, beautiful, powerful, frightening being was the real Laish. The person I had let myself care for—the one I had given myself to—was just a shell—a façade he put on when it was convenient for him. This being who had been alive since the dawn of time—since the creation of the world—was the true form of what I had thought was the man I cared for.
“Laish?” I whispered again as he came towards me, flying over the vast, yawning gulf of the pit. I realized suddenly that I was standing on the very edge of the Abyss—somehow I had been drawn forward as I watched him and now my toes were almost at the lip of the dark hole. Sharp rocks cut into my bare feet but I barely felt them. I drew back quickly, getting a safe distance from the edge and noticed Kurex was beside me. The big horse was pawing the ground and snorting at the sight of Laish as he really was.
Had he seen this form in battle, as he had seen the dragon? As frightening as the dragon had been, this form was worse—a thousand times worse. The dragon was just huge and scaly and ugly and scary—this being was beautiful—beyond beautiful. Perfect and yet marred so deeply it made me ache to look at him. Suddenly I remembered Belial’s words—His true form is a perversion of what he once was. Was that why it was so hard to look at him like this and yet so impossible to look away?
He had been flying in perfect silence but now, for the first time, the being Laish had become spoke.
“Gwendolyn,” he said and his voice was like the pealing of a thousand dark bells. On his lips, my name sounded like a word of power—a word that could kill or destroy or maim anyone who heard it spoken aloud. It made me flinch back and clutch the silver handle of the thrak more tightly.
Laish had told me that black-bladed knife could kill any being in Hell. Did that include himself in this new, frightening form? If he came for me, could I use it to defend myself? Was he coming for me? How could I know the true intentions behind that beautiful, inscrutable face, those flaming eyes and vast, black wings? Plus, he was still holding the long, fiery sword in one huge fist. What did he intend to do with it? It had cut through the HellSpawn like a hot knife through butter—I couldn’t imagine it would encounter much more resistance if it was slicing into me.
“Gwendolyn,” he said again in that terrible, beautiful voice that made me feel like I was going crazy every time I heard it. “Please, don’t fear me.”
“Stay back.” I took a step away, holding up the thrak. “I don’t know you like this—I don’t know what you’re capable of and I don’t want to find out.”
“Surely you don’t think I would ever hurt you?”
“You already have,” I pointed out. “And that was when you looked like a regular person. I’m not likely to trust you more now that you’ve turned into this…this…whatever you are.”
The beautiful, terrible face looked sad.
“This is my true form—the one I feared to show you.”
“I can see why. The other form—the one I thought I knew—that isn’t you at all, is it? You were this all along—this…this being.”
“Gwendolyn,” he began but just then a huge, slimy black tentacle snaked up from the Abyss and wrapped itself tightly around my waist.
It came so quickly that I didn’t know what to think. One minute I was standing there talking to him, the next I was high in the air, waving over the bottomless void and screaming.
Laish swung into action at once. He gripped my waist, where the tentacle was wrapped around me, and cut it with one swift slice of his sword. Even with my robe and the writhing tentacle between his hand and my flesh, I could feel his heat radiating over me. His touch burned but not for long—he was already putting me back down on the ground and pushing me gently to safety.
But another tentacle came and then another and another—at least ten of them sliding out of the pit like blind snakes bent on one thing and one thing only—finding me.
Laish cursed and stepped between me and the searching tentacles. He hacked with long, controlled movements—severing many with his sword but he couldn’t get them all. The ones he missed found him
instead of me, wrapping like whips around his legs and dragging him back to the Abyss.
“Oh my Goddess,” I whispered, feeling frozen in place. The end of the still-twitching tentacle was still wrapped around my waist, oozing black blood all over my green robe, but I couldn’t move—I could only watch.
Laish slashed more desperately at the writhing tentacles with his sword. Some fell away but then, the whole pit suddenly erupted—it seemed like a thousand—ten thousand tentacles were waving in the air, fastening themselves to Laish, wrapping around his arms and legs and waist and throat, dragging him down, dragging him into the Abyss.
“Laish,” I gasped, my paralysis breaking at last. Pushing the dead tentacle off my waist, I rushed forward. I might be angry with him and frightened of the person he had become but that didn’t mean I wanted to see him dragged into the bottomless pit that had no ending and no beginning to rot for eternity.
He was fighting hard, slashing in every direction with his flaming sword, his broad wings pumping the air desperately as he shouted words of power. But the words didn’t seem to have any effect on the ancient, evil creatures. Then one of the tentacles managed to wrap around the hilt of his sword and yank it out of his hand. I saw it fall, flaming into the pit until its light faded to nothing. And then Laish was clinging to the lip of the Abyss, his hands scrabbling desperately, trying to find something to hold on to, some way to keep from being dragged down forever.
“Laish!” I cried again. I grabbed for Kurex’s bridle and tried to hand it to him. “Here—let Kurex pull you out!”
“No,” He panted, refusing to take them. “You’ll need him and he is not…not strong enough to withstand the Ancient Ones.”
“Well we have to do something!” I was crying now though I didn’t know why.
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