Hell Hath No Fury (Hellscourge Book 8)

by Diem, J. C.

  “How did you infect my minion with the dark essence of a Prince?” Valac asked.

  “Can’t you guess?” I rasped.

  Instead of answering me, he sliced open my other cheek. Bob chuckled as fresh blood sheeted down my face to drip off my chin. “I have already given Hellscourge a taste of torture,” he informed his boss. “Her will is strong, but she will eventually break.”

  The prince sent his lackey a sardonic look over his shoulder. “Thank you for your insight,” he said sarcastically. “Perhaps now that you have shed your vessel, you might be able to explain how she injured you so grievously.”

  Bob looked down at his feet and shrugged. “I do not remember exactly what happened. I recall cutting her stomach open, then everything went hazy soon after that.”

  I was pretty sure he was telling the truth. He wasn’t smart enough to outwit his superior. That meant I was the only one here who knew about my own personal Wraith Warrior.

  “Then you will have to divulge this secret,” Valac said to me. “You should make it easy on yourself and simply answer my questions.”

  “What would be the fun in that?” I replied flippantly. He was going to torture me no matter what I said.

  The prince was even more skilled than Bob at torture. He’d spent countless years tormenting the souls that were sent to hell and he’d had plenty of practice. Eventually, my mind went elsewhere and I was able to block most of the pain.

  I was brought back to the moment when my eyes filled with blood. It ran down from my scalp after a chunk of my hair was hacked off. Valac dropped the clump of blond locks and it hit the ground with a wet splat. I stared at my enemy unblinkingly and he made a sound of disgust. “She is beyond the ability to feel pain at this point. One of you heal her and we will begin again.”

  The female lord put her hand on my horned forehead and concentrated. I didn’t feel my wounds close and she frowned. “Something is blocking me from healing her, your majesty.”

  Valac cursed and handed the dagger back to his soldier. “She will bleed to death if I continue. Someone check on her regularly. Update me when she recovers.”

  All four lords stepped away and my arms dropped to my sides. I stood as still as a statue until they left the room. Then my legs collapsed and I sank down to the ground. Lying on my side, I fought to hold onto consciousness. I didn’t think it was possible for a demon to pass out, but I was sliding towards darkness anyway.

  A small hand reached through the bars and grasped hold of my fingers. “You cannot die,” a voice entreated me. “You are our only hope.”

  “Sam?” I croaked and tried to blink away the blood. “Is that you?” Maybe I’d passed out after all. Surely I had to be dreaming.

  “I am not your friend,” the voice replied sadly. “I am just a lowly imp like he was. Hold on for just a bit longer. I promise that I will free you from this cage.”

  I let out a choked sob at his offer of assistance. It was doubtful that he’d be able to do anything, but his simple kindness was enough to tip me over the edge.

  “You are not alone, Hellscourge,” he said as I spiraled down into darkness.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Nineteen

  It only seemed like seconds passed before I found myself in the shadowlands of my mind. Unable to stand, I immediately sank to the ground. I was in too much pain to attempt to heal myself, if it was even possible for me to do so. I could heal damage that was made to me while I was here, but I had no idea if I could repair what had been done to me while I was awake.

  Demons spilled out of the large black building. Hands lifted me and carried me to Raziel’s house. The door opened as we approached it and Raziel appeared in the doorway. “Put her on the couch,” he ordered. I could see them even though my eyes were closed. In this place, I was as all-seeing as God.

  Two angels stood in the background. They wore pristine white robes exactly like Raziel’s. Halos hung a few inches above their heads. Their wings were tucked behind their backs and their arms were folded over their chests. They scowled at me in hatred for stealing their essence.

  Sam wormed his way through the crowd to kneel at my side. I couldn’t hide my flinch as my best friend took my hand. “Can you heal her?” he asked Raziel. He’d now shed all signs of the imp that he’d been. His skin was a lovely shade of brown and he was just as handsome as I’d suspected he would be.

  The angel knelt beside him and put a hand on my head next to the missing clump of hair. “My powers are weak while I am in this dimension,” he said doubtfully. “But I will do what I can.” It was a shock to see myself through their eyes. My face and hands were covered in cuts and clots of blood. Some of my skin had been sliced off completely. With my new demonic form, I was anything but pretty.

  An expression of fierce concentration fell over Raziel. After a few seconds, his shoulders slumped. “It is no use. I do not have enough power to heal her.”

  Morax strode towards the other two angels with Heather and Sy on his heels. They confronted the celestial beings. “Help Raziel fix her,” Morax ordered.

  Flinching back from his glower, the angel on the left gathered his courage. “Why should we?” he spat. His inhumanly handsome face was twisted with scorn. “We do not heal evil beings.”

  “Violet is not evil,” Sam said. “She is the kindest person I have ever known.”

  “From what we have heard, you were an imp for four hundred years,” the other angel said dismissively. “The only beings you knew were demons.”

  “I have met enough of your kind to know she is better than any of you,” Sam countered. “She is willing to sacrifice herself to save mankind.” He looked them both in the eye. “What are you willing to do to fulfil God’s decree?”

  The angels shared an uncomfortable look. “God abandoned us,” the first one said. “His laws are no longer binding.”

  “So, you’re just going to let the demons swarm over the Earth and kill everyone then?” Heather said hotly. With her slim figure, long blond hair and green eyes, she looked enough like me to be my sister. “Is that what you want? To see them destroy the planet?” She hiked her thumb at the demons who had crowded into the room.

  “Of course not,” the second angel said, but the first one shifted guiltily. “That is not our plan,” he added, but he now sounded doubtful.

  Morax grabbed the first angel by the throat and lifted him off the ground so his feet dangled in the air. “Answer me truthfully, or I will pull your wings out one feather at a time,” he snarled. “Do your masters plan to allow humanity to be destroyed by our kind?”

  “Yes,” the angel croaked and sent an almost apologetic look at Raziel and his partner. “Hagith has made a deal with one of the Demon Lords. They will allow us to go free as long as we do not interfere when they invade New York.”

  “Do not tell me,” Sam said sourly. “The Demon Lord she made the deal with is called Vepar.” The angel managed a single nod before Morax released him. Landing on his feet, the angel hastily stepped back out of reach.

  “This is wrong,” the second angel said and wrung his hands in distress. “We are not supposed to make deals with our enemies. What was Hagith thinking?”

  “She wants what any egomaniacal lunatic wants,” Sytry said. “She craves power. Hagith may have made a deal with Lord Vepar, but she did not promise that she will not try to kill the Hellmaster. She is collecting the objects that will most likely become a weapon. She plans to wield it through Hellscourge.”

  “That cannot happen if Violet dies,” the first angel pointed out. “If she perishes, perhaps the invasion can be avoided altogether.”

  His partner rounded on him. “If she dies, we will most likely perish as well,” he pointed out. “Hagith poisoned our minds, but now that we are free from her influence, I can see that she is in error. God did not want us to abandon humanity when he left. He gave us a choice. I choose to stand by his law and do whatever I can to save Earth. I am certain that the demons will break fr
ee and Violet Haper is the only hope humanity has to survive.”

  He strode towards me and knelt beside Raziel. Together, they put their hands on me and concentrated. Some of my wounds faded a little, but it was going to take more than that to fix me.

  Morax called on his double bladed axe and held it against the rebellious angel’s throat. “Help them heal her, or I will divest you of your head,” he growled.

  With a belligerent glare, the angel pushed the blade aside and stomped over to me. His hand came to rest on me as well. Bright white light flared inside me as their combined power worked to repair my injuries.

  Sitting up with a gasp, the first person I saw when I opened my eyes was Sam. He knelt in front of me, holding my hand. Tears stood in his eyes. They spilled over and he pulled me forward into his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” I sobbed onto his narrow shoulder. He was tiny compared to me now. “I’m so sorry I got you killed.”

  “It was not your fault,” he said soothingly and stroked my hair. “It was my fate to die. I had already accepted it before you ingested my soul.”

  I could hear the pain in his voice and I knew he was just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear. I’d doomed him when I’d stolen his soul and now he was trapped inside me forever.

  “I love you, Sam,” I said as I began to fade. “I’m sorry you won’t get to go to heaven.”

  “Do not do anything rash, Hellscourge,” Morax said. He knew I was planning something drastic. “There is still time for you to find a way to release us from our confinement.”

  “Don’t give up on us, Violet,” Heather pleaded. “Don’t let us die.”

  She faded along with the rest of the crowd until I almost felt as if I was alone in my head. It had hurt me to see Sam, but I was glad I’d gotten a chance to speak to him one last time. They all still hoped that I would find a way to evict them from me, but I knew better. If there was a way, I would have found it by now. The best thing I could do was allow Valac to torture me to death and end our combined suffering.

  Standing in an area that was utterly lightless as well as lifeless, I stared at the darkness and brooded. A whine made my head snap around. All around me, scarlet eyes began to appear in the gloom. A shape padded forward and I realized it was my alpha hound. He pressed against my leg and I put my hand on his head. The rest of my hellhounds emerged from the dimness and gathered closely around me. It was so dark that their black bodies were invisible. I was either in the nowhere lands, or I’d conjured up my own version of it.

  To test the theory, I willed a light to appear and it came into being. It was an old fashioned oil lantern that hung from an ornate wrought iron stand. All around me, dozens of hellhounds flinched back from the brightness. When their eyes adjusted, they surged forward, drawn by the only light in the dismal nothingness. I created more lamps until they shone like stars all around us. I saw hounds weren’t the only creatures here. My nightmares waited a short distance away. My carriage was waiting for when I needed them to transport me through hell. More nightmares and carriages stood in the distance.

  “This is so bizarre,” I said in a daze. Only creatures that were bound to the princes could survive in the stasis of the nowhere lands, yet here I was. Maybe I was here in spirit rather than in body.

  My eyesight was sharp enough to make out hundreds of hellhounds and nightmares. There were other things that I couldn’t make out. They were all waiting in limbo until they were needed. “You poor things,” I said as I made my way over to my steeds. They looked identical to the other horses, yet I knew they were mine, just as I knew the hounds belonged to me. The carriage with my face on the doors was also a dead giveaway.

  My nightmares allowed me to stroke their noses without biting my hands off. They’d been huge when I’d first encountered them. Now that I’d grown, they didn’t look so fearsome anymore.

  Other nightmares left their carriages and crowded around me curiously. They were intelligent enough to know that I was an anomaly. Other packs of hounds kept their distance, knowing how protective my dogs would be. I patted the horses and they seemed grateful for the attention. It was doubtful that anyone had ever shown them the least bit of affection before.

  Just as I’d been told, the only things that existed in this dimension were the servants of the princes and lords. They were sent here when they weren’t needed. It was a blank, horrible place that lay between dimensions.

  I’d already made some changes, so I decided to see just how much I could affect this reality. I imagined soil and grass and it appeared beneath our feet. Next, I tried to create a sun, but that appeared to be beyond my abilities. Knowing how boring it had to be here, I concentrated and giant rodents appeared. Ears cocking, the hounds went on the full alert. With squeals of terror, the rats fled. Baying happily, the helldogs took off after them. The rodents would provide entertainment as well as food, not that they seemed to need to eat while they were here. They weren’t showing any signs that they were starving.

  “What about you guys?” I said to the nightmares. “What do you eat?” My steeds bared their fangs, reminding me that they ate meat. “Do you want me to conjure up some creatures for you to hunt?” One of them lifted its head in a nod. “I guess you want a variety,” I mused. At my mental command, hellcats, wyverns, gnomes and flesh eating insects appeared. The hellhounds were filled with joy that they finally had something to do. The nightmares were almost as happy for the distraction. All throughout the nowhere lands, they abandoned their carriages and went on the hunt.

  Watching the hellbeasts as they cavorted around, I realized I was smiling. I didn’t know if this was all in my head or not, but at least I’d brought them momentary joy. Feeling myself beginning to wake, my smile subsided. As soon as I woke, my pain and humiliation was bound to recommence.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twenty

  Valac was pleased to see I was fully healed when he entered my cell. One of his minions had checked on me and had reported my recovery to his superior. Even my missing chunk of hair had grown back to its usual length. I’d taken the time to braid the sides neatly while I waited for him to return. The action had allowed me to calm my mind a bit and to prepare for what was about to happen.

  “The tales of your healing abilities were not exaggerated after all,” the prince said as he examined me.

  Sitting with my back against the wall, I didn’t bother to reply. The angels had managed to heal me only because I’d allowed myself to be drawn to where they could access me directly. The house that I’d built for Raziel was their refuge. It seemed their powers still worked there even though we were in hell. I’d make sure to stay away from their house if I passed out again.

  Valac had no way of knowing what had happened to me. He assumed I’d heal again once he recommenced his torture. I was going to try not to pass out again when he began punishing me. I would instead ensure that he would finish the task of ending my life.

  If I somehow managed to escape from him and returned to Earth, the toxin would kill me within minutes. Now that I’d been betrayed by both of the men I’d loved, I had nothing left to go back to anyway. I had no desire to stay here and become a demon permanently. The gates to hell would break open sooner or later. I’d failed my mission to save humanity and I just wanted it all to be over. Fate had chosen poorly when she’d picked me to be her champion.

  That is not so, Fate said to me. It is not over yet, Violet. Her tone held a hint of impatience that I was giving up so easily.

  What do you want from me? My cry of despair rang inside my own head. I don’t have anything left to give!

  Do you remember what I said to you?

  I mentally rolled my eyes at her vague question. Which time?

  About what you would have to endure before you would find the cure for your ailment, she clarified.

  You said I’d fall into the depths of despair.

  Tell me, Hellscourge, how do you feel right now? I went quiet and sensed her satisfaction. Y
ou have not yet reached the point where you will discover the cure, but it is drawing closer. With that, she left my mind.

  A hand waved in front of my eyes, bringing me back to reality. “Ah, there you are,” Valac said impatiently. “I thought you had reverted to some kind of fugue state for a moment there.”

  “I was talking to Fate,” I said and tilted my head back to look up at him. The uncomfortable lumps behind me indicated that my wings had grown larger.

  “Fate spoke to you directly?” he said and toyed with the dagger that he’d used to carve me open with. “What did she say?”

  “That I’m going to slit you open and pull your guts out,” I said almost pleasantly.

  He blanched and had to fight against the urge to step back. “Is that so?”

  “Yep. Then she said I was going to tear your head off with my bare hands and use it as a football.”

  His eyes narrowed and his upper lip lifted in a snarl. Lifting a cloven hoof, he slammed it down on my foot. My boots had grown larger to accommodate my feet, but they offered me no protection at all. I bit back a screech as my bones shattered. “I guess I won’t be using that foot to kick your head around with,” I managed, barely holding onto my pain.

  Bending down to grab me by the throat, he hauled me into the air and stabbed me in the face. The blade sliced through my cheek and my mouth filled with blood. I laughed, spraying the hot liquid in his face. “Is that the best you can do?” I gurgled. “Even Bob is a better torturer than you are.”

  The taunt was enough to enrage him. He used both his fist and the knife on me this time. My cheekbones and jaw shattered beneath the barrage. His borrowed blade punctured my face too many times to count. When he shoved it through my throat, a hand came down on his arm before he could saw my head off. “Sire, I fear Hellscourge will die if you continue.” It was the female lord who had spoken. She was the only one who was brave enough to try to stop him.