The Keepers of Hell Box Set

by Danielle James

  “I don’t like this place,” Kaia said to anyone who would listen.

  “I don’t blame you,” Ryver agreed.

  “This is where the worst of the worst are held,” Ash told them. “It isn’t supposed to be a vacation. Try not to look in the cells. And whatever you do, do not engage with the prisoners.”

  The angels followed their leader further into the belly of Hell. Kaia respected the hell out of Ash and his ability to lead. He might not have been her favorite person, but his team followed with loyalty, and mostly without question. It was the mostly part she liked the best. His angel Guards had the ability to question him and he allowed it. They followed out of respect, not obligation.

  Soon they came upon a row of cell doors made of thick, heavy iron. There was only a small opening near the top of the doors, just large enough to see into the cell. Kaia kept her eyes forward, remembering Ash’s warning. She had no desire to see who or what was in those cells.

  Ash stopped at a heavy steel door. “Touch nothing in here,” he warned before waving his hand in front of the door. It opened easily, and Ash stepped through. “Only angels in here,” he said directly to Shelly. “I know you want to help, but the guards in here will not ask questions. They will think you are an escaped demon and kill first. Stay out here or go back upstairs. Just not in there. As for the rest of you, don't bother trying to flash, no matter what happens. It won't work. This whole realm is protected against it. Not even I can do it.”

  Shelly nodded and flashed herself away, presumably to go back to her own realm. Kaia followed the other six angels into the realm. She didn’t know what she expected to see, but this was not it. Barren rock lined the ground, as well as rocky mountains that stretched as far as she could see. The sky was red with yellow and purple streaks across it and had a scattering of black clouds. Lightning streaked across the sky, and she couldn’t help but jump. There was a waterfall of thick, red lava pouring from one of the mountains that circled the whole realm. Kaia looked in front of them to see a rickety bridge over the lava river.

  “Well, this is nice,” Jake said quietly. His sarcasm was clear as they approached the bridge. There was a hooded figure standing guard at the entrance. As Ash stepped up, the figure stood straight at attention and nodded at him. Ash nodded back, and the figure stepped aside to allow them to cross.

  “What is that?” Kaia whispered.

  “I don’t think we want to know,” Lacy whispered back.

  Kaia’s wings twitched, wanting to just fly over the river, but she didn’t dare. Halfway across, she looked up and saw something circling the air above them. It was humanoid in shape, except for the fleshy wings. Those wings reminded her of a Pterodactyl, only with sharp horns on the tips. “Harpies,” Ash said quietly. “No sudden movements.”

  Kaia could feel her heart pounding in her chest and she was sure everyone could hear it. She breathed a relieved breath as she stepped off the bridge on to solid ground once again. She would be glad when this was over. If she never visited this place again, it would be too soon.

  “This way,” Ash commanded, and they followed. He led them into a corridor that was lined with cells. Each cell had iron bars that were locked tight with heavy locks. Every ten feet or so was a guard. They stood tall, dressed in battle armor. Each guard was a demon of sorts, some had horns, others did not. Some were red skinned or black, some were even human in appearance. Each one had a heavy chain harness in their hand. At the end of the harness was a huge dog-like creature. They were mangy and black, their yellow eyes tracking every move the angels made. As Lucas passed one, it growled menacingly, showing rows of razor sharp teeth. Lucas growled back.

  “Enough!” Ash barked and the dog retreated. “Fucking hell hounds,” he grumbled as he continued forward.

  He finally stopped in front of a cell, complete with guard. “I need to talk to the prisoner,” he said to the guard. The demon stepped aside and Ash reached for the lock. He held it in his hand for a moment before it popped open easily. He turned to the demon guard. “Keep watch.” The guard nodded and pulled his hound aside.

  “I need to go inside,” Ryver said, stepping forward.

  “Not alone you won’t,” Ash told her.

  “I’m going with you,” Lucas said. He pulled on his magic and reformed his body as the wolf. Ryver smiled at him and tousled his hair. Lucas huffed.

  “I will be going in as well,” Ash said. “The rest of you will stay here and make sure no one else goes in and no one comes out.”

  Kaia nodded and focused on her new power. She imagined protecting all of the angels with her. In her mind, she formed an invisible barrier that would protect them all from any harm. Soon, she could see it as if it were a palatable thing. She watched as Ash, Ryver, and Lucas went inside the cage.

  The walls were like a movie screen, playing flashes of people, innocent people being tortured and killed. In the corner was a man, curled over on himself, his arms over his head as if he were trying to block out the horrible scenes that surrounded him. Kaia couldn’t stomach it and so she looked away.

  “Turn it off,” Ash commanded and the gory images stopped. “Stephan, son of Lucifer, rise and speak to me.”

  The man moved his arm and peeked out with one eye.

  “Stephan,” Ryver said softly, “It’s me.”

  “Ryver?” he croaked out. “Is it really you?” he pushed himself to a sitting position and looked up at his visitors. “What has happened?” he looked at Ash, “Who are you? Why is there a dog in here? Have you come to feed me to the hounds?”

  “I am Ash and I am the new motherfucker in charge,” Ash said, his voice booming with power. “We have come to seek information from you.”

  Stephan forced himself to his feet. “I have been in here for so long,” he said, “I don’t know what I can do to help.”

  “Brother,” Ryver said, moving closer to him, “We need to know where Father hid the four horsemen.”

  “What?” he barked. Lucas jumped in front of Ryver and bared his teeth, growling at Stephan. “Is this your guard dog?” Lucas snarled at him in warning.

  Ryver reached down and stroked Lucas’s fur. “This is my mate,” she told her brother, “He is a wolf shifter and means only to protect me.”

  Stephan laughed, “He does know that you could kick his ass, right?”

  “He does,” Ryver smiled, “But that does not stop him and I am sure that he would just as soon rip you apart.”

  Stephan shook his head. “I didn’t think you would ever return,” he said. “Why do you need to know where the horsemen are?”

  “It doesn’t matter to you,” Ash growled. “Tell me what I want to know and do it without tricks.”

  “Yes, of course,” Stephan agreed. “The vampire who put me here, she took the insanity from me, and my punishment is an eternity of knowing what I have done.”

  “Won’t you please tell us what you know,” Ryver said, touching his arm. “It is of grave importance.”

  Stephan shook his head. “I wish I knew what to tell you,” he said. “All I know is Father said he contained them and threw them to the four corners of the Earth. As you know, the Earth is round, therefore, no corners. I do know that a human has to open the containment. I do not know if it is a box or something similar, but the seal must be broken by the lamb.”

  “Thank you, brother,” Ryver said. Then she turned to Ash. “Is there something we can do for him, since he has helped us?”

  Ash huffed, “I’m not so sure he was any help. Let’s go.”

  “It is okay,” Stephan told Ryver, “I have earned my fate. Go. Perhaps you can come and visit me again.”

  Ryver turned and walked out of the cell with Lucas at her side. Ash followed and then relocked the cell. He looked at Ryver, who was giving him a pleading expression. He sighed heavily. “One day,” he said to the guard. “He may have one day without the images.” Then the leader of Hell turned sharply on his heel and walked away.

  The rest
of the angels followed him quickly, all of them ready to get the hell out of there.

  Chapter Fifteen

  As they entered Ash's office, Antonio and Macy were already there, talking quietly to each other. Antonio, of course, was sitting behind Ash's desk with a bag of potato chips in hand. "How many times do I have to ask you not to eat at my desk?" Ash grumbled, waving his hand at the vampire. "Go, shoo."

  "At least a dozen more," Antonio laughed. "Macy has what we need to find Jamie."

  "I visited some family and, luckily, they remembered the spell to return a lost soul," Macy said with a happy smile. "Where have you guys been?"

  "Hell. Literally," Kaia answered her. "I never want to go back there again."

  "Went to see him?" Antonio asked.

  Ash nodded his head. "Yeah, but he wasn't much help."

  "Well, what did he say?"

  "He said that Lucifer hid the four horsemen at the four corners of the Earth. But as you know, that could be anywhere. The earth is round." Ash sat heavily in his chair. "We have nothing."

  "That's not true," Kaia said. "We do have a place to start. Yes, humans thought the earth was flat at one time, but wouldn't angels, no matter how long ago, know otherwise?"

  "I would think so," Ash said, leaning forward, "What's on your mind?"

  "I think we need to stop thinking like humans," Kaia told him, "I know, most of us have only ever been human before now, but we need to think bigger—less literally, more cosmically."

  "I agree," Jake piped in, "But we shouldn't rule out the literal, either."

  "How can something round have four corners?" Lacy asked, "It's not a literal saying."

  "Maybe it is," Lucas answered for Jake. "We know they're hidden on Earth. So let's start there. If we divided the earth into four sections, where would the corners be?"

  "My head hurts," Antonio said. "This is way too much thinking."

  "Let's all work on it, I want theories in the morning," Ash said. "But right now, what about that spell?" he asked Macy.

  "It's right here," she said, pulling a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "I even took the liberty of gathering the supplies we’d need."

  "Well, let’s do it then," Antonio suggested. "The longer he stays in limbo, the harder it's gonna be to get him out."

  "Do it," Ash demanded. "I'm going to talk to Elizabeth while you get this set up." Then, he disappeared, presumably to find his mate.

  "I got Frankincense, Poppy, wolf's bane," Macy began, listing off all of the ingredients she brought. "We just need to mix these in a clay bowl. Not Lucas, though, the wolf's bane is poisonous to him. Here, Lacy, will you make a circle out of these candles?" She handed her twelve white candles. "Go ahead and light them too."

  "Sure thing," Lacy said, taking the candles from her.

  "Ryver, can you please do something about that cage?" Macy asked. She nodded in the direction of the iron cage in the corner containing the witch. "I don't like her seeing all of this."

  "I can do better than that," Ryver said with a sly smile. "Check this out." She walked over to the cage and studied Laura for a moment.

  "Take a picture," Laura grumbled, "Your spell won't work."

  "Why do you think that?" Ryver asked sweetly.

  Laura gave her a smug smile. There was no reason to tell them that she had found a way around Ash's magic ban.

  "It doesn't matter," Ryver finally said. "I know there is something about you that we are missing, but I don't have time to figure it out right now. But me and you, we have a date coming up. I will figure out what you're hiding.”

  Ryver opened her arms wide and pushed her own power from her body. "Out of sight out of mind," she said. The entire cage turned black as night, a solid, impenetrable fortress. Then, she turned to Macy, "How's that?"

  "Perfect," Macy said approvingly. "Okay, I think we're ready."

  "Let's get to it," Ash said, appearing out of thin air. "We've wasted enough time. What the hell happened to the cage?"

  "I made it solid," Ryver told him. "For the spell. She was giving Macy the heebie jeebies. This way, she can't see or hear anything we're doing. Nothing—not a spell, magic, person or otherwise is getting through there until I take it down."

  ***

  Inside the cell, Laura was screaming. Damn that half angel, half demon bitch! There was no way her spell to keep the vampire hidden would hold if she couldn’t see him. Damn them for finding a way to her vampire. They had no right, none at all, and they would pay.

  ***

  "Everyone join hands and repeat after me," Macy said as they all gathered around the circle of candles. "Lost soul, find your light. Come back to us, come back to sight. Leave the dark and empty behind, come back to us, body and mind."

  They all repeated the chant over and over. The air began to swirl with a breeze that came from nowhere. Macy broke the circle long enough to pour the bowl of herbs into the center and then rejoined the group. They continued to chant, willing the spell to find Jamie.

  "When we find him, I will have to go get him," Macy said over the wind that was now quite strong. "Keep chanting!"

  They repeated the spell again and again until, finally, Macy could see him. "Got him!" she shouted, before jumping into the circle and disappearing.

  "What do we do now?" Lacy yelled out.

  "Keep saying the spell!" Ryver called back to her.

  They continued without Macy, hoping and praying that this would work. Finally, the wind came to an abrupt stop.

  "What's happening?" Kaia asked, looking around but not seeing Jamie or Macy anywhere.

  Ash closed his eyes and smiled. "The caverns," he said before flashing away.

  ****

  “Lost soul, find your light. Come back to us, come back to sight. Leave the dark and empty behind, come back to us, body and mind.”

  Jamie could hear the words as if they were whispered on the wind. At first, he wasn't sure he had heard them at all, but the more they repeated, the louder they got. In fact, now, he could tell that it was several voices at the same time. He forced his feet to move against the extreme force that was anchoring him to the ashen ground. First one foot broke free, and then the other. The words resonated in his mind, moving through his body, giving him strength that he had thought lost. They gave him the will to fight back. To fight for his soul. Jamie became aware of his breathing, labored but there. Had he been breathing before?

  As he pushed himself harder, Jamie found that he could run. He ran toward the voices or, at least, in the direction he thought they were coming from. "Come back to us," he heard. Harder. He had to push his legs harder.

  Each time his heavy boots hit the ground, a crunching sound accompanied the movement. Sound. There was sound!

  "There you are!" A woman's voice said just as the owner of that lovely sound appeared in front of him. She was a tiny scrap of a girl with unruly black hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. She was pretty, in a traditional sort of way. Funny, she didn't quite compare to the vision of the woman he had been seeing while he was trapped in this nothing. Hell, that woman probably didn't exist, just a figment of his imagination. And why the hell was he contemplating his insanity when there was a person in front of him!

  "Who are you?" he asked, skidding to a halt.

  "No time to explain," she said, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him along. She stopped and waved her hand in the air in front of her, revealing a portal of sorts. It was air that swirled and churned like a sideways tornado. The inside seemed to be never ending, though. "I'm here to get you where you belong," she told him.

  "You're taking me to Heaven?" Jamie asked, feeling the relief pour through his veins.

  The little woman grinned. "Not exactly," she said before giving him a violent shove.

  Jamie didn't have time to wonder what she meant because he was falling head over ass through this vortex. Faster and faster he moved, unable to right himself. He saw flashes of his life, memories of those he used to know. He saw hims
elf as a child. All at once it made sense. Jamie was moving through the infamous tunnel, on his way to his own afterlife. He knew that he had lived a good life, so he stopped fighting the pull and let the force of the tunnel take him where it may.

  It seemed like a very long trip, but he didn't care. He grinned from ear-to-ear and held his arms out at his sides as if he were flying. Hell, he guessed he was flying. Air that he couldn't feel pushed his hair back from his face and whipped at his clothes. Faster and faster he moved, and Jamie couldn't wait. He was ready for whatever the good Lord had in store for him.

  Finally, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't as bright as he had thought it would be, but it was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. As he moved closer still, he could see that the light flickered like that of a candle.

  As the end of the tunnel became very obvious, Jamie saw the reason for the flickering of the light. It wasn't a bright, pure light of Heaven, but fire! He was barreling at the speed of light into the fires of Hell! He tried to stop himself, his feet running backward but gaining no purchase, and his arms flailing in circles in a futile attempt to slow himself down, but it was no use.

  The floor of a large cavern met his ass bones with a resounding thud and Jamie was sure his spine had just exited the top of his head. He shook off the pain, wondering how a dead guy could feel pain in the first place, and raised his eyes.

  The silhouette of six angels loomed over him. He searched his memory bank for any mention of six angels in the Bible, but came up empty.

  "Well, it's about time you joined us," one of them said, stepping forward and dispelling the shadow that concealed him. He was tall, taller than Jamie was, with black hair that brushed his shoulders and a crooked grin that showed fang. A vampire angel. Wow.

  The others did the same. They didn't look like they meant him harm, but Jamie stood so that he could at least fight for himself if necessary.

  "Jamie!" A female voice that he recognized squealed and he jerked his head to the right. He almost didn't see the little package of white and wings that assaulted him. In the blink of an eye, he was covered in angel.