Into the Abyss

by Brenda K. Davies

  • • •

  Amalia

  We found a mass of wraiths hovering over the red blocks of a wrecked building. Most of the blocks were singed black, and many of them had disintegrated to ash, but some were untouched and a deep red hue.

  The wraiths here were healthier than any of the wraiths who slipped inside the seals and been fed on by those lurking within. By the time most wraiths made it behind the seals, they were fed on to the point of barely being mobile anymore.

  They’d kept me alive, but since coming to Earth, I’d been feeding on far healthier wraiths. Healthy or depleted, I loathed the spirits. They didn’t deserve to be free of Hell. There were others who would say the same thing about me and the jinn, but there was little redeeming about the hideous human souls sent to Hell, and seeing so many wraiths in one place was usually a sign of a lot of death.

  “Why are there so many wraiths here?” I asked as I studied the twisted, malevolent spirits darting through the air, plummeting into the ground, and rising again.

  “It looks like this was a big place, a school perhaps. My guess is many of the humans gathered here after the gateway opened to seek comfort from each other and find strength in numbers, but something destroyed the place, most likely killing them all.”

  “How horrible,” I murmured and lifted my hand to the sky to draw one of the depraved souls toward me.

  The wraith’s fathomless eyes stared out of a gray face, elongated into a grotesque mask. This wraith was new enough that I could still make out human characteristics such as its nose, cheeks, and flaking lips. The wraith squirmed in my grasp, but I held on as I drained more of its life from it.

  Unlike many other demons, I took no joy in inflicting pain on it. I had to feed on wraiths to survive, but I couldn’t stand the coldness of their spirit or the clammy way they made my skin feel and its vile emotions battering me as I drained it.

  By the time I finished, it no longer had lips, and its face had extended and become grayer. When I released it, the wraith faltered until its flapping, black ends dragged across the ground before it swooped toward the sky.

  No matter how much I despised feeding on them, when the wraith darted away from me, I felt rejuvenated and better prepared to return to the Abyss. I shuddered at the idea of the lost lives touching my flesh again, but I would deal with it when the time came.

  Beside me, Magnus released his wraith, turned toward me, and claimed my hand.

  “Let’s get back to the others and the Abyss,” I said.

  CHAPTER 26

  Amalia

  When we returned to the others, we discovered Lix standing by the entrance of the cave with his head bowed and his shoulders hunched. At his side, Erin gazed morosely at the night.

  “What happened?” Magnus asked.

  “Two more humans and the other skellein have died,” Erin replied.

  My breath caught, and I resisted offering comfort to Lix. He wouldn’t want it, and he may cut off my hand if I touched him. I shouldn’t have any pity for a demon who would prefer to see me sealed away again or dead, but I hated not being able to ease his despair.

  “Shit,” Magnus muttered. “I’m sorry, Lix.”

  “To everything, there is a season,” Lix muttered and uncapped his flask to take a drink. It was a different flask than the one he had earlier, and I suspected it had belonged to his friend.

  “Will the Faulted help us?” Erin asked.

  “No. They don’t condone what the others have done, but they won’t help us,” I answered.

  “They intend to stay out of the fight completely,” Magnus said.

  “Fools,” Lix hissed.

  “Maybe,” Magnus replied, “but the calamuts are protecting them, so they aren’t fighters, and after learning their history, I understand why.”

  Lix’s head rose, and despite his sorrow, curiosity emanated from him. “What do you mean?”

  “The jinn and fae have been keeping secrets from us,” Magnus replied. “And I think you, with your penchant for puzzles and riddles, will appreciate this deception.”

  Lix’s head turned toward me, and though he had no eyes that I could see, I felt his attention boring into me.

  “She knew nothing of it, good chap,” Magnus said in a cheerful tone that didn’t quite fit the moment, but a trickle of amusement emanated from Lix. He may be grieving, but he enjoyed this banter. “The jinn were waiting until they believed she was ready to hear the tale and decided now was as good a time as any.”

  “I dare say,” Lix said, “I’m intrigued.”

  “So am I,” Erin murmured.

  Lix and Erin fell in behind us as we strode back to rejoin the others. I told Magnus to take over the revelation as I wasn’t up to it, and I needed time to absorb everything I learned earlier.

  I mourned the lost fae, but I suspected it was a good thing the original jinn were gone. The jinn I loved could be downright savage; I couldn’t imagine what they would be like if they only cared for themselves, like those long-ago jinn.

  “I think the merging of the fae and jinn was an evolutionary survival tactic,” Magnus said. “It wasn’t a planned one, but one that came about as a way to preserve both species.”

  His words caught my attention. “What do you mean?” I asked and rose from where I’d sat against the wall.

  Magnus turned toward me and spread his hands before him. The flames of the small fire danced within his silver eyes when they met mine, giving him an utterly demonic countenance.

  “The fae weren’t strong enough to survive Hell, not even with having the Abyss to retreat into. Whether the fallen angels entered Hell or not, they would have eventually been killed off. They didn’t have active powers, and they had little, if any, inclination to fight. Their time would have inevitably come.

  “The jinn were turning against themselves, and with their violent nature they would have wiped each other out, or more demons would have banded together to destroy them. The Fae-aulted were willing to fight for each other. They couldn’t avoid being sealed away, but they evaded extinction, unlike the full-blooded jinn and fae.”

  My mouth parted and I started to reply, but I had no words for him. I’d been feeling sorry for the fae, but he was right. The fae lived longer than anyone believed they would, and the Fae-aulted continued their bloodline as well as that of the original jinn.

  “So what do we do now?” Erin asked.

  “Amalia and I will return to the Abyss and see what we can do there. Either Caim or Raphael must start searching for Sloth. You can’t both go at the same time, as we need at least one of you should something happen to the other. We can’t send out a ground search because we don’t have the numbers for it, but the hunt for Sloth has to start. If we can find and destroy him, maybe his spell over them will break, and we can wake some of those here,” Magnus said.

  I was loath to pop the bubble of hope emanating from all of them at these words, but…. “They’re ensnared already, destroying Sloth is a good thing, but it won’t help anyone in the Abyss.”

  I noticed a slight droop in Magnus’s shoulders I doubted the others detected. I was becoming more attuned to his body language, probably because I spent the spare time I had raptly watching him.

  I resisted going to him and hugging him to ease some of his distress. We’d nearly had sex, but that was sex, hugging was something else entirely. Hugging involved an emotional attachment of some sort whether it be friends or something more.

  Then, I recalled the tender way he rested his hand on my shoulder to offer me comfort when speaking with the Faulted. Warmth had spread through me as he calmed me. There are already feelings involved, I realized, but how deep do they run?

  I frowned as I pondered this. Demons weren’t supposed to have feelings for anyone who wasn’t their Chosen, except for their kin or close friends, and Magnus was none of those things to me.

  Okay, maybe he’d become a friend throughout all this, but it was the start of a friendship and not a deep one
. Besides, I had friends, and none of them made me feel as cherished or desired as Magnus did. They’d never acted as protective toward me as Magnus did either, and they’d never made me feel jealous as Magnus did when he hugged Erin earlier.

  “We’ll send Caim to hunt Sloth,” Corson said. Shifting his hold on Wren, he settled her gently on the ground before standing.

  Caim snapped his heels together and threw back his shoulders. “I will find the horseman and bring the lazy bastard down.”

  “Pride goeth before the fall, brother,” Raphael murmured.

  Caim laughed. “Then it’s a good thing I have no pride; I’m just arrogant.”

  Raphael’s eyes narrowed.

  “It’s time for us to get back,” Magnus said.

  “I still think more of us should go in with you,” Corson told him.

  “I think more of you are needed here in case Sloth, or someone else, discovers this cave.”

  Corson and Magnus gazed at each other before Corson’s eyes fell to Wren. No matter how badly he wanted to plunge into the Abyss and pull her out, he wouldn’t leave her body unprotected.

  “We will see you soon,” Magnus said to him before turning to me.

  • • •

  Amalia

  We stepped back into the Abyss and the colorful cave we’d left before returning to Earth. Resting my fingers against a yellow rock, I couldn’t stop the swell of sadness within me for the fae who once ruled this land. A land once full of color and beauty and now devoid of most of its original splendor.

  “Can it be returned?” I mused.

  I hadn’t realized I spoke the question out loud until Magnus inquired, “Can what be returned?”

  “The beauty, the life, and the love that once ruled here,” I whispered.

  “If places like this cave remain, then I think there’s a chance it could be. We should go.”

  Reluctantly, I removed my fingers from the wall and followed him to the entrance of the cave. The waterfall misted my hair and clothes as we descended the rocks, but I welcomed the refreshing feel of it on my skin.

  When my feet hit the ground, I stepped closer to cup my hands and slide them into the waterfall. The flow pounding against my palms pushed them down. I spilled my collection before I corrected my hands and gathered enough water to splash my face and hair with it. The cool water sluicing down my skin and soaking the dress washed away some of the lingering death adhering to my flesh.

  Finished, I dropped my hands and turned to find Magnus’s ravenous gaze fixed on my breasts. Glancing down, I realized the damp material of my dress clinging to my cleavage emphasized my areolas. The knowledge such a sight affected him caused my body to react to his as wetness spread between my thighs.

  When he stalked toward me, I took an involuntary step back from the need he radiated until my heel connected with the rock wall. My palms flattened on the craggy surface, and my breath caught as my heart raced. Then, he was before me.

  Tilting my head back, I gazed up at him as his silver eyes fastened on my mouth. When he leaned closer, the scent of him filled my nose, and everything in me screamed for more of him.

  My chest rose toward him when he rested his hand on the wall beside my head. Dampened by the spray from the waterfall, his blond hair sticking to his head revealed more of the shiny, black horns I yearned to touch. His other hand claimed the end of my hair, and he wrapped it around his wrist until I was bound to him.

  Using my hair, he drew me gently toward him until his face was only inches from mine. Unable to resist them anymore, I reached up to trail my hand over one of his horns. I brushed aside strands of his hair while I ran my fingers from the sharp tip, back along the side of his head, and toward the thicker end.

  His head tilted into my touch, and my hand clenched around his horn as I rose on my toes to stroke it again. My movement brought me into contact with the rigid evidence of his arousal. Our eyes met as he thrust forward to grind his erection against my wet core. The movement and the pleasure it caused to spiral throughout me had my hand clenching around his horn as I cried out.

  “Shh, Freckles,” he murmured. “I don’t think anyone can hear us over the water, but it’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

  Biting my lip to stifle my cries, my head fell back when he released my hair, and his knuckles skimmed down the front of my dress. I squirmed against him, eager for more as his thumb circled my nipple, but then, he stopped.

  I was about to voice my displeasure over his hand moving away from my breast when the searing heat of his mouth settled over it. When his tongue flicked the hardened bud through the thin material, I was lost to him as the world spun and my knees gave out.

  Magnus caught me before I hit the ground, and in one swift move, he lifted me up and laid me down. I didn’t feel the rock against my back or the spray of water coating us both; all I felt was him. Panting, wiggling, and desperate for more, I grasped his shoulders as he came down on top of me.

  One of his hands slid down my belly and toward my thighs while the other propped him up above me. His hand entangled in my skirt, and he lifted it up. Entranced by the darkening color of his eyes, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his. Water dampened my legs when he pulled my dress up to my waist; I spread my thighs as he settled himself between them.

  We shouldn’t be doing this. We had to find the others and see if we could help, but I couldn’t bring myself to part from him. Then his hand settled on my thigh and moved steadily toward my aching sex. Every slow, tantalizing stroke was a form of torture I wanted to end but craved more of it.

  Lifting my hips and feeling nearly out of my mind, I couldn’t bite back a scream when his hand slid over my sex. I squirmed beneath him when he spread my growing wetness over my clit before stroking it with his thumb. My hips rose and fell faster as my body came alive in ways it never had before.

  There was something so incredibly wonderful about Magnus’s body on mine as he dipped a finger inside me and held me close to him. Bending his head, his tongue slid over my lips before entering my mouth. He tasted me in slow thrusts that had my hips rising impatiently against his hand as my tongue entwined with his.

  My fingers bit into the corded muscles of his back before I relaxed and lifted them to seize his horns. I dragged him closer until his mouth was bruising against mine, but I didn’t care as I tried to get closer but couldn’t get close enough.

  His growl vibrated my lips as he parted me further and dipped another finger inside. When he moved his hand in such a way that his palm rubbed my clit, my back arched off the ground. So close, I was so very close…

  His hand slid away from me, and I groaned a protest as I lifted my hips demandingly toward him, but he didn’t give me what I craved. Breaking our kiss, his lips hovered against mine as he spoke. “Not yet.”

  I tried to grab him back when he lifted himself away from me, but he caught my hands and gave me a wicked smile as he pressed a kiss against the back of one. “Patience, Amalia,” he said, and I saw the words forming on his lips more than I heard them over the water.

  When I glared at him, he laughed. I was about to pull away when he bent to press a kiss against my belly. Torn between kicking him and curiosity, I remained unmoving as his mouth hovered over the place he’d kissed before his tongue flicked out to taste me. Moving steadily lower, he licked away the beads of water forming on my skin as he went.

  His tongue dipped into my belly button before he nuzzled it with his nose and nipped at my flesh. I shivered and gave up any lingering irritation with him as his hands spread my thighs apart.

  I bit my lip when he moved lower, and I recognized what he intended to do. Excitement tore through me; when I wiggled impatiently, his chuckle warmed my lower belly. Then his hands slid under my ass, and he lifted it off the ground. I bit harder on my lip when his eyes met mine as he dipped his mouth to my core. His warm breath against me created a tickling, entirely erotic sensation that caused my nails to dig into the rock. He continued to hold
my stare as he tortured me with as much expertise as the jinn.

  Then his tongue gave one, slow lick over my entrance and clit before making a teasing circle. Horrible! Wicked demon! I wanted to scream the words at him, but I couldn’t speak through the lump clogging my throat.

  He seemed to understand my torment as his eyes gleamed with amusement. He gave me another teasing flick with his tongue before plunging into me. My back arched off the ground; I cried out as he tasted me in deep, hungry thrusts that made me lose complete control. Releasing the rock, I gripped his horns and dragged him closer to me as I rode his tongue like it was his shaft.

  When Magnus growled against me, it reverberated my clit and sent me over the edge. Releasing my ass with one hand, he used it to cover my mouth as I came apart with a wild cry. Joy suffused my trembling body as his pride over my pleasure beat against me.

  Removing his hand from my mouth, he lowered me to the ground and gripped the button of his pants while my hands ran over his horns as if they were his shaft. A fresh jolt of excitement washed through me when he lowered himself over me again.

  We were far from done.

  I felt his button release against my belly, and his zipper slid down. Long and thick, his shaft heated my stomach after he freed it from his pants. When Magnus lifted his head to gaze down at me, his silver eyes were nearly black with desire, but there was also a strange curiosity in them I understood. Neither of us knew what to make of the other or what was happening between us.

  Gripping his shaft, he shifted himself as he guided it toward me. My heart hammered when the silken head of it brushed my thigh. Then, he was rubbing it against my core and spreading my wetness before pressing it against my entrance. I opened my legs further when he started to enter me.

  Gripping his horns, I drew him toward me for another kiss and froze when I saw the jinni stepping around the waterfall. I blinked away the water coating my lashes as I tried to figure out if what I was seeing was real or not. But Nalki remained standing there with his full lips pulled back to reveal his teeth and his blue eyes sparkling with amusement.