To Hell And Back (Hellscourge Book 2)

by Diem, J. C.

  Sophia led the way through the kitchen and upstairs to the bathroom. I took a seat on the edge of the tub while she gathered some first aid supplies. She dabbed at the cuts with saline to clean them and I winced when they stung. “They are not very deep,” she said as she inspected the cuts. “But I am sure they are painful.”

  My pain increased tenfold when she lightly dabbed antiseptic cream on the wounds. I hissed in a breath to hold in the swearwords that wanted to escape. Swearing in front of her would have been like cursing in front of my mother.

  “Thanks,” I managed when the pain abated a bit. I actually felt better now that she’d cleaned the slices. I’d probably had bits of dead squirrel lodged in my scalp. That thought was almost enough to bring my lunch back up again.

  “I wonder how the raven was even able to see you,” Sophia said as she washed her hands. “Brie’s spell should have kept you hidden from it.”

  “I guess the bracelet doesn’t work on birds.” Picturing its milky eyes, I wasn’t sure how it could see anything at all.

  We trooped back downstairs and this time I poured myself a cup of tea from the ever present teapot. “Do you have any theories about who is killing the demons’ vessels?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” Sophia replied. “Hopefully, the others will have some information for us when they return.”

  I had a couple of ideas myself, but I wasn’t about to voice them until the whole group was present. I wanted to see their expressions when I asked them my questions.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Five

  Bored with sitting around waiting, I took down one of the books from Sophia’s shelves. It was another book about angels and demons, but it was less informative than the first one that I’d read. This one merely speculated about what had happened to the demons after they were cast out of heaven. I’d seen the aftermath for myself through the memories of the demons that I’d absorbed. It had been a shock for them to be cast out of paradise into the scorched plains of the innermost realm of hell.

  Engrossed in the book, I couldn’t help but chuckle every now and then at the erroneous assumptions that the author had made. She’d believed that hell was just one gigantic pit of fire. That might be partially true of the center where the Hellmaster reigned supreme, but the outer realms were very different. I’d been to the ninth realm myself, but had only seen snatches of what awaited me in the others. I’d be travelling to all of the realms to find the hidden pieces of the object of power that I’d been destined to search for.

  Speaking of the mysterious object, I had no idea what it was. I’d only found one piece so far. It was hidden in a small metal box that belonged to Sophia. Brie had cast a spell over it that made it impossible for anyone but an angel to open it. I hadn’t seen it since it had been locked away, but the image was burned into my memory. About the size of my palm, it was made of tarnished silver. Images were engraved on the metal, but they were too faint for me to make out. The edges were jagged and reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle.

  Catching sight of my scarlet bracelet, I squinted at the engravings that had been magically carved onto it after I’d started ingesting demons. Just like the puzzle piece, they were difficult to decipher. It disturbed me to see the bright red stone, so I pulled my sleeve over it. Ever since I’d started trapping demon souls inside me, both my bracelet and dagger had turned crimson. At least the bracelet didn’t glow like my dagger tended to. I’d managed to hide it from everyone but Nathan so far. If Brie saw it, she’d probably take it as another sign that I was turning evil.

  Still holding the book in my hands, I stopped seeing the words as I pondered about my missing soul. It was a mystery why I had an empty pit inside me. Now chock full of demons, I should have turned as evil as them by now. Strangely, I didn’t feel any different to how I’d been before this nightmare had all begun.

  It had started the night my mother had died, leaving me bereft and full of sorrow. My eyes welled up when I pictured her bloody body lying on the floor of her bedroom. She’d been murdered with a dagger exactly like the one that I’d stolen from Bob the demon. As a human, I shouldn’t have had the power to make it glow, but glow it did. There had supposedly never been anything like me before. Or so Fate had told me in a dream. I only wished she’d given me some more details during our chat, like exactly what the hell I was. That would have been nice to know.

  Blinking away my tears before Sophia or Sam could see them, I picked up my teacup and took a sip. Leo appeared so suddenly that I almost spilled my tea all over myself. “Geez!” I complained. “A little warning next time!”

  “Sorry,” he replied, sounding anything but. “Would you like me to wear a bell like a cat?”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” I muttered as Brie appeared beside him. Nathan arrived last and all three took a seat at the table.

  “What did you learn?” Sophia asked.

  “Very little, I am afraid,” Nathan replied. “The police had already arrived when we finally located the bodies. We had to keep our distance to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. Far too many of the officers were our enemies.” That meant they’d been taken over by hell spawn.

  Demons had a hard time seeing us when we wore our bracelets, but humans could see us well enough. Due to their innate magic, all celestial beings could appear without being noticed by humans when they teleported. Otherwise, panic would ensue each time they zapped themselves to a location where they could be seen by the populace.

  “Where did you find the bodies?” I asked.

  “They were in an abandoned construction site,” Brie said. “All were slaughtered with sharp blades of various lengths and sizes.”

  “Do the police have any suspects?”

  Leo shook his head. “They are clueless, as always.” He was referring to all of the deaths that had been committed either by us or by demons during the past five weeks.

  “Who do you think killed the vessels?”

  “It must have been a rival group of demons,” he speculated.

  “Could it have been angels?” I asked. They exchanged startled glances at that prospect. “Surely you three aren’t the only angels that are trapped in the city.”

  “I have not seen any of our kin,” Brie said with a frown.

  “Have any of you seen any other angels?” I queried. Leo shook his head and Nathan copied him after a slight hesitation. My heart sank at his lie. When I’d discovered that he’d been present the night my mother had died and that he’d failed to help her, my trust in him had become strained. Now he was lying right to my face, weakening my trust further. “I guess it must have been demons then,” I said heavily.

  “Are you alright?” Leo asked. “You look a little pale.”

  “She was attacked by an undead raven,” Sam said solemnly.

  “What?” Leo’s mouth hung open incredulously at that news.

  “I think it was the same raven that we saw when we entered hell,” I explained. “I don’t know who brought it into the city, but it can see through Brie’s spell.”

  “This is not good news,” Brie said uneasily. “My spell should work for any denizen of hell.”

  “I have the wounds to prove that it didn’t work,” I said dryly and pointed to my scalp. The pain was mostly gone now, so Sophia’s ointment must have worked.

  “We believe you,” Nathan said before we could descend into an argument. I flicked a glance at him and was instantly mesmerized by his perfect face. It took effort to tear my gaze away again. The longer I spent in his company, the worse my crush on him was becoming. Pretty soon, I’d be staring at him constantly and sighing in despair that he didn’t return my affection. I knew he cared about me, but not as much as I did about him.

  Mentally slapping myself for being pathetic, I stood. “I’m going to read this upstairs while you guys strategize.” Picking up the book, I took my teacup as well. As I’d known he would, Sam followed me up to the living room. Apart from two overstuffed brown armchairs, a matching couch
and an oak coffee table, there wasn’t much to see. The television stood on a small bureau that had a few movies stacked inside.

  Taking a seat on the armchair that faced the door, I waited for Sam to settle on the couch before asking him a question. “You’re my friend, right?”

  Startled by my earnest tone, he nodded. “Of course. You are the best friend that I have ever had.”

  His heartfelt admission almost brought tears to my eyes again. “If I were to tell you something, could you keep it to yourself?”

  “You can trust me with anything, Violet. I will take the knowledge to my grave.” Putting a bony hand on his withered chest, he gave me a small, formal bow.

  As an imp, I wasn’t sure it was possible for him to die, but I appreciated the sentiment. Checking the door to make sure no one was in sight, I leaned in close and he copied me. “I think Nathan lied about not seeing any other angels in the city.”

  His overlarge brow furrowed in confusion. “Why would he lie about that?”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know, but I saw him standing across the street when I was ordering my lunch. He was talking to a man and a woman who were ridiculously beautiful. It was the kind of beauty that only angels have.”

  “I am sure he has a good reason for keeping this from us,” he said lamely.

  My response was bleak. “I wish I could believe that.” I didn’t know why he’d keep this information from me, let alone from the others. Unless they all knew that they weren’t the only angels in the city and were only pretending otherwise.

  Firmly addicted to TV, Sam picked up the remote and switched it on when I didn’t add anything further. He’d become an expert at channel surfing and finding things of interest.

  I tried to read, but stared at the pages blindly as I brooded. I was supposed to stop the Hellmaster from opening the gates to the underworld and these people were the only ones on my side. It wasn’t easy knowing I’d been fated to be a tool. Discovering that my team weren’t being completely truthful didn’t fill me with confidence.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Six

  Falling asleep took longer than usual that night. Stress kept me awake for several hours. When I finally went under, I dreamed that I was in the shadowlands that acted as a barrier between Earth and hell.

  My inner demons were waiting for me. They stood in the misty darkness that made it hard to see anything that was more than a few yards away. Twelve Demon Lords led the pack, with the captains and lesser demons cowering behind them. Morax, their spokesdemon, was at the front. All of the lords wore leather armor that was as black as their skin. Their clothing was more intricate than the captains’. The soldiers in the gathering wore plain leather armor and didn’t have the metal braces on their wrists. Lowest on the ladder were the lesser demons. They wore black sackcloth with frayed rope as their belts.

  It was easy to tell them apart at a glance. Lords stood head and shoulders above the lowest minions. Horns grew from their foreheads, sweeping halfway to the back of their heads. Their fangs were long, ivory in color and almost thick enough to be classed as tusks. They were also hideously ugly. Captains were a head shorter than them and their horns were mere stubs. Everyone else was the size of an average human. All had black skin, scarlet eyes, sharp, jagged teeth and forked tongues.

  “Hi, guys,” I said morosely. The longer they spent inside me, the harder it was becoming to think of them as enemies. They’d been rendered all-but helpless now that they were trapped within the confines of my body. The only time they could act was when I was in danger, or when I allowed them to take control of my body.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?” Morax asked with a hint of derision. Apparently, I hadn’t grown on them at all. Formerly lords of hell, they’d been reduced to being phantoms inside my head.

  I didn’t have any control over where my dreams took me and I hadn’t consciously dreamed myself here. While I had them at my disposal, I might as well ask a couple of questions. “Have any of you ever taken a bird or an animal out of hell?”

  Morax exchanged glances with his colleagues. “No. We do not possess the power to take a creature through a portal.”

  “I guess the Hellmaster must be responsible then.”

  “That is likely,” he agreed.

  Residing inside me, they were able to see what I was seeing, which made me uncomfortable now that I thought about it. “Can you guys see through my eyes all the time?” I asked.

  Morax shook his horned head. “We can only do so when you are in the shadowlands or when you are in hell. When you are on Earth, we are only able to see flashes of what is happening when you are under attack and you inadvertently call on us.”

  I let out an inaudible sigh of relief to know they couldn’t see through my eyes when I was having a shower, or at other equally embarrassing times. “Do any of you have any idea where I can find the other missing pieces of the mystery object?”

  “As we have told you each time you have asked us previously,” Morax replied with exaggerated patience, “we do not have any information on where they are being kept.”

  “There’s no need to be snarky,” I snapped. Snark was my signature state of being and I wasn’t about to share that personality trait with him. “I thought one of the new arrivals might have heard something.”

  They turned to contemplate the newbies who were huddled in a tight group. As the most recent additions, they were still acclimatizing to their roles of being specters. “Well?” Morax barked. “Do any of you know where our master is keeping the remaining pieces of the object of power?”

  “What do you mean ‘remaining pieces’?” one of the new lesser demons asked.

  “I’ve already found one of them,” I informed him. “Now I need to know where the other eight pieces are.”

  “Who are you?” he queried.

  “Haven’t you filled them in yet?” I asked Morax in exasperation.

  He shrugged a massive shoulder uncaringly. “It is not my task to give orientation classes to the hapless demons that you absorb.”

  Rolling my eyes, I turned to the newbies. “I’m Hellscourge.”

  To my complete lack of surprise, they fled screaming. Trapped in my mind, they couldn’t go far. Hitting an invisible wall, they rebounded so hard that they fell down. The mist swirled in agitation as they rolled around on the ground, fighting and clawing at each other in an attempt to get free.

  “Enough!” Morax roared and they froze. I sniggered quietly at their chastened expressions when they stood and slunk back over to us. “Answer Hellscourge’s question,” he ordered. “Do any of you know where any of the pieces are?”

  One of the lesser demons raised her hand, reminding me of Sam before I’d managed to break him out of the habit. “I have heard of a mysterious object being hidden in the catacombs beneath the palace in the eighth realm.”

  “The cave system is extensive,” Morax said. “It could take weeks to search all of it. Do you have any idea where the object is being held inside the catacombs?”

  Shaking her head, she was terrified that I’d kill her for not being able to give me the answer. “Sorry, but I do not know.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving her apology away. “At least you’ve given me a clue.”

  A hand shook me by the shoulder and the dream faded, forcing the demons that resided inside me into the back of my mind again.

  Opening my eyes, I saw Leo standing over me. “Rise and shine,” he said cheerfully. “Sophia has made breakfast for you. She sent me to get you before it goes cold.”

  Checking my watch, I saw that it was nearly nine. I’d overslept due to taking so long to fall asleep. “I’ll be right down,” I said. At least I didn’t have to worry that anyone would steal my food.

  Pulling on jeans, a fresh t-shirt and my favorite black jacket with the creepily cool skull shaped buckles, I took a trip to the bathroom first. Sam no longer felt it was necessary to stand guard outside my doo
r all night. The others had been wary of him at first, but they’d accepted that he was part of our team. They didn’t actually include him in any of their strategy meetings, but they now allowed him to sit in and listen. He was my eyes and ears whenever I was absent and acted as my own personal spy. That was when he could drag himself away from the TV.

  Sophia was a pretty good cook for someone who didn’t need to consume food. A plate of bacon, eggs and toast was sitting at my usual spot. There was also a cup of tea waiting for me. Everything about my life had changed the night my mother had been murdered. It felt as though my love of tea was the only link I had to her now.

  Sadness plucked at me as I ate and listened to my strange new friends discuss our options. Thankfully, they’d lost their fascination with watching me eat. They no longer stared as I shoveled food into my face.

  “We have nothing but time at the moment,” Brie was saying. “Until we receive more information regarding Violet’s mission to gather the objects of power, we should continue to hone her skills. It is obvious that she needs real combat experience. She may be able to rely on her evil advisors to assist her in hell, but on Earth, she is all-but helpless.”

  “I’m sitting right here,” I reminded her with a scowl. It was bad enough knowing they spoke about me behind my back. She didn’t need to point out all of my shortcomings when I was within hearing distance as well.

  “Violet has improved greatly since she has absorbed the twelve Demon Lords,” Leo agreed, “but she gets defeated far too frequently during our training sessions. Do you really think it would be wise to endanger her in a real battle with demons?”