Catching Hell

by D. B. Sieders

  The force of the arm around my neck jerked me back and left me gasping. Simon had been trying to warn me. Barbatos twisted my knife arm behind my back and started dragging me toward the portal.

  “We don’t have much time, pet,” he said, his voice punctuated by grunts of effort. I wasn’t making it easy for him. I let my feet drag the ground, forcing him to bear all my weight while I struggled to loosen his grip on my neck with my free hand. I managed to dip my chin beneath his arm so I could bite him.

  He hissed and twisted my arm tighter. I squirmed in pain since I didn’t have enough breath to scream. “Mephisto will pay handsomely for you, demon hunter, and once you’re in Belial’s army, your demon will soon follow.”

  “Barbatos.” A familiar voice sounded behind us.

  Barbatos swung around, and we both stared at the dark mass in front of the portal. It swirled and coalesced into the shape of a red-cloaked man decked out in what looked to be some version of Elizabethan garb, complete with a red leather jerkin covering a puffy-sleeved shirt, tights, soft boots, and a codpiece.

  He removed his feathered cap and made a low bow. “Greetings, Your Grace. I’m pleased to see you.”

  “And I you, Mephisto,” Barbatos replied. “I’ve brought you a gift.”

  “So I see.” Mephisto’s red gaze flickered with amusement and apparent delight. “She’s quite a handful, is she not?”

  Barbatos laughed. “Not to worry. I’m certain your master will find her useful. She needs training, of course.” He tightened his grip around my neck. “Send her to obedience school and she’ll serve you well. Shall we?”

  I’d stopped Lacey, but not before she’d opened the portal. I did not want to go to the hell realm. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and then used all the force I could muster to stomp on Barbatos’s right foot. The demon howled and lifted me off the ground. I kicked him hard, hoping I could give him a good one in the kneecaps and or the balls.

  I must have gotten lucky since he lost his grip on my knife arm. Gritting my teeth through the pain—I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d half ripped my arm out of its socket—I spun around in his grip and slashed his cheek with my knife.

  He howled in agony as my demon blade cut into his flesh. I used his temporary weakness to my advantage and plunged the knife into his side. Before I could go in for the kill at his neck, he backhanded me hard enough to slam my back into the ugly tree and make my head bounce.

  Mephisto laughed. I really hated that guy and swore then and there, someway, somehow, I was going to take his ass out.

  My head had just stopped swimming when I caught a whiff of something odd. Something intoxicating and sensual, like sandalwood and sin. What the hell? Had D come? I whirled around, scanning the area for my guy, and immediately regretted the action. A wave of dizziness knocked me on my ass. The scent grew stronger, though, and I realized it was coming from within the protective circle.

  Holy guacamole.

  Mephisto, or rather a succubus disguised as Mephisto, threw a punch that hit Barbatos square in his angular jaw. The facade of demon messenger disappeared, and I stared in wide-eyed wonder as Mara jumped on Barbatos’s back and began pummeling him with her dainty fists. How had she gotten here? How had she disguised herself as Mephisto?

  And how the hell had she managed to get past the antidemon protection spell?

  “Jinx! Help me get him out of the circle.”

  Right. Action first, questions later. I staggered to my feet and stumbled over to the grappling demons. I didn’t think I had the speed or motor skills to stab Barbatos at the moment, not without risking a fatal blow to Mara. I took a few steps back and then lunged, throwing my weight into the pair of demons and knocking them to the ground. They kept on wrestling on the leaf-littered forest floor, half in and half out of the circle.

  Alexi pounced and locked on to Barbatos’s arm with his massive jaws, pulling the three of us out of the circle. I struggled to get my footing and grabbed my knife. I was still addled and not at my best, and now I had three demons to fight.

  “Alexi, Mara, let go!” My throat was on fire, and the command came out as little more than a whisper, but they heard. I called on the force within me, begging it to give me the last bit of strength I needed to finish the job.

  Then, I fell to my knees and plunged my blade straight into Barbatos’s heart.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Wow. That’s a lot of blood.”

  My eyelids fluttered as consciousness came back and hit me like a Mack truck. I opened one eye and glared up at Roice. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

  “We thought you were dead for sure,” Boice added helpfully. “You look like a zombie.”

  I coughed and struggled to sit up. The twins helped me, and once I was able to see straight, I took a look around at the situation. Alexi had shifted back into his human form. Someone had brought him pants, but at least I got a nice eyeful of muscle-bound man chest. He was soothing Lacey, who glared at me from two black eyes as she held an icepack to her nose. Mara, the hero of the day, sat cradling a shirtless Cooper in her arms. Someone had cleaned and bandaged the wound in his side, and I was glad to see him alive, if not entirely well.

  No worries. The succubus would take his mind off his troubles, at least for a while.

  I was about to ask my roomies how they’d pulled off the ruse of the century, but a wave of nausea distracted me. I gently pulled out of their grasps and turned aside to lose my lunch—literally. One of them held my hair for me. They were such sweeties.

  After taking a swig of water offered by the other twin, I rinsed my mouth, spat, and worked hard to speak through my aching throat. All I managed was, “How?”

  Boice, who’d worn his “That’s a HORRIBLE idea…What time?” T-shirt, grinned. “I check my voice mails. So does Roice.”

  “Mara came up with the idea for the switcheroo,” said Roice, brandishing a T-shirt that read, “I may be late all the time but at least I’m fashionable about it.” How apropos. “Thanks for the setup, by the way. We weren’t sure how we’d manage a distraction.”

  “No problem,” I croaked. “How did you get her across the boundary?”

  Boice shrugged. “Blood. Cooper had it to spare. We took a bit before patching the guy up. Barbatos set you up. Didn’t see that one coming.”

  Neither had I, obviously. This was not going to help my trust issues. Speaking of trust…

  “Is D around?” My voice was too broken by a near-choking experience to sound pitiful, thank goodness. I probably owed him an apology, but mostly I just wanted to fall into his arms and never leave. Shock was beginning to wear off, and sorrow, grief, anger, and a whole lot of what-ifs started creeping in.

  I blinked hard a few times.

  Roice grinned wider and put a thumb over his shoulder. “Who do you think gave us a ride?”

  I lifted my gaze and lost it. D rushed over and pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his broad chest and enveloping me in his warm, solid presence. I sobbed and clung to him like a life raft as he stroked my back and kissed my hair, whispering words of comfort.

  After a while, my sobs slowed to an occasional hiccup, and I lifted my gaze to meet D’s. I sniffed and shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

  His full lips curled into a wry smile. “I’m sorry, too.”

  “Where were you?” I had no right to ask, of course. I’d stormed off and basically told him to stay out of my way.

  He smiled. “I was securing the perimeter. Couldn’t risk letting any demons get loose. I put wards up around the park and evacuated the humans in the area with more than a little help from my colleagues.”

  I craned my neck to get a better look at D’s “colleagues,” not that there was much to see. The pair of immaterial demons hovered by the tree line. Those must have been the demons D mentioned when he was hunting Keith, the ones who specialized in tracking and concealment magic. Not only had D come for me, but he’d also brought reinforcements.

&n
bsp; I choked back another wave of sobs. While I’d been busy getting in over my head, Dominic had been protecting the earth realm and humans in case I failed. Instead of charging in like a raging alpha—because apparently that was my job—he’d kept a cool head and done the sensible thing, the right thing, and had my back.

  “I shouldn’t have gone off on my own like that. I should’ve trusted you and brought you along.”

  “I shouldn’t have underestimated you. You had things under control…mostly.”

  I laughed. “I’m an idiot, and a lucky one. If I hadn’t called Alexi and the twins, this could have ended badly. We could’ve lost Cooper, and Barbatos could have unleashed hell on earth, and—and—”

  I was such a blubbering mess.

  D held me tighter and shushed me. “You’re not an idiot. I told you, you’re one of the bravest souls I know. Reckless, pigheaded, and infuriating at times, but brave.”

  I laughed again through a fresh wave of tears. “Thanks. And thank you for being here, for bringing reinforcements. You guys saved my ass.”

  He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my lips. “No, you saved your own ass. You solved this case, secured the portal, and rooted out the traitor in the summoning community in less than five days, not to mention the mole inside our own operation.” He spared a look of disgust at the Barbatos’s body. “The Arbiter won’t be claiming your soul or the souls of your family.”

  “We solved the case,” I said, looking around at my bruised, battered, and absolutely amazing team. “I wish Trinity was here, too. She deserves the credit for putting me on the trail of celestials. They’re around, you know, and they’re a part of the battle that’s brewing. We can stop it if we—”

  D shut me up with another kiss, this one deeper and full of promise. Eventually he came up for air and spoke. “Trinity sent a report to the rest of the team, and we told her about Hannah’s disappearance. She said she had to do some more research, but she thinks she’s got a lead on who the warrior with the power of three realms.”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” I said. “You’re the warrior. You have to be.”

  D arched a brow and cocked his head. “What makes you think so?”

  Duh. He was clearly made for battle, with his physique, confidence, cunning, and warrior’s bearing. “The warrior is supposed to be imbued with the power of three realms. You’re from the hell realm, but you’ve lived on earth, too. And you know a lot about celestials.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not from the celestial realm. Never been there.”

  Well, crap. So much for that theory.

  I’d have to let Trinity and Sam work that one out. And we still had a few loose ends of our own, though I wasn’t sure which one I dreaded more. “We need to find Hannah, since she’s supposed to open the gates to hell.”

  “She is?”

  “Barbatos seemed to think so. It kind of makes sense. According to the grimoire, one who has long slumbered shall awaken, and she’s the one who has the power to open the gates to the Realm of Darkness. I mean, she did sort of wake up when Mephisto found us in the alley. That’s when she started answering to ‘Intercessor’ and talking to the boss like they were old pals.”

  I still wasn’t sure what the host of seven was or how one fell from it. My head hurt. And trying to wrap my mind around the conspiracy I’d just unraveled, not to mention what we’d read in the grimoire, had turned my brain into a puddle of mush. The aches and pains masked by adrenaline and the heat of battle had caught up with me, and I was fading fast.

  Still, there was one more thing I had to tell D before I went home to lick my wounds and sleep it off.

  “D, the summoner who sent you back to the hell realm…I might know who he is,” I began with caution. “Or at least, I think I know something about him.”

  D stiffened, and I swallowed hard. I didn’t dare let my gaze wander to Cooper. I shouldn’t have said anything, should’ve investigated first. I didn’t know for certain that Cooper had been involved in D’s summons. The burly outdoorsman was handsome and appeared young, possibly too young to have been active ten years ago, when someone had sent D back to his father.

  Father.

  What was it Mrs. Pendergrass had said about Keith? Oh, right. The late rogue summoner had apparently been like his father, a so-called “historian” who spent hours poring over dark myths and legends. If both boys were summoners, it stood to reason that someone close had introduced them to the art, like their dear old dad.

  “Ouch. Hey, D, could you lighten up on the death grip?”

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, loosening his hold on my aching body. His gaze remained hard and steady, anger held on a tight leash, at least for the moment. “What do you know about the summoner who ripped me away from you?”

  My chest went tight with the oddest combination of affection, sympathy, and outrage. I’d never thought of it that way, but D was right—the summoner had ripped D away from me, and I’d spent the greater part of the past ten years missing a piece of my heart.

  “It was Keith’s father,” I said through gritted teeth. “It had to be. He taught his sons the art of summoning. Both of them. Keith and Cooper.”

  D’s gaze went wide before he turned to stare at the unconscious summoner, red sparks of anger and murderous intent blazing in it.

  I reached out and placed a trembling hand on his cheek. “Cooper wasn’t involved. I’m sure of it. He’s a good guy.”

  My demon growled. He actually growled. It would’ve been sexy in different circumstances, but as it was, it made me worry about Cooper’s continued health and safety. “Don’t you hurt him—”

  A coughing fit interrupted my admonition. I hated it when that happened. It totally ruined the whole stern effect. After clearing my throat, I tried again. “I mean it, D. No intimidation, brutal interrogations, bodily or metaphysical harm. Promise me.”

  D’s lips thinned and that vein bulged from his temple, but he furrowed his brows and appeared to consider my words. I raised my other hand and took his face between them. “We’ll find him, D. Cooper will help us find him. And when we do, we’ll make him sorry.”

  He visibly struggled to control the rage coursing through his body and soul, the urge to lash out, to battle, to take his revenge on the blood kin of his enemy. At long last, he nodded and gave me a lopsided grin. “I love it when you talk dirty. And”—he paused to kiss me again before saying—“I think we should date.”

  I laughed but then sat bolt upright. “What day is it?”

  “You need to take it easy.” He pulled me back into his arms and forced me to lean against him. “And it’s Sunday. Why?”

  Crap on a cracker. This day just kept getting better and better. The sun was still out, but not for much longer. I needed a nap, a shower, and possibly stitches, but I’d settle for a shower.

  “We have a date tonight, and I think I’m going to need a little more of that magic demon healing potion before I take you to meet my mother.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  By the time we made it to my mom’s house, aka my childhood abode—and D’s—I was only limping a little. Lacey’s knife slash had gone deep, but it was healing. That hell realm potion was super handy. Hopefully my health insurance covered it. I should be back on my feet and in the field by tomorrow night. Good thing, since we still needed to find Hannah. That was priority numero uno. I’d voted to ditch the family meal and return immediately to the hunt, but D insisted we keep the dinner date. Damned overprotective demon.

  Then again, maybe he’d missed my family.

  Of course, he also knew I was totally trying to weasel my way out of seeing my family and facing my ongoing issues with said family. He called me out on my argument about Hannah and imminent Armageddon, offering the counterargument that she hadn’t made any attempts to open any local portals in the past five days and the fact that security had been quadrupled on those portals well before we’d captured Barbatos. To which I counter-counterargued that Cooper’s p
ortal hadn’t been properly secured because of Barbatos’s inside job, which meant there could be other traitors in our midst.

  D had then physically carried me to the shower, stripped me down, and unceremoniously dumped me under a rather pleasant stream of steaming water, effectively ending the argument.

  He was such a sore loser.

  I braced for battle as soon as my feet hit the froufrou doormat that bid visitors welcome to my childhood home. I was pleased to see the freshly painted front porch, shutters, and new red cedarwood siding. Mom had apparently been putting the extra funds I sneaked into her bank account to good use. Maybe someday she’d go for a nice spa day or, even better, a vacation. I swear the woman hadn’t gone away for more than a weekend trip to visit family since I’d moved out.

  Mom answered the door and took a long look at me, gaze narrowed and nostrils slightly flared. What? I’d showered and put on deodorant. Maybe she was surprised I’d shown up. Or possibly it was the fact that I’d dressed to impress with my neon magenta camo pants and a matching tank top that read, “I’m going to hell on a full scholarship.” It was a toss-up.

  She took an even longer look at D—not that I blamed her—shook her head as if stunned and turned her attention back on me. “Jane. It’s good to see you. Please, come in.”

  Neither of us went in for a hug. In fact, her crossed arms and stiff posture mirrored my own. Our dynamic had changed little since my childhood, especially since I was still too short to meet her at eye level, damn it. She never did that with Megan. Of course, Megan hadn’t made a wrong move since she was eight.

  Megan always got hugs. She was the good girl, after all.

  Mom’s tone was pleasant, perfectly cordial and polite, but distant as ever. She opened her mouth to say something and then, seeming to think better of it, closed her mouth and gave me a slight nod.