Catching Hell

by D. B. Sieders

  And my sister.

  “Megan, what the hell? You shouldn’t be here.” I turned to Alexi and put my hands on my hips—being careful with the knife so I didn’t stab myself in the side like I’d done when the boss had first bestowed it upon me. “Bad boy.”

  I learned then that even ginormous, hairy, scary-as-hell wolfmen could do sad puppy dog eyes.

  “Oh, no, that’s not going to work on me, mister. Get her out of here.”

  “I’m staying,” she said, mirroring my hands-on-hips stance and towering over me. Freakin’ tall people.

  I flipped the blade and pointed it at her, stabbing the air to make sure she knew I meant business. I wasn’t really planning to use it on her. I preferred hand-to-hand combat when it came to my big sis. Ever since I first managed to get her in a headlock when we were kids, it had been my go-to. I had to get her back for all the times she sat on me and tickled my ribs until I nearly peed. Sometimes I had peed.

  Screw it. She was going down.

  I stepped closer and then froze when the blade glowed blue. What the hell? I pulled back, and the blue glow faded. It returned to its original intensity when I lunged at Megan, who yelped and took a step back. I spun around and pointed it at D. Red—super intense, bright red. Wow. Either he’d been juicing, or he’d somehow leveled up on the demon power mojo. A million questions careened through my addled brain, but I shook my head and focused on the here and now. Red equaled demon, blue equaled celestial. D glowed red, which was no surprise aside from his power signature. Megan glowed blue.

  “Oh, holy wow, Meg, you’re an angel?”

  “What? No, I’m just me. Will you stop swinging that thing around before your hurt someone?”

  Now that was just offensive. “I’ll have you know I’ve been through extensive training with this ‘thing,’ and I even defeated one of our top demon hunters and a rogue demon who set me up. And the knife doesn’t lie. You’re a celestial.”

  “So are you.”

  I spun around again, feeling like a pinball bouncing between two worldviews. Trinity stood with the boss’s book in one hand, her other gripping Sam, her demon who could somehow shift from material to immaterial. Dematerializing demons, demons that could be both corporeal and incorporeal, celestials—including my freaking sister?

  Wait a minute…

  “What did you say?”

  Trinity rolled her eyes, let go of Sam to unsheathe her own knife, and pointed it at me. It wavered between red and blue before settling on blue. “I said you’re one, too. A celestial.”

  “That’s impossible.” I looked around at my colleagues, sister, and almost boyfriend, exasperated no one else seemed to realize how ridiculous the notion was. “Guys, I’ve been demon possessed since I was five. D-E-M-O-N. Demons and angels don’t mix.”

  “As far as we know,” Trinity said. “As far as we were told by the boss, but he didn’t tell us everything. We were told demons are either material or corporeal, but they couldn’t be both.” She held up a finger and nodded at Sam, who vanished in a puff of black smoke.

  No, wait, the smoke lingered. Sam was still there. He’d gone immaterial.

  A cacophony of voices broke out in shouts of shock, alarm, and accusation. By then, Boice, Roice, and Mara had joined the party, along with Lacey. They must have given her some kind of demon healing potion since she was up and running, but a large bandage covered her nose, and she glared at me out of red, bloodshot eyes that sported twin shiners. Guess she was still pissed off about the headbutt thing. I’d have to tell her how much my head still hurt to make her feel better.

  Nah.

  Since I was still technically in charge of this ragtag band, it was time to exert my authority. We needed a plan for when we stormed the boss’s office. We had to be ready to fight whatever demon, celestial, or other entities were in there including the boss and my former demon. Could I still trust Hannah considering what I now knew about her? Could I fight her? One thing was certain: I couldn’t do it alone.

  “Okay, listen up. Mission time, people. We’ve got to get in that office and stop whatever’s happening. If it’s the what the grimoire predicted, then we’ll likely have an open portal to the hell realm and some unsavory demons coming through it. Lacey.” I turned to my partner in crime, who was still glaring. “We need Simon to take a peek inside to see what we’re up against.”

  Lacey nodded and pulled out her phone. Simon slowly emerged in his smoky form and appeared to hesitate. Lacey reached out and ran a gentle hand through his essence. “It’s okay. You can go. I’ll be all right, I promise.”

  Simon swirled and wrapped himself around Lacey in some sort of immaterial demon embrace. It was sweet. Poor little mammon must’ve been worried about his mistress. Why hadn’t he told us about Lacey? Oh, right, Barbatos would have put some sort of binding or silence curse on him, too. Lacey seemed to be holding up well, aside from the nose, but being in thrall to Barbatos the traitor demon had surely affected her. She let her guard down long enough to melt a little in the comfort of her demon, and a gut-wrenching ache for Hannah filled my heart and soul. I turned away to bark more orders while blinking hard.

  I spotted Simon slipping through the office door in my peripheral vision, the undulating margins of his incorporeal form blurred by my stupid unshed tears.

  “D, did you bring any cool demon magic or weapons to the party?”

  He grinned and snapped his fingers. His two incorporeal demon pals materialized beside him, and a couple of long knives appeared in his hands, their blades glowing red with a hint of blue at the tips, which were closest to me. It reminded me of the other elephant in the room.

  I turned to Trinity. “Am I really a celestial?”

  She unsheathed her own knife and held it up to me, blade pointed skyward. It glowed blue. Then she pointed it at Megan. “Demon steel doesn’t lie, and since you both share a bloodline, I think we can be certain you have quite a bit of celestial in your lineage.”

  My mind reeled as I tried to reconcile everything I thought I knew about myself, my relationship with my demon—not to mention my family. Mom had a lot of explaining to do. And Megan? Wow. If I was shocked, she must be questioning her sanity. I’d had a lifetime to accept the existence of demons. Poor Meg. “Hey, guess what? Demons exist, and your sister was inhabited by one. Oh, and by the way, little sister is actually a celestial being and so are you. Don’t be afraid of the werewolf guy who’s been following you, though. He’s one of the good guys.”

  “Megan, you okay?”

  Her face was paler than usual, and a slight tremor ran through her body, but she stood on her own two feet and squared her shoulders. She gave me a nod. “I’ll manage. You?”

  I blinked hard again. Damn it, I would not fall apart. I was owed a nervous breakdown, but it would have to wait. “I’ll do. Want a knife?”

  D flipped one of his blades, the show-off, and handed it to Megan. She gripped the hilt and examined the blade. “Why knives? They’re so…primitive. No guns, tanks, or nuclear warheads?”

  “Look at you,” I said, rocking back on my heels, totally impressed by my big sis. “And here I thought you were a pacifist.”

  Megan let out a nervous laugh. “Well, I’m a humanitarian. Crooked politicians and third world dictators are one thing, but demons seem like a bigger threat.”

  “Not all demons,” Roice said.

  Oh, crap on a cracker. I sheathed my own knife, walked over to him, took his face in my hands, and made him look at me. “I know. We all know. And I don’t care what that knife says—I’ll always be your demon girl. You and your brother think you can put this place on lockdown? Don’t want any humans getting in or bad demons getting out.”

  Roice jerked out of my hold and muttered something under his breath. Then he looked at D and said, “Can I borrow your buddies? Roice and I will take care of electronic security, but we’ll need backup for the supernatural stuff.”

  The two demons followed my roomies upstairs. Trinity
had pulled my sister aside to take her through the basics of knife fighting while Sam conjured sigils over the book, presumably working to translate anything that might help us. Mara comforted Lacey while we waited for Simon’s intel. It was quiet on the other side of the office door. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but my hunting instincts and a surge of adrenaline had me itching to fight. That strange, bubbly sensation pulsed through me as well, and I welcomed it. Whatever it was—leftover demon mojo, angel power, or an acute case of overconfidence and overcompensation—I welcomed it. It had helped me stop Mephisto and Barbatos.

  I hoped it could help me stop Hannah—without hurting her.

  I pulled out my knife, marveling at the intense blue glow. Wow. Maybe I’d gotten a few upgrades, too. Trinity shot me a smug look. “Told you not to underestimate yourself.”

  “You called it,” I said. I hoped I wouldn’t prove her wrong.

  Simon emerged from the wall and flew straight into Lacey, sending a jolt through her body. Mara took a few steps back. After shaking and contorting her limbs in a manner that would impress a Cirque du Soleil performer, Lacey opened her eyes, irises sparkling red as she merged with her personal demon. It was pretty badass. Scrappy little Simon was a credit and an asset to his mistress.

  “What have we got?”

  “Simon spotted two celestials. No sign of the boss or Hannah, but they could be incapacitated or using concealment magic. Way too much magical energy in the room to distinguish any particular spell.” Lacey paused, probably listening to the voice of Simon in her head. “They seem to be arguing over some sort of large amulet.”

  “Open portals?” D asked.

  “Not yet,” Lacey said. “But there are a couple of pentagrams that could be portals in the making.”

  Crap. Did Barbatos and Mephisto have a backup plan in case they couldn’t make it through Cooper’s portal? It made sense, but why would celestials be involved. “Does Simon think the celestials are friends or foes?”

  “No idea. Good news is they don’t seem to be on high alert, so they don’t know we’re here yet. Probably too distracted by infighting. Not sure for how long.”

  “It might be a trap.” D took a step closer, careful not to crowd or loom over me. He was learning. Of course, his shoulders were tense, and his jaw had gone tighter than a vise grip. He was clearly battling his inner alpha. “Jane, we need to be careful. Especially you. Belial still wants you, and if those portals open, he can get you.”

  “Then I’ll need you to have my back. Can you do that cool teleportation materialization thing with a group of us?”

  “Yeah. Who do you want?”

  “Lacey and Simon on my left flank, you on my right, and Trinity and Sam guarding the rear and the book.” I turned to Alexi. “I need you and Mara and Megan out here in case any demons make it out of the portals. Do not let them get out of this building.”

  Alexi growled and crouched down on his haunches, ready to pounce. Mara and Megan, both with knives, flanked him. I hoped they could handle whatever came through that door, but I had my doubts. Not about Alexi—he was a seasoned hunter and demon neutralizer. Mara had made a good showing back at the clearing, but she was a trickster, not a fighter, and Meg was a tad undertrained. Still, I knew if the shit hit the fan, Alexi would keep them both safe.

  We’d just have to do our best to stop the demons from getting out.

  With a deep breath and a leap of faith I wasn’t sure I had, I gave a nod to D. He took my hand, Lacey, Trinity, and Sam grabbed D’s shoulders, and together we went headlong into battle against the unknown.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  We materialized just inside the office door. I’d expected to land in full on chaos, but the space was as quiet as a tomb. No boss, no arguing celestials, and no sound from the television screens and computer monitors. The place appeared deserted.

  It made me nervous as all get-out.

  I dropped to a defensive stance, back to the wall and knife at the ready. Lacey was right there with me, mirroring my stance. We’d done this dance hundreds of times as partners and operated with a combination of muscle memory, reflex, and trust. I was grateful she still trusted me in spite of a broken nose.

  Trinity and Sam took up their own positions with practiced ease, except Sam didn’t have a knife. No, Marquess Samagina of the hell realm wielded a long, elegant staff that looked like a cross between a light saber and a two-bladed samurai sword. I was only slightly jealous.

  He said some kind of demonic incantation, and the tips of the blades glowed with sparks.

  Scratch that. I was hella jealous. If we lived through this, I was totally getting my hands on one of those.

  Even though D’s knife was similar to mine, he still managed to impress me with his warrior’s stance, taut muscles, and the ferocity of his war face. Back against a column and using it as a pivot, D held the knife straight in front of him and made a slow arc with his body and weapon as he scanned the room with meticulous and deadly precision. I did the same on the other side of the room. We spotted the two portals in progress as soon as we materialized, the elevated pentagrams with their enchanted sigils glowing. The last time I’d seen one of those demon-made portals, poor Mara had been in the center, helplessly awaiting her sentence.

  These had a few extra features, though. I couldn’t see the whole of either diagram from my position, but they were different. Apparently Trinity noticed, too, since she had Sam give her a boost—as in a levitation incantation that lifted her from the ground and allowed her to hover in the air above them. Lacey covered the pair while D and I kept an eye on the perimeter.

  “What do you see?” I asked.

  “Pentagram with an outer circle and three heptagons. There’s an inner circle, too, and lots of writing. Some of it’s demon, some of it’s a language I don’t recognize.”

  What the hell was a heptagon?

  I wasn’t about to embarrass myself by asking, so I turned to D. “What do you make of it?”

  He frowned. “Not sure. It’s not a typical portal. It’s more powerful.”

  That was an understatement. The power emanating from the portal on the right pulled at me like a magnet. The weird, bubbly thing inside me surged in response. D stepped closer to the portal on the left, as did Sam. Lacey seemed drawn to that one as well.

  A theory formed in my mind, one that I could test with the one human in the room not under the direct influence of a demon. “Trinity, which portal you feeling?”

  I got the look—I swear she could scare a demon lord into submission with one of those looks—then, when she realized I was, in fact, being serious, she appeared to consider. “I’m not getting anything. Sam?”

  “The one on the left leads to the hell realm. I’d bet my legions on it.”

  D looked at me, one brow arched in inquiry. I said, “I’m getting a lot of mojo from the one on the right. I’m thinking it must lead to the celestial realm.” The oddest mixture of terror and curiosity filled me at the thought. Sure, the knife thing was evidence, but I hadn’t been ready to accept I had angel in my lineage. I still wasn’t on board with the idea.

  But I couldn’t ignore the portal and the way it called to me. Denial was one of my usual MOs, but to deny this could prove fatal, and not just for me.

  “Wait a minute.” Trinity leaned down to take a closer look at the portals. “I think I recognize this. At least the shape and some of the characters. Sam, you need to take a look.”

  Sam levitated and joined Trinity, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Yeah, he was smitten for sure. Then, suddenly, his demeanor shifted. His gaze went wide with astonishment, which matched Trinity’s.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense.” Lacey had apparently recovered enough to locate her inner sarcastic pain in the ass. It was a good sign. I hated to ruin it by giggling at her, but she sounded like a goose with a sinus infection.

  Trinity’s voice jarred me out of that horrible train of thought. “This one”—she pointed to
the portal on the right—“It’s a Sigillum Dei.”

  “What’s that?” I asked as the bubbly sensation surged through me in a wave of power.

  “According to ancient lore, it’s a magical diagram, like a pentagram, but more powerful. In amulet form, it’s said to give the one who wears it power over all creatures except Archangels. It can also give the wearer visions from God and the angels.”

  And those celestials Simon spotted earlier had been arguing over an amulet.

  “What does it do in portal form?”

  Trinity and Sam turned to face me in unison. Their wary expressions dialed my dread level straight to eleven. “The portal summons the Archangels,” Trinity said.

  “Wait, I thought Hannah was supposed to open a portal to the hell realm and unleash the darkness and the harbingers of doom. What’s up with the Archangels?”

  “There was more,” Trinity said. “A battle between Seven Sins and Seven Virtues, and a warrior imbued with the power of three realms.”

  Wow, I envied her brains. I was bad at remembering things like poetry, my sister’s birthday, and the location of my car. But this was important. Assuming we lived through this, I’d memorize that ancient text and everything related to it. Hopefully D had some hell realm mojo to help me with that.

  “So seven virtues are from the Seven Archangels? Wait.” I did remember something. “What about the Fallen of the Host of Seven?”

  “I am here.”

  We assumed our fighting stances, scanning the room for the bearer of the voice. It was a rich, lyrical alto, like honey over smooth, single malt whiskey, and somehow familiar. The voice of an angel, a celestial—it had to be. Unlike Cassie, the angel of comfort from the Pendergrass’s, this voice had the power of ages behind it. It was Beethoven and Mozart and John Williams all rolled into one cosmic symphony.

  She materialized behind the boss’s desk, tall and unimaginably beautiful. No wings, which was kind of disappointing. Maybe she only wore them on special occasions. She had the face of an angel. She smelled like home.