by D. C. Gambel
My eyes bugged. “You’re saying I have a choice, but if I don’t agree, I could die?”
He waved off my concern. “It’s very unlikely, but you might wish you were. I don’t know. I’ve never made a deal with a demon before.”
I bowed my shoulder trying to play up my defeat. “Tell me honestly. Is this all really about a girl?”
The incubus eyed me sympathetically as I glanced up at him from under my lashes. “It really is.”
I didn’t know if there was any truthfulness to his answer and it didn’t matter. Getting to Hell just became number one on my list. If the guys weren’t there waiting, the circles had a lot of obstacles that anyone could get lost in, even a demon.
“When do we leave?”
Chapter 18
“I have to say, Evie,” Shane spoke to me for the first time since we all piled into the car. Dom had informed him of my agreement to help. Shane seemed skeptical, but did nothing to deter us from leaving. Dom was a bit over confident having gotten me to agree to something that Shane himself couldn’t. Perhaps that meant his debt was practically paid. “You agreed far faster than I presumed you would. I was all setup to stay in that house for months if needed.”
Keeping my face neutral to make him think I was withdrawn by the notion of helping him, I stayed focused out the window. “Exactly. I was going to be stuck in the house until I agreed. Plus I wanted to avoid the discomfort of breaking the deal we made. I just want your word you’ll let me go after I’m done.”
“I already told you I would.”
“Yeah, but I want your word. I know you haven’t been completely honest with, or rather you’ve intentionally omitted things, like you not being human, but if a deal is enough to bind me then you’re a high enough demon that your word is binding too,” I stated knowing I’d go with or without his promise on my safety, but felt it safer to have my bases covered if I could.
Shane’s gaze flicked to Dom who sat in the front seat. Chad had mysteriously vanished, but I gave his disappearance very little thought. If he’d been sent to scout out the Hell Gate, I trusted my fellow horsemen enough to remain invisible to him. Some silent conversation passed between the two demons. The incubus gave him a tight-lipped smile followed by a very subtly nod and I wondered if they’d previously discussed a loophole.
“I see,” Shane replied eyeing me in the rearview mirror. “If that was all the confirmation you needed, I would have offered it sooner. Of course I have no use for you afterwards. As long as you follow through and help me you have my word that I won’t detain you.”
“Or any of your associates or those under your command?”
Shane smirked that I caught that. “I agree no one that works for me will stop you from leaving.” I exhaled leaning back in my seat. “But Evie,” Shane drew my attention back to the mirror where he watched me. “This goes without saying, but if you are planning some kind of…trick, remember that I hold the coins to get you from Hell. Piss me off and we’ll see how long you can survive down there on your own before going mad.”
“Understood,” I replied curtly knowing his words would do nothing to sway me. I hoped to not even enter Hell, so if I saw an opportunity, I was taking it and hoped for the best.
The beach house was only a little over an hour from Salem. It didn’t take long to maneuver through the old town until we reached Affliction, the building that housed the Hell Gate. Unlike when I arrived with the Horsemen, Shane wasn’t bothered by the office hours.
He sent Dom to talk to the woman behind the front desk. I could feel his magic swell over her even from where I stood paces away. It felt wrong to watch and not intervene. He was a demon using his sway on an unsuspecting human. To stand there and do nothing felt like I was going against my purpose. Swallowing hard, I reminded myself of Dom’s words. This was all a game and I had to play it better than Shane. Unless Dom slept with her the woman was in no danger. He was just enthralling her into allowing us to pass.
I glanced around but saw no sign of Chad or my fellow horsemen. My heart sank hoping the guys wouldn’t be delayed but the pesky office hours. Thralling wasn’t something any of them could do, but perhaps their good looks and flirting skills would be enough to get past reception. I had my fingers crossed that they beat us here and had already found their way downstairs where they waited for us to arrive. If not, I’d have to cross the gate and hope they found me there.
Time in Hell worked different. It passed slower which gave me hope that they’d get to me before we summoned the ferryman. Once over the river, it would be harder to track us through the illusion Hell created.
The receptionist flushed, slid a piece of paper across the counter to Dom, who took it without examining its contents, before she waved him passed.
The ride in the elevator to the basement level was anticlimactic as the soft melody of forgotten artists filled the air. It seemed no matter the situation, an elevator ride always put everyone on the same awkward level. Who liked other people in their personal space?
“All right, Evie,” Shane stated the moment the doors opened revealing the concrete floor with similar pillars. Even now I thought the place looked more like a parking garage and wondered what had been the purpose of the concrete. “You’re up.”
“I’m up? What the hell are you expecting from me?” I spat. Subtly, I glanced around searching for one of my fellow horsemen hoping I’d been loud enough that they’d hear my echo.
“You’ve been to hell,” Shane explained. “You should know the way.”
I scoffed. “The only thing I know is the entrance is basically invisible. It can only be seen when you don’t look directly at it.”
“Evie,” Shane growled obviously frustrated with my answer. “Do you think this is some Harry Potter adventure? A door that cannot be seen unless you’re not looking for it? You agreed to help.”
“And I am. I said you cannot look directly at it or it’s like it’s not there. Did you know that about the Hell Gate? My guess is no since I didn’t until I was before it. Good news is, if anyone accidently slips into it, the entrance will momentarily stabilize and become visible.”
“So you have no idea where it is?” the incubus asked.
I shrugged. “It’s here against a wall.”
“Well isn’t that convenient,” Shane spat striding away.
“Hey!” I called out. I don’t know why I did. Shane just rubbed me the wrong way. “I’m helping the best I can. I wasn’t given the exact location. It’s not like it’s engraved into my psyche. I’m telling you what I know.”
Shane glared at me but made no reply. “Let’s get looking.”
For twenty minutes we searched the floor coming up empty. I did my best to appear as though I was helping when, in fact, I was searching for some sign of the other horsemen. I ran my hands over my arms feeling a chill I hadn’t noticed before.
I’d just come to the conclusion they weren’t here when I saw the shimmer out the corner of my eye. When I turned, it vanished as if it had never been there before.
My mind flashed to a year ago when I stood here with a different group. I’d been less reluctant of the journey to come. Perhaps because now I knew what Hell had in store for us.
“There,” Ty pointed at a wall up ahead. At first, I didn’t see anything. In fact, when I looked directly at it, all I saw was a wall. But when I took the focus off of it and watched it in my peripheral, I could see a blue shimmer that glimmered like a tear in the wall.
“I’ll go first,” Tyler announced as we all approached. “Then Derek, Evie, and Cam you come last.”
I could see Cam wanting to argue. He was the strongest of us. It made sense for him to enter first. At the same time, I understood Tyler wanting to be the first one through, incase there was danger. He was leading and felt the responsibility of that title.
He slid his hand into the rip and the shimmer immediately became visible. It appeared like a large sapphire sliver with the way it sparkled.
�
��It’s cold. Hold your breath so your lungs don’t freeze,” he announced before stepping through the slit, and disappearing. The rip turned back invisible, until Derek stepped forward and placed his hand through the tear.
I took a deep breath when it was my turn, but hesitated.
“Hey,” Cam stepped up beside me. His warrior mode slipped, replaced by the man that made my heart quicken. “You can do this.” He reached down holding my hand. As I stepped through the portal, my hand clung to Cam’s, tugging him through behind me.
Glancing off to the side, the shimmer reappeared, just as blue and lustered as it had been a year ago. I approached hesitantly unsure if I wanted to reveal my discovery or continue to prolong the search in hopes Cam, Ty, and Derek would appear. But something in me drove me to the gateway. I was compelled forwards. Something awaited me.
My fingers brushed the opening and it solidified blinking into existence like a giant sapphire.
“They’re coming,” an eerie voice that I hadn’t heard in months whispered. I yanked my hand back glancing around, but no one else seemed to have heard it. It was a voice that had once haunted my dreams for months but I retained no memory anything other than those words and that voice.
“You found it,” the incubus announced running his hand over the wall until the sliver appeared solid once more.
I tensed unaware that I’d been spotted. “It’s not like it was hard. I told you, you couldn’t look directly at it. Shall we?” I gestured to the wall stepping forward, but Shane appeared beside me halting me.
“Dom will go first.”
I swallowed the protest I wanted to make. I had no good reason for wanting to enter first—none I would be willing to share. If the horsemen waited on the other side I wanted to give them a fair warning about the demons following me through. I just had to remind myself they were well trained and probably anticipated I wanted to precede the others.
“Whatever,” I shrugged like it didn’t grate on me that Shane’s suspicion hadn’t lessened even after my discovery of the Gate. Him believing that I truly wanted to help him would make matters easier, but it wasn’t necessary.
Dom hesitated, but after a death glare from Shane, the incubus stepped through the gateway and into hell allowing the slit to disappear once he was through.
“Now you can go,” Shane declared shoving me forward. With a roll of my eyes, I held my breath and allowed the coldness of the portal to blanket my body. I clenched my hands into fists wishing I had Cam’s hand to anchor me.
All too soon yet not fast enough, I stumbled through to the other side of the Gate. Dom quickly collected me yanking me out of the path for Shane to come through without landing on me.
Ignoring the others, I glanced around taking in my surrounding. Everything was as bleak and depressing as I remembered it. Gray blanketed everything like clouds on a dreary day. Only it wasn’t just the absence of light that caused the gloom, but almost as if the world held a filter making everything ashen, including us. As if I blinked from the past to the present, nothing was different besides the group I traveled with. Not even a rock was out of place as I took in the stone slabs that were stacked into columns around the mouth of the gate, creating the path that I knew would lead to the river.
“This way,” I called out hearing the annoyed retorts that I was taking off without them. Little did they know that there was a river keeping me from running off, and where would I go? This was Hell not Hawaii.
Shane and Dom caught up quickly. They both studied the River Styx in varies states of awe.
“Fuck me,” Dom whispered. “Is that…?” He pointed, but it wasn’t to the river. I was stunned to see the boatman there waiting.
“Mistress,” he bowed his head. Without waiting for the offer of coin, he held his bone like hand out to me helping me onto the boat. When Shane tried to step on the boatman halted him. Grimly his tone changed. “I require payment, son of Adam. Demon or not rules are rules.”
“You let her on,” Dom declared, then quickly clamped his mouth shut as the boatman turned his attention to the incubus. The hood draped over concealing the ferryman’s eyes, but it didn’t stop the feel of his icy gaze settling on you.
“She,” he hissed, “is a special case. You are not. Either pay passage or my passenger and I will be on our way.”
Shane held up his hand to stop anymore rebuttal and held out two coins.
“Three,” the ferryman demanded. Shane exhaled in annoyance, his midnight eyes narrowed, while I hid my chuckle, but he reached into his pocket and withdrew the third coin before placing it into the ferryman’s outstretched hand without further objection. When Shane moved to sit near me the ferryman swung the paddle in his path halting the demon and pointed to the front of the boat. “Hell or not, the boat requires balance. Wouldn’t want to tip over and be lost in the River of Souls, now would you.”
A grim Dom grabbed Shane by the shoulder leading him to where the ferryman indicated. Soon we were shoved off the side of the river until we were floating along.
“Mistress?” the ferryman began having silenced out the world as he had on my first trip. I glanced up and saw that both Shane and Dom were focused elsewhere. “You don’t know who you travel with.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s a means to an end.”
“Your end mistress. The demon who leads you would kill you as soon as look at you. Anything he has said to you is a lie.” I swallowed hard trying not to show his words affected me. Of course I suspected this, but to hear it confirmed unnerving. “Fear not, for I have already lead your Sodales and fellow horsemen across the river. They await your arrival, but where, I cannot say. Be on the lookout for signs. Know that he will find you anywhere.”
Before I could ask a question the veil was lifted. The small splash the ore made as it moved through the water resonated almost deafening as the noise that surrounded us returned.
I inhaled deeply ignoring the sour scent in the air, trying to calm my breathing. My excitement was almost palpable and impossible to keep hidden. Cam was in Hell with Derek and Ty. I wished I were able to ask the ferryman how long they’d been here, but with the veil lifted, I didn’t dare risk Shane hearing. I’d been so worried Emily wouldn’t come through, but either they received my message or something else brought them here.
Having them here to rescue me from Shane was a relief but wasn’t enough to ease my worry. I still had to break the deal I made with Shane, but I wondered, if by bringing him to Hell, I’d already fulfilled it.
I didn’t doubt that Shane was lying to me about his purpose here, even if Dom collaborated his story about it being about a girl. If his lie or our journey wasn’t enough to break or satisfy the deal I made, I just had to pray Dom had been right and I wouldn’t die the way a human would from a broken deal because after everything I read about the Blade of Sin, there was nothing savory Shane could need it for.
The boat slid against the shore stopping with a jolt almost like some invisible barrier had halted us. Dom was the first to jump from the confines onto the land eager to be off the boat or away from the ferryman. Shane stood holding his hand out to me. Whether to help or treat me like a prisoner, I ignored it shouldering past him.
My departure wasn’t as graceful as Dom’s had been as I fumbled over the edge of the boat. My foot landed in the edge of water. I didn’t worry about the would-be souls lingering in the river. I was Death. They had no use for me.
The moment both my feet touched the sand the ferryman screamed, “Mistress!”
I tried to turn, to see what caused his distress, but I barely caught the boat in my peripheral when sharp pain lit up my skull, making my teeth clink and my vision blur. My eyelids drooped. The last thing I heard was a voice whisper on the brink of my unconsciousness. “What’s your plan now, Evie?” Then darkness swarmed my vision and I slipped into unconsciousness.
Chapter 19
My heartbeat resounding like a hammer pounding a nail into the back of my head was the first i
ndication I was alive. The next was the pain that seemed more intense with each pulse. I groaned still seeing darkness as I fluttered my eyelids open. I realized I was blindfolded. I tried to reach for it, to remove it and take in my surroundings, but my hands wouldn’t comply. I hissed feeling the rope dig into my wrists as I tugged on them. My hands were tied behind my back. Perfect.
“Good. You’re awake,” Shane cheered. When I groaned in response to his mirth he chuckled. “You brought this on yourself, Evie.” He yanked the blindfold away none to gently and light assaulted my vision. I hissed clenching my lids closed. After a moment the intensity ebbed and I was able to slowly ease them open.
Glancing around I took in the scene before me. Everything was gray. Snow like particles fell from the sky. I realized we were still in the first circle of Hell.
“You can walk or Dom can drag you. It’s your choice.” I glanced behind me and saw Dom eyeing my sympathetically and knew he’d do just as his fellow demon requested. “All you had to do was keep your word Evie, but even after you agreed a second time you still planned on betraying me”
“Like you didn’t.”
He smirked eyeing me with a newfound respect. “Well, I guess you’ll never know. Up,” he demanded grabbing me by my elbow yanking me to my feet. I considered making his task more difficult, but I didn’t doubt he’d just have the incubus drag me. I clung to the ferryman’s words about the horsemen being here. I needed to be prepared if I saw my opportunity to seize it with the least amount of difficulty, so I let Shane pull me upright.
I didn’t know how familiar Shane was with Hell. He claimed his need for me was partially because I’d been here before, but he’d lied about so much who was to say that that too wasn’t a lie. When I saw the mist begin to sweep in, I considered what was to come next. I didn’t know how commonplace it’s effects were and if Shane wasn’t in the know, I had two options. Either I stuck by Shane’s side and worried about escaping him and Dom later or…