Covenant

by Sabrina Benulis

  She tried to rip off her glove again, and Nina clamped down on her hand.

  “Let me go!” Angela screamed at her. She spun and tried to toss Nina sideways.

  Nina held on, fighting with her. “You can’t, Angela! It’s too soon—the Grail would kill you—”

  Angela ignored her and fought back harder. Fury screeched in terror above them.

  Troy rolled out of the fog, snapping in a maelstrom of wings and blood at the Hound that had lunged for her wings. A nasty cut on her shoulder dribbled blood down her chalk-white arm. She lunged at the baby Hound again, threatening the worst. Turning, she advanced on one of the defensive adults, successful at striking a blow to one of its immense wings.

  A long and deadly howl of pain erupted from the monster.

  Juno emerged from the fog, leaping for one of the adult’s eyes.

  Troy stiffened in horror. She turned and grabbed Juno in midair, flinging her aside as another Hound clamped down on the spot with its enormous teeth.

  There was a sickening crack—the sound of bones breaking. A sharp smell of blood saturated the air.

  The mist thickened and Angela lost sight of Troy and Juno.

  Nina pushed Angela toward the stream, screaming, “Hop to the opposite shore!”

  Angela fought against Nina more, digging her boots against the pebbles at the shoreline. Her arm glove tore near the elbow.

  NO. I have to save them. Troy would do the same for me. She IS doing the same for me.

  The eerie laughter around them had faded. Now incredibly loud hisses echoed against the rocks until they became ear shattering. Angela covered her ears without even wanting to. The pain was unbearable.

  A gigantic snake with a triangular feather-plumed head reared out of the fog, snapping lethally at one of the Hounds running for Angela and Nina. More bones cracked and broke. Snarls of fear and howls of agony reverberated against the rocks.

  Another Hound advanced, breaking from the fog with its flanks streaming blood. Troy and Juno were still in the mist, shrieking and growling.

  Nina clutched Angela’s arm and froze. The Hound galloped to within a few feet of them.

  The giant snake shot out of the fog, grabbed the beast by its torso, and tossed it backward into the rocks. It hit the tunnel wall with a sickening thump.

  “Go,” Nina said, pushing Angela hard toward the stream.

  Angela staggered, one of her boots hitting the edge of the water. Steam erupted from the toe of her shoe. The leather cracked and melted.

  The giant snake’s tail smacked into the walls of the cavern, sending a spray of rocks to the ground. A large and sharp rock hit Angela’s hand and she cried out in pain, but she held on to Nina tightly. The question was how they would reach the opposite shore together. Angela’s legs were long enough to help her reach the other side without touching the water. But Nina would be a problem.

  She might never make it.

  More rocks tumbled from the ceiling. Enormous chunks fell, blocking off a much smaller and tighter escape route near Troy and the Hounds. The force as they hit the hard ground shivered through the entire cavern.

  “Hold on!” Angela gripped Nina tightly by the hand. Blood slicked her palms.

  Nina lost Angela’s hand and grabbed it again. Angela pointed hurriedly at the water and Nina nodded, understanding she might not make it across, but that she had no other choice. Angela clasped Nina’s hand even more fiercely as the rain of rocks continued.

  Together, they jumped.

  Together, they made it across. Their feet hit the opposite shore. Angela dared to smile at Nina, allowing a moment of triumph for them both.

  A large rock smacked into the side of Nina’s leg, wrenching her from Angela’s grip, shoving her sideways. Nina stumbled out of reach, one of her legs slipping into the water.

  Her scream was agonizing. Nina yanked her leg from the water and collapsed on the shore, but the damage had been done. The smell of acid burning skin soured the air.

  “No!” Angela grabbed for Nina. She could barely see through her tears.

  Nina rocked in horrendous pain, clutching at her leg. She grasped for Angela’s hand again, her face red as she sobbed.

  Another enormous rock fell directly between them both, blocking Nina off completely.

  More rocks fell, building the great barrier between them in an earthquake of noise. The world disappeared as purplish mist returned, blinding Angela to the fate of her friends. She climbed the barrier, heedless of the falling rocks as they hit her like a rain of knives, cutting her skin all over. Maybe—just maybe—she could reach everyone again. To hell with the pain. The violet mist surrounded her in a thick cloud.

  She cried for Nina one more time, receiving only Fury’s faint screech in reply.

  Before Angela could make any more progress, a strong pair of hands reached from behind her and dragged her away screaming into the blackness.

  Nineteen

  I wanted to tell her the entire time—even if you feel as helpless as a mouse in a trap, never stop fighting. —SOPHIA

  Angela smacked into the tunnel wall, struggling furiously with her captor. The opening into the cavern where Nina, Troy, and Juno had been left behind was now completely blocked by boulders. Angela screamed until her throat hurt anyway. Insane as it seemed, maybe that would make a difference.

  But someone had a firm grip on her, and he pinned back her hands and held her tight until she gasped for breath, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Let me go,” Angela shouted hoarsely.

  “Not until you promise to behave yourself,” a suave and familiar voice said. “I can’t have you trying to scale the rocks again like a rat.”

  Angela struggled more, crying and screaming, fighting in vain until she slumped to her knees, weak and gasping. Her captor breathed steadily behind her, at last letting go of her wrists. Angela tilted back her head and let her tears fall, screaming again and again until she almost lost her voice. But she was too weak to move.

  Finally, she let silence descend.

  “At last,” the voice said behind her.

  “Go ahead,” Angela said. “If you’re going to kill me, do me a favor and make it quick. But I won’t make it an easy job for you.” Angela rubbed at her left hand, clenching it tightly. She would show her captor the Grail and force him to let her go. That was her only option. Depending on the circumstance, maybe she’d let him live, though keeping her from Nina and the others hadn’t helped his cause.

  “I doubt I’ll hurt you,” he said. “Let’s just keep our interaction sophisticated and civil so the temptation never arises. Now, Archon—or should I just call you Angela—”

  “Don’t you dare,” Angela said between her teeth. “It’s Archon or nothing.” She lifted her left hand.

  “As you wish.” The demon Python stepped into the soft glow of the embers set in the tunnel walls, examining her with pity. The cut he’d received from Troy looked raw and wicked in the half-light. He stood over Angela, gauging her more with his bright orange eyes. Up close, she could see all the tiny scales that covered his eyelids down to the finest detail. He glanced askance at her upraised hand. “Well, I’m surprised at your coldness. If it weren’t for my compassion, you would be dead. Deceased. Gone. Need I elaborate further?”

  Angela glared at him, lowering her hand again. Python was suspicious—but now there was no denying that she needed him around. Still, she was angry. “Thank you? You don’t need my thanks. You’d already determined on helping me. I didn’t ask.”

  “But you wanted to ask,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her with icy perceptiveness. “All that while, you were calling to me in your mind, hoping to find me again. Looking for salvation somewhere, anywhere. I know you didn’t like when that Jinn made your decision for you. Neither would I . . .”

  Angela stared at her boots. Gingerly, she prodded the open toe where the stream’s acid had eaten away at the leather.

  “Ow. Damn it.” She rubbed her fin
ger dry on her skirt. More tears dripped down her face.

  What could she do now? Nina, Troy, and Juno might still be alive. Maybe there was a way in this labyrinth that would lead Angela back to them—maybe this demon knew it. But there was no guarantee. And if anything happened to Sophia in the meantime . . .

  Python watched Angela wordlessly. For someone determined on helping her, his face held a marked chilliness. “Do you feel sorry for them? You shouldn’t, Archon. Believe me, the Jinn doesn’t feel sorry for you. And why are you mourning a friend who was dead and should have stayed that way? They deserved this suffering for their arrogance. I warned you well enough of the dangers to be found in this maze.”

  “Troy was trying to keep me safe,” Angela snapped. “When she refused your help, she was thinking of me, no matter how stupid her decision was. She wasn’t just thinking about herself.” Though Angela had no way to prove that.

  Troy’s loyalty to her didn’t seem to go that far. Perhaps Juno’s only went as far as her aunt’s. Yet their actions in the cave said very much otherwise. Maybe Troy was hard on Angela like she was hard on Juno for a reason—to keep them strong.

  Wait a second . . .

  Angela looked at Python again. “How did you know Nina had died already?”

  Python smirked. “I’m a demon, girl. My eyes see many things that yours do not.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “For instance, I can see the signs in this maze, hidden ever so carefully by its owner, that point to the way out. And you will not find the Book unless you find the way out.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this place,” Angela said. “Why?”

  “I acquaint myself with every high-ranking demon in Hell. I take the time to learn their strengths and weaknesses, their dreams and desires, their fears and joys. Everything. I can slip in and out of the smallest cracks, hear the slightest noises, and perceive the best disguised of all lies. They know I cannot be kept out, or for that matter, contained. So they do not bother to stop me when I enter and leave this place. I am different from the others.”

  The unnerving light behind Python’s eyes returned.

  A chill shuddered along Angela’s arms. She rocked to her feet, fighting with the bile in the back of her throat. Angela closed her eyes but could still see Nina screaming on the shore. She fought back her tears, but the scream reverberated in her memories as Nina’s leg hit the water. Angela had to keep moving anyway. Sitting in this awful place and doing nothing would only lead to more death and pain.

  Certainly at least an hour had passed. Too little time to just leave—but Sophia also might die at any moment.

  One more time, Angela tested the barrier between her and the cavern where Nina, Troy, and Juno waited. She pressed her ear to the rocks. Maybe she’d at least catch Fury’s cries. Nothing. Only the sound of rushing water met her hopes. Desperately, she tried clawing at the boulders, but even the smallest of them was too big to move. Angela slumped forward, exhausted, her fingertips raw. She gasped and slammed a fist painfully against the rocks.

  Python watched her without lifting a single finger to help.

  Angela glared at him. It took everything in her not to scream again. “What do you know about the demon who owns this maze,” Angela said. “Is he just helping Lucifel? Or is there more to this?”

  Python laughed softly. “There is always more. But as I told you before, he’s bored. Boredom leads to all kinds of mischief . . .” His expression turned distantly cold again. “I would love to satisfy your curiosity further, Archon. But the hours of Hell grow late, and we would do well to travel quickly. Many more creatures wait here in the darkness. Not all are as predictable as Hounds.”

  This all seemed too convenient. If Python had been following them, it obviously wasn’t hard for him to figure out a way to separate Angela from Troy and the others. But Angela couldn’t wander around here aimlessly and alone. Besides, if Python proved to be dangerous . . .

  Angela flexed her aching left hand.

  She glanced at the boulders blocking her path to her friends. Of course, nothing changed.

  Troy, she said in her mind. Come to me. Please.

  They were Bound together, and the unspoken law was that Troy needed to obey to some degree. But not a sound came from the fence of rocks separating them. It was as though the entire attack had been a terrible dream.

  Don’t worry, Angela said to her. I have to keep going. But I also won’t give up on any of you. We’ll get out of this together. I know it.

  “Ready?” Python interrupted coolly.

  “Of course not,” Angela whispered. She set her mouth into a tight and grim line as she followed the demon and left the barrier, step by shaky step, behind.

  Python led Angela in silence past dangerous chasms, around immeasurable abysses, and against what she swore were the edges of cliffs. Finally they emerged into a more civilized part of the labyrinth, where carvings and writing covered the walls anew. The corridors and halls felt frightfully twisted and endless. Perhaps she and Python were encroaching on the demon city Troy had mentioned. But the crude map of Hell had suggested the opposite, and it was clear Angela would have been hopelessly lost on her own.

  Angela crushed a dizzy fear battering at her heart and brain. She tried not to think about Sophia and the others too much, concentrating merely on putting one foot in front of the other, but it was difficult. She was thirsty, hungry, incredibly tired, and every echo seemed to carry a familiar voice, and with it a painful memory.

  At last, they entered a vast hall where enormous pillars stretched on and on into endless darkness. The ceiling felt more like the sky, and their footsteps echoed eerily.

  Faintly, Angela heard the rush and roar of water again.

  She glanced at Python, but he continued walking in silence until they reached a gigantic set of solid onyx doors. Like the door to Hell, these doors had also been engraved with all kinds of fantastical and monstrous creatures. Angela recognized carvings of the Hounds, though in the light of the embers and braziers their forms appeared shadowy and indistinct. There were no horses this time.

  Angela focused on the shape of an enormous serpent with a plume of feathers crowning its triangular head. It looked almost exactly like the snake that had attacked the Hounds.

  “Do you admire him?” Python said softly.

  Angela jumped slightly, startled by the sound of his voice. She tried to calm herself, taking slow breaths.

  Python gazed at the carving intently. “That is my father, Leviathan. He was one of the feathered serpents who sided with Lucifel in the Celestial Revolution. What a shame he didn’t survive the War. Even a boy like me needs a hero . . .”

  Angela’s skin crawled. Her heart thumped wildly. More fear raced through her like liquid fire. Suddenly, it was a deadly mistake to be on the verge of another door with Python by her side.

  “What is this?” she whispered. “Where are we?”

  Python observed her indifferently. His voice was smooth and cold as ever. “This is an unavoidable passage. To exit the labyrinth, you must first reach its center or heart. That heart is what we are about to enter.”

  Angela’s own heart hammered painfully. “What’s on the other side of these doors?”

  “Possibilities,” he said unhelpfully. “Opportunities. Will you take them? That is the Archon’s decision alone, my dear. Although perhaps it would be good for you to know that I’ve been keeping a person of interest inside, waiting for you. I think that individual will be of enormous assistance in making your choices. But in the end, time, temptation, and terror hinges on your sovereign word.” Python bowed for emphasis.

  “I suppose you’re not coming with me?” Angela said. That should have been a relief, but it strangely wasn’t. Not knowing what would happen next was the most exhilarating and terrifying feeling. She’d rather share it with anyone than be alone.

  “Well,” he said roguishly, “I haven’t been invited to the party. But unexpected guests make for excit
ing company, so don’t you worry—I will be near. I’ve been yearning to see the truth, after all.”

  “See the truth?” Angela echoed him. What in the world . . .

  She stared at the doors, her vision swimming.

  “Well then”—Python leaned toward her ear, his tongue flicking against it—“I’ll see you on the other side.”

  Angela shuddered. She swatted Python away angrily—and met with nothing but air.

  He was gone.

  She glanced around the immense chamber, at the columns, the hieroglyphs, and deep into the silent darkness. A warm breeze ran along Angela’s arms and teased at her skirt. The Grail beneath her glove felt uncomfortably moist. It was probably bleeding again.

  Angela wrapped her arms around her shoulders, fighting her chills. She turned back to the double doors and stared at them. Unconsciously, she clutched the sapphire star pendant on her necklace, whispering a soft prayer to herself.

  I’m not giving up now.

  She pushed gently on one of the doors, and it cracked open without the slightest resistance. Music flooded out of the opening and into the hall. Light burned Angela’s eyes. Laughter followed her over the threshold. Angela gasped at the vision in front of her because it was too stupendous and incredible to be believed.

  She had barely taken another step, and the laughter ceased, the music paused.

  The door slammed shut behind her and locked.

  Twenty

  Lucifel did her best to destroy our memories of Heaven, but behind closed doors we never stopped dreaming of the opulence we’d left behind. Some even tried to bring it back. —PYTHON

  Angela froze. Her brain could have turned to jelly and nothing felt real.

  She stood at the edge of an enormous ballroom constructed with onyx and glittering crystals. The black stone of the columns supporting the room gleamed beneath braziers studding their sides. The floor shone as smoothly as black glass. Tables covered with every kind of goblet imaginable lined the far walls, and a large fountain dominated the center of the room. Beneath the red lights, the liquid spurting from its center eerily resembled blood.