Hellsbane Hereafter (Entangled Select Otherworld)

by Paige Cuccaro

  “It was one scenario. Yes.” He met my eyes without blinking, totally unapologetic. “Had you done as you were told and ended the boy before he opened the abyss, those trapped there would be trapped there still.”

  I looked at him now. “So this is my fault?”

  His gaze slowly swung to mine. “It was your choice. If you’d killed the boy, the world would’ve seen him rise from the dead and his testimony would’ve endangered humanity. Instead you protected him, and he opened the abyss, spilling Hell’s dominion over the face of the Earth, endangering humanity.” He looked away. “We were prepared for either possibility.”

  “Right. Damned if I did, and damned if I didn’t.” I stared at the blackened Earth again. “If the abyss is empty, there’s no point in closing it. But we should do something about the gaping hole.”

  “There is no hole. At least not on this plane,” he said. “Your nature allows you to see the burnt Earth and the yawning abyss within. Humans have no knowledge of its existence. They will pass over it without injury.”

  “Oh.” I shrugged. “Then what difference does it make if it’s opened or closed?”

  “All the difference in the world.” Michael turned to face me. “While it’s open, no Fallen can be banished. Every battle will end in their return to the divine ether. No hope for redemption.”

  I snorted, bitter. “Yeah, cause that ever really existed.”

  “The possibility existed, Emma. A request for forgiveness was simply never made.”

  I didn’t argue with him. I was tired of arguing. I knew Eli had prayed for forgiveness, for understanding. Michael and the others just couldn’t get past the fact that Eli wouldn’t apologize for loving me, for continuing to love me, all the way to the end.

  My throat tightened, and my heart squeezed in my chest. I took a deep breath, refusing to shed a tear in front of the smug archangel. “Someday one of them will jump through all your twisted hoops and ask in just the right way. Then you’ll have no choice but to take him back.”

  “I pray you are right.” He tipped his chin toward the gapping black hole below. “But that will never happen if the abyss remains open.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll close it.” I straightened. “What do I have to do?”

  “Simply pierce the opening with your sword and twist,” Michael said.

  “Easy. Perfect.” I turned to leave.

  “But, Emma.” Michael stopped me. “You must understand. By sealing the abyss, you condemn every Fallen banished by an illorum to an eternity suffering in the abyss. I assure you the pain is indescribable and unrelenting. It is truly the Hell humans speak of. They will suffer an eternity of torture that can only be erased from mind and spirit by true repentance. A simple act, but one which by their very nature no Fallen can fathom. Their selfishness blinds them, corrupts their thoughts, and drives them to commit unthinkable acts. By closing the abyss you ensure countless demons will continue to be made and released upon the world. Dark, twisted spirits serving their defiant, narcissistic masters, tempting and tormenting human souls, bent upon revenge unending.”

  My fingers fisted against the fat stone railing, jaw tightening. “So nothing changes. After everything we’ve been through, all the people who have sacrificed and died, it was all for nothing.”

  He gave me a single nod. “Only if you close the abyss. The decision is yours to make when you see fit. I will leave you to contemplate the options.”

  He didn’t say another word, didn’t even say goodbye, though I knew when he left. I stayed, staring down at the open abyss for hours, thinking. If I left it open, then I would deny the Fallen, those who were already shunned by Heaven and those who had yet to fall, even the chance of redemption. How could I do that? It seemed so unfair. But closing it meant the last two years of my life, everything I’d gone through, everyone I’d lost was all in vain, since there was almost no chance, literally in Hell, of any Fallen asking for redemption. I wasn’t sure I could live with that.

  I didn’t know what to do, and by the time the sun had set and night had come, I still hadn’t made up my mind. So I went home.

  Deafening silence filled my Gram’s house. For a week, not a single demon showed up on my doorstep, and not even one Fallen popped into my bedroom. Not once did I wake up in the middle of the night to see a seraph hovering outside my window or look into the backyard to see a flock of them perched in the trees. The house was utterly free of angels and demons, and the accompanying silence was maddening.

  Not that I missed them or the life-and-death battles they brought with them. But I did miss Eli. I missed the possibility of a chance meeting, of seeing him with other demons, of knowing he was okay, knowing he was alive. I couldn’t breathe when I thought of him, and too many times, missing him was almost more than I could stand.

  Night after night I called my sword, laying the unearthly sharp blade on the pillow beside me. My mind raced for hours and hours, trying to plan how to use the weapon to end my existence when nothing else on Earth could. If I’d figured out a guaranteed way, would I do it? I didn’t know, but I was desperate for a way to end the pain Eli’s absence left in my soul.

  By the end of the third week I’d grown used to the pain, almost gone numb to it. Thanks to Sadie’s understanding, I was imitating a functioning human being almost perfectly. I booked clients, did a few radio spots, and even attended a conference. I walked in a dim haze most of the time, detached as much as I could from the constant ache in my heart. No one except Sadie seemed to notice.

  I told her Eli and I broke up. I couldn’t tell her the truth. There was no body, there’d be no funeral. It was easier this way. She understood better than anyone, having just gone through her own breakup with Thes. I’d managed to keep the cold hard truth about Thes from Sadie. Although telling her I’d heard he was married as an explanation for his sudden disappearance was only slightly less shocking, but much easier to believe. Luckily they hadn’t gotten too close.

  At least business was good. For the third day in a row I closed the shop, still taking appointments after Sadie had finished her last cut for the day. I kept busy enough to go most of the day without staring at the corner as tears streaked down my face. But the nights…the nights were hard.

  I turned the deadbolt on the shop and headed for my Jeep. I hadn’t used my angelic teleportation powers since the day of the battle. The abyss was still open. I couldn’t make up my mind what to do about it. I had trouble just getting through the day.

  The evenings were getting cooler, but tonight was warm enough I drove with the windows down, wind rustling through my hair and music blasting through the crappy stereo system.

  “Are you ever going to trade this POS Jeep in for a real car?”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin then hurried to steer back into my own lane. “Tommy. Jesus.”

  “Nope. Just me.” He stretched out in the passenger seat, arms folded over his chest. “What are you doing, Em?” I glanced at him then back to the road. “Um…driving?”

  “Duh… No. I mean what are you doing about the ring?”

  “What ring?”

  “The Ring of Solomon,” he said it as if it were the only ring in the world. “You gotta get it back.”

  I snorted. “No. I don’t.”

  “But you’re supposed to have it,” he said.

  That made me stare at him for a dangerous few seconds. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “I mean, you’re the only one who can keep it safe. Keep it out of the wrong hands. It’s your responsibility.”

  I shook my head, trying not to laugh right in his ghostly face. “Wrong. I’m responsible for my taxes, and that’s it. I’m done with all that supernatural crap. If the ring doesn’t end up killing the little idiot and he starts hurting people with it, then maybe I’ll lend a hand. But I’m done leading the charge, putting my life on hold, and sacrificing the people I love.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” He cringed and reached out to squeeze my shoulder even though I
wouldn’t feel it. “Heard about Eli. Sucks. Sorry.”

  A sharp stab of pain jolted through my chest, and I glanced at him. “Thanks.”

  “No, really. I’m sorry about giving you such a hard time about him. If it helps, I know he really loved you. I don’t know how, but I think you guys were…I don’t know, soul mates. You know? Like, meant for each other. Weird since there was basically no way in hell—literally it turns out—you two could ever end up together.” He leaned forward, grabbing for the window crank. However, being a ghost, he couldn’t grasp it and finally gave up.

  “This is you helping?” I reached over the ghost and rolled the window down.

  “Thanks. Yeah. I’ll shut up now.” He leaned his head out, doing his best impression of a blond poodle.

  I shook my head, and then a thought occurred to me. “Tommy, do you know where he is? I mean, do you know if he survived the battle?”

  The ghost shrugged. “Don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. This conversing with the living thing ain’t easy, you know? I gotta work up a lot of juice to punch through and still make sense. I am making sense, aren’t I?”

  He sounded genuinely concerned. I rolled a shoulder. “Mostly. So, um, if you wanted to, could you find him?”

  “Doubt it,” he said. “The only reason I could still find you was because I thought to look for an angel spirit instead of a human soul. Demons are totally off my radar.”

  “Wait—What?” I swerved again, then got it under control. “I still have a human soul.”

  “Oh. Oops. You didn’t know? My bad.” He tisked, his tone stained by pity. “Ugh. What’re we listening to? This is crap. We need some real tunes.” Tommy reached for the radio, wiggling his fingers at it like he might use his ghost mojo to work it. Nothing happened.

  “Just answer me, Tommy.” My hands strangled the steering wheel. “I know Jukar screwed with my DNA, but I thought at least my soul was, y’know, normal.”

  “It is,” he said. “For an angel.”

  “I’m not an angel.”

  “Well, you ain’t human.” He must’ve read my slightly freaked-out expression. He sighed. “Relax. You’ve always had a little more angel in you than the rest of us. It’s just now…now your soul, or spirit, or whatever is almost totally angelic. You’re more like a magister, an angelic spirit influenced by human contact. It’s kinda weird.”

  I threw him a glare.

  “Oh, but totally cool. I mean, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’m sure there’s some reason for it in the grand scheme of things. You know?”

  “If there is, the grand scheme can just keep it to itself.” I waved a warning finger at the heavens. “I don’t want to know. You hear me?”

  He laughed. “Yeah. Good luck with that.”

  I threw him another glare.

  “You should keep your eyes on the road,” he said. “No. Seriously. You’re gonna hit him. Look!”

  I turned back in time to see a body drop in front of my headlights. I slammed on the breaks, my heart hammering in my ears. Luckily I was on a side street, cutting through neighborhoods to get to mine. There was almost zero traffic. I shifted to first gear and turned off the engine but left the headlights on to see.

  “God, please don’t let me have killed someone,” I prayed, not that I thought anyone was really listening. I shoved open the door and raced to the front of the Jeep.

  “Oh shit.” I’d actually hit someone.

  A male someone.

  A naked male someone. It was totally wrong to notice the tight ass and thick muscled legs. But the dude was naked. He was kind of on his side, but his face was down and his legs curled up. I looked at the passenger seat.

  Tommy was gone. Figures he’d check out and leave me to deal with this on my own.

  I tucked my hair behind my ear and knelt. “Hey. Mister. Are you okay?”

  I glanced at the grill of the Jeep. There was no damage. It hadn’t actually felt like I’d hit anything. Where had this guy come from? And why the hell was he throwing his naked body in front of oncoming cars?

  “Hello? Are you hurt?” I reached for his shoulder, gave it a light tap. His skin was warm, and he moaned at my touch. “Are you okay?”

  Deciding I had to take action I pulled at his shoulder, rolling him onto his back. The man flopped over, boneless, eyes closed. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to see his eyes.

  “Eli!” I lifted his shoulders, scrambling to shift him onto my lap. He had scrapes on his knees and the palms of his hands, and rivulets of blood trailed down his wrists and shins.

  I cupped the side of his face, caressed his cheek, trying to wake him. “Eli, what happened? Where have you been? Please be okay. Please.”

  He looked almost exactly as he had the last time I’d seen him. If anything, except for the scrapes, he looked even better, younger, with more of a healthy color in his face. Two teardrops hit his face, one landing on his cheek, the other hitting his nose before streaming down to meet the first.

  I wiped them away and scrubbed the rest from my face before any more fell. His eyes fluttered open, then stretched wide.

  “You’re…you’re beautiful.”

  A laugh burst out of me. I couldn’t help it. “You’re not so bad yourself. Where have you been?”

  His black brows creased, and he seemed to search his memories for an answer. “I…I don’t know. Where am I? How’d I get here?”

  “We’re a few blocks from my house. What happened to your clothes?” I scanned the edges of the road, peeked under my Jeep, but his clothes weren’t anywhere nearby.

  He blinked at that then glanced down at himself. His face flushed bright red. “Oh, shit. What happened to my clothes?”

  “Relax. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”

  He pushed out of my embrace, scrambling to sit in front of my car, covering himself. “Yeah, well, I’m glad you get around, but I like to decide who sees the goods if you don’t mind.”

  I laughed at that, though I wasn’t totally sure what he meant by it. “Okay. I’ll see if I’ve got something in the Jeep you can use to cover up. And I think I have some Band-Aids in the glove compartment for those cuts. Wait—” I stared for a solid three count at his knees. “You’re bleeding.”

  “Thanks for your professional diagnosis,” he said. “But you were about to get something to cover me.”

  “No. I mean, you don’t bleed.” I shook my head. “Okay, you bleed, but not blood. Not red blood. If you’re a demon, your blood should be black. Even if you were still an angel your blood would be mist.”

  “Mist? Wait. If I were still a what?” His shoulders sagged. “Shit. You’re on some kind of medication or something, aren’t you? Hearing voices, seeing angels and demons? Right. Have a nice trip, lady. Figures. Just my luck to get run over by Constantine’s sister.”

  I bolted to my feet, my head spinning. “You’re human.”

  “Brilliant. Wow, you really are good at this stating the obvious stuff.”

  I couldn’t fill my lungs. I could hardly speak. “How?”

  “How what? Lady, I don’t even know how I got here.”

  “Lady?” I blinked at him. “Don’t you know who I am?”

  He stared at me then shook his head. “Should I?”

  “Do you…” I swallowed. “Do you know who you are?”

  He opened his mouth like he was about to answer, then confusion snapped it shut, and fear filled his dark blue human eyes. “No. I mean, I know who I am, but I can’t…I can’t remember my name. I can’t remember…anything.”

  I knelt again, touching his knee. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I know you. We know each other. We’re…friends. You’re going to be okay.”

  God, I wanted him to be okay, I wanted everything to be okay. Then suddenly a warm tingle filled the palm of my hand, and a gentle glow reflected between my hand and his wound.

  “What was that?” He pushed my hand away, looking at his knee. “Hey. Hey! You healed me. How’d y
ou heal me? Wha—what are you?”

  “I think…”

  “What are you?”

  “I think…” I met his eyes. “I’m an angel.”

  Epilogue

  “Top of the mornin’ to ya, Eli,” Liam said to me with a wink. “How’s our Emma handling the change?” He settled into the deep cushioned chair in Emma’s waiting room. With Mihir’s investment, she and Sadie bought the building the hair salon and psychic shop were renting and knocked out the wall to the next room. Emma could have managed the purchase without an investor after inheriting Jukar’s conglomerate. She tried not to touch that money, though, and left the running of everything to Danjal, Jukar’s assistant.

  Emma’s business had skyrocketed and, by association, Sadie’s, too. They needed the extra space. Of course the surge in business was double edged. It had come because of Abram’s last video blog where he proclaimed Emma to be half angel and privy to all the secrets of the universe.

  Most people wouldn’t openly admit they believed it, yet here they were, lining up outside the shop, waiting for Mihir to open.

  Emma should’ve been here by now. I checked my watch then smiled for her little Irish friend. “She’s better. I think. I mean, she’s busy. She vanishes in the middle of the night and comes back at odd hours. But what can you expect being the go-between for good and evil in the world, right?”

  The whole situation still left a chill racing down my spine and a hiccup in my reality meter. My girlfriend was an angel. Not born that way, but made. After having been born half angel. Okay. She was still human. That’s what I kept telling myself. At least a part of her was. Right. That’s not utterly insane. Whatever. It’s not like my life made much sense anymore, either.

  “Eli.”

  I flinched when I heard my name, snapping me out of my private thoughts. I looked up, not sure who had called me. “Yeah?”

  Everyone was here, Amon and Liam, Mihir. Even Sadie was already in the salon side taking clients. We were just waiting on Emma.

  “I said, did you tell her what time to be here?” Mihir pushed to his feet behind the reception desk where he’d set up his alter and caldron. Whatever he’d put in the little black pot was already bubbling, steam rolling over the edges. But there was no flame. “This batch is only good for a certain amount of time, and then I’ll have to make another one. Could take weeks.”