Red Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

  The force of cycling it back into us launched me forward onto my face. “Oof.” I spit out a mouthful of dirt and braced myself back up on my arms. Holy crap, I said to my wolf. There’s no way we can harness all this. Plus it feels like it’s growing. The magic kept piling up on me, continuing to build. I was too new and unskilled to stop it, and my wolf was completely overwhelmed by how much was in our system. She abruptly stopped and sat down with her ears pinned back. And I knew instinctively that once the magic reached a pinnacle, the circle would activate completely and we would be sent to the Underworld and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

  The demon essence Tally had hit us with had inadvertently started something I had no idea how to control.

  “Jessica.” Rourke’s voice was urgent. “Listen to me. If you go, I’ll be right behind you. I swear. The witches will get me there right on your heels. Just hang tight until I get there. Find a place to hide.”

  “Rourke,” I gasped, trying to push myself completely upright. I managed to stand and stagger a few feet. “You can’t come after me. Give me your word you won’t go to the Underworld. Once I get there, I’ll have some reasonable cover, but you won’t. They’ll probably think I’m a demon with all this demon essence inside me. But they’ll know your signature once you land. Please, you need to stay here.”

  A vicious sound erupted out of his throat. “Nothing is going to keep me from going after you. Nothing. I don’t care if they send a thousand demons to hunt me down, I promise I will find you.” His fists continued to pound against the edge of the circle. I knew they were battered and bloody by now. “If the demons find me, I will wreak havoc on the Underworld and give you the best distraction you’ll ever get down there. I will gladly let those bastards catch me if it gives you a chance to escape.”

  “No,” I argued, pain in my voice. “Please, Rourke. Let me go alone.” Images of him being torn apart by demons raced through my mind. “We need to stick with the original plan. It’s the best chance we have to get Tyler out. You need to promise me you’ll stay here.”

  “She may be right,” Tally stated quietly. “If her signature has changed now that she’s taken in the demon magic, she may indeed be undetectable once she arrives. She will be able to navigate undercover for a time. It might be enough to find her brother.”

  “Arrives where?” Rourke bellowed. “Where exactly is this circle sending her, anyway?”

  “There isn’t one place it lands,” Tally answered. “When the witches fuel it, we can pick from a number of designated places that are known to be low traffic. But we aren’t doing this, she is. It’s going to be keyed to wherever she directs it.”

  “Then you need to give her directions,” Rourke said, his voice low and menacing. “And do it now. I want her in a ‘low-traffic’ area. She’s going to need all the help we can give her.”

  The ringing reached a fever pitch in my mind.

  It blocked out everything else around me. I could barely hear the conversation. I cupped my hands behind my ears and strained to hear Tally and Rourke, but almost nothing came through. “You’re going to have to tell me now!” I yelled. “We only have a few more minutes at most. I can barely hear you!”

  “Giving you directions is not going to be that easy,” Tally shouted, her voice projecting. “In my lifetime, I’ve only sent two witches to the Underworld, and both of them were seasoned spell casters. And they were only there for moments at most, just to do recon. We have very few concrete details about the Underworld. The demons keep it secretive for a reason. We’re only grasping at straws here.”

  “All that doesn’t matter now,” Rourke urged. “There has to be someplace that will guarantee her the best chance of survival. Where were you going to send her in the first place?”

  “The trash heap.”

  “The what?” Rourke said.

  I strained to hear Tally’s answer. “Demons are fastidious about their persons, as you saw with the Prince of Hell. No hair is out of place, no button undone. They go to great lengths to keep their home life as sterile as possible. But they generate a fair amount of trash. We’ve figured out, over time, that they bring it to one single area. It’s approximately ten miles wide and twenty miles long from what we can gather. It’s also well away from their normal habitats. It’s the best chance she has.”

  “Fine,” Rourke answered. “If that will keep her off their radar, it works for me. She can hide in the garbage until we get there.”

  “It’s not exactly like that.” Tally hesitated. “We were going to arm her with spells. The area is still watched. I’m not sure if it’s the best—”

  “Hello!” I called. “It’s not like I have a better option, and I hate to tell you this, but we’re out of time.” The circle quaked so hard it rattled my bones. “Tell me what to do and you’re going to have to yell it because my head is filled with a shrieking noise.”

  I heard her shout to others in the room and I could sense movement. “We’re going to try and direct you to the garbage dump,” she called, “but be on the lookout because there are demon beasts that eat the trash. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard they are formidable.”

  “What kind of… beasts are you talking about?” I asked.

  Small ones, I hoped.

  “The common term on our plane is chupacabra, a mix between a reptile and a dog, but in the Underworld they are simply referred to as hell beasts.”

  Lovely. My teeth had been clenched so long my jaw ached. The waves of sound and motion began to overwhelm me completely. My body was now shaking with enough force it felt like I was going to break apart, and the noise in my head sounded like a high-pitched siren. “How do I get to the dump?” I shouted, unsure my voice was being heard.

  Outside the circle there were frantic calls and more footsteps. Tally’s voice rang out. “Join hands,” she ordered to someone, likely her witches.

  The ground undulated beneath my knees like a roiling ocean. Tally’s voice came in and out as she yelled, “… try to… deserted lands… farthest from She’ol… demons’ prized city.” Then Tally’s voice addressed me directly, shouting, “Jessica, we will act as a beacon! When you fall, push your magic back up through the circle and search for us. We will try our best to show you the way!”

  Time was up.

  The crashing vibrations consumed me in one huge powerful wash of energy. My body shook and my teeth rattled. I plunged my hands deep into the earth one last time, hoping it would keep me rooted in this world.

  But nothing I could do would stop the tide now.

  I was going whether I liked it or not. A tornado of power swirled around me, lifting me up before it sucked me into a vortex, sending me spinning end over end. I was on my way to the Underworld.

  “Jessica!” Rourke roared. “We will be right behind you!”

  The last thing I heard before I popped out of existence completely was a small voice that cried, “Bye-bye, wolf.”

  3

  The pressure inside the vortex was so intense it felt like a vise was clamped around my entire body. While the crushing force came from outside, my insides felt like they were going to bust out of my skin.

  As I fell, I tumbled in circles, my wolf emitting a low, continuous keening howl.

  I tried to calm her. We have to focus on sending the magic back up to Tally. I’m sure the travel time will be short and I really need you to focus. This is not a great time to lose your mind. Her ears were still pinned back, her eyes unfocused, and she didn’t respond at all.

  Shitsocks. Landing us in the right place was going to be up to me. The air was weighty and it gave the strangest feeling—like experiencing g-force in a cloud. I pulled on my power and immediately realized my wolf had pushed it all outward instinctively like a shield. I had to give her credit. She’d obviously prepared us the best she could before she checked out. I couldn’t bring my arms down, but her focusing our magic outward might have been the only thing keeping our vital parts inside my body. Tally
had told us a supe had to be strong enough to make the trip; maybe this was what she’d been talking about. Without enough power, this vortex would rip you apart.

  The problem was I had no idea how to send magic up when we were using it to protect us. I grabbed a single strand of muddy gold in my mind and unraveled it from the outside as quickly as I could. A small portion was going to have to be enough. Can you get it together and help me? We need the witches’ help and this is all we can spare. I’m going to shove it outward and hope we reach them. Without it, we risk landing in the middle of the demon city hall. My wolf blinked and shook her head. Snap out of it! I yelled. If we arrive in their most populated place, we lose our only chance to find cover. She clicked her jaws at me and growled. Good, glad you’re back, now help me with this.

  Together we shoved power into the strand and sent it out into the vortex. We were still spinning, so it was almost impossible to know which way was up.

  After a moment, a small tug pulled along our senses. Did you feel that? In the next instant a grid spread out in my mind with a yellow blinking dot in one spot. The witches were scary good. We’re going to have to home in on that one spot. Any idea how to do that? My wolf rose and took a step forward, her nose lifted, scenting.

  The air current began to change.

  Strange smells and sounds started to creep into my consciousness. We’re getting close. We need to pinpoint a landing place quickly. The pressure pushing on my head made it hard to stay focused. My wolf’s ears perked up and she growled. We needed to send more magic into the vortex to get a better read on the grid. The only choice we have is to weaken the magic shield protecting us. My wolf had shaken off her fear of falling and was now on high alert as we both gathered magic by reeling it back into us, and as we did it, the shield diminished and the crush of the vortex pressed down like an anvil on our chest. My wolf took over as I struggled to breathe. Don’t take too much more, I gasped, or we won’t be able to take in any more air.

  Passing out now was not an option.

  In one heave, she shot all the magic we could spare forward in a rush.

  It plunged into the vortex, seeking a clue to our destination. Concentrate on the dot in our mind. We need to link the two together. The witches’ directions were still clear, glowing like a three-dimensional hologram in my mind. I had no idea if we were linked to them through magic or if they’d burned the map into my mind with a spell. It didn’t matter. We had what we needed.

  It’s working. The dot in my mind turned a brilliant blue once my magic connected with it on the plane below us. Can you see that? We found it. It’s to the left. We have to force ourselves to fall that way. I willed us to move that way with everything I had and the beacon miraculously came closer.

  With a snap of power, our magic fully engaged with our destination and a tether formed in the air between us, the magic connection guiding us. The witches were brilliant and I owed Tally my life for this.

  We were closing in on the destination fast.

  Smells, sounds, and lights started to whip by us as we flew at high speed into the demon atmosphere. The demons must know how to slow down, I told my wolf. We don’t. We’re going to crash hard. Try to brace—

  We hit a pile of something with the force of a canon ball.

  Large chunks of what appeared to be some kind of plastic flew in an arc around us as we plunged all the way to the bottom of the stack, hitting the ground so hard starbursts of light erupted in my vision and my brain felt like it had been scrambled. If the trash hadn’t slowed us down, we would’ve splattered all over the ground.

  I was just happy we hadn’t lost consciousness.

  I took in a few breaths and tried to steady myself. What is this stuff? We were covered from head to toe. It was impossible to know how much was on top of us, but the stuff surrounding us was oddly shaped and smelled strange. I moved my hand to grasp an edge of the plastic and a chain reaction of movement followed, causing a tinkling like dominoes. Are these TV trays?

  Luckily for us, the trash was lightweight and angular and resembled some kind of cafeteria tray, which made pockets of space around me. There was an odd light filtering in from above. Judging by the awful pungent stench radiating from around us, there used to be something alive on these trays. On closer inspection, some of the trays also had bite marks out of the ends and residue that was bloodlike.

  We had indeed landed in a trash heap. It also appeared that every demon here ate the same thing. And it didn’t smell at all appealing. I gave an inward shudder. Time to move.

  A sharp growl erupted from somewhere outside the pile.

  Another joined it.

  Those must be the chupacabras, I told my wolf. But she was way ahead of me. She’d already contained the magic that had been outside us during the vortex ride, and had begun to fortify a shield. They must eat the leftover crap on the trays. I wasn’t looking forward to my first introduction a chupacabra. Let’s sit tight for a minute and see if they leave on their own. Fighting a hell beast when my body was healing from the landing was not on my top ten list of things I wanted to do at the moment.

  But of course that was wishful thinking. In less than a minute, there must’ve been twenty of them growling and pacing out there.

  Okay, we need to rethink. I believe the best thing we can do is try and outrun them. Judging by the light, we’re in some kind of building. The demons must keep them locked up in here, but if we can get out of the building we may have a chance to lose them.

  My wolf did not seem convinced.

  Do you have a better idea? The trays started to shift around us as the beasts started to paw at the pile. We’re out of time. We run for whatever door we can find. Go! We dove out of the mess, aiming for the least smelly area we could find. Less putrid hopefully meant fewer beasts. The trays scattered around us like dried leaves as we leaped. I hoped it was enough of a distraction to give us a head start.

  We emerged and quickly rolled. I tried to find my footing, but hit a few trays and inadvertently slid over the slick floor using them like skateboards. I jumped off and spun in the air, landing in my fighting stance.

  Right in front of thirty snarling chupacabras.

  Jesus, they look like something straight out of a horror flick. Meaning they were some of the ugliest things I’d ever seen. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. We were in Hell, after all. The only positive thing was that they weren’t much bigger than a full grown Pit Bull. Look at their creepy eyes. They’re tiny and matte black. But the most freakish part wasn’t their beady eyes. It was that their front legs ended in hands. Hands! Little creepy black monkey paws with opposable thumbs.

  I had to quiet my inner shriek quickly, but it wasn’t easy. Their delightful appearance didn’t end there. Bony spires stuck out of their heads and ran all the way down their backs. As they moved toward me, hissing and growling, I saw that only a portion of their skin was covered in spotty fur the color of death; the rest was translucent. Their organs beat right under their hide. One of them opened its maw wide and flashed a few rows of mismatched teeth—some long, some short—all sharp.

  I growled back, flashing my own teeth, and edged slowly to my right.

  They don’t seem to have any urgency to attack us. A few of them were openly scenting me, their horrid snouts in the air. Maybe I smell too much like a demon? Or at least enough like one to fool them? I flexed my inner magic, pushing the muted gold, my signature mixed with the demon essence, outward.

  If the chupacabras thought I was a demon, it was my lucky day. But before I had time to decide what to do, a roaring noise erupted overhead and the ceiling began to move. Slowly, a portion slid open to reveal some kind of weird-looking chute.

  As one, all the beasts glanced up.

  We have to move. We can’t be spotted if this is some kind of surveillance apparatus.

  I stumbled backward as plastic trays and food began to rain down from the chute above. Hearing the noise, the chupacabras took off after their next me
al, slobbering as they went. They attacked the new pile of garbage, twenty feet from where I stood, like the rabid beasts they were, clawing and snarling their way to the top to get the choice pieces. A few of them began to fight one another for what looked like hunks of decayed meat.

  Whatever it was, it was limp and gray and highly disgusting.

  No wonder it smells like death in here. They’re consuming rancid meat and they all smell like it. Good gods. This place wasn’t going to get any easier, either. The Underworld was already proving to be tons o’ fun. Once they’re done with that, they’ll be back on us. We need to move now.

  I started to race in the opposite direction of the feeding frenzy. There had to be a door somewhere. The hazy blue light above made it hard to see. There were piles and piles of trays in every direction, some reaching the ceiling, which was made up of a shiny material that didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before. Not metal, not wood, something completely artificial.

  Honestly, as long as we weren’t in some kind of alien embryo, I could deal with it.

  My wolf barked and I darted to the left, following a thin pathway between a few heaps. We had run no farther than fifty yards when I heard shuffling and angry growls behind me. The beasts had finished their meal and were coming after us. I picked up the pace, dodging the errant trays as best I could. It’s like a slippery hamster Habitrail in here, I groused as I darted around another pile. Is that a door up ahead?

  As we gained on it, I saw it was indeed a door. It was located in what seemed to be some kind of an elevator shaft, or something like it, because it was located right in the middle of the room. I raced toward it with preternatural speed. The chupacabras were quite a few yards behind me. They were slower than I was, which was a benefit. Their long, creepy hand-paws must get in the way of securing a good grip on the slippery floor. Ick.