Hell Freezes Over (Hellscourge Book 6)

by Diem, J. C.

  “Fate will not allow you to die,” Sam said with far more certainty than I felt. “She needs you too much.”

  Fate needed me to save the world from becoming overrun by demons. She’d never promised that I’d survive to see the outcome if I succeeded in taking down the princes of hell and their master.

  “Are you ready to return to the store?” Leo asked me.

  “Yeah. I don’t feel like walking around and randomly coming across a new disaster today.” Neither of the boys laughed, probably because we all knew how likely it was that a simple walk could end in something bad happening to me.

  Leo took us back to our base and we gathered at the table. Sophia had just made tea and lifted her eyebrow in enquiry. I nodded and she poured a cup for me. Nathan sat in silence with his arms crossed. His brow rose as well, but his silent question was aimed at Leo. “Nothing particularly interesting happened,” the teen informed my guardian. I hoped he was talking about a lack of enemies turning up. Either that, or he was reporting that I hadn’t descended into mindless groping while I kissed my boyfriend.

  “Zach’s Dad called,” I said. “He has to leave town for a few days and he’s taking Zach with him.”

  “Good,” Nathan said in satisfaction. “That will give you time to focus on more important things.”

  I didn’t point out that Zach was important to me. Saying so would only hurt him, so I simply nodded. “What’s the plan?” I asked.

  “Brie knocked on the door and spoke to us while you three were gone,” Sophia said. I tried not to flinch at the mention of her name, but I wasn’t quite able to hide my reaction. I’d asked her to purge my system, but I still shuddered at the pain that she’d caused me.

  “What did she want?” Leo asked almost sullenly.

  “Hagith and Orifiel wish to meet with Violet,” she replied.

  I let out a harsh laugh. “Are they kidding? I’m not stupid enough to fall for their trap.”

  “I told her that you will not be meeting with them,” Nathan said.

  “Why do they want to see her?” Leo asked.

  Sophia watched my face closely as she replied. “It would seem that one of their angels has gone missing. They are accusing her of stealing Raziel’s grace.”

  Guilt swept through me and I dropped my eyes. Leo drew in a sharp breath. “Is it true?” he asked.

  “I didn’t steal his grace,” I said in self-defense. “He attacked me when I was escaping from my cell and I defended myself.”

  Leo looked at Nathan and Sam and saw their lack of shock. Sophia wasn’t particularly surprised either. She must have already guessed that I’d assimilated an angel’s grace. Or maybe she’d seen it in a vision. “Have you noticed any changes since ingesting Raziel’s essence?” she asked.

  Almost relieved that the secret was out, I nodded. “Having an angel inside me makes me weaker in hell. I don’t heal as fast now and the hellbeasts were restless until they got used to it.”

  “What about when you are in this dimension?”

  I looked around and gestured at the faintly glowing blue symbols. I could only see them if I concentrated. “I can see angelic spells, but that’s the only change I’ve noticed so far.”

  “Can you understand what I am saying?” Nathan said.

  “Of course I can,” I replied with a frown. “Why wouldn’t I be able to?”

  “Because he is speaking in his native tongue,” Sophia said. I was stunned to realize I could now understand both angelic and demonic languages.

  “I wonder if you can create our spells?” Leo said. He was upset that I’d ingested an angel, but he wasn’t as freaked out about it as Nathan had been.

  “Don’t you hate me now?” I asked.

  “Why would I hate you?” he replied in bafflement.

  “I took an angel’s grace away from him.”

  “Like you said, he was trying to harm you. Perhaps our former allies will think twice before they attempt to kidnap you again.” He seemed almost grim about what I’d done to Raziel, but he was still on my side.

  “Leo posed a good question,” Nathan said. “It would be interesting to see whether you can create angelic spells now.”

  “She could try something simple, such as a warding spell,” Leo suggested.

  Nathan studied me then nodded. “I will write the incantation down for you.” He left his seat long enough to retrieve a notepad and pencil from behind the counter. He wrote down a short passage then slid the notepad across to me.

  At first, the words were unintelligible. They became clear as the borrowed angelic power translated them. “I call on the holy power of the one true Lord to bless this building and to keep our enemies at bay,” I read out loud and realized I was speaking in the angels’ language. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then I felt a strange pulling sensation in my mind. I could almost hear Raziel’s howl of fury as I used his essence to create the spell. A new blue symbol took up residence on the wall. It was nestled beside the runes that I’d drawn in demonic blood.

  “It worked,” Leo said in wonder and with a touch of fright. “You are the first being that has ever been able to create both angelic and demonic spells. This should not even be possible.”

  “She is Hellscourge,” Sophia reminded him. “Violet is unlike any other being that has ever existed before. This is why she was chosen to be the savior of this world.”

  She and I were the only two people who knew about my true origins. With my soul missing, I’d had to devour demonic and angelic essence in order to create spells. I couldn’t let my friends discover what I really was. They might be able to accept that I’d ingested Raziel to save myself, but if they found out that I was a Nephilim, they would have no choice but to turn against me.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sam succumbed to the lure of the TV and headed upstairs. Sophia finished her tea and I hastily drank the last dregs of mine and followed her into the kitchen. “What did you see in your vision when you shook Detective Reynolds’ hand?” I asked.

  Taking my cup from me, she rinsed it out while she gathered her thoughts. “Soon, legions of demons will begin to head towards the ninth realm of hell,” she said quietly. “They will gather at the town that is closest to the hellgate that leads to this city. It seems that they are getting ready to invade this world.” She put my cup on the counter next to hers. “Then I was standing in Times Square and everything was frozen,” she went on. “When movement started again, demons were spilling into our world in their true forms.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. “Did you hear the gates of hell breaking open?”

  She nodded reluctantly. “I believe so. I heard ominous metallic clanking sounds that filled me with dread.”

  “I can’t stop it, can I?” I said in a bare whisper that was full of despair. “I’m going to fail and the Earth is going to burn.”

  She took me into her arms and did her best to comfort me. “My vision is not set in stone. It is a mere possibility of what might come to be.”

  I allowed her to soothe me for a short while before I stepped away. “Haven’t your visions always come true?”

  She hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “They have so far, but if anyone can change the destiny of humankind, it is you.”

  Feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders just as Zach had joked, my steps were heavy as I headed upstairs. Instead of joining Sam in the living room, I sat on my bed to read. Sophia’s store had been ransacked by avenging angels after I’d escaped from the cell beneath their headquarters. My ereader was one of the few possessions that hadn’t been damaged. We were pretty sure Brie had instigated the raid on our base. She’d done her best to ruin my favorite jacket in her fury. Only my strange ability to heal both my flesh and clothing when I was in hell had managed to save it.

  I couldn’t concentrate on the book. Worry kept dragging me out of the story. The last part of Sophia’s vision had been a carbon copy of the dream that I’d ha
d. Fate had shown us both what would happen if I failed. Instead of urging me to succeed, it was stripping away my hope.

  Tossing and turning when I went to bed later that night, I finally fell asleep and was sucked into someone else’s memories.

  Sent to Earth on an urgent mission, I needed to find a vessel quickly. Spying a woman leaving an apartment building, I zoomed in closer. When I was only a short distance away, I was startled to see that we were very similar in appearance. We both had blond hair and green eyes. She was younger than I would have liked, but I didn’t have time to be choosy.

  I was about to take possession of her when a car sped through a nearby stop sign. The girl didn’t even realize she was in danger until it was too late. I watched on helplessly as the car hit her and sent her flying.

  It was forbidden for angels to interfere in the course of a human’s life unless we were given direct orders to, yet I was compelled to enter her body. Suffering from severe internal injuries, she only had moments to live unless I healed her. What is your name, I asked her.

  Confused and in an agony that was so profound that she could barely think, she managed to form a response. Lilly.

  I can save you, Lilly, but I need your permission. I wish to borrow your body for a short time. When I am done, I will wipe your memories of me away. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I wouldn’t just destroy her memories of me. I’d strip her completely and leave her with no knowledge of who she was. She wouldn’t even remember her own name when I was finished with her vessel. Some angels had the skill to pick and choose the memories that they would delete. Sadly, I lacked that level of finesse. My talents lay elsewhere.

  I don’t want to die, she responded in panic.

  I took that as permission and my essence permeated her body and gained control of her soul. I quickly sorted through her thoughts and memories as her wounds healed. The inebriated driver climbed out of his car, but I teleported away. I was long gone before he could see the damaged that he’d caused due to his drunken carelessness.

  During my venture through Lilly’s memories, I’d discovered that she’d only just turned eighteen a few days ago. She’d told her parents that she was staying the night with a female friend, but that wasn’t the truth. She’d planned to meet her boyfriend at a hotel. I’d intervened and now she wouldn’t be losing her innocence to him after all.

  I felt a trifle smug for altering Lilly’s plans. Once I’d fulfilled my mission, I would take her far away before releasing her in a place where she would be safe. She’d have to build a new life and maybe she’d find someone who was willing to wait until she was a little more mature before they tried to bed her.

  My task wasn’t difficult. I simply needed to get close to an unstable man. I was to intervene before he could kill someone who would one day be important. Every now and then, God sent us out to save the lives of key people. This was one of those times.

  My target was in Chicago. Despite being in his late twenties, he still lived with his mother. He frequented a café near his house on the weekends, which was where I would most likely find him now. He’d been spending many hours there plotting revenge against the people that had wronged him. God had seen into this man’s heart and he knew that he would soon decide to take action.

  Teleporting to the café, I found my quarry sitting in the corner with his back to the wall. It was a strategic position that allowed him to examine the other patrons and staff. Average in looks, Nigel had lank brown hair that was in dire need of a wash. His t-shirt sported a cartoon of Thor striking Loki in the head with his hammer. Thick glasses magnified his eyes, making them appear abnormally large. I believed the term for someone like him was ‘nerd’.

  My vessel was pretty enough to draw unwanted attention from most of the males as I made my way across the room. I kept a cool, disinterested expression on my face to deter anyone from approaching me. Taking a seat at a table near Nigel, I watched him without him being aware of it.

  Flicking his eyes up from his computer for a few moments, my target watched to make sure no one was paying any particular attention to him. I looked down at the table, picked up the menu and perused it. Thinking he was in the clear, Nigel hunched over a notepad with an intense expression and started scribbling down his thoughts. Nervous sweat beaded his upper lip despite the air conditioning that kept the room cool. He absently wiped it away with his sleeve.

  Nigel had been harassed unmercifully all throughout high school. He now intended to pay back the boys who had caused him mental anguish. His plan was to set off a bomb at his high school reunion, which was to be held soon. He was probably making a list of the components that he would need right now.

  Sensing when the moment was right, I left my seat and sat down at Nigel’s table. He started and stared at me. I put my hand on his arm and he blinked in surprise. “Who are you? What do you want?” he stammered. Clearly, he wasn’t used to an attractive female paying attention to him.

  “I have a message for you, Nigel,” I replied. He blanched that I knew his name. “God is watching you. He knows what you are planning to do at your reunion. He is giving you one last chance to save yourself from eternal damnation.”

  I could see that he didn’t believe me, so I used a power that only I had. Since it was unique to me, no one knew how I could create the images that I’d never seen for myself. His eyes bulged when I showed him a vision of hell. It was an image from the first realm. Boiling lava burst up from volcanic pits and hideous beasts roamed the wasteland. Leviathans battled each other for supremacy and a lone dragon sat on the highest peak of a mountain in the distance. It stretched its wings out and even from a distance, it made the one-hundred-foot-tall leviathans look small.

  “Do you want to end up in hell?” I asked Nigel.

  “No,” he said hoarsely and shook his head frantically.

  “Then you need to let go of your enmity and hatred. Purge yourself of thoughts of revenge before it is too late.”

  Putting his hands over his face, he sobbed in remorse for the act of violence that he’d been prepared to unleash on his old enemies. I sensed that his will to kill them had faded and I knew that my task was done.

  I didn’t often get a chance to spend time on Earth. I’d heard that my old friend, Sophia, was somewhere in Chicago. Since I was here, I thought I might as well try to track her down and catch up with her. I hadn’t been ordered to return to heaven immediately. This was a chance for me to take a small vacation.

  A few days later, I spied a woman who walked with far more grace than was usual for a human. Tall and slim, she had long brown hair that was turning gray. I was fairly certain that she was an angel, but there was no way to tell for certain until we spoke. Teleporting to her, I reached out and touched her shoulder. “Excuse me,” I said.

  She turned warily and shifted her hand away from her body as if she were going to call on her holy sword. “Yes?”

  “I am Asteraoth. Would you by any chance be Sophia?”

  Smiling widely, she embraced me. “It is I, sister.” We hugged briefly then I fell into step beside her. We weren’t really sisters. It was a term of endearment that we’d borrowed from humans who were particularly close. “What are you doing here in Chicago?” she asked.

  I told her of my mission and didn’t notice at first when thirteen men appeared to surround us. Suddenly realizing that we weren’t alone, I knew the strangers had to be demons, but it was already too late to call on our weapons.

  Despair flooded through me when I saw that two of the men were holding implements that looked like scalpels. They weren’t ordinary demons. They were a new group that we’d taken to calling the Collectors. I tried to fight them, but they overpowered me and tore my shirt open. A blade cut through my flesh and I screamed in agony and loss when my grace was stolen. It was sucked into a glass vial that was covered in demonic runes. Instead of slitting my throat, one of the demons healed me. It was rough and lacked elegance, but at least the bleeding stopped. An ugly re
d scar remained.

  Sophia received the same treatment then we were teleported to what looked like a basement. The room was cool and dark and was devoid of furniture. Thick metal bars had been attached to the walls. My friend and I were handcuffed to the bars.

  In shock from losing my grace, I huddled on the bare cement ground next to ten other former female angels. They were all naked and had covered themselves with thin blankets. Quick whispers from the nearest woman warned me about what was going to happen to us now. Before I had time to assimilate what was going on, two of the Collectors came for me. I was hauled to my feet and was dragged upstairs to a bedroom. A blindfold was placed over my eyes and I was stripped naked then tied to a bed. The two demons left and closed the door behind them.

  Trying to hold onto my whimpers, tears leaked from my eyes. With my grace gone, I had become entwined with my vessel. Lilly had been shoved to the back of my mind where I could barely sense her. It was a blessing for her that she wouldn’t suffer the abuse that would shortly be coming. She had no idea that her virtue was about to be torn from her, just as my essence had been stolen from me.

  Fear not, child, a strange voice said inside my head. I will not allow you to feel the torment that you are about to experience.

  Who are you? Clearly, the being didn’t know who she was addressing. I was as ancient as the Earth itself and I was far from a child.

  I am Fate , she responded.

  I’d heard of the mysterious entity and dread flooded through me. Dealing with Fate always came with a price. What do you want?

  I need you to make a choice.

  What choice would that be?

  I require you to choose between saving yourself from being raped, or saving the world from damnation.

  Hearing footsteps approaching, I knew I had only moments to decide. What will happen to the world if I choose to save myself?

  The answer came to me in a vision. I saw demons running amok through a city. They were in their true forms and they were slaughtering innocent people. Robed hellscribes were setting fire to anything that would burn. Horrified, I tried to lift a hand to my eyes to block the images, forgetting that I was tied down. What will happen to me if I sacrifice myself?