“You have to feed to survive,” I said.
“I know. I just wish…”
“What?” I prodded when his voice trailed off.
His lips flattened into a thin line. “That I had a choice. And not a choice about being changed. Nothing could have stopped that, but a choice about what I have to do to survive now.”
“I see.”
“Do you? Because I don’t. At one point in time, I would have been thrilled to have an endless parade of women, but I’m not. Maybe that will change too as I become more and more demon.”
“Is that what you want to happen?”
“No.”
“You could meet your Chosen.”
“And feed from her?”
“I don’t know how that would work,” I admitted. “I’m sure there are other canagh demons who have met their Chosen before.”
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I’m sure there are too.”
Kobal stepped away from the end of the tunnel and turned toward us. “We’ll do it now,” he said as he strode toward me.
Every muscle in my body tensed; a ripple of unease slid down my spine as Hawk and I rose.
“They’re never going to forget you,” Hawk said to me before walking down to join Lopan, Magnus, and Corson at the end of the tunnel.
Kobal had outlined his plan to everyone in Morax and Verin’s room, and I had agreed to it, but I was seriously rethinking my agreement now. If this worked the way he anticipated, he would be going for Lucifer, and I would be remaining here to fight off as many demons as I could.
I’d rather be in on the battle, but Kobal believed my presence below would only be a distraction to his fighters, and I couldn’t deny he had a point. Many of them would be more concerned with keeping me safe than killing. I was quite capable of raining down a fair amount of destruction, but if I was below, I could hit Kobal’s followers. From above, I’d at least be able to aim better and offer some cover for Kobal and the others.
To join the demons below, Kobal planned to scale down the wall, something I couldn’t do with any speed. He might give in and agree to carry me if I insisted on it, but it would only slow him and put us both at greater risk.
Kobal’s fingers slid over the back of my hand when he took it within his. He drew me a step closer to him. The flow of his power caressed my skin, causing the hair on my arms to rise. He hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on; it would most likely be burned off him as soon as he went into battle and would only be something for an enemy to grab. I’d noticed that most of the demons weren’t wearing shirts. The ones who were couldn’t fit a slice of paper between their shirt and their skin.
Kobal’s gaze burned into mine as he lifted his other hand to brush the hair back from my face. “Are you ready?” he inquired.
“As I’ll ever be.”
His fingers stilled on my cheek. He kissed the tip of my nose before turning and leading me to the mouth of the tunnel. I swallowed as I stopped at the end. My toes dangled over the edge while I peered out at the massive cavern for the first time.
CHAPTER 15
River
A few hundred feet across from me was a wall of jagged black and gray stones. Flickering light drew my eyes a hundred feet below me and to a waterfall of fire tumbling straight from the rocks there. My mind spun as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing. If the waterfall had been lava, I could have grasped it better, but the flames rolling over top of one another as they fell made it more difficult to process.
The waterfall tumbled five hundred feet to the cavern below. There, a river of fire streamed through the center of the cavern, dividing the smooth, rocky floor perfectly in two. Where the floor met the stream, sparks floated into the air, but they didn’t make it far before burning out.
A dozen flat rocks started at the floor of the cavern and were spaced throughout the river like stepping stones. Near the bottom of the waterfall, the flames split apart like stage curtains. The stones disappeared beneath those curtains.
“Where do the stones in the river go?” I asked.
“They lead into the throne room,” Kobal replied.
“Have you ever seen the throne room?”
“No.”
I didn’t miss the gruffness in his voice or the slight lengthening of his black fingernails before he retracted his claws. He was so close to claiming the throne taken from his ancestors. For all any of us knew, there might not even be a throne, but something else entirely. Or if there was a throne, it could be something different than what I pictured in my head, which was a chair with skulls and spikes and dead things all over it.
I really hoped it was different than what I pictured in my head.
Craning my head back, I tried to see the top of the cavern, but darkness enshrouded it so thickly that I couldn’t make out anything over a hundred feet above where we stood. I spotted more tunnel openings above us, but didn’t see any more below us.
Movement drew my attention back to the waterfall. I sneered when two bartas stepped out from beneath the flames. I hated the bear-like creatures with their wolverine claws, pig snout, red eyes, jagged fangs, and thick brown coats.
My fire had no effect on the bartas, but my ability to wield life made their hearts explode like overinflated balloons. The hideous creatures had been behind the fifty-fifth seal, but once freed, they became a part of Lucifer’s guard. I’d seen some as small as a teddy bear, but the ones below were the fully grown, Winnie the Pooh on steroids variety as they stood almost ten feet tall.
The six-inch-long claws on their feet ticked across the stones as they made their way to the end of the fiery stream before turning back and vanishing beneath the waterfall once more.
I frowned when I realized the waterfall made no sound. There was no pop of the flames like a normal fire, instead there was only an eerie hush.
“How come the waterfall doesn’t make any noise?” I whispered.
“The guards inside the throne room couldn’t hear anyone approaching if it was loud,” Kobal replied.
“How is a silent fire possible?” Hawk asked.
“This is Hell, anything is possible here,” Magnus drawled. “They are not flames as you know them.”
A dull throb started in my temples. I really had to start thinking outside the box more and move beyond everything I’d ever believed possible. Otherwise, I was going to walk around Hell with a permanent migraine.
“Of course they’re not,” I muttered.
“These flames were established to protect the first varcolac. If they made sound, they would also make the varcolac vulnerable within the throne room,” Kobal said.
“I see,” I said, and though my senses were still thrown off by the noiseless fire, I did understand it.
The barta demons emerged again. They walked their same pathway and turned back.
Before coming here, Kobal told me that the last time they tried to attack Lucifer in the throne room, many of the palitons—the demons who fought on his side—were slaughtered and he’d been severely injured. I could see why as they’d been little more than sitting ducks. The tunnels branching off the cavern below had only enough room for two or three to travel side by side, making it difficult to maneuver troops through them. It would be easy to pick off the attackers before they made it into the cavern.
“Have you ever tried to attack Lucifer from up here before?” I asked.
“No,” Kobal replied. “There are numerous tunnels above us in these walls, but this is the lowest one. If we could have somehow lured him out of the throne room before, the jump from this height wouldn’t kill us, but it would break enough bones that we would be picked off below. Those who didn’t jump and remained above, could launch some kind of an attack on Lucifer’s followers, but we still wouldn’t make it into the throne room and Lucifer never would have risked coming out of there before to fight us.”
“But he will now,” I murmured.
Kobal’s eyes were troubled when they met mine. “I believe he will.”
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“Is there another entrance into the throne room?”
“Not that I know of, but I’m certain there are hidden ones. The varcolacs and Lucifer wouldn’t establish their base in a place with only one way in or out.”
“True.”
“The next time the bartas appear, you’ll blast them.”
I glanced between him and the bottom of the cavern again. “I’m not sure I can hit them from this far away.”
“Even if you can’t kill them, Lucifer will know you’re here. You’re a prize he wants for himself, Mah Kush-la.”
This time Kobal couldn’t stop his claws from extending all the way. This was his plan; we’d all agreed it was necessary, but I had no doubt this was an absolute last resort for him.
“I’m going to be fine,” I whispered. “I’m way up here.”
“The angels can reach here easily enough,” he grated from between his teeth.
“I’ll be able to see them coming if they do come this way.”
“Promise me you’ll protect yourself first, that you won’t stay for me if things go bad.”
“Kobal—”
“Promise me you will not hesitate for me. You will leave.”
I winced before taking a deep breath. “I’ll leave.”
He glanced over my shoulder at Corson. “Make sure she does.”
“I will,” Corson promised.
“We all will,” Lopan said.
Kobal held my gaze before releasing my hand and cupping my cheek. “It is time to work your magic.”
Glancing at the cavern, I watched as the patrolling bartas reemerged. “It is.”
Stepping back, I became hidden from below again. I braced my feet further apart as I closed my eyes to concentrate on the pulse of life flowing through the rocks beneath my boots. It was still more difficult for me to draw on life in Hell than it was on Earth, but I’d gotten better at doing it.
Drawing on the energy in the ground, I pulled on it until it slid through my toes before seeping into my ankles and spreading further up my legs. When I had a solid grip on the life force beneath me, I focused on the far bigger resource standing at my side, Kobal. He’d always been the strongest catalyst for bringing out my ability to wield life. My fingers caressed his as I fed on the flow of seemingly endless power swelling through him.
The hair on my nape rose and my breath came faster as power raced through my veins. Turning my hand over, I opened my eyes as midnight blue sparks lanced across my fingers like mini-lightning bolts. Harnessing those bolts, I focused them into a ball of energy that swelled within my palm until it rose to hover above it.
Moving forward to stand at the edge of the tunnel again, my eyes landed on the bartas as they patrolled across the stepping stones. They stepped onto the main cavern floor before turning to head back toward the waterfall. Flipping my hand over, I aimed the ball at the two of them and released it in a rush of power.
One of them must have sensed something as it looked up at the last second, but the other never saw the ball until it struck its chest. The energy passed straight through the one who had looked up before hitting the other barta. They both stared at where the ball had entered their chests before they lifted their heads and bared their lethal fangs at us.
The first one took a step forward before freezing and glancing at its chest again. It released a low keening sound before its claws grasped its flesh. Behind it, the other did the same thing until they were both tearing at their chests. They succeeded in rending their flesh and ribcages open to expose their still beating hearts.
The second barta roared as the heart of the first one exploded and it collapsed into the flames. Its body was absorbed by the stream seconds before its friend fell into the fire.
The seconds ticked endlessly onward as everyone held their breaths.
Then, all Hell broke loose.
CHAPTER 16
Kobal
Echoing shouts reverberated through the cavern as a group of craetons, Lucifer’s followers, poured out from beneath the waterfall. Behind the demons, some of the angels swooped in low before rising to soar higher into the cavern. Around forty of the fallen angels who had entered Hell still lived, and over half of them emerged now. One rushed up before us, its body cutting through the air and blowing River’s hair back.
I drew her back as more angels flew into the cavern, followed by a horde of manticores. I snarled when I spotted those winged monsters rising higher. I knew the manticores had escaped from the forty-sixth seal, but I hadn’t stopped to think about them with everything else that had been set free.
“What are those?” River breathed from beside me as the first wave of manticores winged up the walls.
“Manticores,” I replied, pulling her back a step and maneuvering her behind me when the first one passed by where we stood.
The manticore stopped and lowered itself back down. Its translucent green wings beat against the air as it kept its lion body hovering before us. The red of its fur matched the color of the scorpion tail curving beneath its powerful body. Blue eyes gazed at us from a head that was human in form. This manticore was of the horned variety and had three white horns sprouting from the top of its head. It smiled to reveal its three rows of pointed teeth before releasing a trumpet-like call.
“The poison in the tail is paralyzing,” I told River as it swung its tail into the entrance, striking at Lopan. “They devour their victims whole after paralyzing them.”
“It’s hideous,” she whispered.
When it struck out again, I seized its tail, careful not to touch the bead of poison at the end. With a yank to the right, I broke the tail in half. The manticore screeched and flapped its wings to escape me. I kept a firm hold on it as fire burst from my palm and spread forward to consume the tail. The manticore jerked in my hold as I dragged it toward me.
Its front paws clawed at the rock wall outside the tunnel, tearing away stones as it sought purchase. Fire blazed from my hand until it fully engulfed the manticore and it screeched loudly. Releasing it, I watched its flaming body spiraling down before crashing onto the floor below. The lower-level demons tilted their heads back to gaze at us as a cry erupted from the tunnels leading into the cavern.
The skelleins were the first ones to burst into the cavern. They released a loud whoop as they swung their swords over their heads. More of the creatures from the seals poured in from the throne room, as more of my followers rushed forward to engage them in battle.
The hounds bounded into the cavern with the demons. Their jaws snapped as they struck down a wave of prey. Bale, Verin, and Morax led the next wave into the main cavern before Lucifer’s troops moved to block the entrance.
My fingers flexed as blood rushed through my veins. I was tired of fighting, but I wanted to give River a life of safety and happiness so I looked forward to destroying Lucifer.
River rested her fingers on my back as she stepped beside me to gaze below. “Where is he?”
“He won’t come out, not yet. We have to make him think he’s beating us first. It’s your turn, Magnus,” I said.
Magnus’s shoulders tensed. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep this up,” he stated, not for the first time expressing his doubts. “I’m a creator.”
“This is creating, in a way,” Corson said.
“Hmm,” Magnus grunted. “This is not the type of illusion I weave.”
“Can you do it?” Hawk asked.
“Yes, for a bit. It is tiring to me in a way that creating is not. I won’t be able to do any other illusions for a while after this.”
“That’s why you will remain here, out of the battle,” I replied.
I understood Magnus’s concerns, but for the plan to succeed, there was no other choice.
“I practiced the cloaking illusion over the years, but I was never able to master it. My father was far better than I at it, but my father never created anything solid as I have,” Magnus said.
River rested her hand on his a
rm. “You can do this.”
“Oh, I have no doubt I am capable of anything, my queen,” Magnus replied with a wink as his normally brazen attitude returned.
River smiled at him and her hand fell away. Bowing his head, Magnus clasped his hands before him as he closed his eyes. Stepping closer to the edge of the tunnel again, I gazed at the battle waging below.
Blood and body parts flew as the two sides clashed with each other. Angels and manticores dove down to snatch unsuspecting victims from the ground. One demon’s arms and legs flailed in the air before the angel released him. The fighters below scurried to get out of the way of the free-falling body before it plummeted into the river. Sparks and flames shot up; fire rolled onto the rocks before retreating into the stream once more.
“Now,” Magnus murmured.
Clasping my hands around my mouth, I bellowed, “Retreat!”
The word reverberated off the walls until it echoed throughout. None of my followers looked at me; they had all been expecting this command. The palitons divided and a large amount of them battled through the craetons trying to block off their retreat. The rest remained where they were, their number was small enough that the craetons didn’t notice they weren’t a part of the retreating group. Many of the craetons pursued the fleeing palitons.
An angel flew up to hover before us. Her blonde hair swayed to the sides when she craned her head back and forth to examine the tunnel. I studied the soulless black eyes before me, but though I could clearly see her, she couldn’t see me.
“Gone!” she shouted and dove down.
With the angel out of the way, my attention returned to the cavern. Of the nearly hundred palitons who remained below, no one dared to move as some of Lucifer’s followers patrolled the cavern. Cloaked by Magnus’s ability, the craetons didn’t see them.
Morax and Verin crept cautiously backward as a lower-level demon came within inches of where they stood. Bale shifted back when an angel landed beside her. The arm of the angel would have brushed against hers if she hadn’t moved. It would only take one of those creatures bumping into them for the illusion to end.
Into Hell (The Road to Hell Series, Book 4) Page 10