Into Hell (The Road to Hell Series, Book 4)

by Brenda K. Davies

“I’ll volunteer for that,” Magnus said.

  “The angels actually have angel dust!” Lopan continued as if Magnus hadn’t spoken.

  “The true angels do,” Raphael said with a pointed look at Caim.

  “You mean the boring ones do,” Caim scoffed. “Or I should say, the ones who blindly obey and follow everything they are told even if it means turning on their own siblings. Yes, those ones have angel dust.”

  The remaining humans and demons gathered closer as the two angels stared at each other with equal disdain. “You chose a poor course,” Raphael replied. “That is no one’s fault, other than your own.”

  “I chose poorly?” Caim inquired as he pointed at his chest. “I think you forget that I was the only one trying to resolve things while the rest of you were all squabbling like spoiled children. The only choice I made was to question certain things.”

  “Things that should not be questioned.”

  Caim blinked at him. “I’d rather have the freedom to question than not have it.”

  “And that freedom to question only got you the rule of Lucifer.”

  “I don’t see Lucifer here, do you?”

  “Enough!” I interrupted. “For all I care, the two of you can pluck each other to death after I have my answers, but I will have my answers first. Make sure the humans are given food,” I commanded the demon closest to me. “Establish a perimeter and kill any threat that comes close to it. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

  I pointed to Corson, Bale, Shax, Magnus, Lopan, Calah, Hawk, Lix, Erin, and Vargas and gestured for them to follow me. Erin and Vargas kept glancing at Lopan and then looking quickly away before their gazes returned to him. Calah waved a hand at Verin, who sat mutely on the ground beside him.

  “Stay, I’ll fill you in later,” I said in response to the question in his eyes.

  I kept River pinned against my side as I led the others further away from the humans and demons. Until I knew what the angels would reveal, the humans couldn’t hear what we discussed.

  “Where is Morax?” River inquired as she gazed over her shoulder at Verin.

  “He didn’t make it out of Hell,” I replied.

  “Is he dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “And there is no bringing him back,” Magnus said.

  “You’re an asshole,” Bale muttered.

  “It’s true,” Magnus replied. “Unless you can catch and cut open that drakón, and then fish out the manticores that ate him, and then…”

  “We get the point,” Hawk interrupted briskly.

  “What about Verin?” River asked. “Will she be okay?”

  “That’s for her and time to decide,” Lix replied.

  I didn’t respond. I knew time never would have eased the vast emptiness I’d experienced when River died.

  I stopped when we were out of earshot and turned to the angels. “How long have you been guiding River?” I demanded of Raphael.

  “Only since she met Angela,” Raphael replied. “My brother and fellow Archangel, Uriel, used his power to guide her the best he could.”

  “What about when she had that dream, stood up and said ‘angels’ before passing out?” I asked.

  Raphael rested one of his hands on the hilt of his sword as he glanced at Caim. “Uriel was unable to guide Angela into Hell. He didn’t have enough power for that. We used the collective power of three of us to try to communicate with her through her dreams, and failed. River must be the one to seek out others to join her in her dreams. We used that same combined power to increase our ability to communicate with her at the gateway earlier.”

  “That’s why Angela became visible to everyone,” River murmured. “Uriel tried to show me how to close the gateway before I entered Hell.”

  “Yes, but at that time, we didn’t know it would take life’s blood to close it. We had hoped a smaller amount of your blood would suffice.”

  River’s hand went to the hole in the front of her blood-soaked shirt and rested over her healed flesh. “Life’s blood,” she murmured. Her fingers traced the hole in her shirt and her skin paled further. “When did you know?”

  “When your blood failed to close the gateway. We knew it would most likely require a great sacrifice.”

  “So you knew how Lucifer opened the gateway into Hell?” Caim inquired.

  “No. When he opened the gateway, he used his ability to distort things to keep us from seeing what he did. We came to suspect blood and life were necessary to close it when everything else she tried failed,” Raphael said.

  “Why did you save me?” River asked. “I’m Lucifer’s last descendent. If I stayed dead, then his line died with me, isn’t that what you want?”

  “Lucifer still lives. We have no idea how long it will be before he is stopped or how many other offspring he might have in that time. You are the one who can counteract or recreate some of the same things he can, and you stand against him. There is no guarantee any of his other children would stand against him too. There is also the chance, that like your human father, Lucifer’s children may work for him. Without your blood, and it is incredibly powerful blood, there may be no stopping him. There is a reason he was known as the Morning Star and favored by the being. His powers have never been matched by any other angel. It took a great effort to cast him out.”

  “The rest of us were more easily disposed of,” Caim stated.

  Raphael didn’t acknowledge his words as he remained focused on River. “And Lucifer’s power resides in his descendant. You had to be saved, no matter what the cost.”

  “And what was the cost?” I demanded.

  “Me,” he said simply. “I had hoped, with the combined power of my fellow angels, that I would have the strength to heal her from Heaven, but I didn’t. I had to leave Heaven to save her, and I cannot return.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Kobal

  “So, you are a fallen angel now too?” River asked.

  Raphael’s nostrils flared and his gaze slid to Caim. “No, I could never be one of them. My wings will remain intact, and I will never allow myself to become corrupted as they have.”

  Caim rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. “Oh, Raphael, so certain of yourself in all things. Remember, pride goeth before the fall. Wait until you feed on your first wraith, because you will have to in order to survive. If their nefarious souls don’t start to wear away at your otherworldly perfection, something else will trip you up one day. You are no longer in Heaven, with none of its temptations and all its endless boredom. This is the mortal realm; there is much to enjoy here my arrogant, prick of a brother.”

  “Enough,” I commanded when Raphael’s hand tightened on his sword.

  “Why can’t you go back?” River asked Raphael.

  “Each angel has the ability to open a gateway out of Heaven. However, once on Earth, we are unable to open a gateway back into Heaven,” Raphael replied. “Michael is the only angel who is capable of opening a gateway from Earth into Heaven. It is against our laws for any angel to come to Earth, and Michael will not come to retrieve me. I knew when I left Heaven that I would never be able to return.”

  “It’s also against the laws for an angel to heal a human,” Caim said. “Or at least it was when I was in Heaven.”

  “Is that true?” River asked. “Was it illegal for you to save me?”

  “It was,” Raphael confirmed. “Some of the other angels felt it best if we allowed you to die. Others were undecided, and some were adamant it be done. In the end, it was my choice to make. I am the only one with a healing ability strong enough to heal the dead. I’ve seen countless humans martyr themselves for loved ones and causes before, but with your bloodline and selflessness, I knew I had to make a sacrifice to save you.”

  “Well lah-dee-fucking-dah for you,” Corson said. “One of you self-righteous assholes has sacrificed something since you dumped these black-winged dicks on the world six thousand years ago. I’m really glad you saved River, but you’ll ge
t no sympathy from me.”

  Hawk snickered and Magnus smiled at Raphael who didn’t acknowledge Corson’s words.

  “Won’t you die on Earth like the original fallen angels were supposed to?” River asked Raphael.

  “Yes, before I would have perished here,” he replied.

  “Before what?”

  “Before the humans opened the gateway and changed the natural order of things,” I answered her. “In the past, the gateways to and from Hell and Earth and Heaven and Earth were opened by creatures who were not of this world. Those gateways were never as large as the one the humans opened, and they never stayed open long.”

  “What difference does that make?” Erin inquired.

  “A big one. Earth has changed, and it will never be the same. The unnatural gateway has forever altered the fabric of all our existences,” I explained. “I don’t have to return to Hell, or travel to the other side of the world to know the gateway in Hungary closed at the same time as the one on this side of the world. I felt its shutting when it occurred. I can also feel that things didn’t return to the way they were on Earth, or in Hell. Demons and other Hell creatures won’t have to travel into Hell to maintain their immortality, or to feed. When the gateway closed, there were still wraiths on Earth. Like everything else from Hell, they will now be able to survive here too as Hell and Earth have intertwined with each other.”

  “Oh shit,” Vargas breathed.

  ***

  River

  “Thirteen years was too much time for the gateway to remain open,” I murmured.

  “Fourteen years,” Erin said.

  “What?” I asked.

  She gave me a wan smile. “It’s September. It’s been fourteen years since the gateway opened.”

  I blinked at her, uncertain of what to say or how to respond. Fourteen years. It’s September. “How long were we in Hell for?” I blurted.

  “Five days,” Shax replied.

  Five days? How was that possible? How could I have missed the anniversary of the gateway opening if we had only been gone for five days? The anniversary had been in July.

  “We all missed it,” Erin said gently as she seemed to guess at my thoughts. “But then, we’ve all been pretty damn busy. I didn’t realize the anniversary had passed until two days ago when I noticed that fall was settling in.”

  I gazed over her shoulder at the fading green of the maple leaves. Some of them were already taking on an orange or red hue. There had been a time when the anniversary of the gateway opening would have been as recognized by me as Volunteer Day. However, unlike Volunteer Day, there had been nothing celebratory about the anniversary date.

  I realized that Volunteer Day, the anniversary, and all the other things that had once ruled my life felt as if they belonged to a different River now. My life had changed so much in such a short time.

  I could never go back to my old life, and I didn’t want to. All I wanted from it was my brothers and my friends and I would get them. For the first time, I truly realized how precious time was. Living in the past would only bog me down, and living in the future would make me miss the present.

  All any of us had was the now, including the immortals.

  My eyes lingered on Verin as she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth. My heart broke for her sorrow.

  “We’d hoped to put things to rights by closing the gateway, but even if the gateway was closed minutes after opening, I don’t think the damage would have been fixed,” Kobal said.

  “So that means all the creatures that broke out of Hell will survive on Earth forever?” I croaked.

  “No, it means they will survive until we hunt them down and kill them,” Bale replied and pulled her sword free to tap the blade against the palm of her hand. “They don’t stand a chance.”

  I gazed at the humans and demons standing by the truck. “Many people will die before then.”

  Kobal rested his hand on my shoulder, drawing me closer as he spoke. “Ever since they created this mess, the humans have been trying to hide it. We did the best we could to keep them safe, but it is time for the humans to reap what they have sown. Yes, many will die, but many were killed when the gateway opened, and many have perished since. Death is the way of all the worlds.”

  “Not for the angels, at least not the ones above,” Shax said, his eyes locked on Raphael.

  “We experienced our fair share of deaths during the battle with Lucifer. Many of the angels were slaughtered. Even a few archangels, such as myself, lost their lives,” Raphael said.

  “So it’s been six thousand years since you’ve experienced death?” Vargas asked.

  “We watch over the mortal realm. We experience death every single day and in the thousands,” Raphael replied.

  “The more he speaks, the more I hate him,” Corson muttered.

  Raphael pinned him with a steely look. “We do not fight amongst ourselves like demons and humans do.”

  “I think you forgot about Lucifer and his followers,” Kobal growled.

  “Lucifer wanted too much. He questioned too much and broke our laws,” Raphael said. “Angels cannot have the freedom humans and demons enjoy. Because they broke the laws, those who followed Lucifer were denied the glory of Heaven.”

  “Glory my ass,” Caim snorted. “Heaven may be the ultimate goal, but you will experience joys here you would never find in Heaven. Each plane has something to offer that the others don’t. Without any guidance from the being, it was only a matter of time before some angels started questioning things.”

  “What do you mean without guidance from the being?” Vargas inquired.

  “After the being finished creating all the angels, it established laws for us and retreated from our world. The angels remained to do what they were supposed to do, guide and give bliss to the souls they feed on in Heaven,” Caim replied. “And we blindly followed the laws in an unbelievably boring fashion. Then, one day, Lucifer asked a simple question.”

  CHAPTER 37

  River

  We all stared expectantly at Caim when his gaze focused on something in the distance. It seemed he’d forgotten he’d been speaking. “What was the question?” I finally asked.

  Caim’s head turned toward me. He blinked before spreading his palms out before him. “The question was why. Why are we doing this? Why do the demons and humans have free will? Why do they do different things, while we are simply here, existing and bored? You have no idea how mind-numbingly brutal it is to do the same thing day after day, year after thousands of years. It wasn’t long after the being retreated that Lucifer started thinking outside the box.

  “At one time, the archangels Michael and Ariel walked the Earth. I had assumed that maybe one day we would all be allowed to do so too, but I never asked if we would. I was a follower too then.”

  “Why were Michael and Ariel allowed to go?” Erin asked.

  “Michael was chosen to go because he could return to Heaven and Ariel because of her extremely strong connection to nature and people,” Caim replied. “Then, one day, they were forbidden from going to Earth and prohibited from speaking about their time there. The being forbid us to question them about the human realm. None of us asked why they weren’t allowed to return, or why it was forbidden for angels to walk Earth when we’d all been gifted with the ability to open a gateway to it. After the being left us, Lucifer asked why we couldn’t travel to the human realm. With his simple ‘why,’ he got many of us thinking, and that was unacceptable to some of our brothers and sisters.”

  Caim puffed out his chest and thumped his fist against it. “Angels are to follow the laws laid down for us. We are to obey. But here’s the real question, brother,” he spat as he looked to Raphael. “Why did we have to obey those laws? Why couldn’t things be different for us? Why could the humans’ laws change with the times, and the demons create their own laws, while the angels rigidly followed laws set down by a being no longer there? A being who perhaps expected us to evolve with t
he times too?”

  Caim practically shouted the last of his words as his wings spread out behind him and fury emanated from every inch of him.

  “But no, regal Raphael, the great Gabriel, the admirable Ariel, and mighty Michael,” Caim said in a singsong voice, “wouldn’t hear of such a thing. We were punished for your inabilities to bend. Lucifer went absolutely nuts when you all turned on him and threw him out. You made him what he is now when you left us to die. He was once the kindest of us all, the brightest, the Morning Star! We were brothers and sisters, and you broke those bonds over a fucking question, you asshole.”

  Stunned silence followed Caim’s impassioned words. Despite everything that had happened, I felt a twinge of sympathy for Lucifer and the other fallen angels. I couldn’t imagine the kind of betrayal and devastation it had taken to make Lucifer so malicious and insane. That betrayal caused Caim’s face to twist in grief as his eyes drifted from Raphael to the humans and demons beyond.

  “And now I have turned against him too,” he murmured and his wings collapsed at his sides as his head bowed.

  Without thinking, I rested my hand on Caim’s forearm. Kobal tried to pull my hand away, but I refused to relinquish my hold. Caim’s sorrow over what occurred with the angels and his betrayal of Lucifer was palpable. He had chosen me and this world over a brother he clearly loved.

  “Okay, so he’s still got some deep-seated anger issues.” Hawk waved his hand at Caim before turning to Raphael. “But I have to agree, that was a dick move.”

  “It is our laws,” Raphael replied. “For better or worse, they are to be obeyed until we are told differently.”

  “Didn’t you break the laws by throwing the angels out of Heaven?” Shax asked.

  “Yes, we did,” Raphael said. “Angels were never supposed to walk Earth again. However, the war in Heaven was spiraling out of control. Something had to be done before we were all destroyed, and though most of you probably wouldn’t have a problem with that”—a lot of nods followed this statement—“Earth and Hell would have been destroyed too without Heaven functioning as it should.