by Maya Nicole
We started walking along the mountainside. Usually, there were caves in the sides of mountains that would make a good place to sleep. It would be risky to sleep out in the open in this part of Inferna.
"Do people actually go through the mountain through that passageway?" Kage whispered after we passed a narrow walking path leading into and through the mountain.
"Probably those that aren't scared of being eaten alive by dulcis fiends or trolls."
"Oh, damn. I forgot about those. I heard a story from my father that my great uncle killed one and a horde of twenty came."
They were smaller demons that had large ears, cute-looking faces, and sharp, pointed teeth. When you killed one, they emitted a sweet cloud of smoke that made you hallucinate and lose your common sense. Then any within smelling range descended on you. One bite and it was over.
I shuddered. "I don't even want to think about those things." We finally came to a cave that looked hidden enough. "Hello?"
No response came. I pulled out a flashlight and shook it so the lightning bugs woke up. I shined it inside. I heard Kage take a deep breath and then he brushed past me.
"It's all clear, although it looks like someone was recently here. There's an old fire and what looks like food." I entered the cave and put the flashlight down.
I kicked a few pieces of trash out of the way and then my eyes widened. "Look, Kage! This says Pop-Tarts!" I picked up the shiny wrapping and examined it. "Isn't this what Picard was always asking for?"
He took it from me and then became visible again. Sadness was in his eyes as he looked it over and then folded it gently and put it in his pocket.
We set up our bedrolls and pulled out the map we brought. The widows lived deep inside a mountain about an hour's walk from where we were. They often had spiders out guarding their territory, so we needed to be careful that Kage was invisible.
"Do you think Taylor is there with them?" I tapped my finger on the place on the map where they lived. "He's a man, so I wouldn't think they'd like him."
"I don't think he's there with them. He wanted you away from the castle and all the back-up we have. Hopefully they come through and send the army."
"I think this is going to be a fight I have to fight on my own." I worked my bottom lip between my teeth. "He will keep sending that black cloud of smoke if I don't do what he wants."
"Do you think it really turns them into vacants?" He put his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder in small circles.
I leaned into him and put my head on his shoulder. "If it's the same black smoke as you saw him blow on Nico's nuts, I can't be sure. Nico still had his light, it was just imprisoned."
"You said that all those soldiers he hit with the cloud just fell to the ground and then rose and followed him."
We had been over these specifics so many times and still we couldn't draw any conclusions. Whatever he was doing, it was turning allies into enemies that couldn't think on their own and wasted away, like vacants.
"I don't-" I pushed Kage away and stood. "What if Carson is controlling Taylor?"
Kage looked up at me and squinted in the faint light. "That's possible." He looked away for a moment, then back at me. "What if Taylor is Carson?"
My whole body went still as my mind tried to wrap my brain around that. I shook my head vehemently. "No, that's impossible. He talks to me like he knows me."
He shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter either way. Whatever power he has is bad. We need to stop him."
I just hoped I could do it when the time came.
Chapter 15
Amari
I groaned as my senses came back to me. My head was throbbing and my body felt like I'd been thrown around by some hippos. That alcohol of Raphael's was so strong that I didn't even remember drinking any.
I did remember getting upset with Val though.
I opened my eyes and they began adjusting to the dim light in the room. There was a pair of lightning bugs in a light. It was cruel to keep only two together like that; there needed to be ten for them to be of any use.
Where the fuck was I?
"We're in some kind of holding room, or storage shed." Val was next to me and I turned my head to meet his blue eyes.
I hadn't been so close to him in days. I missed looking into his eyes.
I tried to lift my hand, but it felt like it was glued in place. I tried my other arm and had the same result. I looked down and growled at the spider web holding me to the wall.
"How'd this happen?" I gave up trying to free myself. It was clear we were taken by widows and their spiders. The webbing they produced was strong enough to hold a house together.
"I think they found a way to vaporize their toxin and we passed out. That's the only explanation I could think of. Listen, Amari..."
"Don't." Now wasn't the time or place to talk about the issues we were having.
I honestly didn't know what was happening between us. Since my curse broke, I admit I was a bit of an asshole. I wasn't used to being vulnerable or to having any freedom.
"I can't lose you." His voice was strangled and he looked down, a tear falling onto the dirt floor. "Please tell me I'm not losing you."
"You're not." I clenched my jaw as I watched more tears fall. It was rare to see Val get so emotional. "I'm right here."
"But are you really right here?" His eyes met mine and my own filled with tears. I wished I could reach out and stroke his cheek and kiss his tears away.
I put my head back against the stone wall. "Imagine suddenly not being a vampire anymore. Maybe you hope to just be a normal demon without the thirst, but then once it comes, you feel... I don't know."
"Empty," he whispered.
"Empty, powerless, incapable. I've been at your side for centuries, not just as your boyfriend but as your protector, and now I don't know where I fit in." I had wanted to be rid of the curse for so long, but now I didn't know how to deal with the sudden freedom of not having to turn to stone.
Not to mention the ability to sleep and be easily killed. Turning to stone had saved my ass a time or two.
I tried to get out of the webbing again. "Fuck!"
"It's no use. There's some kind of toxin in it and I can't shift." Nico sounded like he had swallowed a bag of rocks. "What do you think they want us for?"
"I can't go through the barrier." Raphael sounded frantic.
They hadn't been awake when I first came to. I wondered how much of our conversation they had heard. Probably all of it since they were within arm’s reach.
"Calm down." Nico tried to bend his head in a way to use his teeth but then made a gagging noise. "Don't try that."
"If they find out I'm an archangel... fuck!" Raphael was thrashing as much as was physically possible and turning redder by the second.
"Raph, breath." I inhaled deeply, and he narrowed his eyes on me. "Just do it."
He muttered something about me being a pussy and then breathed with me. We stayed quiet for a few minutes before Val broke the silence. "When you said you wanted to get to know one and other better, I didn't know this is what you had in mind."
I laughed, and then a somberness washed over me. "Do you think they got Sammy and Kage?"
"Can't be sure. Why would they take us? Obviously, this is a lure for her. I hope she doesn't fall for it and proceeds as planned." Raphael sounded much calmer now that he had taken several breaths.
"If you think that woman is going to wait for the army to be ready and attack as planned, you really don't know her." Nico shut his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "She'll come for us, even though I wish she wouldn't."
"Maybe Kage can talk some sense into her." I laughed. That was as far-fetched as Val walking in the sun. "If they free us, we need to shift."
"If they free us, you three need to get to me quick and I'll pop us to Earth." Raphael frowned. "I have no clue where they've taken us though so I can't guarantee we won't end up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."
"Are yo
u two okay now?" Nico looked between me and Val. "As much as I dislike you, Val, I don't want you fighting like an old married couple."
I looked at Val. "We're okay. It would really be okay if I could kiss him right now and show him how much I love him."
"Yuck." Raphael made a gagging noise. "That is beyond mushy."
"Shut up, Mr. I'm so miserable I joke about everything." Val narrowed his eyes at him.
He wasn't wrong about Raphael, but I doubt he needed to hear it. "I think Raphael is making progress with his feelings." I'd definitely heard him shout he loved Samara when I was approaching the stables a few nights earlier.
"I like you. You're like Switzerland, Nico is Russia, and Val is North Korea." Raphael made no sense, but Val laughed at whatever he was talking about. I needed to read some of the books he had if we survived this.
"Did you guys hear that?" Nico whispered. "Be quiet."
The room fell silent, besides our breathing, and I could hear voices and footsteps approaching. They stopped outside the door but continued talking. I was unable to utilize my panther hearing and didn't have my gargoyle senses anymore, so I couldn't make out what they were saying.
The door opened and four women came in. They were striking in appearance, with clear complexions and silky hair. Their skin shimmered in the faint light from the moon outside. I knew then that they were older and strong. Only widow demons that had lived for centuries and fully come into their power had spiderwebs glistening just under their skin.
"Gentlemen. So polite that you stuck around for us." They all laughed at the joke, and a raven-haired woman stepped closer. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her chin. "Ladies, who do you think we should have some fun with first?"
My stomach dropped and I glanced over at Val, who had paled considerably. In his younger years, he had been a ladies' man and had his fair share of women. These widows would pick up on that.
Judging from what Nico and Raphael had shared, they had also had their fair share of lovers, but didn't strike me as the type that got their fill and then hit the road.
"They all look delectable." A petite woman with curly hair and the darkest eyes I'd ever seen stepped forward. Her eyes flashed solid black and she looked at each of us.
Her fingers morphed into black-tipped claws and her arm stretched out, pointing to each of us. Her finger landed on Val. "Him."
"A good choice, sister. He has broken many hearts."
I strained against the webbing as two of the women stepped forward and cut him free. His body was still bound so he couldn't move besides shuffling his feet.
"Val." I choked out his name as they practically dragged him to the door. He looked over his shoulder, sadness in his eyes. "Don't stop fighting."
"I love you."
I couldn't say it back before the door was slammed shut.
"We need to get out of here." Raphael whispered after what must have been an hour.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Nico had been staring at me for the past few minutes and kept his eyes locked on me even as Raphael spoke.
"Maybe we can chew through it or move enough for the webbing to give way." Raphael was starting to panic again. "I think they're going to take me next."
"They build their furniture out of this shit and it's doubtful they're coming back anytime soon." Nico sighed. "Amari, how are you doing?"
"How the fuck do you think I'm doing, squirrel?" I looked away from them and tried to calm myself.
Between Nico's looks of concern and Raphael's panic, my unease was growing. I was trying to stay positive in the hopes that maybe they were just torturing Val and not killing him. Not that torture was any better than death, but he'd still be alive.
"I was just trying to make sure you were doing okay." Nico laughed sadly. "I was just starting to like all of you. Even Val, just a little. Mainly because he took care of the council for us."
"As fucked up as that was, it was pretty badass that he just walked right in there and slaughtered them all. It was cinematic." Nico and I both cocked our heads and he frowned. "Like in a movie."
I nodded, acting like I understood. I had noticed lately that Raphael was bothered that we never understood half the shit that came out of his mouth. We were two worlds apart despite our close proximity and often seeing each other's dicks.
"What do you think they're doing to him? Do you think they ate him?" I didn't even want to imagine the latter.
"I think we need to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. It seems a bit early to start killing us though. Unless they want to send Sammy a message." Nico's words only increased my anxiety.
"I can't lose him. You know that." A tear slid down my cheek and I cursed.
A hand brushed my cheek and I jerked my head back, my head smacking into the wall.
"S-s-sorry."
It was the happiest stutter I'd ever heard.
"Kage! What the fuck are you doing here?" Nico yelled in a whisper. "Get us free. Where's Sammy?"
"She's w-waiting in the t-trees while I look around." I heard a noise and then my arm came free. He must have had a knife. "V-V-Val is tied up n-not far from h-here. There are spiders s-s-surrounding him."
Kage's voice was shaking and the knife he was cutting through the webbing faltered. "You're doing great, Kage. Keep cutting."
Once my other arm was free, I held out my hand and he placed the knife in it. As soon as his hand left the knife it became visible.
I worked to finish freeing myself and then looked between Nico and Raphael. I decided on Raphael since he could fly and could escape easier if needed.
"Gee, thanks." Nico rolled his eyes. "Kage, any chance you brought a second knife?"
"N-n-no. S-sorry."
"No hard feelings, squirrel. He has more to offer." I freed Raphael and then worked on Nico.
Once we were all free, I handed Kage the knife back. He might feel better with it.
"Give me a minute." Raphael disappeared.
"Did he really just leave us?" Nico's jaw ticked. "He better be getting us weapons and not a pizza, although a pizza does sound good right about now."
"He promised me the next time he ordered pizza he'd get it with these little fish he called anchovies. It sounds delicious." It was hardly the time to be discussing food, but I was starving and worried. "Maybe we should just go out there."
"Let's give him one more minute." Nico reached up to his bun and poked around inside. He pulled out a few nuts and I raised a brow. "Never can be too prepared. Who's laughing at me hoarding nuts now?"
Raphael reappeared with his wings wrapped around himself and was dripping wet. "Well, it wasn't the ocean, it was a lake."
He dropped a large duffle bag on the ground and unzipped it. "I have swords for you two."
He pulled out a metal cylinder and strapped it to his back. It wasn't a sword but had something attached by a hose. "What the hell is that?"
"Just make sure you stay behind me." He cracked open the door and peeked out. "I can't see anything."
"They're fighting over whose spiders get Val." Kage must have gone out to check on the situation. "We have to hurry."
I grabbed a sword from the bag and pushed past Raphael. We'd wasted enough time, and Val's life was on the line.
I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see.
Chapter 16
Val
I always thought death was a far-off thing that wouldn't happen to me. Even locked in the dungeon, I didn't fear death. Vampires are some of the hardest demons to kill. I was invincible.
Tied to a stake with thousands of spiders staring at me with their beady little eyes, I knew my time had come. Vampires couldn't survive being eaten alive by ravenous spiders.
My skin itched the longer they took to decide whose spiders got first dibs. They made a show of discussing which one of them got which body part. It was psychological torture at its finest, I had to give them that.
I saw a small flash of purple in the trees and narrowed my e
yes. Surely, I was seeing things, because it wasn't possible for Sammy to have already made it here to the widow's territory.
Then she was striding across the area between the trees to where I was. Damn her. She shouldn't have come.
"Well, well, well! Looky here, ladies! Our guest of honor has arrived!" One of the women beckoned to her spiders and they scurried after her, right toward Sammy. "Stop right there, princess. We have some business to attend-"
She didn't get to finish because a war cry rang out from the direction of the shed they had been keeping us in. A deafening scream rang through the air as one of the women's heads went flying from her shoulders.
Amari stood panting as the body fell to the side and he met my eyes. All at once, the spiders moved forward.
"Burn motherfuckers!" Raphael pointed a gun at the spiders and the darkness filled with bright orange light. I think he had a flame thrower, which up until that point, I thought was make-believe.
Fire erupted around me and I cringed as screams filled my ears. Black smoke blocked my view of Amari, Sammy, and Nico. The flames covered the spiders surrounding me.
I coughed as the black smoke filled my lungs. Somehow, some spiders were crawling from the flames and making their way toward me still, little flames doing their hosts' bidding.
I strained against the webbing that was holding me in place as spiders began crawling up my legs. I screamed and then Raphael appeared in front of me, wrapped his arms around me, and we hit water.
I stood, wine glass in hand, the smile on my face fake, unbeknownst to my guests. It had been over a year since Sammy had disappeared, but that didn't take the sting away.
She was dead, or she just didn't care enough about me to let me know she was fine.
When my father told me I'd be marrying the princess, I had thought he had truly lost his marbles. He was always a bit eccentric and strived to improve the standing of our family. There was only one way to improve our standing further, and that was to be part of the royal family.