I lowered my chin. Cassia was human, but she was one of the oldest beings in Hell. She would fight to avoid being punished for giving up Lucifer’s newest treasure. Despite being reassigned to Earth, in Hell I was older, and there was no stronger motivation than mine.
“You’re coming out to play?” she asked, amused.
“Not to play.”
She arched an eyebrow.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. Her black painted lips popped apart. Suddenly, Cassia wasn’t amused anymore. The gold chain that connected the golden piercing of the hoop in her ear to the stud in her nostril shook as she struggled. She hissed, cutting my forearm with one of the nails on her free hand. I grabbed that wrist, too, holding them together on my side of the cage. “I don’t want to kill you, Cassia, but I will.”
“I suppose we’re at an impasse. Lucifer will kill me if I let you take her.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. You’ve made mistakes before.”
“She’s the Keeper of the Balance, Leviathan. He’ll kill me a thousand times and never let me die.” She relaxed and smiled. “And he’ll do the same to you. I’m his precious. Only he can end me.”
“He has to know he can’t hold her. Her death was a sacrifice.”
Cassia thought about that for a moment, then her eyebrows pulled together. “Then why bring her here?”
“More importantly,” I said, struggling to hold her. “Why put you in charge of a prisoner he knows he can’t keep?”
She smiled with full teeth. “You can’t poison me against my Master, Levi.”
“I’m here to get her. Stay out of my way.”
“You’re outnumbered.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
She pulled away, slipping through my fingers, and then sprinted up the stairs, escaping inside.
I kicked open the flimsy cage door and stepped out onto the thin layer of ash. I coughed once, looking around. Eden was so close—calling to me. If I closed my eyes and concentrated long enough, I could’ve touched her.
The ground began to rumble, and I stumbled back. A fiery beast stood up from the lake of fire behind the temple, twenty stories high. Molten rock dripped from his horns, the lava below splashing at the shores.
I had to leap out of the way from the dozens of different super-heated elements.
When I got my footing, I attempted a wave and a smile. “Amaymon! How’s it going, brother?”
He was my older brother—a lot older. His mother was Hell itself. He was born from the fire that was her blood. He simply stared down at me, unimpressed. Amaymon was usually only summoned in times of great war, and he cared for no one.
I had four brothers: Amaymon of the southern realms, Egyn of the north, Orien of the east, and Paymon of the west. I was Leviathan, ruler of the Underworld, my father’s favorite because of my mother, Petra, the only queen who followed him from Heaven—and later his only human queen who he’d sent to be reborn on Earth to protect his favorite son. I was considered second only to my father, and my brothers hated me for it. I was like them once, filled with hate and fury until I fell in love with Eden. Decades learning from her light had softened my heart, and loving her opened my eyes. We were both punished for it, and again when we were sent to Earth on opposite sides of a new fight for power—this time for humans instead of Heaven.
From beginning to end our story was theatrical and angsty, just as my father preferred. My brothers weren’t so easily amused, and likely found their summoning to teach me a lesson somewhat satisfying if it weren’t picking at old wounds. I was the favorite, but I was also the least loyal—the family screwup. My brothers were the most fearsome demons in every plane in existence, and they were continually overlooked. Jealousy led to obsession, and obsession led to hate; all feelings that were commonly harbored in a place like Hell, but for an ancient demon descended directly from Lucifer, those thoughts were always acted upon.
My birth on an earthly plane gave my half-brothers even more reason to want me dead. Humans were the reason Lucifer acted against God, and aside from Underlings, they were considered the lowliest creatures. They were emotional and fragile, but they were also capable of extreme evil that could be used as an easy advantage for Hell. Cambions were rare and not regarded much higher. To add to their insult, my human mother was favored, the only human woman allowed to live after birthing a son of Satan. Egyn, Orien, and Paymon were all motherless. Amaymon was born of the pits of Hell, not exactly a maternal or even comforting place. All of them were pretty pissed about it and projected their anger onto me.
Amaymon’s brows pulled together. His words were a garbled mess, slow and nearly inaudible. In his defense, it was difficult to speak the language of Hell with a mouth full of lava.
“I know she’s here,” I said. “I’ve come for her.”
Amaymon opened his mouth, and just when I thought he’d spew liquid fire all over me, he leaned back and shook with laughter.
“Her death was a sacrifice,” I said.
Amaymon stopped laughing and looked down on me quickly with a serious expression. He knew a sacrifice couldn’t be held in Hell, especially not Eden, The One, the Keeper of The Balance.
He thought about my words, then smiled again. “You may win the war, brother, but not the battle,” he gurgled.
I shifted, trying to come up with a reason for us not to fight, but Amaymon was positioning for one. I crouched instead. “Shit,” I hissed under my breath.
Chapter Five
Eden
For a time, the darkness held me. Disoriented, confused, unable to see or to hear anything—even my own breath. After a few seconds I realized it was because I wasn’t breathing. The last moments of my life came back in waves and then all at once. My mother’s tears, my father’s anger. Bex’s and Levi’s devastation.
Levi.
I could feel him. My senses were either confused or heightened. He was so close, his adrenaline heightened as if he were about to fight, but I knew he was still there, in my home, without me. I had no idea how to get back there, or where I was, but I had to get back to him; to ease the agony in his eyes moments before I left.
The blackness was sticky, possessive, and held on to parts of me that made it almost impossible to let go. My senses were jumbled, shut off, going haywire, as if tar-like fingers slipped beneath my skin and left me as cold as my surroundings. The cold was somehow refreshing, like sweet ice tea on a blistering hot summer day, and also somehow comforting and soft, making me think twice about breaking free.
Was it better that I stay? Would it be more peaceful without me? What if my return would only hurt those who loved me more? My mother didn’t have to worry about me another moment. Levi didn’t have to fight anymore. No one did. Their war was over if I would only stay away…
Those thoughts spoke in my voice, but they weren’t my own. They came from the darkness; whispering, hissing.
No.
NO.
The darkness had held me, but not tight enough.
As I pushed away from the cold depths, swimming upward through a lake in winter, every bone felt broken, every nerve screamed for me to rise faster, to push myself harder. Each cell in my body seeming to move together in unison at a wildly chaotic pace.
I concentrated, and my leg twitched. The movement caused a sudden burning pain to radiate up to my hip, into my abdomen, and then my chest. After the pain subsided, I willed myself to test the darkness again, and once more it punished me. An electric fence blanketed me, and each movement I made set it off.
As violent as was my end, my new beginning would be excruciating.
After a few moments building up courage and preparing for the pain, I willed myself up, breaching several levels, each time passing through what felt like hundreds of broken mirrors lined in acid and salt. My hair was on fire, my eyes melted, my fingers twisted, and my teeth gnashed in agony. And just when the pain became too much, in
the hellish misery of knowing I would either be free or die again, it was over.
The same bench where my parents had first spoken was beneath me, my palms flat against the wood. My home was just a short walk away, my family inside, but I needed to rest and gather my thoughts for a moment under the warm light of the streetlamp nearby.
Was I alive?
Had I died and risen again like freaking Jesus?
Could I come back from the dead anytime I wanted?
What the hell did that make me?
Steam rose from my wet hair and the moisture on my skin. It was thicker than water, the odor similar to the bottom of a trash can, bad breath, and burnt skin. I wrinkled my nose, held my wrist to my mouth, and then let it fall away, unable to get away from the smell.
Crickets chirped loudly in my ear, as did the sound of worms writhing through loose soil, fluttering of a bat above me, and wind grazing the branches above. Those sounds I’d experienced before, not as concise, not as sharp, but they didn’t disturb me like the sounds of sap pulsing through the tree roots in the ground, a deer grunting and breathing ten miles away, the tingling inside a chrysalis as it shuddered in the wind, the blood moving through my mother’s heart. I could also feel her pain. I covered my ears and bent over until it stopped, but it only got louder.
“Stop!” I yelled.
Silence.
I sat up and looked around, unsettled. As much as I wanted to run home, I wasn’t sure how to announce my arrival. My family had just seen me die. How would I explain that their zombie daughter was home in time for dinner?
I stood, taking stock of my extremities. Something was different. Very different. Not off, more like extremely in-tune with all life, from inside me to miles away. When the sounds creeped in, I shut them off without effort, but hearing an ant pulling a donut crumb across the sidewalk before I could willfully ignore it made every step disconcerting.
“Mom?” I called, pushing open the front door.
The lights were out, the entire house dark. Claire’s new Bugatti wasn’t in the drive, so some time had definitely passed. I worried how much.
“Dad?” I called. Panic began to seep in as the idea that my parents would appear gray and elderly crept in, that Levi would be an adult with a wife and family of his own while I’d been held by death for what seemed like a few moments.
“Come into the light,” a familiar voice said. I could see him in the dark, even though he thought he was hidden.
I choked out my relief. “Bex?” He looked exactly the same as the last time I’d seen him. Same clothes, his eyes bloodshot and puffy from saying goodbye.
He stepped forward, the moonlight from the window glistening on the edge of his Glock’s barrel.
He swallowed as his eyes glossed over. “Who are you?”
I nodded. “This is weird, I’m sure. But … it’s me.”
His eyes narrowed. “This is a cruel trick, even by Hell’s standards.”
I shook my head. “It’s not a trick. Where’s Mom and Dad? Claire? Levi?” I gasped. “Where’s Morgan?”
Bex’s gun didn’t waver. “I’ll kill you where you stand, demon.”
“Bex, take a breath. Do I feel like a demon to you?”
He paused, then shook his head. “Eden?”
I nodded.
A tear fell down his cheek, but he still targeted me, unsure. “How?”
I shrugged. “I just remember being stuck in the dark, but then I found my way back.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” I asked.
“Are you here to kill me?”
I frowned. “No? You’re my uncle. Why would I kill you, dumbass?”
His resolve finally wavered and then disappeared. “You sound like her.” He dropped his gun. “If you’re not, you can just kill me, I guess, because I can’t watch you die again.”
My eyes burned. “I’m sorry.”
He tackled me, sobbing, but after a few seconds, he pulled back, disgusted by the gel covering my body. He sniffed his hand. “What…” he gagged. “What is that?”
I looked at my glistening hand. “I have no idea. Whatever I swam through to get here.”
“Swam through?” he asked, covering his nose with his wrist.
“It’s … hard to explain.”
“Nina is at my mom’s with Jared. Ryan and Claire took Morgan to the hospital.”
“I can feel him,” I said, searching his body. He was banged up, but he would live. I sighed in relief.
Bex watched me, wary. “I don’t even have to answer, do I?”
I shook my head, then looked up at him. There were some questions I had to ask. “Why didn’t you go with them? Or go on a revenge run?”
“I couldn’t,” he said, shaking his head. He hugged me again. “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop hearing your voice or seeing the look in your eyes when he…” He swallowed, reliving the memory. “Revenge was the first and last thing on my mind. I wanted nothing more than to light half of Hell up, but I … just felt I should wait here. Now I know why.”
“Where’s Levi? He’s not with Dad.” I could feel everything else perfectly but him. Levi was fuzzy, cloudy, just beyond the reach of my senses.
Bex shrugged. “No. He…”
“And he didn’t follow Morgan?” I said, purposely forming it as a question, even though it was more of a statement. I just needed to think of each person I loved, and I could see their surroundings, their expressions, hear their heartbeats. Morgan was asleep at the hospital, and he was alone.
“He didn’t. But, seeing you… Levi’s pretty messed up, Eden. I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“He’ll do the right thing,” I said, confident.
Bex stood, pulling me up with him. He flung his hands, the gel flying off onto the floor. “We both need a shower, and…” He scanned me from head to toe. “You’re different.”
“You sense it?”
He nodded. “What is it?”
“I don’t know yet. I can…” I breathed out a laugh. “It sounds crazy, but I can hear everything.”
“You always could.”
“Dad is explaining how my death is permanent to Mom. She doesn’t believe it.”
“He’s going to feel stupid in an hour or so. You can hear them?”
“Grandmother is stirring. Claire and Ryan are on their way here.”
“Can you turn it off?”
“Like a television. Flip channels, make some things quiet and others louder, and turn it all off all together.”
Bex nodded slowly. “That’s kind of cool, but your mom’s going to flip.”
“Maybe we should skip that … for now.”
“Really? The girl who is all about transparency wants to omit information from the one family member who hates being in the dark?”
I shrugged one shoulder, already feeling guilty. But I knew my mother. She thought she wanted the truth, when in reality she preferred normal. The key was to keep her from knowing what she didn’t know. Mom had already been through so much, and as strong as she was, she’d just seen her daughter die. “I’ll tell her. Just … one thing at a time.”
Bex pointed at me. “Shower. I’ll tell everyone to rendezvous here.” He hugged me again. “Love you, kiddo. The whole world ended there for a minute.”
“How long?” I asked.
“Huh?”
“How long have I been gone?”
“Almost twelve hours.”
I shook my head, stunned. I touched my middle. “Nothing left behind? My body isn’t lying around here somewhere, right?”
“Your body turned to ash a few minutes after your death. Nina was hysterical.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
Bex raised an eyebrow. “Are you insane? I don’t want to hear that again. It’s literally written in the Bible not to do that. That one rule not left to interpretation, so maybe respect it?”
&nbs
p; “It says not to take the Lord’s name in vain, Bex. I’m not arguing with you about the trinity again. I’ve been a resident of Heaven, remember? Jesus was literally my homeboy.”
Bex chuckled. “Shower. Whatever that shit is stinks, and your mom and dad are going to want to hold you.”
I left him to climb the stairs, my shoes squishing with each step. I pulled the glass door of my shower, twisting the handle and listening as the water surged through the pipes. The water raced over every calcification and gathered at the shower head, finally exploding out, each drop hitting the ground thundering in my ears.
I closed my eyes, blocking the sound. It was like magic, and I wasn’t sure why it was happening or why I could control it. My mind bounced between my loved ones, thinking of questions just to see if I already knew the answer.
Levi.
He was far away. He was in anguish. He was mourning. He was confused because he could sense me again.
The water coagulated the gel even more, and I had to work to keep it from clogging the drain. Getting Hell gel-free took several tries, the globs dripping to the tile floor.
Bex was waiting for me as I stepped out in fresh jeans, a white T-shirt, and Converse, drying my hair with a towel.
“Eden…” He trailed off, trying to make sense of his feelings.
“I know. I’m trying not to let it freak me out. Let’s just find someone to ask before we panic.”
“Is it because you died? Or did he make you different somehow?”
“Lucifer? No. I mean, I don’t know. All I remember is the dark. He wasn’t there. I was alone, and then I broke free.”
“That’s freakin’ wild, kid.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, sitting at the dining table.
“Grandmother is coming,” I said, tilting my ear toward the hall. “And so is a storm.”
“Well, that’s irony right there,” Bex said as rain began to pelt the roof.
A door upstairs closed, and a few moments later Grandmother’s heels were clicking on the marble floor, heading to the dining room. She didn’t look surprised to see me, instead glancing down to her watch.
Sins of the Immortal Page 4