The Beloved Fire

  Jumping over a fallen tree, she landed knee deep in some type of muddy pond that felt slimy and thick as her feet sunk further down. The stagnant water had splashed up into her face upon landing, so that she now eagerly tried to spit out. It tasted sour making her gag, and the smell wasn’t much better.

  Water that she couldn’t see through freaked her out, she wiggled her toes feeling the gritty mud squish between them. Unless the snake really was anaconda sized, she was probably fine for now. She had put a lot of distance between her and the hiss, and she tried to remind herself of that to calm her hammering heart.

  Turning while holding onto the log, she lifted her right leg out and up onto the tree as best she could, but then her other leg started sinking in the mud giving her a bad case of the splits.

  “Shit!” She dropped her leg back down, still holding onto the tree trying to pull herself up, but it was like the mud was eating her.

  Mother. Fucker.

  Her third-grade self knew this day would come.

  She had landed in quicksand.

  “Think. Think. Think.”

  She looked around for anything lower to the ground that could help pull her out but didn’t see anything. She remembered watching some type of survivor man show with her dad once and they said to lay flat but how the hell were you supposed to do that when you were sinking at a steady pace? She gasped feeling the water at her belly button. Shit this was a bad way to die. Trying again to pull at the tree all she got was a hand full of bark.

  “HELP!” Demons or no demons. Snake or no snake. She had to try to call for help.

  “Here! Grab this!” She looked over to see a tanned skin, blue haired female dressed in green leaves holding out a vine.

  Mikayla took it no questiones asked and her savior started pulling her out slowly. When her hand reached hard ground, the blue haired woman lowered her hand. Mikayla took it and let her help pull her the rest of the way out and on her feet.

  “Thanks.” She said sighing out in relief.

  The woman smiled deviously, and Mikayla noticed her vertical looking pupils. “Don’t thank me just yet.” She said with a slight hiss on the end. Oh hell.

  Mikayla stepped away from what was most likely a demon. “Listen, you don’t want to eat me. I’m important.” Yeah, she tried it before with the other demon, maybe this time it would work.

  The demon just watched her back away, tilting her head in what seemed like curiosity.

  “I taste bad too.” Her voice quivering. The woman just continued to stare. “I have angel blood, its poison to you.” Uh oh. Wrong thing.

  The demon hissed as dark blue scales broke out along her skin and she dropped to the ground her body elongating. “The better to eat you with my dear.” She hissed, cracking her neck at a weird looking angle.

  Yup, she was going to turn into a giant snake.

  Mikayla almost considered the quicksand again, but only for a second before she turned and took off running not waiting for the demon to finish its transformation.

  Normally she couldn’t run to save her life, but what people said was true, adrenaline did wonders when your life is in jeopardy. When she got done with all this, she was going to make Ander hold a demon on a leash to chase her with until she lost the ten pounds she’d been trying to lose for a year.

  Jumping over anything that looked sketchy but not anymore fallen trees, she pushed through tree branches and vines not caring that her skin was getting cut. Just as she rounded a tree, she came to a clearing that lead to a flat rock face that shot up into the air as far as the eye could see, it was a dead end. She skidded to a stop her heart hammering as she grabbed at her knees gulping air. Looking left, then right, she decided right was better. Even though it would bring her back to the river, it was better than staying still and letting the demon snake get her.

  Her moment of rest over, she turned to run again right as a giant snake thudded from the treetops landing in front of her blocking her escape on both sides. In one swift land, the giant snake had trapped her against the rock wall. The demon had transformed into a dark blue snake, with turquoise scales scattered throughout its coloring.

  It reared its head back opening its jaw wide for her to see the car length sized fangs; she knew it was getting ready to strike. And it did. Mikayla lunged out of the way stumbling into its body that wrapped her up before she could get away. She thrashed from side to side, crying out as she sank her nails into the diamond hard scales trying to get free.

  “LET ME GO!” She screamed knowing it could understand her.

  A hissing laugh broke free from the demon. “But I like to play with my food.” It hissed squeezing her torso and legs so tight it felt like her head and feet would explode as her vision blurred.

  “ANDRONOMEAN!”

  Mikayla could barely hear from the blood rushing to her head and didn’t know who said what or where they were. Her eyes bulged and she prayed to pass out no longer sure how long she could take the squeezing.

  The snake hissed in response and Mikayla watched as it lowered its head out of the striking position looking at someone off to the side.

  “LET HER GO AND YOU LIVE!”

  Whoever shouted at the snake had got through to it because Mikayla’s wish was granted. Before she could see who saved her, the snake demon threw her into the rock wall, and she greeted the blackness like an old friend.

  9

  Lost

  Mikayla woke to angry voices and she cringed, her head was pounding. Looking around she saw she was back in the metal medical room.

  “I agree with Blake on this one. If she had her powers unlocked, she probably wouldn’t have been injured.” The irritated voice came from one of the twins. She looked over to where the door was open but couldn’t see anyone. Knowing that familiar voices were right outside made her feel better. Even if this was just a medical room, the thought of being in any of these rooms after her failed escape scared her. A chill ran through her at the thought.

  “She is more at risk to us with her powers! You saw what she did at the ceremony, and they hadn’t even been unlocked yet! If there had been eyes on her like there should have been, none of this would have happened! We don’t even know what her demon power is!” She heard Anock counter with, rage underlining his tone.

  She sat up slowly holding her head as it swam. She shut her eyes tight and waited for it to ease before trying to swing her feet from the bed to the floor.

  “With the attacks happening more frequently now, we aren’t always going to be around to babysit her.” Blake growled. She figured his eyes would be red.

  What did they mean by attacks? Was that why she had been left alone for so long the night before.

  “She’s awake.” A twin stated. She sighed forgetting they could read minds. Too bad she hadn’t found her escape and could go back to her boring life on Earth. Prying open an eye she looked down at the blue medical gown she wore.

  “Bring her.” Anock paused and she wondered if he meant into the hall. “Tonight.” Then she heard a rustling of feathers.

  Apparently, they weren’t keen on her hearing their conversation. A second later Blake and the twins walked into the room. Blake was in his black fighting outfit and the twins in something that looked name brand and way above her budget with styled runway ready hair.

  She watched as Blake’s red eyes slowly turned to a blue and Cain walked over sitting down beside her, patting her thigh in comfort. His bright white shirt hurt the backs of her eyes and she shut them for a second. “Eavesdropping isn’t nice sunflower.”

  “It’s not eavesdropping if you guys are screaming in front of an open door.” She winced at how groggy her voice sounded. She cleared her throat or tried but it was dry like she’d slept a whole month.

  Elijah came over wearing an electric blue shirt equally hurting her eyes and she rubbed at them. “Hardly screaming.” He said nudging her closer to Cain as he sat at her other side.

  “You could have fooled me.”


  “Can you have her ready? I need to get to a meeting.” Blake asked, before turning and heading for the door not waiting for the twin’s answers.

  “Ready for what? Are you going to unlock my demon powers? That I don’t have.” She asked making sure to leave as much deadpan in her voice as possible.

  Blake paused, squeezing his hands into fists at his sides. Was he always grumpy?

  First, they thought her dad was an angel. Now they think she has demon powers. It was clear from what she was hearing they didn’t know what she was. Maybe it hadn’t occurred to them that they had the wrong girl and she was literally just a human. God if her eyes didn’t hurt she would try to kill them all with a good fashioned over the top eye roll.

  “Just get ready.” Blake said slamming the door on the way out.

  Her hands flew to her head. “Ouch!” She whined.

  The twins stood pulling her with them. “That’s what you get for taking on two of Purgatory’s most evil residents without any powers. You’re lucky they just wanted to mess with their soon to be Queen or you wouldn’t have made it out of the first room alive.”

  Mikayla looked at them with shock, holding on to the bed with shaky legs. If that was what those demons called messing around, she would hate to see what they did when they were being serious. “How did you guys find me?”

  They both reached out taking one of her arms and helping her out of the room, and she was grateful being too weak to walk on her own.

  “Well, we didn’t.” Elijah said shaking his head. “Anock and Blake did. We were busy fending off an attack.”

  Stepping out into the hall, she saw a plethora of different demons walking up and down the halls, going in and out of rooms. Although some looked her way, none of them stopped or reacted to her appearance. She faltered in her walking, taking in the site. She held the twin’s arms closer to her side when a demon that looked like a giant centipede with a human face slithered by. Chills ran through her. This place really was nightmarish.

  Seeing her confused yet equally terrified expression, Elijah gave her an answer to her unasked question. “This is what Purgatory usually looks like. Everything was on standby when you first arrived to try and ease you into this world and not terrify you; but seeing how we are under attack and that the realm needs to be maintained, Anock ordered Purgatory back to work.” She shuttered as they started to walk again, thinking how there was no way she would have left her room if she’d looked out last night and saw the demons walking the halls that walked them now.

  Looking over at the rose picture and door that would forever haunt her nightmares, Mikayla saw the same woman from the rose portrait that hung by the room, alive and in the flesh. She was beautiful. The lady had a long, slender, and gorgeously tan body, with loose curly black hair that fell down to her hips and ruby red lips. She was dressed in a long black evening gown complimented with tall white paten heels. The lady turned giving Mikayla a wink as her and the twins passed by, before opening the door and transitioning into the white spider demon that had tortured her. The door shut with a slam and she fought the urge not to piss herself as the stink of roses hit her.

  “I hate this place.” Mikayla mumbled, eliciting a chuckle from the twins. She tried to keep up with their random turning of hallways, but just kept getting more confused, so she decided to give up until she was more rested. It really was clear no one could find their own way in this place to save their life.

  Coming back to the attacks she turned to Cain. “Are the attacks happening because of what I did to that demon dragging the little boy?” Mikayla remembered Blake saying she almost started a war and Queen Mandra being upset, but did that warrant an attack?

  Cain scoffed, “Your little show of power didn’t cause that much of a stir. It’s more like beings are fighting to get you from Anock. They want you for their selves, and the ones that don’t want to own you, are fighting to have you killed.”

  “WHAT!” She screeched, immediately wincing at the pain.

  She lowered her voice. “Why do they want to use me? I need to know why you guys think I have an angel dad but have demon powers! AND! AND! That’s not very nice to kill me! I didn’t ask for any of this.” She shouted trying to calm down from her irritation. Elijah opened her bedroom doors as Cain shuffled her inside and she hoped they would shut them fast so none of the creepy demons walking about followed them in. She turned seeing how they looked entirely way too amused for how shit her situation was.

  “There are somethings that you don’t need to know.” Cain said.

  She curled up on her couch and grabbed a blanket over her lap while Cain and Elijah sat in the armchairs across from her like they had the night Blake told his story. “Tonight you will be properly introduced to the Watchers at a little get together thrown by yours truly, and then after…"

  Elijah interrupted Cain. “That’s if Blake doesn’t kill them first.”

  Cain’s only response was to give him an eye roll. “Anock has requested you alone for a formal dinner. If you are wanting answers that would be a good time to ask him.”

  She scoffed, “You all act like these answers are a big secret and you’re not allowed to tell me anything.”

  Cain and Elijah looked to each other like they were communicating telepathically, which they probably were. It wouldn’t surprise her at this point. Elijah stood, apparently done with Cain and his silent conversation and headed for her bathroom. “Come on little one, let’s get you ready.”

  Mikayla sat up feeling way too miserable to get ready, let alone have a whole list of events to attend. “Do I have to?” she whined.

  “YES!” Was the joint response from them and she shuffled her way to the bathroom, wishing she would have just escaped.

  BLAKE

  Even if Blake hadn’t slammed the door behind him, the lesser demons always stumbled out of the way and looked like they would piss themselves upon his approach. They currently were doing just that, while parting to either side of the hall giving him a wide berth as he headed for the meeting chamber. They should be terrified. The last time a lesser demon challenged him it was turned into a pillar of salt. He was the only one with active angel blood that could walk the halls. Well he used to be, until Mikayla. His angel powers allowed him to use a lot of the tricks out of the human bible, with a simple look, and after the pillar of salt thing the demons stayed out of his way. Mostly.

  He growled out loud remembering the threat Anock had whispered into his mind for only him to hear in the hall outside of the medical room.

  “Find him, or I’ll make her suffer on her wedding night.”

  James had entered Purgatory. They now knew that was why the angel alarms had sounded taking them away from Mikayla’s post the night before. Blake and the twins rushed to where they thought the threat was but only found possessed humans wondering blindly about. The Chosen had used the same tactic before for previous attacks; but, none of them could actually enter Purgatory without demon blood. The group instead would possess human bodies pre-ordained for Hell and send them to try and retrieve Mikayla. These possessed humans were no match for the residents of Hell and would die quickly. It was sad the “good guys” used humans as cannon fodder.

  After realizing it was another distraction, they rushed to Mikayla’s room to find her gone and then spent the rest of the time searching. Well, he searched, the twins got called away on another “attack”.

  After questioning Remarose, he found Mikayla had been wondering the rooms and knew it was time to alert Anock. Anock had been furious but saved her none the less. Right after saving Mikayla from Andronomean, Anock ordered Blake to kill the snake demoness for her part in torturing the future queen. Blake was just about to kill her with Hell fire when she bargained her life for information relevant to the attacks. Anock took the bait, and they found out James had been the one to lure Mikayla into the Jungle room.

  After getting Mikayla to the twins for healing, Anock lost his shit on how Blake’s twin could
have sneaked into Purgatory. He questioned him endlessly, claiming Blake felt different but he had no idea what the bastard meant. He’d known James could get into Hell, but never knew how. Which lead him to here and now, where he was on his way to question the Watchers. Blake knew they would be pissed by his line of questioning, but who other than the very gatekeepers to the realms of Hell, do you question? Plus he had to make it look like he gave a shit, honestly James had been coming well before now but Anock didn’t need to know that. So he had to play his part.

  A trembling green goblin from the fifth realm opened the door upon Blake’s approach. He walked in without pause heading for the head of the table. These were some of the most powerful demons in Hell and if he weren’t more powerful than them, he would be afraid. Either way he didn’t want to waste any time. From the nine realms of Hell, there was one King, one ruling prince, and seven queens. Out of the nine realms there were two gate keepers per realm. Which was why he turned facing sixteen powerful demons, minus Cain and Elijah, whose gate kept Anock’s realm and were currently occupied by Mikayla.

  Prince Jax, the arrogant bastard to the mind control queen of the third realm, spoke up from his laidback position. “What makes you think you have the authority to summon us here dream walker? I had stuff to do.” He was of Asian heritage, and his accent was hard to keep up with at times, like now.

  Blake could feel his eyes tingle but Jax’s counterpart, who he’d always gotten along with, spoke up stopping Blake’s rage. “Ignore him Blake. Jax needed to take a break from combing his hair.” Cander said, not bothering to look up from his task of cleaning his nails with a pocketknife. He was a full blood incubus, and along with Prince Jax they both ran Lilith’s realm of sexual demons. Cander always wore black leather; he was the biker type, blonde, and had a talent for killing. More than all that, he was really the only ally from the Watchers Blake had, so he calmed his temper at Cander’s request.