by Maribel Fox
I don’t know where Maal is taking us, but we’re going further and further down, deep into the lower circles, deeper than I’ve ever been.
I can’t imagine Valephar setting foot this low.
“This is the shitty part,” Maal says, blocking the exit from the wall. I look over his shoulder, and realize where we are — and it’s not as deep as I thought it was. Hell must have grown a lot in the hundred years I was imprisoned, because the Academy should be higher up.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I hiss under my breath.
“Wish I was. It’s the only one they don’t bother moving around, because…”
“Because it’s fucking suicide to try to use it unauthorized,” I snap.
Maal shrugs. “I told you it was shitty. You said it’s the only way, and—”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” I snap again. He frowns, making me feel guilty. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t realize you were talking about this fucking portal.”
He shrugs again. “Only permanent fixture to Earth I know of.”
“Shit.”
The Academy is a sprawling campus of buildings, training grounds, offices — it’s where Hell’s Army is headquartered, more or less. Not only are there hundreds of cadets crawling around, but there are some really nasty high-ranking Hellions that will be around.
“There’s a tiny bit of good news,” Maal says, his lips turning up at the corners, almost infectious even though I’m not in the mood to be smiling right now.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“No one ever uses the building it’s in. If we get inside, we should be golden.”
I arch a brow.
“The library,” he says, smirking to himself.
I sigh, looking out over the buildings spread in front of us. My time at the Academy was so many centuries ago, and so much has happened since.
“Dima, why don’t you clear us a path?” Ocho asks, eyebrows raised. “Maal and I can create a distraction if needed—”
“And I’m supposed to just let you three do all the work?” I ask, sneering with my hand on my hip.
“No, querida,” Ocho says. “But you should trust us to get you through.”
Yeah, no, that’s not happening. I like these guys, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve got their own messes and their own problems to deal with. I’m not under any illusions that my problems are their priority. I’m the one that has to focus on myself. The only one I can count on no matter what.
“Let’s just do it,” I growl, knowing if I try to argue there’s going to be a fight I don’t want any part of. I’m already annoyed about going to Lupine Bay, so I just want to get it over with, get this damn collar off, and come back. That’s it. I don’t want to convince anyone I can take care of myself, or try to figure out what their warm smiles and lingering looks mean.
It’s nothing. Dragon pheromones or something, since Dima is immune. The others all want me, but they’re dragons, unable to help the mating call. Of course the one non-dragon in the group has no interest in me. So is any of the interest genuine at all?
I’d be a fool to think it is. I’m a damn succubus for crying out loud.
No one falls for a succubus. No one loves them.
Dima slips off from the group and slides along the wall of a building, blending into the shadows almost seamlessly.
“Get to the library, and we’ll make sure no one’s following us in,” Maal says, nodding to me.
Part of me wants to rebel just because I don’t take orders well, but in this instance, fighting is going to accomplish absolutely nothing. Instead, I slip off too, following in Dima’s wake, taking a slightly different path.
Even though there are plenty of Devils around campus, they’re all minding their own business, laughing and joking with each other, no one on high-alert — fools. They forget their training so quickly.
It’s not hard to slip by them, to escape their notice as I move from one building to the next, clinging to the walls and columns where I can, pressing my body flat to stay hidden when someone walks by. I keep an eye out for Dima, but he’s too good at blending in, and I don’t have time to look back for Maal and Ocho. I just have to assume they’re coming — and if something happens, that they’ll reach out. We do still have this dragon telepathy thing, even if we’re all a little weird about using it.
I get to the library and peer in through the windows. Maal said that no one uses this building, but it’s also the one permanent portal to Earth that’s in Hell. I’d be really surprised if it’s not guarded at all.
My eyes rove around the library, the stacks of books, suits of armor decorating the place, the tables and chairs, the—
I freeze, eyes glued to the figure standing inside.
That bastard.
What is he doing here? How does he know?
Has he just been waiting here for me the whole time?
Rage, hot and wild, fiercer than I’ve ever felt, rushes through me like a tidal wave, red clouding my vision, hands balling into fists, the beginning of an angry scream tickling in my throat.
He’s going to pay.
I’m not thinking about it when I march into the library. When I stalk right up to him, eyes blazing fury. I’m obviously not working with any kind of plan, because I’m unarmed, and Valephar seems unsurprised to see me, sneering.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he says. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist going back to that traitor Faerie-loving brother of yours.”
“Bali Raj is ten times the Devil you’ll ever be,” I growl, ready to strike. I’ll take him down with my bare hands if I have to.
“This is your problem, Lili. You’re never able to see what’s right in front of you. You brother is a terrible Devil. A traitor to his kind. And I was willing to overlook that — and your heritage — but you couldn’t see what a good deal that was for you.”
I scoff. “Bullshit.”
Valephar’s pleasant grin morphs to a scowl for a split-second before he regains his composure.
“And now, still, you’re failing to see what’s right in front of you.”
“What’s that?” I growl out, every cell in my body vibrating with the urge to lunge and rip his damn throat out.
Valephar’s grin grows, and it sparks an uneasy feeling deep inside.
Suddenly, I wish my guys were here with me and I hadn’t run in like this on my own. I should’ve waited for them outside until we were all here.
Suddenly, I’m wondering if I’ve underestimated Valephar, because he looks too pleased with himself.
“That I am not alone, unlike you,” he says, his personal guards stepping out from their places hidden among the bookshelves.
“And,” he adds, pulling a necklace out from under his uniform, the pendant on the end gleaming. “I still own you.”
The key!
He’s dangling it in my face, the bastard.
I roar and lunge at him, a hundred ideas of planning my vengeance out the window in a fit of rage.
I don’t even get to him before his guards are on me, shoving my hands back behind my back, holding me firm even while I’m fighting against them with everything I’ve got.
“Let me go! He needs to die!” I screech.
Valephar’s high, cold laugh echoes in the library.
“Bring her back to the lab,” he tells his men, patting my cheek fondly before he teleports away, me still snarling at him. A moment too late to stop him, the door opens and my guys are there, the guards holding me back startled enough for the moment for me to pull away.
Dima’s already a wolf, and he charges in, teeth bared, fur sticking up as he tackles one guy and rips his throat out in a spray of blood.
Someone grabs me, and I whirl, yanking my arm out of his grip, kicking high, his head snapping back with a sickening crunch when my heel connects with his chin. He goes limp, sliding across the marble floor, and another comes for me.
Maal gets him first, his hands balls of ice that fre
eze the soldier on contact, his face frozen in a look of stricken panic before his body falls, ice head shattering.
“Don’t let them get to the portal!” one of the soldiers shouts. They’ve realized they might not have us as out-matched as they think, but they’re falling back, surrounding the portal we desperately need to get to.
“Get the girl!” another calls.
Dima’s fighting four at once, Maal’s got three, jabbing at him with spears they’ve stolen from decorative suits of armor. They’re not getting close enough for him to touch them, and he’s having a time just trying to dodge their attacks. The puppy and kitten are both hiding behind Ocho, but he’s as hindered by his collar as I am.
Every step we make towards the portal, the soldiers counter and push us back another. We’re flagging, getting overwhelmed, and it won’t be long before Valephar sends in more men when he realizes these haven’t returned with me yet.
We need a damn miracle, is what we need, but those don’t exactly happen in Hell.
At least, that’s what I always thought before.
Then the portal opened, and I had to rethink everything.
26
Isuel
“Everyone is going to need one of these,” Raj says, waving his hand over a collection of rocks in his palm. “They’re the anchors that tell the portal where you want to go.”
I nod, clutching the rocks in my hand.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asks skeptically.
“They’re not going to get out any other way. They need my help to get out,” I say, not bothering to mention that going to Hell sounds freaking amazing.
For a thousand years I’ve been stuck on Earth, walking this one plane when I knew there were so many others that I didn’t have access to. I’ve always longed to travel to other realms, to see how others live, how their worlds differ. I guess when you live as long as I have, you’re bound to get curious.
So even though the Devil is sitting here staring at me like I’ve got to be a lunatic for wanting to go to Hell after these people, I’m actually quietly kind of excited for the trip.
“All right… Best of luck to you,” he says, waving his hand in an intricate pattern over the well. “You’ve gotta jump in,” he says. “It’s this whole leap of faith thing…”
Weird. I swear I’ve heard Ku talking about the same thing. I couldn’t tell you what about though. Ku’s always studying something new and regurgitating everything he’s learned at me even though I can’t follow half of it.
“Here goes nothing,” I say, jumping into the well, holding my breath.
I splash through water, cold as ice, my whole body going rigid for a moment, but I’m still falling and falling, the water not slowing me at all, almost like I’m being sucked down further. It feels weird as hell, my whole body twisting and twitching, limbs not responding to my commands as the water whips me about at its whim.
I’m going to run out of breath before I get there. How long does this go? Even though I’m impossibly cold, I’m also… not cold at all? I open my mouth, knowing that’s the wrong choice, but water doesn’t rush in to drown me. I can breathe just fine. The darkness gives way to silvery light, and then, all at once, the water is gone and I’m on my feet, moving forward.
Bursting through the portal, I’m in a building of some kind — not what I expected — and there’s a fight going on down below.
I say down below, because I am high. Higher than I should be.
No, not high. Tall. I am taller than I should be.
The moment I burst through, heads turn, mouths agape.
“The fuck—”
“What is—”
“Izzy?” Ocho’s is the voice I recognize, and I whirl around, my tail collecting on a bookshelf, sending a whole row of them leaning, slowly toppling.
…My tail?
“Guys!” Lili screams, and everyone’s thrown back into action. In the moment of surprise and confusion, her attackers decided to move in. I reach for one, not thinking, and swat him away, massive scaled feet doing my dirty work for me.
…Scales?
I take guard in front of Lili, and the soldier guys start to back off, no one sure what to do, fear and determination warring within them. The portal’s behind us though, we just need to get through it. I need to give them the anchors and explain… I can’t explain anything in this body. Whatever this body is. I need to get out of it.
My form shifts, and I’m not huge any more, I’m a snake, then I’m a fox, then I’m a fox-demon. It’s all happening so fast that I can’t stop it. I shift again and again, into new forms I’ve never taken before, new shapes I didn’t know I could take, and there’s still chaos around me while it’s happening, but I can’t pay attention to anything other than trying to get control over myself.
“Izzy, are you okay?” Ocho asks, brow furrowed in concern. I force myself to focus, focus on Iseul. Be Iseul.
I open my eyes, and Ocho’s smiling at me.
“There you are.”
“Everyone needs to take an anchor and go through the portal!” I say, pushing one of the rocks in his hand. “Take one,” I say to Dmitry, giving him a rock, then Lili, and Maal too in between bouts with adversaries. It’s all I can do to hold on to Iseul that long, because then I’m shifting again. I’m huge and scaly, clawed and…
I’m a fucking dragon.
I snarl and roar at the attackers, swiping them away, giving the others the opening they need to get through the portal.
“Go!” Lili says, shouting at the others as she falls into step fighting at my side. Maal and Dima both make a break for it, diving through without any hesitation.
Ocho staggers, looking suddenly pale.
“The curse!” Lili shouts. “Go!”
“Not without you two,” he growls, and Lili and Ocho are both dragging me back to the portal. But all I want to do is stay and fight, and rip these guys apart. I want to spray this building with their blood and feast on their—
Whoa, there.
I shove the dragon away, but as soon as I do, I’m back to shifting uncontrollably, one form after another, pop, pop, pop, in rapid succession. I’m grateful for Ocho and Lili insisting on dragging me, now. I’m not sure I would’ve made it out without them.
The portal sucks us away, the return trip much faster — or maybe it only seems that way because I’m in chaos mode right now.
Then I’m on the grass, back by the well where I left Raj only a couple of minutes ago.
But it can’t have only been a couple of minutes, because by now, everyone’s by the well waiting for us. Ava, Micah, Raj, Kush, Seamus, Ian, Ku — they’re all here.
A puppy yelps, and Ian’s eyes go wide.
I smile, some peace slipping in, able to maintain one form for the moment.
“I got my friends to bring you something, buddy,” I say to Ian, nodding my head over in Ocho’s direction.
Lili stands up — everyone else is still collapsed on the grass — and takes a deep breath, eying everyone, finally landing on her brother.
“Hi.”
27
Maal
“Lili!” Bali Raj cries, rushing for his sister, the both of them embracing for a moment before pulling apart.
“What are you doing up here?” she asks, head tilted in that scrutinizing way that makes me glad I’m not Raj right now.
“That’s how you greet me?” he asks with a scowl. “I searched for you for a century, we’re finally reunited, and you ask what I’m doing here?”
Lili purses her lips. “Well? You don’t belong here.”
Iseul, on shaky legs, goes over to Ku.
“Dude, we gotta talk. That dragon transformation thing…”
Ku’s eyes go wide. “It happened? You performed the three feats?”
“Three feats?” Iseul asks, shaking his head.
“What makes you think you have any say in where I belong?” Raj retorts, voice raising in volume. “Do you have any idea what kind
of position your disappearance put me in?”
Lili scoffs. “I didn’t disappear. I was imprisoned. It wasn’t a fucking holiday, in case you’re wondering.”
“A leap of faith, swimming, and an act of service,” Ku says, ticking them off his fingers one by one.
“He’s so cute!” Ian cries, his arms going around the Hellpuppy, hugging it as the pup tentatively smells, then licks his ears. “Hey!” he giggles, and the two of them — and the shadow cat — start rolling and wrestling in the grass.
“Who thought bringing my brother a HELLHOUND was a good idea?” the woman — presumably the Faerie Queen herself — asks. I purposefully avoid her look. Ocho slinks back into shadows, ducking his head.
“Ava, isn’t he cute?” Ian squeals.
“Love, breathe, s’all right,” one of the guys says to her, an arm around her, rubbing her arm reassuringly.
“Well I didn’t very well know you were imprisoned, now did I?” Raj barks.
“You didn’t tell me jumping in the well would trigger it!” Iseul wails.
Without a word, I see Dima and Ocho slip off with a look shared between them.
“Uh… Per’aps we should leave the siblings to their reunion?” the guy with his arm around Ava says — a red-headed Fae with a ginger beard and eyes the color of shamrocks, an accent to match his look.
“Sounds good to me,” another one of the guys says, this one blond and tan, tattoos peeking out from his sleeves. “You comin’ new guy?”
“But… The puppy,” the queen flails helplessly toward her frolicking brother.
“Aye, adorable ain’t ‘e?”
“Well?” the blond asks pointedly again.
I look around before I realize he’s talking to me, point to my chest for confirmation.
“Me?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you. You’re the odd man out, aren’t you? What’s your name?”