He noticed me before I had a chance to say anything. Sudden power hit me hard, and I struggled to keep my balance.
“What do you want? Everyone knows that I like to disappear sometimes and the instructions are always clear,” he asked, not even lifting his head, but dragging more smoke into his lungs. I glanced around to make sure that he was talking to me. Yeah, we were the only people standing here.
“Are you Berith? The upper level demon in charge of all the Watchers?” I asked, sounding like a complete idiot, but who cared? No one else heard me and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t wasting my time.
The demon (hopefully Berith) lifted his head and narrowed his eyes on me. Damn, from that close he looked even handsomer. Dark beard, dark hair and those penetrating sapphire eyes. My heartbeat skyrocketed, driving the weakness from my limbs and filling my body with rapid fire.
“I’m being questioned by a mongrel. That’s funny even by human standards,” he chuckled, shaking his head. I approached him, aware that my stomach was pitched with nausea. Every inch of my skin burned, and I was struggling to breathe. Something odd was happening to my demonic power.
“Listen, I know that you’re very important in hell, but I had to come here tonight. I need to speak to you urgently,” I blurted out, now standing at least a meter away from him. The concrete underneath my feet vibrated. The demon felt it, but chose to ignore it. Maybe I finally hit the rock bottom of my addiction and started hallucinating. Man, that was pathetic.
“Walk away, girl, before I send you down to the pits. Everyone around here knows not to interrupt me during my cigarette time,” he snarled out, then laughed out loud at something on his screen.
“I’m not leaving until you take me down to Lucifer. My partner is dying and my daughter is being kept by a crazy bitch somewhere in the underworld!” I shouted, losing my patience. Then the earth really shook and I was certain I felt it. The demon lifted his eyes and exhaled sharply, looking disturbed and alerted. We both sensed the rising energy, and neither of us had any idea where was it coming from.
He threw the cigarette, then stepped on it. His eyes gleamed with light and I could tell he didn’t care one bit that I was trying to save people that I loved.
A second later he burst out laughing. My head spun around and I gritted my teeth. He was humiliating me, having fun at my expense, and I slowly began to lose control. I came here willing to beg him to help me; instead he wasn’t even taking me seriously.
“Lucifer?” he repeated, wiping his tears away and straightening his posture. “This is one of the most hilarious jokes that I ever heard on earth. Who sent you? Mammon?”
My ears were red, and probably my face too, because I was so pissed off. The air was vibrating with sizzling power, and I wasn’t imagining things anymore. I dropped a few flames from my palm, the heat licked my face. Something was happening, although I didn’t think I was the cause.
“I’m not joking. My name is Maxine Brodeur and I’m a mongrel. My daughter was taken by a crazy demon. She wants to rip her heart out in order to heal herself in some satanic ritual. Please, you’re my only hope,” I begged, thinking that maybe this would change his mind. I felt humans nearby, but that didn’t matter. Berith was going to take me down to hell and then Lucifer would listen to what I had to say.
“And you thought that you could come here and harass a demon like me without any consequences? The one and only great Berith?” he asked, moving closer. His power suddenly began suffocating me and I couldn’t take another breath. The ground underneath my feet was shaking. It was getting unbearably hot.
All of a sudden I was seeing flames right in front of my eyes. The back of the club shifted into a cave, maybe the legendary pits. Berith was playing with me, trying to scare me. Tears forced their way to my eyes. He stared at me in silence, tracing my tears with his gleaming eyes. There was something in his expression, possibly fear, annoyance or apprehension, I didn’t know what I was seeing. The bottom line was that he didn’t care about my problems.
I roared in frustration, and a storm of wildfire nearly knocked both of us from our feet. Berith’s expression shifted into irritation and he took a few steps back. I had never begged anyone for anything, but right then I was ready to fall down on my knees and plead for him to help me.
“Lucifer is your boss and I’m a living being. Take me down to him and I’ll do anything for you,” I said.
This was hell, and I knew that he could end me with one word. I weighed the risks, thinking about Summer and knowing that I could see her again very soon.
The great Berith finally snapped. He dropped his phone and fury flickered in his wide blue eyes. I shifted my weight to the side, swallowing hard. The silence was broken by a crackling sound of fire.
Suddenly the earth that had been shaking in the past several minutes began to split right underneath Berith’s feet. He glared at me, then waved his hand.
“Stop preying on my power, mongrel,” he snarled, losing his balance. The pressure in my skull was mounting, and my voice of reason kept telling me to start running. The problem was that I couldn’t move. The ground was split between me and Berith. I glanced down seeing rocks and lava. It was exactly like the time when I saved Emma, and the time when I knocked Alexis all the way down to meet her destiny. The air was dry and warm, the energy began spreading between us equally. A ball of light appeared, heading in my direction. I clapped my hands and it stopped, breaking itself to a million different pieces.
A moment later Berith was on his knees, his eyes went wide and he was staring at me with an intense and consuming look.
“I’m the greatest. A mongrel can’t possess such a power! Stop it or you will die in here,” he roared, but then the blood drained from his handsome face. A second later the ground ascended further, pulling Berith down. Everything happened so fast that he didn’t even have a chance to react. The streaming light blinded me, then a strong wind knocked me back and I landed on my arse several meters away, passing out.
“Max! Hey, Max, are you all right?”
That voice, I recognised it somehow, but didn’t want to open my eyes just yet. My body hurt, and I had a feeling that I cracked a bone somewhere around my hip. Someone was leaning over me. First I saw a pair of blue eyes, then blond hair.
A second later everything came back to me and I lifted myself up abruptly. I was on the ground, outside the exit to the Vortex. There was a large burned circle in the space where just a moment ago Berith was standing. Arthur was leaning over me; his eyes were wild and completely unrecognisable.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked, realising that he was pale and his heart was jackhammering in his chest. Something must have happened to him, because I never saw him looking so disturbed.
Arthur stood up and then backed away from me like he was suddenly petrified to be close to me. There was a look of pure terror in his eyes. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
I lifted myself to my feet, and a sharp pain passed through my hip.
“You… You’re not human.”
I blinked rapidly, feeling very sober all of a sudden. Where the fuck was Berith? He’d been standing in front of me just before this sudden energy embraced both of us. I told myself that I couldn’t have just sent one of the greatest demons in hell straight down to the pits. No, even I didn’t have that kind of power.
On top that, Arthur had witnessed it.
“Arthur, calm down. Let me explain,” I began, trying to get close to him, but he was pacing around, shaking his head and muttering incoherent words to himself.
“I saw everything…the flames. That man stood over there and then he disappeared,” Arthur shouted, and before I knew it he grabbed me and pushed me over the wall.
Shit, stupid Arthur must have followed me all the way to the club. There wasn’t any other explanation. He managed to get into the party. I didn’t sense him, I couldn’t have, and now he was standing in front of me well aware of
the fact that I wasn’t human.
“I will explain everything, but first you have to calm down. Security might hear us and that might not end well for either of us,” I pointed out, aware that there were a bunch of demons on the first floor, demons that worshipped Berith that was now gone because of me. I couldn’t comprehend how I had done that. My energy was in pieces and my abilities had let me down many times. Then I remembered what Morpheus had said. He made me open the gates before. The party and Alexis’s sister Bianca. He’d said the anger triggered it, and earlier on Berith had made me furious.
“Our daughter—I heard everything. You were begging that man to help you. She was kidnapped. You lied to me! You have been lying from the very beginning.”
“All right, I have lied to you, but I had no other choice,” I shouted back, losing my self-control. “We can discuss this somewhere else. It’s not safe. There are other demons upstairs.”
Arthur was reacting exactly how I’d expected. He wasn’t coping with what he just saw.
“Leave? I’m not moving from here. You’re a monster. How could I not see it before?” He tangled his hair with rage. The demons were alerted that something was going on downstairs. They could show up here at any minute and I had to get Arthur out of here fast.
“I’m begging you. I’ll explain everything, but we need to leave now,” I said, but he was having none of it. He started shouting even louder, so I did something that I was probably going to regret later. I knocked him out with the stream red light. I needed to get the hell out of here before Watchers found the future king unconscious and their boss down in the pits.
Chapter 27
“Through brute swine, firstly, who far more deserve acorns for food than any human dish, it points the channel of its meagre path.” ―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I quickly moved unconscious Arthur behind the bins, franticly searching for my mobile phone. My heart was speeding away, and with shaky hands I finally managed to dial Zach’s number.
“What? I have been trying—”
“Zach, shut your mouth for a second and listen to me carefully. I had to knock Arthur unconscious. He knows everything. I need you here now,” I said, cutting him off. First Zach asked me to calm down, then asked for my location.
A moment later I sensed Watchers outside and hung up the phone, praying that Zach would hurry. I quickly whispered the formula that masked my abilities. My heart raced like crazy. The smell of burning coal was wafting through the air and those bastards most likely already knew that someone had opened the gates of hell. Berith’s energy was strong, but he wasn’t around anymore and that must have stirred their suspicion. My spell worked only for a minute or so, and I waited for them to walk away; otherwise I was going to be very screwed.
“The boss was here, but I haven’t seen him coming back upstairs. Should I alert his partner?” asked one with a deep raspy voice. Arthur was slowly stirring back to consciousness, so I covered his mouth with my palm. A bead of sweat ran down my face as I kept the masking spell active. They were hesitating and in about thirty seconds they would discover that I was hiding behind these bins. They would easily recognise Arthur—the man’s face was plastered all over the media in the city. Rodriguez would rip me to shreds this time around.
“That mongrel girl at the party. She was watching Berith. Maybe she is still upstairs,” suggested the other. My spell stopped working a couple of seconds before they vanished behind the back doors. I rubbed my face and exhaled with relief.
Arthur started to move and I had no idea what else to do, so I treated him with another spell. He had witnessed everything and called me a monster. Well, that was to be expected. I kept lying to him, thinking that he could understand that my options had always been limited. Now I realised that this would never happen.
I needed to transport him outside the building unnoticed. Zach assured me that he was going to get here in half an hour. After my outburst with Berith I began to understand that I was much more powerful than the whole bunch of demons upstairs.
Zach indeed showed up within forty minutes. He had to play around with the lock at the back gate before he found me. My stomach was in knots, and my fingertips were sparkling like crazy when I saw him approaching. This wasn’t going to end well, unless we got the hell out of here right away.
The issue was that Arthur was immune to any memory spell that I’d tried to cast on him in the past. Now he knew the whole truth and he was going to be problematic. I had no idea how I was going to fix this.
“What the fuck happened to him?” Zach asked, when he approached staring down at the unconscious prince. The party upstairs was slowly coming to the end. Some demons were leaving and Watchers were probably still searching for Berith. Part of me didn’t believe that I summoned the gates again, tossing Berith down. He was one of the greatest demons in hell and I was just a mongrel girl.
“I had to knock him out with magic. He was going crazy. He saw me when I threw a demon down to the pits. It all happened so fast and I kind of lost it,” I explained as quickly as I could, conscious of the fact that we had to transport Arthur to the car without being noticed.
Zach dragged his hand through his hair. There was no time to ask question. We had to move.
“What do you want me to do?”
“We can’t carry him outside. Too many humans could recognise him. Can you bring your car around?”
“Fine, but we have to do this swiftly, this place is riddled with bouncers,” Zach pointed out and I nodded, pulling my hair in a ponytail. Ten minutes later I splashed some black potion over Arthur’s face, so he looked like he’d been in a serious fight. Then we carried the poor bugger to the car. Luckily no one on the street paid attention to us. I started to breathe again when Zach put his foot down on the accelerator and we were moving through the stream of traffic. My heart was still pounding uncontrollably in my chest.
“What the hell were you doing here in the first place? I have been calling you for the past several hours. It would have been nice to know that you were still alive,” Zach said shaking his head, glaring at me from the front mirror.
“I was doing my own thing tonight, but nothing went according to plan. Arthur must have followed me all the way here. He saw me sending someone down to hell. And as you can see, he freaked out,” I said, not even knowing how I didn’t sense him earlier on. I was in so much trouble. Arthur had heard me talking about Summer. He realised that I had been lying to him.
“Someone? Who?”
“Berith, one of the most powerful demons in hell. I thought that he could help me, but in the end he laughed at me. I went crazy and accidentally opened the pits.”
Zach shook his head, barely comprehending what I said. Part of him was glad that I was still alive. Arthur was not going to stay calm once he woke up. Things were never going to go back to how they were in the past.
“So have you figured out where we are going to take him?” he asked, after a moment.
“Ricky’s apartment. I have to be there when he wakes up,” I said, not really sure if Arthur would be willing to listen. I had to reveal to him that Summer was locked up somewhere out there with Alexis. I didn’t want to think what that stupid bitch had done to Matilda.
“I’m disappointed, Flower. We were supposed to be a team,” Zach said, after some time.
I rubbed my hands over my thighs aware that I had made a mistake. I should have realised that no one at that party would take me seriously. I caused too much damage to even consider applying for a relief license. Besides, no demon in the right state of mind would grant it to a royal anyway.
“I panicked when things didn’t go to plan after Langston,” I admitted, not knowing how to apologise to him. Zach glanced at me again, but didn’t say anything else. He was angry that I dismissed him so easily. We were stuck in traffic for a bit and I kept wondering how was I going to explain to Arthur that his beloved daughter was unreachable, that he may never see her. Earlier on I made him a promise
that according to him I never intended to keep.
Zach drove inside Ricky’s underground car park. Arthur was heavy, and we had to carry him to the lift aware that humans would ask questions. Arthur’s entourage was going to look for him. He rarely got out without them.
“I need a drink. Please tell me that Ricky has some alcohol in his place,” Zach said, once we were in the apartment. Luckily Ricky’s neighbours weren’t in and no one had seen us. We placed Arthur on the bed. We were both breathing heavily, staring down at the unconscious prince.
“There is a small bottle of whiskey in the kitchen,” I said, trying to keep it together. Arthur was waking up.
“What are you going to do with him?” Zach asked still standing by the door and not moving.
“I have to tell him everything. I have been lying to him for too long,” I said, feeling on edge.
Zach disappeared in the kitchen to get a drink and I was left alone with Arthur. My hair was getting in the way and I was sweaty. Arthur opened his eyes after a few minutes and noticed me. His thoughts were murky, and his pulse was racing away. There was no point pretending that he didn’t see me using my abilities. It was time to reveal the whole truth to him. He was going to be the first royal to learn the truth about the demonic world.
“Arthur, are you all right?” I asked. Zach came back, holding a glass, he gestured for me to take a sip, but I refused.
“You.” He pointed and moved to the other side of the bed, as far away as he could. “I remember everything. Where the hell did you take me?”
“We had to bring you to Ricky’s place. I have been staying here for a bit,” I mumbled, releasing some calming vibes, although I had no idea if that could help at all.
Doomed Cases Series (1-3) Demonic Triangle Diabolical Quest Infernal Initiation Page 65