by Rose O'Brien
They stood on the bottom level of a huge atrium that towered hundreds of stories above them. The entire thing was made of mirror polished obsidian. The same blue lights flickered on the wall.
The spire was maybe a hundred feet around. Balconies wrapped the atrium at every level, extending out over the floor on which Jen stood. Everything was slightly irregular, like the place had been grown from volcanic rock instead of built. The spire twisted slightly as it climbed, and it made Jen a little dizzy to look up at it.
Around the space, dark, vaguely humanoid shapes moved. They looked like shadows that had become three dimensional. As one moved past Jen, she recoiled and Lilith caught her with a hand on her arm.
The demon’s skin was pleasantly warm, and she smelled like Armani perfume.
“It’s okay. They’re just shades. They won’t hurt you,” Lilith said in her ear.
Jen moved carefully away from the demon so as not to appear as terrified as she was.
“Shades?”
“The spirits of the long dead,” Lilith explained. “When they’re fresh, they still look like they did in life, but as time goes on, they lose their identity. When they’re all used up, they look like this. They’re a bit mindless, so we use them for servants until they dissipate completely.”
The casual way the demon spoke of what had once been human spirits sounded exactly the way her girlfriends used to sound when they talked about hitting the shoe sales. Lilith sounded the way she used to sound, before her life imploded, dressed like she used to dress, even smelled like she used to smell. Bile threatened to climb her throat and she swallowed hard.
“Let’s go. I’ve got some people I want you to meet,” Lilith said, excitement bubbling in her voice.
Jen followed Lilith up stairs and ramps, down twisting corridors. She lost track of their route within the first five minutes. This place was a rabbit warren designed by a madman. She might never find her way out of here and back to the cavern. That was obviously the point.
They passed by a window cut in the obsidian and Jen ground to a halt and stared.
A city of obsidian stretched out before her. There were squat little constructions that looked like giant bubbles of lava had frozen and cooled, with blue gas lights flickering inside. Huge spires rose hundreds of feet in other areas, but were nowhere near as tall as the one she stood in.
Thousands of windows flickered with blue gas lights in spires that reached like skeletal fingers toward a black sky devoid of stars.
The air was warm and very dry, but it wasn’t as hot as Jen had thought Hell would be.
“Ahem,” Lilith cleared her throat and Jen followed. After what seemed like hours, they arrived at a set of huge, ornately carved doors that opened seemingly on their own as Lilith approached.
The room was vast, with a raised platform at the far end. A massive opening was cut into the obsidian and a balcony extended out to look over the city. The view was dizzying.
Two women, who were dressed similarly to Lilith, in skin tight dresses that hit them mid-thigh and sky-high stilettos, tottered over and started chattering in high-pitched breathy voices. One had curly brown hair, and the other had long blonde hair that was straight as a pin.
They looked for all the world like a trio of gal pals out for a night in the clubs back in LA. They were dressed exactly the way she and her friends used to dress.
The brunette extended her hand in that slightly tilted way that wasn’t really a handshake. Jen politely grasped her fingers and let go.
“I’m Jezebeth, but everyone calls me Jezi.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jen’s voice went up on the last word so it sounded more like a question.
“I’m Astaroth,” the blonde jumped in. Jen repeated the process with the finger grasp. Her girlfriends back in LA had all done that too, like they’d been afraid a real handshake wasn’t feminine enough. She’d never thought twice about it back then, but it annoyed the shit out of her now. “But I go by Asti.”
“We’re so excited you’re here,” Jezebeth said.
“You’re going to love it! Lili’s the best. We got you, girl,” Astaroth continued, their voices mixing into a high-pitched chatter that was, if not pleasant, at least familiar.
“Oh my gosh,” Lilith exclaimed. “Look at us chatting away, you must be exhausted. Asti, can you get something for Jen to eat. And Jezi, can you get a bath ready in Jen’s room?”
“Of course, Lili,” Astaroth said. “We’ll be right back.”
The two women—demons! It was important to think of them as demons—clicked over to the door in their stilettos and disappeared.
“Love those bitches,” Lilith said. “But they can be as dense as a dying star sometimes.”
“It’s fine,” Jen muttered.
“I know this must be incredibly overwhelming for you,” Lilith said, her voice gentle. “This is not the way I wanted to introduce myself, but because of Bridget’s fuck up, we had to move the timetable up a little.”
Jen stayed silent, watching the demon as she paced about, one finger twirling in her platinum hair.
“The truth is, we need your help. You’re our only hope, Jen.”
***
“Have I mentioned that this is absolutely crazy, ridiculously stupid, and an epically bad idea? “Your concerns are noted, Dumeril,” Theron said as he adjusted his pack. It was loaded down with supplies from upstairs, protein bars, water, medical supplies, ammunition. He had no idea what he was walking into, but he was loaded for demon bear.
“Remember, the laws of physics don’t necessarily apply in the same way in Hell,” Dumeril said.
The Svarturan had been talking at him for several hours, first while he healed Theron’s burns and the damage from the gunshots, and later, while they prepped. Dumeril had clearly been hitting the books, researching everything he could get his hands on since his first encounter with evidence of demonic influence three months before, back in Austin.
There was surprisingly little information about Hell, and all of it was conflicting. It was almost like no one came back from there. Theron kept going back to what Djinn Bin Jaan had said back at Dreamland. Thought has form.
The demons, they knew more about them. As near as anyone knew, they were beings of pure energy. They fed off human emotions, namely the negative ones like anger, fear and sorrow. They fed from the spirits of the dead, but there was nothing to say they wouldn’t do the same to the living. “Just be ready to open the portal once every twelve hours,” Theron said.
“I still think I should come with you. What shot do you think you have alone in an alien dimension?”
“I can’t risk it. If you’re hurt or killed, how do we get back? You’re the only one who can open the portal.” Theron’s jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
Centering himself, he turned to where he’d last seen Jen falling through a portal into Hell. His chest hurt, and his gut churned at the thought of her trapped over there. Gods only knew what was happening to her.
“No time like the present, D.” He nodded at the empty space, and Dumeril stepped forward, his hands moving as he searched for the seam where the previous portal had been torn open. That was the thing about portals, they might look closed, but one could never completely seal the tear in space once it was created.
Slowly, a blue pinprick of light formed in the wall. It grew gradually until it was as tall as he was and twice as wide.
This was it. Steeling himself, he stepped forward.
A voice he hadn’t heard in years made him freeze mid-stride.
“Wait! I’m coming with you.”
***
Jen had to admit, for a place that claimed to be Hell, the steamy bath certainly felt like Heaven. Too bad it couldn’t penetrate the cold spot in her chest that had appeared the moment she watched Theron get shot and hadn’t dissipated since.
Was he dead? At least one of those bullets had hit him, she’d watched the blood splatter. Was he dying, even now? Was he in pain?
>
Would he come for her?
The chattering of three animated demons intruded on her dark thoughts, and she lifted her head, even though the effort took much more energy than it should have.
Lilith, Jezebeth, and Astaroth reclined on separate white couches that were trimmed in what looked like gold filigree. The couches hadn’t been there when they’d entered the room, but had appeared out of thin air as the women—demons!—sat down.
“Thought is form,” Jezebeth had said by way of explanation at Jen’s startled expression. “The energy of your thoughts takes solid form. Emotion makes it particularly solid. You can try it later, but you should relax for now.”
Fat fucking chance.
Her bathtub was actually a pool cut into the black glass of the floor. The water was almost hot enough to scald, but it was actually helping her tired, aching muscles. Perfumed bubbles reached to her chin. Beside her on the floor was a plate of bread, cheese, and fruit. Jen had picked at it. The stuff was delicious, but she wasn’t particularly hungry.
She listened to the demons chatter amongst themselves. They talked about people she didn’t know, but the sounds they made were so familiar.
“Oh my god, I cannot believe she did that. What a bitch!”
“The absolute nerve of him. I hate him!”
During a lull in the conversation, Jen finally jumped in.
“Um, is anyone going to tell me what I’m doing here, exactly?”
She hated how hesitant she sounded, but being around these women had her sliding back into old habits and patterns. Everything became a question, her voice was higher, she felt small. Who was she all of a sudden? The answer was, her old self, from before the implosion.
With a dazzling smile, Lilith turned her full attention on Jen.
“You, seer, are the answer to our prayers.”
“How exactly?”
“Okay, it’s like this. There’s two teams here in Hell. I lead one,” Lilith said. “And Falak and his stupid frat boys lead the other.”
“Falak?”
“I think your culture calls him Satan or something. Falak is a lot older than that. He is the serpent that seeks to devour creation. And he’s a total douchebag who’s trying to organize an invasion of your dimension.”
“Okay?” Jen said, her voice rising on the end of the word. “And you’re Lilith, like the Lilith from the Adam and Eve story?”
“First of all, that story is fucking slanderous,” Lilith said, her voice snapping with anger and a well-manicured index finger rising to emphasize the point. “Second, I’m millennia older than that story. I was around when your ancestors were just crawling out of the ocean.”
“Gotcha. I sense that topic is off limits,” Jen said.
Lilith gathered herself, pasted her smile back in place, and continued. “That bastard Falak is going to rip the walls down between our dimensions and tear your world apart. I happen to like things the way they are, so we’re trying to stop him.”
“How exactly can I help you?” Jen asked.
“You see spirits,” Astaroth chimed in.
Jen gave her a yeah-and? look. “We need spirits to live,” Jezebeth supplied.
Jen must have looked confused because Lilith jumped in.
“We live on human emotions, negative ones.”
Jen recoiled. “You eat them?”
The demon held up her hands defensively. “It’s not like that. We just sort of hang around them while they’re all sad and in pain and kind of drink it in. They’re in Hell; it’s not like they were happy people to begin with.”
Jen sat still, staring at the water that covered her hands.
“So, it’s like the stories? Only bad people end up here?”
“Kinda,” Lilith said. “Only people who think they’re supposed to end up here end up here. People know deep down if they’re bad or not, and their spirits are drawn here after death. Others make deals with one of our kind, and we take possession when they die.”
The words chilled Jen to her core. All the spirits she’d seen throughout her lifetime, had they ended up here? What about the people she’d lost? Her mom? Her daughter, who’d never really lived in the first place?
Theron? Was he here?
Ripples spread out on the surface of the water as her tears fell.
“Oh, honey, don’t cry,” Jezebeth said in a soft voice beside her. A gentle hand smoothed her hair. “Lili told me you lost your man.”
“Bridget killed him,” Jen whispered.
“That was a mistake and Bridget will be punished for that, but she had her reasons,” Jezebeth continued. “The Mage Corps is corrupt and misguided. The mages are little better than brainwashed slaves. Some of them mean well, but they can’t stop Falak’s invasion.”
Lilith chimed in, “I’m sure your mage is not here, and he wouldn’t want you to cry. He’d want you to go on. He was a hero, and he’d want you to do everything you could to save your dimension. We need you to go back to your dimension, Jen. We need you to find the spirits that belong here in Hell with us. If we’re going to stop this invasion we need to be strong. We need the fuel those spirits can provide.”
“We can’t do it without you,” Astaroth said, joining the other two beside the pool. “We have no form in your dimension. We can’t find the spirits. Only you can do that. Only you can save your world.”
***
“Xander,” Theron said, turning to face his older brother. “What are you doing here?”
Dressed in a black hooded cloak, Xander strode into the cavern radiating dark menace. He pushed the hood back, revealing his jet black hair, which was cut short. His indigo eyes, an exact match for Theron’s own, snapped with a frightening intellect and determination.
“Alayna called me in a panic and told me to get here as soon as I could. What’s going on?”
Theron filled him in as quickly as he could while Dumeril injected his opinion about the risks of this mission.
“When do we leave?” Xander asked.
“I’m leaving now,” Theron stated as calmly as he could. “You’re staying here.”
“Bullshit! I’m not letting my only brother walk into Hell alone.”
Theron sighed in exasperation. Not for the first time in his life, he thought about how much easier it would be if he was an only child.
“Won’t the Council miss their personal death dealer?” Theron snapped. Xander was a Wraith, an elite group of mages who served as the Council’s assassins and spies. Xander could kill with a touch, and he was very good at his job.
“The Council can suck my dick. Let’s go save your girl.”
Theron growled, but realized he would never be able to persuade Xander not to follow.
“Fine. Get your shit together.”
A few minutes later the two brothers stepped through the portal together. It felt just like any portal jump, that impossible sensation of falling up, down and sideways at the same time.
When the sensations stopped, Theron found that he and Xander were standing on open ground that looked like obsidian, covered by a thin layer of sooty soil. The sky was a shifting grey and black, with something that might have been a sun or a moon trying to peek through the heavy clouds above them.
Cracks in the rock around them glowed with an electric blue fire. It was hot, and the air smelled of sulfur. But there was oxygen. He could breathe.
“Huh, so this is Hell?” Xander’s voice reached him. “Somehow I thought it would be...more hellish.”
Theron ignored him and looked around. The landscape was mostly flat, with the occasional boulder, ridge, or rise cropping up here and there. It looked like a lava field. In the middle distance, a sharp line of mountains rose like sawteeth. Blue fire shone at several of the peaks, and glowing blue lines trickled down the sides.
“Sulfur must be a predominant mineral here,” Xander said at his side. “It glows blue like that when it burns.”
“Thank you, Mr. Spock. The real question is how do we fin
d Jen?”
“My suggestion? We head for those mountains and get the lay of the land. Dumeril wasn’t kidding when he said we might end up miles from where Jen got dragged through. It doesn’t look like there’s anything sentient for miles.”
It was as good a plan as any, Theron supposed. Without a word, they began to walk in the direction of the mountains, black clouds of dust rising around them with each step.
***
Jen sat alone in the room the demons had shown her to so that she could rest and consider their offer. The floors, walls and ceiling were the same mirror finish obsidian that everything else was made out of. A huge four poster bed stood in a corner, covered in gleaming white bedding that looked soft and inviting.
She should lay down and sleep, she knew, but her thoughts were swirling. So, she sat in a white chair by the window, looking out at the dark city below and the flickering blue lights.
Her thoughts kept returning to Theron. Was there something she could have done to save him? Her heart squeezed at the thought, constricting painfully in her chest. Tears welled in her eyes. How long had it been since she’d cried? Before a few days ago, she hadn’t thought there were any tears left inside her, but Theron had woken something up in her. He’d made her laugh. He’d opened her up to feeling things again, joy and pain. And he’d made her love him.
Damn it. Why hadn’t she told him? Now she’d never get the chance.
Her life was full of missed chances and things that had gone wrong. Everything went wrong. Why had she thought this would be any different?
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her skin tingled. She wasn’t alone. Could one of the demons be coming back?
Looking around, fear twisted in her stomach as she caught sight of a figure in the dark corner of the room. Was it one of those creepy shade things? It moved forward, into the light and Jen gasped.
It was the spirit she had seen in Damascus, just before Bridget had betrayed them, the one that had been silently screaming at her.