Magnus

I gawked in disbelief at where Mara had been in my hands before turning toward Amalia. I opened my mouth to demand answers from her, but my words froze when I saw her face. Huddled in on herself, tears streaked her cheeks as she sobbed soundlessly.

I didn’t think anyone could fake the melancholy radiating from her. Her eyes, which turned a vermillion color when she was impassioned earlier, weren’t just the color of ochre but they also held a gray hue I’d never seen in them before. It was as if the gray existed when she was so sad the ochre hue alone wasn’t enough to convey this.

She was a jinni, they were as trustworthy as the horsemen, but I found myself rising and going to her. Enveloping her in my arms, I held her while her tears wet my shirt. When my hand slid up to grip the back of her head, the silken strands of her hair slipped through my fingers. She clutched my back, drawing me closer until her tears subsided.

Jinn were the most manipulative creatures ever to exist, but this was no act.

She is different from the others. But how is that possible? Why is she different?

My mind spun as I tried to figure it out, but the one thing I did know was that I wouldn’t allow this place, or her kind, to destroy her.

“I’m okay,” Amalia said after a couple of minutes, but she didn’t release me, and though her tremors eased, her tears still fell.

“Can you handle this place?”

Silence met my question, and then she inhaled a jerky breath. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting that. If something like it happens again, I’ll be better prepared.”

“I think it’s going to happen often in here,” I warned her.

“Yes. Yes.” She pulled out of my arms and wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re probably right, but I’m fine.”

She was trying to convince herself more than me. She could say she’d handle this, she could dry her tears and lift her chin, but the melancholy color of her eyes belied her words.

A memory niggled at the recesses of my mind as her amazing eyes gradually shifted toward a more ochre color. There was something about those eyes and their shifting colors that I’d seen… or heard… or maybe read before?

Read, I read it somewhere!

When the war with Lucifer was still waging in Hell, I’d retreated from Kobal’s forces to work on strengthening my ability to conjure illusions. Over time, I became so adept at creating illusions that I built them into realities. During that period, I’d also spent a lot of time pouring over the scrolls documenting the history of demons and fallen angel children who roamed the Earth.

Something about those demon scrolls beckoned me to remember it as I gazed into her eyes, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. There was something there about changing eyes, something….

Laughter floated to me again; I turned as it drew closer. “Mara,” I whispered as a couple appeared and grass sprouted beneath my feet once more.

The couple ran around the lake, laughing as they toppled to the ground. From the shadows, the lower-level demon emerged. Releasing Amalia, I stepped forward to intercept the demon before it could attack the couple. Like a ghost gliding through walls, it went straight through me and lifted Ricky.

Unable to stop it, I watched as the demon killed Ricky again and Mara wailed once more.

This time, Amalia knelt at her side and rested her hand on Mara’s shoulder. “It’s not real,” Amalia murmured. “This isn’t real. You can pull free of this if you try.”

Before Mara could reply, she vanished. Amalia remained kneeling on the ground, her hands on the rocks as she bowed her head. She didn’t cry, but I could feel her sorrow across the distance separating us.

“It’s running on a loop,” I stated.

Taking a deep breath, Amalia lifted her head and met my gaze. “Yes.”

“Was this her wish?”

“I doubt it,” Amalia replied. “She might have wished for Ricky back, or for things to be different, or any one of a hundred things. I suspect these were her last moments with him and she’s trying to change it, but since you can’t change the past, she’s only reliving the extreme high of their love and the abysmal low of her heartbreak.”

“There has to be some way we can stop this. Something we can do to intervene or get through to her.”

Amalia gazed helplessly around as the laughter started again. This time, when the couple emerged, I intercepted them and pulled them apart. Like the demon, my hands went straight through Ricky. Gripping Mara’s shoulders, I pulled her away from Ricky. Kicking and slapping at me, she fought against my restraining hold.

When the demon materialized, Amalia leapt in front of it and threw out her hands. Like me, the demon ran through her and caught Ricky again. Mara was still in my arms when the demon slaughtered her lover. She turned on me with her fingers hooked into claws. Unprepared for her attack, I couldn’t stop her before she tore a chunk of flesh from my cheek.

Then she was gone, and I was left holding nothing. Warm blood streaked my cheek and dripped off my chin. Amalia came to me and, lifting the hem of her skirt, she went to dab the blood from my face. I claimed her wrist before she could touch me.

“It will ruin your dress,” I said.

“That’s the least of my concerns right now.”

Maybe it was, but I didn’t want anything staining her. Using the hem of my shirt, I wiped the blood away from my face. Since my skin was already repairing itself, no fresh blood trickled from the gash.

“It will be fine,” I assured her and released her wrist. “How is Mara solid while the other two aren’t?”

“Because she’s still alive and the other two aren’t. She can die in here, they can’t,” Amalia said as the laughter started again.

“We have to figure out some way to break this cycle. If we can do that, maybe we can save the others.”

Amalia nodded, but I saw the doubt in her eyes as the scene started playing through again. This time, after Ricky died, I knelt at Mara’s side. “Listen to me, Mara. This isn’t real. You have to fight it if you’re going to break free of this place. You have to fight to live.”

Tears swam in her eyes, and she seemed not to hear what I said before she disappeared again.

“Shit!” I smashed my hand on the ground as the grass vanished.

“We’ll break through to her,” Amalia insisted, but I wasn’t so sure as the scene started to replay.

I had no idea how much time we spent trying to break through to Mara and end the loop, but I did everything I could think of to stop it. I tried casting an illusion of demons to interfere with the lower-level demon, but they did nothing to deter the monster, and Mara tried to shoot my creations. Whereas her bullets repeatedly knocked the lower-level demon down, they went uselessly through my illusions.

“How did you do that?” Amalia asked when the scene faded once more and I allowed my illusions to dissolve.

“I have my ways,” I told her. Her face fell, and she focused on the wall behind me. It was best I kept my distance from her; maybe she was different from the others of her kind, but she was still a jinni. However, I despised the crestfallen look on her face. “I can create illusions.”

A tiny smile curved her lips, and she opened her mouth to reply, but before she could question me further, Mara’s nightmare started again.

“What do you think Mara wanted most from this?” Amalia asked as Mara and the man went to the ground again. “To have one last time with Ricky, to kill the demon before it killed Ricky, or something else entirely?”

“Does it matter?”

“Maybe if we can figure that out we can break through to her somehow.”

I allowed the scene to play through before kneeling at Mara’s side again. “What is it you want from this, Mara?” I asked.

Lifting her head, she blinked at me before turning her gaze to the lake. “My life back. I want it all to have never been this way. Ricky… Ricky is my heart,” she whispered tremulously and rested her hand on her chest. “And when that thing killed him, it tore the heart from my chest.”

“No one can undo what has already been done. Somewhere deep inside, you know this is true.”

“No,” she moaned.

I rested my hand on her shoulder and gave it a tender squeeze. “Mara—”

“It can be different. It can. It can! I wished for it to be different. There must be a way to change it!”

“Mara—”

My hand fell through thin air when she vanished.

“Son of a bitch!” I snarled. My shoulders heaved as I struggled to retain my temper, but I wanted to burn this entire place to the ground before tearing to shreds every jinni who’d had a hand in creating this endless fucking nightmare.

Slowly, reeling in my frustration, my gaze fell on Amalia. She’d done better with this whole thing since it first started, but her shadowed eyes and pale skin revealed the toll it was taking on her.

We couldn’t stay here much longer. There were numerous others trapped here who required help, and I didn’t know how much more Amalia could take, but I couldn’t give up on Mara yet. If I had to give up here, then I might not be able to save anyone trapped in this place, and I refused to acknowledge that possibility.

When Mara reemerged again, Amalia leapt forward and yanked her away from Ricky. When Mara kicked and lashed out at her, her punches caught Amalia in her bicep. I lunged forward with the intent of taking Mara down before she could hurt Amalia anymore, but Amalia dragged her to the ground and pinned her there before I reached them.

“Listen to me!” she yelled at Mara as the lower-level demon emerged. “If you don’t break free of this, you will die!”

Mara flailed against her restraining hold as the scene with Ricky and the demon played out before the demon disappeared without Mara’s bullets striking it.

Then, Mara vanished.

Walking over, I sat on the ground beside Amalia as she drew her knees up to her chest and settled her chin on them. “I don’t know what to do,” she muttered.

“Neither do I,” I admitted. “But we’re not getting through to her, and there are many others trapped here. Even if we can’t help Mara, we might be able to help one of them.”

Amalia looked as doubtful as I felt about that, but we were wasting time here, and if there was a possibility we might be able to help one of the others, we couldn’t stay.

“You want to leave her to this?” Amalia asked as the scene started again.

“Can you think of anything else to do?”

“No.”

The scene faded away, and Mara started weeping. Rising, I extended my hand to Amalia and grasped hers within mine. Mara leapt to her feet and released a shriek that caused Amalia to wince. Before I could say or do anything, Mara bent her head and ran headfirst at the jagged rocks.

“No!” Amalia cried as Mara rammed her head into the wall.

Blood burst from the top of Mara’s skull, and she staggered back a few steps. Shaking her head, Mara regained enough control to wipe away the blood streaking her cheeks before bowing her head and rushing forward again. The crack of her neck followed the echo of her skull battering the rocks. Mara fell limply to the ground with her hands and legs splayed haphazardly out at her sides.

This time when Mara’s body faded away, I knew she wouldn’t be coming back.

In the distance, another bolt slammed into the massive monolith before spiraling out to the other four.

“Oh,” Amalia breathed, and I turned to find her paler than I’d ever seen her before. “It’s… oh.”

“It’s what?” I demanded.

“Her life,” Amalia murmured. “The lightning is her life force. It went through me along with a rush of power that just feels so wrong. That’s what I felt when the lightning struck before too. The lightning is the life force of those who perish in the Abyss.”

“The jinn are interwoven with the Abyss,” I stated.

“And feeding on it.” She shuddered in revulsion.

“Is the reason you’re different from the other jinn because you’ve never been here before and therefore never fed on the life force of others?”

Because if that was the case, I had to get her out of here. I wouldn’t let Amalia’s goodness be eaten away by the malevolent nature of the Abyss and her fellow jinn.

“No,” she said. “I’m different because I’m Faulted.”

“What do you mean you’re Faulted?”

“While jinn always empathize and care for each other, most don’t care about anything outside of the jinn race, but some jinn are born with the Fault of empathy for those outside the jinn and are also empaths. Before the jinn were locked behind the seal and they still numbered over a hundred, there were fifteen Faulted. Only forty-six jinn survived the battle waged to seal the jinn away, and six of them are Faulted. Neither of my parents is Faulted, but I was born with the curse some of the jinn bear.”

I absorbed her words as I studied her. “You’re an empath.” Her reaction to Mara and her need to help us made more sense now. She couldn’t tolerate another in pain because she felt that pain as if it were hers.

“Yes.”

“Do you really believe it’s a curse?”

“Maybe, if things were different, I wouldn’t believe so, but I do now.”

“Different how?”

“Adapting to Earth and all the changes has been tougher for the Faulted. The jinn all care for each other, and they’ve been together for over eighteen thousand years. I came along much later, but behind the seals, we were all equal, and the non-Faulted jinn were unable to unleash their cruelty as they do now. Though we all love each other, the Faulted have trouble standing by and watching what the other jinn do. Three months after we were freed, the Faulted broke off to live on their own. I remained with my parents, but….”

Her voice trailed off, and her eyes took on that ochre color again while she gazed forlornly at the spot where Mara’s body had lain. Without thinking, I closed the distance between us and drew her into my arms again. I still didn’t entirely trust her, I wasn’t an idiot, but I couldn’t stay away from her either.

“But staying with them has been challenging for you,” I said.

“Yes. And the things they do… this is awful.” Her voice broke.

Many demons weren’t as callous and ruthless as the jinn, but Amalia acted more caring than the tree nymphs, which many considered the most compassionate of demons.

“If the lightning signals a death, then three have died since we entered the Abyss,” she said. “We have to go.”

“Yes,” I agreed, and reluctantly releasing her, I led her back to the central pathway.