Shax

I tossed aside the cards I’d been playing with and leaned back against the metal tailgate of the truck. Across from me, Erin grinned as she scooped her winnings toward her. While in her cross-legged position, she did a dance that caused her whole body to wiggle back and forth. Her black hair bobbed around her ears while her deep blue eyes shone with amusement. She had every reason to be amused; she was kicking all our asses, again.

Vargas scowled at her as she stacked her newly acquired pieces of beef jerky on top of the bread she’d already taken from him. I may not care about the food she’d claimed, but I hated losing, and she now had the last of my mjéod. The skelleins seemed to feel the same way as me as their skeletal teeth clamped together. But then, they were losing what remained of their beer supply to her.

They loved when Erin answered the endless riddles they peppered her with, but they found zero amusement in handing their beer over to her.

My gaze traveled to the burned-out grass marking the area where the skelleins bar had stood around the gateway. The remains of the charred lumber had been removed shortly after the fire so we could see anything exiting the gateway. No one had bothered to construct anything new. If all went well, we wouldn’t be staying here much longer, and if it all went to shit, we wouldn’t survive this place anyway.

Numerous dirt graves lined the edge of the woods encircling our campsite. Each of them marked a human who already hadn’t survived and who hadn’t required burning with the lanavour remains. Demons didn’t typically bury their dead, but then graves wouldn’t have been easy to dig in Hell. They could have been buried on Earth, but I’d still ordered the burning of the demons killed here.

Things had been quiet since the erinyes burst free of the gateway five days ago. Those hideous creatures had flown away from here so fast, that no one had been able to launch an attack against them. They were most certainly wreaking havoc somewhere in the world, but that was a problem for later.

For now, we waited, and we continued to lose to Erin.

I hadn’t heard from Morax since yesterday morning, when he’d mentally sent me a message telling me the angels had River, and that they might try to escape Hell. After his message, I tripled the guards around the gateway. If the angels came this way, I would not allow them to flee with her. I’d only slept for an hour since, but nothing had emerged from the gateway, and I hadn’t heard from Morax again.

I’d been patrolling when Erin suggested a break for all of us. Deciding it was either try for a distraction, or continue to prowl the camp until I drove myself mad, I’d opted for the distraction.

I kept my gaze on the gateway as I collected the cards Vargas dealt. Sitting out the fight against Lucifer had never been my plan. However, these humans had grown on me, and I’d become okay with staying above to help keep them safe. Though, I’d much prefer to be tearing the head off something right now, instead of staring at a pair of twos.

“I swear you’re cheating.” Vargas shot Erin a pointed look before grimacing at his cards. His nearly black eyes narrowed as he tossed his cards aside. “Not going to attempt this one.”

“I would never cheat you.” Erin smiled sweetly at him as she batted her eyelashes. “I warned you the first time we played that I was as lucky at cards as I am good at riddles.”

“I like her better when she’s answering our riddles,” one of the skelleins muttered.

“So you did,” Vargas said and leaned over to snatch a piece of jerky from her pile.

“Hey!” she protested.

He grinned at her as he took a bite. “You know you’re going to give it back to me when the game is over anyway.”

And so she did. Every time we played cards, the game ended with Erin having the largest pile before her. She divided it back to everyone, but it had become a point of pride for someone to eventually beat her.

“Not the point!” Erin retorted. “And just for that, I’m keeping some of your losses.”

Vargas ran a hand through his short black hair and tried to put the bitten piece of jerky back. She slapped his hand away.

“Children,” Wren admonished and placed a can of peas on the pile.

My gaze slid to the woman sitting beside me. Wren had shown up with some of her human friends the day after Kobal and the others entered Hell. At first, I’d been tempted to toss her into the gateway without so much as a second thought. On our journey here, she and her friends had tried to ambush us and been determined to kill us. I’d assumed I’d never have to see her again, so when she arrived here, I was perfectly fine with killing her.

Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with me. After a lot of discussion, Erin convinced me to let Wren and her friends not only live, but to also stay. Wren and company were fighters and survivors, perhaps more so than any of the other humans here. I had to agree that they could prove to be valuable assets. They had survived this long in the wilds after all. They had even survived Kobal leaving them tied up in the woods.

Not only that, but they had tracked us all the way here. I couldn’t turn away such talent with a weapon, or knowledge of this world, while our forces were divided and the battle for Hell waged.

Erin and Vargas hadn’t been with us at the time Wren and company attacked. They had been with River and Corson, so they didn’t dislike or distrust Wren as much as I did. I watched every move she made and made sure demons were with her and her followers at all times. I’d grown to trust her a little more, but not enough to let my guard down around her.

When I’d asked Wren why she risked their lives by following us, she’d told me that Kobal’s words intrigued her. She had gazed at me from her blue eyes with her pale blonde hair dangling over her shoulder in a loose braid as she spoke, “Your boss said to me, ‘You have no idea what monsters truly are, but if we fail, you will. If that happens, you will look back on this moment and know I was right.’”

Wren had revealed that she had to learn what Kobal was trying to succeed at doing. If she discovered he was only blowing smoke up her ass, she brazenly admitted that she’d intended to kill him. That statement had made me laugh, the skelleins pull their swords, and the other demons close in around her, yet she’d shown no alarm. I’d decided to let it all play out until Kobal returned to make the final decision about her.

If she tried anything against one of us again, I’d happily rip off her head and use it as a soccer ball. Maybe the sport would be the one thing Erin wasn’t good at, but I doubted Erin would be willing to use a human head for fun.

The human race was too damn sensitive about things, I realized with a sigh.

One of the skelleins whooped. Its teeth chattered together as it claimed the pile in the middle. High fives went around the circle. Erin so rarely lost a hand that when she did, everyone celebrated it as a win.

Another skellein gathered the cards and started shuffling them through its bony fingers with a speed the humans had trouble following. Their heads bounced up and down and side to side when the skellein flipped some cards through the air before catching them. The skellein dealt out the next hand as a vibration rattled the Earth.

The vibration was so small that I knew no one else felt it, but with my ability to make the Earth move, and therefore a connection to it in this world and in Hell, I sensed the tremor. Rising, I studied the gateway only ten feet away. Nothing moved there, but another quake rattled through the truck.

The skelleins, demons, and humans patrolling the gateway continued their pathways across the charred ground, unaware something had occurred. The ground rumbled beneath my feet again, growing stronger until I felt it all the way to the tips of my fingers.

“Shax, it’s your bet,” Erin said.

My gaze searched the gateway as the rumbling continued.

“Shax?” Vargas inquired.

Beneath my feet, the Earth heaved. Though none of the others felt it, I knew something had broken.

“Get away from the gateway!” I shouted as I leapt out of the back of the truck.

The humans and demons there all exchanged startled glances and staggered away from the gateway. I raced over to the entrance to Hell and skidded to a halt at the edge. Gazing into the abyss, I sneered as hatred for the place where I’d been born burned through me. I’d come to enjoy the warmth of the sun, the many numerous scents and sights of this planet, and I found human women were often more eager to please in bed than demon women. Demon women wanted to get off and go; humans wanted to impress. I wanted to be part of the fight, would give anything to help tear Lucifer and his brethren apart, but I despised Hell.

Those foul depths were not my home, not anymore.

“Shax!” Erin shouted from behind me. “What is it?”

The skelleins flanked my sides. “What do you feel?” one of them inquired.

“Hell is broken,” I murmured.

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but it is. We have to move back. Aim your guns at the hole!” I shouted to everyone holding the weapons. “Listen to my commands! If it’s not one of ours, shred it!”

The words had no sooner left my mouth then the flap of wings sounded and manticores burst out of the gateway. They soared high into the sky.

“Fire!” I shouted, and gunshots pierced the air.

Two of the manticores released an ear-splitting, trumpeting screech. The humans stumbled back as the hideous monsters swooped toward them. Their scorpion tails sank into the victims closest to them. Bracing my feet apart, I readied myself for an attack, but the rest of the manticores flew over the trees and out of view. The two manticores fled with their victims. Three of them remained on the ground, their bodies too riddled with bullets for them to fly again. Demons closed in to dispatch of them.

“What were those things?” Wren demanded.

“Shax!” The intensity of Morax’s voice blazing into my mind nearly caused me to go to my knees. “The seals are falling and the angels are fleeing. They may be coming your way.”

I worked on replying to him. “I thought the falling of the seals had been stopped.”

“Not anymore.”

“What happened?”

“Later. But know that they are all coming down and we can’t stop it.”

My heart sank as I realized the vibrations I’d felt through the Earth were the result of whatever force had been strong enough to bring down the remaining seals. With the gateway open, the entire world was doomed.

“Are Kobal and River alive?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Are all of you going to make it out?”

A protracted silence stretched out before he replied. “I’m not sure.”

For Morax to admit that, shit had to be real bad. “The manticores just fled. No angels.”

“Yet.”

“Yet,” I agreed. “But that means they’re still with you.”

Morax’s voice retreated as swiftly from my mind as it burst into it. He often ended his conversations that abruptly, but after what he’d revealed, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been killed. My gaze ran over the humans and demons gathered around me.

They’d all been prepared for a battle and warned they may not survive it. They would fight to the death, but none of us had been prepared for all the seals to fall and for the worst of Hell to be unleashed at once.

“The seals are falling, all of them!” I shouted to them.

“How is that possible?” a skellein demanded.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But Hell is about to come to Earth.”

“Ay dios mio,” Vargas muttered. He lifted the cross hanging from his necklace and kissed it before tucking it inside his shirt. With a resolute expression, he lifted his rifle to his shoulder and aimed it at the gateway.

“The angels may also be on their way,” I cautioned.

The skelleins stomped their feet and their teeth chattered excitedly. “We always enjoy killing ourselves some angels!” one shouted, and the rest released a whoop of joy.

“Crazy bastards,” Erin muttered.

Wren stared at them like they’d lost their minds. Perhaps they had, perhaps we all had, but that didn’t change the fact that Earth as everyone knew it was about to change again.

From within the shadows of the gateway, the beat of wings resonated against the rock walls as a rokh took shape. It shrieked in excitement when it spotted the freedom it sought. Its gold talons curved as it flapped its wings faster and burst from the gateway.

Bullets riddled its body as it rose higher, its multi-colored wings reflecting the sun behind it.