I didn’t think Jared was capable of such a sound.
My sneakers rub against the wooden floors as I rush toward my brother. If he screams any louder, he’ll ruin his throat.
I run toward him like my life depends on it. He’s on the couch where I left him. Bluish veins are stretching from his collarbone up to his ear.
“Jared,” I say. I kneel next to him and cup his face. He’s convulsing, and his eyes have rolled into the back of his head. The whites are all I see.
“What did you do to him?” I scream at Vickal, who followed me. “Stop. Stop this.”
I’m going to lose my brother at this rate. He’s all I’ve ever truly cared for.
Vickal raises his hands and shrugs. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s because of you demons. Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?”
Jared coughs, and some of his spit reaches my cheeks. I wince and wipe it away. “Come on, Jared, please.” I hold his hand. He grips mine hard, pressing the bones together. It hurts, but as long as I can provide support, it’s okay. A strained groan comes from Jared’s throat. It’s painful to hear.
Xeres and Sylver step into the room. They don’t look the least bit dismayed, even though I feel like the world is crashing down around me.
“He’s reacting to the orb,” Sylver says. A smile bends his lips.
Smiling—at my brother’s pain.
Words cannot describe how much I hate these demons.
Sylver strolls up to me, grabs me by my shoulders, and squeezes. “Relax. This is a good thing.”
I whip my head around and glare at him. “A good thing? He looks like he’s dying.”
“It’s worse than it looks. This means his power’s awakened. The orb is calling, and he’s reacting. The visions have started, and hopefully, they’ll come regularly now, gradually telling us where the orb is. The first ones are usually too vague to make sense, but he’ll get there, and they’ll be clear enough to decipher. We won’t have to torture him… not as much.”
“But this…” It seems just as bad as torture. Why couldn’t I have been the cipher instead? I’d suffer the physical pain, the torment, but that’s better than being helpless and watching. “Wake him up.”
“We can’t. This isn’t our doing. It’s the orb, and its powers are out of our control.”
“Wake him up!” I shout. The sight’s making me anxious. I stand to face Sylver, but he’s a head or so taller than me, and my eyes only reach his chest. I grab his collar. He cocks his head and has a glint in his eye and that spurs my anger even more. “Stop making him suffer.”
That’s when Jared stops screaming and coughs loudly. Silence fills the room. “Val?” he calls. His voice is soft and meek.
Immediately, I release Sylver and go to my brother’s side, crouching next to the couch. “Jared. You’re okay. You’re okay.” I’m talking to myself more than my brother. I can’t lose him. He’s my only family left. The only family I ever had. My crazy mother doesn’t count.
He swallows and grabs his throat. “What’s going on?” It takes a moment for him to recall recent events. “Shit.” He looks around the room, seeing Xeres, Sylver, and Vickal.
Xeres rips my brother away from me. I reach out to the cold air. A thud sounds as Jared’s back hits a wall. Jared is across the room again, in Xeres’s hold. A knot forms in my stomach.
Xeres summons his fire again. “What did you see?”
I stride toward Jared, but Sylver wraps a hand around my elbow. “Don’t interfere,” he says in my ear. I’m the one interfering?
“N-nothing,” Jared says. He’s quivering.
Xeres brings his flames closer to Jared’s face. “Are you sure about that?”
“I… I don’t know. C’mon, shouldn’t there be a buffer for this? Like, give me some time to think about what just happened? Fuck, my head hurts. You guys can go good cop, bad cop and send the good cop out first.”
Xeres isn’t amused. “Very funny. Give me something. Or all you’ll feel is pain. Do I need to remind you what it feels like?”
“No! No, please.” Jared shifts his gaze to me, as if begging me to do something. “I’ll tell you, man. Calm down. Just let me think… I saw… Saw the orb. It’s green with cracks on one side, and there’s power pulsing in it. Yellow in color.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Vickal agrees, leaning on a counter.
Xeres lifts my brother by his collar and slams him against the wall. “What else do you see?”
“That’s it!” Jared says. “That’s all I saw. Stop it! It’s not helping with the headache.”
My heart drops as I watch Xeres’s blackfyre burn, closing in on my brother.
“Enough, Xeres,” Sylver says. “The orb never reveals its location in the first—”
My sneaker hits the back of Xeres’s head. It bounces off and thuds on the ground. Silence permeates the room, heavy and thick with danger.
Xeres turns his gaze toward me. Black seeps into his eyes, making him look like the monster he truly is. Fuck. I should have thought this through. I could have gotten a better weapon, at least. Xeres is a blood-crazed demon, and all I could think to fight him with was my shoe. Not my best idea.
But this place is practically empty, with no sharp objects lying around. It was the first thing that came to mind.
I blame my stupid mind and its inability to think properly in moments of panic.
Xeres growls.
I raise my fists, pretending I have a chance. It’s all about willpower, I tell myself. I can do this if I believe hard enough. The other option is to have my head torn off by a hot-tempered demon.
He really must be pissed, because his growling increases in volume. Then I realize it’s not him who’s making the noise, but something from outside. The growls grow louder and coalesce into a low, ominous rumble that shakes through the house and chills my bones.
Sylver strides toward the window. He lifts the curtains and looks outside. “Aw, hell.” He frowns, and there’s a hint of nervousness in his expression. What in the world is capable of making a guy like him nervous?
I walk toward the window, intending to find my answer. I regret my decision immediately. There’s a horde of terrible creatures outside. Demons? It’s a sea of them. Ghastly creatures of varying forms. Some have missing heads; others have grotesque limbs that form long, spear-like claws. Some of them look like icky globs, and others are the size of Porky, but with none of his cuteness. There are also some of the ones I’ve seen growing up with Jared, and they flutter around aimlessly. The horde is so horrid they make me sick. I inch away from the window, feeling like if I stand too close, one of them will spot me and pick me as their next target.
Porky senses the danger and runs toward me. I pick him up and press his panting form against my chest.
“Friends?” I ask.
“Not even close,” Sylver says. He unsheathes one of the daggers from the strap on his belt and twirls it.
“Who is it?” Vickal asks. He doesn’t seem to need daggers, unlike his two demon friends. His smoke can turn into weapons.
Sylver tilts his head from side to side, stretching his neck. “The Sons of Belial. I saw Belial out there.”
“Belial?” I ask. Like from the stories?
“He leads them, obviously. He’s good with illusion magic, since deception is his thing. It’s probably how he hid a huge army nearby. But we should have figured it out. Vickal should have, anyway.”
Vickal scowls but doesn’t say anything.
Xeres’s eyes are still black, but he’s redirected his attention from Jared and me to the demons outside. “Is it just Belial and his army out there?”
“And Beelzebub’s clan, but I didn’t see Beelzebub in the mess,” Sylver says. “He likes to take the back seat. I hate them. Fucking flies.”
I pick up my shoe and slip it back on. “Who and who?”
“The second and third strongest demon clans of Hell,” Vickal explains. “There’s this hierarchy in Hell that is determined by survival of the fittest. If they have the three of us taken out, they’ll earn free rein. Guess they decided to team up and ambush us when we’re out of our stronghold and without our armies. Sleazy bastards. No wonder the forests felt weird when we arrived. Chances are they’re here to kill us, because they’ve been trying to forever. But they were likely also waiting for Jared’s powers to awaken. Having the cipher makes it a good two-for-two. We’ll make them pay for this once we get back to Hell.”
“I’m guessing you guys are the strongest clan?” I ask.
“Yep,” Vickal replies without blinking.
Xeres turns to Sylver. “How many are outside?”
“Couldn’t count,” Sylver replies.
“Stay out of this,” Xeres tells me.
I have every intention to. I’m a stripper, not a slayer of demons. I just need to get Jared to a safe place.
“But if you do happen to come across any higher demons,” Sylver says, “note that you either kill them by pulling their heart out, or by beheading them. The lesser demons—those without humanoid forms—they can bleed out ’cause they can’t heal so quickly.”
I’m helping Jared to his feet when I ask the guys, “Do you think you can take them?” Because it looks like there’s a shit-ton of them outside. We’re probably outnumbered a thousand to one. I’m not even sure if I’m exaggerating.
Vickal summons one of his fire daggers. “We’ll see.” He shoots it straight at the window. His weapon explodes once it meets its target. The whipping sound of flames floods the scene.
Utter chaos breaks out around me. I clutch Porky tightly, and he whimpers into my chest. The demons shriek. A slew of demons rushes in from all corners of the house, breaking down doors and windows. Some smaller kinds even slip through the chimney. Vickal, Xeres, and Sylver are flickering like lights, leaving a trail of embers and dead demons as they move.
I see Xeres fastening his hands on the shoulders of a demon. He looks into its eyes before flickering away. That demon begins to attack his companions.
My heart slams against my chest. I’m feeling giddy from all the movement. Jared’s shaking next to me. More color has returned to his skin, but he’s scared. “The effects in these reality TV shows are getting insane,” he says.
“You still think this is a TV show?”
“I’m hoping it’s a dream.” He can stand on his own and doesn’t need my support now. It’s strange how he heals so quickly. “But I’m afraid it isn’t.”
I tense my jaw. “It isn’t.”
A weird creature waddles toward us. It has stumpy legs and a face that sinks into itself. From its back, two broken, insect-like wings sprout. It flashes a toothless smile at me. It’s no more than a foot tall. I assume it’s going to stroll straight past me.
Then it stretches its mouth open. Its mouth is twice the height of it, and from its gums, which had been toothless moments before, grow countless rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Jared yells and punches the creature with a fist of white flames. The creature shrieks, shrivels, and wisps into smoke. Jared looks at his fist like it’s the most astounding thing he’s ever seen. “I didn’t know I could do that.”
I nod. “Well, now you do.” So many of the demons’ eyes are on Jared. The sight makes me cold, but Sylver, Vickal, and Xeres are protecting us. They thin the herd and snap off the heads of the demons who dare step closer to Jared. Still, some enemies trickle through, and we have to take care of the outliers.
I kick another one of those things away as I attempt to summon white flames as well. They don’t come. Guess I’m stuck with this—a frightened dog, an unarmed fist, and a false sense of courage.
A demon with bat-like wings jumps at me. It looks like one of those lesser demons I often see flying around. I don’t have the time to make out the details before Xeres forces a dagger through its skull. It flies across the room into another horde of vile creatures.
Xeres faces me. His eyes are still black. “Use this.” He offers me the bloodied dagger.
I glance at Jared, who grabs a slender creature with his white flames, burning its flesh. He’s sinking into his powers nicely. And… it almost feels like Jared’s protecting me.
Weird.
It’s usually the other way around.
I turn to Xeres. “Uh, thanks?” I gingerly accept the weapon from him. Its hilt is covered in blood.
“You’ll need to run. It’s not safe here.”
“How, exactly?”
“With your legs,” Xeres says.
“I’m bound by your compulsion, remember?”
Xeres nods. He looks into my eyes, and his pupils widen. “You’re free to go, as long as you remain within a mile of us.”
The compulsion pulses through my head, sending signals through my mind.
One mile, instead of the paltry hundred feet he’d given me. “Why not… just remove it entirely? Pretty sure these demons can travel farther.”
“Tough luck. Hurry. I don’t want any of those two clans getting the cipher or his sister.”
Would that be any different from Xeres, Sylver, and Vickal? I look around, seeing nothing but grotesque, horrific forms, and decide that—maybe—yes. At least Xeres likes Porky, right?
I let out a curse before shouting to Jared, “We’re leaving!”
Jared’s actually smiling. There’s bloodlust, or maybe it’s just that icky, mucky blood, all over his face. “Hey, Val, I’m actually feeling like a badass.”
“That’s nice and all, but you need to badass out of here.”
He throws a fireball—he’s gained control over his powers—at a horned demon. He leaps toward the exit, cutting his way through a wave of smaller demons. He leaves behind a trail of broken and burned bodies, and I follow through the door.
I didn’t think my brother had it in him to be this vicious and strong. I should have given him more credit.
More demons await us in the woods. Countless numbers of them. It’s a whole army.
In the corner of my eye, I see a demon who looks human. He’s dressed in a black trench coat and has his maroon hair bundled into a long, low ponytail. He’s beautiful, almost as enrapturing as Sylver is, and perhaps even more elegant. The space around him seems to shift and bend, like part of a mirage.
A raspy, strained sound alerts me from behind, pulling me from my thoughts. I spin around to face the source of the noise and see a demon. It’s another one of the short, harmless-looking ones. It gnashes its razor-sharp teeth together and stalks toward me, but before it attacks, I lunge and thrust Xeres’s dagger into it.
As we rush through the crowd, Jared avoids as many demons as he can. Xeres and Sylver and still trying to hold them off, but more slip through, and Jared has to take care of some demons himself.
I see Vickal in the distance. He’s fighting a man with a ponytail, and two other humanoid figures. Vickal kicks Ponytail Demon’s neck. Their blows are so quick that I struggle to follow the fight.
I shouldn’t have been looking elsewhere. I should have stuck close to Jared and not left my back open. Vickal’s distraction lets the demons catch me by surprise.
I sense an enemy behind me. I turn around and catch a glimpse of it. It’s larger than all the others, with spiny pincers attached to its head and feelers that brush my skin.
“Val!” Jared screams.
I don’t react in time.
One of its pincers pierces my stomach. I suck in a sharp breath. Porky falls from my grasp and yelps. Jared tries to save Porky. He tries to save us. But the pincer demon forces another one of its appendages through my dog, skewering Porky through his ribcage.
Blood splatters on my face. I’m numb.
Shit.
The numbness fades and an ache shoots through my chest. It hurts. Pain flares all around me and my vision blurs.
I’m going to die.
I hear Jared calling my name in the background. I claw at the demon’s pincers. They’re thick and have rough edges.
I blink, trying to see past the blur in my eyes. But all I see is the red of Porky’s blood and him lying still like a bag of dead meat.
The demon retracts its pincers, sending another spike of blinding pain through my insides. Jared’s still calling, and I hear another voice join his.
This is it.
I’ve lived a pretty shitty life. I fought to make it better, but I guess I’m just going to end it in senseless pain and with a horror scene playing around me. Could be worse, I think. Could have died through some freaky vending machine accident. Getting murdered by a flesh-eating demon is horrible, but at least it isn’t stupid.
Blood is surely trickling out of me, but the pain is too overwhelming to even feel that. My eyelids are getting heavier. No point resisting. Letting go would be easier. Just give in…
“Valerie!”
Jared’s calling for me. He needs me. My resolve heightens. I have to stay strong for him. I can’t leave him alone in this new, strange world.
A rush of heat surges through me. The pain abruptly dims, and I feel my stomach stitching back up. My fingertips prickle. It’s like there’s fire in my veins, and it’s begging for release. Jared got his powers from getting hit by a truck. I’m getting mine through being skewered.
My eyes snap open. I see Jared’s tear-streaked face. He’s gripping my arm and quivering. Pincer Demon is already down. There’s also a pile of dead monsters around us, but more demons are closing in. Sylver’s in the distance protecting us, fending off as many as he can, but there’s too many of them, and we’re getting overwhelmed.
My jaw slackens. The agony disappears. I’m as good as new. I stand up and clutch my stomach, trying to feel for the wound, but there’s nothing but my patched-up skin there.
I try summoning fire, the same way Jared can. I sense the freshly awakened pool of power beneath me and call it to my fingertips. It comes, just as Jared’s did, and it’s the same white color. It flickers before my eyes. I look at my brother in shock.
“Val,” Jared says, his voice still shaking. “Thank God you’re okay.”
“Yeah.” I’m a little dumbfounded. I glance at my dog. He’s not moving.
Sylver shouts a loud curse. “These things aren’t letting up!”
I leap back to my feet, feeling fitter than I ever have. I punch a flamed fist through a demon’s face. Now I understand why Jared was having so much fun. There’s nothing more badass than wielding fire, blazing through an army. I almost grin, but the loss of Porky makes the smile fall from my face.
Around us, there are demons… having sex? What the hell? I look at Sylver. Is this his doing? It’s absolutely disgusting and makes my skin crawl. I need to purge my mind of these images later.
Sylver does that phasing thing and appears before us. His eyes have turned black, same as Xeres. “There’s too many. We can’t defeat Belial and his minions. Not unless we have an army of our own.”
“And do you?” I shove another flamed fist at a creature and kick it in its stomach. It keels over.
“They’re stuck in Hell. We have to lose these demons or we’re not getting out of here.”
“How?”
“Phasing works over short distances. Do it enough and we’ll be rid of them in minutes.”
It’s awfully difficult to fight and talk at the same time. “Why didn’t you try that earlier?”
“Because we thought that we could beat them.” Sylver leaps feet-first at two assailants and kicks them down. “But the clans seem to have sent their entire army. Half of them, at least. I didn’t think it’d be this many.”
“So… overconfidence?” I ask, even though I want to ask about the sex thing, too.
Sylver snarls. “A miscalculation.”
I roll my eyes. These guys are the kind to never admit when they’re wrong.
Sylver takes down his last opponent and then grabs our forearms. Jared startles. Before Jared or I can say anything, Sylver phases toward the forest clearing. My head spins, and my body feels like it’s suspended in air. It’s a strange sensation.
Sylver phases twice more. I’m left even giddier. I scowl at him. “A little bit of warning?”
He pauses. “Suck it up.”
I work my jaw, imagining ways to disembowel him. That’s when I see Vickal battling it out with Ponytail Demon and friends in the distance. There’s three Ponytail Demons, actually. Three? This fight is getting weirder by the minute. I suppose Ponytail Demon is Belial, because he’s good with illusions. Vickal’s surrounded—and struggling. One demon leaps at his back. Vickal throws numerous fire daggers. Some miss. Ponytail Demon is closing in, and it isn’t looking good for Vickal. I start, “Hey—”
Sylver tugs us through another phase before I can voice my thoughts on Vickal.
I can still see Vickal. There are too many demons, and he’s not going to make it. My breath stalls as I watch a metallic demon raise a sword at Vickal. Vickal’s distracted by Ponytail Demon and not looking the right way. For some reason, my mind fogs, masking the scream in my head. I’m not supposed to give a damn about these guys, but panic surges through me and I’m overcome by an instinct to protect him.
I phase.
I find myself in the middle of it all, between Vickal and Belial. How did I do that?
My instincts flare. I summon my whitefyre and pulse it through Belial’s torso. He stumbles, but my powers don’t do much else to him. That gives Vickal time to react, and he follows my blow with his own. Belial flies backward.
“Valerie?” Vickal says, not looking at me. “Why are you here?”
“Uh… I have no clue.”
“And why in Jehovah’s name are you helping me out?”
“You tell me.”
I’m now woozy and surrounded by an army of creatures that belong in a Stephen King movie. Vickal doesn’t seem able to take care of himself, so I’ve gotta take care of myself.
I’m screwed.
Blows and kicks ensue. I’m finding myself a natural at kicking ass, but these demons are, too, and some of them manage to nick me with their weapons. One of them shoves something sharp through my side. I wince and cry out, thinking I’m going to end up skewered like with the pincer demon, but as soon as the weapon leaves my flesh, it begins to stitch back up.
I gasp and suck air through my teeth. The pain thrums out of me.
Vickal’s talking to Belial amid the fighting. “You’re playing dirty. We don’t fight each other once the orb is out. We do everything we can to win the war with the angels. Priorities, Belial.”
“You and I have different goals,” Belial replies. I want Hell, and don’t care if the angels have the orb.”
There’s a loud, crashing sound behind me, but I’m too preoccupied with not getting my head sliced off to look. The demons close to Vickal aren’t like the ones who attacked me in the house. They’re more humanoid. Stronger.
One of them grabs me in a chokehold. Its breath is rancid and hot against my ear. I’m about to get ripped in two. Just great. And right after surviving that pincer demon, too. Why did I come and save Vickal? I should have just left him behind.
I’m really going to die this time. I must have thought that at least ten times since this demon fiasco started. But this time I’m sure of it. Almost sure, at lea—
Xeres, Jared, and Sylver swoop in from all corners. They take out the higher demons who aren’t Belial, letting Vickal focus on his fight. They’re lopping off heads, which spew icky blood of all shades across the forest ground. There’s lots of screaming. At least, I think it’s screaming.
The demon holding me gets a dagger in its head.
I stifle a yelp. Moments later, the demon gets kicked off my body and Xeres appears in view. He looks like a perfect bringer of death. He turns toward me, and it’s so cool that it might as well be in slow motion. He looks at me with his smoldering eyes, covered with monster blood.
Ugh. Why does he have to look so cool? It’d be easier to hate him if he were ugly.
“Come on,” he says, offering me a hand.
I get up, feeling stubbornness zip through me. He grabs my hand anyway.
He shakes his head, apparently displeased by my rejection. “Vickal! We’re leaving. Get Belial off your back.”
“I’m trying!” Vickal says.
“Just cage him or something!”
Vickal releases an angry yell and throws daggers at all three Belials. They all meet their target. Two Belials flicker and disappear, leaving one behind. Following Xeres’s instructions, Vickal builds a box around Belial, its walls flickering with black flames. The flames don’t light the leaves of the forest floor, and I wonder if it’s because of Vickal’s finely tuned control of his blackfyre.
We phase one more time. Apparently, I’m able to do that myself, but I let Xeres tug me along. I don’t think I have proper control over that power yet.
“Belial’s not going to follow us once we leave this place,” Xeres says. “He wants to cower in his numbers.”
“Who is he?” I ask.
“Leader of the Sons of Belial and Lucifer’s third-born child. He plays it even dirtier than the rest of us. All of Lucifer’s children are like that.”
“Lucifer’s an actual dude?” But of course, he is. I’m not even surprised anymore.
I’m still looking back at the forest. We’re on a road now, surrounded by a dusty, empty expanse. Xeres spins me around, and before I can shut my eyes, he looks into them and says, “You will keep yourself within a hundred feet from us. You will not attack us. You will obey.” A grunt escapes his throat as he compels me. He reels back at his last word. Sweat beads on his forehead.
Obey. I don’t sense that word settling into me, but the rest do, and this need to follow them causes my insides to churn.
I bite my inner cheeks. There goes Jared’s and my chance of escape.
Jared’s still getting a kick out of his powers. He’s nonchalantly throwing fireballs at a shrub. I walk to him. He didn’t have the chips and soda Sylver passed to me earlier. “Are you sure you want to be doing that?” His energies probably haven’t recovered from the torture.
He turns to me. “It’s so fucking cool. The guys will lose their shit once they see this. They won’t let me hear the end of it.” He has dark circles under his eyes, but his excitement shrouds that. “I won’t need a lighter for the rest of my life.” He chuckles. “I’ll be a hit at birthday parties. People always need someone to light their candles.”
I’m afraid Jared might never go back to his classes. I hug him. Porky’s dead. I lost my dog. We picked him up three years ago, right after we got our new apartment. I’m grieving inside, but I’m not letting it show, because I have to be strong for Jared.
Jared pats my back, sensing my unease. “Hey, it’ll be all right.”
“I hope so. I really do.”
Vickal joins us. He studies me with an apprehensive expression and then returns his cool gaze to his companions.
“Took you long enough,” Sylver says.
Vickal shrugs. “I wanted to get a few more punches into Belial’s face. Almost managed to rip his head off, but one of his minions got to me.” His jacket’s ripped and there’s blood all over his shoulder.
Xeres nods. “Let’s go. We don’t want them hot on our tails again. Where’s the dog?”
“Gone,” I say, not wanting to elaborate.
Xeres narrows his eyes at me. His jaw ticks, and I second-guess myself, thinking I saw emotion in his expression. “Okay. So, let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Vegas.”
Vegas? “Uh,” I say, looking around. “That’s a mighty long distance away. We don’t have a car anymore, and there’s not one for miles.”
“We’ll have to phase, then,” Xeres replies.