The edges of my vision watered, and my fingers lost some of their strength as they tried to pry his hands free.
Not once in my life had I stopped to take it all in. Marvel at my life and how it could have been so incredibly different. “You—you’re”—I struggled to fill my lungs—“right.”
The finger-noose around my neck loosened ever so slightly. It enabled me to draw in a breath.
“I can’t imagine—” I coughed and wheezed. “I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”
His face was inches from mine, red eyes still flaring like an inferno, but his grip loosened even more.
I was on the right track. Just needed to calm him down, and we could beat this. “You went through hell, Lukas. I know that. We all know that. What Meredith did to you was the worst kind of betrayal. But I believe it made you stronger. It made you into the man I know.” I swallowed. “The man I love.”
The pressure from his fingers disappeared, and he leaned back a few inches.
“Things will never be like that again. I promise. You have people now. Me, Mom, Dad…” I gave a bitter laugh. “Hell, you have the entire House of Pride at your back.”
That got a reaction from him. He snorted, sitting up the rest of the way. “I may belong to your father, but there will come a time where Pride turns its back on me. The cave has shown me the truth, Jessie. More truth than I ever wanted.”
The fire in his eyes died, leaving only the warm liquid brown I loved so much. The tension in his shoulders evaporated, and his fists unclenched. “Truth? What—”
“Don’t,” he said quickly. With a somewhat sheepish smile, he added, “It’s not something I’m ready to talk about. If you wait, I will tell you. Eventually. But right now, if you push me, I won’t be able to control myself.”
“Okay…” It was anything but okay, but what could I do?
“You were right. There is something I’m not telling you.” His top lip curled into a disgusted scowl. “There’s so much a lot of people aren’t telling you. That’s just one of the many reasons you are a trigger for me, Jessie. I hate it. I hate that there are these things between us I can’t say. Things you deserve to know.”
“Why—”
He clamped his hand across my lips. “In time, you will know. No matter what, I will make sure you learn the truth. But right now, you need to let it go.” He took a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment. When he opened them, there was the smallest hint of red rimming his irises. “I know now that I will always battle this darkness. My fight will always be taxing. But I can do it. If you promise to let this go, if you love me enough to trust me, I will fight.”
It was cryptic and sounded like a disaster in the making, but I nodded. I had volumes of information stashed in all the deepest pockets of my brain. Indexes and lists a city block long of things that went bump in the night. Demons that could kill you in the most horrific ways. I would have gladly chosen to battle any of them to the death. I would always choose the devil I knew over the one I didn’t.
Always, except this once. “Okay. I won’t ask. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.”
A loud crack sounded, and after what felt like plunging down a bottomless abyss, we were standing side by side in the main room again. The demon-girl was gone, and so were the doors, which I knew should have been a little disturbing, but I was too distracted by the room in front of me. The wall that previously held the Sin doors was gone, and the room was bigger. Much bigger. Like a safety deposit vault, the corridor fanned out in front of us, lined with boxes, and had no end in sight.
I took a step forward, transfixed on the immense storage space before us. “I, um, guess that means we passed?”
“You think the prison is in here somewhere?”
“In here?” No freaking way. I was going to scream. “If it is, I think we’re screwed. We’ll never find Asmodeus’s prison in there.”
No sooner did I close my mouth than a horrible creaking filled the air. All I could think about was the booby trap in the witch archives. That had ended badly. In the Shadow Realm, it would be twenty times worse. There was a bright flash and an explosion. The blast rocked the ground and sent Lukas and me to our knees as what looked like storm clouds gathered above our heads.
“Oh. That can’t be a good sign,” I said, head tilted upward.
Lukas looked up. “I hate when you say that…”
Complete with lightning, the clouds thickened, staying right above our heads. There was a boom like thunder, and a high-pitched scream slightly similar to the sounds we’d heard when we first entered the cave.
“Look out!” Lukas knocked me aside as something fell from the center, crashing to the ground in another massive clap of bone-jarring thunder. A moment later, the clouds dissipated, and the thunder ceased. Poof. It was like the whole thing had never happened. “Is that…”
I touched the tip of my index finger to the small metal box between us. Like the door knob, it was warm and hummed with powerful energy. The prison. It had to be. “I think it is.”
“Gives new meaning to ask and you shall receive.” He touched the edge of the box, then jerked his hand away as though he’d been burned. He climbed to his feet and helped me up, then took a step back. “That thing is—I don’t want to touch it.”
I looked from him to the prison. “Get a bad vibe?”
“Actually, I get a good one.” He eyed the box. His expression was hungry. Like at any moment he would dive for it and make a breakneck dash for the exit.
I stepped between him and the thing and took both his hands. With one good squeeze, I said, “What’s going on?”
“That’s Asmodeus’s prison, and he’s angry. Wrathful. I may not hold Wrath in my soul anymore, but it will always be there.” Guilt was evident in every twitch of his eye. I knew he was remembering what had just happened. “I will always sense it. It was a part of me for so long, and there are bits of me that want it back. To feel that kind of fire again.” He shook his head and took another step away. “No. You need to carry that out.”
The kind of fear I saw in his eyes as he glared at the box made my chest constrict. I could see it. His desire to be a part of it again. It wasn’t fair that when Meredith cursed him to the box, she made him an unwilling addict of sorts. He was free from the prison but missed a rush he’d never asked for.
“It’s okay. I can carry it.” I picked up the box and the walls changed again…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What is that?” Lukas came up beside me, tense. In front of us, where the tunnel had been was now a dead end. A quick peek over my shoulder revealed that the seven doors were gone, too. They’d been replaced with a simple cave wall covered in Vile Root gunk.
Floating in the middle of it all was us—and a hulking red shadow. Similar to the true form I’d seen of the little girl, it was shapeless and wispy.
“I dunno,” I said, looking at the thing from tip to toe. It had to be at least eight feet tall and had the width of a pro football player. Completely crimson, the edges wafted like smoke, curling around its body, sending small tendrils puffing upward. I swallowed back a lump of fear and gave Lukas a small nudge in the thing’s direction. “You wanted to play guard dog, right? Why don’t you go over and scratch behind its ears? Maybe you can make a new friend.”
He dug his feet in and shook his head. “I don’t see any ears.”
“Well, then give him a belly rub. Smokey loves those.”
“I think I’ll pass,” he said coolly.
Well, someone had to do something. We were running out of time. I made a move to step forward, but the shadow thing shrieked. It seemed to puff up, getting impossibly bigger, then dove for us.
“Look out!” Lukas yelled, shoving me sideways. The whole pushing thing was getting old.
I was clear, but Lukas ended up right in the path of the demon. It crashed into him, it’s body dissolving into semitransparent smoke that engulfed his entire form. It churned around
him like a tornado, lifting his feet from the ground. It must have been sucking out all the air, because he was clutching at his throat and thrashing.
I rushed forward and tried to pull him out of it, but when my fingers came in contact with the smoke, it felt like someone had pulled all the air from the room. I stumbled back, choking.
“Craps,” I cried, and tried again, but it was pointless. Same result. Coughing and sputtering for air. Force wasn’t going to win this. I had to be smart.
The demon laughed. A disembodied sound that seemed to be coming from all around me. “Leave the box behind, and I will release him.”
“Release him and I’ll leave the box,” I challenged. Obviously, I had no intention of handing the thing over, but hey, it was worth a try.
“What if I were to tell you that his death would ensure your survival?” the thing said. Great. More veiled information. These guys should take out a patent. “That his end now would spare you unimaginable pain.”
“I would probably tell you that I’m a live-life-on-the-edge kinda girl.” I took a step forward and squared my shoulders. “Let. Him. Go.”
The demon laughed, and Lukas’s thrashing grew less forceful. He was going to suffocate if I didn’t find a way to get him out of there.
Then it came to me.
It was a gamble, after what had just happened with the other demon, but I was out of options. I hesitated for a second—maybe two—before reaching out and thrusting my hand into the smoke around him. I couldn’t reach Lukas, but that was fine. I didn’t need to.
The air left my lungs in a single, painful pull. It was like being ripped inside out. I collapsed, managing to keep my hand in the smoke. The demon roared and released him, splitting into two parts, then soaring toward the ceiling and reforming.
I said a silent thanks. They were sworn to leave me unharmed, for whatever reason. Except for the little girl, they’d all complied. If this one was to obey orders, it couldn’t keep Lukas trapped because it would have killed us both. He fell to the ground, and we both gasped for air.
The red smoke zoomed toward the ground again, then gathered in a whirl and rocketed off toward the far wall. When it hit, it sank into the rocks, disappearing.
I got to my feet. “Are you okay?”
Lukas nodded. “You?”
“I guess we’ll see,” I said, eyeing him.
“You’re worried about what the demon said.” It wasn’t a question. If the chill factor in his voice was physically sensory, I’d have been a hunk of ice.
I didn’t answer. What could I say? That all the little hints these bastards were dropping, ones to distract us and cause trouble, were starting to get to me? There had to be some truth to it all. That was just how this worked. I would have been an idiot to ignore it completely.
He threw up his hands, a twisted smirk creasing his lips. “You found me out. I’m only here to get you to fall head over heels, then do you in when you least expect it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do me in? Don’t you remember the conversation we had about outdated sayings?”
He came close, stopping just shy of touching me. “I would rather lay down in a sea of brimstone than hurt you, Jessie. You do know that, right?”
I did know that. Didn’t I? Still, it didn’t stop the deep-seated fears from running rampant inside my head. “Demons can’t lie.”
He cupped the side of my face and sighed. “But they can twist things. You know that better than anyone.”
Again, he made a good point, but just because you didn’t want to hurt someone, didn’t mean you wouldn’t. I bent down to pick up the box. When my fingers touched the metal, it sent a tingle up my arms.
There was a horrible noise behind us. When I turned, I saw that the cave walls were shifting again.
Chapter Thirty
“Thank God.” Mom rushed forward, followed closely by Dad. He wasn’t bleeding anymore and seemed to be completely recovered. “What happened?”
“We got it.” I held up the box and tried not to shiver when something like current raced from my fingertips up to my shoulder. The longer I held on to this thing, the stronger it seemed to get.
We crossed the threshold of the cave, and I’d never been so happy to be looking up at the Shadow Realm’s starless, inky sky.
“Just in time.” Dad watched the horizon for a moment before looking upward and taking a deep breath. Pointing to the stone around her neck, he said, “Your time is up, Klaire. You have to leave.”
She fingered the pendant and frowned. Knowing Mom, she was disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see any more of the Shadow Realm. I could almost picture her on some cheesy monorail tour, seeing the sights and getting all goofy about it. Probably even wanting to bring back a souvenir. “Okay. Let’s get moving then.”
Dad didn’t move. “No. Lukas and I are staying. You and Jessie take the box and do what you need to do. Get Kendra back safely and take care of the demon.”
Mom’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to protest, but a chilling howl split the air. There was a slight tremor, followed by another, louder howl.
Dad pushed her toward me. “Lucifer sent his hounds. Lukas and I will keep them from following you.”
“No way. We all go together.” I set the box on the ground and stormed over to him. On the horizon, there was a mass of black dots. Howling. Lucifer’s hounds. Too many to count. There was no way they could hold them off alone.
“Damnit!” Dad snapped, furious and demonic. “Get your mother out of here now.”
The herd surged forward and was on us before I could argue. The first one lunged at Dad. With a feral snarl, he grabbed it around the waist and threw the thing to the ground, following it down with a brutal blow to the head. The demon’s skull caved like porcelain, folding in on itself as the black blood oozed down its lifeless face.
The next charged Lukas, but he was too preoccupied with me.
“Jessie!” he yelled.
Something silver flew at me. His blade. I caught it just as the hound reached him. He went down hard beneath it, and I rushed to him, but he had it under control. Fortunately, we were out of the cave. He, Dad, and I were back to normal.
Lukas wrapped his arms around its neck and jerked his entire body to the right. The hound’s neck twisted with the sickening crack of broken bones. He rolled the creature’s massive body off his own as the rest of the herd arrived, the look in his eyes matching Dad’s.
Demonic.
He raced to Dad’s side as a scream tore from his throat. It held an otherworldly echo, and in that moment, I knew his transformation had been complete. The human Lukas Scott was officially dead. Just in time, too. Because Lukas Scott, the demon? He was a huge helping of badass, and as badly timed as it was, I found the whole thing hot as hell.
Two hounds leaped at Mom and me. She shoved me backward and stumbled away as they sailed between us. Recovering quickly, they hit the ground and came at us, one zeroing in on her, and the other on me.
I adjusted my grip on Lukas’s knife and couldn’t help smiling. “Dad’s super selfish. He wanted to have all the fun himself.”
Mom’s shoulders shook in a silent laugh as she yanked an arrow tipped with quartz powder from the quill on her back. She widened her stance and held it at the ready.
“Take your mother and go.” Dad roared as he downed another hound. Their numbers were increasing, and the horizon was full of even more. They were coming fast.
“You can’t possibly expect us to leave you,” Mom snapped. “We—” The nearest one leaped at her. The arrow hit her hound right between the eyes. On impact, the thing howled and convulsed, and a moment later burst into flames like one of the best Fourth of July shows you could imagine.
“They will follow.” Dad whirled on her as the hound in his grasp hit the floor, dead. “They will follow us across and overtake us. Lukas and I are stronger here. We can hold them off while you do what you need to with the box.”
Another hound lunged fo
r Mom, but Dad dived for it, knocking it aside. I tried not to cringe as he gripped a handful of its flesh by the neck and yanked, tearing its throat out.
“Once Lucifer sees that you’ve retrapped our enemy, he will call them off.” Dad turned to me. His gaze was intense and left no room for argument. “For the last time, go!”
That time I didn’t argue. I grabbed the box, then Mom, and shadowed us back home.
I’d been in a rush and hadn’t paid attention to my shadow, landing us on top of my desk. My arms flailed as I took a step, only to catch the edge and lose my footing, sending me and the box crashing to the floor. Mom was luckier. She caught herself in time, hopping down gracefully.
“Ma, please don’t be pissed at me.” I climbed to my feet and picked up the box. “You always tell me I’m not seeing the bigger picture. Well, Dad was right. They would have followed us. I didn’t wanna leave them any more than you did, but—”
She was in front of me in a second. Pulling me into a hug, she whispered, “I know, baby girl. I know. I’m proud of you. You made the right choice. The hard one.” She pulled away. “The one I couldn’t make.”
Despite the situation, I was totally beaming. I knew Mom was proud of me, but hearing her say it trumped everything.
“Come on,” she said, taking the box. With a nod toward the clock above the door, she sighed. “Let’s see if Cassidy can pull this off.”
…
The sun was about to rise by the time we got to the Archway. Cassidy was waiting for us, wearing her usual scowl and tapping her foot impatiently. “Took your time,” she snapped. “I suppose it’s not a big deal, since it’s not your daughter’s life on the line.”
If Cassidy didn’t watch her step, she wouldn’t make it out of this clearing alive—only it would be Mom, not Gressil, who did her in.
Always the pillar of restraint, Mom ignored the barb and asked, “How did you make out on finding a method to retrap him?”
The witch nodded and tapped her head. “I found the spell. We’re weaker, but with Kendra’s help, our combined magic should be enough to do the trick.”