Tim opened his mouth to reply, but I never heard the words he spoke. The demon that I’d seen earlier that day ripped open a hole in the fabric of being, wrapped both arms around me, and jerked me backward, away from reality as I knew it.
Chapter Eight
The voices were the first thing I noticed. They were oddly familiar.
“Is everyone here? Did we all make it?”
“I’m here, although I’m fair starving to death. Someone lend me a hand. Or a foot. A thigh or two wouldn’t go amiss, either.”
“I am ici, as well. Zut alors! Qu’est-ce le hell?”
“Papa says they prefer Abaddon to hell,” a childish voice said. I recognized it immediately as Damian.
“Do you think Ysabelle is all right? She is very still.”
That had to be Tim. I was warmed by the concern in his voice, but a bit puzzled by my eyelids’ apparent inability to move. They felt as if lead weights had been anchored to them.
“Is she dead?” William’s voice was shamelessly hopeful and not in the least bit muffled, which meant Damian must have taken him out of the carrier bag. “Dibs on her if she is.”
“It would take a lot more than a demon yanking me through the fabric of existence to kill me,” I answered without thinking. A moment later I sat bolt upright, staring around wildly as my memory returned. “The demon!”
“It went bye-bye avec my boot on its derierre,” Sally told me, hovering over me with a worried look in her eyes. “Vous okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” I got to my feet, feeling a bit dizzy by the experience of having been pulled through to who knew where. “Erm…would someone like to tell me why you’re all here? I don’t seem to remember the demon grabbing everyone, and the last I saw of you lot, you were about to get into a taxi.”
“We came with you.” Sally patted me carefully, as if looking for broken bones or injuries. “All right, vous are not hurt.”
“Thank you for that checkup, Dr. Sally.”
She sniffed and tossed her hair. “C’est my job, if you recall.”
“For which I’m very grateful,” I said, giving her a little hug. “Now that explains how Sally got here, but what of the rest of you?”
Damian adopted an innocent look that was wholly at odds with his character. “Sally had a hold of me when she grabbed you. I had William.”
“When I saw them hauled away with you and the demon, we jumped in after you all.” Tim beamed happily at me. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he had probably signed his death warrant, but I couldn’t reward such an act of selflessness and bravery with a dire prediction.
“Where exactly are we?” I asked, looking around. We seemed to be in some sort of dimly lit cave alcove. Large outcroppings of rock obscured the view, but odd patterns of light danced high on the wall behind me. My stomach tightened as I moved to the entrance of the alcove, stepping clear of the rock.
Fire. There was fire everywhere. Not just little campfires, the sort I’d learned to act completely normal around…no, this cavern was filled with great pools of fire, burning from some unknown underground source. Snaking between the great, billowing flames, a stone walkway meandered to the far end of the cavern, where a plateau held what appeared to be an office, complete with desk, chairs, bookcases, and a couple of filing cabinets.
“Oh, God’s mercy, we’re in Abaddon,” I said as my lungs began to struggle for air.
“No, although I suppose it’s easy to see why you could imagine that.”
I whirled around at the mild voice that spoke behind me, my hand already at my throat. The sight of the flames, the smell of the smoke, threatened to overwhelm me. Desperately, I fought to keep under control the panic that welled within me. “Who are you?”
“I am Simon,” the demon said. It appeared in human form, that of a young man with a weak chin and blond goatee. The demon waved its hand toward the narrow path. “I am the steward to Asmodeus. I have never met a tattu before—it is a great honor to have you here.”
“Where is here if not Abaddon?” I asked.
“This is my lord Asmodeus’s home. He prefers this design to the mundane houses, but technically, we are within the boundaries of London.”
“This is all just an illusion, then?” Tim asked, looking around the huge, smoke-filled cavern.
The demon hesitated a moment. “In a manner of speaking, yes. This location is actually in a house, but it has been altered to an appearance more pleasing to my lord.”
“Damian, come stand by me,” I said softly, holding out my hand for him.
Damian rolled his eyes, picked up William’s head, and reluctantly joined me. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, giving the demon a firm look to let it know I would defend the child at all costs.
“I wonder, what does demon taste like?” William’s head asked no one in particular.
“Duck, I’m told,” Simon answered, then gestured again toward the path. “If you please? Lord Asmodeus is most eager to meet you.”
I glanced at the huge pits ablaze with the fires of hell, and shook my head. “Illusion or not, I’m staying right where I am.”
Simon tipped its head to look at me. “Afraid of the fires, are you? That’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
“How so?” I asked, one eye on the nearest conflagration. I felt sick to my stomach at its nearness, my psyche shrieking to get out of there by any means possible, but I couldn’t leave Damian and my friends.
“I believe I’ll let my lord answer that. If you please?”
I took a deep breath. “You can tell Asmodeus that I’m not going anywhere, and if he wants to talk to me, he can just get his pox-riddled behind over here to—”
A noise unlike anything I’ve ever heard in this world or the next shook the cavern, echoing off the high stone walls, doubling and tripling on itself. The flame pits erupted in bonfires that nearly touched the ceiling, the fire and horrible scream almost enough to bring the entire structure down upon us. I pulled Damian behind me, trying to shield him as I backed up against the wall and prayed the glamour or whatever was being used to create this illusion was strong enough to protect the physical world from this nightmare.
Eventually, the noised died down, and the flames dropped to their normal level. My hands shook as I dusted off Damian, making sure he wasn’t injured before turning to face the demonic steward.
Simon glanced nervously toward the distance corner of the cave. “I respectfully suggest you not anger my lord again. He does not take well to being told what to do.”
“He can bite my shiny pink—”
Sally shut up with a look from me, but she muttered several rude threats in her odd mixture of English and mangled French. I examined my options quickly and decided that I really didn’t have a choice.
“Fine. I will go speak to Asmodeus. But he must first release my friends.” Sally, Tim, and Jack all protested, but I held up a hand to stop them, keeping my gaze firmly on Simon. “I will go just as soon as my friends are released, but not before.”
I half expected another roar from the demon lord, but to my surprise, Simon smiled. “But, my good lady, your friends are not prisoners here. They may leave at any time.”
“They may?” I blinked a couple of times, then glanced at the fire pits. There had to be a trick somewhere. “Very well. You will escort them out. Once they are safely outside this building, I will see Asmodeus.”
The demon gave me a look that said it was humoring me, but put two fingers in its mouth and blew a sharp whistle. A small demon in running shorts and a dirty T-shirt appeared before it. “Wassup?”
“These people…er…revenents, Dark One, and spirit need escorting outside. See to it.”
The little demon looked curiously at me, its eyes opening wide when it noticed my double souls. Its lips pursed together, but before my friends could protest again, it ripped open the fabric of being, shoving them through it with one last look at me.
“How do I know they’re safe?
” I asked, immediately seeing the flaw in my hastily thought-up plan.
Simon rolled its eyes, and gently shoved me toward the path. “Asmodeus has no interest in them. Mind the lava.”
“Lava. Such a quaint touch,” I murmured as I stepped carefully over a thin trickle of molten rock, careful to stay as far away from the raging pits of fire as was possible. I am not ashamed to admit that there were two times on the journey across the cavern floor where I came close to turning tail and bolting, but each time Simon seemed to sense my rising panic, and stopped long enough for me to regain composure.
“Here we are, then, all safe and sound. Well…for the moment.” Simon’s smile as we crested the plateau was feeble even by demonic standards, and did nothing to promote a feeling of security. “My most gracious lord, the tattu is here.”
For the most part, my life has been sheltered. I’ve seen monarchs and politicians rise to power and fall away into obscurity. Radicals, geniuses, madmen…they’ve all crossed my path at some time or other. But with very few exceptions (Sally being one of them), they have all been mortal. The Society has been a recent phenomenon, forming a shy fifty years ago, and although my work there has afforded me a chance to mingle with other immortal beings, I seldom do. Asmodeus was the first demon lord I’d ever seen, and I had to admit that I was somewhat disappointed by the mundane appearance of the man who rose from behind a desk to greet me. He could be any fifty-something businessman crowded into the London tube, clutching a briefcase and a copy of a morning paper.
“If you like, I can adopt a more fearsome appearance,” he told me, apparently reading my mind. “And no, I can’t read your mind. That, to my great regret, has been a skill that has eluded me.”
I blinked twice. “If you can’t read minds, then how did you know what I was thinking?”
He reached out to touch my face. I took a step backward, out of his reach. Simon said something about attending to other business and slipped out a door built into the rock wall.
Asmodeus’s hand fell. He propped one hip up on his desk, his arms crossed as he considered me. “I am quite adept at reading expressions, and your look of surprise at my mortal appearance presented no difficulty in interpreting. Do I frighten you?”
I swallowed hard, ignoring the urge to look behind me at the room filled with fire while wondering whether I could pull off a bald-faced lie. I’ve never been good at deceit, so I decided to go with honesty. “Very much so. What exactly do you believe you are going to do with me? I am a Beloved, bound to a Dark One.”
“You are tattu,” he said simply, falling silent for a moment.
I willed my body into quietude despite the horrible need to fidget…if not outright run away screaming at the top of my lungs.
“You have that rarest of things, a perfectly pure soul.”
“I have two pure souls,” I said, throwing caution to the wind.
“No, you have the soul you were originally born with and the second, which I assume was granted at a rebirth. The first is flawed; it is the second that I desire.”
“You can’t have it.” I rallied enough inner strength to carry my trembling legs over to a chair, which I sat down upon in a sudden manner that belied my brave words. “It’s mine. They both are, flawed or not. They’re mine, and I have no intention of giving up either.”
“Do you have any idea what a perfectly pure soul means to me?” he asked with deceptive mildness—deceptive but for the sudden light of unholy greed that shone in his eyes. Just meeting his gaze took a year or two off my life. I looked down at my hands, which were clutching each other. Chills ran down my back and legs, my stomach tightening into a leaden wad.
I shook my head.
“A soul affords me power. But a perfectly pure soul, one untainted by its bearer, can provide me with almost unlimited power. With a soul such as yours in my possession, my ascension to the throne of Abaddon is guaranteed.”
My stomach roiled at the thought of my beautiful clean soul being soiled and ultimately destroyed in Asmodeus’s attempt to become premier prince of hell.
“You can’t have it,” I said in a low voice, gripping the arms of the chair so hard my fingernails bent. “I will go back to the Akashic Plain before I allow you to destroy something so good.”
He smiled, and for a second, I saw his true form. A red wave swept down over my vision, blinding me, stripping me of air and thought and, for a brief moment, the desire to live.
I never thought of you as a quitter, a soft voice said, imbuing me with feelings of being loved and cherished and valued above all things.
Sebastian?
I am here, Beloved. I will be with you momentarily. Do not allow Asmodeus to frighten you. I will not allow any harm to come to you.
Where have you been? Why haven’t you talked to me? You left and I couldn’t mind-talk with you.
Regret mingled with sorrow leeched into my brain. I apologize. I was indisposed. But now I am back, and together, we are more powerful than you can imagine. His mind brushed mine with an emotion that I couldn’t mistake.
Do you always fall in love with women so quickly? I asked, half joking.
You are the only one, Belle.
Where are you?
Near. I will be with you in a few minutes.
I lifted my chin, and kept my gaze steady on Asmodeus. “I don’t see that we have anything further to discuss. I have no intention of relinquishing my soul to you, and there is no way you can force me to do it.”
He smiled again, but this time I was ready for it.
Good girl, Sebastian said, his thoughts full of approval. You have been tempered. You can withstand this.
“I hate to disappoint such faith, my dear, but time grows short.” Asmodeus raised his voice. “Simon, bring in Orinel.”
The door opened just enough for Simon to poke his face through the crack. “My lord, there has been a…an unforseen event.”
Asmodeus frowned. “Spare me your gibberish and summon Orinel and its prisoner to me.”
If it were possible for a demon’s face to grow pale, Simon’s did. “Er…my lord…”
The door burst open at that moment, sending Simon flying into the room. He landed in a heap at my feet, but made no move to rise. I stood slowly as a man entered the room, moving as silently as panther. A blond panther.
“Asmodeus. I would be lying if I said it was a pleasure to meet you again,” Sebastian said, holding out a hand for me. I stepped over Simon’s inert form and took his hand, his fingers tightening around mine. “Although I admit to looking forward to this moment for a very long time.”
The demon lord frowned a second time. “Where is Orinel?”
“The demon has been destroyed.” Sebastian lifted his hand to show the ring of power on his thumb. “I believe I took it by surprise, since it spent a good five minutes before I dispatched it telling me of your plan to capture me and use me to force Belle into compliance.”
At the sight of the ring, a red light shone in Asmodeus’s eyes, but it quickly faded into one of speculation.
“That ring was destroyed.”
“It was remade.”
Asmodeus nodded. “The folly of alchemists and their precious carmot. Very well, we are at an impasse. You have my ring of power, and I have your Beloved. How do you suggest we proceed?”
Sebastian released my hand and pulled me close to his side. “Belle and I will leave with the ring in our possession. You will be allowed to continue as you are, until such time as you attempt to harm either of us. At that point, I will use the ring to destroy you just as I have done your minion.”
Is the ring powerful enough to destroy a demon lord?
In the right hands it is.
Asmodeus looked thoughtful for a moment. “That is not acceptable. I, however, have a solution to the situation. In exchange for your Beloved’s extra soul, a soul, I might point out, she has no need or use for, I will swear an oath to never harm you or your families.”
Sebastian wa
s shaking his head even before the demon lord stopped talking.
I took a step away before Sebastian could refuse Asmodeus’s ridiculous suggestion. Unless I did something, I knew the situation would deteriorate quickly.
“I just want to make sure I have this all straight in my mind,” I said quickly. I backed up a couple of steps until my back was to the fiery hell pits. “You’re not going to let us walk out of here unless I relinquish one of my souls, are you?”
Asmodeus pursed his lips. “No. Sebastian may hold the ring of power, and he may possess enough power to use it against me, but he would be destroyed in the attempt. You are his Beloved. He will not do anything to endanger you, including bringing his own life to an end.”
I looked at Sebastian. The truth was in his eyes.
Do not listen to his lies. I have power enough to destroy him.
I know you do, I answered gently. But I also knew that Asmodeus spoke the truth…the attempt would end in Sebastian’s destruction as well, and that I could not tolerate.
I looked at the cavern that yawned behind me, at the still-inert demon lying at the feet of the chair, at the man and the demon lord before me. A time had come that I suddenly felt as if I’d been waiting for all the years of my life. I prayed that what I was about to do would work. If it didn’t…well, I’d been through that, as well.
“There is only one path open to me.” My heart sang as I acknowledged the emotions that had been blossoming since I had first seen Sebastian. I know you haven’t asked me, and it’s only been a short time that we’ve known each other, but somehow, I’ve fallen in love with you. I never thought I would willingly sacrifice myself for another, but you are more important than even my life.
Belle—he started to say, but I held up a hand to stop him.
“A soul cannot be taken away by force,” I said, my love for him all but bursting from me. “It must be freely given. Sebastian de Mercier, I do willingly cede unto you my soul. Bear it with all the love I have for you.”