Down in Flames Read online

  “Good, then I suggest you return to the palace and retire for the evening. It’s been a long day.”

  “I think I will,” I said. My mind raced at the knowledge that even if I did manage to escape, my time above ground would be brief; I would have both angels and demons after me. The angels didn’t want my help; they didn’t care about anything I had to say. How was I going to warn the Council about his plan if the Guardians killed me before I could explain the coming danger? All I knew was that I couldn’t count on them for help. I’d have to make it to the Garden myself.

  I turned away from him and summoned the same portal that had brought me here. The wave of my arm created a swirling vortex like a black hole that opened up on the palace steps. As I stepped into the sucking mist, Aidan’s voice echoed in the distance.

  “Sweet dreams,” he called after me. I could hear the smile on his lips and shivered at the uncomfortable juxtaposition.

  Yeah, sweet dreams, I thought. More like nightmares.

  I reappeared at the entrance to my bedroom and let my mind move on to nicer things, like what my family would be doing right now if I were home. My departure had been so abrupt and void of goodbyes, it left an empty hole inside my chest.

  Moments later, I had changed into my night-clothes and was tucking myself in to the massive four-poster bed. I felt very small against the mountain of pillows and would have given anything to be back in my own room, with the light of my lava lamp casting shadows on the wall. A sob started bubbling up within my chest and I quelled it with a sigh, laying my head against the bedsheet. Whatever light source there had been abruptly extinguished itself, leaving only the moon shining through the window to illuminate the darkness.

  I eventually fell asleep, dreaming of a blue-eyed boy that had marked my heart forever.

  Chapter Three

  Cold Day in Hell

  ML

  I missed the smell of warm laundry and soft blankets.

  I missed lazy Sunday mornings when the only thing I had to worry about was the grade on my next test. I’d been dreaming about him again; the memories were still so vivid. I could almost taste his kiss upon my tongue.

  Ah, Caleb…

  It had been three weeks since my trip to Stygia and I was no closer to finding a way to warn the people above ground. The blissful dream I’d been having was interrupted by the cruel, unpleasant truth. I was still trapped in Aidan’s castle, with his signet on my shoulder.

  The stone walls of my room were draped in a series of beautifully woven tapestries and much of the furnishings looked both expensive and comfortable at the same time. My bed too was beautiful, with lovely crimson draperies hanging from each corner of the massive four-poster. It was a bed fit for a king, or in Aidan’s twisted mind, a queen.

  The luxury was a lie, because it gave a false sense of freedom, but there was always a catch. Aidan had placed me in a room exactly across the hall from him. I didn’t like that at all. I didn’t like the proximity. I didn’t like knowing that he had that kind of access to me at all times.

  I opened my eyes to see Neveah sitting curiously on the edge of my bed staring at me. Her greasy blonde hair and mousy features hovered over me like a cat waiting for its master to wake up. It was one of the quirks she had, and I’d learned not to get too hung up on my privacy. I gasped in alarm at the sight of her rude awakening and then groaned, brushing the hair out of my face and rolling over on the mattress. “What do you want, Neveah?”

  “I brought you something,” she announced happily, dumping out what I thought was a bag of rocks onto my bedsheet. Neveah had a distinctly unpleasant aroma that resulted from refusing to bathe, and the smell of it rolling off her body stung my nostrils like Sulphur. It was stale and sour, which was one of the reasons I had a rule not to let her into my bedroom unannounced, but it was too late for that. Groaning loudly, I blinked my eyes to see what she was talking about and realized it was actually a pile of bones she’d collected through the night. Many of them had bits of ligament or flesh still attached and they stunk like death.

  “Oh, thank you,” I told her through clenched teeth, trying hard to restrain my horror. “It’s exactly what I wanted…”

  She leaned in close, so our faces were only a few inches apart, and then reached up to touch me on the nose. Boop!

  I grabbed her by the wrist before she could get away, but Neveah teleported across the room and started dancing in a circle like a drunken toddler. “What the hell? Can’t you see I’m trying to get some sleep?”

  She stopped dancing with her long, greasy hair hanging down in front of her eyes, long enough to turn around and say, “The Master sent me to get you. You’re going on another errand.”

  Her feet were bare and her clothes were stained and ripped, with blood and filth caked along the edges. It was impossible to tell whether that was a fashion statement, or if she’d merely finished disemboweling another drifter for her project.

  I groaned, sitting up properly on the mattress and stretching out my arms. “Oh? Where am I going this time?”

  What meaningless task would he have me do? I wondered casually. Would it have something to do with the ley lines? Or is he going to make me try and sway an alliance from the other Demon Lords?

  My red hair was falling in pieces from the braid I had plaited yesterday, so I unwrapped the woven stands and tried to come up with some other way to fasten it. I was getting sick of braids, but unfortunately it was the most logical way to maintain it.

  Neveah giggled as I set out about my work and replied, “I don’t know. He might have said something about Xibalba, I’m not sure. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

  My eyes flew open at the sound of my destination and I turned to her in shock. “Xibalba?”

  “Probably. The carriage will be here in an hour, so you might want to put on clothes.”

  Crap.

  He only sent me to Belphegor’s kingdom when something was the matter, because he knew I hated it. Of all the seven kingdoms, Xibalba was the absolute worst and on the farthest reaches of the Demonic Plane. The mountainous region was ruled by giants who used human sacrifices as their slaves. If Neveah was right, and I was indeed headed in that direction, it was going to be a very long day.

  “That’s so far away,” I grumbled pitifully.

  Neveah laughed as she continued dancing. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Belphegor won’t hold a grudge.”

  “Right, because that sound’s exactly like him,” I responded acidly as I threw my feet over the side of the bed. “Now get out of here so I can change.”

  Neveah continued dancing and ignored my request completely. I was getting frustrated with her and pointed to the door.

  “Neveah, get out!”

  Her violet aura swirled in an unconventional pattern, back inside itself and then reappearing elsewhere. I had seen few like it before, and they were usually accompanied by severe mental illness. I took it as a sign she was disturbed and that something wasn’t right with her mind. She made a face and then pranced over to me so she could push me hard into the closet as part of her acrobatic display. I caught the edge of the door frame before falling over as she skipped happily from my room. “Ugh…”

  I knew there was no getting out of it, so I quickly threw on a set of clothes and prepared for departure. It was similar to the one I’d worn before, with a few changes of my own design. The shoulder pauldron was required, as well as the boots, but after re-braiding my length of hair, I wrapped it around the back of my head like a crown and secured it with bobby pins. I also grabbed a pair of leather gauntlets and hid a knife into my boot beside my ankle. My stomach was doing backflips all the way down the hall to the loading bay, where Aidan’s carriage was docked and waiting. Mephistopheles stood there with the blue-tooth earpiece affixed to the side of his head and a clipboard in his hand.

  “Oh, great.”

  “Don’t look so surprised,” the demon mused with a little smile. “I’ll be accompanying you this morning t
o make sure there aren’t any slip-ups.”

  As obnoxious as I found him, Mephistopheles was next in line for the crown and therefore privy to certain privileges and responsibilities. Perhaps it was his similarity to Aidan that I found so disgusting, but that was the exact quality that made him next in the succession.

  I rolled my eyes and opened the door to climb into the large, black creature that had been compromised for transportation. I say, “creature” because it didn’t have any wheels. Instead there were six legs that protruded from the carriage and walked along like any other beast. Riding inside the mechanical spider was not the most comfortable way to travel and it always gave me motion sickness.

  The sleek black benches inside the cabin were neither comfortable nor practical, but they were attractive. In Avernus though, I supposed that was more important – it was all about keeping up appearances. Mephistopheles got in behind me and took his place on the opposite bench, setting his clipboard down on his lap. Moments later the room began to move and lurched us violently forward. “Now, Miss Hendricks, where exactly do you see yourself in five years?”

  HJ

  The carriage swayed as we crossed the border into Xibalba.

  Fumes and pungent chemicals rising from the ground below had made the sky turn red. But it was not beautiful like the sunset red: just dark and ominous as blood. Whole cities had been carved into the mountains in the distance with Ziggurat style buildings placed sporadically along the valley floor. Like any majestic building, it was built on the backs of slaves. What’s ironic though is that it didn’t have to be; they could have erected the building overnight with magic – that would have been so easy. The thing about demons however, was they wanted it done it that way, the hard way, because it was fun to watch people suffer.

  I fidgeted uncomfortably, in part from sitting still for so long, and in part because my gut kept telling me something was off. Aidan never sends me to Xibalba anymore because he knows I hate it. Something didn’t feel at all right about this. It was my least favorite place in the entire universe. I could die here. I could die over and over again; that’s what makes it terrible. The pain never stops.

  As the carriage climbed farther across the ground and eventually stopped at the ziggurat palace, I stepped out onto the dusty surface. It was a large structure, with giant steps running along the center to the top, and tiny human-sized slaves’ steps carved out sloppily on the side. I saw a few slaves pushing wheelbarrows or chiseling into the rock. Those were the lucky ones.

  What are they doing?

  After a moment of observation, I realized they were mining into the mountain face, pulling out crystal shards to reveal a stream of iridescent liquid that shined like silver. Even from this great distance, it seemed to glow with magic energy.

  The ley lines.

  Of course, Belphegor would be helping Aidan. All the Demon Lord’s would be involved. That was the whole point of having an alliance. I swallowed hard, looking back towards the palace compound when the carriage rolled to a stop.

  A massive cyclops ogre came over to the carriage and pointed towards the door. I scowled at him, unimpressed, and followed the instruction. Bleeding heads had been placed on spikes along the path, all alive in constant agony and screaming to be set free. Some of them had bits of skin that pulled back around their lips as they started to bloat and become discolored over time. I didn’t look at them. I didn’t want to see the fear and torture in their eyes.

  I wanted to get this over with.

  The carriage pulled away as I followed the cyclops into the palace grounds and I had to swallow the lump rising in my throat. He was nearly twice the height of a human man and had tusks growing out from the ridge along his jawline. At least he only has one head to worry about.

  The palace itself was built of clay and mud, adding to the pungent fumes in the air around us. We passed from room to room, and I glanced around to take in my surroundings. Everything was built to accommodate the giant ruling class, with the smaller humans working like mice in hidden tunnels. Belphegor was waiting for us in the throne room, both of his heads grinning at me.

  “Cloutus, you can go!” he barked out.

  The cyclops grunted and left with Mephistopheles so I was alone in the demon’s wake. I could sense the tension in the room between us at the memory of how I filled his belly with snakes the last time we crossed paths.

  “Welcome to Xibalba, Earthwalker,” the Demon Lord snapped. “I trust you found the palace easily and have been treated with appropriate hospitality?”

  “I guess so, but no one’s told me what I’m doing here yet.”

  “Well, I invited you,” he stated matter-of-factly, smiling at me with both his mouths. “Lucifer and I decided it’s time to elevate your training to the next level. Walk with me.”

  “Okay…”

  The fat around his stomach rolled along his waistline as he moved, leading me out of the throne room into a hallway. “He’s pleased with your training,” the Demon Lord stated coolly. “I get regular reports from him, you see. We both think you have the potential to do great things.”

  “Thank you?” I responded apprehensively.

  His smile faded as the hallway ended and opened to a fighting pit. Four men were fighting to the death on the inside as the Lord and I walked along the ring above. “I said you have potential, not that you’ll ever reach it. Something’s holding you back, isn’t it? Do you see these men below?” he motioned curiously. “Should I explain to you what’s happening?”

  I snorted, with a hand on my hip and looked over into the ring. “It’s not that original. What are you bribing them with, freedom? Or blowing off steam?”

  Belphegor chuckled at the sound of grunts and crashing down below. “It’s not quite that simple.”

  “For their own survival?” I asked him further. “Four go in, but only one comes out?”

  “They’re not fighting out of self-preservation,” the demon laughed. “In fact, they love each other. Before they died in the mortal world, they were brothers in arms and would have laid down their lives for one another. A comradery and love born only from battle.”

  Looking down at the men below me, I now saw the tears streaming down their face as one of them stabbed the other with his axe. When he went down a cheer went out across the crowd but the battle continued. “And now you’ve turned them on each other?”

  “In this competition, dying is the kinder outcome.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “That’s because you lack imagination,” Belphegor sneered. “Each man is trying to kill the others to save them from the punishment the lone survivor will receive.”

  My jaw fell open as I turned to him in horror. “And what is that?”

  “Something very special indeed, that I plan on delivering to them myself.”

  The tone in his voice led me to believe it was something terrible and it made my blood run cold. I swallowed hard and stood up straight to face him properly. “Alright, you’ve made your point. Aidan wants me to be ruthless and enjoy the job I’m doing. I’m still following his orders though, so why does it matter? You said my training was going well. I don’t really see the problem.”

  “Of course, you don’t. You can stay to enjoy the show or follow me out onto the terrace. I’ve set something up for you.”

  Another cheer went out from the crowd below as one of the men managed to decapitate another and held his head aloft, declaring himself the victor. Even as he did so, his face was pained with the loss of his brother – it was cruel. I suppressed the urge to gag and didn’t know whether to cheer or cry for them. Following the Demon Lord out of the ring, I chased after Belphegor towards the terrace.

  His massive body blocked the light from the entire tunnel, but when we stepped out onto the landing I saw the red clay walls that surrounded an open terrace. We stood on a sturdy wooden deck, about twenty feet above the ground, with a stairwell leading down around the side. There was a whip cracking in the
distance as a group of slaves came pushing wheelbarrows down below. Belphegor watched for a moment as I took in the brutality of it all and pointed to the opposite wall. “Over there,” he chuckled with amusement.

  I followed his gaze to where twelve execution pyres had been set up for display, raised on a wooden dais. On each of them was a man or woman blindfolded and gagged to the wooden post. None of them could see what was happening and they were terrified.

  “What is this?” I demanded angrily.

  “One last test,” Belphegor told me with a grin as he handed me a crossbow. “I want you to kill them. Use any means you see fit, but I expect them to all die screaming before noon.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s fun, the cells are full, and I’m starved for entertainment. Your skill has already been proven. This is about loyalty and following orders. Lucifer is concerned about your lack of enthusiasm.”

  My eyes narrowed infinitesimally as I rolled my neck, positioning the crossbow towards the execution pyre. My finger hovered over the trigger and I could feel waves of demonic energy wash over my body as it built up like static electricity.

  I hated the mind games and orchestrated tests to prove my loyalty. I was sick of acting like Aidan’s puppet – even if that’s exactly what he wanted me to be.

  I will not be his princess, I thought gritting my teeth. I will be a queen!

  Slowly, I engaged the crank and pulled back the string until it was cocked. Grabbing an arrow from the stack, I placed it in the barrel, aligned it, and nocked it securely in place. Two more times and the weapon was armed with a handful of bows ready to be loosed. A hush fell across the courtyard and time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. What to do? How could I inflict the most chaos and prove my point at the same time? The plan formed in a split-second. Smiling, I spun on my heel, aimed at the jailers, and shot three of them in sequence: Boom! Boom! Boom!

  “Argh!” They fell to their knees and collapsed, the bolts from my crossbow buried deep within their chests.

  Chaos erupted as the exterior doors flew open. Their compatriots came charging at me in a rage, furious that I’d attacked some of their own. After all, it was they who were supposed to enjoy the punishment. Their demonic auras swelled with bloodlust as they raced across the courtyard, not caring about the damage they suffered. I was outnumbered by a long shot and I knew Aidan would punish me, but I didn’t care.