Kobal
My shoulders heaved as blood from the lanavours I’d slaughtered trickled down my fists. Drops of it plopped onto the ground as I stared at the crumpling bar. River had done this; I didn’t have to witness it to know that she’d lit the building on fire, which meant she was afraid and somehow the lanavours had gotten inside.
My teeth grated together as Crux circled my feet with his hackles raised. Blood oozed from the large gash on the side of his head and across his muzzle from a blade one of the lanavours had stolen from its downed victim. Phenex sat at my side, watching her mate’s seething anger.
What remained of the demons and humans were gathered near the vehicles that hadn’t been destroyed by bullets. Fire shot from two of the trucks, and the others had gas leaking from them or tires now flat against the ground. Almost half of our numbers had been eradicated by the nightmare-devouring lanavours.
I had to get to River, but first we had to get rid of the bodies of those the lanavours had fed from. Otherwise the surviving lanavours would return for the dead they had created, slice off their ears, sew their mouths and eyes shut, and work whatever magic they used to get them to rise from the dead in order to become one of their ravenous own.
Striding across the ground, I grabbed the arm of Captain Timothy Tresden. His eyes were dull and unfocused when I turned him toward me. I didn’t have time to deal with his human bullshit right now.
“You’re to get the humans to gather all of the bodies and throw them onto the fire,” I commanded with a rough jerk on his arm when his eyes slid lifelessly away from me. He’d picked a bad time to mentally check out on me. “Listen to me or I’ll fucking kill you myself. Gather these bodies and put them on the fire, or we’re going to have a bigger problem to deal with!”
He blinked at me as a woman stepped forward. “I’ll make sure it’s done,” she said.
Releasing Tresden, I shoved him away from me and focused on the woman. “Some demons will remain here to help you, but I have to get into that building, and all of the dead have to be burned. There is no other option.”
“I understand.” She turned away from me. “Gather the dead!” she yelled at the crowd closing in around us. “Throw them onto the fire.”
“Shouldn’t we bury them?” someone protested.
“No, they must be burned,” she replied crisply.
Satisfied she had it under control, I turned away from her as humans and demons started to collect the dead. “Verin, Morax, stay with them and make sure the dead are taken care of,” I commanded.
“We will,” Morax replied, and the two of them hurried away to help gather the remains.
“We’re going to have to circle around and tear down one of the walls,” I said to Corson.
Corson’s talons were red with blood as he strode toward me. “There’s only one place for them to go to avoid the fire.”
My teeth grated together; my claws lengthened and dug into my palm. “I know.”
Turning away from him, I loped across the ground toward where the skelleins had gathered before the burning building. They had their arms around each other’s waists as they swayed back and forth in commiserating misery.
“Some of you help them burn the bodies!” I barked at them. “The rest of you come with us before I heave your bony asses onto the fire myself!”
They released each other and scrambled away. My heart thudded as I ran toward the back of the burning building and the room surrounding the gateway. Terror like I’d never known drove me. I had to get to her, to stop her before she could enter Hell.
The heat of the fire beat against my skin, but I barely broke a sweat as I moved faster than I’d believed possible with the hounds close on my heels. Arriving at the back of the building, I stopped at the wall on the far end. Flames were already crackling over the wood and snapping toward me.
No screams. No one is screaming inside.
The realization should have been reassuring; instead, it made my blood run cold. They’d gone into the gateway. Lucifer had gotten what he wanted by drawing the lanavours here. River was in Hell.
“Shit,” Corson breathed from beside me as Bale and Shax raced around the corner.
The hounds circled my legs, brushing against me as they moved between me and the burning wall. Striding forward, I ignored the flames eating at the wood as I rested my hands against the wall. Bale stepped beside me. As part fire demon, she didn’t have the ability to wield fire, but she could withstand its flames almost as well as I could. Her eyes met mine before she rested her hands against the wall and shoved with me.
The fire enveloped me as I dug my feet into the ground to get better leverage. It surged over my skin, but though I felt the heat of it, it didn’t burn me. With an ominous creaking sound, the wall started to sway inward. Something gave way with a loud crack before the wall fell straight to the ground.
I stepped back as flames shot up like a geyser and sparks danced high into the air. The wall to the right released a strange keening noise before it bent forward and crumpled to the ground in a wash of heat that rolled over the ruined earth. With two walls broken away from it, the ceiling came down with a resounding crash. Beams bounced across the ground and some spiraled away into the pit.
“River!” I bellowed when I realized they would be heading toward her.
The hounds leapt through the flames and raced forward to circle the gateway. The flames and sparks caught at my clothing when I walked through them. They burned away the bottom of my pants and melted the soles of my boots as charred spots spread across my shirt. I tossed and kicked aside burning boards to clear a pathway through the debris for the others.
Stepping up to the edge of Hell, my boots kicked dirt and rocks into the pit. The rocks clattered against the jagged sides as they spiraled away into nothing.
I could feel River in there, moving further away from me. How far will she be able to go? The humans wouldn’t be able to withstand the fires of Hell for long, but she wasn’t human, not entirely.
“We have to go.” I rested my hands on the heads of the hounds, drawing them back into me.
Beside me, Corson pulled the earrings from his ears and tossed them aside. I didn’t look back at him or the others as I broke into a loping run that ate up the ground beneath me.
With every step River took, the more likely she would be to end up in Lucifer’s clutches.
***
River
“Look out!” Hawk shouted.
Frightened cries echoed around me as flaming boards went flying by. I flattened my back against the jagged rock wall lining the road. The flames on the boards sputtered as they plummeted past us. Leaning over, I watched as what remained of the boards lit the spiraling road descending deeper into the pit before the fires went out.
“The ceiling collapsed,” Erin said from beside me.
“Kobal,” I breathed.
My head tipped back, but the darkness around us was so complete I could barely see a hundred feet above me, never mind the thousands of feet we’d already traversed. The small penlights a few people had barely pierced the gloom around us.
“They’re coming!” someone from the back of the group called. I’d taken over leading the group deeper into Hell with Hawk, Vargas, and Erin. We knew what was behind us, we had no idea what awaited us ahead.
Those words spurred me into action once more. I wiped a strand of damp hair from my eyes and took a deep breath of the muggy air. This place smelled of something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Like fire and maybe brimstone, though I had no idea what brimstone smelled like, but something sulfuric burned my nostrils with every breath I took.
I kept expecting my lungs to burn with every breath, but that didn’t happen. It became increasingly hotter with every step. My breath came in ragged pants, and sweat coated my body, but I believed that was due more to exertion than my environment. My throat burned with thirst, but Hawk and I fared better than any of the other humans who were already beginning to tire behind us.
The small beams from the penlights played over the black rock beneath us as we ran. Grabbing Hawk’s arm, I tugged him back when I spotted a side tunnel carved into the rock wall. Stones kicked out from beneath his abrupt stop. They bounced against the walls as they fell away into nothing. I was acutely aware that I never heard them hit bottom.
“Look,” I whispered and pointed at the tunnel.
Hawk’s gaze followed my finger. He gave a brief nod before gesturing for the large group to enter the tunnel. “Go on,” he said to me when they were tucked securely inside.
I shook my head and motioned for him to go ahead of me. I held my hands up before me. “I still have these as a weapon. I’m going to torch their asses straight off this road and into that pit.”
Hawk grinned at me before slipping into the little tunnel. I followed behind him, squeezing in between the jagged black rocks lining the tunnel. My head tipped back against the rocks. Sweat trickled down my forehead, but I didn’t wipe it away as I waited for the approaching lanavours.
The flow of life down here was different than what I was used to, but I could feel it brushing against my body as I drew it into me. There was nothing golden about the sparks sliding over my fingers now; they were a deep midnight blue shade. Digging my fingers into the wall, I willed the power back into me before our stalkers could see the light from it.
The lanavours made no sound when they neared, but I could feel the coldness they emanated and the emptiness of their souls as they approached. Then, the first one stepped into view. I didn’t dare move as I watched the hideous creatures floating over the ground not more than five feet away from me.