River
It launched itself toward me with a wet-sounding bellow. I danced backward to avoid its swiping grasp, but it moved far faster than I’d expected, given its condition, and my head felt like someone had bashed it with a hammer. Its claws enveloped my ankle, jerking me forward and knocking me off my feet.
My back crashed onto the ground, and I once again lost the ability to breathe. My head swam sickeningly, but I managed to remain conscious as I kicked out at the creature. Its claws sliced through the skin around my ankle; blood spilled down my foot to drip onto the ground. Pooh grunted excitedly. It jerked me up and down as it dug deeper into my flesh.
Fire burst over my fingertips, and I directed a blast of it at the creature once more. It had as much impact on it this time as it had the first time. Hawk jumped forward to try to help, but Pooh swung out with his free hand and backhanded Hawk across the face. Flung off his feet, Hawk crashed into one of the glass cages. Some of the prisoners rose from their seats to rest their palms against the glass as they eagerly looked on.
I kicked out again, swinging my free leg in the air and catching hold of the arm holding my ankle. Instead of knocking its hold on me free, it dug deeper into my muscle. It would slice my foot off if this kept up. I kicked frantically as I tried to calm my racing heart in order to draw on the life around me.
Another loud roar filled the air, but this one hadn’t come from the creature holding me. The walls of the tent vibrated with rage, and for the first time, I saw dread in the eyes of the thing holding me.
I didn’t have time to register what was going on before Kobal came around the end of the aisle and ran toward us with a speed I’d never imagined possible. His thick muscles bunched and flexed; his eyes were a brilliant amber as he charged the creature.
My back crashed onto the ground, my teeth bit into my bottom lip when Pooh abruptly released me, apparently having decided fleeing for its life was the better option. I didn’t blame it; I half wanted to flee from the fury in Kobal’s eyes too. Kobal leapt forward, soaring across the distance separating them, and landed on Pooh so forcefully they staggered into the gallapos demon’s cage.
The gallapos lifted its wrinkly brow, but that was the only reaction it showed to Kobal twisting Pooh’s neck to the side. Kobal was by far the most powerful demon I’d encountered, but Pooh had a good thousand pounds and three feet on him. A thousand pounds that didn’t slow Kobal as he jerked Pooh’s head backward, lifting the creature off its feet.
I gasped when it fell on top of Kobal, but he didn’t seem to notice its weight as his fingers dug into the large slash Hawk had inflicted on Pooh’s throat. The veins in Kobal’s arms stood out as he pulled backward, rending flesh from bone.
The creature slapped at Kobal over its back, its claws slicing at the air and at Kobal’s arms as it tried to free itself from his unrelenting grasp. A sickening, slurping, cracking sound filled the air before Kobal tossed the head aside and flung the body off him as if it weighed no more than me.
He rolled to the side and onto his feet in one fluid motion while I sat and gawked at him. His eyes landed on me; his shoulders heaved, and the outline of his fangs could be seen inside of his lips as he worked to regain control of himself. Despite the murderous air surrounding him, he was the most magnificent and welcome thing I’d ever seen.
I wanted to crawl across the floor and throw myself into his arms, but I didn’t think I would make it there right now. Instead, I maneuvered myself so my back rested against the bearded lady’s cage. My head continued to spin, and my ankle felt like it was on fire as blood pooled onto the ground beneath me, but I somehow managed to keep from passing out, so that was a bonus.
Hawk rose a few feet away from me. He leaned against the glass, ignoring the demon peering at him from behind the glass as he struggled to catch his breath. Kobal took a shuddering breath before stalking toward me. His charred shirt clung to him, little remained of his pants, and his boots looked as if he’d been walking through coals.
He went through the fire above, I realized.
The flames wouldn’t have hurt him, but he’d probably knocked or torn down part of the bar to get to me. Love filled me when he knelt before me. His eyes held mine as he wiped the blood dripping from his claws and coating his hand on the ground. Reaching out, his claws retracted before he rested his palm tenderly against my cheek over what I knew had to be a large bruise forming there. I turned into his touch, absorbing the warmth of him. His other hand went to the gashes in my ankle, and his jaw clenched.
“I should have gotten here sooner,” he grated.
“You’re here now, that’s all that matters.” I placed my hand on his cheek. The gold of his eyes faded away and black filled them once more. “We had no choice, but to enter Hell. The fire and the lanavours were closing in on us.”
“I know.”
“The others, we had to leave them behind to try and draw the lanavours away. They couldn’t handle it in here. We have to find them and get them to safety.”
“We saw them. Shax is taking them back to the surface. They’ll be fine.”
“I can withstand it in here. I’m able to get through, and so is Hawk.”
His eyebrows drew together over the bridge of his aquiline nose. Before he could respond to me, Corson and Bale strode into one of the aisles, drawing his attention to them. They each held one of the barker’s arms as they led the smirking man down the aisle between them. Kobal’s nostrils flared, and a vein throbbed to life at the corner of his eye.
Slipping his arms gently around my back and waist, he held me against his chest as he rose. I placed my hands on his shoulders, moving closer to him as I instinctively sought to soothe the mounting tension in his rigid body.
The powerful flood of his life flowed into my body, easing my suffering and helping to staunch the blood spilling from my ankle. Kobal’s gaze drifted to the slices around my ankle, and his eyes narrowed as he took in the flesh rapidly knitting itself back together. His focus on my ankle drew the attention of the others.
Corson and Bale both looked like someone had slapped them upside the head. Hawk glanced between me and the wound and back again. His fingers fell absently against the side of his chest where Lilitu had sliced him open. Unlike Hawk, I knew my accelerated healing had nothing to do with demon blood and everything to do with my Chosen bond to Kobal and the increasing strength of my abilities.
The black of the barker’s eyes faded away to be replaced with a silvery color before the black swirled forth again. His gaze lifted from my ankle to me. The smug smile tugging at his thin lips made me want to deck the guy. Kobal’s hands tightened on me; I could feel the wrath running through him as his muscles swelled beneath my touch.
“Can I set him on fire?” I asked Kobal.
“Maybe later,” Kobal replied.
The barker rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I would have let it kill her, Kobal.”
Before I could stop him, Kobal adjusted his hold on me and snatched hold of the barker’s shirt. The man’s eyes widened as Kobal dragged him forward. Kobal’s lips skimmed back to reveal the glistening points of his four fangs. Corson and Bale took a step back as Kobal loomed over top of the man.
“You know what she is to me! You never should have allowed them to touch her at all!” Kobal snarled in a tone that made the hairs on my arms rise. The barker kept his face impassive as he held Kobal’s gaze. I had no idea who this guy was, but he was either completely insane, or he had balls of steel.
“I also know who she is,” the barker replied. “I had to see what she was capable of. I am not disappointed.”
His gaze traveled to my ankle, and for the first time, I looked at the slices there too. All that remained of the ugly gashes were scratches no worse than what a cat could inflict. My eyebrows rose as I realized I was healing even faster than I had above. I didn’t know if it was because my powers were continuing to grow, or if Hell itself was fueling the demon part of me now too.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you for what you allowed to happen to her!” Kobal spat and gave him a sharp shake.
“It would be your right,” the barker said. “But she’ll be good as new soon, and you know I’m a powerful ally—”
“You’re a coward who retreated from the battle when things got tough,” Bale interjected.
“Not true,” the barker replied.
“Then please, enlighten me,” Bale said.
“That would take centuries, Bale, and I’m afraid we don’t have that kind of time.”
I didn’t think I’d get a chance to set him on fire, or for Kobal to kill him, with the murderous look Bale gave him.
“Easy, Bale,” Corson said.
“Piece of shit!” Bale spat.
The barker merely focused on Kobal once more. “I am a powerful ally, and I’ve only gotten more powerful since coming here. As I said, I know what she is Kobal. I know who she is. If things had been different and she was my Chosen, you would have tested her too.”
Kobal set me gently behind him and stepped closer to the man. For the first time, true panic flashed in the barker’s eyes as Kobal’s hands twisted in his clothes. He dragged the barker’s face to within inches of his. I glanced back and forth between them as Kobal’s muscles swelled across his back and the symbols on his arms vibrated.
My gaze fell on the mark of Ziwa, the one that marked Kobal with a part of the hellhound’s soul and made him more volatile. The mark shifted and darkened in color. I swallowed as I recognized that Kobal was swiftly unraveling before me. I didn’t like the barker, and I’d happily kick him in the nuts up and down this carnival, but if he truly was a powerful ally, we could use him on our side.
“I am your king,” Kobal snarled. “I would have every right to test anyone I want or do anything to them that I chose to do. You had no fucking right to go anywhere near her.”
“You are right,” the barker replied and lifted his hands in a placating gesture that did nothing to relax Kobal. The barker’s eyes darted toward me, and I saw the plea for help within them.
I rested my hand on Kobal’s arm in an attempt to calm him. If we didn’t like what the barker had to say, Kobal could tear his head off and play kickball with it for all I cared, but for now, we had to hear him out. Kobal moved the barker a little away from him, but didn’t ease his grip on him.
“How do you know who I am?” I demanded of the man.
The barker lifted his head, and his gaze ran over me appraisingly before his eyes locked on mine. “Kobal’s followers have been whispering about the search for the progeny over the years. I witnessed what you did in here, and I’m watching you heal right now, and those are some lovely eyes you have, dear. Angelic even, one could say.”
Kobal released a low growl, and the barker leaned as far back from him as he could get. “Easy, Kobal. I’m not one to go after a woman another demon has staked a claim upon.”
“End this illusion, Magnimus,” Kobal commanded.
“I cannot end this,” the barker replied.
“Magnimus—”
“What you see around you now is permanent, Kobal. I’ve spent centuries creating it for unsuspecting demons, souls, and trespassers”—his gaze flicked over me and Hawk—“who wander through. The illusion is no longer that. It is as real as it feels, and some of those trapped within here are real.”
He waved toward the glass cages beyond me. Turning, I met the stare of the bearded lady. “Some souls do retain their human forms,” I murmured.
“If we so choose them to, they can remain human in appearance,” Kobal replied. “Or they could be as non-corporeal as the wraiths and ghosts. Some demons devise their own punishments for them. However, with every feeding, the soul becomes a little more twisted and deformed.”
“Until there is no denying they are wraiths?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the beaded lady in front of me. The maliciousness in her eyes made it clear she would have preferred to see Pooh eat me, but how many years had she been here? What had she endured by being constantly caged in life, and then again while here? Had her time here been what warped her into a woman so clearly thirsty for blood?
“If you don’t feed from the souls, do they stay here forever?” I asked.
“No, they still pass on when their time has been served,” Kobal replied.
“Don’t feel sorry for her,” the barker said from behind me. “She’s the entire reason I created this place. When she stumbled into my realm nearly three hundred years ago, I knew her worst punishment would be to continue to endure the mockery she had experienced during her life.”
“It sounds as if she had a cruel life,” I said.
“She killed all five of her babies and the men who fathered them. I have no idea why—I’ve never bothered to ask. Do you still feel sorry for her?” the barker asked. I pressed closer to Kobal as my gaze flew to the woman who gazed at all of us with hatred in her eyes. “Do you, daughter of Lucifer?”
My gaze returned to the barker. “I am not his daughter!”
The barker grinned at me. “She’s fiery, Kobal.”
“Leave her be, Magnimus,” Kobal warned. “You’re already walking a thin line. If you don’t prove valuable to me, your life is forfeit.”
“I understand,” he said and gave Kobal’s wrists an awkward pat. When Kobal sneered at him, his hands stilled. “I’ve never fed from her,” the barker said to me and nodded toward the bearded lady. “Everyone is to see her as she hated herself most. She’s been untouched since she entered Hell, and I created this world around her.”
“You have been busy,” Kobal said.
“I’ve been learning,” the barker replied. “Preparing.”
Preparing for what? For war? For Kobal or Lucifer?
The barker smiled at me—Magnimus, I reminded myself. “If you would follow me, I can take you from here," he said in a silky-smooth voice.
“Let him lead,” Kobal said with a jerk of his head at Corson and Bale. He thrust Magnimus away from him and back into their hold. Kobal turned and enfolded me in his arms before lifting me against him once more. I snuggled closer against his chest, inhaling his familiar and much loved fiery scent.
I glanced back at the bearded lady. Her gaze remained focused on me as Kobal walked through the broken jars and disgusting remains of the things that had spilled across the floor. Hawk walked beside us; his lip curled back as he tried to avoid stepping on the things littering the floor.
“You caused quite a bit of damage to my world, child of Lucifer,” the barker shot over his shoulder at me. “You and your friend.”
“Asshole,” Hawk muttered.
“I hate that guy,” I murmured in Kobal’s ear.
He shifted his hold on me to kiss my forehead. “He will pay,” he said and glanced at my ankle as we emerged from the tent.