“Don’t dwell upon the form their sufferings take.
Think of what follows, and that, come the worst
it can’t go on beyond the Judgment Day.”
―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I was drunk, well, maybe not as much as when I was on liquid magic, but this was a close call. Scorching energy pumped in my blood, like a volcano that was just about to explode. Demons were staring at me when I crossed the room. They were all asking themselves how I dared to stand by them and act like I belonged here. I vanished shortly after that behind the same door that Berith had. I waited outside for several moments, but no one followed me.
My head was screwed and I had lost hope that my daughter could be reunited with me. Despite all, now I had a chance to face Berith and beg him for help. I started following the stairs, all the way to the ground floor.
I heard voices outside and presumed that the door led to one of the club’s back entrances. Berith’s energy was overwhelming, crackling around the entire space and speeding up my pulse. I never thought that I would have a chance to face one of the legends, a demon that was feared by many and dismissed by others. Although something wasn’t adding up, because Berith would have never appeared on earth without his guards. I didn’t understand why the Watchers didn’t keep a closer eye on him. Maybe he wanted to have some fun at humans’ expense tonight and he asked them to stay back.
“You have to admit, it’s such a dull party. Demonic sisters are clinging to you, trying to use you,” the voice was saying. The door was ajar, and I sensed two individuals outside. Berith was there, talking to a human or another demon. It was difficult to tell. Then I heard his deep, joyful laugh.
“Don’t be so harsh, Dante. They are all only trying to survive,” Berith responded with a positive chuckle.
I couldn’t hear what the other demon or human said. He either whispered or lowered his voice. I waited, clenching my fists and contemplating going back upstairs.
“No, the position is open. I need to get back up there. Speak soon, old bastard.”
The other demon must have finally walked away, because his energy was slowly fading. They were done with their conversation.
A few deep breaths later and with a large amount of alcohol in my system, I stepped outside. The harsh wind ruffled my hair when I glanced around the back entrance. To my right I saw bins and several empty beer barrels. The smell was horrendous and I wondered what the hell Berith was doing here alone. I spotted him leaning over the wall. He was smoking a cigarette and reading a leaflet that he must have picked up earlier on. I was stunned, seeing him in such a common pose, away from everyone at the party. Maybe I had made some mistake, maybe it wasn’t Berith, but everything else about him fit. Even his famous tan was real.
He noticed me before I had a chance to say anything. Sudden power hit me hard, and I struggled to keep my balance.
“What do you want? Everyone knows that I like to disappear sometimes and the instructions are always clear,” he asked, not even lifting his head, but dragging more smoke into his lungs. I glanced around to make sure that he was talking to me. Yeah, we were the only people standing here.
“Are you Berith? The upper level demon in charge of all the Watchers?” I asked, sounding like a complete idiot, but who cared? No one else heard me and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t wasting my time.
The demon (hopefully Berith) lifted his head and narrowed his eyes on me. Damn, from that close he looked even handsomer. Dark beard, dark hair and those penetrating sapphire eyes. My heartbeat skyrocketed, driving the weakness from my limbs and filling my body with rapid fire.
“I’m being questioned by a mongrel. That’s funny even by human standards,” he chuckled, shaking his head. I approached him, aware that my stomach was pitched with nausea. Every inch of my skin burned, and I was struggling to breathe. Something odd was happening to my demonic power.
“Listen, I know that you’re very important in hell, but I had to come here tonight. I need to speak to you urgently,” I blurted out, now standing at least a meter away from him. The concrete underneath my feet vibrated. The demon felt it, but chose to ignore it. Maybe I finally hit the rock bottom of my addiction and started hallucinating. Man, that was pathetic.
“Walk away, girl, before I send you down to the pits. Everyone around here knows not to interrupt me during my cigarette time,” he snarled out, then laughed out loud at something on his screen.
“I’m not leaving until you take me down to Lucifer. My partner is dying and my daughter is being kept by a crazy bitch somewhere in the underworld!” I shouted, losing my patience. Then the earth really shook and I was certain I felt it. The demon lifted his eyes and exhaled sharply, looking disturbed and alerted. We both sensed the rising energy, and neither of us had any idea where was it coming from.
He threw the cigarette, then stepped on it. His eyes gleamed with light and I could tell he didn’t care one bit that I was trying to save people that I loved.
A second later he burst out laughing. My head spun around and I gritted my teeth. He was humiliating me, having fun at my expense, and I slowly began to lose control. I came here willing to beg him to help me; instead he wasn’t even taking me seriously.
“Lucifer?” he repeated, wiping his tears away and straightening his posture. “This is one of the most hilarious jokes that I ever heard on earth. Who sent you? Mammon?”
My ears were red, and probably my face too, because I was so pissed off. The air was vibrating with sizzling power, and I wasn’t imagining things anymore. I dropped a few flames from my palm, the heat licked my face. Something was happening, although I didn’t think I was the cause.
“I’m not joking. My name is Maxine Brodeur and I’m a mongrel. My daughter was taken by a crazy demon. She wants to rip her heart out in order to heal herself in some satanic ritual. Please, you’re my only hope,” I begged, thinking that maybe this would change his mind. I felt humans nearby, but that didn’t matter. Berith was going to take me down to hell and then Lucifer would listen to what I had to say.
“And you thought that you could come here and harass a demon like me without any consequences? The one and only great Berith?” he asked, moving closer. His power suddenly began suffocating me and I couldn’t take another breath. The ground underneath my feet was shaking. It was getting unbearably hot.
All of a sudden I was seeing flames right in front of my eyes. The back of the club shifted into a cave, maybe the legendary pits. Berith was playing with me, trying to scare me. Tears forced their way to my eyes. He stared at me in silence, tracing my tears with his gleaming eyes. There was something in his expression, possibly fear, annoyance or apprehension, I didn’t know what I was seeing. The bottom line was that he didn’t care about my problems.
I roared in frustration, and a storm of wildfire nearly knocked both of us from our feet. Berith’s expression shifted into irritation and he took a few steps back. I had never begged anyone for anything, but right then I was ready to fall down on my knees and plead for him to help me.
“Lucifer is your boss and I’m a living being. Take me down to him and I’ll do anything for you,” I said.
This was hell, and I knew that he could end me with one word. I weighed the risks, thinking about Summer and knowing that I could see her again very soon.
The great Berith finally snapped. He dropped his phone and fury flickered in his wide blue eyes. I shifted my weight to the side, swallowing hard. The silence was broken by a crackling sound of fire.
Suddenly the earth that had been shaking in the past several minutes began to split right underneath Berith’s feet. He glared at me, then waved his hand.
“Stop preying on my power, mongrel,” he snarled, losing his balance. The pressure in my skull was mounting, and my voice of reason kept telling me to start running. The problem was that I couldn’t move. The ground was split between me and Berith. I glanced down seeing rocks and lava. It was exactly like the time when I saved Emma, and the time when I knocked Alexis all the way down to meet her destiny. The air was dry and warm, the energy began spreading between us equally. A ball of light appeared, heading in my direction. I clapped my hands and it stopped, breaking itself to a million different pieces.
A moment later Berith was on his knees, his eyes went wide and he was staring at me with an intense and consuming look.
“I’m the greatest. A mongrel can’t possess such a power! Stop it or you will die in here,” he roared, but then the blood drained from his handsome face. A second later the ground ascended further, pulling Berith down. Everything happened so fast that he didn’t even have a chance to react. The streaming light blinded me, then a strong wind knocked me back and I landed on my arse several meters away, passing out.
“Max! Hey, Max, are you all right?”
That voice, I recognised it somehow, but didn’t want to open my eyes just yet. My body hurt, and I had a feeling that I cracked a bone somewhere around my hip. Someone was leaning over me. First I saw a pair of blue eyes, then blond hair.
A second later everything came back to me and I lifted myself up abruptly. I was on the ground, outside the exit to the Vortex. There was a large burned circle in the space where just a moment ago Berith was standing. Arthur was leaning over me; his eyes were wild and completely unrecognisable.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked, realising that he was pale and his heart was jackhammering in his chest. Something must have happened to him, because I never saw him looking so disturbed.
Arthur stood up and then backed away from me like he was suddenly petrified to be close to me. There was a look of pure terror in his eyes. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
I lifted myself to my feet, and a sharp pain passed through my hip.
“You… You’re not human.”
I blinked rapidly, feeling very sober all of a sudden. Where the fuck was Berith? He’d been standing in front of me just before this sudden energy embraced both of us. I told myself that I couldn’t have just sent one of the greatest demons in hell straight down to the pits. No, even I didn’t have that kind of power.
On top that, Arthur had witnessed it.
“Arthur, calm down. Let me explain,” I began, trying to get close to him, but he was pacing around, shaking his head and muttering incoherent words to himself.
“I saw everything…the flames. That man stood over there and then he disappeared,” Arthur shouted, and before I knew it he grabbed me and pushed me over the wall.
Shit, stupid Arthur must have followed me all the way to the club. There wasn’t any other explanation. He managed to get into the party. I didn’t sense him, I couldn’t have, and now he was standing in front of me well aware of the fact that I wasn’t human.
“I will explain everything, but first you have to calm down. Security might hear us and that might not end well for either of us,” I pointed out, aware that there were a bunch of demons on the first floor, demons that worshipped Berith that was now gone because of me. I couldn’t comprehend how I had done that. My energy was in pieces and my abilities had let me down many times. Then I remembered what Morpheus had said. He made me open the gates before. The party and Alexis’s sister Bianca. He’d said the anger triggered it, and earlier on Berith had made me furious.
“Our daughter—I heard everything. You were begging that man to help you. She was kidnapped. You lied to me! You have been lying from the very beginning.”
“All right, I have lied to you, but I had no other choice,” I shouted back, losing my self-control. “We can discuss this somewhere else. It’s not safe. There are other demons upstairs.”
Arthur was reacting exactly how I’d expected. He wasn’t coping with what he just saw.
“Leave? I’m not moving from here. You’re a monster. How could I not see it before?” He tangled his hair with rage. The demons were alerted that something was going on downstairs. They could show up here at any minute and I had to get Arthur out of here fast.
“I’m begging you. I’ll explain everything, but we need to leave now,” I said, but he was having none of it. He started shouting even louder, so I did something that I was probably going to regret later. I knocked him out with the stream red light. I needed to get the hell out of here before Watchers found the future king unconscious and their boss down in the pits.