“If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.”
–Dante Alighieri
I felt like a complete idiot, not realising that such a crossover even existed in London. I had read about it a couple of months back, in one of Ricky’s demonic books. Sometimes other creatures settled in the places on earth that Watchers couldn’t fully control. I suspected that this one particular tunnel became something in between, one lost dimension between the underworld and earth.
Two females and a man stood in front of us, blocking the only way out to the ordinary world. Zach probably couldn’t see them clearly, but I instantly sensed that the people in front of us possessed some kind of foreign magic in them. Their skin was the colour of light chocolate and their vibes weren’t particularly friendly. I didn’t need to be a demon to realise that the semiautomatics and machetes meant I had to really think about my next move. Zach was completely calm and somehow glad that we were surrounded.
“Take us to your boss, the Nameless Thief,” he requested, when one of the guys that stood at the far corner said something to the girl in a language that I neither recognised nor understood. It seemed like Romanian or some other Eastern European dialect. I allowed myself to presume that they had been living in the tunnels for some time, claiming it as their territory. The diabolic energy was strong, which meant that they must have made connections with other demonic beings or even Nameless Thief himself.
The woman laughed and caressed her sharp blade with affection, assessing me with her deep brown eyes. An unexpected cold shiver crawled over my spine when our eyes met. This woman was challenging me to fight with her.
“He ain’t my boss anymore, pretty boy, but that’s okay. Let’s move it. Ray will be pleased to see the fresh meat,” she said, loudly enough. For some reason Zach believed that Nameless wasn’t in charge of them any longer. He suspected that something had happened to him. I needed to find out why because my time was precious.
Zach glanced at me quickly, like he silently wanted to confirm that I had another plan, another way out of here. He was eager to make use his gun, but as we were moving deeper into the obscure tunnels he changed his mind, thank God. The rail track ended and restarted in some spaces. I kept breathing in and out, but the air stirred around me. My demonic power vibrated. There were some other beings nearby. Creatures that slowly began filling me with dread.
I tried to tell myself that we were on the outskirts of the city, in the place that humans wouldn’t be able to access. Nameless was smart. He most likely used the tunnels to hide his stolen possessions away from others, in the world where usual diabolical rules couldn’t be executed.
The two females were dressed in tight pants and low cut tops, exposing their impressive cleavage. I didn’t doubt that they were probably skilled, ready to fight in order to survive. The three of them talked in their own language while we were walking in front of them. Zach was silent, and the further we moved, his thoughts became murky, confusing. We must have walked for about forty minutes before we seemed to reach some sort of abandoned station. Zachary still held on to his small flashlight, convincing himself that our new bunch was leading us straight to the nest of Nameless Thief.
I couldn’t quite figure out if the men that followed behind the women were full-blooded demons or if they were just mongrels. Their power was wild, untamed and scary.
Soon we started seeing some lights ahead of us. My stomach contracted as I tightened up my internal wards. The smell of fresh meat, herbs and fire wafted through the air. This wasn’t something that I expected in tunnels, miles away from any civilisation.
“Go ahead, quickly, we are already late,” barked one of the females dressed in a navy top, swinging the machete in front of me. All right I get it; she was showing her dominance, but I didn’t want to lose my head just yet.
Further down as the track continued, all of us ended up in some kind of abandoned station. The part of it that used to be a platform was gone. I spotted a tiled floor in some places, and there were some bits and pieces of torn posters on the walls. I wasn’t sensing other demons nearby, but other beings that were marked by hell. I had to stay focused and remember that we were the intruders, not the other way around. Other humans scattered on the platform, all staring at us. They all looked very similar to the people that led us here, dark skinned, all armed with machetes. I figured out that they were all part of the same group, possibly a gang.
“Who are they?” asked the man who appeared on the edge of the platform, carrying a long handcrafted knife. He was large, obese, with a huge stomach hanging out from his trousers, and dressed in an old jeans jacket. I could tell he liked me; his thoughts and emotions were transparent enough. An old perv, that’s what came into my mind instantly.
“We are looking for Nameless Thief,” Zach said, and a few people moved as that nickname echoed in the tunnel. I didn’t know what Zach expected that we would find in here. Surely he must have known there were people that chose to live like rats, hiding in the tunnels. Thomas O’Connor was wanted by the police all over London. If he hadn’t been caught by now, then there was a strong possibility that he was hiding somewhere unreachable. I just hoped we’d find the next lead or a witness that could lead us to Nameless himself. Not to mention getting out of here alive.
The obese man narrowed his eyes at Zach for a second before he rested them on me. Sparks zoomed through my fingertips and some people noticed. I wasn’t ready to expose myself again, but the presence of other creatures disturbed me. I felt them close, watching and waiting for the right moment to show up. I had an odd sense of deja vu, like I had been here before, but it was impossible. Theses tunnels had been created by ancient magic, and that was never good.
“A lot of people are searching for him, but he isn’t here. Nameless abandoned us, stole from me, and I want his head!” the man shouted, lifting his knife. Others cheered too and I backed slightly away, feeling overwhelmed with my own power. Zach was getting agitated. He should have brought backup, but we didn’t expect to be greeted by so many strangers.
“He has something that we need. We are willing to pay generously for his location,” I said, knowing that his ex-companions wanted him as much as we did. They were ready for anything.
The man nodded to the girl and a second later someone pushed me forward. Zach had his hands on his gun, but I hissed at him to take it easy. We didn’t want to anger these people. They outnumbered us and I needed to save my own abilities for later. The group on the platform weren’t the only people that wanted our blood.
We were both pushed onto the platform, facing the obese man and his two females.
“Nameless Thief is from the underworld. He doesn’t follow the rules,” sang one of the girls, smiling at Zach. “Take us there and we will help you.”
Zach laughed, like someone had just told him a very good joke. I shifted my body weight, glancing around. This wasn’t good. I didn’t think that I could protect him from any kind of external factors, from getting exposed again to demonic magic.
“The underworld?” he repeated.
“The human doesn’t believe. His mind has been poisoned with other powers. Nameless Thief isn’t on earth anymore. He made a deal with a demon, and he is hiding in Gjöll,” said someone else, appearing on the corner. I looked up, seeing another man, a much younger one, possibly in his early twenties. He had pale white skin and a very strong London accent. His clothes were untidy with dirty marks and patches. My heartbeat spiked, as I tried to concentrate on my demonic abilities. Gjöll. I had heard that name before.
Ronan had mentioned it once or twice. It was a river in the underworld that separated living from the dead. The river flowed straight to Lucifer’s quarters and rumour had it that anyone that was able to cross over was under the protection of ancient magic, not able to get prosecuted by demonic law. This was clever. I had to give it to Nameless Thief. He went to the place where no one could touch him.
“Max, we are wasting time. Nameless isn’t here,” Zach muttered, as his anger escalated. I had tampered with his mind before, used strong charms just to keep his thoughts in line. Now I didn’t think I could weaken him like that again. It was unnecessary. The bottom line was that Nameless wasn’t here and I didn’t want to step into the gates of Gjöll. It was another world, another dimension, but at the same time he had my letter.
There was a reason that he stole from Ronan, and it bothered me that I didn’t know what he intended to do with his valuable possessions.
“We know about the underworld. Nameless promised to take us there. He was searching for another route,” one of the girls said with determination, stepping forward.
“Yeah, he was working with Zara!” shouted someone else.
Zach moved before anyone could predict what would happen. I felt his anger rippling through his pores, and within seconds he had the short guy who’d shouted his sister’s name pinned to the platform wall.
“Zara! What do you know about her?” Zach snarled, lifting the guy off the floor, as if he weighed nothing. The obese guy and a few other females surrounded them holding their machetes, but Zach didn’t care anymore. Surely there were a lot of women named Zara in London, but Zach had lost it. He wasn’t thinking straight anymore.
“Zach, what the hell are you doing? Calm down,” I tried to reason, but someone else stuck a machete in front of my face, ceasing my movements.
“Tell me about Zara or I swear to God I’m going to smash your head to pieces against this wall!” Zach roared, like he was in some kind of trance, his gun suddenly pinned against the guy’s forehead.
“She’s one of us, but she was special. Nameless picked her off the streets, and he promised to take her down to the underworld,” the guy squeaked. Drops of sweat started breaking along the side of my neck. Fuck, I forgot that Zach was extremely sensitive to any extraordinary power and he hadn’t given up on finding his sister.
“Did she look like me? Dark hair, dark skin with a scar over her neck?” Zach continued, ready to blow this guy into bits. I gathered my demonic energy, hoping that the waves would calm him down, but I couldn’t control the rage that suddenly took hold of him. One of the females that stood the closest was ready to stab him, but no one dared to move. Tension filled the air, and a strange white fog began drifting out of nowhere.
“She had a scar,” breathed out the guy, completely pale, shaking like a leaf during a storm. Zach howled out his rage, letting go of him.
Then we all heard the screams, long, petrifying screams that echoed through the tunnels, then another and another. One of the girls dropped her machete on the tiles and jumped off the platform, disappearing in the darkness. The obese guy moved past me, grabbing my elbow and squeezing it painfully. Heat shot over my spine like a fire when his hands made a contact with my skin.
“Run, run away fast; otherwise they’ll steal your memories away from you,” he snarled into my ear and then let go of me. A moment later he jumped off the platform too. Others followed him, running away, disappearing as quickly as they appeared.
Zach fired out a shot towards the guy that had spoken about his sister. He luckily missed him. Seconds, maybe moments later we were all alone, but the screams somewhere in the tunnel kept going on.
“Zara. She’s alive and she was here,” Zach yelled, shaking me. I punched him, hoping maybe this way he’d get hold of himself. He went down, dropping his gun. Energies that I didn’t recognise began hitting me and I struggled to remain on my feet. Zach was on the ground, holding his nose and cursing me off.
“Get it fucking together. You nearly killed that Romanian thief. Are you out of your fucking mind?” I shouted, using the last bits of energy I still controlled to calm him down. His dark eyes were wild, and his head filled with vivid memories of his sister. Finally the screams stopped, but no one came back, the silence stretched for long moment. We were suddenly alone on the platform.
“She’s here, Maxine. Zara is somewhere in the tunnels. We need to split up and search; she needs my help,” he said, squeezing my hands, cutting circulation to my fingers. I sensed another creature near, watching us, but it wasn’t a demon. Something was wrong; my own magic was blocking my abilities, locking my muscles in place. I felt paralysed, unable to stand on my feet. I kept thinking about my mother, not the Nameless Thief. It was like he didn’t matter anymore.
“All right, all right, let’s check the tunnels and meet here in twenty minutes,” I said, losing him. Zach’s energy was slipping away and suddenly memories about my mother assaulted my mind. I had to find her, she was somewhere here, in the tunnels.
Zach was back on his feet within seconds. He picked up his gun, jumped off the platform, and was gone before I had a chance to gather myself or figure out what the hell was going on around me. I heard hissing sounds, somewhere close, and automatically thought about the flying A’rea. My cheek burned, but this couldn’t be it. This part of the world was controlled by another supernatural being that didn’t belong to any faction, a being that caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise.
I ran after Zach, finally able to move. My head was pulsing with pain, as old memories about my mother moved in front of my eyes. There were just tunnels in front of me that split in different directions. Zach’s pulse was erratic and he kept calling Zara.
Something flew over me, a dark being with gnashing teeth and claws. It landed somewhere close. I saw her before I sensed her. Her thirst for human blood alerted me that she wasn’t here on friendly terms. There was likely more than just one around, and I was afraid that Zach had already been captured and I was next. This time magic wouldn’t help me, because a Keres took full control of my mind—so she could feed on me until I was dead.