Page 12 of A Match Made in Hell

‘Enough.’ Sath’s voice is louder than the drums, the demons’ jeering.

For a split second I think Aric might disobey, but then he rises to his feet, red staining his jaw as he resumes his place at Sath’s side.

The man’s curled himself into a ball, trembling arms wrapped around his knees.

He rocks back and forth, whimpering, reminding me that no matter how interesting a day I’ve had, this place is nothing more than a nightmare waiting to invade your dreams.

A hush falls throughout the room. ‘What is his crime?’ Sath asks in a soft voice. This isn’t the gentle softness from yesterday, when he spoke of Elysium, but the quiet lull that comes before a storm, where the clouds are gathering and the air feels charged.

‘I told you.’ Aric folds his arms, resembling a petulant child. ‘He looked at me. Like he was thinking of hurting me.’

Please. I’ve never heard such a blatant lie.

‘Is that true?’ Sath asks the man.

The man shakes his head.

‘He was found by the river, trying to escape,’ the Sorter chimes in. Her eyes glitter with malice.

There’s a sharp intake of breath from the humans. They’re like an audience who’ve been to every show and have memorised every twist, and they’re not excited about what’s coming.

‘Ah,’ Sath says. ‘Did I not make the rules on escape attempts clear?’

The demons press closer, forming a tighter semicircle around them.

‘I wasn’t . . . I didn’t . . .’

‘Was my hospitality not good enough for you?’ Sath readjusts his collar, before glancing over at the humans, all clustered together like our numbers will be enough to save us. ‘And what about the rest of you? Are you enjoying what Asphodel has to offer?’

Nobody speaks.

‘Would anybody else like to go in the river?’ he asks. Carefully, deliberately, he undoes the buttons of his shirt cuffs, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows and tucking them in just as slowly. The room stays silent. ‘As I thought.’

The man whimpers. ‘I want to go home.’

Quick as a flash, Sath pulls him into the air, holding him by the throat while his feet dangle somewhere around Sath’s knees. ‘This is your home,’ Sath says, voice like ice. ‘A pity you didn’t accept that. Now, what am I to do with you?’

Immediately, the demons chant, ‘ Tartarus! Tartarus! ’

Sath’s jaw is locked, his shoulders tight.

More black shadows ripple down his arms, and then they set alight, because they’re not shadows at all, but dark flames that burn down his newly exposed forearms, his hands, leaping on to the man who immediately goes quiet as the flames form a cloak around him, shielding him from view. Some of the demons clap.

The Sorter, I notice, doesn’t. She’s scowling. So is Aric.

The flames subside once the man’s fully disintegrated into ash, smouldering flakes floating into the air like errant dust particles.

I stare at those fragments of a person, of a life, as they drift from the room.

Gone. Lost to the Void. Sath brushes his hands on his trousers.

He’s unscathed, like he hasn’t just set himself on fire and burned someone.

Not a single strand of hair is out of place.

I should have asked more questions before agreeing to work with him.

A split-second decision is a bad decision . I’ve done it again, haven’t I? Fuck. Fuck . Even when my intentions are good I get everything wrong.

I promised myself I wouldn’t be fooled by the way he looks, the way he appears more human than the others. But he’s not, and I fell for it. I made a deal with the Devil – a cold, unfeeling murderer – and I have no idea what the consequences are going to be.

I need to find out. The music resumes, and the demons immediately return to gyrating, tails swaying in time to the beat, not caring that they’re trampling over someone’s remains.

Sath leaves them to it, stepping from the dance floor and leaving Dionysus without giving them a backwards glance.

Without giving me a backwards glance. I’m storming after him before I can stop myself – swerving a demon with antlers that’s approaching like it intends to drag me on to the dance floor – determined to discover who, exactly, I’ve aligned with.

By the time I’ve weaved my way out, he’s halfway down the corridor, shrouded in smoke.

‘Wait!’

I expect him to outright ignore me, but to my surprise, he halts and turns around.

His eyes are more ablaze than ever, shining so brightly I could be basking in the sun.

Instead, I’m frozen. My heart pounds faster than the drums in Dionysus.

Confronting a murderer doesn’t scream sensible, but if he’s planning on sending me to the Void at some point, we may as well get it over with.

And if he doesn’t burn me to ash for yelling at him about what he’s just done, I’ll know he really does need me to stick around and complete these tasks.

Which means I’ll have some leverage over him.

‘What were you thinking?’ I ask.

He looks away, clenching and unclenching his fists. When he meets my stare again, his gaze has dimmed from molten gold to honey brown. ‘Not now.’

‘Yes, now.’ I fold my arms. There’s something liberating about picking a fight with someone you don’t care about.

He can hate me all he likes after this and I won’t wake up desperate to plead my case, to beg him to return, to admonish myself for saying all the wrong things.

It makes me bold. ‘How can you justify what you did? Do you really think that man deserved to be sent to the Void?’

‘Would it make a difference if I said no?’

‘No. If anything, that’d make it worse. Because you did it anyway.’ I can’t believe I was foolish enough to make a deal with him.

Sath runs a hand through his hair. ‘He was caught. There are rules here, ones I have to follow. The demons will accept nothing else. He had to be punished.’

‘Why are you bowing to the whims of the demons? Aren’t you the one in charge?’

‘Pardoning him would set a precedent.’ His jaw clenches. ‘I did the best I could with the situation at hand.’

How can he say that? How can he possibly say that?

‘You didn’t have to set him on fire! You should’ve –’

‘I should’ve what ?’ Sath closes in on me, forcing me against the wall.

My back thuds against stone as hard as his expression.

‘They wanted to send him to Tartarus. He’d have been tortured, torn apart and stitched together until the end of time.

I spared him that pain. Those flames were a quick end, where I ensured he felt nothing. ’

Oh. My shoulders sink. That’s better than what I was imagining, I suppose, but – ‘You still should’ve let him go. He’d done nothing wrong, and now he’s spending eons in the Void with his worst memories because of you .’

His throat bobs as fresh wisps of flame loop down his arm. ‘I did what I had to.’

‘Then you’re as bad as any demon,’ I say, ignoring the way he flinches. I’m the one with the power now. By trying to rationalise his actions, he’s played his hand – if he wants me to forgive him, it means he needs me. So, I take a deep breath and say, ‘Which means I quit.’

‘You what ?’

‘You heard me.’ I shrug. ‘I don’t trust you. So, I quit. I won’t do the tasks.’

He can’t mask the flare of panic on his face in time. I press my lips together to hide my smile. When I agreed to his deal I was backed into a corner, unable to think about what I was agreeing to. From his expression, the taste of his own medicine is quite the bitter experience.

‘You can’t quit.’ There’s an edge of desperation in his voice. ‘You want to go home, don’t you?’

‘Not if it means working with you,’ I say. Then, idly, I add, ‘Of course, I could be persuaded to reconsider.’

‘Really,’ he says flatly. I can’t tell if he wants to laugh or strangle me. Maybe he wants to laugh while strangling me. ‘Let me guess. You want something.’

‘I want to know what you’re getting out of this. Why do you want me to complete these tasks so badly?’

Chatter rings out in the distance – a group of humans who’ve left Dionysus are staggering down the corridor we’re occupying.

Sath huffs, closing the gap between us and angling his body so all they’ll see is the back of his head.

I stiffen. He’s too close like this. ‘I can tell you this much,’ he murmurs, breath fanning my face, ‘if you were to succeed, a certain concession would be granted to me. Something I want very much.’

‘But you won’t tell me what it is.’ For all I know, his concession could be let’s close that loophole where a girl gets to go home if she completes a series of stupid tasks. ‘If it’s that important, why wait till now to offer the tasks to someone?’

‘You assume you’re the first.’ His hand snakes around my waist, drawing me flush against him as the humans pass. I wriggle as he dips his head, placing his mouth to my ear and whispering, ‘You’re not.’

‘And what happened to the last one?’ The humans disappear round the corner, and I shove him away. ‘Let me guess. You won’t tell me that either. Because I won’t like the answer, will I?’

He sighs. ‘If you must know, they’re in the Void.

But –’ he holds up a hand to stop me interrupting – ‘only because they tried other means of escaping after they failed. I couldn’t save them any more than I could save that man tonight.

But if you fail, that doesn’t have to be your ending. Not if you behave afterwards.’

Oh, good. Behaving. The one skill I don’t have. Plus – ‘How do I know you’re not lying?’

‘If I wanted to harm you, Willow, there are far easier ways for me to do it.’

He makes a good point. I look away from him, thinking. Aric’s tail has marked a path where he scraped his spike on the floor, the line like chalk on a playground, only this game is far more dangerous.

I can’t stay here. I can’t trust Sath. I’m floundering in the dark, searching for a solution that doesn’t exist, unable to make a good choice because there’s none to be found.

‘Come on,’ he coaxes. ‘We both know you don’t want to quit. This is your only way home. You need me as much as I need you.’ His tone is all charm now, laced with seduction and sin.

‘In that case, don’t do that. Don’t be all . . . devily around me. If you need me so badly, you don’t get to treat me as some subject you can manipulate and threaten.’

His brow quirks. ‘Devily?’

‘What? It could be a word.’

He snorts, shaking his head. ‘Fine. Agree to continue with the tasks, and I promise, in private, I’ll try and be less . . . devily, as you put it.’

‘And in public?’

The humour dissipates from his face. ‘I won’t lie. If you’re seen challenging me, I’ll be forced to do to you what I did to that man.’

I swallow.

‘What do you say?’ His eyes gleam. ‘Truce?’

The only thing stronger than my uncertainty is my desperation to leave.

‘If I say yes, it doesn’t mean I agree with what you did.’

‘I don’t blame you.’

‘I think it makes this place just as bad as Tartarus.’

‘The demons will be delighted to hear it.’

‘And if I discover this concession of yours will hurt me, I’ll find a way to put you in the Void instead.’

He inhales. ‘Noted.’

Since he’s being agreeable, I try, ‘And if you wanted to do the next task right away and get me out sooner, I’d be okay with that.’

‘I’m sure you would be.’ He grins. The expression is so transformative I have to blink several times. ‘I’ll see you next month. Try not to get in trouble in the meantime.’