Page 1

Chapter one

“ H ome, sweet, home,” murmured Belz.

“This is fucking absurd,” stated Gor, stepping through my portal. “I can’t wait to tell you all I told you so.”

Mammon appeared beside Gor and patted him on the back. “Thee of little faith, brother,” Mammon said. “How disappointed Father would be to see you now.”

“Leave Him out of this,” Gor growled through his teeth. Mammon laughed, walking towards the others.

I watched them through the small doorway to Hell I had opened with my power. It was my first attempt at being a whispering traveler, flexing my goddess powers over death, and so far, everyone had crossed over and lived. I looked back at my cousin, Frankie, and the remaining demon brother, Levi. He tightened his arms around her, as if afraid she would be torn away.

“Please reconsider,” Levi whispered to her.

Frankie looked up at him with love. She drew the back of her knuckles down the side of his face.

“The two most important people in my life are going through that portal,” she said, looking from Levi to me. “There is nothing and no one that could stop me from going with you.”

Levi’s eyes pleaded with me. She might never forgive me for it, but I agreed with the demon prince of Envy. If Frankie accompanied us to Hell, she would be another weak spot that would draw my attention away from my goal: getting to him. To my demon prince … Asmodeus.

I gave Levi a small nod as he held onto Frankie. His shoulders relaxed. I approached my cousin.

“Ready to go make a mess of things, per usual?” she asked with a smile.

“I’m always up for a challenge,” I replied, pulling her into me. I held her tightly, tears threatening to escape. I took in my beautiful cousin, her bright green eyes and dark curly hair. She was my soulmate; but this, I could not ask of her. I could not risk her life. Not when I had almost lost her once before. The memory of her dead body in my arms still haunted my nightmares.

Levi bent down and kissed her as I stepped away from Francesca.

“I love you,” he whispered, tracing her lips with his thumb. She furrowed her brow, looking between us, puttting the pieces together. Levi took a step towards me, towards the portal.

“No,” she said in disbelief. “You aren’t leaving without me,” she said, moving forward. I threw up my hands, trapping her in place with my tendrils of dark shadows. Red flares of light now danced through my dark magic, a gift from the power of my mate, Deus.

Frankie fought against the restraints, trying to break free. “No!” she screamed.

“I’m sorry, Frankie,” I said, tears flowing freely. “I can’t risk your life. If I die, the Salvos must go on.”

“No!” she yelled, yanking and pulling at the shadows, but I was too strong. “You can’t leave me. You won’t!”

“I love you, cousin,” I whispered. I turned to Levi, taking his hand as we made our way to the portal.

“I will never forgive you for this! I will never forgive you,” I heard her yell as we stepped through. Once we had crossed, I absorbed the energy of the gate within myself, placing a permanent barrier between Hell and Frankie. I could still hear her screaming as the zapping sound behind me finally silenced.

I felt sick. But I did what had to be done. She would remain safe. Frankie was a powerful witch, but she wasn’t a demon, and she wasn’t a god. She was the weakest link, and I knew Lucifer would exploit her to manipulate me. I had to focus on Deus. He was the only thing that mattered to me down here. I gripped the key to our home back in Romania that still hung around my neck—a reminder of what was at stake.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I remained silent, torn up by guilt at what I had done to my best friend.

“Thank you,” Levi said, rubbing his thumb against my shoulder. “She’s safe. Even if she never forgives us … she is alive.”

“I know,” I replied. A sick feeling wrenched through me as I looked at the four princes of Hell who had agreed to help save their brother.

Gor’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, Seren?” he asked.

I shook my head, refocusing. “Nothing. Just adjusting is all,” I replied. I had willingly agreed to venture into Hell with four demonic princes of sin who were known for the horrors they had each unleashed on the mortal world. And somewhere in this harsh realm was Lucifer, the most powerful demon of them all. His conniving mind and sadistic behavior were the thing I feared the most.

This entire plan rested on my shoulders. Finding Giana would be my first priority. Hopefully, she had found Deus as we had discussed. That would save us time. Then, I had to find a way to free him of whatever shackles Lucy had placed on him. I was everyone’s ticket out of this horrific place. I couldn’t fail.

I pushed the thought from my mind. I knew the risks that were involved when I came up with this plan. My end goal would remain the same. Either I walked out of here with Deus, or I would remain here for all eternity.

The land surrounding us was crimson and barren. Red and orange sand glided across the ground, thanks to a harsh wind that whipped around us. The heat was excruciating, though I couldn’t find the sun above us. The light bounced through the sparce clouds without a clear source of where the yellow beams originated from. No sign of life was visible for miles. The horizon blurred from the heat that seemed to steam from the ground.

“Welcome to The Desert of Desolation,” said Belz, the Prince of Gluttony, moving to my side.

“This isn’t a part of one of your territories?” I asked. I hadn’t ever inquired as to how Hell had been divided between the seven.

“That would be correct,” answered Mammon. “We needed a place to put all the riffraff that we created when we were younger and more … experimental with our new gifts.”

“Plus,” interjected Levi, “this part of Hell has always seemed to have a mind of its own. None of us could ever bend it to our control, not even Lucifer, so we all decided that it would remain unclaimed.”

“How big is it?” I asked, regretting that I hadn’t packed a few more bottles of water.

“It’s infinite,” answered Mammon, Prince of Greed. “Hell is ever changing. This realm feeds off its victims’ worst fears. It transforms into their torments and break down the souls that are trapped here. That is what feeds our power.”

“I don’t understand,” I admitted.

“Hell fuels us,” answered Gor, sloth . “Without us, there is no Hell, and without Hell, there is no us. The souls that end up here act as an energy source that keep this plane alive. Their energy feeds our power. In return, we tempt souls to this realm through our sins.”

“So, what happens if Hell no longer exists?” I asked.

“That will never happen,” Levi said in a flat tone. “There will always be good, and thus, a need for evil. Even if we die above, we will be trapped here to continue what we were created to do. It isn’t pretty, but it is a necessity. That’s how Father designed it.”

“So how do we get out of here?” I asked. “Can we shift?”

Belz huffed. “Not unless you want to send up a big arrow signaling to Lucy where we are,” he answered. “We’re in his sandbox now. With the power that he draws from this place, he will be able to sense us the moment we unleash our magic.”

“We use our legs, sweet Seren,” said Mammon, leading the way into the dry desert.

“The plan is simple,” stated Belz. “Get to friendlier territory, locate Deus, avoid Lucy, and get the fuck out of here as fast as angelically possible.”

I stuck close to Levi and Gor. Everything around me felt off. My skin crawled with disgust yet, deep inside, something screamed home. I wondered if it was because I possessed a part of Lucifer’s soul—the part he had used to save me from the car crash he orchestrated before I was even born.

I could feel the souls lingering nearby. They were hesitant to make contact, but I knew they wanted to reach out. To ask for help. I could feel their despair and their pain as if it were my own.

Within three hours into walking, I was unsure if I would make it out of this plane alive. The heat was nothing compared to the pain that now tore through my body thanks to the spirits. I fell back a few feet from the princes. My limbs felt so heavy as my boots dragged through the sand. The heat only became more excruciating and the air around me felt thick and tasted of ash and blood.

My vision grew fuzzy as the dehydration took hold. The horizon shifted unnaturally. I tried to focus, willing things around me to stop vibrating. A pulsating black figure far in the distance caught my attention. It flashed in and out of sight. I stopped and rubbed my eyes.

When I opened them again, the figure had jumped closer, disappearing and reappearing closer and closer with each blink. A growing scream accompanied the specter, rising in pitch with each shuddering flash until an image of a woman flared in front of me, bellowing a painful cry.

“Help … me,” she whispered, and disappeared.

A heartbeat later, something slammed into me. My entire body lit up and I froze. It was a soul. I felt their pain and heard their screams as their skin was peeled from them layer by layer like a potato. Their skin tore from their muscles as a demon in front of them laughed with amusement. The demon brought the skin to its mouth, slurping it up like a noodle.

The invisible spirit finally let go of me, slithering from my body. My knees hit the hot sand. I looked up just in time to see a white fog rushing towards me. It smashed into my chest, sending another zap of memories through my nervous system. This spirit had been suspended in the air by two hooks driven in either shoulder. Ever so slowly, the spirit was lowered into a pit where rats eagerly waited to feast on his flesh. The first rat leaped, digging its claws and teeth into his thigh, causing a stream of blood to trickle down his skin. The blood called to the other rats and the swarm of rodents unleashed on the man, tearing into him like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The spirit left, only to be replaced by another, and then another. My body and mind were overwhelmed with horrific memories of torture. Body after body was dismembered, burned, spiked, impaled, dissected, and eaten. The experiences made horror films back on earth seem like fairytales.

Finally, I was able to cry out just before another spirit took hold. A flash of pain seared down my back; the spirit had his spine ripped out of his flesh by a pair of sharp claws while he lay strapped to a cold metal table. I screamed, the pain electrifying every nerve ending in my body.

The spirit let go quickly and I fell helplessly forward. Gor caught me before I face-planted into the sand. My body was completely exhausted. Even though they hadn’t been my memories, I felt every bit of their fear, sorrow, and regret. And God, the pain. This was their future. To endure this type of torture for eternity.

“Seren,” I heard Gor’s voice. “We have to keep moving.”

I took a deep breath in, forcing my body upright. I sat in the hot sand, allowing my body time to stop shaking. “What was that?” I asked.

“They fed off your humanity,” answered Belz. “For a moment, your body was a haven for all they’ve endured here. That is why humans are not allowed into Hell unless they’ve died.”

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“Your soul is not damned,” explained Mammon. “Not yet at least. You are a connection back to earth, back to life itself. ”

“So,” I said softly, “when they are inside of me, they no longer feel the pain and torment of this place? Because I am still alive?”

Belz nodded. “Exactly. Just like we feed off their souls once they’re here, they were feeding off yours. Using you as a blockade.”

I felt sorry for them in a way, to know this was what they would endure for eternity. I forced myself to stand on my weak legs. The brothers surrounded me, assessing my wellbeing.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”

I felt Mammon’s eyes on me as I forced myself to drag one foot in front of the other. “What?” I finally said.

“You feel bad for them, don’t you? The souls?” he asked.

“How couldn’t you?” I replied.

“Don’t,” he said coldly. “Some of the souls here deserve every ounce of suffering they will endure.” He focused on the horizon up ahead. “I’m fully aware of what I am and what Father cursed us to be. But the things I’ve done … after thousands of years, the havoc I’ve caused dims in comparison to what some of these souls have done in their short human lifespans.

“I’ve watched them rape, murder, torture, steal, all without a single influence from any of us. The souls that end up here … some make us look angelic. The pit where Deus most likely is holds some of the worst.” He paused, looking at the ground. His face was haunted by his own thoughts. “Some of the things I’ve seen them do … to children … even I won’t repeat.” He inhaled, recentering himself. “They deserve every moment of pain, and then some.”

He strolled ahead, leaving me to trail behind the group once again. I looked at the white wisps of souls, no longer feeling the pity I felt a moment ago.