Page 29

Mira

I needed more metal, but there wasn’t any.

And we were almost outta time.

As the rupture spread a little more, I could hear horrific sounds coming from it.

Rome had broken through the drywall into the outer office and carried Josef and Mimi out, then came back.

Gigi was either invisible or ’porting too fast for us to see and Jax wouldn’t leave her, so the three of us moved everything out of the way and waited.

As Rome hurled the last of the cushy office chairs down the rupture, I choked back a hysterical giggle as I pictured a red-tailed demon lounging in one as bad elevator music hummed in the background.

“Aarrgghh!”

Something like a decaying pterosaur shot out of the hole with an ear-piercing screech to rival Jax’s. I reared back in surprise, then had to scramble to grab the cable before it fed all the way through the pulley.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a blue glow as Rome sliced it up with his twin short swords.

“The longer this is open, the more will come up!” he shouted.

“Aw, you can handle it, big man!” I yelled back. Then I felt a jerk on the cable and hauled it up as fast as I could. “Jax, get ready to catch someone!”

When the cage reached the edge, Titus jumped out. Jax grabbed him and pulled him away as more of the floor crumbled.

“Get that back down there!” Titus roared. “He’s surrounded by now!”

Immediately, I dropped it, the braided metal cable sliding through my hands a mile per second. Titus slumped against Jax. His one leg was a mangled mess.

“Can you call a healer?” I played out the cable until it reached the same place as before.

“Later! Just get him out of there! A flock of rivens was on my tail. Keep your blades out.”

“Already bagged one.”

Rome directed Jax to take Titus out to Mimi. When they were gone, he moved closer to the edge. Holding his swords at the ready, he asked if I felt anything on the cable.

“No. Nothing. Do you think the cable—” The cage was suddenly gone from my control. “It’s gone!”

“What is? The cable?”

“All of it!” I pulled up the cable, but only got a few yards before I reached the frayed end.

The screech of rivens got louder.

Snarling, Rome dropped his blades and grabbed the table Jax had collapsed and leaned against the wall. He flipped it lengthwise over the widest part of the rupture and flattened himself on top of it. About a dozen rivens slammed into it with dull thuds.

“I can only hold them back for so long like this.” He spread his arms and legs to weigh the table down. “Any ideas to get Kerry out?”

“How much time do we have left?” Gigi’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

“Forty seconds,” he called back. “Get ready to close it up!”

“I am not leaving him down there,” I hollered.

“We have to, Mira! It’s him or us and this whole building!”

Ideas, ideas! Gotta save Kerry! If only someone other than Gigi could tele—

“I know what to do!” I pulled one of the charms off Zick’s bracelet and smashed it between my thumb and forefinger.

“Mira, w—”

#

Kerry

There have been times in my life where I have made really bad decisions. Some of them were for very good reasons and others, well, for not so good reasons. But I usually regretted them.

Sending Titus Wray topside first? I wasn’t sure if that was a good decision with bad consequences or just a flat-out bad decision, but I sure didn’t regret it.

Even if it meant never seeing Gemma again, I couldn’t leave a wounded man to face the hordes of Hell alone. And it wasn’t outta mercy or respect, so don’t paint me as any kind of hero. It was stubbornness, plain and simple.

Okay, and I really wanted to kill things.

I dropped two Hell-spawn per second until they started fighting each other. It was almost funny, the way they took each other out almost as fast as I had, but then this big … thing … shoved its way through the chaos and came straight at me.

I didn’t know what Mr. Snyder would call it, but it looked like a ten-foot-tall man made of lava. Fire flowed under the cracks in its black hide and steam blasted outta its mouth.

And I admit the thought crossed my mind that I could let Charcoal Boy take me out.

I mean, I wasn’t looking forward to spending eternity roasting my balls down here, but that was my ultimate fate.

Sure, I’d helped out in a few bad situations, but it didn’t matter in the long run.

I could do good deeds every day of my life for the next five centuries, and it wouldn’t make a difference.

My soul had been Hell-bound from the moment I’d looked up into Samuel Castle’s black eyes and said I’d take the demon if he’d stop hurting my mom.

And what was the point of returning topside?

Jax and John didn’t want me tagging along all the time, and Travis was probably never gonna talk to me again.

Chessie was still pretty broken, but I’d seen the way she’d looked at Chance before they left.

She wouldn’t need me as a big brother anymore.

Mira had Rome to pick her up if she stumbled, and Jax and Gigi had each other.

I’d done what I came down here to do. Titus was rescued and Gigi would be closing up the rupture any second.

Even Aspen Abernathy was safe. Well, so long as she stayed in that pyx, which would flash-fry anything Diabolical the second they touched it.

Probably not much of an existence, but better than eternal torment.

So why did I still have my sword in my hand?

Well, partly because I can’t resist a good fight, and partly because something inside me refuses to give up. Plus, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew being in Hell had stirred up the Taint, which was turning my thoughts more and more pessimistic.

Mostly, though, I didn’t trust anyone else to save Gemma. Yeah, Titus had given me his word, and I knew it was solid, but he didn’t have her as his sole justification for drawing breath. He wouldn’t be as dedicated as me to rescuing her.

And I had to see her again.

At least one more time, I had to see her again.

It was selfish, and I wasn’t sure if she would even want anything to do with me anymore, but I needed to see her . I needed to make sure she was okay, to know she was safe.

What happened after that depended on her.

If she wanted me in her life, I would never leave her side.

If she wanted me gone, that’s what would happen, but I’d watch over her from a distance.

Nephs didn’t have malakim—what humans called guardian angels—but nothing bad was ever, ever gonna happen to her again. Not so long as I lived.

I’d become her very own demon-tainted guardian angel.

And that was why, when Charcoal Boy bellowed and charged, I met him head-on with a grin.

#

Mira

A heartbeat later, I found myself in a smoky, sooty desert and nearly took an elbow in the eye as Kerry battled something a volcano vomited up.

Its roar of scorching heat knocked me on my backside right as it lunged forward, a waterfall of lava spewing from its mouth.

I scrambled to get to my knees in a panic.

If we don’t leave pretty directly, we’re both gonna resemble charcoal briquettes!

But I shoulda known better. Kerry had it under control. His sword was a swinging arc of silver as he scored a deep cut along the thing’s midsection. Then he whirled the blade in a complicated swirl, and Volcano Man’s head joined the three-foot-high wall of corpses circling us.

“Why aren’t they dissolving?” I asked.

“ Boots?! What are you doing here?”

“Uh, saving your dumb behind.” I rolled my eyes. “What else?”

“Get that round box by my left foot. It might burn you, but bring it along!”

I didn’t waste time asking questions. I grabbed it, ignored the pain in my fingers, and shoved it in my pocket while he sliced up a gray thing dripping ooze that sizzled when it hit the ashy ground.

“I got it, Kerry!” I yelled. “I’m gonna grab you. Don’t attack me.”

“Do it!”

I jammed my hand under his belt, broke another charm, and got us outta Hell.

#

Not all my decisions are impulsive. Sometimes I think before I act. This time, for example, I pictured the Witch of Endor’s front office instead of the ruined conference room.

Soon as we landed, I fell over Mimi’s outstretched legs and narrowly missed clocking her in the head with my elbow. Since I was still gripping Kerry’s belt, he went down, too, and crashed on top of me.

“Ten… nine…”

Gigi’s voice reminded me we were still on a deadline.

“Close it up!”

“Wait! We don’t know where Mira went!”

“Seven… six…”

“There are too many coming through! Close it!”

“But Kerry’s still down there!”

“ CLOSE IT! ”

“We’re clear, Gigi!” Kerry hollered.

I was glad he did because his heavy butt had smashed me flat and I couldn’t get air into my lungs for anything. The choking smoke that billowed off us didn’t help.

The racket and tremors came to a stop, and the rotten egg stink began to fade.

“Mira?!” Rome bellowed.

“I’m here!” I tried to yell, but Kerry was taking his sweet time getting up, and I sounded more like a deflated accordion.

Finally, he got to his feet, reached down, and held out his hand. Still wheezing a little, I took it and let him pull me up.

“Gigi did it.” His deep voice seemed oddly weak. “Yay.”

I eyed him with concern as he dissolved his sword, then put his hands on his knees and panted. His shirt and hair were soaked with sweat, and his clothing was in shreds.

He musta fought like a fury during those two minutes he was down there.

“If anyone’s vertical, come give us a hand,” Jax called.

I waved a hand at Kerry as he started to straighten up.

“I got it.”

I went over to where Jax was trying to get Gigi through the hole in the wall. She must have drained every drop of her power because her arms and legs flopped everywhere.

Know how it feels when the dentist numbs your gums and a little of the anesthetic gets on your tongue? That’s how your whole body feels when you’re drained. So, yeah, she wasn’t much help.

After we hauled her out, Jax carried her over to the others and laid her on the floor. Blood trickled from her nostrils and her face was whiter than Pepper Crane’s.

“Gigi?” Jax knelt next to her and stroked her curls. “Gigi!”

“I called one of the outpost’s healers.” Titus sucked in his breath sharply as he moved his bloody leg. “Should be here any time now.”

“She’ll be okay.” Kerry came over and lightly ground his knuckles into the top of Jax’s head. “She needs sleep, that’s all.”

Jax nodded, but his brown eyes glowed with worry.

When Rome crawled out of the wall, I knew I was in trouble as soon as I met his arctic eyes. He stalked over and bent his head down until we were nose to nose.

“Next time, tell me what you’re doing before you do it,” he growled. “I had no idea where you went. How can I make a plan when I don’t know anything?”

I’d learned a lot about him in our short time together, and one thing he did not do well with was spontaneity.

He was methodical and liked to calculate odds.

He was okay with me jumping into the fight, which was good because I didn’t like being held back, but he wanted to be aware that I was jumping into the fight.

Since I knew he was speaking out of fear and worry for me, I told him I was sorry and explained about Zick’s bracelet.

“Just … give me some kind of warning next time.” He touched his forehead to mine. “You scared me.”

I swallowed hard. This man—this giant man whose eyes could freeze you solid—was anything but cold.

“I will. I promise.”

#

Titus’ healer showed up and it didn’t take long to get everyone except Gigi back on their feet. Like Kerry said, only rest would help her.

Speaking of Kerry, he wouldn’t let the healer touch him and insisted he was tired but fine. I decided I’d keep an eye on him to make sure he really was. If he showed any signs of injury, I’d get Josef to call the healer back.

“What do we do about the conference room?” Rome asked.

“I’ll send you a bill.” Mimi smiled without humor, and I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not.

“Send it to Jax.” Kerry leaned a shoulder against the wall with his eyes half-closed. “’S all his fault.”

“How could I have known?” Jax gave him a speculative look. “You did, though, didn’t you? That’s what you were trying to say when I locked you down.”

“I guessed .” He rolled one shoulder. “But I found her. I didn’t know what you wanted to ask her, though, so—”

“He brought her along,” Titus interrupted.

Every head swiveled toward Kerry.

“You stole a soul.” Jax’s face was blank, most likely with shock. I know mine was.

“Yup.

“From Hell.”

“Yup.”

“A suicide.”

“Now that’s where it gets interesting.” He looked extremely smug. “Turns out, Argaud made her shoot herself when she started to break free of him. She’s a murder victim, not a suicide.”

“How do you know she wasn’t lying to you?” I squinted at him.

“Souls can’t lie,” came from a chorus of voices.

I looked at Rome.

“They can’t.” He shrugged.

“There are a lot of theories, but the truth is, no one knows exactly why,” Mimi added.

“Learn something new every day,” I muttered.

“Well, where is she?” Jax asked.

Kerry came over and asked me for the round box.

“It burns to touch it,” I whined. “Rome, fish it outta my pocket. Back left.”

Rome did, then held it up for everyone to see.

“What did you want to ask her?” Kerry asked Jax.

“Nothing worth dying for.”

Rome took the pyx over to him, and Kerry nudged me with his elbow.

“You all right, Boots? That was pretty savage.”

“Dude, I went to Hell, saved your butt, and got us back alive!” Grinning, I held out my fist, and he knocked his knuckles against mine. “I’m the queen of savage!”