Page 10 of Hell-Bound (Pacts of the Infernal #1)

It was not hard to convince her. She is desperate. But so am I.

A blink and Ren was back in her dusty room. Jester was waiting for her, sitting on the floor crossed-legged, reading a book.

“Well, you took long enough!”

he said, throwing the book behind him before it vanished.

Ren reached up to feel her forehead. It was clammy with sweat.

“Was I really there? Or was it just a dream?”

“Well, that depends,”

he said, shrugging.

“did you see a handsome Devil who talked to you about your contract?”

“Yes.”

“Then it wasn’t a dream.”

Ren could have sworn she heard him murmur dummy under his breath.

“Why are you still here?”

she snapped, shuffling around the room.

“I am here to help you!”

He held out his hand and, with a flick of his wrist, produced flame. It smoldered for a moment before forming into an elegant black envelope.

“You seem to be veeeeery important, Ren. My lord already trusts you with an assignment.”

Ren flicked her eyes to the envelope but didn’t approach.

“My Lord? So you sold your soul to him too?”

He smiled slightly less gleefully.

“I guess we are in this game together, aren’t we?”

“I still don’t trust you,”

she grumbled, walking forward to snatch the envelope.

The words on the front were a sophisticated script—red with a dripping wax seal on the back that was still damp.

"To my beautiful muse," it said.

God, enough with the dramatics.

God? Did you summon me, my sweet?

Are you always in my head? Because I’m definitely not okay with that.

Oh no, no, no. I can only be in your head when you summon me.

I didn’t summon you!

Oh, but darling, you most certainly did.

Out! Now!

And with a chuckle, she felt a coldness and knew he’d left.

“You should really work on that.”

Jester pointed at the smoky substance lingering on her skin.

“Ughh. I don’t know why he does it!”

“Oh, that’s easy. He wants to make sure that you know that he’s watching. If he isn’t in your head, the smoke won’t appear. He has to get consent before accessing your thoughts,”

he finished matter-of-factly.

“But I didn’t give consent!”

she ground out.

He looked thoughtful.

“Well, have you indulged in any sins lately? Greed? Gluttony…Lust?”

he emphasized the last with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“You know…the seven deadly sins?”

“I—of course not!”

“Weeeeeell, that would summon Azur. It’s like calling to him. But don’t worry, you can learn to control it. And anyway, if you ever want him to leave you alone, just sever the connection. He can’t spy on you.”

“She felt a bit of the tension leave her shoulders before turning her attention back to the letter.

“Ren,”

it began.

“I have sent Jester to accompany you into Castle Valdrock. He is very resourceful if a bit maddening at times. You can trust him as your objectives are aligned.

The contract you are searching for will likely be located in Wyvryn’s study and marked with my holy symbol,”

An example was drawn under the words. It was a splash of black paint, which evidently was supposed to be a face, yet it looked more monster than man, with two sinister horns emerging from its head.

“I have given Jester a set of magical lock pics that you’ll be able to use to infiltrate rooms even with the strongest of wards. Do not get caught.”

The last sentence was underlined several times.

“We discussed the risks of being discovered, but do not underestimate the wrath you will face if you disappoint me.”

It was signed.

His Lordship, most esteemed and handsome Devil of your dream, Azur Pelegros.

“Ridiculous,”

Renata muttered.

As she lowered the letter, she saw a flash. Holding her hands up, she caught something.

“Apparently, you’re really good at being sneaky. Despite your pathetic display the other night.”

He showed her one of his playful grins.

She rolled her eyes, hiding her own grin as she looked down at the lock-picking kit.

“Yeah. apparently, I did it a lot…before.”

They both let the words hang in the air.

But Jester, never one to allow a moment to go by before a snide remark, broke the silence.

“Okay, Elf girl! Put on your sneakiest shoes, and let’s get going!”

he said, jumping up.

“Wait, wait, slow down! How do we even get there? Do we, like, hop in a portal and sneak into the castle?”

Jester leaned back and kicked his feet, laughing.

“Nooooo, silly girl. We can’t just appear in the domain of a High Devil! They can detect magic—then they will find us! Then they will tie us up or make our skin into leather for their couches!”

Ren ran her fingers through her hair, exasperated.

“Fine! Then how do we get there? Do you know the way?”

He jumped up and down.

“Of course, I know the way. You didn’t think Azur would send us all the way to Castle Valdrock without a way to get there! But!”

He put one finger in the air to stress his next words.

“We will have to walk! Don’t worry though, it’s only about a day—”

“Walk?”

Renata balked.

“Yes, walk. It’s like a slower run—”

“I know what it is, Jester!”

Her legs were no longer hurting from her back alley encounter, but she wasn’t looking forward to striding through The Hells with a Devil that she had only just met.

“Be careful, Ren! You might accidentally summon a certain Devil with such sloth.”

He giggled and winked at her.

“Azur would give us a carriage, but there aren’t really any roads there. I can get us closer, but Azur says the wards start somewhere in the forest.”

“Wards?”

“Sure! All lords have them in their domains. They will alert them if any unwanted guests arrive. Getting out is easier. I’ll leave an open portal here for a quick escape.”

He floated his long fingers through the air. A barely noticeable ripple opened near the window.

“Portaling and teleportation are quite different. I can portal to a known area, usually. But it takes a great deal of magic unless you’ve prepared the portal beforehand. Teleporting can only be done over short distances.

That should just about do it,”

he said, dusting off his hands as if he had finished some kind of manual labor.

“Meet you outside!”

In a puff of red smoke, he was gone.

Ren massaged her temples.

“No one said anything about a hike,”

she grumbled, gathering her few belongings in her satchel and descending the stairs.

Fred was sitting at the bar, staring off into space.

“No luck last night?”

he said, snapping back into reality.

Ren gave a grimace.

“It uh…didn’t go as well as I had hoped.”

He scratched the scruff on his chin.

“Well, yer look like ye still breathing. So that’s something.”

“Yeah.”

She looked around, wondering if Jester was watching from a corner.

Fred cleared his throat.

“For the spirits.”

He slowly pushed the glass, the same from the night before, toward her, making sure to catch her eyes as she did. He put one finger over his mouth.

Ren tried to act naturally, taking the glass in her hand. It was still filled with liquid, but it no longer looked amber. It looked exactly like—but it couldn’t be. She lifted it to her lips, her confidence momentarily faltering.

Fred’s eyes widened and gave the smallest movement of his head.

She drank. When the iron taste hit her throat, she almost spewed it out. Fred reached across the bar and slapped a hand roughly across her mouth.

“Drink!”

he half-whispered, half-shouted.

Her entire body convulsed in disgust as she swallowed the revolting liquid. It was blood. Then she heard him—Leo—in her head.

“Renata! Oh, I am glad to see that you are okay!”

In front of her eyes appeared the incorporeal version of Leonardo. He was wearing his white robes, looking a bit more haggard than when she had last seen him.

“Leo! What the hell was that?!”

she spluttered, wiping the remaining blood off her mouth.

Leo smiled sheepishly.

“I am sorry, Renata. I always forget to warn people of the holy water. A pure liquid gifted freely to Nainaur, which can be blessed. For now, we can use it for communication.”

“Leo. I’m really getting tired of surprises.”

“Oh yes, well. Everything is likely to surprise you these days. I won’t insult you by treating you as a child.”

Ren pursed her lips.

“Am I to assume you didn’t make any progress with the relic last night?”

Ren smiled sheepishly.

“Actually, no. I looked—but it was a bit…complicated. It’s just that—I wasn’t fully prepared.”

Leo gave her a pitying look.

“That’s not surprising. While we hoped that you could retrieve The Vutar’ka Zhartun on your first night, we knew that it was unlikely.”

“I plan to look in…another area soon. I think I have a lead.”

Leo’s image shifted, taken aback.

“I must say that I am relieved at this unexpected news.”

Ren paused, considering.

“Yeah, I…heard some Devils talking of a large collection of artifacts collected somewhere close by.”

It technically wasn’t a lie.

Leo furrowed his brow.

“Really? I haven’t heard of any collections in Ogriazeth, but then again, I have never visited the city myself. Very well. We will contact you in a few days. Fred knows what to do.”

Ren looked back at the barman, and he lifted his own glass to Leo.

“Good ter see ye, Lee.

Leo bowed his head.

“May The Almighty protect you.”

Without waiting for Ren to respond, he disappeared.

Ren squinted her eyes and tried not to heave at the lingering metallic taste.

Reading her expression, Fred said.

“Yeah, it’s not the most enjoyable flavor, is it? It is useful, though.”

“What about your mute wards? How was I able to talk to Leo?”

she asked.

“Oh, you were still muted. I couldn’t hear nothing yous was sayin’.”

Fred reached behind the counter and produced a small brown bag.

“Some rations for ye. The sleepers don’t eat much food, so I wanted to make sure ye had something.”

As he passed the small parcel, Ren felt a strong twinge of guilt about Jester before giving him a tight handshake and slipping out the door.

Outside, she saw the same Half-Orc female sitting motionless on the fountain edge. Momentarily distracted, Ren hadn’t felt the tug on her bag.

“Pssst. Elf lady. Reeeen.”

It wasn’t until a still-invisible Jester gave her a push that she came back to attention.

“Sorry, yeah, I’m here. Hey, Jester. Do the sleepers know what’s happening? Or do they just stay like that?”

Jester did not reveal himself.

“Hmm, that depends. Some sleepers can communicate, but others just work. I really don’t know why. I try not to think about it.”

he said, voice becoming grave.

Ren didn’t push. This was the first time she had heard Jester be serious about anything.

She felt another tug as Jester led her through the street.

“I know a way to avoid the big bad Devils around here,”

he whispered.

“Jester, why are you staying invisible?”

she asked after walking a distance from the bar.

“Fred can’t see you from here.”

Tugging Ren along, Jester didn’t respond.

It wasn’t until they arrived at the outskirts of the city, the same area where Ren had appeared the day before, that Jester popped back into existence.

“The forest of Nahmir,”

he said, gesturing around with a little turn.

Ren stopped and crossed her arms.

“Are you going to explain what that was about back there?”

Jester did not stop walking, but his tail lashed around nervously.

“Nope.”

Ren started following again before Jester could get too far ahead.

“Are you wanted or something?”

No response.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,”

she said, remembering how uncomfortable she became when people brought up her past.

Jester stopped walking and turned around, a smile that didn’t look quite as genuine plastered on his face.

“Yes, you did. But don’t you worry, little Elf. I just didn’t sleep so well. Not with you snooooring the whole night!”

“W-you were watching me sleep?!”

she exclaimed. Ren ran up to Jester, trying to grab onto his tunic.

“Wait! You can’t just—”

Jester disappeared, reappearing in a tree a few feet away.

“But Reeeeeen, you looked so cuuuuute,”

he teased.

“No. More. Watching! It’s creepy. What if I was…doing private…things!”

Jester gawked for a second.

“Private things?”

he mocked.

“What sort of private things could you possibly be doing?”

Jester poofed out again, transporting himself to another tree further ahead.

Ren clenched her jaw, stomping towards him.

“I don’t know! Things! Like—things that women do alone!”

Jester hung upside down from a branch.

“Thiiiings. Ren. You can’t fool me. We both know you’ve never even been kissed!”

Gaping at him, she halted.

“W–I have been kissed! I… had a boyfriend! His name was Nephele, and he was very nice!”

“Ohhh, liar! Azur told me that you lost all your memories. That when you woke up, you couldn’t remember anything.”

Ren finally reached the tree where Jester was slowly swinging back and forth.

“I can remember things…just…not everything.”

“So you remember your first kiss? You remember Nepheeeele. Tell me, did he like it rough? Or was he the boring, gentle type?

Ren blushed deeply.

“I’m not talking to you about this.”

She huffed, stomping forward.

Jester jumped down beside her.

“See? We all have things we don’t talk about. Ready to go? I can portal us closer to the Dementiz.”

She squinted at the Devil.

“Don’t try anything tricky!”

He gasped and put a hand on his chest.

“Why, Ren! I am insulted that you’d even suggest such a thing.”

She moaned and grabbed onto his expectant palm, and they zipped through space before skidding to a halt among dark, barren trees. Ren had to blink several times for her brain to process the sudden change.

Ren finally became oriented, Jester was several feet away, having already started marching ahead. He was walking leisurely, occasionally kicking up ash playfully.

They walked in silence for a while, but Jester’s words spun round and round in her head. He was right. Ren had no experience with intimacy save for the other night. She thought of the violinist, Xarek. How much desire she had felt. Surely, it had been some type of devilish cunning.

And then Azur—his red eyes, piercing and hot, looking at her as his hips moved. That image was branded into her mind. Thinking of his moans made her whole body shiver. But she couldn’t picture herself in that scene—uninhibited like his partner had been, throwing her head back in pure ecstasy.

She wished she could purge the whole experience. It was better to just stay focused. Maybe Renata was like that. Maybe Renata had known love. And maybe Nephele had been the one to show it to her—but not Ren. She flushed at the thought.

She tried to distract herself by looking at the trees. The deeper they went into the forest, the larger the trees became, but there was still no greenery to be found. At first, Ren assumed it had been a fire that had devastated this area, but now she was starting to wonder if they just grew that way.

“It’s time to stop for the day,”

Jester said, breaking the tense silence.

“Really? It doesn’t feel like we’ve walked that long.”

Truthfully, Ren hadn’t been paying attention, and the unfamiliar streaking in the sky gave no indication of what time it was.

“Better to stop now, build a camp while it’s light than to wait. This isn’t a particularly safe place.”

“Don’t people walk through here? To get to Dementiz?”

Jester shook his head, stopping.

“No, Devils mostly portal. We just can’t because the portals are watched. No one who wants to live travels these roads.”

That’s encouraging.

Jester walked around a few trees, looking for something.

“Mmm hmm, I think here will be just fine. These trees will block us from view in case anything comes searching.”

He plopped down onto the ashen floor and stretched out.

“Did you bring anything to eat? I’m staaaarving,”

he said, grabbing his stomach dramatically.

She produced the small bag that Fred had given her. Inside was a block of cheese, some dried meats, and a few pieces of fruit. After eating in another awkward silence, Ren was surprised when Jester spoke.

“So you lost your memories as payment to Azur?”

he asked, looking down and tracing his fingers through the ash.

She furrowed her brow. She hadn’t thought that her memories might have been the payment for something. She had assumed that she had wanted to get rid of them.

“I…think that I, my past self, wanted to forget.”

Jester looked up at her.

“Why would you want to forget everything?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been asking myself. Azur hinted that there was a good reason for me to want to forget. That I should... respect that decision.”

He nodded, thoughtful.

“You can’t trust Azur, Ren. He is…evil. He will do anything to have souls…”

She bit her lip, suddenly conflicted.

“I know, Jester, but what other choice do I have? I have nothing now. Maybe Renata—maybe I made a mistake. I couldn’t have known the real consequences. Why would anyone want to forget their whole life? Everyone and everything they’ve ever known. I’m just... I’m so…”

“Confused,”

he finished.

“Yes,”

she muttered, calming herself before she could spiral.

Jester continued to doodle in the ash, suddenly solemn, then murmured.

“There are things I want to forget. I would…leave it all behind. Everything. If I could just forget,”

he said, voice growing softer.

“Ren, you got to start over. Be whoever you want to be. You’re free. No one to hold you back or remind you of the mistakes you’ve made. The people you’ve hurt. The people you’ve…lost.”

Ren looked down at her hands.

“But even if that were true, I would still have hurt them. I mean, any mistakes I made in the past are still my mistakes, whether I remember them or not. Jester, trust me, this is awful. You wouldn’t want this. People talk to you like you’re not even there, telling you what you should believe—should do. What about what I want to do!”

She paused, suddenly realizing that panic was rising in her chest.

“Ren, you are you. It’s the same person.”

“No, Jester, you don’t understand. I feel like I don’t have a choice. I feel like Renata made my choices. She told me who to love, where to live, how to dress! But I don’t even understand why she—I—made those decisions, and if I change them and decide I don’t want them anymore, am I betraying myself?”

Renata grabbed her head, a sharp pain starting to form behind her eyes. Ren inhaled and exhaled slowly.

It was a time before Jester spoke.

“Ren, I hope you escaped whatever you were running from.”

He stood up, wiped his pants off, and said.

“I’m going to check the perimeter.”

Then he vanished.

Renata knew what he was doing, but she was glad for the privacy all the same.

He returned several minutes after Ren had calmed down.

“We shouldn’t light a fire tonight. Stay as inconspicuous as possible. I haven’t seen anything—but just to be safe,”

he said with a thumbs up.

That was perfectly fine with her. It wasn’t cold. In fact, it was positively muggy.

The dark was upon them faster than Ren expected. Night there apparently only meant that the strips of lightning disappeared behind dark clouds, which only took minutes.

Jester bedded down, curling his red tail around his leg, before turning his back to her.

“Night night, Elfy,”

he said softly.

“Good night, Jester,”

she whispered back automatically.

In less time than it took the light to vanish, Jester was snoring softly, twitching every so often in his sleep.

Sleep didn’t come easy to Ren. Her body, usually so reliable, refused to get comfortable.

I’m not an outside girl, she thought irritably.

After several hours trying and failing to sleep, she sat up and dug into her satchel, which she was using as a pillow, and felt around for her piccolo.

Not wanting to wake Jester, she made her way past several trees soundlessly. She perked her ears and listened, trying to make out any sounds to indicate creatures or beasts nearby. With Elf blood, her hearing tended to be better than most other beings.

She looked at her piccolo.

“No more playing evil music. Okay?”

The piccolo remained cold in her hands.

Satisfied, she brought her piccolo to her lips and softly played. The song was low and quiet, something new for her new adventure. She thought of her new companion and decided that, though she probably couldn’t trust him, she was glad to not be alone.

The melodic notes about him were lighter—more lively to show his spirit and sharp wit. She surveyed her mind for more inspiration for her song, but try as she might, her mind kept fixating on Azur. It wasn’t shocking—he owned her soul. But was it just this that kept her thoughts returning?

He truly was devastatingly handsome. How unfair. Evil things shouldn’t be so spectacular. They should be gross, oozing with slime.

But, being as it was, she felt that a song about him wouldn’t be gross or macabre, but instead, she felt that it would be deep and moving. Mysterious. Notes hidden under layers of notes.

Ren.

She felt the voice before she heard it. She stopped playing.

Azur! I didn’t summon you!

Ren. You must stop.

No! I want to be alone!

She mentally shouted the words, recalling what Jester had told her about severing the connection.

The last thing she heard was a rumble of frustration before. Sweet, blissful silence.

Relief. Finally, some semblance of control. She sighed, once again lifting her piccolo to her lips but suddenly, it vibrated, and her ears perked. A low guttural growl came from her right. She twisted around to gain her bearings, reaching slowly for her dagger. Her heart began to pound.

“Ren! Run!”

And then black.

Would that I could start over.