Page 6

Loren

He said I was a liar.

I thought a demon would appreciate that.

He called me a bad dog.

A useless cur. A mongrel.

He used to say I was too civilized but, after being dragged across state lines on a weeks-long hunt and spending my nights muzzled and stuffed into tiny motel room closets, I was less civilized than ever before.

I knelt, wedged between an ironing board and a tiny wall safe.

My arms were bound behind my backto prevent me from creating a portal to escape or harming my new master.

He was smart to do that because, if I could have killed him, I would have.

I would have cleaved him in half and sent us both to the darkest depths of Hell.

Better there than here in this hot, stuffy box waiting until he finally broke me, and I told him what he wanted to know.

Indy wasn’t in Ohio.

Or Pennsylvania.

He was with Sully in New York, and I would never lead Nero there.

We would canvas the United States or the world before I would take the archdemon anywhere near Brooklyn.

Near home.

My hound whined, and I shifted, trying in vain to ease the ache in my knees.

I hadn’t stood upright in days.

Hadn’t left this closet in…

I didn’t know how long.

The sun had slipped under the gap at the bottom of the door three, maybe four times?

Nero didn’t like to stay put for long, and I wasn’t sure what had caused this delay.

The motel room door beeped, and my ears pricked to the sound.

I watched the narrow sliver of light beside my feet, waiting for the archdemon’s shadow to cut through the daylight.

Voices came first. Something besides Nero’s rumbling bass.

A female joined him.

She spoke in a murmur I strained to discern.

I leaned forward, fighting the sting of numbness that had settled in my legs.

The chatter remained a jumble of noise until the closet door slid aside and light burst in, framing Nero’s towering silhouette.

He was taller in Hell.

Taller even than me.

But during our time on Earth, he had donned a human disguise, having traded his red skin and curved horns for the visage of a 40-something businessman with a side part and perpetual sneer.

That last part suited him, at least.

The archdemon scowled down at me, and I snarled behind the stifling leather muzzle.

My eyes adjusted quickly enough to catch the vein jumping at his temple as he lunged forward and grabbed me.

His fingers knotted around my collar, and he hauled me out of the closet to fling me face down on the musty carpet outside.

I struggled toward sitting, but Nero was quicker.

He hooked the toe of his shoe under my side and gave a kick that rolled me onto my back, crushing my bound hands while I glowered up at him and, finally, saw the woman who’d joined us.

She reminded me of Sully, and the familiarity strummed a lonely chord in my heart.

She wore earth-toned clothing made of natural fabrics, beaded bracelets stacked up both wrists, and ginger-orange hair hung to her waist. I couldn’t tell for sure with the muzzle covering my mouth and nose, but I imagined she smelled like nag champa.

My hound whined, aware as I was of what might have been a friend.

The woman was clearly a witch, but her association with Nero made me wary.

“He’s not what I expected.” She hung back while looking me over, then she glanced at Nero.

“You said he can talk?”

“Can,” Nero grumbled.

“Won’t. He’s too stubborn. Or stupid.”

I squirmed, feeling vulnerable and exposed while lying prone.

It took some effort to get my feet under me, and I half-expected Nero to pin me down before I worked my way to kneeling.

The motel room was in a state of disarray.

The bed linens were tangled, and the small table by the desk had been overturned.

On the opposite wall, the curtains were parted over a set of sheers that admitted a fan of golden light.

It was stuffy with the window AC unit choking and churning, and I felt keenly aware of the sweat that dampened my clothes and pasted my hair to my temples.

Semi-upright, I locked eyes with the witch.

She looked as nervous about me as I was about her.

“It might help if you took that off,” she told Nero while gesturing to the strip of leather secured across my face.

Nero scoffed. “Go ahead. Watch your fingers, though. He bites.” His scornful look made me bristle.

The witch approached with timid steps.

She crouched before me, and the hem of her long skirt puddled on the floor.

I wanted to lean into her, to tell her everything, then beg her to help.

Someone had to. I couldn’t do this forever, and that was exactly how much time Nero had.

He could outwait and outlast, into Indy’s next lifetime or the one after that.

Well past the end of my resolve.

Now before me, the witch glanced at Nero.

“I don’t suppose you’ve tried asking him nicely?”

The demon folded his arms. With the sun streaming in behind him, he remained like a shadow, a void cut out of the room.

“I have demanded ,” he replied, “and he is compelled to obey.”

The witch said nothing further as she faced me once more.

After another moment’s assessment, she extended her hand.

It hovered in the air between us, wordlessly asking permission to come closer.

Despite the anxious shivers racing through my body, I tipped my head forward, giving her access to the muzzle’s buckles fastened against the base of my skull.

With a gentle tug and slide, the gag fell away, and I drew an unimpeded breath.

I straightened, running my tongue over my chapped lips and then rolling them together.

The witch set the muzzle on the floor, then lowered herself to kneel along with me so her face was below mine.

Her smile was so welcome, so wanted, that I felt myself weakening.

The past few weeks had worn me down, and I’d been tired before I got here.

It was a low I tried not to let myself feel, a hole I was afraid I’d fall into and never climb out.

“What’s your name?”the witch asked.

I swallowed, trying to make my voice more than a croak as I answered, “Loren.”

“Hi, Loren,” she replied.

“I’m Elise.”

Her expression softened, and I steeled myself against it.

Set my jaw to keep from pleading for her to get me out of here, away from Nero, back to Brooklyn.

Back to Indy.

From his post at the foot of the nearby bed, Nero let out an aggravated grumble.

“This doesn’t look much like witchcraft. Need I remind you I brought you here for a purpose?”

“He’s talking, isn’t he?” Elise retorted.

Was that the game? Had I been so easily deceived?

My gaze flicked to the bedside table where a canvas tote bag sat.

I’d never seen it before, so it must have belonged to the witch.

It was flopped closed, but I imagined what might be inside.

Magical implements meant to manipulate or strip confessions from me.

Of course, Nero hadn’t brought someone here to be kind.

Elise reached toward me again.

“Why are you keeping secrets, pup? Do you know what he’s asking? About the phoenix?”

I bared my teeth at her, and my hound’s growl crept up my throat.

The witch recoiled while Nero stomped forward and grabbed a handful of my hair.

He yanked me up, using his grip to give me a rough, scalp-stinging shake.

“Mangy monster,” he spat, then dropped me on my bruised knees.

“It won’t help matters to make him hate you more.” Elise rose and smoothed down her skirt before moving toward the bag on the bedside table.

While she rifled through its contents, I stretched my shoulders and strained against the bonds that secured my wrists.

The unknown drummed up panic in me.

I didn’t know much about the limits of magic, only that I didn’t want to test them.

Nero had used brute force, hurled insults, and reminded me what would happen if I proved myself useless.

There were cages in Hell, places I could be confined for eternity.

Moira wouldn’t stop it.

She’d practically endorsed it when she’d left me in the kennels herself.

Even if she was inclined to intervene, Nero was my master now, and he outranked her.

After a short search, Elise straightened away from her bag with a small jar in hand.

The contents looked to be a kind of gray powder that shifted as she tilted the jar from side to side.

Her features pinched as she considered it, then looked over at Nero.

“He talks, and I get a clean slate? No more deal?”

The mention of a deal gave me pause.

Since my primary purpose in the afterlife was reaping bartered souls, I’d heard countless desperate pleas.

For mercy, forgiveness, or stays of execution.

I couldn’t grant those wishes but, if Nero held Elise’s contract, it was possible he could.

The archdemon shook his head.

It was strange not to see his horns spiraling out from above his ears.

“I get the phoenix, and you’re free,” he replied.

“And I’ll have the phoenix after he talks.”

I swallowed hard, alternating between the two negotiating in front of me and the bottle of dust in Elise’s hand.

I’d seen truth serums in movies, often an injection used to loosen captives’ stubborn tongues and draw out damning information.

My heart raced through beats as I considered what would happen if Elise’s powder worked like that.

One puff and I would be forced to confess everything about Indy and our lives together, where he was hiding, who he was with, and then…

“Then what happens to him?” Elise’s question stopped my train of thought on a dangerous precipice.

She looked sad; a glimpse of her earlier kindness had returned.

Or maybe it never left.

I’d told Sully that only bad people made deals with demons, but I didn’t truly believe that.

I’d met too many lost, desperate souls to think they all deserved the punishment that came with the terms of a hellish deal.

I’d been lost once, too.

Now, I was lost again.

Trapped, and frightened, and so far from home.

Nero gazed wearily at the witch.

“Would you let his fate determine yours?”

Elise paused, then shook her head.

The jar’s hinged lid swung open.

When she looked toward me, she made a pointed effort to avoid my eyes.

“You may have to restrain him,” she told Nero.

The archdemon chuckled.

“Gladly.”

He stepped forward, and I withdrew, wanting to scramble or scurry away with nowhere to go but back into the cramped closet.

My arms flexed against the ties that bound me to no avail.

With my legs straightening then folding in a flurried attempt at escape, I ended up on my back, cringing while my hound howled loudly enough to make my ears ring.

Nero didn’t grab me, but he did plant one foot on my sternum, then leaned in with enough crushing weight I thought my ribs would crack.

A whine eked out as I pressed my lips together, then bit into them until I tasted copper.

I could beg, but I’d already tried that.

And Nero knew I was a liar.

I’d run out of ways to deceive him, and he’d proven unwilling to follow me any farther.

The road ended here.

While my canines sunk into the fleshy sides of my lower lip, another thought occurred.

It made my stomach twist to consider but, as Elise bent close and her eyes shimmered with sorrow, I realized it was the only actionable plan.

Not even a plan; it was a stall tactic, but I would take that over surrender.

Relaxing my jaw, I opened my mouth enough to slip my tongue out as far out as it would go.

It must have looked childish, but I didn’t bother to consider the puzzled expressions on Elise and Nero’s faces before I bit down.

Protest came as a wave of nauseating pain.

My blunt human teeth weren’t enough to cut cleanly through, so I found myself digging in, reeling, and trying not to gag as hot blood flooded my mouth.

My hound lashed out, raging at the agony.

Shadowy claws surged from my fingers, and my teeth sharpened, hardening off to points that severed the last bits of muscle anchoring my tongue.

I bucked under Nero’s shoe, spitting out the lump of skin along with a spray of inky black.

It spritzed Elise’s face and the front of her dress, causing her to scream and tumble backward.

Nero’s pantleg was next.

The pair of pressed khakis that complimented his business professional attire were thoroughly soiled as I hacked and coughed at the fluid that seemed to spill endlessly from the stump of my tongue.

The archdemon bore down on me harder, yelling words I couldn’t decipher while my pulse pounded in my ears.

I was drowning.

Every gasp filled my lungs with fluid that didn’t belong there.

My eyes were wet, too.

I cried in pain and panic and writhed on the ground while Nero plunged his other foot into my side in a flurry of kicks.

Elise shrieked in the background; another sound added to a terrible cacophony.

Nero’s human face flushed as red as his demon one while he roared, so determined to kick a hole in my chest that he lost his balance and had to step onto flat ground.

Sputtering, I rolled onto my side, and blood poured out of my mouth to puddle on the carpet.

I thought he’d keep beating me—maybe to death—but when his expression went stony and he crouched to pick something off the floor, it seemed he’d found a worse alternative.

The muzzle dangled from his fist, and he lunged toward me, grabbing me by the hair and holding my head while he fastened the thing across my face.

Blood kept flowing, but I couldn’t spit it out.

It sat in my mouth, filling the void left by my missing tongue.

Nero shook me again, and the blood sloshed.

I gagged, trying desperately not to puke and add to the fluid I would already have to swallow.

A few feet away, Elise huddled against the bed.

She looked at me, and her head shook slowly as she asked, “Why would you…?”

“Because he’s stupid,” Nero sneered, then let me drop.

“Dumb fucking animal.”

Pain came from everywhere, and I groaned.

I wasn’t dying, but part of me wished I was.

The demon loomed over me as I curled into a miserable ball.

“You think this will stop me?” He huffed a laugh.

“It’ll grow back. In a few days, we’ll do this again. And again, if that’s what it takes.”

Buying time came at a hefty price, one I wasn’t sure I could afford with the onslaught of pain dragging me swiftly toward unconsciousness.

I groaned again and resigned myself to gulp down the mouthful of blood that immediately soured my stomach.

I was laying in it, too.

My forehead rested on the wet spot on the carpet, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Couldn’t make myself move another inch while I gazed at Elise.

She was trembling, shaking her head, and her black-speckled face was the last thing I saw before my eyes slid shut.