Page 23 of My Demon Hunter (Hell Bent #2)

22

GATE CRAS H ERS

“W here are we? What just happened? Why are you bloody glowing!”

Lily didn’t answer. She was in too much shock to speak.

The air was hot and stifling, ripe with the pungent scent of sulfur. They were surrounded by rock, the only sound the distant dripping of water, the only light source her own luminescent skin.

As Iris had pointed out, she was indeed glowing.

Immediately, panic set in. She’d been standing in the hellgate that had taken Mist to Paimon’s lair. She’d felt traces of his magic and focused on it, but she’d been unable to complete the connection until Iris was beside her. Together, they must have bypassed the lock and reactivated the gate, though Belial had said it was impossible.

Blood-borns were the only humans that could travel through hellgates without demon blood in their veins—which likely contributed to the myth that they were descended from a demon-human pairing in the first place—but that didn’t make this any less miraculous.

Another time, she would’ve spent hours sputtering with disbelief about how a failed witch who hadn’t practiced magic in a decade had managed such a feat, but not right now.

Now, she had other stuff to worry about. Like the fact that they were currently standing in Paimon’s lair. In Hell.

“We are in Hell.” She tried the words out aloud to see if it helped. It didn’t.

“You’re shitting me,” Iris said. “We can’t really be in Hell. No way.”

They really were. They were two blood-born witches trapped in real, actual Hell. They were doomed.

Stop it. There’s no time to panic. She had to stay calm. Giving in to her fear would be a waste of time and energy. No one was here to help them. If she wanted to get them out alive, she needed to get it together and figure out how.

“How did you reactivate the gate? Damn, Lil, when did you become such a powerful witch? And why aren’t you freaking out about the glowing thing?”

“ We reactivated the gate,” Lily amended. “I couldn’t do anything until you touched me. And I’m not freaking out because it’s happened before.”

“What? When? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Like you told me about the fire?” She shook herself. She was still angry, but now was not the time. “It’s a long story. We can talk later when we get out of here.”

Using the light from her own body, she surveyed the cave. The stone ceiling was low and jagged. A single folded blanket on the ground served as a bed, and there was an unlit torch mounted on the wall above. A small crack in the corner caught her eye, and she crouched in front to explore it.

Holding her arm out, she let the faint glow illuminate the alcove.

Inside was a folded pair of black pants that Lily immediately recognized as the kind Mist always wore. There were a few other random knickknacks—pieces of chalk, a blank journal, a tarnished silver necklace, a Bic lighter. And lastly, propped against the stone, withered and dead...

A lily.

Her heart cracked at the sight of that dried-up flower. Here, in this dank pit of despair, literally in the bowels of Hell, Mist had placed the flower she’d given him among his few possessions.

“This is Mist’s cave,” she told her sister.

“He has a cave?”

“I’d call it his home, but...” There was nothing homey about this place. No wonder he’d been so proud of his empty bedroom.

She leapt suddenly to her feet, determination coursing through her veins.

So they had accidentally ended up in Hell. Not ideal, but while she was here, she might as well make herself useful. She was a rare blood-born, and supposedly a powerful one, practicing or not. She wasn’t helpless.

She turned to her sister. “I’m going to find Mist. You can stay here or come with me. Your choice.”

Iris’s eyes bugged. “What? No way!”

“Do you know a way to get us out of here?”

Iris looked at the hellgate drawn on the ground and shook her head. “I’ve never used a gate before, and I have no idea how to activate it. I deliberately avoided learning any Sheolic magic, which I realize now is stupid.” She glanced at Lily. “You’re the one who’s glowing. Can’t you do something?”

“The glowing just happens against my will. I have no idea what I’m doing. And even if I could escape, I don’t want to go anywhere without Mist. He’s here, and he’s in trouble, and I want to rescue him.”

Iris’s mouth twisted. “You have no idea how crazy that sounds. I get you like the demon, and I’m maybe willing to consider that maybe, possibly, not all demons are evil all the time, but we’re literally in Hell, and—”

“I love him.”

Her sister’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out of her head.

“I love him, and he doesn’t know. I never got to tell him.”

“You barely know him!”

“I know enough.”

“Damn it, Lil, this is insane. Do you have any idea how insane this is? We’re completely unequipped to rescue anyone. We’re the ones who need bloody rescuing right now!”

“If we can get to Mist, he’ll get us out of here. And besides, we have power together. Maybe there’s something to that prophecy thing. Belial said it was impossible to reactivate that gate, and yet, here we are.”

“Yeah, thanks for that! You could have told me you were planning a one-way trip to Hell!”

“It wasn’t like it was intentional!” They were shouting now. A distant part of her recognized that was incredibly stupid, but she was too caught up in the argument to listen.

“I can’t believe you’re summoning demons and traveling through gates, when for years I couldn’t get you to attend a coven meeting! Just because you met some guy!”

“He’s not ‘some guy’! And I didn’t want to attend your stupid coven meetings because you were always shoving the damn things down my throat!”

“It’s our heritage!”

“It’s what killed Mam and Dad!”

“No, we’re what killed Mam and Dad!”

Silence echoed around the black cave as the sisters stared at each other.

“They spent their whole lives trying to protect us,” Iris said quietly. “Mam worked hard to create a cloaking spell powerful enough to thwart Valefor. She was a genius, Lil. She combined centuries of our ancestors’ research and created things no one had before. Valefor couldn’t break her wards no matter how hard he tried. Even burning the building down didn’t work. If I could have even a fraction of her ability...”

Lily swallowed hard. “That’s why they were always with the coven? Because they were working on a cloaking spell to hide us?”

She nodded. “Valefor was obsessed with us from the moment we were born. From before, even. That’s why they were so busy. Not because they didn’t love us, but because they did. I know you wished they were around more growing up, but it was the only way they knew to keep us safe.”

Lily’s palm covered her mouth. All those years of secret resentment... only to learn her parents had cared about her more than anything. They had cared so much, they’d dedicated their lives to protecting her.

“That night...” Iris’s hands curled into fists. “Mam made me leave as soon as the spell failed. She knew what was going to happen. She gave me a list of instructions on how to maintain the cloaking spell and made me promise to leave with a blood vow I couldn’t break.” Her gaze traveled away. “If I was a stronger witch, I could have overruled her stupid vow. I could have stayed and fought. I could have saved them.”

“That’s not... Iris, you can’t think like that.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is that they’re gone.”

“What happened to the spell? Why hasn’t the demon come back?”

“Mam taught me it, like I said. The coven and I have been maintaining it ever since. When we moved to Canada, the remaining coven members kept it going in Ireland until we had a chance to get it set up here. We were the only blood-borns in the city, so Suyin moved up here from the States to help.”

Lily stared at her, suddenly remembering the vials of blood and locks of hair she’d seen at Le Repaire. “You’ve been doing it all this time and you never told me?”

She was furious. She was stricken with grief. She was... grateful to her sister for protecting her for so many years without ever getting a word of acknowledgment.

“You wanted to be a regular person, Lil. I just wanted you to be happy.” Iris looked away. “I’m so sorry I never told you. I wanted to, you have no idea how badly, but I was so scared you wouldn’t forgive me.” She wiped quickly at her eyes. “I know there’s nothing I can say to make it right.”

“I’m so unbelievably pissed at you,” Lily whispered, wiping at her own eyes.

“I know what I did is unforgivable, and I don’t expect you to—”

“I already forgive you, numbnuts.”

Iris blinked. “What?”

“This is so not the time or place for this, but I’ve learned a lot these last few days, and I understand wanting to keep this messed-up supernatural stuff from someone. I could tell Mist felt the same way with me. I’m sick of being this weak, sad person that people think they have to make sacrifices for to protect. I want to be strong enough that you aren’t scared to tell me the truth. I want to be strong enough to save the man I love.”

“Bloody hell.” Iris wiped at her eyes again. “Damn it, Lil, you are strong. You’re the strongest person I know. You’re a fucking rock.”

“More like a boulder.”

They both snorted.

“No fat jokes, bitch, or I’ll punch you.” Iris jabbed a finger at her. “I never want to hear you talking down on yourself. I’m not kidding when I say you’re strong. Making a living off your clothing design? Never wasting time with men and partying like your screw-up sister? You even went to university.”

“All I got from university was a load of student debt.”

“Whatever. The point is, Lil, you’re an inspiration. You’re the person I want to grow up to be.”

“Whatever,” Lily echoed, voice wavering.

“You’re my sister, and I love you, and I promise I’ll do better in the future.”

“I love you too, stupid.”

Iris’s voice wavered too. “Shit, I’m choking up.”

“Me too.”

Two pairs of matching green eyes met in the darkness of the cave. A tear trickled down Iris’s cheek, but she dashed it away and forced a smile. “All right. You win. Let’s go rescue your demon and get the bloody hell out of here.”

“Thank you.” She held out her hand, and her sister took it. Stronger together.

Grabbing the lighter from Mist’s stash, they lit the torch on the wall. Iris pulled it from the sconce, and they headed down the tunnel away from the safety of the cave, stooping under the low ceiling and brushing cobwebs from each other’s hair with matching grimaces.

The tunnel wound around a corner and out of sight, but there was only one route to take, so they took it. As they reached the corner, a sudden premonition rose like a flash flood, and Lily tugged on her sister’s hand to pull her back.

Too late.

Iris stepped forward and froze, and Lily had no choice but to follow and see what awaited them.

Her heart jumped into her throat at the sight of a wall of demons blocking their passage, the fangs in their ugly snouts bared in malicious grins.

“Well, well, well,” one said, rubbing his claws together, “what do we have here?”

The monsters were short, only coming up to Lily’s shoulders, with underbite fangs and thick necks. Their faces were asymmetrical and full of blemishes, making them some of the ugliest things she had ever seen.

Gargoyles , she realized. Years ago, she had read about different classifications of demons, and she remembered that gargoyles were usually the lowest and least powerful, and they tended to be underlings to greater demons. But they were just as hard to kill as any other demon, and in large numbers they were still very dangerous.

“What do we do?” Lily whispered.

“I have no clue,” Iris whispered back.

“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do,” the first demon said, the others behind him shuffling excitedly. “You’re going to keep quiet while we take a little taste of you, and then you’re going to come with us to meet our mistress.”

“Yeah, how about ‘no’ to both those things,” Iris spat.

“Let me taste ’em,” another hissed. “The shiny one looks delicious.”

Lily wasn’t sure if they were talking about actually eating them or something else possibly worse, but she didn’t care to find out. She looked at Iris, trying to see if her sister had any sort of plan that could be explained through an intense look.

The only escape was down the tunnel, currently blocked by the gargoyle gang. Mist’s cave behind them was a dead end. Iris glanced ahead and then back at Lily. Lily’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. Iris nodded. Lily shook her head again. Iris nodded more forcefully.

Are we really doing this?

Iris’s gaze hardened, and Lily realized that yes, they were doing this.

“Now!” With her shout, Iris charged fearlessly into the mob, brandishing the torch like a weapon. Lily had no choice but to follow.

The element of surprise was their only asset, and that only lasted a split second. Shoving the demons out of their way, they managed to make it halfway through the crowd before their enemies caught on.

They were vastly outnumbered. Hands seized Lily from every direction, on every part of her body. The violation made her panic, and she kicked and fought desperately, but it wasn’t enough. Two gargoyles managed to catch her wrists and twist them around her back. Another shoved her from behind, and she fell hard onto her knees without her hands to break her fall.

Armed with the torch and her vicious temper, Iris fought harder and for longer, but eventually, she too succumbed. A minute later, she was beside Lily, the two of them surrounded by a circle of gargoyles. Their wrists were tied securely. Discarded on the ground, the torch cast long shadows across the smug faces of their attackers.

Fear made Lily’s insides churn and her stomach hollow. She swallowed the urge to scream, frantically seeking an escape and coming up with nothing.

Iris was right. They weren’t strong enough to rescue Mist by themselves.

What had she been thinking? That she could glow her way through Paimon’s lair to his side? That the power of her love would give her magical strength to defeat a Queen of Hell? Stupid, immature, and ridiculous.

The gargoyle leader shoved his pig-like snout into her face, his fetid breath causing her to recoil. “Paimon knew you were here the second you arrived. You never stood a chance of escaping.”

His hand shot out and wrapped around her throat. He squeezed, but strangely, it didn’t choke her.

“Right now, she’s putting the Hunter in his place. She ain’t pleased he killed one of her monsters.” The responding murmurs from the other gargoyles sounded almost awed. “She’s got him strung up now, letting his blood drip into the Pit to drive the beasts into a frenzy. She won’t be letting him kill a second one, that’s for sure. It’ll be a bloodbath this time, no doubt.”

“You know what?” Iris snapped suddenly. “Fuck you and fuck this.” She spat in the face of the gargoyle trying to choke Lily. “Fuck all you stumpy little bastards! Talk about overcompensating—you have us on our knees because if I stood up, I could use your head as a step stool. I’m not scared of you little shites.”

“You’ll pay for that, witch.” Releasing Lily, he flexed his claws and stalked forward, snarling. “Hold her still.”

Two more gargoyles gripped Iris’s arms, and another gripped her blue ponytail and yanked her head back, exposing her throat. Lily struggled to come to her sister’s rescue, and Iris never stopped hissing and spitting.

“Do your worst, you shrimpy motherfuckers! I’ll curse your pricks to fall off in each other’s arses! I’ll rip your balls off and stuff ’em in yer eye sockets!”

“I’ll tear out your throat and eat it for breakfast!” the gargoyle shot back.

“Mistress wants ’em alive,” another supplied helpfully.

“I know that! But she never said they had to be intact.” He gripped Iris’s chin, jerking her face forward. “I’m going to make you regret your—”

He never got the chance to finish his threat. A whistle of sound accompanied the appearance of a red line at his neck, and his face froze in an expression of surprise.

A moment later, his head toppled from his shoulders into Iris’s lap.

She screamed and lurched back. Lily screamed too. The other gargoyles spun around to face the new threat as a looming figure stepped out of the shadows. A long, thin sword with blood coating the blade reflected the torchlight.

Lily caught a brief glimpse of white hair and deathly pale skin before chaos erupted.

That narrow blade whistled again, cutting into the crowd of gargoyles. Blood, gore, and body parts flew in every direction.

Iris threw herself into Lily, knocking them both down and out of the path of carnage. Despite their terror and revulsion, this was their best chance to escape. Together, they started to crawl away amid the sounds of tearing flesh and shrieks of agony. With their hands tied, they were forced to wiggle like awkward worms as they attempted to stay below the sword’s path.

Lily swallowed her scream as blood sprayed onto her cheek. A severed arm flew past her ear, and she nearly puked when it landed with a squelch beside her head.

Suddenly, silence fell.

The smart thing to do would have been to get up and start running like hell, but she didn’t do that. Maybe it was the shock, or maybe it was curiosity. Whatever the case, she sat up and turned around.

The newcomer wiped his blade with a rag before sheathing it with a practiced movement. The tunnel around him was littered with severed limbs. The carnage was so complete, it was impossible to tell what belonged where, the collection of body parts appearing only as a hodgepodge of bloody tissue heaped in a careless pile.

If she stared too long at that, she’d likely succumb to the urge to vomit. But thankfully, her attention was drawn to their unlikely rescuer.

The demon’s waist-length white hair was twisted into a long braid. The color wasn’t like an elderly human’s white, but rather, as luminous as freshly fallen snow. From his temples, black horns swept proudly along his skull and curved upward to regal points above his head. His skin was a milky light gray that reminded her of a corpse, and his bloodshot eyes were a glassy silver-blue with only the tiniest prick of pupil in the center. They were so surrounded by shadows, it almost looked like dark eye makeup.

He used the rag to wipe the blood from his claws next, which were the same black as his horns and... tail. Unlike Mist’s, his was topped with a sharp barbed spike like a scorpion. He didn’t have wings, but she supposed he could have simply disappeared them to aid movement in the cramped tunnel. He was easily as tall as Mist and had to stoop slightly to keep the tops of his horns from scraping the rocks above.

Most unusual, however, was the dark cloud of what appeared to be smoke winding about his feet. It was too dark to distinguish any detail, but it almost looked as though there were haunted, ghoulish faces forming amid the swirls, but that couldn’t be right. She shook her head to dispel the illusion, yet it persisted.

He tucked the rag into his coat pocket and then glanced at Lily as if just noticing her.

“You’re the mortals, then?” He looked unimpressed. His eyes flicked to Iris and then back to Lily. “You’re glowing, but she’s not. Interesting.”

Iris climbed to her feet. “Who are you?”

“Your new best friend. Come.” He flicked his claws and started past them down the tunnel. When they didn’t immediately follow, he looked back with so much exasperation it was almost comical.

“What do you want?” Iris demanded.

He scoffed as if that was the dumbest thing she could have asked. “It’s embarrassing Belial wasted a favor on you.”

“Belial?” Lily cut in. “Did he send you?”

His head cocked in a similar way to Mist, except his impressive horns and zombie-like complexion made him look even more alien. “Do you always ask stupid questions? Yes, Belial bargained one favor for me to extract two living mortals and Mishetsumephtai from Paimon’s lair.”

“But—”

“The longer we wait, the less blood the Hunter has. Shall we?”

“Y-yes, let’s go.” Lily scrambled to her feet. If Belial had been here right now, she would have hugged him, no matter how threatening he was.

She started to hurry down the tunnel after their pale rescuer, but Iris said, “Wait,” and they turned back.

“Why should I believe you? I don’t trust demons, and I don’t even know who you are.”

“Iris, we don’t have time—”

“I am called Murmur or the Necromancer. Either works.” He smiled thinly at Iris’s horrified expression. “I see you’ve heard of me. Yes, the rumors are true.”

What rumors? There wasn’t time to ask. Lily recognized his name but hadn’t studied enough to know anything else about him.

“Ris, we have to go.” At this point she’d take any ally she could get, and her guts were telling her to trust this one—at least, for now. If Belial had sent him that meant he was their best hope.

“Can you at least untie us?” Iris asked.

Murmur grabbed Lily’s arm, and she flinched at his ice-cold hand. A claw tore through her bonds a second later, and she rubbed the blood back into her hands. “Thank you.”

He looked repulsed by her gratitude.

After freeing Iris, he stared down at them with utmost disdain. “Try to keep up, will you? I’m not accustomed to pandering to humans.”

He turned his back, long braid swinging, and started walking. He may have looked somewhat zombie-like, but he didn’t move like one, his lean form flowing with each graceful stride.

Iris grabbed the discarded torch, and they hurried after him down the passage. Leading them past several forks in the tunnel, he appeared to know exactly where he was going.

Lily’s head spun with questions. She was pretty sure Murmur was ranked as a Duke of Hell. So how had he gotten into Paimon’s lair without her noticing? Or, if she had noticed, why weren’t more guards being sent after him? And what was his plan for rescuing Mist?

He stopped so abruptly, she nearly crashed into his back. She saw for the first time that there were slits in his jacket that would allow his wings to fit through if he chose to materialize them.

Despite everything going on, the seamstress in her was unable not to study the design, and she immediately envisioned creating something similar for Mist. Her demon never wore shirts, and she thought he might appreciate one made to fit his wings.

Murmur’s words snapped her out of it.

“Head through there. Take two right turns and a left, and you’ll arrive in the chamber where Mishetsumephtai is being held. I will aid my souls in keeping Paimon and her guards busy. Once you retrieve the Hunter, return here. If Mishetsu is unable, I will activate the hellgate.”

“Head through... where?”

Murmur pointed a claw at what appeared to be the cave wall. On closer inspection, however, she discovered what appeared to be the mouth of a tunnel so small, she wasn’t sure her butt would fit.

“Oh, hell, no,” Iris said when she saw it. “I’m not going in there.”

“The tunnel is a direct route to the Pit. It’s either that or walk through the lair.” He lifted a brow at Lily’s glowing body. “You might stand out.”

“Doesn’t Paimon know about it?”

“It was created by gorath larvae. They explore but are drawn back by the scent of blood. She has no fear of them escaping, so she hasn’t bothered to block the tunnel.”

Did that mean they had to worry about running into them? She didn’t want to know what gorath larvae looked like. Mist’s description of the full-grown ones was enough.

“How do you know all this?” Iris asked, still eyeing Murmur warily.

“My souls told me. And I’ve been casing this lair for a long time.”

“Why?”

He smiled thinly. “Because I want it.”

Iris opened her mouth, but he cut her off with a slice of his hand. “Go now before I renege on my bargain with Belial out of sheer vexation.”

Iris crouched and thrust the torch further into the tunnel.

“Leave the torch. The flame will suck away what little breathable air you have.”

Lily gulped. Her palms were sweaty, and her stomach was still churning from the violence. She was so terrified, she wanted to puke and pass out at the same time.

She had never loved the simplicity of her boring life more, and she swore if she survived this, she would never wallow in dissatisfaction again. She was happy being a shy, introverted seamstress. She didn’t need anything else.

Except, of course, a demon boyfriend with yellow eyes and a talented tail.

The thought of him suffering at this very moment gave her the courage she needed to get moving.

“I’ll go first,” she told Iris. This was her mess, after all.

“Lil...”

“It’s fine. I’m the light source, remember?” She turned to their rescuer. “Thanks for your help.”

He grimaced like she had shoved frog guts in his face. “Just hurry. Even my souls can’t hold Paimon back for long.”

Later, she would figure out what he meant by “souls”—though with a name like “the Necromancer,” she could guess. But right now, she needed to focus.

She took a breath and crawled into the tunnel. Iris extinguished the torch and crawled in after her. Inching forward into the blackness, her glowing arms provided illumination only a foot or so in front. Her stomach lodged in her throat, and she had never wanted to scream more.

“Two rights and a left,” Iris murmured behind her.

Claustrophobia had never been an issue for Lily, but she had a feeling that was about to change.