Page 50

Chapter 49

Hold On, Mouse

SJ

I portalled directly into Hellen’s living quarters. It seemed expedient, and there was absolutely no time to lose.

It was a long shot to think she would have strung them up in her room, but Hell was a large and labyrinthine place, and I needed to start somewhere.

“Sniff for clues!” I commanded Beezle, eyes frantically scanning the space.

“She was here!” Beezle yapped, trotting towards the bedchamber. “Her scent is in here!”

Lungs tightening, I strode towards the boulder separating the living and sleeping quarters. Hellen wouldn’t be so brazen as to … to torture Jemma, in her own …

I stopped short at the sight of Jemma’s brother, chained ankles and wrists to a rack in the corner of the room. His eyes caught mine, and for a strained moment, we just stared at one another.

“Simeon!” he gasped. “Where’s my sister?”

Trying valiantly to regain composure—unfortunately for me, I knew what Hellen liked to do with the males she strung up on that thing—I answered, “I know not. But I will find her, I promise.”

That thudding in my chest growing more agitated with every wasted moment, I nevertheless cursed silently and strode towards him. For all her animosity with her brother, Jemma would not look kindly upon me leaving him chained to my sister’s sex frame. She was too good, too kind.

Too everything I didn’t deserve.

He stiffened as I approached. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded roughly. “Don’t waste time, go find her!”

“Just let me uncuff you,” I muttered, fumbling with the buckles securing his wrists as Beezle, ever helpful, jumped in to gnaw through the leather at his ankles.

“Take him to my chambers, Beez,” I commanded as Joe dropped to the floor, stumbling. “Find the portal seam. It should still be open to Jemma’s …” I eyed Joe, but there was no time for embarrassment. “To Jemma’s bedroom. Just stretch it and send him through.”

Beezle gave a curt nod, and I turned to Joe. “Did Hellen give any clue as to where she was taking Jemma?”

He shook his head. “Just … save her!”

I gripped his arm. “I promise I will.”

Hoping I wasn’t lying, I turned back towards the open boulder that would take me through her living space and into the castle proper. From there? I cursed again. The Pit first. I wasn’t sure if Hellen would be stupid enough to take a living human down there … but she certainly was sadistic enough …

Please be the strong, brave woman I know you to be, Jemma! I begged silently, hurrying across the room. Please hold on until I can get to you!

“Hellen!”

Shit.

It was Father. If he found Joe in here …

I gestured madly behind me in the direction of Beezle and Joe, waving them to get down, to hide. I crept closer to the doorway as Father continued.

“I keep thinking about that reaping from a couple of decades ago that you were asking me about.” His tone was thoughtful. “You know the one, the lawyer, or whatever he was … the one who kicked the bucket a month after I secured his soul? His name was Bliss. Robert Bliss. You might have been right, you know; I think he was related to Junior’s little experi?—”

I surged from the bedchamber, startling Father, who had taken a lolling seat on Hellen’s black leather settee.

“Junior! Where’ve you—unghhh!”

I dragged him to his feet, and higher, so he was dangling in the air, my fingers wrapped around his throat. “Jemma’s father!” I roared. “You reaped Jemma’s father?”

“I—” His words cut off with a gurgle as I squeezed. His face went from its usual red to a sickly aubergine, and I tossed him across the room, his body hitting the wall with a sickening crunch.

“Junior! What … is wrong with you?” he panted, rolling onto his side with a pained grunt.

“You tore the parents from a ten-year-old child!”

“I … did not!” Father bared his teeth at me, blood coating them. “I had no hand in his murder. Only the … ownership of his soul.”

Wrath filled my lungs, and I stormed over to him, lifting his body and slamming him against the wall. “You care nought for those whose lives you ruined in your greed … in your stupid, pointless war with Heaven!”

Father’s eyes went black. “ My pointless war? The war that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for … Her … and Her scheming and thievery—” He broke off with a hiss when I punched him in the ribs.

“We will have words about your lies, Father,” I vowed, tossing him back to the floor. “Later.”

Father looked up at me, realisation dawning on his face. “She … you’ve met Her, haven’t you?” Had his expression just … relaxed? “So, you know the truth now.” Relief buoyed his words.

“I know nothing !” I grated. “Except that I will do anything to save the woman I love from both of you!” And my bitch sister , I added silently.

Leaning over him, gripping him by the back of the neck, I opened my throat, exhaling the miasma. I’d never used it like this before—to render a being unconscious. But theoretically, it was possible.

He struggled, but I held him fast, my breath a cloud over him, until his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped against the wall.

“Go!” I growled to Beezle and Joe. “Portal, Jemma’s bedroom. Now.”

Without waiting to see if they complied, I sprinted from the room and to the nearest set of stairs leading down. Into the bowels of the castle.

Into the Pit.

I had one thing to thank my father for. At least now, I knew exactly where to find Jemma.

Wherever Robert Bliss was imprisoned.

* * *

“Bloody Chad!” I snarled, storming down yet another overheated Pit tunnel. I’d forgotten, amidst everything else, that I’d sent all the art I ‘purchased’ from him down here to be displayed. Into this very hallway, apparently.

I strode past, ignoring the garish colour against the black stone as best I could until I could finally take another turn.

Where the Home was I? I’d never been this turned around in the Pit before. Then again, I’d never come down here actively seeking a prisoner, either.

“Well, well, if it ain’t the princeling, descending from his castle to mingle wiv us commoners!”

I glanced up … and up at the hideous Pit Demon. His skin was maroon, his body round and grotesquely flabby.

“Must be a banner day to be blessed wiv the presence of both the Lucifer spawn in one afternoon!”

“Where did she go?” I demanded, stepping closer, dwarfed by the hulking brute but not caring, if it set me on the right path to Jemma. “Did she have anyone with her?”

The demon guffawed, his fat rolls wobbling. “Oh, did she ever! She was shoving along a feisty little meat sack! She seemed very attached to it.”

“Where did Hellen take her?” I demanded. “Answer your prince, now!”

The brute shrugged. “No idea. She was heading along the tunnel down on level seven.” He whistled appreciatively. “I ‘ope I get a chance at that meat sack when your sister’s finished wiv it. Never seen tits like?—”

I leapt at him with an anguished roar. My feet connected with his chest, and despite his monstrous size, I caught him by surprise enough that he lost balance, crashing to his back with a tremor that shook the tunnel and had pieces of lava stone raining down on both of us.

“Bit protective of your sister, are you?” He reached for my throat. I scrambled to my feet, stomping on one of his horns. His roar of pain reverberated around the tunnel. “Or … is it the meat sack you’re after?”

He gripped me by the ankle and threw me to the floor. “You and your sister are too big for your boots. Us Pit demons do all your dirty work,” he said, trying to get to his feet and failing. I scrambled backwards, using the wall to push to my feet. My body ached all over from that fall … from everything that had happened in Heaven.

“Maybe you can wait your turn wiv the feisty little thing. I’ve got plans for ‘er! Bet she’ll be a fun one to brea?—”

The wet gurgle of a throatless demon trying to speak ended the conversation. Wide-eyed, he gaped at me, at the lump of bleeding flesh in my fist. One meaty, shaking hand reached up, fluttering at the hole in his neck.

“You will never break her,” I whispered, giving him a gentle shove. He tumbled backwards, hitting the floor with a boom. I didn’t wait to watch him die, just tossed the chunk of his throat onto his body and raced to the end of the tunnel.

“Hold on, Mouse,” I muttered. “I’m coming.”

Level seven, he’d said. I threw myself down the stairs three at a time.