Page 58 of Underworld

I’d follow him anywhere, even straight into Hell.

He popped off the cork and drank half of it, offering it to me.

I knocked back the rest and gave myself over to the darkness that followed.

Chapter 15

Kaito held my hand as we stepped through a dark maw into a gaping void.

I knew our bodies would be left safely on the roof, high enough that nobody would bother us. Our physical proximity to the barrier also assisted the psychic travel that the vial of pure evil allowed us to do.

We approached a storm with molten red streaks. Lightning sparked within it and I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

I had wanted to face Cole, but I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready for this.

My wings flared at my back, feeling lighter than they ever had in my physical form.

The storm raged around us, moving in and engulfing us as I screamed.

Kaito held onto me, his ruby eyes blazing into the darkness with that bright rim of silver that marked him as mine. “Something’s happening,” he said just as we fell.

He held onto me and I spread my wings out of instinct.

Our fall slowed into a lofty descent.

We were… gliding.

Kaito held onto me until we reached a grassy patch of earth. A pleasant and familiar musk wafted over me, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“Where are we?” I asked, my voice ringing out strangely in this place. My fingers ventured over my chest and I startled when I looked down, finding a pearlescent necklace glowing between my fingers.

“Another realm,” he said, his gaze dropping. “Is that a soul artifact? Interesting.”

I really didn’t want to know what a soul artifact was, so I asked the more pressing question. “So we’re not in Cole’s mind?” Not that I was super disappointed by that fact or anything, but I still needed to know where our spirits had ended up on this little field trip.

A sweet floral scent tinged my nose, making me stiffen.

Ambrosia.

“I know where we are,” I breathed. The darkness around us swallowed my words, but I knew we weren’t alone.

Not here.

Not in the place where I’d spent an entire year after I’d died.

He mood soured at the tone in my voice. “We’re in Purgatory, aren’t we?”

I nodded, my skin prickling as an ethereal chill ran up my spine.

We definitely couldn’t stay long. Whatever had drawn me back to this place was dangerous and desperate.

Desperate to be free.

“This is an unexpected detour,” he admitted, his voice resonating in this place. It sounded deeper, like an echo of itself.

I looked at him, then did a double take. His horns had elongated and his eyes glowed with renewed intensity.

“Kaito?” I whispered.