Demonic and Deserted (Eternally Yours Book 4) (23 page)

“Hurry, before he comes back.” Aedan waved us back to the crowd.

After Aedan and I flew over the stream, we waited for Melanie and Santiago to jump. Melanie screamed when her foot landed at the edge of the river, but she limped forward, waving off Santiago when he tried to help her. She was still on fire, after all.

We were all coughing on smoke fumes by the time we reached the others, but they were far worse for the wear, their skin blackened with soot and covered in burns. Aedan hugged his brother and then wasted no time in activating his scythe, slamming it on the ground and then watching the sky for the elevator.

“Everyone, get ready,” he called.

I quickly scanned the faces in the crowd. All of them looked familiar, the priestesses we’d saved from sub-level four. Weird, because I knew I’d seen other souls pressing up against the glass. Had they already been eaten by the dragon, and if so, why hadn’t our friends been eaten?

A sinking feeling settled in my gut. I tugged on Aedan’s arm. “I-I think this is a trap.”

A magnificent thunderbolt rent the air above us, and a giant, gleaming silver elevator fell from the sky. It landed on the ledge with a thud, the shiny doors sliding open.

Aedan and Callum helped the priestesses on board. Melanie’s fire was thankfully extinguished when she stepped onto the landing.

“Is that everyone?” Aedan yelled above the din.

“No!” Callum pointed beyond Aedan’s shoulder. “Katherine!”

“Ugh.” I gritted my teeth as I saw a lone figure huddling by the window. Aedan’s bitch ex-wife, Katherine, had been left behind.

I was so tempted to leave her, but I knew her mother Mar, along with her boyfriend, Boner, would risk their souls to come down and save the bitch. Then we’d have to come back and save them. After I got on that elevator, no freaking way was I ever going down to hell again, and I didn’t care how much they remodeled sub-level one. After today, I was sticking to positive digits. If any of our friends in hell wanted to see us, they’d have to slum it on purgatory’s level ten, and God strike me down if I ever complained about the mold again. At that moment, nothing sounded more heavenly than a soak in my bathtub with the rust ring around the faucet and then a long, hard sleep on our mattress with the squeaky springs.

Aedan turned to me. “Get on the elevator. I’ll go get her.”

“Like hell you’re going after her without me.” I flew toward her without a backward glance. “Get the bitch and go home,” I chanted. “Get the bitch and go home.”

* * *

Aedan O’Connor

“A
sh, look out!”

The dragon’s fiery tail rose up from the scorched earth, whipping toward Ash. She spun around, ducking as the flaming whip flew above her, narrowly missing her head. The rest of the beast rose up from the earth, resurrected from the vapors like a phantom. She hit it with a thunderbolt and flew back while it advanced. I threw wave upon wave at the creature, soaking it until it was no more than smoke vapors. I smiled inwardly at how easy he’d been to defeat, until Ash let out a blood curdling scream, pointing behind me. Another dragon twice the size of the first two hovered above me. I threw a stream at it, dissecting its neck. He roared as his head lolled to the side, but then his flames fused back together and he continued his advance, his tail lashing dangerously close to the elevator while the passengers inside cried out in terror.

“Go!” I screamed as another dragon jutted up from the flames.

Thankfully, my friends actually listened. The elevator doors slid shut and the gleaming silver cube shot into the sky, and hopefully, toward sanctuary. There was no telling how far they’d get with spiders on the loose, but anywhere was better than here. 

“Well, just great,” Ash cried out. “There goes our ride home.”

“Not our only ride,” I called over my shoulder. I still had the scythe, so I could easily summon another elevator after I dusted some more dragons. I hit both dragons with wave after wave, reducing them to blobs of smoke. I ran toward Ash. She’d already pulled a sobbing Katherine to her feet.

I grimaced when Katherine turned her back to me, exposing a shriveled up snake hanging limp down her back. I’d forgotten about her demon form. My once beautiful ex-wife was hardly recognizable, covered in blisters and soot. Not that she didn’t deserve a little bit of torture after the life she’d lead, but this punishment was extreme even for her. 

“Come on,” I said to Ash. “Let’s go home.”

I hit the elevator button on my scythe, surprised when the lights on the wand blinked and then faded. I shook it hard, my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach when the scythe made not a sound. Usually, it would light up or buzz. Something to let me know it was working. As water from my hair and clothes dripped onto the baton, I was struck with the sickening realization. I’d shorted out my scythe.

Holy hellfire!

“Aedan, why isn’t it working?” Ash cried.

“I don’t know.” I shook it again. “I think the salt water shorted it.”

“Bravo! Well done!”

I spun around and saw the Devil leaning against the frame of the open door, arms and legs casually crossed as if he hadn’t a care in the universe.

He waved toward the bubbling rivers of lava criss-crossing in front of the hotel, rivers which I knew would swell again with monsters.

“You’ve defeated my dragons.” He flashed a wolfish grin, one that enhanced the cold, calculating look in his beady eyes. “I knew you could do it. Won’t you come in where it’s cool inside?”

I shook water off my scythe, trying not to let him see the panic which split my chest in two like a cleaver. “That’s okay.”

“No?” He arched a thin brow, nodding behind me. “Are you sure?”

I looked over my shoulder, horrified at the sight. At least ten more flame dragons were emerging from the streams, their long necks stretching toward the black sky. 

“We can’t take them all, Aedan.” Ash’s voice shook with fear.

“On second thought,” I grumbled while helping Ash carry Katherine inside.

The Taurus guards shut the sliding metal doors just as the dragons were about to converge upon us. How convenient for the Devil. Ash was right. We had stepped into a trap. We laid Katherine on the floor, propping her up by the wall. She moaned before curling into a ball, the smell of her burnt flesh making my gut roil.

I was shocked and angered to see my lovely bride-to-be transform back into a dog. Ash looked down at her furry hands and back up at me, horror reflecting in her big puppy eyes. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” I squeezed her hand, trying to keep my tone upbeat. “We’ll be out of here soon.”

“Well, my plan worked out differently than expected.” The Devil paced a slow circle around the pentagram tiles on the floor. He turned to me with a scowl. “Where did you get that scythe?”

I squared my shoulders. “None of your damned business.”

Shadows darkened his features. “Now I know what happened to my spider.” He snapped his fingers, and I was rushed by three bulls.

I didn’t stand a chance. They had me in a headlock and the scythe out of my hands in no time.

“Let him go!” Ash cried.

How was I supposed to fight three supernatural giants while listening to my fiancé hysterically sobbing? As soon as they let me go, I started swinging, hitting one of them in the gut and then howling when my knuckles throbbed in pain. It was like hitting a brick wall.

The Devil took the scythe from the guards, turning it over in his long, bony fingers. “Your friends are very lucky to have escaped. Too bad they didn’t wait for you.”

He didn’t give a damn about my friends. It was clear by his mocking tone. If anything, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to use them as leverage against me.

I turned up my chin, my spine stiffening. “I’d rather they were safe.” Which was true. Though I’d have loved my brother’s help defeating the Devil, there was nothing more nerve wracking than worrying over loved ones while trying to keep my own hide from burning in the fiery pit. 

“Of course you would. You’re such a selfless fool.” He looked at my fiancé with a wide smile. “Oh, Ash, you made such a beautiful bird. I almost regret turning you into a dog. Almost. Cheer up. It shouldn’t be much longer before Cameal comes for you. Once I put the Archangel outside, I will release one of you to deliver the news to God. He will not let his special one suffer.”

Satan obviously didn’t know God as well as he pretended. “God’s not going to listen, you sick bastard,” I said with a sneer.

“Aedan, please,” Ash begged.

The Devil placed a hand on his chest, covering the hollow cavity where his heart should have been, a look of mock indignation on his face. “I don’t understand your grudge with me, Aedan O’Connor. It’s completely unwarranted.”

“Unwarranted?” I balled my hands by my sides, wishing so badly I could punch that smug face, but I knew he’d turn that scepter on me before I could cross the floor to him. “You turn my fiancé into a dog and abuse my brother and friends for your personal enjoyment.”

Ash sidled up to me, whimpering.

The Devil tapped his pointed chin, looking lost in thought. “Perhaps I won’t include you with my bargain. I think I shall throw you outside with Cameal and leave you there for eternity.”

I waved my fist in his direction, anger making my blood boil. “Listen to me. There will be no bargain. God isn’t going to let you into heaven.”

The Devil crossed his arms, his dark, beady eyes turning a malicious shade of red. “Well, then I suppose you’d better get accustomed to my rules.”

I wasn’t intimidated by his scare tactic. “Never.”

“We shall see about that,” he said with a laugh.

The guards lunged for me again. I fought them to no avail. Whatever they’d planned to do to me, I was prepared to fight it. One had me in a headlock, lifting me so high off the floor, my toes barely touched the ground. The other two aimed their spears at me. I waited for the torture to commence, but when two other guards grabbed Ash, dragging her toward Satan’s throne, fear gripped my brain, squeezing it until I could scarcely think to reason. 

Ash snarled and scratched, snapping at her guards until one of them punched her in the face. She whimpered as her head lolled back.

“Leave her be!” I hollered, kicking and punching the bulls who held me in place.

“You have been a very naughty dog, fighting my guards. It’s time you learned to obey,” the Devil said as he picked up a chalice, holding it over her jowls.

Blood wine!

“Noooo!” I screamed, but it was too late.

He poured the contents of the goblet down her throat, the juices spilling down the sides of her neck as she struggled against him. Ash crumbled to the floor when the guards released her.

Satan looked at me with a triumphant smile. He handed the goblet to a guard and then held his hand over Ash’s prone body. “Rise, dog.”

My vision tunneled on my fiancé as my world threatened to spiral out of control.

Ash sat up, wiping her blood-stained fur with the back of her furry hand. “Yes, master.”

I quit struggling against my captor, my arms falling by my sides as a giant chasm opened up inside my soul, spinning like a vortex and sucking every last ounce of happiness from me. 

“Aedan O’Connor,” Satan said with a sneer while pointing my scythe at my head. “You’ve caused me trouble for the last time, obliterating my pet spider and killing her young. Nobody has made me this angry in a long time, not since the Big Man made a fool out of me and tossed me in this miserable pit.”

At that moment, I didn’t care if he destroyed me. If Ash had become Satan’s servant, she was lost to me and to herself. I knew her soul had been obliterated, too, and I wanted nothing more than to join her in oblivion.

Tears pricked the backs of my eyes when Satan handed the scythe to Ash.

“Obliterate him.” The force of his simple command stung my heart like a whip.

I closed my eyes and held my breath. How had our once beautiful romance come to this? I loved this girl with every fiber in my being and I knew I would continue loving her even in obscurity.

“No,” Ash’s refusal rent the air like a thunderclap.

My eyes shot open. Ash aimed the scythe at the ground, her back bowed over as she clutched her stomach.

“What?” Satan bellowed, pointing his scepter at her as his face turned flame-red. “Are you disobeying me?”

She shook her head, her body shaking as if she bore an incredible weight on her back. “I love him,” she cried out before falling to her knees, foam coming out of her mouth.

Good God. This demon’s blood had bound her to him, and her disobedience was causing her very blood to turn against her. 

“Fight it, Ash!” I cried. “I love you!”

Satan rolled his eyes to the ceiling, heaving a dramatic sigh. “You’re both boring, monogamous, love-struck fools.” 

She spit a wad of blood on the floor before looking up at him with a whimper. “If you didn’t want me to be loyal, you shouldn’t have made me a dog.” Then she cried out again, falling on her face. “Oh, God, it burns.” 

She writhed on the floor, screaming, as her skin cracked open, blood pooling down her arms like raging rivers. Monkey Hitler squealed and bounced around her before kicking her in the ribs. 

“Stop this! You’re hurting her!” I swung my fists before biting down hard on my captor’s arm.

The Taurus bellowed and then dropped his arm, though he still had my waist pinned with his other hand. Then my love did something amazing. Even as blood pooled out of her eyes, she turned the scythe on Satan.

The Devil arched back, the whites of his eyes shining against his flushed skin. “Don’t you dare, bitch.”

Monkey Hitler latched onto Ash’s arm with barbed teeth. Her screams of agony pierced my very soul, but she refused to drop the scythe. 

I twisted and turned, fighting my captor’s hold when I saw a glint of silver. I yanked a large knife from his belt, driving it into his arm. He howled and dropped me to the floor, just as Satan was aiming his scepter at Ash.

“No!” I screamed and then took off at a run.

I skidded to a halt, falling to my knees when a winged angel fell from the sky, his landing shaking the room like a sonic boom.