Hell's Gift (38 page)

I huffed, adjusted the pack and spear on my back, then started walking. I kept my eyes open and alert. I couldn’t fall prey to any trickery in this syde. I was too close to the end to give up or die. Of course, they would be trying extra hard to get me to do one or the other, so that was all the more reason to stay focused on the quest at hand and not allow anything to mess with my mind.

From what Malcolm had said, Wrath would be all fire, torture, horrible destruction and death. That was something to look forward to, I thought, my wit still strong, but destruction wasn’t what I was seeing now, so that meant I was in Lust. It was the only other option left, unless Lucifer had snuck another syde in on me. It wasn’t in the contract, and I had to admit he’d stuck to his word so far, not that he had a choice. Malcolm said the contract was unbreakable, even for him. Regardless, I kept waiting for something bad to happen that I wouldn’t be able to fight my way out of.

I checked out my surroundings often, still just a straight, pea-gravel path with two white walls on either side of me. It didn’t go on forever, though; I could see an end, but I didn’t want to focus on it. I knew getting out of the syde wouldn’t be as easy as walking to the end of a path. I was counting on surprises. Lucifer hadn’t let me down in that department so far.

I stopped suddenly when I noticed a break in the wall to my left. I hadn’t seen it until I’d gotten right up to it, but it was there, and it was another straight path, like the one I was on. Only it stopped in a dead-end about fifty feet from my standing point.

“Heh.”

I looked back the way I had come, then the direction I’d been going, and finally back to my new option.
Will there be another path if I don’t choose this one,
I thought, and debated with myself until I heard a giggle on the air.

I stopped moving, and even breathing, so I could better pinpoint which direction the sound was coming from. It had been a woman’s laugh, and strangely familiar. I heard it again and my head snapped in the direction of the new path. It was Kendra!

I shouldn’t go. It’s a trap, I thought, but found I was taking a step in the direction of the mild laughter anyway. I didn’t sense my mind was being played with, but my instincts were screaming that I find her. I wasn’t going to discover a door into the last syde by avoiding my fears and choosing the safe road—or path, in this particular situation. And if it truly was Kendra I heard, I was taking her with me.

I heard the soft tittering again and broke into a run. It wasn’t a dead-end, like I’d originally thought. There was another break to the right that I hadn’t been able to see, and it turned back in the direction I’d come for about twenty feet, then took a left.

I stopped and stared down the short track of pea-gravel. About ten feet in front of me there was a tunnel. I could see through to the other side, but it had to be at least a hundred and fifty feet of pitch black. I’m not afraid of the dark, only of what’s in it.

“Don’t avoid your fears, Rhyan,” I said aloud. “You’re gonna have to do some things you don’t want to do in order to get the door,” I added on, more for encouragement than distracting myself from thinking about the bogeyman grabbing me in the tunnel. Okay, maybe a little more distracting than encouragement, but I was actually in a place with real bogeymen, so I had every right to be afraid of my shadow or strange noises or fallen angels that steal the souls of little old ladies with big handbags. Maybe Lucifer wouldn’t go that far, but if he didn’t, it would only be because those little old ladies mean business, and those big handbags hurt like hell.

I drew in an unsteady breath and began walking through the passageway. Almost right away I could tell I wasn’t alone in the dark hole. There were indescribable noises that made my skin crawl. The urge to run as fast as I could to the end of the tunnel was strong, but I feared it would only cause something to give chase, so I kept up my slow, steady pace.

“Rhyan,” a female voice whispered, but I ignored it. I had already realized the laugh I’d heard wasn’t really Kendra. She was safe in her home. Josselyn was watching her and if something had happened to her or her family Isaiah would have told me, so I needed to stop jumping to conclusions or I would land myself back in Gluttony. It was their job to trick me, and it was my job not to fall for it. I had to stay focused, I thought, and then ignored another soft laugh to my left.

I jumped and grabbed my spear when I felt a cool hand caress my inner thigh. The act made me stop walking, and I realized that was exactly what they wanted me to do, so I ground my molars together and trudged onward toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

I slowed a bit when I saw the silhouette of a person cross between me and the end of the passageway. I cleared my throat nervously. “Hello?” I called out, but nobody answered back, so I kept my spear in front of me as I walked.

I could tell I was about to the halfway mark. Anxious to get out of there before I drove myself insane with fear of the unknown, I picked up my stride. The whispering grew in numbers and volume, and so did the sporadic touches on different parts of my body. I continued to press on.

Busy swatting at hands and desperately trying to ignore the seducing voices, I almost missed the figure standing at the end, brown hair tied at the nape of his neck, muscled arms folded across his broad chest, knee-high brown boots slightly apart from each other. Jesus, he looked like he’d been pulled straight out of a Play Girl magazine with a historical theme, but he appeared to be relaxed instead of ready to wield his sword and shove it through my heart, so I didn’t stop walking.

I stepped out of the tunnel, put my spear away and greeted him. “Thoros, I presume?”

He nodded once and I could tell he was upset about something, sad even, but for some strange reason I didn’t suspect it was me causing his ill mood. “And you are the angel with balls of steel, I’d wager. You’ve caused quite the disturbance. Some even believe you will do the impossible; Abigail, for one.”

“Are you another?”

He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before shaking his head. “I have much to lose if I let you gain access to the door of Wrath.”

“Well, I really hate to cause you to lose anything important, but that’s really not going to stop me from doing all I can to get the hell out of here and take Abbi with me.”

“Perhaps not,” he said, and I watched as he swallowed and looked down at my boots. “How are the blisters?”

My brow furrowed in confusion at the direction he took the conversation, but I answered him. “I haven’t had time to look, but they hurt, so I’m almost positive they aren’t healed. Why do you ask?”

He held out his hand and a mesh bag appeared, secured by a rope around two of his fingers. “Your gift, angel. Lucifer allowed me to choose what to give you, so you should find everything in here you need to make yourself comfortable throughout the rest of your journey.” He stood there, quiet for a moment, and I realized the sad look was returning to his features. I took the bag from his outstretched hand and he looked back up to meet my eyes. “There is no doubt in my mind that you love your soulmate, and that you would go through Hell a million times if necessary to save her soul, but know that when you exit this syde into Wrath, you are damning another soul. I know not what she is to me, nor why I have such a strong urge to protect her, but Lucifer has her now, and I am at a loss. The only way for me to save her is to make sure you do not succeed.”

I knew it was a trick, and I couldn’t waste anymore of my time listening to his lies. “I’m sure she is really special, but I cannot feel sorry for you. You can’t just expect me to give up so you can have your happily ever after. I’ll fight for what’s mine and you fight for what’s yours, and let’s just both hope we don’t cross each other’s path in the process. Capisci?”

I slung the bag over my shoulder and started to walk away from him, but his next words stopped me in my tracks and made my blood run cold.

“She is your friend. I was only observing your charge and trying to find something to use against Murry. We were working together to accomplish our own personal goals. I never expected to actually have real feelings surface. I did not want to care for her, but it happened, regardless of my wishes. We had a small misunderstanding and I meant to make things right, but we were discovered and now he has her. There is nothing I can do to get her back unless you fail in my syde.”

Panic rushed through my entire body. He had to be lying to get me to give up. It couldn’t really be true. I wouldn’t believe it to be true. He was a demon. Demons lied all the time to get what they wanted.

I spun to face him and his grief-stricken face. His eyes had misted over, but some people were really great actors. Even so, I swallowed around the giant lump in my throat and tried not to fall into the trap. I was convinced he was lying, and I wasn’t changing my mind. I couldn’t. “You lie.”

Thoros slowly shook his head. “I wish I was. I know what I would do in your situation, so if you make the decision to go on, don’t let the fact that Lucifer has her soul stop you, once you walk through Wrath’s door. It will be too late by then. Don’t stop until you have Abigail in your arms for all eternity. Don’t stop until you have won.”

Tears blurred my vision. “I don’t believe you,” I said, but he didn’t respond, Isaiah did.

“Lucifer has Josselyn, Rhyan. There was nothing we could do. Someone took her from Kendra’s residence. Troy isn’t answering any of my summonses. I fear he has gone to find her.”

“No. No!” I threw the bag and my belongings to the ground and rushed the Prince of Lust. He didn’t move or try to defend himself against my blows. I suppose he thought he deserved the beating. He was right. He did deserve it and so much more, so I didn’t stop punching him until I physically couldn’t lift my hand to hit him again. I fell to my knees on the tiny rocks, mentally defeated. “My friend, Josselyn,” I sobbed. “You’ve tainted a pure angel with your lust and destroyed her. Are you happy with yourself for what you’ve done, for what you are?” I shouted as I grabbed a handful of pea-gravel and threw it at him.

His swelling eyes met mine and he ran the back of his hand under his nose to wipe away the blood that was pouring from his nostrils to his busted lips. “Do I look like I’m happy with myself?”

A burst of anger hit me and I got to my feet, then dragged him up to his. Fisting two handfuls of material in my hands, I pulled him to me and growled out, “You did this. You fix it.”

I pushed him away, then turned and grabbed my belongings. It was going to be a tough journey from there on out, and I knew that if and when I got to the door to Wrath, going through it would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do.

Chapter 48

As I walked away, carrying the weight of all of Heaven, Hell and Earth on my shoulders, I couldn’t help but see the images of everything I’d lost recently, flashing through my mind. I felt myself slip into a helpless depression, one much stronger than I’d been in over Kendra. I realized having a broken heart was considerably mild compared to how bad it could get. Correction: how bad it had gotten. This was real, and it was going to be impossible to climb my way out of it.

All of this would have been for nothing if I didn’t finish it now. I would come back and go through Hell all over again if I had to, if that’s what it took to get Josselyn back where she belonged.

“Stupid demons,” I muttered, and kicked at the pebbles under my boots.

I sighed and realized I was at another break in the wall. This time it was to my right, but looking up a little way I noticed another one on the left wall. Letting instinct guide me was my only option. And right then, my instinct was guiding me to look in the bag Thoros gave me.

Dropping all my things to the ground, I bent to untie the rope of the mesh bag, then poured the contents out. A canteen of water caught my eye and I knew instantly why the bag had been so weighty. Before looking at the other supplies, I grabbed the bottle and uncapped it, rushed it to my lips and drank in cool, clean water. I took in several gulps, then stopped to catch my breath before indulging once more.

After I felt completely sated and waterlogged from taking in too much liquid, I started to recap it, but noticed the canteen was still full to the brim.

A never-ending supply of water? A canteen that never empties? Could it be possible?

“He is sorry, Rhyan. He aims for you to accept his apology through gifts.”

“Go away, Isaiah.” I didn’t even care who heard me.

“Don’t be childish. It was no more his fault than yours, and yet you are looking for someone to take the blame for Lucifer’s actions.”

“It was his fault!” I yelled.

“I assure you that he never intended her harm. He wanted to help you, but now his hands are tied and he cannot.”

“Oh, what does he care if me and Abbi get out of here, or what happens to Josselyn?” I snapped at him.

“I think he cares a great deal. He is Josselyn’s soulmate.”

“What?” I said, then covered my face with my hands, attempting to digest the information. “Christ! I thought Malcolm was her soulmate. The guy is head-over-heels in love with her.”

“Once you loved Kendra and fate chose to disagree.”

I sighed, defeated. “True.” I felt really bad for Malcolm. “Did he even know?”

“No, and neither do they know exactly what is happening to them now, but I’m sure Thoros knows what it feels like to walk in your boots. His soulmate’s wishes were to see you released from Hell, but now you hold her fate in your hands and he knows not what to do. Would you stop him from leaving your syde if the roles were reversed?”

I huffed. “I don’t know what I would do if the roles were reversed. I hate that Josselyn’s soul might be in jeopardy, too, but I can’t just give up my mission to save Abbi. Maybe I can come back to get her, too. I don’t know. Go away and give me some private time to think. You’re crowding my thoughts,” I said, then started rummaging through the rest of the new supplies I’d received as my object. There was a cloth and a bar of soap. I didn’t even look around to see if anyone was watching. If there was, they were about to see a naked man wash himself.