“Why are they so angry?” I asked right before I slid down.
Her face was grim, but resigned. “Because I am the devil’s concubine.”
7
The ride was short and fast. The chute plunged downward at an extremely steep angle. I landed with a gigantic thud into something soft and squishy. It took me a moment to gather myself, and then the smell hit me.
It was atrocious.
I brought my hands up in horror, shaking the gunk off. “Are we sitting in feces?” I yelled out loud. I couldn’t help it. It was the worst smell I’d ever encountered and it was indeed from excrement of some kind. I glanced around, taking a quick inventory of the place. From what I could gather, before the beasties were shot up this pipe, they must have lost whatever was in their bowels.
There was no other explanation.
I scampered out of the pile as fast as I could, which meant I slopped my way out of thigh-high muck slowly, scraping the putrescence off me as I went. “This is completely disgusting,” I muttered. “And did I just agree to consider making a deal with the Prince of Hell’s mistress?”
A horrid scream echoed from above through the tube.
“Dammit, I forgot to throw the hair in!” I frantically sloshed back through the pile of crap. I’d inadvertently let go of the hair while I was trying to get the feces off me. I pawed at the pile, searching, and then I spotted the long locks half covered in a nearby clump. I snatched them up, hoping it didn’t matter if they were covered in goo and tossed it into the pipe and spoke the words.
Almost instantly Lily came shooting down the tunnel.
She was covered in blood.
“Oh, good gods, are your fingers missing?” I gasped as I took in her appearance. Reddish-purple liquid flowed freely down her arms and onto the heap.
“Yes.” She took in a deep breath and arched her head back, closing her eyes for a brief moment. “It was better to lose them than my neck. They will regenerate. Come, we must go. They must harness the hellhound first, but they will follow soon.” She stood, wobbling slightly. She seemed unfazed by the large pile of crap we were standing in, and waded out without comment.
She’d done this before.
I followed, still swatting the crap off me, trying not to take in too many breaths. Lily walked purposefully to a door I hadn’t noticed before, as it was artfully concealed in the rocky wall.
This level of Hell was covered in charcoal-colored rock with specks of something dotting throughout that looked like flint. Whatever it was made the walls glitter in the low light. Lily placed her broken and bloodied hand onto a flat surface next to the door and muttered something under her breath. After a moment she tried again. Nothing happened. She swore. “They’ve locked me out.” She stepped back. “You must break this ward or we can go no farther.”
“Me?” I said. “How do I break the ward?”
“Your magic signature contains demon essence, as I noted before. It should be enough to break this ward. We are on a lower level of Hell and the security here is less than above, because none willingly venture here. The beasts provide their own security.”
“It’s that easy to break?” I didn’t believe it was. “How can I possibly get through something you can’t?”
“I have done it too many times already.” She shrugged. “They have found a way to keep my magic signature out. But I know you can do this, and you must. They will be arriving shortly, which means we have a limited time to get to the Sholls. If we do not, we die. It’s that simple.”
I switched places with her reluctantly. “So many ways to die, so little time,” I grumbled as I placed my palm on the flat surface as she had done. A strange pulse immediately needled at my skin, pulling and prodding it like sharp fingernails. “What is it doing?” My wolf snarled, wanting us to pull back immediately. But a powerful suction had glued my hand to the wall. If I yanked it back, I would tear it open.
“It’s trying to figure out what you are,” Lily said patiently.
“Then what?” I asked as I envisioned a demon face with very large teeth coming out of the wall and gobbling me whole.
“You must force it to acquiesce.”
“How do I—” A gurgling sound shot out of my throat as I morphed into my full Lycan form. The plate had tugged raw power out of my body so fast it had plastered my palm to it with the force of a cyclone.
“You must push your power against it. It thinks you are a demon, so use it to your advantage. Throw your magic at it,” she ordered. “Hurry, do it now.”
I gritted my teeth. It felt like my hand was being skewered open. My wolf barked, angry at me for doing something so stupid. Instead of griping, help me get our hand back, I told her. Throw our magic at it. Together we shoved magic into the wall. It immediately bounced back and we had to force it outward again. Very slowly magic began to seep into the wall. “I think… it’s working.”
“You must override it now. You will not get another chance.”
My wolf howled and we shot a big burst of power into the wall. The energy exploded into the wall, knocking me back, finally freeing me. The force of it sent me reeling into Lily.