reporting back to Anderson, tipping him off that I know he’s in league with demons.
Dammit. If only I had some help. I spent so long alone on Earth, and then suddenly, I wasn’t alone at all. I had first one, then four, then seven people in my life. On my side. It was… it was wonderful, actually. I had a feeling of belonging to something, really being a part of a group, and now it’s gone and I’ll probably never get that again.
The sins are dead. And I killed them. I caused them to cease to exist. The only people that I felt truly close to, the only people that knew me, and they’re gone.
My jaw clenches. I’m not going to just sit around and wait for Anderson to come back and try to manipulate me into helping him again. And I can’t risk trying to report him.
So that means I have to stop him myself.
First, I need to get out of here. I need to get back down to Earth, and maybe back down to Hell if I can manage it. I need to figure out what the “nuclear option” Salinas mentioned is and how to prevent it.
A quick inspection of the wall Anderson went through reveals the door. It’s invisible to the eye, but I can feel it with my fingertips when I press up against it. My wings pop out, shaking and stretching a little. I wish I could draw my angelic sword, but that would attract too much of the wrong kind of attention.
Slowly, I push on the door, and it swings open smoothly. But as soon as I step out of the room, my footsteps falter.
Oh, Anderson, you lying son of a bitch.
I’m not really Upstairs.
Of course I’m not.
Even if Anderson does have some other angels on his side, it would’ve been too risky for him to bring me Upstairs in case I figured out what’s going on and blabbed to the wrong person. Or even if I didn’t figure it out, I might’ve mentioned the sins, revealing that I’d been sent on a bogus, off-the-books assignment by Anderson. That would’ve raised too many alarm bells and risked exposing him.
This hallway around me looks like a good approximation of Heaven, probably in case I caught a glimpse through the doorway as Anderson entered and exited. But on either end, I can see the flickering flames and smoke that mean I’m still in Hell.
Good.
Not that I’m happy to still be Below, but this puts me closer to my enemies, which is exactly where I want to be. At least until I get the answers I need.
But it also means there’s not even a chance that I’ll run into a sympathetic angel who will help me in case Anderson shows back up. I’m literally surrounded by demons, and despite my earlier discovery that not all demons are bad, I can’t trust any of the ones working for Salinas.
That means I need to find a way to get out of here quickly without anyone seeing me.
Swiveling my head, I glance up and down the corridor. I don’t see any kind of security camera setup—but then, I’m not sure that sort of thing is even possible Downstairs. There might be magical alarm systems though.
My whole body feels like it’s buzzing with nerves as I step out into the decidedly-not-Heaven area. All around me, sleek black walls like obsidian rise up. I can see what look like spires in between some of them.
Salinas seems to be a rather high-ranking demon. Is this his castle? Or fortress? I don’t know how the hierarchy down here works, exactly, but I can imagine him having something like that.
Pressing myself against the stone—and letting out a pained hiss when I find that it’s extremely warm—I keep to the shadows as I move through the complex. I have to find the exit. I know that there has to be one, somewhere. But there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to this freaking place. What kind of insane architect designed it?
Maybe it was one of the damned? I guess if someone was being tortured in Hell for all eternity, there’s a good chance their architectural designs would get crazier and more twisted over time.
At one point, I end up creeping down a hallway I’m certain I’ve been in before, and I stop, glancing around with a grimace. Fuck. Did I retrace my steps somehow? Double back without meaning to?
Up ahead, I hear voices.
Oh no.
I