Demon of Darkness (The Hellbound Hellion #2) - Tansey Morgan Page 0,7
trying to figure a way out of this place. “How did you do that?”
Isla shook her head. “It was too good to be true… the dream, I mean. I was dreaming about home, and it was wonderful. I remembered the first day I arrived, how good it had felt to be there, to find my grandmother who’d raised me. But home doesn't exist anymore… as soon as I realized that the whole dream started turning, and my grandmother tried to bite my face off.”
“That’s… harrowing.”
“It was a nightmare. I’m only glad I was able to interfere before it was too late.”
“I can’t even begin to thank you. I just wish I understood why we were here, why this thing ate us.”
Isla knelt to the floor. I noticed her clothes were tattered and torn in places, she had scratches and bruises on her skin, and her wings looked a little worse for wear. Wherever that fresh-faced girl with the twitchy wing had gone after the fall, she had seen conflict. She had seen pain. Like the rest of us, I supposed.
The cavern grumbled, as if in response to her touch. “The Wretched are angels,” she said, “You know that, right?”
I nodded. “Sinners.”
“Sure, but why did they sin?”
“They chose not to resist temptation.”
Isla turned her eyes up at me. “I don’t think now is the time for high horses, Dagon.”
I breathed in through my nose and sighed, instantly regretting the decision to do so. The air was rancid, like breathing acid. It made my head spin for a moment, but I recovered. “Oh crap,” I said, “That was a mistake.”
“Breathe through your nose, like I told you.”
“Yeah, got it.”
“Anyway, the Wretched didn’t just give into temptation and become monstrous. They’re in pain. They fell harder than the rest of us, losing not only God’s grace but also their Light. Can you imagine what would happen to you if you were cut off from your Light?”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know so much about them?”
She looked at the ground, running her hand along the dark cartilage. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is, we’re here because they can’t summon their own Light, so they don’t have a choice but to eat ours. It’s going to digest us, I don’t know how long it’ll take, but once our Light is gone, so are we.”
“We need to get out of here.”
Isla stood again and grinned. “Funny, I’ve been thinking that too. Isn’t that a coincidence?”
I frowned. “Now I remember you.”
“I’m disappointed you forgot me at all.”
“I’m sorry… the fall just… it screwed with my head.”
“It screwed with all of us, in more ways than one. I’m just surprised you’re the angel I ran into in here. You know, out of everyone out there.”
“But wait, how are you here? The last time I saw you was… I saw you after we fell. I know I did.”
“You did. Sabriel sent me and my unit away on a mission to study the Wretched. She wanted us to get close to them, to figure out what they are, what their vulnerabilities are. I’m the only one left of the unit.”
“Where is everyone else?”
Her eyes turned up and around. “They didn’t realize they were dreaming. They never woke up. I tried to reach them, but they resisted. They thought I was the bad thing.”
“It took me a moment, too.”
“No, you just kept asking questions because you wanted to make sure you made the right decision in trusting me. I’m telling you, one day, that methodical approach is going to get you killed Dagon—I’m sorry, my Prince.”
“I think we can forego the etiquette,” I said, a slight scowl on my face. The cavern grumbled again, the ceiling and walls expanding and contracting. “Have you got any ideas on how to get out of here?”
“Not yet, but we need to do it soon. I don’t know how much time I have.”
“If I had a sword, I could slice my way out of it.”
“Sure, except like I told you, this isn’t real. We’re only talking right now because I invaded your dream and pulled you in here. These aren’t our physical bodies.”
“Which means they’re sitting in a real stomach somewhere…”
“Try not to think about it. It’s less gross that way.”
I took a couple of steps, but it didn’t feel like I was actually walking anywhere. “How are we supposed to get out of here if our physical bodies are asleep?”