around us, shrouding us in shadows, helping to hide us from view.
Everyone’s eyes are trained on the eerily quiet graveyard. Alarm and unease crawl across my wings, but I don’t see what’s setting it off. This is almost worse than just running head-first into a full blown attack.
Iceman glances over at me, shadows clinging to his form, and then reaches up and places his hand over mine where I’m gripping the scythe. He squeezes once, in both a comforting gesture and a touch that reminds me of what I need to do tonight. I give him a nod, though I’m not sure how much he can see while I’m behind a veil of Echo’s protection.
Wordlessly, the guys move.
In the same formation as Purgatory, I’m covered from all sides as Iceman pushes open the cemetery gate, and we all walk onto the graveyard’s grounds.
We make our way silently, the guys’ steps not making a noise as they walk. Echo keeps his shadows around us, but even so, Iceman makes sure to take us on a weaving path from one large tree or crypt to another, hugging the natural pools of black shadows to add to our camouflage.
I have a hard time seeing the guys, but I can feel them on all sides of me, and that’s what I make myself focus on. Heat at my back. Ice at my front. Shadows to my right. Comfort to my left. My scythe in my hand.
My heart pounds in my ears like a battle drum, and I hate that it’s all there is to hear.
It seems like it takes ages to walk a very short distance. Iceman leads us meticulously, slowly, purposefully. He doesn’t hesitate as he guides our group to pick our way around the jutting headstones, and he doesn’t rush us into making a mistake.
The irrational side of my brain can’t help but think we’re never going to reach the mausoleum. But we do. Just in time for my blood to run cold.
One look at the mausoleum shows me that it’s overrun with dark silhouettes of demons. They’re just...standing there, gathered around it. I don’t know what these demons did to weaken the Hellgate in Hell’s Embrace and be able to make it to our portal, but this once peaceful cemetery is now utterly terrifying.
They look more like carved specters in the night than living and breathing Hellish entities. But it becomes very clear right away that something is wrong.
“They’re not moving,” Iceman whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear.
There have to be at least two hundred of them gathered, and they’re not moving or making a single sound. This isn’t a balls to the wall, blatant attack like what happened in Georgia at Flint and Alder’s portal. These demons aren’t simply trying to bust out of Hell and run rampant through the Mortal Realm, gaining power and earthly pleasures. This is something different. It’s like…
“They’re waiting for something,” Echo murmurs, stealing the words right out of my mouth.
And right then and there, I know exactly what that something is.
Me.
21
A million things race through my mind all at once. Who are they? Are they here to kill me or collect me like before? Why? But the one question I can reach out and get a hold of, the one that makes all of this even more alarming is, how? How did they come through our portal? I thought my induction was supposed to stabilize the Hellgate and help stop this from happening. I thought that as a Nihil, I’d be just what the Gate needed and we’d be protected.
But as I stand, shrouded in shadows and confusion, staring at demons who look calculated, organized, and determined, it’s clear...something has gone terribly wrong.
Iceman looks back, giving each one of us a loaded look. When his icy blue eyes settle on my face, I know what he’s saying without him having to speak it. I know what they’re all saying, as one by one, their gazes lock on me.
Be careful.
Stay alert.
Swing like hell.
And don’t you dare fucking stop.
Iceman moves, and we move with him.
In the span of a breath, two long swords made entirely of ice appear in each of his palms as he calls to his power. He tosses one each to Echo and Crux, before making a third for himself and gripping the icy hilt. A flicker of light behind me draws my eye, and I see flames moving over Jerif’s hands. I exhale a deep breath and banish the trepidation