Soul Savers: Faith Part 26

"She will be okay. Her faith is restored."

"And Dorian?" I snapped.

"Save him," Sophia commanded. I glanced over at her. "Bring back my daughter and grandson. They don't belong there."

We each sliced through more Demons, progressing toward the center of the pit.

"Of course," I snarled. "But you and the Angels need to do me a favor when this is over."

Sophia stabbed a Demon in the chest and swung it away, flinging it off her blade. "What?"

A black hole among the flames suddenly appeared. Angels fought off more Demons that swarmed toward me, trying to stop me before I flung myself through.

"Keep my family out of f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!" I yelled before I tucked my wings behind me and nosedived into the opening.

The aperture became a tunnel, barely large enough for my wings to spread and push me down. The fiery walls blurred all around me, streaks of orange, yellow, and white. I saw no signs of my wife, my son, or Lucas ahead, and I rumbled with anger.

"Alexis!" I called out with my mind, hoping hers would hear me. When no response came, I shouted out loud. "Dorian! Alexis!"

The flaming tunnel disappeared, and I soared into darkness that swallowed my yells and everything else.

I dropped into the thick blackness of a complete void.

Chapter 26.

I rocketed downward faster than the normal rate of falling, the flames around me blurring into orange and yellow streaks, but I couldn't close the gap between Dorian and me. Of course, we were in some realm of h.e.l.l, where no normal laws of physics applied and distance was an illusion-a real life version of the universal nightmare of running for a door that remained forever out of reach. I flicked my hands in front of me to summon Dorian's body, but he continued falling away.

The flaming tunnel gave way to a thorough blackness, much like my h.e.l.l I'd sat in for so long. I lost sight of Dorian and Lucas and everything else, including all sense of place. But the cool air continued to rush against my skin, so I knew I still sped downward. At the precise moment I realized I could slam into a wall at any time and thought about stopping, a pinp.r.i.c.k of light shone, growing bigger by the nanosecond. I was racing toward the lake of fire. Two flecks below grew into Dorian and Lucas, still headed that way, too. I pushed myself harder, giving my wings a few hard beats. Dorian suddenly came within arm's reach.

I opened my hand to grab his leg, but pain blasted into my arm and shoved me to the side. Lucas's fist came around again, aiming for my head. I blocked his punch and flipped over, landing two kicks into his ribs. Taking advantage as he tumbled in the air, I shoved my hands at him, my power pushed him away, and then I dove again for Dorian. I'd barely flown a few yards when my whole body was yanked back and then hurled around, into a hard wall or pillar. Screaming pain tore through my back and torso.

"Fighting is pointless," Lucas sneered, somehow able to hold himself upright without falling. "You can't win down here."

He twisted and hurled himself down toward Dorian. I followed, able to move faster than him now, while reaching behind my shoulder to retrieve the sword strapped to my back. When I pa.s.sed him, I swung my arm out. The silver blade sliced across his torso. He let out a beastly howl. With a quick stab, I plunged several inches of the sword between his ribs, and then with a kick of my foot, flung him off. He soared into the distance to where I could see him no more, and he didn't return.

I knew I couldn't have killed him so easily, but I didn't waste time wondering where he went. Maybe we got lucky, and Satan decided to eat him instead of possess him. I could only hope for such an outcome while I aimed for Dorian again as his body quickly plunged toward the lake of fire. I pushed myself harder than ever, swooped down at the last possible second, and grabbed him by the wrist right before a flame swirled around his foot. With another hard thrash of my wings, I turned us back upward and flew with all my power.

Earth's surface could not be seen above. Not even the flames of the tunnel and pit. There was only blackness for as far as I could see. For all I knew, the opening had closed already, and I was zooming us toward a head-on collision with some kind of ceiling. But that was better than either of us plummeting back downward.

Dorian's mind remained blank, but I could hear and feel a faint heartbeat. The wound in his neck must have healed up quickly before he could bleed out. The faintest trace of relief slid through me, and my little bit of hope blossomed further when I sensed the mind signature soaring toward us.

"Alexis," Tristan yelled. "Go! Get to the surface! You carry the blood of their enemy's youngest."

My heart stuttered. s.h.i.t. Stupid me for not realizing that sooner. But it didn't matter.

I have Dorian, I told him. He's alive. Don't worry-we're getting out of here before Lucas comes back.

I'd no more than thought the words when a searing pain wrapped around my ankle and spiraled upward to my bare thigh. I glanced down as a fiery tentacle, reaching from the depths of the lake of fire, tightened around my leg. Tiny needles of ice pierced through my skin and wiggled their way deeper into my flesh. Another thin finger rose from the lake, stretching upward toward Dorian and me. My wings beat frantically against the air as I tried to pull my way free. With a snap, the tentacle pitched us to the side.

I slammed into a hard surface, and then was wrenched the other way. The force loosened my grip on my son, and he slipped from my hold.

"Dorian!" I screamed. "Tristan, help!"

The other tentacle wrapped around Dorian's waist and pulled him away, out of my view. The one on my leg whipped me again, smashing me into another wall. One more time, and then everything disappeared.

I was pretty sure I stayed conscious, but all of my senses went blank. The lake of fire and the glow it put off had vanished, plunking me back into that black state of mind. My leg no longer burned from the cold or the fire. I could neither smell nor hear anything, and Tristan's mind signature had disappeared. I couldn't even decide if I was flying upward, falling back down, or remaining completely still.

Satan mind-f.u.c.ked me again.

"And I enjoy it so much." He didn't so much as speak the words. More like he licked them down my back as they slithered over me, serpentine and slimy, making me shudder.

But if I'd really heard or felt them, they dissipated, leaving me in complete nothingness again. No senses. No feeling. Nothing. Except ...

Excruciating agony tore across my upper back. A scream flew out of me and didn't stop as tears filled my eyes and streaked down my face. I bucked and thrashed, trying to stop the attack, but unable to. I was pinned in place by some kind of force as pain like I'd never felt before sliced into my shoulders and down my back. My torso arched in and out and twisted side to side, but found no escape. Bones broke and my skin and flesh were shredded, drawing out scream after scream until my throat turned to sandpaper and my voice faded into silent cries.

"Can't have you flying away again, now can we?" a snaky voice asked before I blacked out from the agony.

Chapter 27.

The relief of seeing my wife carrying my son up and away from the depths of h.e.l.l had barely washed over me when ropes of fire whipped out of the blazing lake below. Like tentacles, they looped around Alexis and Dorian and s.n.a.t.c.hed them back downward. And I was still too far away to reach them. I flew as fast and as hard as I could, but by the time I emerged from the darkness, Alexis was gone.

My muscles clenched, and an inhuman roar ripped from my stomach as I looked around wildly. Dorian. The cord of magma carried his flaccid body across the lake of fire. I flew farther down and across, after him.

"Dorian!" I shouted, hoping to rouse him, but he didn't respond.

The tentacle whipped him to the far side of the lake and then uncoiled from his body, releasing him. He fell to the sh.o.r.e of black lava rock with a thud. I soared for him.

"Dorian, wake up." I landed next to him and bent down to check for vitals.

He couldn't die body and soul down here. Alexis would never forgive me. I'd never forgive myself. The second I felt a faint pulse, I sensed the other presence and sprang upward and around.

A falchion blazing with h.e.l.lfire swung toward me.

I bent backwards just in time for it to miss me and shot a ball of fire from my palm as I came back up. Lucas wielded the weapon with both hands, and with a jerk of his head, the flaming ball made a sharp turn and flew into the lake. He twisted the wide sword in the air and arced it back toward me again. I jumped out of the way and thrust my hands out to give him a hard shove of power. It had no effect on him.

"I have the power now." His mouth widened in a grin. "All of it is mine for the taking. You, as you've come to prove, are worthless."

He spun around and swung the sword. My feathers hardened into steel right before the blade carved into my left wing, and my whole body jolted as pain shot through every nerve. But my wing held. Lucas's eyes narrowed, and his lip lifted in a snarl. Although it didn't exactly feel good, he'd obviously hoped for more damage.

"You don't matter anyway," he growled, and he turned toward Dorian's p.r.o.ne body and swept the sword down.

I sprang in front of him and caught the width of the blade in my hands. h.e.l.lfire burned heat and ice into my palms and fingers as I gripped the falchion and yanked it free from Lucas's grip. Before the h.e.l.lfire could do permanent damage, I flipped it in the air and caught it by its grip. I swung the weapon toward Lucas.

He only laughed.

And then disappeared.

"Coward," I yelled.

He reappeared several feet away. I sprang at him, sword swinging. He jumped back another few yards. His chuckles echoed off the lava and nearby cliff walls, the sound like an aluminum can rolling over rocks.

"Come on, Seth," he taunted. "Surely you can do better. Show me you still have it. Maybe I can find a place here for you after all."

"Never," I growled as I flew at him, the broad end of the sword aimed for his heart.

At the moment I thought it would plunge in, something large and looming crashed to the ground. Thick, iron bars suddenly surrounded me. Knocked the falchion out of my hands. I launched upwards but slammed into an iron ceiling. Lucas laughed as I dropped back to the ground. I charged at the bars between us. His whole body shook as his blue eyes lit up like lasers.

"A caged animal," he mused. "So fitting. Isn't that what you like, to be imprisoned under others' control? And you could have had it all. You could have had this."

He pounded his fist against his chest.

"As if I ever wanted to," I growled.

He snorted. "Instead, you prefer to be a caged bird with your pretty little wings."

I threw my hardened wing out at him, but he caught the released feathers in his hand. "That won't work twice."

At the same time, the razor edges of my feathers cut partially through the bars.

Lucas's eyes blazed bright red, and his head jerked as his smile dropped away. "We can't have that now."

He lifted his hand toward me, and blinding pain pierced into my head. A siren's scream accompanied it, and my hands grasped at my scalp. An invisible weight pressed onto my shoulders, forcing me downward. My knees buckled, and I groaned as I went down, all the way to my stomach. I could hear nothing. See nothing. Only feel the rough edges of lava rock scoring into my chest and the blaring pain in my head.

But even that was incomparable to the agony that ripped across my shoulder. Down my back. A blistering slice through my flesh. Throbbing pain into my shoulder blades and spine. The feeling of raw nerves exposed to the air.

Blackness overtaking me.

I came to gasping for a breath. I felt as though I hadn't breathed in days. The acrid air of h.e.l.l burned my throat and lungs, but I couldn't help gulping it in. I still couldn't see. Couldn't hear.

The ground under me quaked. I struggled to push myself up to my hands and knees. The sensation of being lifted in an elevator followed. I scrabbled to my feet and lunged forward. Iron bars caught me. I felt my way around the circle of bars, none of them damaged anymore from my wings. I was still entrapped, rising into the air in some realm of h.e.l.l.

And my wings-my shield, my weapon-were gone.

The ground stopped moving. I remained in total blackness. Total silence.

Until the screams began.

A familiar voice.

A sound I couldn't live with.

The agonized shrieks of my wife somewhere in the far distance rose into a crescendo and swirled around me.

Engulfed me.

Chapter 28.

Wails filled my mind and ears when I regained consciousness. My own, I thought at first, but as I became more aware, I realized mine mixed with other voices. Cries of intense pain and grief a.s.saulted me from all sides before I could even open my eyes. But peeling them apart against the seal of dried tears made no difference. I could see nothing, smell nothing, and taste nothing. I could only hear and feel the unending torment.

I'd thought the pain of my wings breaking out for the first time had been bad, but that didn't compare to the feeling in my back now. Curled into a ball over my thighs, in the same position I'd awoken, I tried to move my wings, but only felt air against raw flesh. I reached behind me with my hands, pulling my sore skin too tight to bear, and found nothing.

My wings had been severed. Removed. Amputated.

Only jagged, filleted flesh remained. My throat tightened, and tears brimmed and fell. I might have hated them at first, but they'd become a part of me. A very special part of me. A gift from the Angels. And now my beautiful, powerful wings were gone.

My quiet cries turned into sobs. The other voices joined in, making me quickly forget my own pain as theirs flooded over me, into me. The misery of lost and d.a.m.ned souls here in h.e.l.l combined with the eternal misery inside of me from all the people I'd disappointed, hurt, even killed-Lilith, Kali, Rina, Mom, Solomon, the soldiers in the warehouse, and the children on the train. My team. Everyone at The Loft. Everyone on the battlefield above. Dorian and Tristan. Their screams drilled through my soul, perforating it. And then came Stacey's and Bree's and the voices of countless other faeries who I hadn't been able to save.

After a moment, I realized not all of those voices were in my head. They were in my ears. I opened my mind, searching for signatures. No Dorian or Lucas. Tristan's was gone, too, and I momentarily became distracted as I worried about what happened to him and Dorian. Had Tristan escaped? Had he been able to take Dorian with him? Or had Lucas or Satan captured them both?

"Alexis," Bree's voice called out from a distance. Except it wasn't really far away. No, it was very near, my slow brain decided.

"Bree?" I gasped as I sat up for the first time, blinking against the utter blackness. Faeries' minds had always been unreachable for me, so I hadn't sensed her. I blindly reached my hands out in the direction of her voice, but I felt nothing. "Where are you?"

"We're over here." A British accent.

"Stacey?"

Feeling disoriented by the blindness, I dropped forward, my hands landing on a b.u.mpy, coa.r.s.e surface. The same floor my knees rested on. I didn't dare try to stand up and walk in the darkness, so I crawled forward, toward their voices.

"Yes, it's me, but you can't get to us."

"Don't try, or you'll fall off the edge," Bree warned.

"Where are we?" I asked as my palm landed on said edge, my fingers folding over the sharp roughness of it. It felt like some kind of rock. I slid my hands to the side, twisting my body as I did. I bit back the pain in my back and shoulders as I felt my way around a circular surface.