A ball of ice lodged in my gut at his words. There was no sense of success even though Lucifer had just agreed to what I’d asked. I gave him a curt nod, not sure I could get words out at the moment.
My muscles tensed, bracing for whatever was to come. I’d never sold my soul before and wasn’t sure what to expect.
“I officially withdraw my protection of Dantalion,” Lucifer said in a bored voice, sitting back in his chair and flinging an arm over the side. “I’ll collect on your side of the bargain when I see fit. Now you may go.” He waved his other hand at me in a dismissive gesture.
That was it? I was free to walk back out of Hell and just wait until Lucifer decided tocollectmy end of the deal?
I glanced from him to the hellhound at his side. The hellhound’s red eyes tracked me as I backed up a step, but he didn’t move from his master’s side. Would Lucifer send one of his hounds to fetch my soul someday?
My chest felt tight as I walked out of the room and started to make the trek back to the elevators out of Hell. I had a feeling that next time I came here, I wouldn’t be able to just walk back out again.
I didn’t see much of the landscape on my way to and from my meeting with Lucifer. The long hallway decked out in black marble and onyx with dim lighting offered little clue as to what the rest of Hell looked like. I had no idea what awaited me when Lucifer claimed my soul.
I’d always pictured Hell being more red rather than the rich wood and black stone I’d seen in Lucifer’s palace. I guess the idea had come from the human impression of Hell being full of fires, combined with the fact that angels of the sixth order—warriors born to fight against Hell’s forces—had red wings.
The hallway ended at a door made of dark wood that opened into an octagonal-shaped room with seven doors leading to the seven circles of Hell. The two-story formal entrance into Hell was lit by a chandelier almost as grand as the ones in Lucifer’s great hall. The floor was made of different kinds of wood, creating a decorative pattern. The walls were also made of wood with red and yellow undertones. Everything was elegant but not overly impressive.
I wondered how many people actually saw this room, and of those who did, how many were here for longer than the few seconds it took to walk through one of the doors.
Leaving Hell behind gave me an odd sense of foreboding, as if by stepping into the elevator that would take me out of Hell, I’d started a countdown. I could picture Lucifer turning over an hourglass and watching the sand fall through, each grain bringing us closer to the moment he would take my soul.
* * *
One Year Later
Red smoke hungin the air around me, obscuring everything but the demons a few feet in front of my face. Somewhere on this island, Micah and Sam were battling more demons, and they just kept coming.
It felt strange to fight without my axes. I’d been training and fighting with them for about twenty years, but it was impressively easy to fall back on my boxing skills. I’d spent the better part of a century learning to fight with my fists before I ever touched an angelic weapon.
I tore into the demons that came at me, giving in to my more barbaric side.
“We need to stop her,” Sam’s voice shouted.
Somewhere in this chaos, Sam’s fallen-angel mother was summoning the demons. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what her end goal was, but I had a feeling it was all of our deaths. What would happen to my soul if I died before Lucifer could claim it?
“Any suggestions, genius?” Micah called.
“Why can only a demon stop her?” I asked as I thrust my fist into the stomach of the demon closest to me.
“ASheolishpendant is used to give certain demonic power to a being with a soul,” Micah shouted over the sound of the demon screams. “But when it’s in use, the pendant creates a kind of shield that no one with a soul can cross. Technically, we can physically cross, but to do so is to open the soul up to darkness.”
That wasn’t an option. There was no fate worse than losing our souls to the abyss. I’d rather throw in my lot with Lucifer any day.
But once Lucifer had my soul securely in his clutches…
I pulled up my shirt and glanced down at my bare chest. It was nearly completely black now—the countdown that marked when Lucifer would collect on our bargain. Only a tiny circle of my normal skin was left, less than an inch in diameter. Pretty soon I’d be soulless, and I’d have nothing to lose.
Pushing through the demons, I made my way to Sam’s side. I saw him scan my body, taking in the gold and red blood that mixed on my skin.
“I can stop her,” I said, keeping my voice low.
A female demon approached us, and I shoved my hand into her chest, taking her heart with me as I pulled my hand back out. I didn’t wait to watch her dead body dissolve into red smoke.
“Look at me, Sam.” I yanked off my shirt to show him how close I was to losing my soul. “I have minutes.”
“What are you saying?” Sam growled.
“I’m about to lose my soul. I can stop Asura’s summoning.”
