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And everything went black.
Chapter fifteen
Josh
I swore under my breath. “Move!” The flame that came barreling out of nowhere threw me off. I jumped out of the way, taking Derik and Miss Libby onto the dirt and demolished concrete with me. I narrowly avoided touching Miss Libby. My face pressed into Derik’s shoulder. “Idiots, inconsolable idiots,” I mumbled.
Miss Libby wriggled herself out from under us and sat upright, then proceeded to dust herself off. I rolled my eyes internally.
The child is nearly caught in a fireball and the first thing she focuses on is the muck dusting her clothing.
They were all children in comparison to my three hundred years. Derik moved beneath me, shoving upward, knocking me backward. “Fuck me, dude. What the hell just happened?” Derik groaned as he shook his thick skull.
“They know we’re here. That’s what happened,” Libby said, her tone clipped.
I kept my facial expression neutral.
Bravo, what, dear Miss Libby, tipped you off?
I drowned out their brief and ever-enlightening conversation recapping and stating the undeniable. Seth finished off with the oh so obvious, “It’s a trap.” My ears peaked at the sound of leaves crunching beneath footfalls. I shielded myself from the group ahead of us, an illusion falling in place around my person. I was nothing and that would be what the others saw.
The Demon, Erebus, and a pack of his Demon lackeys swaggered forward and out of the shadows. “Well, well, well. Look who we have here.” His teeth shone in the light coming off the flame continuing to burn behind us. I braced myself.
The Demons cackled. Out of the corner of my eye, Seth paled. I skirted backward as he collapsed. Derik and Miss Libby followed suit, each slumping atop one another.
The Demons who answered to Erebus, proceeded to wrap each of their wrists in shackles before doing the same to their ankles. Derik and Miss Libby were chained together while Seth was left to be chained alone. One with a greenish hue to its flesh flicked its tongue along the side of Miss Libby’s face, leaving Erebus to claw at the Demon.
“Not the time. We’ll have our fun later.” The greenish hued Imp hissed, lifting Miss Libby and Derik over its shoulders. Another Demon threw Seth over its shoulder as well. The pack stalked back to the shadows from which they came. Erebus waited until they were into the darkness before turning in my direction. His pupils took in the flame. His reptilian tongue flicked outward, tasting the air. Then turned on his heel, following his Demons into the darkness.
I paused a moment, allowing a gap to form before trailing them, keeping myself hidden under the illusion of nothing. The Demons strode through heaps of rubble and after half a mile, had bypassed the abandoned factory. They entered a tunnel that had been hollowed into the mountain side. An obsidian archway marked the entrance. As the Demons made their way inside,torches mounted to the walls began to flicker, illuminating the tunnel.
I shortened the gap between us in fear of the flames dwindling out, for this was not a place I wanted to be without a sight line. I wound my way through the tunnels, seemingly never-ending, stealthily keeping pace with a few feet between myself, Erebus, and his lackeys.
The Demon, whose skin matched the sickening shade of vomit green, spoke, its voice reverberating off of the tunnel walls, “Sir, we’re coming up to your palace.”
“I will leave you to it then. I must tend to our other…guest.” Erebus’s voice oozed into the air flowing through the tunnel before he vanished with it.
The dirt walls expanded, clusters of pendant lights hung from the ceiling, taking the place of the torches that had lined the tunnel further behind. Grey-speckled white sandstone replaced the dirt walls. Marble slabs appeared underfoot. The Demons stopped in front of a wooden door that spanned the height of the sandstone walls. Iron arched atop the stained maple and down the center. The doors held shut by a single iron bar the length of a human man. Two of the Demons went forward, one to the end of the bar and began lifting it upward. The second, unlatched another smaller bolt that had been hidden behind the iron bar. The metal hinge groaned as the heavy wood slowly swung inward. The Demons filed into the room on the other side.
I stepped forward, narrowly avoiding being flattened between the behemoth-sized double doors. The theme from the tunnel’s edge continued, marble slabs covering the floor. Sandstone decorating the walls. Not a speck of the dirt nor grime visible. The muck that had speckled the flesh of the Demons had disappeared. The sandstone was naked, lacking décor. No furniture in sight. I swept my gaze across the large hall. Floor to ceiling pillars erected at each corner, carved of a marbleequivalent to the slabbed flooring. A single Persian rug ran the length of the room, beginning at the door through which we entered and leading to a smaller door, made entirely of iron steel. My attention shifted back to the group of Demons.
The one that had been carrying Seth, tossed his limp body to the floor. The Demon who’d been tasked with carrying Derik and Miss Libby tossed them as well. The three of them once again piled atop one another. Their breathing deep, in the midst of a Demon induced slumber. I folded my hands behind my back, further assessing them, watching. Derik and Seth didn’t budge beyond the rise and fall of their chests. Miss Libby twitched incessantly, from the tips of her fingers to one of her slender legs that stuck out from beneath Derik. If it weren’t for her Nephilim strength and resilience, the imbecile might’ve even crushed her with the amount of muscle weighing his body down.
An absurd amount of muscle, truthfully.
I shifted my focus to Miss Libby as her body jerked beneath Derik’s. Her face scrunched together, a bead of sweat trickling down her face.
I wonder if she’s having any visions of the things that have conspired between these walls. Or possibly some of the horrors that haunt the two Nephilim she’s caught between. Maybe even reliving her own.
The corner of my mouth twitched.
That would be interesting, a shopping spree gone bad. Or one of her few, and far between, bad hair days.
I pondered that thought as I recollected the information I had gathered on her history. Perfect childhood, wealthy Angel mother, inconspicuous mortal father. Outside of their wealth, there hadn’t been anything notable about her family. Nor her. No dramatic backstory, or traumatic experience leading up to her transformation. Her parents explained her impending development to her rather easily as she had shown signs ofbecoming a Nephilim with a promise of abilities of some sort. As not all offspring between the Angels and humans gained power or any of the abilities—benefits as some would describe them—that came with being of the heritage. Instead, they lived out their days as simple mortals, their memories often wiped by the Angels themselves. Miss Libby had expected the information without question. Her Angel mother took her under her wing, teaching her what she could before Miss Libby ventured out here, finding Seth. Or rather, Seth finding her. Derik, as always, followed behind him, incapable of thinking for himself.
The Demons’ movement shook me from my runaway train of thought. Erebus had reappeared and his lackeys were arguing with him.
“Sir, why do we need them? Can’t we just gut them and have it over with? We’ve earned some fun around here,” the Demon closest to Derik kicked Miss Libby’s foot. “Especially with this one here. We could use a good fuck.”
