She froze and tears glittered in her eyes asshe watched him.
“We have to go in,” Erin said from behindme. “Before the lanavours catch up with us. At least down there youcan set their asses on fire without worrying about the flamesspreading.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Jackieblurted.
“No, she hasn’t,” I said coldly. “You canstay here and deal with them if you want, or you can try to beatdown the wall and have what remains of the roof collapse on you. Itis your decision to make, but our best option is to find somewhereto hide in there, or a place where we can at least make a standagainst them. We can’t do that here with the fire surrounding us. Ican try to blast them with a burst of energy, it may even kill whatremains of them, but the fire is still growing. We can’t stay here,and the fire won’t spread into there,” I said, pointing to thepit.
“She’s right,” Hawk said.
“Wait for me!” Sarah cried and practicallytripped over her feet to follow Hawk when he walked to the edge ofthe pit.
I was fairly certain the girl had lost hermind. There was obsession, and then there was “I’ll happily followyou intoHell”obsession. Erin’s lips skimmed back as Sarahrushed to stand by Hawk’s side, and even Vargas no longer lookedamused by her bizarre behavior.
“Anyone who would prefer to stay, stay!” Icalled out. “Everyone else, let’s go! The lanavours will be heresoon!”
People rushed toward the edge of the road asit wound deeper into the shadows below us. I stepped back, allowingthem to go first while I kept an eye on the doorway. My toes curledinto my shoes as I sought out the pulse of life beneath my feet anddrew it forth in preparation for the lanavours.
Golden-blue light leapt across my fingertipsas I watched the door. I didn’t know what the lanavours werewaiting for, but they should have been here by now. The last of thepeople filed onto the road and into the murky depths of Hell.
“Let’s go,” Hawk said, drawing my attentionto him.
Standing on the roadway a few feet into thepit, Erin and Vargas waited for us. I was willingly taking peopleinto Hell, and I realized now the lanavours had been herding uslike cattle since they first came out of the woods.
“Kobal was right, this wasn’t acoincidence,” I said as Hawk’s indigo eyes burned into mine. “Thisattack, it was planned. Lucifer somehow lured them here,” I said toHawk. “I think we’re doing exactly what Lucifer wants us todo.”
“Maybe so,” Vargas said as he took a steptoward us. “But we have no other choice. Not right now.”
That was true; however, I couldn’t help butfeel as if we were dead men and women walking. I was in no rush toencounter my ancestor, but it seemed he was in a rush to meet me.Swallowing heavily, I turned and stepped onto the rocky road. Blackdirt shifted and slid beneath my feet as I hurried to catch up withthe people gathered a hundred feet away.
Turning, I glanced at the top of the pit asthe Hell shadows rose to encompass us. Angela stood at the edge ofthe gateway, her eyes wide and horrified as she watched me movefurther away. My hand instinctively reached for my necklace in anattempt to calm me. My heart sank as I realized what the tearingsensation had been when Hawk had knocked the lanavour off ofme.
My necklace, my one tangible piece of home,was gone. I pulled my hand away from my bare throat andstraightened my shoulders as Angela remained unmoving at the top ofthe pit while lanavours slipped through her to step onto theroadway.
I spun away and didn’t look back at themonsters as we raced down the road and into Hell.
CHAPTER 11
Kobal
My shoulders heaved as blood from thelanavours I’d slaughtered trickled down my fists. Drops of itplopped onto the ground as I stared at the crumpling bar. River haddone this; I didn’t have to witness it to know that she’d lit thebuilding on fire, which meant she was afraid and somehow thelanavours had gotten inside.
My teeth grated together as Crux circled myfeet with his hackles raised. Blood oozed from the large gash onthe side of his head and across his muzzle from a blade one of thelanavours had stolen from its downed victim. Phenex sat at my side,watching her mate’s seething anger.
What remained of the demons and humans weregathered near the vehicles that hadn’t been destroyed by bullets.Fire shot from two of the trucks, and the others had gas leakingfrom them or tires now flat against the ground. Almost half of ournumbers had been eradicated by the nightmare-devouringlanavours.
I had to get to River, but first we had toget rid of the bodies of those the lanavours had fed from.Otherwise the surviving lanavours would return for the dead theyhad created, slice off their ears, sew their mouths and eyes shut,and work whatever magic they used to get them to rise from the deadin order to become one of their ravenous own.
Striding across the ground, I grabbed thearm of Captain Timothy Tresden. His eyes were dull and unfocusedwhen I turned him toward me. I didn’t have time to deal with hishuman bullshit right now.
“You’re to get the humans to gatherallof the bodies and throw them onto the fire,” I commandedwith a rough jerk on his arm when his eyes slid lifelessly awayfrom me. He’d picked a bad time to mentally check out on me.“Listen to me or I’ll fucking kill you myself. Gather these bodiesand put them on the fire, or we’re going to have a bigger problemto deal with!”
He blinked at me as a woman stepped forward.“I’ll make sure it’s done,” she said.
Releasing Tresden, I shoved him away from meand focused on the woman. “Some demons will remain here to helpyou, but I have to get into that building, and all of the dead haveto be burned. There isnoother option.”
“I understand.” She turned away from me.“Gather the dead!” she yelled at the crowd closing in around us.“Throw them onto the fire.”
“Shouldn’t we bury them?” someoneprotested.
