“No, they must be burned,” she repliedcrisply.
Satisfied she had it under control, I turnedaway from her as humans and demons started to collect the dead.“Verin, Morax, stay with them and make sure the dead are taken careof,” I commanded.
“We will,” Morax replied, and the two ofthem hurried away to help gather the remains.
“We’re going to have to circle around andtear down one of the walls,” I said to Corson.
Corson’s talons were red with blood as hestrode toward me. “There’s only one place for them to go to avoidthe fire.”
My teeth grated together; my clawslengthened and dug into my palm. “I know.”
Turning away from him, I loped across theground toward where the skelleins had gathered before the burningbuilding. They had their arms around each other’s waists as theyswayed back and forth in commiserating misery.
“Some of you help them burn the bodies!” Ibarked at them. “The rest of you come with us before I heave yourbony asses onto the fire myself!”
They released each other and scrambled away.My heart thudded as I ran toward the back of the burning buildingand the room surrounding the gateway. Terror like I’d never knowndrove me. I had to get to her, to stop her before she could enterHell.
The heat of the fire beat against my skin,but I barely broke a sweat as I moved faster than I’d believedpossible with the hounds close on my heels. Arriving at the back ofthe building, I stopped at the wall on the far end. Flames werealready crackling over the wood and snapping toward me.
No screams. No one is screaming inside.
The realization should have been reassuring;instead, it made my blood run cold. They’d gone into the gateway.Lucifer had gotten what he wanted by drawing the lanavours here.Riverwas in Hell.
“Shit,” Corson breathed from beside me asBale and Shax raced around the corner.
The hounds circled my legs, brushing againstme as they moved between me and the burning wall. Striding forward,I ignored the flames eating at the wood as I rested my handsagainst the wall. Bale stepped beside me. As part fire demon, shedidn’t have the ability to wield fire, but she could withstand itsflames almost as well as I could. Her eyes met mine before sherested her hands against the wall and shoved with me.
The fire enveloped me as I dug my feet intothe ground to get better leverage. It surged over my skin, butthough I felt the heat of it, it didn’t burn me. With an ominouscreaking sound, the wall started to sway inward. Something gave waywith a loud crack before the wall fell straight to the ground.
I stepped back as flames shot up like ageyser and sparks danced high into the air. The wall to the rightreleased a strange keening noise before it bent forward andcrumpled to the ground in a wash of heat that rolled over theruined earth. With two walls broken away from it, the ceiling camedown with a resounding crash. Beams bounced across the ground andsome spiraled away into the pit.
“River!” I bellowed when I realized theywould be heading toward her.
The hounds leapt through the flames andraced forward to circle the gateway. The flames and sparks caughtat my clothing when I walked through them. They burned away thebottom of my pants and melted the soles of my boots as charredspots spread across my shirt. I tossed and kicked aside burningboards to clear a pathway through the debris for the others.
Stepping up to the edge of Hell, my bootskicked dirt and rocks into the pit. The rocks clattered against thejagged sides as they spiraled away into nothing.
I could feel River in there, moving furtheraway from me.How far will she be able to go?The humanswouldn’t be able to withstand the fires of Hell for long, but shewasn’t human, not entirely.
“We have to go.” I rested my hands on theheads of the hounds, drawing them back into me.
Beside me, Corson pulled the earrings fromhis ears and tossed them aside. I didn’t look back at him or theothers as I broke into a loping run that ate up the ground beneathme.
With every step River took, the more likelyshe would be to end up in Lucifer’s clutches.
***
River
“Look out!” Hawk shouted.
Frightened cries echoed around me as flamingboards went flying by. I flattened my back against the jagged rockwall lining the road. The flames on the boards sputtered as theyplummeted past us. Leaning over, I watched as what remained of theboards lit the spiraling road descending deeper into the pit beforethe fires went out.
“The ceiling collapsed,” Erin said frombeside me.
“Kobal,” I breathed.
My head tipped back, but the darkness aroundus was so complete I could barely see a hundred feet above me,never mind the thousands of feet we’d already traversed. The smallpenlights a few people had barely pierced the gloom around us.
