“We will.” I squeezed her forearm beforemoving away from her.
As if I were taking a leisurely stroll overthe roadway, I continued until the lanavours came into view oncemore. Hawk slipped around the corner, making it appear as if he wasstill behind the group. I made sure the lanavours trailed us beforefollowing him. I prayed the lanavours would assume the group wasstill ahead of us. But then, they may not even stop for the othersif they realized I was still going.
I poked my head back around the corner andsighed in relief when the lanavours floated past where the otherswere hiding. Ducking back around, I dashed forward, but I barelybreathed as I waited to hear the screams of my friends. Thankfully,the screams never came and the pit remained silent as we continueddeeper into a place that was a tomb for countless souls.
I wanted to draw the lanavours further awaybefore attempting to set their asses on fire or shoot them with abolt of life in case something went wrong. I couldn’t have themturning and fleeing only to come across everyone else. Myfingernails dug into my palms as I resisted the impulse toattack.
“How are you doing?” I asked Hawk when wewalked around another turn.
“Fine,” he replied.
My brow furrowed as I glanced at him out ofthe corner of my eye. He was sweating less than me.
How is that possible?Not now, nothere, but I couldn’t shake the incessant unease niggling at theback of my brain.
“Hawk—”
“I know it’s not normal, River, but I’mstill standing here and we can’t exactly sit down to try to figureit out. We have to keep going.”
A glance over my shoulder revealed thelanavours were still on our asses as we descended deeper and deeperinto the place I was becoming increasingly convinced we’d neverescape.
CHAPTER 13
Kobal
Everything flashed by me in a blur as Iraced deeper and deeper into Hell.The longer she’s inhere…
I broke the thought off. She couldn’t bethat far ahead of me, and she was strong enough to give anything inhere a run for its money, including Lucifer. The heat of my homeenfolded me, brushing over my skin as the familiar scents of fireand brimstone assailed me. They were scents I could never forget; Ibore them on my skin and in my genetic makeup.
Turning a corner, I leapt over the charredand mangled remains of a lanavour lying at the edge of the pathway.River. She was still out of their grasp, still movingdeeper, or at least she had been five minutes ago judging by thesmoke curling off the remains.
I didn’t look back at Corson, Shax, and Baleas we traveled further into the pit. Hell had been my home for overa millennium, the place I’d been created to protect and rule over,yet all I wanted was to find River and drag her from here as fastas I could. This was not my home, not anymore.Shewas myhome, and she was in danger.
I was moving so fast, I nearly crashed intoErin when I turned another corner. Her blue eyes were bloodshot andher face looked sunburned, but she remained standing when many ofthe other humans were leaning against the wall or each other.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
Erin adjusted her grip on the woman she andVargas carried before pointing down the hill. “Leading them away,”she croaked out. “Hawk’s with her.”
So she could withstand Hell well enough tokeep moving through it, and Hawk could too. Bale and Corsonexchanged a pointed look. Shax clutched Erin’s arm when she swayedon her feet.
“We couldn’t keep going,” Erin rasped,sounding as if she’d eaten a pound of dirt.
“Shax, get them out of here,” I commanded.“When you get above, have Morax contact me.”
Shax lifted an eyebrow at this. They allknew I didn’t tolerate anyone else in my mind, but there would beno help for it now. Most of the time, I kept Morax’s ability tocommunicate telepathically resolutely shut off in my mind, andMorax knew better than to speak with me in such a way withoutapproval or necessity. Otherwise, I’d make him eat his tail.However, this situation definitely qualified as necessary.
Turning away, Shax nudged Erin aside to takehold of the shoulders of the woman I now saw was the one who hadbecome attached to Hawk. A purplish bruise marred her temple. Iturned away, not caring what had happened to her, just as the earthbeneath my feet trembled.
Small rocks broke free of the walls andrattled down the pathway. I didn’t have time to wonder what hadhappened before the earth gave a mighty heave and the groundlurched three inches to the side. I took a step forward to balancemyself. Screams rent the air as some of the humans were knocked offtheir feet and others flung themselves against the wall.
“Silence!” I commanded and took a stepcloser to the edge of the path. A couple more whimpers soundedbefore they all fell quiet.
Bale, Shax, and Corson stepped closer to theedge with me. Below us, a pinpoint of light emerged where none hadbeen before. My fangs lengthened as the light at the bottom of thepit spread.
***
River
