My stomach twisted sickeningly as the snakesshe had for hair slithered upward, their tongues flicking out totaste the air. Normally, snakes didn’t bother me. Seeing themattached to someone’s head though was more than a littleunsettling, as was the dog snout the woman had for a nose. Herwings made me think of angels as they were covered with whitefeathers, but the malice she radiated was far from angelic. Some ofthe other creatures flying past had wings like those of a bat whileothers had wings of assorted colors.
“What are they?” Hawk inquired.
“I don’t know, and right now, I don’t care.We have to get out of here,” I said.
The woman smiled at me. “Someone is lookingfor you.”
With those words, she nosedived at us.
***
Kobal
The light faded away, leaving behind onlythe black of the pit once more. Behind me, the humans shuffled andmoved about.
“What was that?” Vargas asked.
“That was the seventy-eighth seal,” Balesaid.
“Seventy-eighth?” someone squeaked.
“Yes,” I said, my eyes assimilating to thedarkness once more. “Which means the wood nymphs are out.”
“Lucifer has lost his mind,” Corsonsaid.
“So seventy-eight of them have collapsed?”Erin asked.
I stared above me toward the faint rays ofsun I could still see from the earth. An earth that would never bethe same now.
“Shit is about to hit the fan up above,”Corson said.
“The demons and remaining skelleins willfight them,” I replied.
“Whatwerethose things?” Vargasdemanded.
“Erinyes,” I said and faced the humans. “Youprobably know them better as furies.”
“What can they do?” someone asked.
“They’re demons of justice and vengeance.They punish their victims by driving them mad and torturing them,”Corson replied.
“Wonderful,” someone muttered.
“Why were they locked behind a seal?” Erinasked.
“Because when they ran out of rightfulspirits and demons to punish, they turned on those who didn’tdeserve it in order to keep themselves amused. One of my ancestorswas able to capture and seal them off,” I replied.
“So they’re pissed, and now they’re free,”Vargas said. “How many of them are there?”
“Nine now,” Bale said and kicked the head ofthe one Corson had decapitated into the pit.
“Why didn’t your ancestors just kill them?”another human asked.
A screech rent the air from somewhere belowus. “River,” I breathed.
CHAPTER 14
River
