As we stepped off the stairs, the skelleinsgathered within, drinking beer and working on the assorted puzzlesspread across the bar top and tables, all turned toward us. Thebones of their teeth and jaws clattered together as they calledcheerful greetings. The one playing the piano ceased pounding onthe keys to turn on his bench to face us. On his head was a black,porkpie hat, slanting to the side. He wore a jacket with coattailsdangling over the back of the bench on which he sat.
Rising to his feet, he accepted a mug ofbeer someone handed him as he walked over to stop before Erin. “Myturn!” he announced jovially.
Thanks to Erin, we’d passed their riddletest a couple of weeks ago and could now come and go freely, butthe skelleins had become determined to stump Erin with one of theirriddles. They’d yet to do so.
“I’m ready,” Erin replied with a smile asshe folded her arms over her chest.
Behind her, Corson grinned and Bale shookher head impatiently. Hawk rubbed Erin’s shoulders for her whileVargas leaned back on his heels. Kobal slid his hand around myelbow and pulled me a step closer to him. The skelleins would neverhurt me, not now that we’d passed their test, but he still kept meprotectively close.
The tapping of the skellein’s finger againsthis chin made a clicking noise as he stared at Erin. All skelleinshad black pits for eye sockets, but it was impossible not to feelthe weight of their gazes. “Okay, I’ve got one for you!” heannounced. “There was a green house. Inside the green house therewas a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house.Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?”
Erin’s mouth pursed as she stared at theskellein. In the corner, the cuckoo clock ticked away the secondsas all other movement and sound within the bar ceased. “I’m goingto have to think on this one,” she said after a few minutes hadpassed.
“Really?” the man asked as his jaw pulledback in a macabre smile.
“Yeah. I’ll let you know on our wayback.”
The skelleins all chattered excitedly; itwas the first time any of them had stumped her for this long. Themale skellein turned away from her and returned to his bench. Heplaced his beer on top of the piano before sweeping his coattailsbehind him and lowering himself onto the bench with an elegantgrace. Lifting his bony fingers over the keys of the piano, hepaused before launching into a melody that I vaguelyrecognized.
Kobal nudged my elbow and led me toward thedoor separating the barroom from the hall beyond. Erin stoppedbefore the door and leaned her head against the wall. Her eyesclosed and her foot tapped as she listened to the music filling theair. When it was over, Erin’s shoulders slumped forward and shereleased a sigh.
“You didn’t know the answer to that riddle?”Vargas asked as he opened the door and we stepped into thehallway.
We made our way toward the door at theend.
“Watermelon,” Erin replied.
“Sounds delicious,” Vargas said with a hintof confusion in his tone, “but not what I was asking about.”
A wistful smile tugged at Erin’s lips whenshe turned her head to look at him. “The answeriswatermelon. It was time to throw one of them a bone.” She chuckledover her own choice of words. “Plus, I love it when he plays“Chariots of Fire,” and he knows it.”
My laughter faded away when Corson and Balereached the door at the end of the hall. Throwing my shouldersback, I braced myself for the barrage of sorrow that wouldaccompany the opening of the door and the revealing of theunnatural gateway to Hell.
CHAPTER 3
Kobal
I watched River as she stared into the pitof Hell, which had been my home for over a millennium. I couldn’tbegin to feel what she felt from it, but I’d never forget her firstdays of coming here. Tears had streaked her face, her shoulders hadheaved, and she’d barely been able to remain standing. Despitethat, she had stalwartly continued to come back here every dayuntil she became more accustomed to the effect it had over her.
My River.
Yet, I’d been the one to expose her to thismisery, and it was only the beginning. If she could go inside, ifshe was able to withstand the heat of the eternal fires within thepit, there would be countless horrors for her to face, as well asLucifer himself. My hands curled at the thought of the man who hadcreated her, my greatest enemy. I’d tear him apart if I got thechance.
The war between demons and fallen angels hadbeen going on for many millennia within Hell. It was time to takeback what rightfully belonged to the demons, to claim the thronestolen from my ancestor. I’d never expected the possible key tosuch a thing would end up also being my Chosen or that I would bethe one to lead her into the place causing her so muchdistress.
It was impossible not to notice the way herclothes fit more loosely on her now. I saw the evidence every nighton her lithe body when she lay bared before me, but I couldn’t takeher from here while the gateway was still open and Lucifer couldescape. When this was over, I would take her anywhere in the worldshe wanted to go. I’d give her weeks of solitude away from thehardships she’d already endured and had yet to endure, I’d give herbrothers back to her, but this war had to be over first. Neither ofus would ever know peace until Lucifer was dead.
After, I would make my home on Earth withher, and whatever demons decided to stay with me would be allowedto do so. The demons who remained here would have to come to me soI could open a gate for them to return to Hell often enough thatthey retained their immortality, but it would be doable. I wouldfind a way to make it so.
River deserved to be able to stay on herplane with her brothers, where she was happy and where she thrivedon the life flourishing around her. She didn’t deserve to beimprisoned in the fires of Hell, away from her loved ones, andwhere I feared she would waste away to nothing.
The demons deserved to be set free too. Forhundreds of thousands of years, we’d kept ourselves mostlyseparated from the humans and respectful of the boundaries betweenour worlds so as not to upset the intricate balance, but the humanshad been the ones to tear that balance apart. We were here to savethem now, to fix the mess they had created, and as our reward, wewould reap the benefits of staying on this plane, feeling the sunon our flesh and experiencing a world of life instead of death.
I watched River as she stepped closer to thepit. Every day she came here and faced the gateway, she becamebetter able to withstand it, and I grew to hate it more. If she’dbeen unable to stand being so close to the gateway, I would havehad a reason to take her from here, but now I had no reason to doso. We would have to see this battle through to the end.
There is still a possibility she won’t beable to withstand the fires of Hell once she’s inside.But Ihad a feeling that wouldn’t be an obstacle, not for her.
River edged toward the pit until her toeswere at the very edge. Her black hair fell forward to shield herpretty features from me. I found myself holding my breath as Iwatched her, willing her to back away, but she remainedunmoving.
