“Such as the gargoyles feasting on the fleshof another,” Corson said.
“Or my bearded lady,” Magnus added.
The image those words conjured caused me toshudder. I glanced nervously at the ceiling once more, but all ofthe gargoyles had long since flown from this place. That didn’tmean something just as hideous, or worse, couldn’t be hidingsomewhere amongst these walls.
“How did your ancestors ever manage tocapture all these creatures and lock them away down here?” I askedas we continued through the broken seals.
“It’s not an easy task but one that requiresthe help of many demons to get them to this area. The power of thevarcolac seals them behind these walls that normally would makeyour steel look weak. The varcolac is also the only one who canbring down a seal, or at least that was the way it was forthousands of years. Now I do not know what is going on.” Kobalfrowned as he said these last words; a vein throbbed in his temple,and his jaw clenched.
I ran my hands soothingly over his chest,but he didn’t relax beneath me. “Could there somehow be anothervarcolac?” I asked. “One who is bringing the seals down?”
“Two varcolacs in existence at once isimpossible. It has never happened before. It would not happen now.And no varcolac would be aiding Lucifer in such a way,” Magnussaid.
“Yeah, and we were all so certain Hell onEarth was just an expression, but not anymore,” I retorted.
“He is right,” Kobal said and squeezed myknee. “I was born knowing that I had to defend and protect Hell andits inhabitants no matter what, not to destroy them and hand themover to be enslaved.”
“What will happen to all the creaturesbehind these seals still and the ones who have already escaped?”Hawk inquired.
“There is no reason for these things toexist anymore,” Kobal answered. “The balance has been forevertipped. They may still have a purpose, but there will be no goingback to the old way for any of us. By leaving these creaturesalive, we risk further war and destruction if they were to ever getfree. The inhabitants of the seals will forever be a menace tohuman and demon alike. The first chance I have to do it, thosebehind the remaining seals will be destroyed. The ones who havealready escaped will be hunted until every last one of them isdead.”
I felt the ripple of power through hismuscles as they contracted beneath my grip. This time, when Idipped my head to his neck, it wasn’t because I needed his scent toblock out that around me, but because I had to be closer tohim.
“Know I love you,” I whispered in hisear.
His head turned toward me; his half amberand obsidian eyes met mine as they shimmered back and forth betweencontrol and loss of it. “And I, you with all I am.”
Turning away from me, he focused oncontinuing forward through the dead strewn throughout the fallenseals we traversed. “You should put me down.”
“River—”
“We’re getting closer to the end. It will bebetter if I’m not burdening you.”
His hands squeezed on my knees again, but hedidn’t stop me from sliding down his back. I tried not to thinkabout what my feet might be stepping on and kept my gaze focusedstraight ahead as we moved deeper through the fallen seals. Riskinga glance behind me, the hair on my neck rose when I saw the houndsstalking silently behind us with their heads low and their hacklesraised.
I knew they wouldn’t attack us, but thelooks on their faces and their stance made it clear they were onthe prowl for more flesh. “Why didn’t they chase after the goblinsthat fled into the tunnels?” I asked around the lump in mythroat.
“Their command was to stay with the seals.They’ve obeyed it,” Kobal replied.
The lump in my throat grew larger when Iglanced at him. He looked as deadly as the hounds hecontrolled—more so as flames rose around his wrists. The image ofthe fires he’d risen from flashed through my mind. He was exactlylike the fire he’d been forged from—lethal, powerful, and a forceof destruction.
I pitied whatever was ahead of us breakingthe seals.
The flames on his right arm vanished when heshot it out in front of me as we stepped through the next seal.Before I could stop myself, I stepped into his arm, and he pushedme back a step. His hand wrapped around my bicep to steady mebefore releasing me abruptly. Turning, he glanced back at theothers.
“Be ready,” he commanded briskly. He gave mea pointed look before striding purposely forward.
CHAPTER 38
River
I stayed by his side, determined to go intothis with him even though my heart felt like it might explode outof my chest. Turning the corner, I was abruptly brought up againwhen Kobal stepped to the side, planting his body squarely in frontof mine. I frowned fiercely at the markings on his bare back beforelifting my gaze to take in the seal fifty feet in front of us.
My breath caught as I stared at the front ofthe gigantic wall rising high into the air. Pure silver still shonethrough some parts of the wall, but much of it had turned black incolor either from years of being here, or from whatever hadhappened when the seal before it fell. The black on it shadowed theintricate designs etched into every possible inch.
Within the silver and black, swirls of deepmaroon stained the surface. I didn’t have to ask, the powervibrating from it told me the wall had been stained and forged withthe blood of Kobal’s ancestors. Standing this far away, the powerof the seal caused the hair on my arms to rise.
What could possibly be capable of destroyingsuch a thing?
