The humans had unintentionally set us free,but I realized now there would be no more locking ourselves away inthe bowels of Hell again. Maybe it hadn’t been meant for demons towalk freely in the human realm, but many things had happened in thesix thousand years since the angels threw Lucifer out that werenever meant to be.
The angels had started the chaos, the humanshad accelerated it when they’d torn open the gateway, and we werethe ones cleaning up both of their messes. We would reap thebenefits of staying on this plane if we so chose, and we didn’thave to live among the humans. There was plenty of land for us tooccupy in the areas that had been ravished during the war.
Glancing back, I looked at the others perchedon the boulder behind me. How many of them would choose to stayhere if we succeeded in closing the unnatural gateway? We wouldhave to return to Hell occasionally in order to maintain ourimmortality and to feed, but would these demons choose to livetheir life here instead of there?
All those who decided to remain here wouldhave to stay close to me in order to cross back and forth. I wouldstill be able to maintain control of my kingdom by controlling theonly gateway again, as I always should have. Life here might beunsettled in the beginning if the humans were against it, but theywould have no choice in the matter. They would have to accept it aswe would not be giving this world up.
Turning away from them, my fingers rested onthe cool stone as I draped my arm over my knee and scented the aironce more. If we didn’t uncover all the humans soon, I’d torchthese woods in order to flush them out. I may prefer not to killthem right now, but every second I wasted searching for them wasanother one River was out there without me.
“Do you smell them?” Bale whispered.
“Yes. This way.”
I climbed off the rock and followed the scentof the humans through the woods. Crouching low, I paused when Ispotted a red shirtsleeve poking out from around the corner of anoak tree. Without having to speak, Shax slipped past me and strodeforward. Having all fought together for centuries, communicationwasn’t necessary to know what was expected of each other.
Shax was a few feet away from the shirt whenhe stopped and frowned at it. Stepping forward, he grabbed theclothing and pulled it toward him.
“Shit!” I hissed when I realized he washolding a shirt but there was no human wearing it.
The crack of a twig jerked my head around asthree people slipped out of the hollow logs where they’d beenhiding. Mud and dirt streaked their faces, and they were covered inleaves and branches. They were just a few feet away from us, but Icould barely detect their scent as they’d covered themselves withas much of the aroma of the woods as they could.
Yes, they had definitely learned a lot fromtheir time in the wilds.
They raised their guns and fired as one. Isnarled when one of the bullets took me high in the shoulder andanother tore into my gut. Pain seared hotly through my body as thehumans continued to fire their weapons.
CHAPTER 19
River
I rose from my seat as Corson headed for theswinging doors with Ethel close on his heels. He tilted his headback to look at the flickering light before continuing through thedoors. The other ghosts separated around me to let me pass as Iwalked forward.
“Could you try talking to the angels for us?”the pervy guy in the tie-dyed shirt asked me.
“Believe me, the angels don’t want to hearfrom me, and if they could hear me, they’d probably laugh at me,” Ianswered him. “I’m far from a saint, and I don’t think they’d beoverly appreciative of my existence to begin with.”
They had kicked Lucifer out of Heaven in thefirst place. I doubted they wanted much to do with his lastdescendent.
“That can’t be true,” Pervy insisted.
“I’m sorry, but I have zero contact with theangel crowd.”
They’re getting whatthey deserve,I reminded myself. I still hated the wayhis face fell at my words.Most of them areanyway.
My hands left a streak on the dusty surfaceof the metal swinging doors when I pushed them open. They creakedbut moved with relative ease as they swung inward. The stainlesssteel appliances within the kitchen were too covered in dust tosparkle in the overhead lights, but I could see the silver metalpeeking through the grime. Corson was inspecting the fridge andappliances on the other side of the room with Ethel floating closebehind him. She watched him as if she were convinced he would stealsomething.
I tilted my head back to look at the lightsabove his head as he walked. “How are the lights on?” I asked.
“Ghosts can’t do much, but they can produce asmall light,” Corson replied, trailing his fingers over the cornerof a cabinet. “Before the veil fell, humans sometimes caught sightof that light at night, or in your pictures. When enough ghosts aregrouped together, they can produce more of that light and focus itinto lightbulbs and such. Since they’re afraid of the dark, theyoften like things brightly lit.”
“Ghosts are afraid of the dark?” Idemanded.
“They are. I guess it reminds them of thoseminutes or hours, or however much time it was, between when theydied and their spirits rose. Is that it, Eth?”
She completely ignored his question.
“I think I’ve heard it all now,” Hawk saidfrom behind me.
I glanced at him over my shoulder. I hadn’theard him enter the kitchen, but he stood in the doorway with adisbelieving look on his face that likely mirrored my own.
