Jackie’s jaw dropped open before she closedit again and slapped both of her hands over her mouth.
“Nice,” Shax muttered. “Diplomacy is not yourthing.”
“Fuck diplomacy. We’re the only thingstanding between her and certain death. If she doesn’t like it,then she can go back.” My gaze shifted to the rest of the humansgathered behind Jackie. “You may have as many as another five yearsbefore it ends or as little as tomorrow, but Lucifer’s followerswill only gain in strength, and theywillmake it to the wall. Not only will most ofyou die when that happens, but so will most of the millions ofother humans who have managed to survive for this long. The ones ofyou who are killed outright, will be the lucky ones. Thoseunfortunate enough to survive will be enslaved and tortured. Thereare more humans and demons making their way inland to help us. Wewillmeet up with them at thegateway and find more protection.”
At least, I hoped they were still coming.They most likely wouldn’t encounter gargoyles, but there were otherobstacles out there now that the seals were collapsing soquickly.
“Everything contained behind those sealswon’t be in this area either. They would have spread out to claimtheir own territory, something they’ve never been allowed to dobefore. If we’re able to close Hell again, many of them will die,”I continued.
“And those that don’t?” another humanasked.
“We’ll kill them.”
“How long have these seals been open?”another asked.
“Not long,” Corson answered. “The revenirsmove quickly as they can spread through the dead, and the gargoylescan fly. The akalia vine is slower than they are, but still fasterthan some others, and we’re only a couple of days away from thegateway we seek. I’d say it’s been a month at most since the firstone fell, but most likely only a couple of weeks.”
The other humans shuffled uncomfortably fromfoot to foot. Captain Tresden finally stepped forward; I eyed theman, not at all liking his unwillingness to take control of hispeople. Sweat beaded across his forehead and trickled down hischeeks as he stared at the people gathered around him. He waskeeping his slowly unraveling composure hidden better than Jackie,but it was only a matter of time before he cracked.
We’d done our best to pick only those webelieved would survive this journey with their minds still intact,but there had been no way to completely guard against pickingsomeone who wouldn’t do well out here.
My gaze slid to Erin, Hawk, and Vargas asthey stood near Corson and Bale. All of their faces were composedof stone, their eyes unrelenting. One of them would be the bestchoice to take over for Tresden when it became necessary, maybeeven before, but that discussion would be better to have someplaceaway from the burning building behind us.
“We have to go, now,” I commanded brusquelyas the fire snapped loudly in the air and a breeze pushed the smoketoward us. “The flames will only draw attention to this area.”
Taking hold of River’s hand, I kept itclutched in mine as I hurried back to the truck and opened the doorfor her to slide inside. The others climbed into the back of thetruck and settled in. Turning away from the church, I slid behindthe wheel, started the vehicle, and shifted into drive as the sunlowered in the sky. We wouldn’t cover much distance before we hadto stop again for the night, but we had to get as far from here aspossible.
CHAPTER 33
River
My knuckles ached as I leaned forward overthe wheel, but I didn’t lessen my death grip as all around mescreams echoed through the unnatural tunnel of akalia vine that hadgrown up to enshroud the road. A fresh burst of flame on my leftdidn’t tear my attention away from the rutted road. We’dencountered the tunnel about a half an hour after we’d left theburning church behind.
I’d realized forty-five minutes ago why thevines hadn’t blocked off the road. The minute the last vehiclecrossed into the tunnel, pieces of the vine descended in search offresh meat. I shuddered as more fire burst free and eerie, hissingscreams emanated from the writhing vine surrounding us.
On the other side of the road, Corson slicedthe bottoms of the vines with his talons and brushed them asidewhen they fell on him. Behind him Bale and Shax worked at slicingaway the vines with machetes while on the other side of the roadMorax and Verin did the same thing. The demons were covered inblood from the slices the hideous vines tore across their skin whenit managed to get in a blow against them.
All of the humans remained within thevehicles. Erin was sprawled inelegantly across Vargas and Hawk,looking as disgruntled as the two of them did. With little airflowing through the tunnel, the truck had become stiflingly hotwith the four of us crammed into the cab, and I was finding itincreasingly difficult to breathe. However, that had little to dowith the heat and more to do with my concern for Kobal.
The sun should still be in the sky, but thevines, smoke, and fire filling the air obscured any hint ofremaining daylight. Kobal shot me a look over his shoulder when Icracked the window in an attempt to get some fresh air flowingthrough the cab. None of us smelled particularly great right now,but the air outside wasn’t any better as the cloying scent of smokeand the rancid garbage stench of dying akalia vine filled mynose.
“Close the window,” Kobal commanded beforereleasing another blast of fire at the seeking vines.
I ducked when one slapped against the glass,inches from the opening. “You should let me help you. It will gofaster,” I offered for the hundredth time.
“No. Close the window.”
“Kobal, be reasonable about this.”
The look he shot me left no room for reasonas his eyes became their stunning, amber color. He’d been edgierever since we’d left the church earlier. Now he was beingcompletely obstinate. I knew he worried he wouldn’t be able to keepme safe, that there was far more danger out here than he’dexpected, but he couldn’t keep me locked away either.
I stopped the truck, but before I could graspthe handle, he slammed his hand against the door. “Listen to me andstay in there,” he said.
“Kobal—”
“I saidno,River. If we need your help, I will tell you.”
My eyes narrowed on him. “No, you won’t.”
