When Gabriel opened his eyes again, he was flat on his back, the air pressed from his lungs. He looked up into the smoky red haze of a different sky, a different realm.
And he knew, before he’d even taken his first breath, Jacinda was gone.
Chapter Twenty
Jaci had been walking for years.
That’s how it felt.
Her feet bled, every step sending a bright burst of pain through her legs, but she didn’t dare stop.
Something awaited her at the end of all this. Something she needed to find and face.
Viansa.
Azerius was gone, bound to the very weapon he’d created, bound to all the dark, demonic souls it had imprisoned, but Jaci knew hell wouldn’t release her from its clutches until she settled this.
Ended it.
Another shock of pain reverberated through her bones, but she pressed on, one foot in front of the other.
She knew exactly where she was.
The Labyrinth.
It was an endless maze, each twist and turn forking into a hundred more. Some paths were made of ice cliffs so high, one misstep promised a fall into a bottomless winter void. Others passed through poisonous waters that melted the skin from your bones.
Only one would lead her to the center. Only one would deliver her from this death sentence.
Like everything else about this journey, the trip through the Labyrinth was orchestrated by Viansa—some new torment to entertain the bitch.
Ironically, Jaci had walked these roads so many times—often to escape her sister, other times at her sister’s command—she knew each one by heart. Knew exactly where to turn, where to duck. When to tiptoe and when to run.
So onward she marched, through treacherous pathways beneath even more treacherous skies, until—bleeding and winded, eyes stinging, mouth so dry she was ready to bite her wrist and suck out her own blood—she finally reached the center.
The Heart of Flames.
The very core of hell itself.
She stepped through an archway of fire into a cavern as black as night, the only light a faint red glow around the perimeter, pulsing like a heartbeat. Heat rose from the ground. A trickle of sweat raced down her back.
Jaci closed her eyes. Took a deep breath.
“Viansa,” she whispered. “I can hear you breathing, succubus.”
Footsteps echoed off the cavern floor, and Jaci finally opened her eyes.
Her sister stood before her, arms folded over her chest, hair and face as glossy and perfect as always.
With a dark grin, Viansa looked her over and said, “Been a minute, Lab Rat.”
“Has it? I wasn’t counting. I was too busy saving my father’s soul and executing your fearless leader who, as it turns out, cries like a little bitch when he’s beaten.”
“So hard to find good demonic warlords these days.” Viansa sighed and rolled her eyes. “Suppose I’ll have to keep looking.”
“Or you could, I don’t know. Stop this takeover bullshit and focus on getting your shit together? Face it, girl. You’re a hot mess.”
“Says the witch who can’t fight a battle without her vampire boyfriend at her side?” Viansa laughed. “At least I’m an independent woman.”
