Page 35 of Trust the Fall

“We’re not done here, River,” I yell as one demon picks me up off my feet, hauling me down the hallway. “Now’s your chance to prove how trustworthy you are,” I screech.

“Too late for that. You jumped me. You can calm down in a cell for a while.”

I growl. “Just wait, Riv. I’ll do more than knee you in the balls next time.”

He smirks, but there’s something else in his eyes. Something that looks an awful lot like a dare.

“We’ll finish our conversation in private, Nolda,” he says, as the demon drags me around the corner and out of their view.

“Where are you taking me?” I demand, but the demon only grunts, continuing down the narrow hallway.

Screams and unintelligible moans come from closed caverns, and I thank God above that I’m spared a glance at whatever torturous acts are going on behind those walls.

We round another dark corner and come to a room that’s full of cells. My stomach bottoms out as I take in the scene.

A red-skinned demon has a man chained to a chair. A table next to him is full of various knives and whips. He picks up a serrated blade and runs it across the man’s cheek.

The accompanying scream pierces my eardrums.

I’m thrown into the cell directly across from the atrocity playing out in the room. As soon as the bars are slammed shut, locking me in, I crumple to the floor, bile rising up my throat as I watch in horror.

What plays out, in what feels like the next hour, is nothing short of gruesome. I don’t want to watch, but I can’t turn away. The tortured soul shrieks in agony, begging for it to end.

It doesn’t.

The demon takes his time, and all I can do is cry. What have I become?

“Don’t shed a tear for him,” a voice calls from the cell next to me.

My eyes snap up to find the vampire, Julian, rubbing at his neck. “They’re here because they’ve done vile things to innocent people.”

“How do you know this?” I ask, because my head had concocted a sob story for the man in the chair.

“He’s in Hell, isn’t he?”

I chew on my lip, recalling River’s account of the child he brought here earlier. “That doesn’t always mean they’re truly unforgivable.”

His brow quirks. “How do you figure?”

“You’re here, and you don’t seem so bad,” I smirk.

He chuckles. “Touché. Although in this instance, I partly chose to be here. I’m not that guy.” He bobs his head toward the wailing man.

“Yeah, about that. Didn’t you question whether this was a trap?”

He laughs, but there’s no humor there. “No. I figured Nolda was using my brother’s request as a way of getting me here and convincing me to join his fight.” He sighs. “There are other rumored portals to the Fae land. I went along with this because I also had questions.”

One brow lifts. “Were you thinking about siding with Nolda?”

He shakes his head. “I’d never join his fight. He knows that. I was here to uncover whether my brother was.”

I look to Lawrence, who’s still out cold.

“Not him. We have another brother. He’s the one working with the witch Nolda mentioned.”

“Who is this witch he has working for him?” I’d never heard her name. Not that my path crosses with witches typically. Well … not until recently, that is.

“She’s … bad news. Way worse than Nolda.”