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Honestly? I didn’t care. I was tired of her shit. Just because she was going through something didn’t mean that she had any right to take it out on us. It was the first thing the precinct psychologists told us. Even I, a cop, knew it was bad to process my emotions through anger.
Get it together, Hel. We don’t have the patience for your shit anymore.
I worried that thinking of her might summon her from the shadows, but the goddess never appeared. There was nothing but me and the lingering spirits all watching me at once, until I heard movement ahead.
The whispers in the shadows stopped. All the voices came to a halt at once. The silence would have rung in my ears were it not for the soft rustle of metal on stone. Someone groaned, the sound echoing on the cavern walls.
I crept forward, curious. My beast snarled at me, but I had no way of knowing what was ahead or if I needed to get past it in order to reach Addie. The least I could do was investigate to make sure that my path was clear.
A voice rumbled in the pitch-blackness. “You think I can’t smell you? Living-dead thing, I know your kind. How is your hunger? Has it consumed you yet? I know how you have become starved for power.”
Ice hit my veins. I rocked back on my heels.
The rumbling voice laughed. The creature ahead sounded massive, but that could have been the acoustics playing tricks on my mind. I had to see him for myself.
The shadows reached out. Hands formed out of nothingness. Terrified spirits formed a barrier between me and the path ahead. All of them grabbed at me, at my arms, my shoulders, my legs. They pulled me back, away from the cavern ahead.
“Come. Release me from these chains. We can devour the worlds together. I can show you how to kill gods, even. As weak as you’ve become, I know the power entices you…”
The hands of the lingering souls of this underworld yanked me back. They shoved me away from the cavern. My blood trembled, chilled to the core.
The worst part? I was tempted.
It wasn’t the power. My stomach clenched. Need overcame me. I had to fill the emptiness or else it would drag me down. I feared who I might become if the need took over. The hunger wasn’t the kind of person that I wanted to be.
The creature ahead had let the need take over every aspect of his being. He was nothing more than hunger personified.
Run.
Away.
Leave.
Never return.
The shadowy spirits’ whispers rotated around me. They filled the air with warning. I sucked in a fresh breath and turned.
Not that way.
Another way.
We will show you.
As they promised, the spirits in the tunnels led me away from the cavern. I didn’t know why I trusted them, but their touch was gentle, and their voices were soft. As time slipped past, I thought of Addie. Where was she? What was Hel putting her through?
I picked up the pace and the spirits followed suit. They promised me they were almost there, but it was hard to keep track of time. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? It felt like I’d come across the mystery beast days ago. Nothing had happened, and yet so much had passed.
Time snapped back into place when I heard the echo of living voices ahead. Women, from the sounds of it. My heart leapt excitedly, but caution gave me pause. This labyrinth of dark corridors had already led me into one danger. I wouldn’t rush ahead into another.
Pausing, I put my back to the rough wall and strained to listen. If I was still enough and kept quiet, then perhaps whoever was in the hall would mistake me for just another spirit. Was it Hel? I could barely hear the voices, but a part of me already knew.
Even here, in the shadows of the afterlife, I could sense her.
Addie
Paige haltedand rocked back on her heels. Her attention remained pinned on something in the darkness past me. I looked between her and the shadows to see if there was a threat I should be concerned about. A familiar tug pulled at my heart, telling me all I needed to know.
I heard him, then. There was a soft shuffling, barely perceptible. The detective wasn’t as sneaky as he thought he was being.
