Part 10 (1/2)

”Who? Satan?” I shook my head. ”Are you going to believe him, or are you going to believe me? Your wife, your love, your soul mate? You're always telling me to have faith, Tristan. So tell me, where does yours lie?”

His brows pushed together. A spark lit up his eyes. After blinking a few times, his eyes, his mind, his whole self seemed to clear. He straightened up, breaking the hold I had on his gaze, and rose to his full height, pulling his shoulders back and nodding. Now this was my man.

”Ready to fight our way out of here?” I asked as two Demons came soaring at us.

”d.a.m.n straight.”

I swung the sword at the first Demon, expecting to decapitate it immediately. This time, however, the blade went through the Demon, but had no effect, as though it only sliced through air. I tried again, and the same thing.

”Throw it here,” Tristan said, holding one hand out as his other fist slammed into the second Demon's temple, making it recoil.

They both attacked him, ignoring me. I tried to use my powers, but they were ineffective on the Demons, so I punched and kicked. My fists and feet went right through them. Meanwhile, Tristan landed blow after blow, while they did the same to him. At the same time, screams and wails ripped out of their throats, full of despair and guilt. One's voice sounded like mine. And I realized: these were his Demons to slay. n.o.body else could do it for him.

So I flew out of the way, silently cheering him on while I could only watch the battle in the glow of the fiery weapons. I didn't even realize as the darkness started to fall over me, until it was nearly blinding. Cries for help sounded distant at first, but then everywhere around me, on top of me, within me. My head filled with the sobs, my vision with nightmarish images, and my soul with a heavy grief that weighed me down. To the floor, into the ground. At the last moment, when I thought I was going to fall through, my eyes locked with Tristan's, and I knew I had to fight this. He'd come here for me, and he'd stay for me if I didn't battle my way out of here.

I heaved myself up to my hands and knees and struggled against the invisible weight that tried to push me down as I rose to my feet. Tristan had defeated one of his Demons, but still fought fiercely with the other one. When we'd locked gazes, though, the Demon had noticed. Its black, inky eyes had flown to me, before returning to Tristan. Now, as I barely regained my balance, still struggling to breathe, it swung around with its fiery sword arcing around and down. And I remembered what Tristan had said so many years ago: You are my weakness.

I also recalled Bree's words: If you die here, n.o.body can save you.

My hand flew to my chest, the pain as the blade cut from my right shoulder to barely missing my heart searing at first, and then blossoming into full-on burn that seemed to explode like the bombs on Earth. My lungs expelled the air they held and refused to pull any more in. I wanted to scream with the pain, but my throat was too tight to let any sound pa.s.s. Gray crept in on the edges of my vision, and I stumbled forward. My hand dropped down to catch me, landing on a rock. No, not a rock. A head. The Demon's head.

”Let's get out of here,” Tristan said, wrapping his arm around my waist.

I tried to answer, but only gasps came out. I ... can't. I didn't know if he could hear my mind-talk.

”Where's your faith, Lex?”

Unlike the other times I'd been asked, his question didn't infuriate me. Because at this moment, I knew exactly where my faith lay. In us. In our love. Together we could conquer anything, and today, that would be h.e.l.l.

Although I could barely breathe, I bit back the pain and wrapped my arms around Tristan's neck. Then my wings lifted us into the air, and we flew through the tunnel, out to the fiery lake. A whole swarm of Demons greeted us with an enormous, lava-dripping snake behind them. I beat against the air harder, pus.h.i.+ng us upward. Every move of my wings pulled at the wound in my chest, tearing it open further, but I pressed on.

The Demons attacked, and Tristan fought them one-armed with the sword blazing in h.e.l.lfire while I struggled to lift us higher. The snake rose in front of me and breathed out fire. I dipped us down, barely missing the flames, and then swerved us around its head before it tried again. Tristan must have severed a Demon arm because a sword came flying at me. I caught it, just in time as the snake's head lifted to meet my gaze. I swung out, slicing through its liquid eye as I gave my wings a hard push against the air.

A piercing screech followed us up. Heat engulfed us as the snake exhaled another breath. I beat my hardened wings frantically while swinging the sword at the Demons who came near. One caught my blade with its mace and jerked it out of my hand. At the same time, another knocked Tristan's sword free, too. Without weapons, our only hope was to escape. By the time we reached the bridge where I'd lost Tristan last time, though, I could barely force myself to go on. The wound, the flying, and the fighting had drained my energy. The slash in my chest not only burned from heat, but sharp icicles filled my lungs and heart. The souls of h.e.l.l were like anchors chained to my chest and pulling me down.

”Tristan,” I croaked.

”You can do this, ma lykita.”

I gave him a weak nod. ”For us.”

But the harder I tried to lift us up into the blackness that led to the Otherworld, the more h.e.l.l dragged me down. The hotter and colder the wound in my chest burned. As much as my wings fought to fly us upward, we went nowhere. With a deep, feral growl, I gave my wings every bit of energy I had to push us up and away. But we only hung in the air, like a kite losing its uplift and about to dive for the ground. I looked Tristan in his eyes with the gold around the pupil and the outside of the irises a deep emerald green reflecting the glow of fire around us. They were void of any fire within them, though. Instead, they were filled with complete trust and confidence in me.

”I'm ... sorry,” I said as we began to fall.

The defeat, the loss, the acceptance of yet another failure of mine was so much worse than the pain. I closed my eyes, unable to look him in the face a second longer. I'd tried so hard to save him, to save us both, but as usual, I wasn't enough.

”Believe in love.”

The whisper was so quiet in my mind, I almost missed it. But it was enough to give me one last surge of strength. With only sheer will and perseverance-and the love of my soul in my arms-to power me, we shot upwards, into the blackness, toward the Otherworld.

Chapter 11.

A thousand pound weight sat on my chest. At least, that's what it felt like, especially when I tried to breathe. I rolled to the side on the hard ground, hoping that would help. The smell of leather with the mouth-watering scent of mangos, papayas, lime, sage, and a hint of man filled my nose. I tried to inhale my favorite scent in the world, but air wheezed through my throat, making me cough, which made my chest feel worse. Was I sick? Why wasn't I healing? My eyelids felt glued shut, and I had to force them to separate. They felt like sandpaper over my eyeb.a.l.l.s as they slowly peeled apart.

All pain was forgotten when I saw the sight in front of me.

”Tristan!” I tried to say with excitement, but it came out as an underwhelming grunt.

He sat next to me, lighting some twigs on fire from a flame cupped in his palm. He twisted toward me and smiled. I wanted to jump up and into his arms, but my body failed to cooperate, remaining anch.o.r.ed to the stone floor with my head pillowed by his coat.

”Shh.” He brushed his fingers across my cheek. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. I wanted more than that, d.a.m.n it. ”You're hurt, and you're healing very slowly. I did what I could to help, but-”

”Bree said it would be lasting,” I muttered as I gingerly felt my chest with my fingertips.

My bustier had been cut open, and a long line of scar tissue stretched from my right shoulder to the valley between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I didn't dare look at it-the feeling alone told me it was raw and ugly. I did my best to close the leather over it.

”At least you are healing,” Tristan said. ”Not as fast as I'd like, but you're making progress. Here. Drink.”

He held a water bottle to my lips, and I drank the cool liquid greedily, reveling in the feeling as it slid down my throat and pooled in my stomach. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had any water. I'd been parched on the rock island, and the heat of h.e.l.l had dehydrated me further. I drained half the bottle before Tristan pulled it away, my mouth following after it.

”I don't want you to get sick. Let that settle for a moment. I have food, too.”

My stomach growled in response.

”Where are we?” I asked as I glanced around. The dim, square room, lit only by Tristan's fire, seemed vaguely familiar with its aged stone walls, and its musky odor. ”Amadis Island? Why aren't we in the mansion then?”

His face darkened, and he looked away from me, towards the fire. I supposed that meant I didn't want to know about the mansion ... which only made me want to know even more.

”What's wrong?”

His jaw muscle twitched, then he finally replied, ”We're safe and hidden here in the dungeons.”

The dungeons-what I'd called the prison cells under the council hall where they'd kept Tristan when he'd been on trial, and where we'd taken refuge during the bombings when the world began falling apart.

”But the council hall was destroyed.”

”Up top, yes. We're completely buried here and can only flash in and out.”

”How did we get here? Did you-”

”I woke up here, too.”

”Ah,” I said after a moment of thought. ”Bree. She must have brought your body here before she took me to h.e.l.l. Oh, no! Tristan-”

My jaw snapped shut. Tears burned my eyes. I couldn't bear to tell him ... but I had to.