This Curse: (The Grace Allen Series Book 2 ) (17 page)

It took all I had to start chanting and not scream my
head off and run away. I frantically stuttered the words she forced me to
memorize. Something about
safety through the gate
in Latin. Back at
home, while I waited for her to look up the proper symbols we would need, I
tried to translate the Latin on my cell phone but it only offered me Yiddish.
Somehow, I doubt that would have been helpful.

The fire licked up my arms and I felt my panic rise.
The flight reaction was so overwhelming that I grabbed onto Jamie’s arms and
started screaming the words into her face just to get my mind off of the rising
flames. I closed my eyes and kept chanting. The flames held no heat but my mind
didn’t care. I was on fire and damn it if that wasn’t the scariest feeling
imaginable!

“
All second level demons to the third circle
.”

“What?” I mumbled as light filled my vision. I was
lying on the floor of a very beige room. It smelled like sulfur and a really strong
pine scented plug-in. I wanted to puke.

“Please tell me I’ve been knocked unconscious.” I
garbled as I sat up. I put my hand on my head and looked around. We were
surrounded by at least a dozen other creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some
were milling around while others were scraping themselves off the floor as
Jamie and I were.

“I doubt it, um...
Shit!”
Jamie whispered
“What do I call you?” she looked around as if everyone were suddenly
eavesdropping. Which this being Hell, I guess that was a pretty real
possibility.

“Call me… Um… Yolanda.” I searched her face, “And you
can be Dorothy.”

“Why?” We both shuffled behind what looked like the
end of a line. Ahead of us, it appeared that everyone was being checked in by a
receptionist?
 

“Well,” I tore my eyes from the strangeness of the
environment and tried to focus on Jamie. “I don’t know. I just went with Yoda,
and a Dwarf… See?” I tried to smile but only managed to frown.

“
All lower level demons report to the second
circle.”

“What the hell
is
that?” I looked up, locating
a set of small speakers recessed into the ceiling, which was old and covered in
that bumpy popcorn looking stuff. “This place is so outdated. Like an office
from the seventies.” I observed out loud.

We were moving slowly through the line. Each creature
in front of us spoke briefly to the woman behind the flimsy looking metal desk.
As each creature passed through the doors, she would write something down and
continue with the next in line.

I was in awe at how completely uninteresting Hell
appeared. I once visited a county clerk’s office and I swear this was an exact
duplicate of their color scheme. It was as if they wanted to bore you to death.

“This had better work.” Jamie whispered, waking me up
from my daze.

“It will, James. It will!” I grasped her pudgy hand
in mine. My nerves were so packed with adrenaline that I thought I would
explode.

We were finally next in line and when we faced the
woman at the rickety desk, I was more than a little shocked. She was beautiful.
Helen
was printed on the little plastic tag on her shirt. She was
sipping a diet coke through a straw. Her expression was incredibly annoyed and
somehow bored at the same time.

“State your business with the dark legions.” Her
voice droned as if her tired speech was automatic. “All requests made
specifically pertaining to The Dark Prince must be submitted in blood at least
thirty days in advance.” Her eyes looked sleepy as the words slipped off her
tongue.

She sat for several seconds looking at us. We stared
stupidly back. I could feel my mind screaming for me to speak, but I was just
so confused by the whole scene to even begin to form a statement. Thankfully,
Jamie had pulled her wits about her.

“We are here for the witches’ council.” She blurted.

I stood as straight as I could and nodded. She eyed
us.

“You’re late, the trial has already begun. Are you
here to speak?” She placed her chin in her hand and yawned. It was crazy how
lovely she was. How the heck she ended up here was a question I was dying to
ask. Yet, on the other hand, I knew that beauty often hid the most evil souls.
“The Dark Prince is presiding over the courts as we speak. Are you
for
or
against
?”

Uh, crap! “
For?”
I knew it sounded like a question
and her eyes sharpened on us for the first time.

“Interesting.” She muttered and began scribbling on
her papers. “Proceed, fourth circle.” She said and waved us through.

“What in heck did we just do?” Jamie whispered as we
entered a much darker hallway.

“I think we just got in to see Big Bad himself.” I
stammered. “Oh, man. We’ve already made a mistake.”

“Yeah, um, how come this hall is empty?” her voice
shook as she spoke.

A terrible feeling washed over me. “It’s too dark.” I
felt like the walls were closing up behind us.

Jamie gripped my arm as we walked further down the
dark hall. “Oh shit!” she coughed and tried to clear her throat, “this hall
leads directly to the destination we stated at the desk. You can’t wander
around in Hell.”

I froze in my tracks. “
What
? Then how the heck
are we supposed to find Seth? What? Go back and say oops, we meant to say we
wanted to go help out our kidnapped friend?
Fuck, Dorothy!”

“Well crap,
Yolanda!”
she defended, her hands
on her rounded hips. “I don’t know what to do! I’ve never vacationed in the
Underground. How can anyone know what to expect?”

“Well, sorry.
”
I mumbled. “I guess I’m a
little freaked out at the prospect of coming face to face with Beelzebub.” I
took a deep breath and centered myself. “Okay, this isn’t helping; we just need
to focus here. We
can’t
go to that trial! We have no idea what it’s
about and no way am I chancing a meeting with Lucifer!

“Totally, agreed!” Jamie’s eyes were as big as
saucers as she nodded her head frantically. Now what do we do? How do we change
to the hall that leads to Seth?”

“Well, am I a Madea or not?” At her blank expression,
I just threw up my arms and sat on the floor. She quickly followed by sitting a
little too close and wrapped her tiny arms tightly around me. “Let me breathe a
little.” I shifted out of her iron grip and taking a deep breath, I opened my
mind and reached out for Seth.

Hell was beige all over. It was incredible. Nothing
was frightening; evil souls weren’t burning in a pit of fire. It was like any
other unremarkable office building in any city on Earth. I reached out further,
searching for any signs of Seth, my mind traveled along its halls and corridors
tasting and feeling. Nothing was at all what I had expected.

I was feeling along a wide hall when I finally sensed
him. “Oh, God!” I gasped. “I can feel him, he’s alive!” I grabbed for Jamie’s
arms and squeezed. “He knows I’m near.” I could feel his mounting excitement at
the touch of my mind to his. “Okay, um, I think I know what to do.” I stood,
dragging Jamie up with me.

Before we could get to our feet, I zapped our bodies
out of the hall that led straight to the Devil and shifted our position to the
hall that I thought Seth was housed in. At the center of the hall was a
bustling courtyard. Witches, demons, and all sorts of creatures rushed to and
fro. Humans were posted at random doors. Some were checking what appeared to be
some sort of identification while others were waving metal detecting wands. It
was like Hell’s version of airport security.

“Are all humans civil servants?” I whispered close to
Jamie’s ear.

“I think it depends on how they died.” She pulled me
closer as she spoke. “If they killed themselves but were generally pretty good
people, I believe they serve in the first circle of Hell for all eternity. You
know, limbo. But, If they were real shit heads when they ended it, well I think
they suffer a far worse punishment.”

“Oh.” I frowned as I tried to study a young woman
taking a trolls identification. I couldn’t see any marks or signs of the way
she had killed herself.

“I never would have guessed that these people were
suicides.” I mumbled as we were pushed deeper into the crowd.

“No.” Jamie frowned. “Hell has no effect on us
because we’re living. Only the dead can see the true horror of this place. Be
glad we can’t see how they died or what really paints these walls. We’d never
be the same, I assure you.”

“You mean this is all smoke and mirrors?” I felt
sick. This was such a mistake.

“Yeah, and be thankful for it. Now, do you know where
you’re going?” She looked around the vast expanse, her bushy eyebrows touched
in a worried frown.

I could understand her stress. “Well, for now I’m
just trying to get a feel for his location. I think he’s being held on this
level.”

“Gra… I mean,
Yolanda
. Who’s that over there?”
she pulled me hard to the side, causing me to stumble. “No way!” She jerked me
forward like a rag doll; her little dwarf arms were strong as hell. “Do you see
who I see?” her voice rose with excitement. “Oh my God!” she clutched my cloak
in tight little handfuls and squealed.

“Who?” I tried to see through the crowd while
untangling myself from the maniacal grip she had on my clothing.
“I don
….
Holy shit! Is that
Lucian?”
I felt adrenaline surge through my small
frame. My heart rate jumped and I turned, grabbing Jamie’s arm, I started to
run. Lucian’s broad back and blonde head was all I could see through the crowd.
It was him. I’d know that man anywhere.

“Follow him!” I shouted stupidly as I dragged poor
Jamie along beside me.  

Lucian wove through the crowd with ease. He obviously
ranked pretty high down here considering how quickly everyone got out of his
way.

I tried to keep up but my stubby feet and short legs
were not conducive to any type of hot pursuit and sadly neither were Jamie’s.

“Great disguises,” she puffed as she ran beside me;
sweat trickled down her sideburns and into her beard. “We’re never going to
catch him, he’s going to get away, and then we’ll be screwed!”

“This isn’t helping, James.” I had to stop and catch
my breath. Lucian was so far ahead he appeared smaller.

“We can’t lose him,” she panted to a stop beside me.
“He could be leading us straight to Seth!”

“He is I can feel it.” I breathed, my little lungs
struggling to suck in more air than they were capable of. “Seth’s mind is
crystal clear. Maybe I can zoom in better. Hang on.” I closed my eyes, “Yeah.
He’s here.” I puffed out. My breathing slowly returned to normal. Seth’s
thoughts were firmly inside my mind. They were coherent and pretty darn angry.

 I tired to communicate around the fog of fury
whispering as calmly as I could.
Seth, please, calm down. I’m here. Do you
know where you are?
I could feel his rage.

Grace, what are you doing, you foolish woman? Do you
realize what is going to happen to you if
he
discovers you are here?

Wait a minute! We’re here to rescue you, you ass! And
who the hell is
he
? Voltaire?
Please. We already know he’s possessing Lucian.

“Hurry it up, Yolanda.” Jamie's voice was a tiny
squeak at the back of my awareness. I was pressed against a wall while she used
her body to shield me from anything that might want to take advantage of my
trance like state.

No, Sweet.
Seth’s
voice echoed in my mind.
Not Voltaire. I am afraid you have made a much
bigger mistake than you could ever have imagined.

A searing hot flash followed by a bright light shot
through my mind. I shuddered as goose flesh broke out all along my arms and
tickled down my neck. I sucked in my breath and then the connection to Seth was
severed.

“I don’t know what just happened but we have to run!”
I snatched Jamie’s hand and took off down the hall.

“It’s pink? The door is pink?” I snorted at the
gateway to unimaginable horrors. “What is it with this place?”

Jamie looked like a bed sheet, she had gone so
completely pale.

“What?” I chuckled. “This is a joke, right?”

“They say that if it looks sweet in Hell then run as
fast as you can in the other direction.
Smoke and mirrors
, remember?”
She took a small step back.

I turned, examining the entrance with new respect. I
was so out of my league. I had no idea what I was doing and I was dragging
Jamie along for the ride. “I am so sick of this!” I threw my hands in the air,
“We’ve come too far! I’m going in. Rub your stone Jamie.” I turned to her and
grabbed her arms. I knew that this was going to get bad. She had done enough.
It was selfish and stupid to risk her safety any further. “Rub the stone and go
home. Staying here is madness!” I frowned at her, willing her to listen.

She snapped her attention to me and glared, color
flooded her ashen complexion. “I’ll have you know that my brother is behind
that door and I’ll be damned if I’m letting you order me outta’ here!” She was
angry; her little body was shaking with fury.
Good
, I thought.
Better
fury than fear.