“Mac, I’ll be fine.” She swallowed hard. “I can get these bullets out if I rest. I’m not going to die.” She flashed a pained smile at me. “But I can’t save my brother like this. You need to do it. Please.”
“I can’t leave you. Not like this.” I wasn’t sure if she was lying or not. I mean, I didn’t get the sense she was lying, but just because she thought she’d live didn’t mean she would. What if I left now and never got to see her again? The thought of that threatened to shred my soul and plunge me into eternal agony. I couldn’t imagine a world without Ricky.
“Please, Mac. Save him…” her mouth twisted into a feral grin. “If you don’t, I’ll kick your ass.”
“But, Ricky…” I pulled her close to me, and as I did, she grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me close to her lips.
“Go!” she said, shoving me away, and as she did, the silver light streaming from her wounds flared a little brighter and she convulsed in my hands.
“But the silver. I need to get it out,” I said, running my hands over the wounds. I wasn’t sure how to get it out, but I had to. If not… if not, she could die.
“The silver can’t kill me.” She grimaced as she pushed me away. “And bullets can’t fucking kill me.” Her eyes flashed with amber light, and as they did, the musky scent of wolf filled the air. “Go! I’ll be right behind you.”
“Are you lying to me?” I asked, leaning in close to her ear as I spoke.
“No,” she said, and for some stupid reason I believed her. “Trust me, Mac. You don’t get rid of me this easily. You could run into Hell itself and I’d find you and drag your ass back to me. Believe that.” She coughed again, but it seemed worse than before, not better.
“Fine,” I growled, gently setting her down in the pool of her own blood. Everything inside me told me to stay, to ignore her words, but I couldn’t do that. Ricky was trusting me to save her brother, how could I fail her? “I’ll get Bobby and be back quicker than you can say lasagna.”
“Lasagna,” she replied as I stood. “You’re so slow.”
“You know me,” I said, giving her one last glance. “I like to take it slow.”
If I didn’t go now, I wouldn’t go at all. If I did that, who knew what Jenna would do to Bobby. Nothing good, that’s for sure. While I didn’t like the guy, his sister had asked me to save him and trust her to get through this. That was easy enough, right? It just meant I had to trust her.
“Good to know,” she replied, and turned away from me so she was facing the open window. Which was when I totally remembered the flames engulfing the downstairs. They hadn’t made it this far, but what if they did? No. I could make it back in time. Either I’d be dead in the next couple minutes or she’d be dead. Either way, I had enough time to get back.
“Rick, if I don’t come back, know one thing,” I said as I tried to concentrate like I had when I was in the cave with the Nazi council member, Ivy. As soon as I did, a dark, malevolent force appeared in my mind’s eye. While I wasn’t sure it was Jenna per se, I was willing to bet on it.
“What’s that?” she asked, strain filling her voice.
“The building is on fire,” I replied and quirked a grin at her.
“Fucker,” she said as I pushed the door open and disappeared into the hallway.
I stared at the dingy, debris strewn hallway as the door swung closed behind me, leaving me shrouded in darkness. That was fine though, I was at home in the dark. I’d been shaped by it, had thrived in it, and now, now it was going to take me to its leader so I could plant my boot in her ass.
It didn’t take me long to cross the room, and as I reached out for the door knob, I pulled the Desert Eagle free from my waistband. I doubted, I’d be able to hit Jenna if it came to an old fashioned showdown, but holding the weapon made me feel better. Besides, it wasn’t every day you get to shoot your ex-girlfriend in the face.
The door creaked open on sticky, rusty hinges as I turned the knob and pushed. Cotton candy pink light filled the whole back end of the room, nearly blinding me because a second ago it’d been dark and now it was bright as fucking day.
I raised my hand to shield my eyes and as I did, I saw something dark and monstrous peer at me from beyond the void. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but whatever it was didn’t seem very fucking friendly. That was probably why Jenna held Bobby over the portal with one hand while pointing her gun at me.
“Jenna, what are you doing?” I asked, staring at her in disbelief as an eye the size of a bus peered out from behind her. As it zeroed in on me, I could feel the hunger wafting off of me, and worse still, I got the feeling it recognized me.
“Making sure you’d talk to me,” she said, shaking Bobby’s semi-conscious form over the void. “This way, if you shoot me, he goes into the pit.”
“What if I don’t care?” I asked, sighting my Desert Eagle between her eyes.
“Oh, I don’t think you do. It’s why I chose him.” The corner of her mouth twitched into an almost smile. “If I’d chosen the werewolf bitch, you’d have rushed me. For him, you won’t. You’ll weigh shooting me anyway, which is what you’re doing. But, in the end, you’ll decide not to do it because your girl will be pissed.”
“You think you know me so well,” I said, even though that’s precisely what I’d been thinking.
“I do,” she replied, and met my eyes. Emotion swirled in the chocolate brown of her irises as she stood there, unmoving.
“So talk,” I replied, not lowering my gun or breaking her gaze.
“I want out, Mac.” She took a deep breath and as she let it out, she seemed to deflate. “I don’t want to be Asmodai’s puppet.”
“And I care why?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
“Because I didn’t kill you and I could have. It’s why I missed you so many times, why I shot you in front of a hospital.” She shook her head. “If I wanted you dead, Mac, you’d be dead. Believe that.”
The sad thing was, I did believe her. That was the fucking problem entirely. I did believe her,. And as she spoke, I knew it to be true.
“I can’t help you,” I replied, pulling out Mammon’s pimp staff and holding it out in front of me. “I made a deal that says you have to die.”
“So what?” she shook her head, and as she did, tears filled her eyes. “So fucking what?”
“Mac,” Bobby murmured, and as I turned my gaze to him, a stupid smile crossed his lips. “Tell my sister I love her, okay?”
“What?” I asked, confusion filling my voice as Bobby swung his body around like a pendulum, while wrapping one arm around Jenna’s waist. As he did, I saw it happening, saw him making the same sacrifice Maya had with her father. That couldn’t happen. Not again. I wouldn’t let it.
As Bobby pulled Jenna off balance and they both started to tumble into the gaping pink maw of the void, I ran toward them. My hand swiped through empty air as I lunged for them. The void flashed with star fire and the smell of cinnamon and cloves filled my nostrils.
“No!” I screamed, leaping off the edge and into the void itself. Power swirled around me as the void ripped at me in a desperate attempt to tear me limb from limb. I fought it, calling upon my power to shield me as I propelled myself faster. Jenna and Bobby tumbled only a few feet ahead of me as the island strewn wasteland of the unclaimed land swam into view.
My vision started to go hazy as I reached behind me and blasted a handful of Hellfire toward the portal above in an effort to boost my speed. It worked in the way Iron Man always managed to propel himself forward when he had only one gauntlet left. That is to say, I went into a suicidal spin of doom. But I went into a fast suicidal spin of doom.
I reached out, and as my fingers closed around Bobby’s ankle, a smile crossed my lips. “Tell her yourself,” I called, and even though my muscles screamed and ligaments tore, I grabbed onto him with both hands and swung my body around. Bobby tore free of Jenna’s grip as I launched him back upward with all the magic-infused strength I could muster.
Bobby toppled ass over elbows through the air as he sailed back up toward the portal above. Watching him hit it was sort of like watching a mosquito hit a bug zapper, only instead of being fried to a crisp, he was sucked through the portal in a flash of light that nearly blinded me.
“Mac!” Jenna cried, and without meaning to, I turned my gaze toward her. A thing that sort of looked like a giant octopus the color of three-day-old vomit swung its bazillion tentacles up toward her. Their dumpster-sized suckers pulsating with glistening green fluid as it swiped hungrily at the air, trying to draw her toward its beak-like mouth, and as it did, I knew I couldn’t let it have her. No, after what I’d let happen to her, I couldn’t let a giant fucking squid eat her. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right. I owed her a better death than that.
“I got you,” I cried, reaching out toward her instead of back toward the portal above. “Necto!” For what felt like the billionth time today, my little tendril shot out of my hand and as it did, Jenna reached out toward it. She caught hold of the tendril and I immediately recalled it to me.
The thing swiped beneath her feet, missing her by inches as she catapulted up toward me. Not that it did much good because we were still both falling, but I had one last trick up my sleeve. As Jenna crashed into me, I popped the top on the vorpal pimp staff.
Wrapping one hand around her waist, I shoved myself in front of her as we came crashing toward the huge tentacle thing. Jenna’s gun barked in her hand, driving the tentacles backward as I threw the cane with all my might. It sailed through the air and smacked into the kraken’s massive beak. Pink light exploded from the spot, splintering out across its flesh and eliciting a shrill shriek from the creature that popped my eardrums.
The monster exploded and the shockwave of the blast sent us both flying backward through the air with so much force my vision tunneled to a tiny dot of darkness, and as I tumbled ass over elbows, the last thing I saw was the portal overhead snapping shut. Then I hit the ground and everything faded beneath the weight of unconsciousness.
Chapter 29
I awoke to find myself laying atop the roof of a building I didn’t recognize. Neon lights advertising cheap booze and even cheaper women flashed all around me, and as I tried to shake the cobwebs from my head and get to my feet, I realized the air smelled like old sweat socks and candy canes which was altogether strange.
Somewhat amazed I was still alive, I got slowly to my feet and tried to figure out where I was since the sky was the color of polished amber and instead of birds, what looked like pteranodons swooped through the sky. I swallowed hard and started toward the edge of the rooftop so I could look around and find out what godforsaken city I was in. The last thing I remembered was blowing that kraken to kingdom come. I wasn’t sure what the repercussions for that were, but something told me I’d better find out fast.
“It’s about time you woke up,” Mammon said from behind me, and as he spoke, his voice whipped up around me and spun me on my heel. He leaned back in mid-air like he was bracing himself on a nonexistent bar. “I’ve been waiting a while, but truth be told, I didn’t have much else to do.” He flashed me a toothy grin.
“Where am I?” I asked the demon as a bad feeling crawled over my spine. I was really hoping I was wrong, but everything from my surroundings to his presence made it pretty fucking obvious.
“You’re in Hell.” He shrugged. “It’s not so bad, really. My realm is like a giant party.” He smirked and his pink eyes flashed with malevolence. “Assuming you pay your way.” He stood up and smiled at me revealing thousands and thousands of teeth that stretched into the eternity of his gullet. “You can pay your way, can’t you, Mac?”
“Maybe?” I replied warily. “But I’m not planning on sticking around.”
“See, that’s the thing.” He steepled his hands together as he slunk toward me. “This is like Hotel California. You can never leave.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work for me,” I said, shaking my head at him as a thought crossed my mind. What if I was dead? Only, I didn’t feel dead. Besides, wasn’t I supposed to get judged before Saint Peter pulled the lever and sent me tumbling down into the abyss? I felt like I would remember something like that.
“Look, I’m not going to try to stop you from leaving.” He shrugged. “If you want to spend what remains of your pitiful little life trying to claw your way out of Hell, I won’t stop you.”
“So what do you want?” I asked, eyeing the demon carefully. Behind me wind whistled through the rooftops and the sounds of barkers trying to encourage passersby into their respective casino with a plethora of lies filled my ears.
“I want what you promised, Mac,” he said, sidling up to me and wrapping one pink-sleeved arm around my shoulder. “I want you to kill Asmodai and his seven.” He held out one hand in front of me, and much to my astonishment he had six fingers. He wiggled them. “You’ve only gotten six of them.”
“And?” I asked, glancing at him. “I’ll get to it.”
“Good,” he replied, smiling at me like I was the dumbest mark he’d ever seen. “Then you’ll have no problem killing Ms. Carmichael.” He flicked his wrist and Jenna’s unconscious body appeared in front of me. She lay sprawled on the roof just a few feet away, and part of me wondered if she had been there this whole time and was just hidden by Mammon’s magic.
“No,” I said, pulling away from him as I made my way toward her. She looked hurt, but from what I knew about the seven’s resilience as long as she breathed she’d live.
“See, I thought you might say that, but might I remind you of something?” he asked, while whipping his hands out to reveal a roll of parchment. He unfurled it and it hit the ceiling and rolled several feet, revealing line after line of tight text in a language I couldn’t read.
“What’s that?” I asked, unconsciously reaching for my gun. Only it wasn’t there.
“We made a deal.” He tapped the paper with one finger. “I gave you my staff.” The staff in question appeared in front of us as he spoke and hovered there. “And you said you’d kill them.”
“And I will.” I crossed my arms and the glare he gave me made my knees quiver a touch. “I’m just going to kill Asmodai first. He’s weak, sure, but he’s not dead. He’ll recover and when he does, he’ll be twice as hard to kill.”