Authors: Donna Grant
With a door, at least she would have a second or two at the sound of opening to prepare.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
The person moved away from the corner, and Ivy’s heart stopped when she recognized her mother. She could only stare, taking in her mother’s short brown hair and blue eyes.
“Mom?”
“It’s me, sweetiepie.”
Ivy jumped up and ran to her mother, throwing her arms around her neck and holding tight. The black dress Ivy had buried her in felt smooth beneath her palms. She blinked back tears. “It’s so good to see you.”
“I know,” her mother said and squeezed her tight. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Ivy leaned back and smiled as she took in her mother’s face. “How did they let you in here?”
“They told me they had you, and then I was here. Ivy, what is going on? What are you doing in this place?”
She stepped back and shrugged. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me you sold your soul?”
“As if,” her mother scolded. “Why would I tell you?”
“Why did you do it?”
Her mother rolled her blue eyes. “Why do you think? I had already lost your father and brother. Doctor after doctor couldn’t treat you. They had you on so many medications that I knew weren’t good for you. You were dying. Slowly. I saw it month after month, year after year. I couldn’t lose you, too.”
“You shouldn’t be in Hell,” Ivy said and felt a tear fall on her cheek.
Her mother smiled sadly. “One day, you’ll understand the lengths a parent will go to in order to help their children. My soul was an easy price to pay, knowing that you would be healthy.”
Ivy nodded because she couldn’t get any words out. It took her a few moments to push the tears aside. “How did the demon find you?”
“I was coming out of the hospital chapel after another set of prayers.” Her mother looked away, sadness contorting her face. “He approached me then, but I walked right past him.”
Ivy wrapped her arms around her middle. There was so much to know and say, and now was the time for her to listen. She could ask questions later.
“I saw him for three consecutive days after,” her mother continued. “Two days later, we finally got results back on another round of testing the hospital had performed, and just like before, the doctors had no clue what was wrong with you. If they couldn’t diagnose it, they couldn’t treat it.”
Ivy had heard that far too many times from baffled doctors who shuffled her off to someone else.
“You’d already spent so many years watching life from your bed in the hospital and at home. You deserved a life instead of watching others’ on TV. I decided then that I would talk to the demon. It took me another two days before I found him again. This time, I approached him.”
Ivy waited for her mother to continue. When she didn’t, Ivy urged, “And?”
“I was desperate to heal you. I accepted his offer for my soul for your instant recovery. I was told I would have ten years with you before my soul would be claimed.”
All this Ivy knew, but to hear it from her mother. It was so...wrong. “You died a year too soon.”
“I did.”
“That doesn’t normally happen.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It does sometimes.”
“You killed yourself, didn’t you?”
For a long silent minute, her mother simply stared at her. “Yes. I didn’t want to chance you being around when the Hell Hounds came for me.”
“Did you know that when a person who has sold their soul commits suicide, the Hell Hounds come for the one that was saved?”
Her mother blinked, a shocked expression crossing her face. “No.”
“Yes.” Ivy tucked a curl that kept falling in her eyes behind her ear.
“How did you figure all this out?”
Ivy thought of Christian. “I had some help from people who fight demons and the like.”
“Really? Who are these people?”
She quickly changed the subject to get it off Christian. “The Hounds found me and brought me here.”
“What happens now?”
“After I see you, they kill me.”
Her mother put her hands over her mouth and shook her head. “I won’t let that happen.”
“It’s too late.” Ivy wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to tell her mother about Christian or the demons interest in the Chiassons. It was jut a gut feeling, and Ivy didn’t fight it.
“What about the people who told you of the Hell Hounds? Will they come to help you?”
Ivy shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“What are their names? Perhaps we can find a way out?”
That’s when Ivy knew that she wasn’t talking to her mother. The woman who had sat beside her hospital bed for months at a time would never care more about learning a name than finding a way to get Ivy out.
“There’s no leaving Hell,” Ivy said.
Her mother looked around the room. “There’s always a way. We need to learn what we have that can be used to bribe the demons.”
“You sold your soul,” Ivy said in a flat tone. “There isn’t a demon here who would release you.”
“Ivy,” her mother admonished. “I can’t believe you would say something so cruel. I sold my soul for you.”
Ivy smiled, the tears gathering quickly. “My mother would never say such a thing to me. She would never make me feel guilty for my illness or for her selling her soul.”
Her mother smiled maliciously. Then the form changed and it was once more Liv. “Well, aren’t you the smart one? I’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
“As if I would ever believe I was talking to my mother after this,” Ivy snapped.
Liv raised a blond brow. “Oh, you poor thing. You had no idea that it wasn’t your mother at first, did you?”
For the first time in her life, Ivy wanted to hit someone. “Go away.”
“We’re not nearly done,” Liv said in a sickeningly sweet voice. “We’re just getting started.”
Ivy felt her stomach churn when she heard a scream filled with pain, and then recognized her mother’s voice begging for it to stop.
“That’s what happens when you sell your soul,” Liv said. “That soul is ours. To do with whatever we want. And we do love our torture.”
“Threaten me all you want.”
“You?” Liv asked with a laugh. “Why would we do that when we have your mother?”
~ ~ ~
The sun had barely sunk into the horizon before Christian stood at a crossroads. He recited the words his family had gathered generations ago to call certain demons.
Christian didn’t have long to wait before a young man of Italian descent appeared before him in a suit. Christian looked into his soulless eyes and fought back a glare of disdain.
The demon looked at Christian, then spoke with a heavy Italian accent. “Christian Chiasson. I never expected you to call to me. You come to sell your soul?”
“I would never.”
“Not even to save your precious Ivy?”
Christian ground his teeth together to hold back his temper. He forced a smile then. “I’ll save her. Just not by selling my soul.”
The demon laughed and put one hand in his pants pocket. “So conceited. How many of your family have to die before you all realize we’ll win.”
“If it were so set in stone, you wouldn’t still be trying to kill us.”
“Good and evil. We will battle until the end of time.”
Christian looked past the demon to see Kane rise up from the ditch. “With good gaining ground at every turn.”
“Ne-” The demon spun at the last minute as he heard Kane. “What are y-”
His words were cut off as Kane plunged a dagger blessed by the church into the demon’s heart. The demon jerked, his face going blank with surprise.
Christian rushed to the demon and grabbed hold of his arm as the earth opened up. It took everything they had to keep a grip on the demon as his human form fell away and his demon form began to burn from the inside out.
“We better reach the bottom soon!” Kane yelled over the demon’s screams as they fell.
Christian’s hands began to burn. If they held on any longer, they would be killed. “Let go!”
They released the demon and tumbled through the darkness. Christian was the first to hit the bottom. He landed on his stomach. A second later, there was a thud as Kane landed.
Christian opened his eyes to the darkened corridor. He turned his head to see Kane on his back, moaning in pain. He knew exactly how his cousin felt. His entire body ached as if it had just fallen twenty stories, which they probably had.
They didn’t have time to stay there. They had to get moving before the demons found them. With great effort, Christian got to his hands and knees and crawled to Kane.
“Come on,” he said hoarsely, his head pounding so fiercely he wanted to throw up.
Kane rolled toward Christian. They used each other to climb to their feet before rocking unsteadily.
“Let’s hope we don’t meet a demon soon,” Kane whispered. “I think I broke my arm in the fall.”
Christian was sure he had a concussion, but there was no time to think about that now. He had to find Ivy. Davena had done the tracking spell to find Ivy before they’d called the demon. It just needed to kick in.
“We’ve no idea how big Hell is,” Christian said.
Kane chuckled and looked at him. “Copious demons. Abundant souls trapped. This place will be huge.”
“Why can’t anything be easy,” he griped.
Kane’s lips twisted in annoyance. “And why does everything have to be dark?”
Christian was opening his mouth when he felt a pull to the right. He looked in the direction of the tug as it grew stronger.
“I feel it, too,” Kane said. “Let’s go find Ivy.”
For the first time in days, Christian smiled. Ivy was close.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Christian plastered himself against a wall after glancing around the corner and seeing two demons coming his way. He nodded to Kane, who stood beside him, knife at the ready.
Christian had his own blade, and as soon as the demons turned the corner, he and Kane killed them. That made eight they had killed since coming to Hell. He would gladly gut thousands more if it meant he could find Ivy.
The screams were the worst to hear. The pain and suffering echoed through the halls. It was music to the demons, but all Christian wanted was for it to stop.
They had been walking the halls for thirty minutes. With every step, the pull became stronger as he got closer to Ivy. Yet, the farther they went, the more demons they encountered.
Neither he nor Kane mentioned it, but both knew the chances of either of them leaving Hell were slim.
They hurried to the next turn. Kane reached it first and peeked around the corner. He leaned back and inhaled deeply before looking Christian’s way.
Their gazes locked. Then Kane said, “Don’t worry. The others will be fine.”
Christian glanced at the blade in his hand. “Their distraction isn’t working as I had hoped it would. Then again, I’m not all fired up about them surrounded by demons.”
“It’s what we do,” Kane said with a grin.
“That it is.”
Kane glanced around the corner again. “There are four of them. Ready?”
Christian was nodding when there was suddenly shouting and a commotion. The uproar grew, and through all the voices suddenly coming from around the corner, he heard one name – Chiasson.
Kane took another look and let out a string of curses. “There must be over two dozen now.”
They couldn’t turn away. Ivy was near. But neither could they go forward and face so many with just the two of them.
“Ideas?” Kane asked.
Christian gripped the handle of the knife tightly. “The distraction from the others is working. Let’s hope that means the demons will leave soon.”
The voices grew. Kane motioned Christian back to a doorway where they quickly hid just as the demons rushed passed. It wasn’t the only hallway where the demons had gathered.
Kane whistled low after the demons passed. “We need to watch Riley if she survives this. Her idea to trap a second demon after us and torture him was smart, but it’s moves like that that’ll get her killed.”
“Don’t I know it,” Christian mumbled.
It seemed to take forever for the halls to grow quiet. Christian and Kane waited another few minutes before they snuck out of their hiding place and once more followed the pull they had to Ivy.
~ ~ ~
Ivy heard the loud, angry voices seeming to come at her from everywhere. Liv’s gloating was erased as she listened to the demon speak, something Ivy couldn’t understand.
She desperately wanted to ask Liv what was going on, but her curiosity wasn’t great enough to get the demon’s attention back on her. Instead, Ivy watched Liv’s face twist with fury.
Liv slid her gaze to Ivy and closed the distance between them. She poked Ivy hard in the shoulder. “The Chiassons will die tonight. They think they’re strong enough to trap a demon and torture him. We’ll show them who has the stronger numbers.”