Hells gate box set, p.21
Hell's Gate Box Set, page 21
part #1 of Hell's Gate Series
I was inside him—a part of him—just as he was inside me.
Chapter Twelve
“Finished?”
I squealed when Dacian’s voice suddenly came from behind the sofa.
“Get out!” I ordered, sitting up and waving a hand toward my office door.
“No. We’ve got important business to discuss.” He shrugged, apparently unconcerned that he’d just walked in on us having sex. “And yes, Ash told me you two were getting it on in here. I waited until you were done.”
“We’re not done,” I protested.
“You both orgasmed. We all heard. So, you’re done. For now.”
My cheeks heated when I realized that of course we had been heard. I hadn’t exactly been quiet.
“Come on, babe, I’m pretty sure Dacian wouldn’t have interrupted if it wasn’t important. Right?” Levi stood, unashamedly naked, and eyeballed Dacian.
Dacian held his gaze, nodding. “Correct.”
“Well, just get out while I get dressed,” I grumbled. Dacian opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “Don’t even say it! Out!” Without looking at Levi, I tossed him his pants. “Get dressed.”
Now that I had business to discuss with Dacian, Levi’s nakedness was a distraction. Quickly pulling on my own clothes, I wondered what had brought Dacian to Hell. To interrupt us the way he had, it had to be important. Was Heaven in worse shape than any of us realized? Was it crumbling altogether? Worry replaced the euphoria of moments before. I looked at Levi, a sadness in my heart. Everything was wonderful, and not, at the same time. He was taking all of this remarkably well—discovering he’d changed into a fire demon, that he was marked and bound to me. How could he be so calm?
“Everything will be okay.” He squeezed my hand in a comforting gesture.
“Of course it will.” I faked a smile. A heavy sense of foreboding crept over me, and I had to physically shake my shoulders to shrug it off.
“Come on in, Dacian,” I called, eager to get this over with. Whatever the problem was, we’d deal with it.
“From what Ash just told me, you already know the displaced souls are starting to return to Earth as revenants,” Dacian said, striding into the room.
Levi and I were standing by the sofa. I bit back a laugh when I saw Dacian eye it, then veer toward my desk instead.
“Yes, we’re aware.” Following him, I took my seat behind the desk. Levi sank down into one of the chairs opposite. Dacian claimed the chair next to him, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
“Well, there are a whole lot more. Thousands. We can’t lose their souls, Lucy. It feels like murder, sitting back and doing nothing.”
I nodded. “We need to force Michael and Gabriel to open the Pearly Gates.” Easier said than done. My brothers were stubborn fools, and didn’t seem to give a damn about the souls under their care.
“That’s not a viable option anymore,” Dacian muttered.
“Oh?”
“Heaven is too unstable. It’s not safe.” Dacian was looking at the floor, but I could feel the worry emanating from him.
“Fuck.” Flopping back in my chair, I stared at the ceiling, as if the answers to our problems could be found there. “We need to find Dad. He can fix Heaven and open the gates.”
“Yes, but we have absolutely no fucking idea where he is.” Dacian’s voice was sharp, and I snapped my eyes to him. “Sorry. I know Heaven isn’t your jurisdiction. But…”
“It’s okay, Dacian. You’re right, we need to save the souls. Dad is important, but he’s going to have to wait a little bit longer while we deal with this situation first. And I have a plan.” It bothered me that searching for Dad kept getting pushed further and further back.
“You do?” Levi and Dacian said in unison.
I nodded. “We’ll bring them to Hell. Temporarily.”
“But they haven’t sinned,” Dacian protested.
“They won’t be treated as sinners,” I assured him. “I’ll create a new zone for them. They’ll be comfortable here until we can sort out the mess in Heaven.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yes. Of course. If it’s not safe for them in Heaven, then Hell it will have to be. But while I organize their accommodations, I need you to do something for me.”
“Name it.” Dacian scooted forward on his chair, making me smile. He was so keen, so eager to help. It was a good quality to have. My father chose well with him.
“I need you to deal with the remaining revenants on Earth. As we speak, I’m sure more are falling.”
“Yes. Dozens every minute.” He shook his head before running his fingers through his hair, leaving the strands in tousled disarray. “I’ll go now. Is there anything else?”
“Nope. Let me get some things in place here, and then we’ll move the souls in. How many do you think?”
“Twenty to thirty thousand, maybe more.”
“Okay.” I hid my dismay. That was a lot of souls, and moving them here would require space I didn’t have readily available. But for every problem, there was always a solution. Waving him off, I called for Ashliel.
“You rang?” Her heels clicked across the floor before coming to a stop beside my desk.
“We’re going to do a dimension expansion,” I told her.
“We are?” The excitement in her voice was unmistakable. “Cool! I’ve been waiting for this day!”
“I’ll bet. Can you get everything in place? Alert the guards, put everyone on lockdown?”
“I’m on it. I’ll open the chamber, too.”
“Thank you.” I watched her leave, my mind on the task ahead.
“So, what’s a dimension expansion?” Levi interrupted my train of thought.
“I’m going to make Hell bigger. We need more space if we’re going to house thirty thousand souls. I’m going to create a new zone, just for them, to keep them away from the sinners.”
“You can do that?” His eyes were round in his face.
“Yup. This is the first time I’ve had to do it, though. That’s why Ashliel is excited. She knew we would reach capacity soon, and a massive influx like this has just sped it up.”
“And the chamber? What’s that?”
“It’s like a panic room for magic. It’ll take a lot of power to do this, and I can’t have any of it leaking out. I need to keep Hell safe while I do this.”
“So you use a dimension expansion…spell?”
“Correct.”
“Can anyone do it?”
“No. Only a select few.”
“Your brothers?”
“They’re Arch Angels as well, so yes, they can. But not in my dimension. They have no power here.” I stood, pushing my chair back, and held out my hand to Levi. “I need to prepare. This is big. It’s going to take a lot of energy.”
He frowned, linking his fingers with mine. “It’s safe, isn’t it? You’re not going to get hurt?”
“A little drained, maybe. Tired. But I’ll be okay.”
Hand in hand, we crossed to the elevator and rode up to the penthouse. The doors slid open and I had to tug Levi across the threshold, for he stood in the doorway with his mouth hanging open.
“This. Is. Amazing,” he breathed, finally stepping forward. He dropped my hand and crossed to the wall of windows overlooking Hell. I watched him as he wandered the expanse of my home, taking in its sleek, modern surfaces, the external glass walls, and black marble floors.
“I need to shower.”
That caught his attention. He turned, a leer on his face. “Need me to help?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “No, but thanks for the offer. I need to conserve my energy, and showering with you results in the exact opposite.” I waved my hand around my open plan living room, kitchen, and dining area. “Make yourself at home. I won’t be long.”
My bedroom was twice the size of Levi’s entire apartment back on Earth. It, too, had glass walls. The view stole my breath, even after all this time. Below was my city, the one I’d built from the ground up. The black buildings rose majestically, towering over the streets, silhouetted against a stunning sky of purples, pinks, and oranges. Hell boasted a perpetual sunset. No blue skies here. In the distance, mountains marked the northern boundary of Hell. In the south, flat plains of wasteland, an orange desert where survival was impossible. To the east was ocean, its white waters deceptively beautiful, but if you were to touch it, the acid levels would melt your flesh from your bones in seconds. And finally, to the west, a sheer drop to nothing. A bottomless pit that went on for all of eternity. And Hell HQ was balanced on the edge of it.
In the bathroom, I flicked on the taps and stood beneath the waterfall shower, letting the water pound down on me. I had to remove all traces of Levi from my flesh. I was going to be drawing heavily on my magic, and it needed to be pure. Strong. I’d downplayed how hard this was going to be. I had to take care, as Hell’s dimensions stretched, not to destroy what was already here. One wrong move, and I might inadvertently flood the city with a tsunami of acid ocean. Or the mountains could explode, creating landslides. Or HQ—and the whole city, for that matter—could topple into the never-ending abyss. Yeah, no pressure at all.
Calming my thoughts, I closed my eyes and focused on centering my energy. The spell would come to me instinctively once I was in the chamber, but preparation was key, and I had to be calm and focused. All my worries about Levi, my brothers, and my dad had to stop. And, just like everyone else, I didn’t have a switch that could turn it all off. Although that would be cool. I made a mental note to talk to Dad about making that an addition to the next generation of humans. An upgrade.
“Focus,” I scolded myself, dragging in a deep breath, holding it, and blowing it out.
I wasn’t sure how long I stayed in the shower, meditating, but my fingers were pruned when I finally turned off the water. Wrapping myself in a black silk robe, I waved my hand to dry my hair, leaving it loose down my back, then stepped barefoot into the living room. Levi was still at the bank of windows, his hands pressed against the glass.
“The mountains look really close, like I could reach out and touch them,” he said, hearing me come up behind him. “But I’m guessing that’s just an illusion?”
“You got it. It would take you, oh, about a year in a really fast car to reach them.”
“And the desert?”
“Same. And the ocean. The only thing that’s as close as it seems is the precipice we’re perched on.”
“Fuck!” He raced across the room, looking out the opposite windows to the drop below. “How do we not fall? Do you have earthquakes here? How can this be safe?”
“It’s safe because I keep it safe.” I shrugged. “Come on. We need to go. Ashliel should have the chamber ready by now.” Levi reached for my hand, but I snatched it away. “Sorry. No touching. I need to keep my energy pure.”
“So I can’t kiss you for good luck?”
“As much as I wish you could? You can’t.”
As he mulled this over, we silently stepped into the elevator. I commanded it to deliver us to the chamber, and mere seconds later, we arrived. The doors slid open and Levi followed me out. Ashliel greeted us.
“We’re all set.” She was practically vibrating with excitement, her hair dancing around her head in bright red flames. I chuckled. She was like a kid in a candy shop.
The chamber was different from anything else in Hell. While all the buildings were modern and sleek, this room was a reflection of eras long past. The walls were hewn from rock, chiseled by hand, and far from smooth. Lush rugs were scattered across the stone floor. Lamps lit the room, and in the center of it was a pentagram with a candle at each point.
“Is this a cave?” Levi asked, wandering around the room. I nodded, waiting for him to work it out. It didn’t take long. “We’re in the mountains, aren’t we? A cave in the mountains?”
“We are,” I confirmed.
“But…we took the elevator.”
“We did.”
“But how?”
“Magic.” The elevator could take me anywhere I wanted to go within this realm. If I wanted to be in the middle of the white ocean, it would deliver me there. I just had to command it. Only Ashliel and I had that power.
“Is this why there are mountains in Hell? Is this where it all started?”
“Yup. We had to clear some land, level some parts, move others. Think of it like working with clay, molding it into what we wanted it to be.”
“We? You helped God?”
“He did most of the work. I assisted with the big stuff, but left the finer details to Dad. He’s a details man.”
“Okay, enough chit-chat.” Ashliel clapped her hands. “Time to do this! Levi, sit over there, and don’t speak, don’t touch anything, and don’t interrupt in any way.”
“Right.” He crossed to a pile of throw pillows on the floor and sank down, cross-legged, to watch.
Ashliel handed me an ancient book. We took care not to touch as I accepted it from her.
“Ready?” she asked, her breath hitching.
“Can you light the candles for me?”
I crossed to stand in the center of the pentagram, the book in my hands. The candles snapped to life around me, blazing high before settling into a steady flame. Closing my eyes, I held both palms out in front of me, the closed book balanced on them. In my mind, I called forth the spell, and the book flipped open, the pages turning until settling into silence.
Opening my eyes, I read the text in front of me, nodded, and closed the book. It disappeared and I heard Levi gasp. Blocking him out, I closed my eyes again and began the spell, picturing in my mind the new zone, building it brick by brick, pushing back the shores of the white sea.
Raising my hands, I felt a pulse of energy between them, and knew it was red and sparkling without having to look at it. Gently, I began to stretch it, push it, pull it, making it bigger. The cave trembled, dust drifting down from the roof, and I paused as sweat beaded on my upper lip. Slowly, I cautioned myself. Do this slowly or Hell will crumble.
Inch by inch, I worked at expanding the dimension, rolling out acres of green fields along the foreshore of the white sea. Upon the fields, I placed tall buildings, this time made of white marble, replicas of the black marble buildings in the rest of Hell. The skyscrapers continued to appear and I continued to sweat, my body trembling. I forced myself to push on. The displaced souls deserved this, and I was determined to give them a temporary home that was as similar to Heaven as I could create. Golden gates appeared on the path to the new zone. They slammed shut and locked, keeping the zone safe from the rest of Hell.
“She’s bleeding.” I heard Levi’s voice in the distance, then Ashliel shushing him with, “It’s just a nose bleed, she’ll be fine.”
I was almost done. The major stuff was complete. I’d made space, created a new zone with green grass and white buildings fit for the souls. Over fifty high rise buildings lined the shoreline, and streets of golden bricks wove around them. Smaller buildings housed shops and amenities. A swimming pool. A movie theatre. Restaurants. Now it was time for the final touches—furnishing and decorating the apartments I’d created.
I was tiring, growing weak, and couldn’t spend the time I would have liked to make them all individual and perfect. Instead, with a sweep of my hand, a palette of rose gold and white flooded over the buildings, followed by a soft grey palette for the beds, sofas, and tables. It would have to do. I made a mental note to get Ashliel to visit each and every soul and take requests for items I’d missed. This was to be their temporary Heaven, and as much as I wanted it to be perfect, my magic was fading, my strength all but gone.
I fell to my knees, slumping on the floor.
“Lucy!” Levi shouted.
“No! She has to close out of the spell. Don’t touch her!”
I heard shuffling and knew Ashliel had restrained Levi, stopping him from coming to me. She was right. I muttered the words that would end the spell, shooting a sonic boom through the cave that knocked me on my back. The candles and lamps went out, plunging us into darkness. Seconds later, they flickered back to life, and Ashliel stood over me, offering me her hand.
“That was fucking awesome!” She beamed, then, as an afterthought, added, “You okay?”
I nodded, letting her pull me to my feet. My hair was damp with sweat, my nose still dripped blood, and I felt about as strong as a limp noodle. Then Levi was there, swinging me up into his arms. Ordinarily, I would have protested, but at this point, I was too damn tired—and I was secretly grateful that I didn’t have to hold my own body weight.
“Lucy?” Ashliel’s worried voice penetrated my foggy brain. “What’s that?”
Turning my head to look where she was pointing, I could see what appeared to be fabric protruding from the rock.
“Put me down,” I said to Levi, staggering as he set me back on my feet. Crossing to the wall, I touched the fabric, rubbing it between my fingers, giving it a tug to see if it would come loose. It didn’t.
“It looks like…but it couldn’t be.”
“What? What is it?” Ashliel clasped my forearm.
“It looks like Dad’s robes,” I whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
“He’s here? In Hell?” Ashliel’s voice was barely a whisper. “How? And where? Like, is he in the rock?”
“Shh.” Placing both my palms against the rock wall, I closed my eyes and concentrated. “There’s something here.”
“God?” Ashliel asked.
“No. I can sense him, but there’s something between him and us.”
“The rock?” Ashliel gestured at the wall, as if the answer was obvious.
“No, Ash. You don’t think God could move a rock on his own? There’s something else. Something powerful.”
“Oh. Yeah, right, makes sense.”
Ignoring her, I continued to stand with my hands against the rock face, pushing my energy into it, feeling it rebound at me.
