Page 7 of Till Death

I send one more hateful glare up at the sky, hoping Hank is watching.Fucking prick. Tom Hanks would be ashamed to share his name with you.

A howl ripped through the scene and I glanced over to see a pure black wolf darting down the uprooted cobblestones.

The Stonebrook Pack had come to join the battle right before I had jumped in the pit, and now, their wolves were tearing into the Hell creatures, adding more numbers to our small troop. The ground was littered with the dead, yet the fight raged on.

To make matters even more dire, the buildings shimmered and pulsed as the afterlife and this plane of reality collided. The longer I watched, the more the hazy structures from the opposite side of the veil became real, superimposing on their counterparts until the two became one.

Shit. How was I going to fix all this?

Another scream tore through the air dangerously close, and I whirled toward it without seeing the source. Things were worse than when I left. Okay, diving into the Hell hole hadn’t been the smartest choice, I realized. Seeing how this place fared in my absence brought on way too much guilt for me to handle gracefully.

Guilt overload.

How long had I been gone? And what kind of changes had I come back to?

Who had I lost?

Guess I was about to find out.

CHAPTERTHREE

Right back where I started and, this time, I’d lost Cole. For good, if Hank was to be believed. Squaring my shoulders and straightening my spine, I held Bertha firm in my grasp, ready to battle.

My chest tightened and everything seemed to pinch together, my fear back tenfold, building by the second.

Any hope or inspiration for a successful outcome that I’d had when I started…yeah, it was all gone.

A flash of light exploded in front of me, and I took an unexpected step back. Then a hand squeezed my arm and when I looked up, I saw Eli standing there, as handsome and angelic as ever and somehow with not a hair out of place.

Dammit, it had to be sorcery. That was the only explanation.

His concerned gaze searched me for injury, even as his grip tightened.

“You’re here,” he breathed when he finally deemed his visual examine finished. “I was afraid I may have lost you for good.”

“You don’t have much confidence in me, do you?” I fake a laugh.

“I do, Jade. You know that. But Hell is a…treacherousplace.”

I wanted to tell him I’d survived it before—twice actually—but there was no point of arguing. Especially when the street began to tremble underneath out feet so violently, I had to grab Eli’s arm to stop myself from teetering over.

“Oh no… Not again,” Eli muttered as his attention snapped toward two overturned cars in a side street.

Again?

As if answering my question, the ground there quaked and bowed before giving away to another bottomless Hell pit. The earth seemed to release a held breath, sending a ripple of energy outward strong enough to slide me backward a good foot.

“Brace yourself!” Eli shouts, making his spear materialize in his hand. I gripped Bertha a little tighter.

The terrible, ear-splitting screeches of the creatures came first, followed by a herd of Halflings cresting over the edge, like a stampeded of cockroaches suddenly seeing the light. Only important difference being that these creatures weren’t fleeing from us—they were charging, their fangs snapping and their disproportional limbs crawling over each other.

Jesus, how many more of these fuckers were there?

Eli glanced at me, silently giving me a signal that he was ready whenever I was. I nodded back, and together, we rushed further into the chaos and destruction, right for the Halflings.

We clashed in a burst of white light and slashing claws. Eli sliced through three of them immediately, whirling his weapon with expert precision. I stabbed an ugly SOB in the chest, then twisted and kicked out, nailing another in the ribs.

A tingle of warning shot up my neck, and I spun with Bertha just as another Halfling leaped for my shoulder. Bertha cut him clear in two. Breathing hard, I glanced over my shoulder to meet eyes with Eli. Black goo dotted his bare chest and drips down his spear’s shaft.

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