Page 29 of Hell Gate

Our motel is situatedin an industrial district with the New York skyline peeking over the top of the squat warehouses. I pause to look at it. I’ve been bounced around this area, but I’ve never been to Manhattan.

Matthias catches my hand. “If we had time, I’d take you to the Lower East Side. There’s a killer burlesque club there. It’s an unforgettable experience.”

“You’ve been to New York?” My attention shifts back to the towering buildings across the river.

“I’ve been all over. I make a point to see as much as I can when I’m in the mortal realm.” He shoots me a smirk. “I love humans. They’re all so fascinating and inventive.”

“But you also kill people.”

He shrugs. “Death is a fact of life.”

“Yeah, if you get sick or in an accident.”

“I’d say summoning demons and challenging the power of Hell is in the same category of people that die climbing mountains. There’s an acknowledged risk involved.”

“Not if they don’t know the danger, like me.”

Matthias ruffles his hair, making it more disheveled. “Not our fault if people are nonbelievers.”

“No, just some dumb ancient treaty that stole the knowledge this world used to have, according to you guys. That’s not fighting fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, baby.”

“Don’t I know it,” I mutter.

The guys lead me down an access road behind the motel to a wide alley between the buildings backlit by the afternoon sun. It has a gravel lot at the back of the dead end road.

“This will do. Stand over there, Lily,” Valerian instructs.

“This is a waste of time,” I mutter while I stand in the middle of the alley.

After Valerian does a strange circular gesture in the air with his hand toward the mouth of the alley, he positions himself beside Alder a short distance from me while Matthias moves to the stairs jutting off from one of the warehouses.

Voices drift over. Two men in utility uniforms pause at the end of the alley as they talk. They haven’t noticed us.

“They don’t know we’re here,” Valerian says dismissively.

“Barrier.” Matthias props his elbows on the metal railing and leans back. The sun makes his messy white blond hair shine. He wiggles his fingers. “They can’t sense the ward magic. And if they did, I’m very persuasive. They won’t bother us.”

I wonder if he means like Alder’s ability to put people in a deep sleep, remembering when his big hand brushed my head before the strange fog overtook me. Matthias seemed to hypnotize me in the alley. Do all demons have a unique parlor trick like that up their sleeves on top of the fire they control? I have no idea what else these guys are capable of. If he can pull tricks on the mind, I bet he’s the one who fed me all those visions that tormented me the week after I called on the gate.

Everything I’ve ever thought about demons is wrong. They’re real, for one. Instead of twisted souls of humans or fallen angels, they’re actually supernatural beings from a different world with magic.

And they believe I have powers sealed away in me. Because they think I’m not human. That I could be from the underworld somehow.

It’s difficult to wrap my head around. I’ve spent a lifetime rolling with it for the sake of shoving down the weird stuff that happens around me. I’ve never wanted to face it. Stuck on the run for our lives with them, I have little choice other than to go along with it all.

I flex my hands at my sides. “What am I supposed to do?”

The three of them exchange glances. Alder speaks up, extending his arm. “Visualize what you want. The energy will build.” A swirl of fire and smoke dances in his palm before he closes his fist to snuff it out. “You harness it with your will.”

Oh, good. Just will it, even though I wasn’t aware I was capable of it. Piece of cake.

“Here goes nothing.”

I hold both hands in front of me, imagining a fireball expanding between them. My fingers strain as I stretch them as far as they can reach and my tongue sticks out from the corner of my mouth. I feel like an idiot trying to follow Alder’s advice.

After several minutes, it’s clear it’s not working.

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