Page 61 of Pain

Maxar slammed his hand into the steering wheel. “Fuck!” His head shook and orange flames danced along his fingers as they gripped the wheel tight. “So is it even safe going back to town? Going back to Kenvin’s? Or should I just start trying to find a fucking portal?”

I couldn’t answer that.

“How would Lerris know where to look for us though? Is he working with Howar? Did Howar tell him where we went?” Omaera asked the questions we were all thinking.

“They have to be,” Zandren mused. “And Howar told him we were coming to Hell to find someone to train Omaera.” His face went ashen. “Is Kenvin safe?”

My nod was small. “I told Howar we were meeting a female demon. I didn’t give him a name. Kenvin should be fine.”

“Old goat could probably kill Lerris with his pinky finger,” Maxar murmured from the front seat.

“I still want to get back to Kenvin’s though,” Omaera said. “We need to lie low and figure out what to do from here.”

We all agreed, and I was about to open my mouth and suggest we have Kenvin put out some feelers about where Lerris might be when a mighty screech outside and a huge shadow from above darkened the interior of the vehicle, making us all pause. Talons the size of bananas dug into the metal roof of the car just inches from our heads.

“What the hell?” Maxar hollered, swerving the vehicle left and right to shake the bisibra. “I thought they only attacked at night?”

Well, apparently not. Hell was chock-full of paradoxes and irony.

Omaera screamed, and Zandren held on tight to the handle on the ceiling.

The beast above screeched even louder, piercing our ears with its murderous cry. It shook the vehicle until we were balancing on only the right wheels at one point. Maxar continued to whip the wheel around, attempting to dislodge our attacker.

The talons retracted from the ceiling and the heavy beat of wings overhead stirred up red dust everywhere until we were socked in and unable to see anything.

“What now?” Omaera asked just as talons came flying through the glass window on my side, sending shards flying across our laps. Unlike many Earth birds that had scaly legs, this creature had long, thick legs covered in short, wiry hair—almost like a terrier or something. An idea popped into my head, and before I could think too much about the consequences, I dropped my fangs and plunged them into the bisibra’s leg.

Maxar continued to drive like a maniac, whipping the vehicle to and fro as he battled the weight of the animal on the roof.

When I punctured the creature’s skin, its howl was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Loud, high-pitched, and blood-curdling. It made every hair on theback of my neck stand straight up. My stomach roiled and bile coated the back of my throat as its disgusting blood filled my mouth. I injected a heavy dose of paralytic into the animal’s bloodstream, unsure whether it needed more than what I gave Zandren a few days ago or not. I wasn’t looking to kill Zandren when I did it. I didn’t care to spare this monster’s life.

The bisibra howled again and the claws uncurled from the jagged windowsill as its muscles relaxed. I removed my fangs, spat out the blood in my mouth, and let the animal fall from the vehicle, disappearing into the dust.

We emerged out of the dust cloud a second later, now traveling in a straight line.

However, with no landmarks in sight, it was tough to tell if we were driving in the right direction.

After we drove about a mile, Maxar stopped the car and he and Omaera spun around in their seats.

“Everyone okay?” Omaera asked, focusing on me.

I nodded, though the bisibra’s blood lingered on my tongue making me nauseous.

The sky was beginning to darken, and we still had a long way to go. Fear shone back at me in all of their eyes, mirroring what I felt in my chest as well. We were sitting ducks out here with nowhere to hide and no idea which direction was town.

“What’s the plan?” Omaera asked. “We obviously got turned around in that dust cloud. Are we even heading in the right direction? I can’t see the mountains or the prison now, and it’s getting dark.”

“Well, we can’t just sit here,” Maxar said. “We have to move in one direction or another. Sitting here makes us even more vulnerable. If we’re moving, at least we’re more challenging to catch.”

“How much more daylight do you think we have?” Zandren asked, directing his question to Maxar since he was our resident Hell expert, having been here all of two times in his life.

Maxar shrugged and shook his head, the carefree, cockiness that seemed to leak from his pores gone since we left the prison. “A couple of hours, maybe.It’s Hell, man. Who knows?”

That seemed to be the common theme here. Nothing made any sense.

Sweat dripped from my temples onto my lap. We’d stopped driving so the thick, muggy air outside was free to settle upon our skin, trapping the heat.

Omaera rested her hand on Maxar’s arm. “Best get moving, Sparky. With any luck, the mountains will appear soon enough. Then we’ll know we’re headed in the right direction.”

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