Page 103 of A Match Made in Hell
This was a mistake. I stare, frozen, as that red sea rushes towards us, and I can’t do anything, I can’t stop it, there’s somuchof it, there’s no divide to keep because I don’t know where I start and the gates end –
The blood surges forward, crashing straight through the opening, and I’m swept away in a great, gushing river of crimson.
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I cough and splutter as we’re carried away downstream.
The river catches us all in its wake, demons and humans alike swimming for the surface as the blood surges down the tunnel. It rises higher and higher, catching the skull lanterns on the walls, sweeping them into its path, and we’re plunged into darkness.
I have to get back. I swim against the current, towards the gates, needing to check no demons from the other side are in this river with us, but it’s too strong, and before I know it we’re flowing into the entrance chamber. It’s large enough in here that the blood level descends, a sea finally hitting the shore, and we’re deposited on the floor sopping wet and dripping red, blood sloshing at our feet.
The Sorter’s laughing.
A second later, that snake I caught a glimpse of shoves its head through the open doorway. It’s so large it can’t get any further, its body wedged in the tunnel behind it. Asphodel trembles, like it can’t withstand accommodating a demon of this size. Every time it wriggles, rock descends in chunks that land in haphazard heaps around the base of its head.
Still on my knees, I can sense its tail writhing beneath me, like the serpent has the whole of Asphodel surrounded, coiled in its thick grasp. Its tongue flicks out, longer than my whole body, and captures the nearest human.
They’re swallowed whole. I can’t bring myself to move.
What do I do? What do I do what do I do what do I do?
Keep the divide.I wasn’t given a chance. And now the two worlds are colliding.
The demons take this as their opportunity to fight back. With hisses and roars, they tear my ropes from their wrists and ankles, leaving scars on their flesh that sizzle like meat that’s just been taken off the grill. A human gets backhanded. Another has their neck torn into by a pair of fangs. Harper crawls across the floor, clutching her stomach.
Panic claws at me. I should’ve waited until I was stronger. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this at all. The voices in my head roar, louder than ever, no barrier between us now the gates are wide open.
Hurt them. Tear them apart. You know you want to. You enjoyed it when you killed Aric, didn’t you? A human’s screams would be so much sweeter.
I shake my head. No. I killed Aric because I had to. I reach for my power to conjure more rope. Use it to push away a demon lunging for Harper. The voices scream, furious I’m ignoring them.
The snake inches a little further out of the tunnel.
Help it. Wouldn’t it be easier to give up, to let it in? You look tired, Willow.
Well, excuse me if I didn’t get much sleep last night. I search for Sath, but I can’t locate him amid the chaos. Everything is a blur: a flash of silver, a clank of steel, a splatter of red. Screams and curses are hurled in every direction until they become an indecipherable cacophony of noise.
If you let the humans die, it’ll go quiet. I grit my teeth, willing them to shut up. Instead, they get louder, a chorus sounding out a refrain.We’ll make you a deal.Anything you desire, it’s yours. Let the snake in.
‘I won’t.’
A human is tossed from one side of the chamber to the other. They land with a heavy crack that I feel in my own bones, and I want this over, Ineedthis to be over. My cheeks are wet. I can’t let any more humans end up in the Void, or worse.
But they will.
Because there’s no wind. No promised vortex.
I’ve messed up. I shouldn’t be surprised. Good Decision Willow can make all the choices she likes; she still needs the rest of me to follow through.
You should give up. Your duty was to protect them, and you’ve failed. You always fail in the end, don’t you?
Flames burst from my arms. I’ve failed, and the gates are open, and there’s no divide at all, because I am my sins and they live within me. I can’t stop the planes from merging because I’m not pure and good and never have been.
All I’ve ever wanted is to be proud of you.
I clutch my hands to my ears. Not her. Not now.
This is all your fault. If you had been better, more, everything I asked you to be –
