Page 61 of An Unexpected Ascension
“NEIN! AUS!”
Those demands echo in my head, shattering in pieces. The hound immediately retracts its fangs from my arm, blood spurting from the wounds. My eyes widen in horror at the gaping holes in my skin, my bone splintered and glistening beneath the blood oozing by the bucketful. The injury itself would have been enough. Yet, here in Hell, there’s only eternal pain and misery. No comfort in knowing the end will be here soon.
“LAUF!”
With a dismissive wave, the beast skitters off and the demon saunters closer to my discarded body. I lie there clutching my arm, bathing in my own blood. The sand burns my skin, but it’s nothing compared to the shock of torment brought on by the demon’s pet.
Tears flood my eyes, blurring the image of the deranged man standing at my head with his hands behind his back. Though I can hardly see, I don’t miss the amusement playing amongst his features, that little grin and the twinkle in those never-ending pools of blue.
“Looks like you might need my niceties after all, Angel. We can think of ways you can repay me on our journey to the gates, yeah?”
“F-fuck. Y-you!” Spit flies from my lips, joining the tears and sweat already coating my face.
He kneels, brushing a strand of hair away that was stuck to my forehead.
“Is that what you’re willing to give me? If I heal you here?”
I shake my head, my eyes closing on more tears.
“Well, I don’t think you’re in a good position to negotiate here. The way I see it, you have two choices: stay here and let that Hell Hound finish you off, or let me heal your arm and you can serve me anyway I see fit.”
Another shiver courses through me. My body trembles in pain as I roll to my side and vomit again. That clear fluid mixes along with the puddle of blood growing beneath me. I can’t think straight, the only thing my mind can seem to understand is the pain. It’s the worst I’ve ever felt.
Except that time... An image flashes behind my eyes, brutal and violent, but it’s cut short by another suffocating wave of agony rendering me brain dead.
I nod.
I nod so fiercely that I can feel those sharp teeth now sinking their way into my neck.
A sob bellows from my guts, hurtling from between my lips. Merely hours into Hell and I’ve already sold my soul. This can’t get any worse.
With hands surprisingly gentle, the demon pushes me to sit. I cradle my limp arm, sticky and wet with blood trying to dry.
“This is going to hurt, but only for a second.”
My eyes bulge as a scream rushes from my throat. His hands only tighten around the wounds on my forearm. He twists, wiping his palms through the thick clotting along my skin. He rubs and, in a minute, those gaping holes are stringing together, sewing itself from the inside out.
One torturous second the pain is unbearable, and the next, it’s gone completely. As if it had never existed in the first place. The only evidence of the incident lies wet along my skin and clothes, crimson and still dripping.
My mouth gapes in awe at the wonders of such a power and to be used by a demon no less.
“Can we move along now?” he asks, offering a hand that I shove away.
I push to my feet, a bit unsteady with shock.
Hell feels a lot like being alive.
Chapter 20
The Demon
Shivering, pale, doused in blood.
Yet, those shoulders are pulled back and chin held high as she marches toward the black sea.
I trail behind, contemplating what it is I feel inside my soulless heart. A part of me wanted to leave her to the Hell Hound, to let her succumb to a fate her ancestors have before her. Only, I couldn’t.
That scream tore through me, clawing at something deep inside, tugging at invisible strings. Like a puppet in my own body, I ran to her. A bloody, crying mess. That glittering crimson flood beneath her paling skin. It was magnificent and yet, that relentless strumming inside my chest acting all on its own.
