Page 101 of Lust

Simple

Except I have no clue where he is. The lower floor stretches for miles in every direction and there’s probably a demon waiting to sink his teeth into me around the next corner.

I’ve never seen a jail or holding cell down here. It could be anywhere. Maybe I’m a fool for even attempting this. Dade could already have been taken down in the elevator to the very depths of Hell and has been judged by Satan for his crime for all I know. I can’t even remember the way. I pull out the map I hastily sketched out. It’s just a blur of lines with no meaning. Without Dade’s tattoo as a starting point, I have no reference to where this map starts.

I vow that if I do find him, I’ll finish the map tattoo. I turn down a corridor, but as I do, my heart skips. I can feel Dade’s aura. It’s extremely faint, but it’s there. With all the panic about maps, I’d forgot I had my own inbuilt Dade sensor. I can also detect the aura of another demon, too. I just need to relax my thudding heart and concentrate. I take a deep breath and center myself. I can’t sense as much as I would expect. Maybe most of the demons are upstairs at the ball like Arch and Asmodée. The other aura is much stronger than Dade’s and it’s coming from the same direction. It makes sense if he’s being guarded, but it’s unnerving how strong it is.

I steel myself and follow the feeling. With each step, Dade’s aura becomes stronger and stronger, but so does the other demon’s. I’m nervous as I continue on the path, but the lack of other demon auras fuels my confidence. The lack of actual demons trying to chew my head off is also helping, though I’m acutely aware with every turn I make that I might just be being led by a false sense of security. Yet with every turn, I find empty corridors. I race down each one, my fist pulled tightly around the hilt of the dagger.

Just in case.

My nerves buzz as I come to a stop outside a door. I know this place. I’ve been here before and the last time I knocked on the door, Dade got his foot almost twisted from his body. I’m at the Demon’s lounge. It’s the one place in Hell that I know Demons will be and as I try to concentrate on Dade’s aura, The Demon’s aura practically radiates through me. I should be happy that I can only detect one demon’s aura, but the sheer force of it has my body rippling with undulating fear.

I'm not going to wait for whoever's guarding Dade to prepare themselves. I won't be knocking on Hell's door; I'm going to barge right in uninvited. As I grab the handle, I mentally brace myself and turn it.

There’s an almighty ear-piercing shriek that fills me with raw terror and sends my heart thumping round my ribcage. I lash out instinctively, thrashing the dagger to my side, where it connects with something with a squelch. The shriek turns into a scream that hurts my ears and the smell of flesh burning hits my nostrils half a millisecond before the screaming agony hits my senses.

I cry out in shock and confusion as I try to comprehend the unfolding chaos. When I turn, my heart sinks as I come face to face with a demon, its eyes wide with agony, blood oozing from a deep six-inch gash across its chest. My horror deepens as I instinctively yank the dagger back, unintentionally tearing through its flesh even more. The effort sends another searing wave of pain up my arm. With a start, I see what happened. The demon had pounced on me, and in my desperate attempt to defend myself, I thrust my dagger forward. It was unable to halt its momentum, impaling itself directly through the heart. In its death throes, it clung to my upper arm, refusing to let go, and its touch scorched away layers of skin, leaving a painful, burning mark.

It gives a last death rattle and falls to the floor. It’s dead, but not in any way that is normal. We’re in Hell and it’s a demon. It’s no longer breathing and blood is pooling around its lifeless body, but give it enough time and the hole I’ve ripped across its chest will repair itself. The only way to truly kill it is to lop its head clean off its body. I try to judge how long that would take. Dade is only part demon and he could limp on a leg that had been twisted backwards within twenty-four hours. Ideally I’d chop its head off easily, but my dagger is too small and I’ll have to cut through sinew and bones. My stomach turns at the thought of it. I’ll only need a few minutes once I’m inside the demons’ lounge. Either I’ll free Dade or I’ll be killed by the demon within seconds. With sweaty and blood-splattered hands, I take hold of the door handle again and twist it. I hold my breath and grit my teeth as the door creaks open. I let out a shallow whimper as a sharp light hits my eyes, almost blinding me in its intensity. Instinctively I cover my eyes with my hands and slowly peek through my fingers while my eyes adjust.

Terror seizes up my lungs as the source of the massive aura and the light becomes apparent. “Hades?” I choke out.

His body is chained to the far wall, arms stretched wide over his head and his legs stretched out beneath him. His head is flopped forward as though he’s unconscious. Thousands of shards of light shine out of him in every direction and when I squint I can see why. At the source of every shaft of light is a hole in his body made my knives. His demon aura is literally pouring out of him in the form of light. He looks like a giant pin cushion.

I’m a mess of panic as I race toward him, and it’s difficult to breathe with the sheer magnitude of the light emanating from his body. When it touches me, my skin burns, but it’s impossible to get to him without touching the light. It’s like the world’s worst laser room. I step back, keeping between two beams of light as I assess the damage to my skin. It’s a mess. My arm, already burned from the demon outside, now has lines burned into the flesh where Hades' light has touched me.

“Quinn? Is that you?”

"Twila?" My heart races as I strain to see through the overwhelming light to the left of where Hades is chained to the wall. By the direction of her voice, she’s somewhere close to Hades.

"Help us!" she pleads desperately.

“I can’t!” I breathe out in frustrated panic. “Every time I touch the light, I get burned. I can’t even see you.”

“You can do this, Valentine.”

My eyes dart to the right of Hades, and my heart races even faster. Although I can't see Dade, I know he's here. His aura flares slightly in response to my voice, but it's overshadowed by the overwhelming power emanating from Hades.

I’m seized by paralyzing fear as I respond. “What can I do? I can’t get to you. Is there a way to turn the light off?” As I say it, I know it’s a ridiculous thought. Hades aura is leaking from him through a thousand tiny holes. I’d need a huge magnet to pull all the sharp objects from him without getting any closer.

“There are keys to open our manacles over by the door,” Twila instructs. I see them hung up on a huge rusty ring, but having the keys isn’t really any help if I can’t get to the manacles.

I grab them anyway. “Can I throw them to you? and you open your manacles?”

“No.”

“Our hands are nailed to the wall, Valentine. You’ll need to open our manacles and then pull the nails from our hands.”

Holy shit.I fight the rising panic and try to breathe through tremors coursing through my entire body. Hades's aura has an incapacitating effect on me, and I haven't even made contact with the light yet. Stepping into one of the beams of light would result in my skin being scorched, and I can’t see a route forward without becoming entirely engulfed by it.

“I can't!” I exclaim.

“Please!” Twila pleads. “She's kept us trapped against this wall for weeks.”

“You have the strength, Valentine,” Dade urges. “I believe in you. Release Hades, and he can rescue everyone upstairs. You can return for Twila and me afterward.”

“Them?” I respond faintly.

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