Page 80 of Hell to Slay

On either side of us, hordes of demons burst across the threshold, the shadows barely sticking to them as they emerged. Hellbulls, hellcats, hellhounds, and firebirds overhead — all of them focused on one target. Me.

Now was the moment to do or die. Maybe both.

Delving deep inside, I swept the edges of our newly combined magic reservoir, drawing out every drop of magic. I manifested a demonfire blade, and my mother’s spirit drifted closer. She’d never been able to touch me before, but I swore that she helped me raise my blade. Then I channeled all my magic down it into one final attack.

Maybe I could’ve sent it outward in all directions as I’d done before, though I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength. Maybe I could’ve saved myself from the demons, but ultimately, protecting myself was a secondary concern. My original goal remained the same as it always had been — to kill the devil that was threatening my home and family.

I launched the combined power of four blood-bonded vampire-witches toward that sickly magic, not caring if I hit Ty in the process. Lightning flashed and an inferno roared along a ridge of earth from me to Ty, smashing into the orb of nightmarish magic he held.

The blast of fire, earth, and lightning broke the sound barrier with an audible boom as it slammed into him. The concussive force ricocheted back at me, knocking me off of my feet. A hellbull bellowed as I went airborne.

Then the world went black.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Nico

I struggled not to fall deeper into the frenzy than I already had. Falling into the dark flames of the trench, I’d instinctively frenzied in a last-ditch attempt to save myself. Nothing could prevent me from falling directly into the flames, but I was stronger and faster when frenzied — I hoped it would be enough to get me out of the trench before I died in the flames.

Only they hadn’t burned. For a moment, I’d been lost in confusion, feeling half frenzied, half not. It was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was like… I could control my frenzy this time.

And that’s when I realized all I had to do was stand up and rise from the flames. The others frozen when I stared at them, and I realized they could see how closely I rode to the edge of control.

This time, though, I wouldnotlose myself. I needed to keep my head if I hoped to keep my coven alive. After everything we’d been through together, I refused to ruin everything by losing control over myself. They needed me.

While partially frenzied, I felt stronger than ever. Powerful. Unstoppable. So when I saw Ty, I knew what I had to do.

Unfortunately, I was taken completely off guard when Ty compelled us to follow him like his little hellish ducklings. My body resisted any effort to control my movements. It didn’t feel entirely like a vampire compulsion, because I remained clear-headed and fully of aware of my inability to resist. A vampire’s thrall usually felt like youwantedto obey.

Ty said some bullshit to get Mel riled up, but since I was behind her, I couldn’t see her expression to know if she bought it or not. Tempest didn’t leave her side, even though the devil’s orders didn’t apply to her.

Everything I tried to do to break the devil’s hold over me failed, and I imagined the others’ attempts were being similarly frustrated. At last, we reached the new pit of souls, and I stared down, wishing we could leave at least a few of them behind to suffer here eternally.

My hearing suddenly cut out, which made me pause for a second. Then Ty turned and clearly tried to issue another order, and I felt no compulsion to obey. I grinned — one of the others had figured out that his silly little orders didn’t matter much if we couldn’t hear them.

Then Tempest gave us some hope of fighting back.

“Nico, put Jax in the pit. Jax, teleport the souls out. Hudson, destroy the hook holding their chains.”

She ordered us around like we were her own personal puppets.

Mel jumped in the trench before running back the way we’d come, and every particle in my body wanted to follow, especially when I saw the devil cross the trench to reach her.

“Pay attention, big dummy. Mel’s handling the devil. Your task is to free the spirits before she kills him. And maybe get yourselves to safety while you’re at it. Now go!”

“Tell her not to kill Ty without me,” I said out loud, probably louder than necessary, since I couldn’t hear myself.

The demons near us remained disinterested, which made all the hairs on the back of my neck rise. It didn’t seem right that they were ignoring us, which made me feel like something even worse was in store.

When I turned around, Hudson and Jax had taken up a position farther away, giving them a good angle to fire arrows at the hook keeping the spirits chained within the pit. Unfortunately, the vines kept blocking them, just as they’d done before. We needed a distraction, and I knew just the thing.

Manifesting my own bow and arrow, I began propelling arrows alongside theirs, but I also tried to summon earth magic at the same time. Unfortunately, nothing happened. I had no power over the infernal realm.

If Mel could close the portal by killing Ty, then we needed to do the same thing as last time — teleport out the spirits and ourselves with them. Hopefully before Mel trapped us in here for all eternity.

Which meant Tempest was wrong. We didn’t just need Jax down in the pit. For Jax to teleport all of us to safety, we all needed to be down there, just like before. Last time, we’d had Mel’s help to lower me. This time, I’d have to do it all myself.

I couldn’t exactly levitate a rock with me standing on it — otherwise all earth elementalists would be capable of flight. I’d never seen a flying earth elementalist, and Mel had already told us that a telekinetic couldn’t use her own magic on herself.

---