Page 81 of Hell to Slay

“We need to cross the trench!” I called to Hudson and Jax as I jumped back into the dark flames, which still strangely did not burn. Perhaps it was our blood magic that made us immune to them, but I wasn’t about to question it.

Of course, they couldn’t hear me any more than I could hear them, so I fired an arrow between the two of them so they’d pay attention. Hudson whirled toward me, his expression wild. Jax only seemed puzzled.

“Come on!” I beckoned them, and they finally took the hint and reluctantly followed.

I couldn’t manipulate the infernal realm’s vine-covered earth. But the smog-covered ground of the periphery still remembered it was part of our world. It still responded to me.

Together, Hudson, Jax, and I kept firing arrows at the hook even as we strode across the dark trench and up its slope. The spirits wisely waited at the center of the pit, keeping as far from the surrounding vines as they could.

At last, my coven-mates’ feet touched earth I could control again. Summoning as much of our shared magic as I dared, I thrust a spear of rock the width of a car over the pit… with the three of us and the hellfox riding it. Then I let the earth crumble.

Hudson and Jax silently screamed as the tip fell into the pit with us riding the avalanche. Not the smoothest trip down, but it accomplished my goal: getting the vines’ attention. The horrific things stretched toward us, but I’d carefully ensured the earth we’d been standing on reached all the way to the center of this smaller pit. As a bonus, the base of the crumbling spear crushed the vines on that side.

Meanwhile, I kept shooting arrows at the hook holding the spirits’ chains. Jax and Hudson didn’t exactly help, distracted as they were by the unexpected descent, but the vines were also distracted, so my arrows struck true. The spirits were freed just as we smashed into the bottom of the pit amid a shower of rock and debris. Fortunately, the spirits had no concern about the falling rocks, as several crashed through them. We tumbled to the ground, slow enough to spare us injury, though we’d all have some amazing bruises to show for it.

I groaned in silence as I struggled to my feet, seeing the other two do the same. My hearing snapped back on a moment later.

“Are you out of your mind?” Jax yelled, his finger in my face.

“Same plan, different execution,” I shrugged. “Mel’s not here to help.”

“Get us out of here,” Cyrene demanded, but we all ignored the phantasm. They had no power anymore.

“We’re lucky this pit isn’t as deep,” Hudson grumbled as he turned toward the rest of the spirits. “Gather round, and we’ll get you out of—”

A roar above us cut Hudson off, and some of the vines curled down like playground slides to let four hellcats down into the pit with us. Apparently they’d decided we were a threat now that we’d destroyed the hook. The three of us faced off against the hellcats, all of us manifesting blades of different kinds.

“Finish them quickly,” one of the demon hunter spirits urged. “More are bound to come.”

The lost souls trapped in this pit with us could do nothing to help except be our lookouts.

“Nico, take the two on the right,” Hudson said. “I’ll take both on the left. Jax, make your circle.”

“Right.” Jax let go of one of his blades, manifesting his wand instead. He slid behind us and began inscribing the rubble-covered ground with his circle. Maybe that was the reason he’d been annoyed with me. He had to kick aside rocks to pave the way.

The hellcats prowling toward us refocused my attention on the task at hand. I sent a bolt of lightning at one to distract it while I charged the other, both blades raised high to leave my core unguarded. When it predictably charged my midsection, I sidestepped and brought both blades down on its neck.

Then I blasted the other one’s face with flame. While it was blinded to my actions, I used my earth magic to hurl rubble at it, clearing some of the way for Jax.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” he muttered, and began using earth magic of his own to hurl rocks out of his way.

Since we’d brought these rocks down with us, they responded much more easily to our magic than the unyielding earth of the pit itself, which I suspected was technically part of the infernal realm. Jax chucked the stones that were in his way at more hellcats as they dropped from the vines into the pit with us.

A hellcat prowled toward Jax, and I hurried to finish off the one I was busy with. Then I struck with another bolt of lightning, getting its attention on me instead of Jax. I’d already gotten myself nearly killed stepping between him and a hellbull, but that wouldn’t stop me from doing it again if I needed to.

“The circle’s done!” Jax announced. “Everyone get over here, and I’ll teleport us out — without taking any hellcats with us.”

“Behind you!” one of the spirits called.

Hudson and I rushed toward Jax just as a hellcat dropped down behind him. Before he could turn to fight, its massive paw smashed into him, knocking him from his feet. He fell, his head clunking against a boulder I’d brought down into the pit with us.

Blood immediately oozed down the rock from beneath his head. I couldn’t see how bad it was, but his eyelids didn’t even flutter. My stomach twisted as I imagined his skull split open.

Time seemed to slow as I charged to save my fallen love.

“Jax!”

With a roar, I lifted up several chunks of rocks and formed them into one long, sharp spear. Using lightning to once again distract the hellcat that had hurt Jax, I flung the earth spear with all the power my fear and rage could give me, running in its wake towards Jax. It hit the beast and sent it flying until the spear lodged itself into the wall of the pit, killing the hellcat before the vines could even attempt to intercede.

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