"Welcome to the fifth circle of hell." Her voice is the soft drift of snowfall. "My name is Onibaba, the Queen of this dimension, and I will be your guide."
I feel like I've been dropped in the middle of a fucking tour bus and she's myeat shit smilingguide. I can't tell if this is funny or just really weird.
Definitely both.
“Um, hi… I’m Izara… Izara Castillo…”
She pulls a blade of ice out of a holster on her waist. I eye it warily. “Oh, I know who you are. You are the Princess of Hell and all its domains.” She bends down and stabs her knife through the already dead creature and begins skinning it.
Um.
Okay.
“What do you mean all its domains?” I wrap my arms around myself.
Her red eyes lock on to mine for a brief moment, and the expression in them is so hard to read. “It means you are one of the supreme rulers of hell, of course.” She continues slicing in quick movements until the hide is off and dripping blood. She waves a hand over it and murmurs a few words in demonic language, followed by the stench of sulfur. When she stands to her full height, she lifts the fur with her. It is now clear of blood and looks magically sewn together into a snowsuit. She holds it out. “For you.”
I know this is some type of test she’s giving me, and I don’t even care about the poor creature she gutted to give this to me, I take it anyway, slipping it over my shoulders. The slits up the back fall perfectly around my wings and the tattered remnants of my dress. The warmth of it envelops my entire body and I smile gratefully.
“Have a seat, Princess.” Onibaba gestures at the ground and only sits down once I do. We stare at each other for a long time. Finally, she takes a breath. “Hell is composed of seven circles. Each circle, ordomain, is ruled by a king or queen. But there are few entities who have supreme rule over every domain. Lucian Morningstar, the Messenger of Chaos, and now you.”
My palms tick with anxiety. I didnotsign up for that. I lean forward, closing my nails into my palms to avoid shaking. “Why me?”
The question seems to catch her off guard. She blinks, once, twice. “Because you are the only living daughter of—”
I make an exasperated noise in the back of my throat, cutting her off. “I thought I was a descendent of a descendent. Not his actualdaughter.” I mean, it had always been a possibility. The fact that the Messenger kidnapped me and called me ‘daughter’ only confirmed it.
“Of course you are his daughter. Why do you think you have such unfathomable power within you?”
The words ‘Princess of Hell’ rings loudly in my ears. It’s why my Prod is so destructive, why she feels so at home in hell’s dimensions. Is that also why I have such control of her here? Because it’s… home? Because here she doesn’t need to hide?
Nothing makes sense.
“Doesn’t he have any other kids he can throw that title to?” I ask.
Her red eyes grow sad with ancient memories and a cold fury. “They are all dead.” She leans forward in a move that looks desperate, urgent. “You are thelast.”
I don’t want to be the last. I don’t want to be his anything. I just want to get back to the Academy. To my boyfriends. To mylife.
She must read my thoughts plainly in my eyes. “You wish to go back.” It isn’t a question, so I don’t need to answer. “Because you are my Princess, I will give you the answers you seek, even though I wish you to stay.”
Wariness creeps through my veins. Why is she helping me? Demons are evil by nature, and mischievous, too. She won’t help me in exchange for nothing.
My eyes narrow. “What do you want in exchange?”
Her smile flashes and its as blinding as it is terrifying and shows off all her needle sharp teeth I hadn’t noticed before.
“A debt,” she replies. “To be called on at a later time.”
A slow sinking feeling weighs down my stomach. I learned at the Academy that demons are tricky fuckers. They’re like faeries, all about destruction and contracts.
“Are you going to ask me for my firstborn?”
She laughs out a malicious sound and shakes her head. “You want specifics? Okay, Princess. If I help you, there will come a time when I will need the help of the Princess of Hell. When that time comes, I will call on you. Not for your firstborn, or anything of the physical world. You will sacrifice no life, yours or anyone else’s in the exchange. A mere favor. Tit for tat. Quid quo pro. Isn’t that what the fecks are saying?”
I could say no. Iwantto say no. The word is on the tip of my tongue.
As if she senses this, she goes on, “To prove my loyalty to you I will give you a gift.” She waves her hand and the smell of sulfur assaults my nostrils and a glowing, dark doorway appears behind her. “You have not grown into your full powers yet, so you cannot leave hell at your leisure. To make it back to your world, you must cross the seven circles and pass the tests of each domain. I can give you direct access to the second circle. Skips through the tediousness of circles four and three."
