“This is Alex?” someone behind me asked.
All I could do was nod my head. My heart was breaking into a million little pieces seeing him like this—not knowing if I could save him.
My crew approached and Eva, Hunter, and Amethyst joined me on the floor. Eva wrapped her arm around me, while Amethyst placed her hand on Alex’s chest.
“His soul is still there,” Amethyst whispered after a moment. “He’s alive.”
“He’ll be okay, Odie,” Eva assured me. “We’ll get him out of here and fix him up.”
“Not unless you plan on acting quickly.” Francis moved to stand opposite me. “His heartbeat is weak—too weak to move him. I can give him blood to help his healing. If he’s as important to the fate of our world as you say, it would be an honor.”
I looked up at Francis and then at the horrific room we found ourselves in. Fire and black stones that jutted out of the ground littered the vast space. The brightest objects were the bones upon which the monarchs sat, and the acrid stench of blood and sulfur and death and fear infiltrated my nostrils, making my heart race. We were in the very center of Hell, and everything about this place was terrifying. We needed to leave as quickly as possible.
“Please. Please do it, I—”
“You’ll die down here!” A waterfall of cackles rang out, sending chills down my spine.
Francis’ head snapped up, and he took a step back. “Oh shit.”
I tensed. Anyone that made a vampire recoil like that couldn’t be good. I desperately wanted to be a coward and just sit with Alex until he healed, but I knew that couldn’t be. So I gathered all my courage, and twisted to see who had discovered us.
Three women, all as blonde and beautiful as they were horrible, strutted around at the entrance to the throne room. Metal glinted in a burst of flames that shot out of the ground, and my heart stopped. One of them held the Realm Slicer.
Mentally, I cursed myself for being so stupid as to drop the thing. On the outside, however, I kept my cool as I stood and placed my body in front of Alex.
“You think you can save him, pretty?” the woman holding the blade waved it in the air.
I pressed my lips together in defiance.
The woman snorted and pointed the tip of the Realm Slicer at me. “You’re brave, that’s for sure, but you won’t be saving that boy. Not if the princesses of Hell have anything to say about it.”
The realization of just who these women were slammed into me, making my breath hitch.
The Furies.
The story went that the Furies—the ancient goddesses of retribution and vengeance—had once been obsessed with stamping out sins and violent acts against the gods. But the less their followers believed in them, the more vengeful the Furies became. Then, in a massive screw-you to the humans who abandoned them, the ex-goddesses joined up with Lucifer and Xaphan, a fallen angel, to live in the underworld. In the pits of Hell, the Furies were all-powerful once again as the three-in-one demon figurehead and princesses of the underworld.
Involuntarily, I began to tremble. Things were bad—verybad.
“That’s better,” cooed another one of the Furies as she eyed my trembling form. “Proper respect, that is.” She smiled, and something dark in nature and oily slithered over my skin.
“Not only are they intruders who brought exactly what we needed,” the third Fury purred. “They’re also not who they seem.” She brought her hands out in front of her, palms out, and then flung them away from each other, toward the side walls.
The fae glamour ripped off of me in one quick stroke, leaving me breathless.
“Thought they could fool us!” A Fury screamed. “Maybe a stupid wraith but not princesses of darkness!” She cackled and the other two princesses burst into laughter too.
I took advantage of their distraction, whipping around and gesturing to Francis and Simone, who like everyone else, had been de-glamoured. “Heal Alex,” I hissed.
When I twisted to face the Furies once again, the one holding the Realm Slicer was watching me with narrowed eyes. “Iknowyou. Now that you’re uncovered, I canfeelyour mark. You’re the one dear Ishy is looking for, aren’t you?”
“No,” I lied.
Another Fury flicked a finger down at my ankle. My mark burned as if I’d stepped into a barrel of flames and a scream flew up my throat as I collapsed.
“Yes, yes you are, little witchy,” the first Fury said, as an evil grin spread across her face. “We should probably tell sweet Queen Ishy that you’re here. Or perhaps we just take you to her?”
Suddenly, black tendrils of magic flew from each of the demons. Hunter and Amethyst went on the attack as my heart leapt into my throat. Knowing we had to leave before this got out of hand, I scampered backward until I nudged Alex.
