The walls were closing in. From every direction, the space shrank. Fast.
I tried to fade. Nothing. Panic cracked across my chest like a whip.
I was so focused on escaping that I didn’t sense him behind me. I didn’t remember to look until his tail coiled around my waist. Before I could react, he slammed me into the wall.
The crushing stopped. The room fell silent, save for the ragged sound of my breathing.
“Even your freakish strength irritates me,” the Devil growled, vibrating with rage as he stalked closer.
His tail tightened around my body, and I flinched when it coiled up over my mouth. The heat rolling off him made it worse, like I was being pinned beneath molten stone. His horns cast eerie shadows over his face as he leaned in.
“Nothing works here. You can’t fade unless I allow it. There’s no escape. It’s just me, you, and Hell.”
Tears blurred my vision.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
I wasn’t afraid. I was furious. Helpless even with my power. His domain bent everything to his will. My panic spiraled. I couldn’t breathe. My ribs ached, rising and falling rapidly, and my lungs burned. I was going to pass out.
“What is it?” he asked suddenly softly. Too soft. Cruel in its mock concern. “What’s got you so disheveled?”
I couldn’t let him see it. With every ounce of panic-fueled strength, I summoned my scythe—not to wield, but to wedgebetween us. I let my power move it since my limbs weren’t cooperating. My aim clumsy, my swings frantic. I sliced through flesh—mine and his.
The scent of metal filled the air.
I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I hacked and cut until the tail dropped away from me. Staggering upright, I looked around—left, then right. He was gone. Just like that. Had I really been fighting a ghost?
The walls closed in again. The panicky burn in my lungs intensified. It was hard to breathe. I dropped to my knees, shut my eyes, and accepted my fate. Being crushed to death was better than that thing wrapped around my body again. Then the roaring stopped.
The bricks halted abruptly. When I opened my eyes, I saw the walls had frozen in place—one had even vanished, leaving me an exit. The Devil was playing games.
Tears threatened again, not from fear, but from shame. I’d let him get to me. That was the worst part. Until I got control over my breathing, I stayed still. I had to do better.
Wiping my now-healed lips, I rose and stepped through the gap into a clearing with a single red double door. My hunger pangs returned sharply, gripping my insides. I clutched my stomach and reached into my back pocket for a Slim Jim. My fingers touched nothing. My lips parted. Hades.
The snacks must’ve fallen out when he picked me up—or during one of the many chaotic moments. Oh, no. The gnawing hunger would drive me insane. Well, good. Maybe I’d eat the Devil and save the world.
Steeling my spine, I reached for the door and opened it. Warm air hit me. I blinked several times, wondering if my mindwas playing tricks. The space in front of me looked… normal. No, it was gorgeous.
A black chandelier cast a moody glow over a long wooden table with a single chair at one end. To the right, a fireplace crackled gently beside a lone chair with a book resting on the seat. While the cushions were black, the chair itself looked like it was made of bones. Across the room, on the opposite side, was a massive dark window, eerie and opaque. A wide desk was a few feet in front of it. That was where the Devil was.
He peered into the blackness like he could see something out there. His hands behind his back, and that creepy tail of his flicked lazily. The room itself was dim, bathed in a red glow, so I had no idea what he found so fascinating in a window that revealed nothing but bleak darkness.
I materialized my scythe.
A rattling noise sounded from behind me. I jolted and turned. An iron cell appeared out of nowhere.
The steel door creaked open, and his voice rang out. “You can stay there.”
Yeah. Uh, no. I stalked forward.
Two wisps of smoke appeared behind him, low to the ground. A second later, a deep growl echoed from the shadows. Two massive hellhounds appeared. They stood tall enough to reach his waist and, like their master, their eyes glowed a piercing red. Saliva pooled from their oversized jaws, dripping past rows of vicious teeth.
Despite the drool…they were kind of cute. Their ears stuck straight up. Although they didn’t have fur, a black fog drifted lazily around their forms. Their skin shimmered with the same strange Hell patterns—craters—that marked the Devil’s body.
The growling stopped abruptly as I stepped closer.
Those glowing red eyes blinked and then widened. The beasts whimpered and darted behind their master, hunkering down behind his legs as if that would somehow make them invisible. It didn’t—they were way too big—but the attempt was adorable. And weird.
