“My brother is dead. There’s a large chance Sable is alive. And if she is, it’s likely she’s being tortured.”
“You’re human,” he points out. “I know you aren’t processing the significance of that, but you aren’t a fucking demon anymore. There is no tether. No voice. No demands. No fear. Me taking you down there is suicide.”
“She’sdown there.”
Tony sighs, throwing his arms out. “What if I don’t want to?”
“Then I’d never forgive you.”
He clicks his tongue. “Damn, bro. You’d sacrifice yourself for some chick?”
“I think I love her.”
Tony grimaces. “If you didn’t love her, then you’d be on your way to freedom by now. Why exactly is it you’re still here?”
For a long, hard moment, I picture myself stepping over the property lines and toward my freedom. I could live. I could find out what’s happened since I was taken from my life. There are multiple things that I should do.
My main goal was to get out of here and search for my brother—or his family, now that he’s no longer alive. Assuming he lived long enough to have one. I can only hope he had a good life. One Sable also deserved before I took it away from her.
I swallow and bring my gaze back to my friend. “I need to find her.”
“Because you love her.”
I take a deep breath and nod.
Fuck. I’ve fallen in love with the girl I murdered.
Tony pats my shoulder. “Will we go save her, then?”
He could take me back, sneak me in somehow, and take me to her. I’ll figure out a way to get us both out, or at least her, before we’re caught. It’s possible.
“You need to make it believable,” I tell him, taking a deep breath. “If we get caught, you’ll be in deep shit. You can’t bring a human back and not expect to be questioned.”
He gestures to the wound on my side. “I could say I caused that wound and you cheated Hell, so I was returning you. I’d be praised for bringing you back, if anything.”
“That doesn’t explain why I left as a demon and returned as a human.”
“Then let’s make sure we don’t get caught. It would be embarrassing for me to be punished over something like this.”
I give a curt nod, filling my lungs with previous fresh air while I can. “How will you get us in?”
“You’re gonna need to ride me.”
Blinking, I stare at him for far too long, awaiting clarification. When it doesn’t come, my head tilts. “Excuse me?”
He shifts into Tidus effortlessly, and I flinch back from him instinctively. He’s huge.
“Ass-hole.” Tidus growls and crouches down, silently telling me to climb on.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say with a sigh. But a moment later, I’m standing on his paw, pulling myself onto his back, and gripping his fur.
Never in my pitiful life did I think I’d be riding my furry friend into a portal to Hell on a rescue mission. Yet here I am, watching the ground open up in a vortex of flames, growing large enough to swallow us both.
Instead of materializing into the entrance, we drop so fast my stomach twists, and I need to squeeze my thighs and hold onfor dear life. My eyes screw shut, and my face slams into his fur when we land.
Instantly, the heat is unbearable.
I always knew Hell was hot. Being a demon meant I was able to handle it and adapt, but even when I first arrived after being killed, I didn’t struggle to breathe the way I am now. It’s like inhaling smoke, and my eyes burn.
