“I’ll take on my partial hellhound form and attack them while you sneak past the gates and into the city. Then once I’ve taken care of them, I’ll meet you inside,” Gage said.
I didn’t love that idea, but I nodded anyway. As much as I would like to fight by his side, he had his hellhound form to disguise him, and I did not. I had no idea how many of my father’s demons knew who I was or if they could smell me like the spirits did. Best to stay out of it and keep a low profile.
“Be safe,” I told him.
He took off his cloak and handed it to me.
Leaning in, he gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then stalked toward the gates. When his body started to hulk out, contorting as he grew black fur, I ran to the side, ducking behind some big rocks.
Gage started howling and moaning, making a big scene to draw attention. The two guards in front of the gate stepped away to investigate while I waited in hiding.
Don’t get hurt. Don’t get hurt,I chanted as I watched the scaly demons, one with a snakelike head and the other with a long slick tail and black membranous wings, approach Gage.
Standing on the sidelines was not my jam, but Gage had strength from being bit by a hellhound and so he totally had this handled.
As if proving my point, Gage went for the demon nearest him, his movements blurring, and in the time it took me to blink he’d ripped out the snakelike demon’s throat with a clawed hand.
I cringed, torn between being excited Gage was an amazing fighter and horrified he was, in fact, more hellhound than man right now. The second demon flapped his wings and landed on Gage’s back and the breath caught in my throat. I was about to run out and help him when I remembered that I was supposed to be sneaking inside.
He’s got this. Trust him.
This attack might draw notice. I needed to get inside quickly. Gage pitched himself forward; the demon on his back flew off, and that was all I needed to feel better about the situation.
Running from my hiding spot between the large boulders, I bolted for the gates of Shadow City. It was difficult to tell if it was night or day since the Netherworld didn’t have a sun and moon, but whatever time it was, it was gloriously not an active part of the day.
I slipped inside the gates, making sure my head was deep within my hood and then slunk behind an empty market stall. Standing there, I caught my breath, watching a few demons mill about. A female that had long squirming worms that hung to mid-back instead of hair walked across the street, leaving what looked like a tattoo parlor and sauntering into a bar. Two male demons gestured wildly and spoke in grunts and grumbles as they unknowingly passed in front of me to go into a shop down the block that had an all-black door with no sign.
My gaze flicked to the roofs of the nearby buildings, but I saw no demon guards, nor my friends from this angle. I was just starting to worry about Gage when he strolled in through the gates shirtless and covered in black blood, still in his furred form. His upper body looked even larger than the last time he partially transformed, which would account for the missing shirt. He must have busted right out of it.
“Psst!” I hissed, and his head snapped in my direction, yellow eyes flashing.
Slipping into the shadows beside me, he took a moment to get back into his human form. As I watched, the fur on his face and upper body retracted, and the bones in his face reformed.
Once that was done, he grabbed the cloak from my outstretched arms and put it on. “We good?” he asked.
Beside the fact that you just basically turned into a hellhound and killed two demons without breaking a sweat… yeah.Instead of voicing that thought, I just nodded.
We darted across the road, looking for any large buildings that might be the nightclub the spirits had described. I scanned the tops of the buildings looking for any humanoid figures that might be my friends.
Where was the club? We’d passed a bar when Trilok had brought me in, but I didn’t know if that was considered a nightclub here. Some buildings were old and crumbling, some were modern and new, and from the street it was hard to tell if anyone was up on any of the roofs.
My options on how to find my friends were dwindling, so I decided I had to risk being seen and take to the skies.
“I gotta get higher to look for them,” I told Gage.
He paused, not looking happy about me leaving his side, but eventually nodded. We slid into a little alcove at the side of a big building that resembled a library, though probably wasn’t. I doubted demons were interested in their intellectual growth. What would they even read?How to Torture Humans?101 Watcher Recipes?
I handed Gage my cloak and wasted no time releasing my wings. The moment they snapped out, I flapped wildly. It took almost no effort to fly now, it was as easy as breathing. I went straight up, higher than I’d ever gone before, trying to use altitude over Shadow City as camouflage. When I was high enough, I looked around quickly, inspecting every rooftop. When I got close to the giant black castle that I knew Apollyon lived in with my mother, I hesitated. It looked out over the entire city. What if Apollyon was there right now looking out and saw me?
Demons lingered below, and I held my breath as I flew high above them.
Don’t look up. Don’t look up, I silently pleaded.
Circling back, I went to the edge of the city, and that’s when I saw it: a giant warehouse type club with a flat roof and music blaring out of its open doors. Huddled in one corner of the roof were four people I loved very much. Knowing Gage was safely tucked away in the alcove of the building below, I headed for my friends.
They all looked a little worse for wear, and by the dry cracks in their lips I worried they hadn’t found water or food. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back as I lowered myself until I was descending right in front of them.
“I’m so sorry,” I immediately said when I landed before them, unable to hold back a few of the tears born from both relief and guilt. Some great friend I was, locking them in Hell.
