Chapter 13
13
Invi
I had to stop thinking about the sensation of her supple flesh under my palms and about the needy little noises she made with my rattle inside her and my tongue on her breasts. Fucking Nic with my rattle and my fingers had been the most exquisite experience of my entire existence. It had everything to do with her soul, of course. But right now, all I could think about was her body.
A faint rumbling sound reached my ears, and I strained my hearing, trying to figure out what it was.
“Sorry,” Nicole mumbled, placing a hand on her belly. “It must be around lunchtime by now, and my stomach doesn’t know we’re a long way from the teahouse and its kitchen.”
While I was daydreaming about all the ways I’d use her body for our mutual pleasure, I completely forgot that her body needed regular sustenance to function. I felt like slapping myself for that oversight.
“We might be able to find some drinkable water,” I said. “But I strongly advise against eating anything in the maze, even if it appears edible.”
Nicole wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, I have no appetite at all right now. It stinks so bad here.”
I drew in a deep breath and instantly regretted it. The filth of the minotaur’s remains still clung to us mixed with the rotten stench of sulfur in the air.
“It’s the smell of the sinners, Nic.” I scanned the slime-covered walls around us. “They’re the ones who make hell the vile place that it is.”
“It’s disgusting. But you don’t smell like that. In fact, your scent is exceptionally nice.” She leaned a little closer to me, gripping my finger tighter. “Why do sinners stink, but not the sin?”
“There is a big difference between a sin and a sinner,” I said. “My brothers and I are the embodiment of the feelings that you often can’t help having. Your kind can hardly go through a lifetime without feeling angry or envious or aroused, which is natural, just like feeling tired or hungry. It’s how each person handles those feelings that ultimately may make them a sinner.”
I let her ponder my words while I focused my attention on the walls and the slimy black shadows clinging to them. We had no choice but to keep moving this way. There was no need to alarm Nicole yet. She’d been scared enough already. I was happy to distract her with the conversation while I remained vigilant for both of us.
“For example,” I said, making an effort to keep my concerns out of my voice. “Have you ever felt envious of someone?”
“Of course I have.” She took no time to reply. “Ever since Jessica and I hit puberty, I saw how differently our bodies were changing. Hers turned into that of a beauty queen. And mine…well, let’s just say I never danced in a string bikini at a pool party and never will.” She shrugged.
The importance that humans placed on the appearance of their bodies never made any logical sense to me. With time, I simply learned to accept it as one of the many peculiar quirks their souls had when inhabiting the mortal world. I could only compare it to the pleasure my brother Sup derived from every article of clothing he had or the satisfaction my brother Avar felt from owning literally anything.
“But what did you do when you felt envious of your friend?” I asked, carefully steering her away from a bulging shadow on the wall as we passed by. “Did you say anything to make her feel inadequate? Did you derive pleasure in eroding her confidence? Did you try to harm her in order to feel better about your own perceived inadequacies?”
“What? Of course not,” she bristled, indignantly. “In fact, if anyone tried to do those things to Jess, I’d punch them in the throat.”
I chuckled at the vigor of my feisty avenger.
“And that’s why you’ll never stink like the sinners in here, my darling. You’d be disgusted to learn what some of them have done to other human beings out of envy. From the moment I met you, I knew your soul must be one of the most fragrant ever.”
“Because I would punch people in the throat?” she teased.
“Because you laugh freely, as a soul unburdened by the vile parts of sins.”
She glanced up at me. “I believe I’ve grown to enjoy some parts of one particular sin a little too much lately.”
Warmth pulsed in my chest at those words and that glance. The joy I felt in her company was incomparable to anything else. I had to have her, even if it took an eternity to win her heart.
But first, I had to protect her.
A thick, black tendril slithered along the wall like a snake. It lashed out, reaching for her.
“Stay back, Nic!” I grabbed her in my arms, snatching her away from the filthy soul of a damned one.
She cried out in shock, clinging to my neck.
“What is that thing?” She glared back at the wall.
The soul flattened itself against the rock once again, becoming nothing but a stain.
“Just someone on their way to hell, dearest.” I tried to keep fear out of my voice, but it wasn’t easy.
Fear I’d never experienced before rolled through me in sickening spasms. For the first time in my existence, I fully realized how devastatingly fragile a mortal body was and how much pain and suffering it could cause to the soul inside it—to my Nic.
“What do they want with me?” she asked.
To drag you down along with them.
But I couldn’t tell her that. She seemed terrified enough already.
“Just ignore them,” I said. “Try to keep as far away as possible from the walls. In fact, I’ll carry you from here on.”
I settled her more comfortably in the crook of my arm, and she didn’t protest, keeping an arm around my neck.
“How long do you think it’ll take us to get out of here?” she asked in a subdued voice. Despite my best efforts, she was afraid.
“I’m not sure. I can sense where the exit is, but I don’t know how many turns and passages it will take for us to get there, especially since the maze has shifted.”
“Well, at least you have the sense of direction. Because I have nothing. I’m not even entirely sure where the floor and the ceiling here are. If you told me the maze flipped upside down and we’re walking on the roof now, I’d believe you. I’d be so lost without you.” She picked up a lock of my hair and wound it around her finger. “You’re not allowed to part from me, Invi,” she said softly.
“I’m not intending to. Ever.”
I held my breath, waiting for her to remind me that she was leaving when Avar returned to Purgatory. But she just hugged my neck tighter with a sigh.
After taking a few turns, following one endless corridor after another, I tried to estimate how long we’d been in the maze already. It definitely must be past lunchtime. Probably close to dinnertime soon. A human could survive without food for a while, but they wouldn’t last long without water.
There was some groundwater in the maze, but we’d have to descend to the level below to find it, which meant making a detour and risking losing any lead I might have over my brothers.
As if sensing my thoughts, Nic asked, “Do you think your brothers are okay? I lost Gul out of sight quickly. But I saw Ira fighting minotaurs before I fell.”
“My brothers will be fine. They’re immortal, remember? The worst that can happen to them is that the souls of the damned would drag them to hell.”
Her eyes opened wider. “And what happens then?”
“They’ll have to find their way back up if the demons let them. Meanwhile,” I smiled, “I’ll win.”
“Are you sure you’ll win this thing?”
“I have no choice. I have to win. And I have my eyes on the prize.” I held her gaze until she laughed.
The ground trembled. The screeching sound of walls moving announced that the maze was being rearranged once again.
“Oh, shit.” Nicole tensed in trepidation.
This time, however, instead of closing in on us, the walls of the passage shifted away from each other, making the space wider. Several more walls appeared up ahead of us. They formed three different corridors for us to turn into. All three seemed equally dark and menacing.
“Where to now?” Nic asked.
I tried to orient myself in the new surroundings. “Just a minute, dearest. The maze is still moving.”
She glanced behind me over my shoulder.
“Um, Invi…” Her voice dropped to a half-whisper. “What the hell is that? ”
I whipped around to face a giant head rising from the ground. It had more horns than Avar. They spiked and curved in every direction. Two tusks grew out on each side of the monster’s snout, making his bovine head look more like that of a boar.
What the hell, indeed?
Instead of the shoulders, the shadows on the ground formed a pair of long, grimy tentacles. A few more sprouted, lashing against the floor and the walls with splatters of inky black mud.
The abomination’s mouth opened with a revolting, deafening screech, bearing two rows of sharp gray teeth.
“Oh, my God…” Nic whimpered, digging her fingers into my shoulder.
The maze was still moving, the screeching of its shifting walls echoed through the three passages in front of us. I scanned them again, listening for my senses to tell me which one would be the shortest way to the exit.
But there was no more time to wait.
The creature behind us lurched forward, its tentacles undulating under it like a giant ball of rolling mud.
Fuck it.
Uncoiling my tail to propel me forward, I leaped into the passage on the right.
The nightmare behind us screeched, groaned, and cried in a thousand voices, each more terrifying than the one before it.
“It’s after us,” Nic informed me, sounding tense but calmer than I would’ve expected.
I felt the creature. Its presence scraped against my senses like a cold, foul claw. One of its tentacles slapped against my tail. The contact sent a paralyzing arrow of pain through my system, making me lurch to the side. I hit a wall with my shoulder.
Nic cried out in horror.
Shoving away from the wall, I kept going, unable to even think about what would happen to us both if that thing caught up with us.
The passage ended suddenly in a cliff, with a river running deep below. Without Nic in my arms, I could’ve possibly pushed off with my tail hard enough to leap onto the other side of the cliff. Then I could’ve stretched my tail for her to cross over too. But leaving her here alone, even for a moment, with the terrifying monster from hell was unthinkable.
“We’ll dive.” I moved to the edge.
“Are you sure?” Nic looked over her shoulder and into the gorge below.
“Hold your breath—” was all I managed to say to her.
The monster leaped, and so did I.
The dark water closed over us. And for one blissful moment, the repulsive sensation of the creature’s presence in my head eased. Then a splash rippled through the water, and the disturbing invasion slammed into me anew.
Holding Nicole to me with one arm, I used the other arm and the tail to propel us to the surface for her to draw a breath.
She blew the water out of her nose and gasped for air. I didn’t need her to speak to know she saw the creature swimming after us. Nic didn’t say a word, but her body remained tense and her eyes wide open as she stared over my shoulder.
A wall rose in the path of the stream. The river ran under it, with no more air for Nic to breathe.
“Take a deep breath and hold it,” I instructed.
She did as she was told, without questions. Not knowing how long the stream would remain underground, I drew in a full chest of air too.
As we dove then swam in the dark water underground, I counted the seconds in my head, but I couldn’t remember how long a human could live without air.
A convulsion ran through Nic’s body, and I nearly panicked, ready to crash through the rock, the wall, and the hell below, just to keep her alive.
Cradling her head in my hand, I placed my parted lips on hers and allowed her to breathe the air I had kept for her.
I had no lungs, no heart, no muscle tissue, or any blood vessels. But my form and functions were created to mimic a human body—with a heartbeat, breathing, and a pulse. I could eat if I wanted. I could breathe. But I didn’t need to do any of that to exist. Nic did.
She gripped handfuls of my hair in her fists, keeping me close, and breathed. My smart woman drew air in small, measured breaths, mindful of making it last. I just hoped that the river tunnel ended before I ran out of air too.
The creature behind us was getting closer. The water was saturated with its presence. The black tentacles splayed, like ink, choking out my glow and plunging us in nearly complete darkness.
Nic closed her eyes, held on to me, and breathed, just breathed. What a good girl she was. I wished I could tell her that, to comfort her somehow. But I had to focus to keep her alive.
I pushed harder, working my tail to keep moving and to stay ahead from the hellish creature. Its darkness seemed to fall back, giving space for my glow to spread. The tunnel’s roof above us rose higher, allowing for a sliver of air above the water surface.
I lifted Nic with her face above water, letting her take a breath freely.
“Invi? Are you okay?” Fighting for air, she worried about me.
“I’m fine, sweetheart. What can possibly happen to a sin?”
She angled her head to take a look behind us. I kept swimming with the same speed as before, but the distance between us and the creature was growing.
“He’s…falling behind,” she said in a halting voice as she kept working on her breathing.
“The tunnel is ending.” I gestured up at the ceiling that was rising higher and higher, widening the tunnel into a riverbed once again.
A little further down the stream, the riverbank widened into a flat rock platform on our right. The creature was no longer pursuing us. I couldn’t see it, no matter how hard I tried. More importantly, I couldn’t catch even a trace of its rotten presence in the water anymore.
“It’s safe for us to get out now,” I said, taking a course toward the flat platform on our right.