Chapter 37 #2
I nodded slowly. “You don’t look like someone who’s given up.”
“And you don’t look like someone who’ll let this place win.”
I huffed a soft laugh.
Dominik’s gaze flicked to mine. “What about you, Nina?”
“I’m still going for the win, I guess.”
He shook his head like I was being stubborn. “No one has won before.”
I frowned. “Who says I can’t be the first?”
“Why not bargain with Leander?”
A soft laugh escaped me. “You think I should stay in Temptation?”
Dominik leaned forward, his voice smooth. “It isn’t all that awful. You’d be safe there. And you wouldn’t have to claw your way through Hell every day just to survive like you would in Torment.”
Something in my chest twisted.
Felix scoffed. “Oh, come on, even you don’t believe that.”
“I’ve seen worse fates than Temptation,” Dominik said.
I studied him. Something unreadable darkened in his expression. His fingers tensed slightly at his sides. There was something off about Dominik, but I couldn’t work out what.
My friend had grown far too close to the Demon of Chaos. Today’s revelations made it very clear: Dominik meant to betray me. And he’d already told Alexei more than he ever should have.
I couldn’t trust him anymore.
The dagger from Salazar rested in my hands, its metal humming softly. Better not to think about the lives it had taken.
“Are we going to talk about that smoke monster? You sure he is who he says he is?” Felix said.
“Salazar’s been in prison a long time. But I don’t think he’s as much of a monster as the other creatures in Hell.”
“But who is he?” Felix asked. “What is he?”
“Did he help you in Torment?” Selene added.
Dominik lifted his eyes to me, suspicion swimming in his gaze.
“No, he didn’t help me,” I said.
“You should have seen her,” Felix said, nudging Dominik with his leg. “Too bad you sneaked off early.”
Dominik ignored his quip and continued to stare at me. “What was all that about the infernal fires?” he asked. “Was it Salazar’s doing? Was he the one whispering to you before?”
“I don’t know. Can we just leave it?”
What was there to say? That I had released the infernal fires myself?
No, I wasn’t ready to trust anyone (least of all Dominik) with that information.
Our chatter continued through the night, as Selene and Felix talked about their demons, and at some point, exhaustion dragged me under.
***
A rustling and a scrape of nails on stone woke me. I blinked, pushing myself up. The fire was weak, and the shadows were long and ominous. The steady breaths of the others filled the cave, an odd sort of comfort in this forsaken place. The ground was rough beneath me, my limbs sore, my body aching.
But then I jolted at the figure I noticed standing in the corner. I glanced around the group, and mentally noted Dominik, Selene and Felix sleeping.
That left Amabel.
The whispers entered my mind. “You must kill her.”
The figure was standing awkwardly just out of the firelight. Her arms were slack at her sides, and her head tilted at an unnatural angle.
I swallowed. “Amabel? Is everything okay?”
She moved step by step towards me, unnatural and wrong. Her head lifted, and when she stepped into the low light, I finally saw that her eyes weren’t hers at all.
Black, bulging eyes stared at me. Her face was different, too, like her skin had become taut and her bones sharp. My eyes fell to the wings on her back, and I bit back a gasp.
The whispers grew to a panicked frenzy. “She is no longer human. Kill the Fury.”
I nudged a sleeping Felix at my feet and pressed my hand over his mouth. I gave him wide eyes – a warning. He listened and stayed silent.
I crawled over to Dominik and Selene and shook them awake, pressing a finger to my lips, asking them to stay silent, too.
Amabel smiled. That familiar warm smile showed all her teeth, but they were chiselled into fangs. She tilted her head, bones cracking as her neck straightened.
Felix scrambled backwards, his blade clattering from his shaking hands. “Nina—”
“Don’t.” I raised a hand, my voice trembling. “She’s got to still be in there.”
But the thing wearing Amabel’s skin moved too fast to be human. She lunged for Felix, claws raking across the stone where his throat had been a heartbeat before. Dominik shouted, slamming into her side, but she barely flinched.
“If she scratches us, we’ll turn too,” Dominik shouted. “We haven’t got a choice, Nina.”
“Amabel!” I yelled, unsheathing the blade that shimmered with that strange infernal light. “You have to fight it!”
She turned to me, wings flaring. For a moment, her expression faltered. Did she recognise me?
Then she screamed, and the sound was anything but human.
I faltered, tears burning my eyes.
The whispers shrieked. “Kill her. Kill the Fury.”
I hesitated, and she lunged, slashing her claws at Selene. Her scream ripped through the cave, snapping whatever was left of my restraint.
Panic rushed through me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, raising my blade. “Forgive me, Amabel.”
I struck, but she twisted away towards the opening of the cave.
When she opened her mouth wide, a chattering noise tore from her lungs. Then, she prowled towards the entrance, over the Fury carcass, and opened her wings wide.
Amabel lifted off the ground and took flight, disappearing on the horizon.
I stood frozen.
“What happened to Amabel?” Felix spat.
“The sirens in Fear can turn you with one cut,” Selene said sadly. “Looks like Furies can do the same thing.”
We stood in the cave entrance, feeling deflated and broken.
We were down to four.
The following morning, we left the cave. No one spoke. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was what had happened with Amabel.
We walked beside the mountains, the scorched red ground giving us no comfort. I noticed a few wisps of smoke ahead, and I smiled to myself, knowing it had to be Salazar.
He really insisted on stalking me.
We found a bridge, like the one into Temptation when I first arrived, arching over a molten river.
No one argued, and we crossed in a single file, weary and exhausted. At the other end, we came to seven paths, all in different shapes, colours and materials that matched the archways in the Heart of Hell.
“Must be direct ways to the domains,” Dominik said.
“Yeah, looks like it,” I said.
We had almost made it.
Almost.
Selene’s gaze flickered towards me. “Just one relic left.”
Felix exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “You know what? I think I’ll be sitting this one out. After what happened to Amabel, I’d rather face an eternity with my own body and mind.”
Dominik watched him carefully. “Backing down already?”
Felix grinned. “Backing down? No. I’m being realistic about surviving the last domain.”
Dominik turned to me. “And what about you?”
I gripped the relics at my neck. “I’m finishing this,” I said.
With a quick goodbye, we returned to our demons and our domains.
The last and final domain was waiting.