Ronen
Chapter
Eight
The wide stone hallway slowly swallowed the hellion, much like her oversized sweatshirt and pants.
She looked so small, fragile. My shadows prickled at my feet, urging me to go after her.
To hold her again. Ease as much of her pain as I could.
Maybe even bring back that fluttering light that had nudged the block I had against her this morning.
I continued to waver between letting in her emotions entirely, filtering them, and blocking them. I usually resorted to the latter two. But I realized I had to be careful with filtering.
This morning, I allowed her amusement and joy into my mind. Then her soul-crushing grief had slammed into the small barrier like a battering ram. Her emotions had taken over, clawed into the deepest recesses of my mind, and dredged up memories.
Etan’s face had flashed into view.
My surroundings had shifted to pools of blood and begging.
My shadows were seconds away from ripping free and attacking my Dreads when the hellion had collided with me. Her voice and presence had grounded me, dragging me out of the past. Ironic, really.
She was my poison and my cure.
I wanted to drown in her but feared the consequences.
My constant inner conflict frustrated me to no end.
Even so, she wanted nothing to do with me, her squad, or training.
I understood. But the hellion didn’t have the luxury to hide in her room and grieve.
She needed the skills to survive against any threat—including the guardian bond.
And her squad needed a leader. She may not be ready, but Hell didn’t care.
Pain and suffering. That was our doctrine.
We hid behind the label of military, but we weren’t built for war.
We forged warriors, but not a unified front.
The Redemption Circle was just another circle that orchestrated punishment through labels and controlled violence.
The majority of our military held little love for each other.
How could they when they were all out for themselves?
Few understood the purpose of our circle.
Few souls were redeemed. They never understood it was all a test.
I strode toward the arena to meet up with my Dreads. Most of them were on the dais, waiting for me. Along with one I didn’t remember approving to be anywhere near our military.
The pet stood next to MJ, looking like a lost Soulhound in need of a leash.
Cracking my thumbs, I kept my hands by my sides, well away from my Soul Swords, with my mask firmly in place. Reaction reflected weakness, and weakness was deadly here.
“Xavier, report,” I ordered once on the wooden platform.
He rubbed his dark, bald head. “Same story, General. We found nothing in the Eternal Forest, nor Hoar Hollow. But our efforts were hindered by the blizzard.”
Lucifer and his emotions were determined to make this difficult for us.
“We’ll check through Hoar Hollow again today, then scour the Veil Forest.”
“What else?” I asked, noting his fidgeting.
“Cecilee didn’t come back.”
“How? You go in groups.”
“She was with Ridigar. He came back. She didn’t.”
Slowly, I shifted my attention to Ridigar.
He held up his hands. “She said she wanted to check on her daughter. I followed her to her home, then left.”
“Left?” My shadows snaked around his neck, squeezing. “You are not authorized to search for the infected alone.”
Ridigar clawed at his neck, his fingers failing to hold my shadows. “I didn’t. I came straight back here,” he spat weakly.
“And you left Cecilee.”
“I waited for her. But the—” He wheezed. “Snowstorm. She was—” He choked. I let him. He was a soul. He wouldn’t die from strangulation. “Safe in her home,” he finally managed to say.
I was curious as to why he had to wait at all. Cecilee was protective of her daughter, but checking on her in the middle of a mission for more than a few minutes seemed out of character.
“You didn’t think to knock on her door or follow her inside?”
“I don’t—do—touchy-feely shit. Figured she’d—come back—when she wanted.”
“In the middle of a mission?”
“Yes.” He glared at me as if to say it wasn’t his fault Cecilee didn’t follow orders. It wasn’t. Still, I had half a mind to sever his head for his attitude.
Instead, my shadows sliced his neck, absorbing his crimson-tinged soul-body fluids, and shoved into his mind. At first, he resisted me, his mind stronger than I had remembered. But with some effort, I blasted apart the block. Then I severed the connection to his motor neurons.
He collapsed onto the floorboards with a bang, sprawled out like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Humiliation was just as effective as punishment.
I glared down at him. “Next time, check on your fellow Dread.”
He blinked up at me. That was all he could do, his body and mouth unable to move with my shadows tampering.
“And the Nightmares?” I asked Xavier.
“All accounted for.”
I nodded. “Xavier and Ian, go check Cecilee’s home. See if your fellow Dread stayed with her daughter, then report back to me.”
“Yes, Sir,” they replied, then left.
“Layla, Shane, and Alessandro… continue to search.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I refrained from shaking my head. How was it possible that we’d searched all over the Redemption Circle countless times and still hadn’t found their hideaway? It didn’t make sense. What were we missing?
They left, and I turned to my second and third, ignoring the waste of space beside them. “Report.”
“Well, the womb-warm runts are as fresh and scared as the day they started. The promising ones moved up to the Trenchers, and it seems they haven’t killed each other, so that’s something,” Alexei began.
MJ scoffed. “That’ll change.”
Alexei grimaced. “Yeah, the Devils and Infernos had a couple casualties while we were gone. Tormentors…” Alexei fiddled with a dagger, his grimace deepening. “Lots of new blood and no direction makes for a Cambion Demon on the verge of explosion.”
I scanned the groups, laying eyes on the Tormentors.
Dusty and Matt replaced Cyrus and Theon, and although the two had skills and ruthlessness to lead, it seemed that two months of leadership had gone to their heads.
Currently, they were trying to lead the group in drills.
I had a feeling they’d cause the hellion issues.
Leaders were required to make their squad suffer to expose their weaknesses and satisfy Hell’s need to punish. But Lucille didn’t have that merciless bone in her body. Power, yes. Skills, somewhat. The ability to push a squad past their limits? I refrained from sighing.
“MJ, I need you to stand in for Lucille today.”
“Just today?” Alexei lifted a brow.
I slowly turned, my lips pressing into a flat line.
“Just today. Got it,” he amended, unable to hide his frown. It mirrored the pet’s.
The pet’s doubt I understood. He wasn’t familiar with Hell. But Alexei? He knew better. This was our way. These were Lucifer’s orders.
“And Aspen?” MJ inquired, her arms crossed over her Dread uniform, one hand tapping her bone dagger. She’d never unsheathe it against me. She reserved that dagger for special occasions. But it was a silent challenge. One only Alexei and I could spot.
I let my cold expression speak for me. The pet could rot in Oliver’s room.
MJ moved close, lowering her voice. “Hell’s military is all about punishment, right? Wouldn’t you rather see him beaten around and suffering?”
“Preferably dead.”
“He has a higher potential of that here than in Oliver’s room.”
I narrowed my eyes. She wasn’t wrong. But I knew for a fact that she didn’t want Aspen dead, so she had her own ulterior motives for trying to persuade me. My only issue would be the guardian bond.
It mainly thrived on visual cues and emotions. If I could keep the pet and Lucille away from each other, I might just enjoy watching the pet in my military.
“He’ll join the Devils.” I finally flicked my attention to the deadweight. His lifeless expression shifted to surprise. “I want him to get a good taste of our ways.” I stepped up to him. “Make sure you block your emotions from Lucille.”
“I already do.”
“Good.” Turning back to Alexei and MJ, I asked, “How’s the military handling the news on the infection?”
Both of them frowned.
“There’s been no talk of it,” MJ admitted.
Lucifer said he’d send a missive out. If he did, I imagined there’d be some talk, fear, questions. Something. But as I gazed out at our squads, everything seemed normal.
Did he forget?
“Alexei,” I commanded.
I could see his smirk in my peripheral. He loved this part.
Lightning shot from his hand and slammed into the vaulted ceiling, followed by a resounding boom that rattled the glass windows circling the arena. Training halted. Conversations ceased. Every eye turned toward me.
“I hope you chose your squad wisely. As you well know, Hell prides itself on redemption through pain. You will be sweating, bleeding, and suffering through your leader’s orders with these squadmates for the foreseeable future.
Now more than ever, we need to weed out your weaknesses and eliminate them for the sake of your soul and Hell itself. ”
The squadrons looked on with varying degrees of apprehension and confusion. Lucifer hadn’t sent out a missive.
For fuck’s sake.
“Some of you are aware that in the last twenty years, Hell has been having difficulties releasing redeemed souls from the Redemption Circle. But we’ve still been gaining souls from the Temptation Circle and…” I paused, eyeing our military. “The three lowest circles.”
Immediately, the lower-level squadrons started murmuring.
“The Damned?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Hell’s Circles don’t work that way.”
“What’s the king doing about this?”
“Yeah! We don’t want those disgusting freaks in our circle.”
On and on it went. Outrage, blame, complaints.
I shot Alexei a pointed look. He nodded, then sent one large bolt into the ceiling and another into the ground right in front of the dais, spraying up sand and silencing everyone.
“That’s better,” I stated. “Until we figure out a way to keep the gates open to the other dimensions permanently, souls and blood-banded alike are stuck in Hell. Even if Lucifer determines you are redeemable, you won’t enter Limbo until they open.”
Some of the new Bowel recruits began to whisper again. I let it go, knowing it was a shock to learn, but had my shadows at the ready for this next part.
“What you don’t know is the Damned infiltrating the Redemption Circle are infected and spreading a demonic disease that warps your mind and perverts your body.”
“What?”
“Demonic disease?”
“How does it spread?”
“How do you know if someone’s infected?”
“Are we safe?”
I unleashed my shadows, blacking out the entire arena. “Quiet.”
My voice vibrated in every ear, and to help get my point across, I shaped my shadows into needles and pressed them against their necks.
Silence. Stillness. I was pretty sure they didn’t even blink.
Gathering my power and allowing the muted light to filter back in, I smiled at the wide-eyed Bowel babies. They knew what I could do. I was fully aware my military talked about me.
“The infection is spread through biting. Anyone infected will have black veins and black blood. When they start to transition, they’ll have razor-sharp teeth and horns.
If you see or hear of an infected, report it.
If you’re able, bring them in. If not, kill them or run. That’s all. Return to your training.”
The pet frowned at the ground as if puzzling something out. Did he have information on Lilith’s infection? Would she have included him, or was he just as much a pawn as I had been with Etan?
Before I could decide if I wanted to strike up a conversation with him, Sam walked up onto the dais.
Every muscle in my body froze. But Lucille didn’t have any peaks in her emotions; they seemed the same as when she left.
“Oli—” Alexei started.
Sam shook his head. “No. Ronen, you’re going to want to see something in the dungeons.”
“MJ, you have your orders. Alexei, split up the Nightmares. Keep half here to monitor and…” I glanced at Ridigar, still sprawled on the floor. “Take Ridigar and the other half out to patrol,” I said, releasing him.
Alexei fisted a hand over his heart in acknowledgment, and MJ dipped her head.
“And one of you make sure the pet is put in his place,” I added before following Sam to the dungeons.
After unlocking the runes and the key on the dungeon door, Sam offered me his blood.
“I’m not concerned about you using your powers.”
“You do understand high-level Virtues can kill just as easily as heal, right? It only takes one touch to drain your energy.”
“Aren’t you a pacifist?”
“After you see what’s down there, I don’t think anyone has the luxury of being a pacifist.”
I walked through the threshold, my skin crawling as Sam led me toward the cell where Alexei and I placed the first infected soul. A foul smell thickened with each step, as if a rotting body had been sitting out in the sun for too long.
“The infection’s mutating. And fast.”
Seven Hells.
The angel’s skin no longer appeared tan.
Of course, he had the black veins vining his body, but I was surprised I could even see them against his newly blackened skin.
It looked like someone had painted him with his poisonous blood.
Horns shot out of his head, just as black, and when he turned, his eyes were devoid of any color.
He stared at us, tilting his head back and forth like he was trying to determine who we were.
Then he flicked out his pronged tongue, tasting the air before luscelering into the bars.
I shoved Sam back and flung up a solid barrier of shadows, protecting us from his clawed hand.
“It gets worse.”
“How?”
Sam ushered me to the next cell and to the cause of the horrific stench.
It was the blood-banded female who had been bitten.
I only knew from the remnants of her hair lingering in the cell.
Her flesh circled her remains in melted, oozing clumps, and her bones…
Well, those were mostly devoured in her leftover liquids as if her blood had turned to acid.
The blood-banded male beside her was in the same decaying state.
“Does the king know about this?”
“Yes,” Sam replied.
“And their souls?”
Sam heaved a breath. “The king thinks the infection ate away at the blood-band, eliminating his control over their souls. They didn’t cycle, but he said the darkness grew over the land.”
Were their souls disembodied like Saraqael’s? Or just gone? Would anyone see them again?
“This happened overnight?”
Sam nodded. “For the male. I watched the female slowly decay throughout the day. My powers did nothing but help slow it. I believe the more power and energy it has to feed on, the slower the decay or transition.”
So blood-banded couldn’t spread the infection. They’d only die in a gory mess, and their souls would end up missing.
Was this Lilith’s plan all along or something new?
“We need to find a way to stop their infection, Sam.”
Eagerness sharpened his expression. “I’m already on it.”