Chapter 16 Cinder
CINDER
“What the hell is it?” I tightened my grip on the knife, but with the way the creature shifted from solid to smoke, I doubted a blade would do any good.
“That is a tulpa,” Discord said. “An entity created from nothing but the imaginings of its master.”
“A thought being. Fabulous.” I’d heard about these guys. Dark witches sometimes created them to do their bidding—or so I was told. I’d never seen one in person. The magic needed to create them was forbidden in my realm. “Can we kill it?”
“The only way to kill a tulpa is to kill its creator.”
I laughed dryly. “Something tells me Lucifer would be impossible to kill.”
“You’re right about that, but Lucifer did not create this being. Ruin did.”
My stomach sank. “Ruin? As in the guy who took your place? The one who’s hunting us?”
“Indeed.” He inched closer to the altar.
“So he knows we’re here, and he sent a shadow dude to finish us off.” At least Lucifer wanted us to get out of the maze alive, whether he would admit it or not. Ruin only wanted our heads. “Fan-frigging-tastic.”
“He knows now. Whether he knew before we arrived, I can’t say.” Discord stepped forward, and the shadow guy lunged, knocking into my demon and making him stumble back. “This entity is too at one with the maze to have been sent in after us. I believe it resides here.”
“If we can’t kill it, what do we do?” I tensed, my muscles coiling, ready to attack or run…whichever would keep us alive the longest.
“We must make it to the altar and offer our blood. It’s the only way out of the maze.”
“Are you sure you can’t do your space-bendy thing?” Because there was no way in hell I was pledging myself to Lucifer.
“Even if I had the energy, it wouldn’t work. Completing the sacrifice is truly the only way out.”
“Are you sure?” I asked again. There had to be another way.
“I’ve navigated the labyrinth three times in the past.” He stepped forward, closing in on the altar, and again the shadow man shoved him back. “Few make it to the center, so it was always left unguarded. Ruin must have created the tulpa to get into Lucifer’s good graces.”
“Because of course he did,” I said. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll distract the tulpa so you can get to the altar. Once you make the cut and start dripping blood, I’ll latch onto you. Then the maze will eject us both and we can be on our way.”
“It’s not that simple.”
I didn’t wait for him to elaborate. Instead, I waved my arms like a crazy person and shouted, “Hey, shadow man, come and get me.”
The tulpa whirled around and shot toward me, arms outstretched like a horror movie ghost. I hurled a ball of fire, but it passed right through its smoky form. Its solid hands hit my shoulders, knocking me to the ground before it spun toward Discord.
“The moment my sacrifice is complete, I’ll be ejected.” He snagged the knife from the table. “You must do it too.”
“I’m a light witch. I can’t.” I scrambled to my feet as the shadow plowed into my demon, pushing him away from the altar.
“Now is not the time for stubbornness.” He swung the blade and lunged. The tulpa turned to smoke, and Discord’s momentum sent him crashing to the ground.
“I’m not stubborn. I have morals. There’s a difference.” I moved toward him, and the tulpa turned on me, pushing me back. “Besides, I already have a blood bond with one demon, and I am not a ‘why choose’ kind of gal.”
Discord snapped his head toward me, the look in his eyes feral as I struggled with the tulpa.
The infuriating monster landed a punch in my gut.
I doubled over and tried to slam my shoulder into its form, but it turned to smoke.
I fell through it, scraping my palms on the ground.
It turned solid again and kicked me in the side.
Pain exploded across my abdomen, but I stumbled to my feet in time to see Discord slice into his palm.
The tulpa wrapped its arms around, squeezing me like a vise and doing something to me.
My body ached like I had the worst case of the flu ever imagined, and my head pounded.
My vision wavered as a tidal wave of fatigue crashed into me, making my knees buckle.
Discord just watched as the tulpa sucked the life out of me.
I raked in a breath, the frigid air like razorblades in my throat. I wanted to call to him, to ask for his help, but I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.
One drop of his blood fell into the vase. Two drops…
Was he seriously about to leave me behind? To abandon me to this fate worse than death, leaving me alone to wander this hell maze for the rest of eternity?
Drop number three fell into the vase.
“Bastard,” I rasped as the last of my energy left my body. Darkness engulfed me. Then, the pain ceased, and I felt nothing but emptiness.
“Cinder.” A warm hand patted my cheek, and Discord’s voice pulled me to the present. “Cinder, wake up.”
Discord… My eyes flew open, and I bolted upright. “You asshole! You left me there to die.”
Heart pounding, I scrambled to my feet, my knees wobbling beneath me, my voice taking on a shrill edge. “How could you?”
I pushed him. When he didn’t budge, I pounded my fists against his chest. Tears stung my eyes, and my stomach roiled. “You left me to die!”
“Shh…” He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against his chest. “You’re not dead.”
I couldn’t tell you what came over me. I suppose it was the stress, the fear and pain, the idea that he’d abandoned me—oh, that sense of abandonment—but all my emotions swirled together at once, creating a sickening tornado inside me.
Tears streamed from my eyes, and I sobbed, latching onto him like my life depended on it.
“You left me.” My voice was barely a whisper against his chest.
“I didn’t.”
“You did!” I tried to pull away, but he tightened his arms around me. “I watched you leave.”
I sobbed uncontrollably, slumping into his embrace as all the adrenaline drained from my body. My heart, my muscles, the very fiber of my being ached as if I were about to draw my final breath.
“If I’d left you, you would not be here in my arms right now.” He stroked the back of my head and pressed his lips to my scalp. “I would never leave you, Cinder. Never. You are the light to my darkness, the sound to my silence, the reason for my existence.”
Another sob rolled up from my chest, and I drew in a shaky breath, letting his words wrap around me like a blanket. The conviction in his voice told me everything he said was true. His reassurance eased the ache in my heart, but a pit formed in my stomach as the realization sank in.
I was in love with this demon. No accidental blood bond could fabricate this feeling. It ran too deep—soul deep—for it to be anything other than absolutely authentic.
His heart thudded beneath my ear, the steady rhythm calming my nerves, grounding me. I dragged in another breath, and he finally let me pull away enough to look into his eyes.
“I can’t live without you,” I said.
“Nor I without you.” He brushed the matted hair from my forehead. “You must believe I did not leave you. Our bond is too strong for a little labyrinth to keep us apart.”
“The blood bond.” I swallowed the thickness from my throat and nodded.
“Our soul bond.” He brushed his lips over mine, tentatively at first. When I didn’t pull away, he crushed his mouth to mine, kissing me like I was the final breath he would ever take.
Cradling the back of my head, he slowed the kiss, inhaling deeply as he pulled away and pressed his lips to my forehead. He gave me one more squeeze before releasing his hold and stepping back, concern furrowing his brow.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I checked in with my body. A mild ache still lingered in my muscles, but it was manageable enough. The important thing was that he truly hadn’t left me. That the knife of betrayal he’d jabbed into my heart had been nothing more than a fabrication of my mind. “I will be.”
“When you mentioned our blood bond, I realized you were right. You cannot pledge yourself to Lucifer when you belong to me.” He brushed his thumb over my cheek. “We are one. The maze could not eject me without sending you too. I should have realized it from the start.”
“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up.” I laughed and wiped the tears from my cheeks, finally getting a grip and taking in our surroundings.
We stood outside the maze, a fifty-yard wall of thorny hedges stretching out toward the horizon. The same orange moon still hung stagnant in the sky, and the sweltering heat of Hell clung to my skin, a welcome sensation after the frigid tundra of the maze’s center.
“We must find shelter so we can regroup,” Discord said. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah,” I said, but I stumbled on my first step, my nerves still raw from the tulpa’s magic.
He caught my arm and steadied me. “I can carry you.”
“I’m okay.” I tugged from his grasp. “Where can we go?”
“There’s a gardening shed on the other side of the maze. We can rest there, and you can tell me more about the visions you received before we were attacked.” He jerked his head toward the corner of the hedge in the distance.
“We’re wanted fugitives, and we’re going to hide out in the king’s shed?” I lifted my hands and dropped them at my sides. We’d done crazier things, I supposed. “Why not?”
“Do you have a better plan?” he asked.
“Sure don’t.” I laced my arm around his biceps. “Lead the way.”
We made it halfway to the corner when a high-pitched chitter sounded behind us.
I whirled around, knife in hand, and the friggin’ imp, who’d followed us from Hecate’s house, took a flying leap onto my face.
He clutched my hair, sliding his gooey body up to the top of my head, leaving a trail of salty slime on my skin.
Don’t ask how I knew it was salty. Gross.
I wiped my mouth with the hem of my shirt. “How the hell did he get out of the maze?”
The imp yanked on my hair. Then he made an om nom nom sound as he chewed my locks. I swatted at the little bugger, but he dodged my hand and chewed faster.