Chapter Nine
Kara
I tracked the edges of the wall through my peripheral view. The darkened corners held no rippling male form, but still I swore I sensed Shadow watching me. I shook my head at the absurdity. There was no way he could reach me when even my family couldn’t.
And like that, my energy felt drained.
I was hungry, but not ravenous, which meant the Devil had to be nearby. If I were right about him being the one who blocked my curse with his presence, then he was the reason I wasn’t currently screaming on the cell floor.
I patted my stomach. No gnawing. No growling. No sensation like something was clawing its way through my gut or throat. The ache was so faint it almost felt like nothing. So that was what normal hunger felt like. Cool.
I picked at my nails and bounced my foot. My family hadn’t broken into Hell yet. Part of me wondered if they even could.
No big deal.
With the Devil not breathing down my neck, a weird sort of positivity surged through me. I let myself relax, just a little, mentally prepping for what came next.
But waiting wasn’t my strong suit.
I tried materializing an object—anything—just to pass the time. Of course, nothing happened. Naturally, I was stuck in a power-repellent cell. All I wanted was a ball to throw against a wall. Or a hammer to smash the Devil’s head in.
Yeah. Probably that was why the place was so anti-power proof.
“Ugh,” I muttered as I thudded my head against the wall.
I hoped the family was okay. I had no way of knowing if any of them had been hurt—by Harvest or by the Devil.
Slowly, the whoosh of my pants dragging across the floor started driving me insane. I smacked my knee, glaring down at my boots.
Stop fidgeting, I told myself.
So much for calming down. I couldn’t freaking sit still.
Fighting the Devil might have been more tolerable than being locked up like this.
Then I heard it. Childlike laughter, echoing through the space like it belonged to a thousand children living inside the walls.
I shot up, gripping the bars of the cell. “Hello?”
Nothing.
No one.
Not even my pain-in-the-ass mate.
The candles flickered. Once. Twice. Then blinked out completely.
Oh, no.
That wasn’t a kid I heard, was it?
I was in the Devil’s domain.
A shiver slithered up my spine. My skin prickled like invisible bugs crawled over my skin. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t use a child’s giggle!” I snapped at the shadows.
That kind of horror?
Creeped me out more than staring into the eyes of the Devil—or any other creature the Underworld could cough up.
And I fully blamed the unhealthy obsession I’d had with human horror movies back in the first fifty years of my life.
Okay… Maybe I never outgrew it. I still watched every new film the second it released. It was a lifelong commitment.
The candles winked back on.
And standing on the other side of the bars was a little boy. His face was level with mine.
He jumped and then grinned.
“Boo!”
I shrieked, stumbling backward as my hand flew to my chest. My heart thundered—then settled fast—just as the little devil laughed.
Yeah.
Knew it.
I’d heard the stories.
He could look like anyone he wanted. It was how he’d lured so many to sin and straight into Hell.
“Did I scare you?” the little boy asked, giggling as he gripped the bars.
He looked like he’d crawled out of a nightmare. Sunken skin beneath wide, unblinking eyes. Grayish complexion. Lips the color of bruises. His clothes were nothing but dirty rags hanging off his skinny frame.
I forced a deep breath, steadying my voice. “What did you do to end up down here?”
His head tilted—slowly, unnaturally.
“I killed my parents and little sister.”
My mouth dropped open.
The temperature plummeted, the chill cutting through my skin like ice water.
Classic.
The Devil was either messing with my head. Or he’d actually unleashed a child murderer on me.
I had never been tasked with descending a wicked child to Hell, but I knew it happened. Sebastian told me horror stories when I was younger. Probably because he knew I was a sucker for creepy movies.
Evil kids? Dolls coming to life?
Top-tier nightmare fuel.
The little boy grabbed the lock. It clicked. The door opened.
A spike of fear clawed its way into my throat. I threw my arms out, catching the bars before the entrance could swing any farther. Slamming it shut, I forced a bright, fake smile. “Let’s keep that closed, yeah?”
The boy pouted, lips curving into an exaggerated frown. “Don’t you want to play?”
“I’m a prisoner,” I said flatly. “Not really in the mood. Now shoo.”
“Aren’t you hungry?” He stepped back, letting go of the bars. “I know where some food is…”
The skin on my arms crawled like I’d been dropped into a cluster of spiders. My stomach twisted into a pit of quicksand.
“All right, game’s over,” I said, glancing toward the ceiling—because I was sure he was watching. “Stop with the creepy kid routine.”
The boy just blinked at me. Too still. Too blank. Was he real? Or just another puppet of the Devil? I hated not knowing.
“Hey!” I yelled louder, spinning in a slow circle as I scanned the room. “One of your Children of the Corn got loose!”
Naturally, only I would get that reference. Typical.
A cold hand latched onto mine through the bars.
I jumped but didn’t let go. I’d die before I released that door.
“Back off,” I muttered, smacking the kid’s hand away and shifting my grip to a different spot on the bars.
The boy darted left, eyes bright with mischief. “Come on. I’ll show you the food. Aren’t you hungry?”
I watched him disappear through a door on the far wall—one swallowed in black, the kind of dark that made your bones scream danger.
He grinned and slinked back into the void.
I gripped the bars harder, knuckles aching. “I’d rather split an ogre in half.”
My stomach growled loud enough to echo, and I swallowed hard. Hunger was going to be a problem soon—especially if the Devil left his domain.
“Damn it,” I muttered.
Pushing open the door, I took two steps. My sword materialized in my hand before I even finished blinking. Good. It felt solid. Familiar. He hadn’t stripped me of all my power—not yet, anyway.
“Are you coming?” the boy’s voice echoed from the corners.
I snapped my head around, trying to track the sound. It’s okay, I told myself. Freaking out would only make my host happy.
“Light some candles! Why is it so dark in here?”
Still gripping the sword, I crept forward, staring into the blackness ahead. A part of me wanted to slam the cell door shut and pretend I hadn’t seen anything. But that wouldn’t help. Not like letting some creepy hell child terrorize me would either.
Something brushed against the back of my shirt. I spun around so fast I nearly fell over.
“All right,” I muttered, steeling my nerves. “I’d rather see your ugly mug for what it is instead of some possessed kid.”
Honestly, I’d face every demon in the Underworld before hearing another one of those giggles.
“Are you sure about that, Kitten?” the Devil’s voice slithered through the air from the doorway.
As I turned again, this time catching only the last bit of his tail disappearing into the dark.
Ew. I couldn’t decide what was worse. The tail or the kid.
“What food are you offering?” I asked, raising my chin.
“How about you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?” The little boy’s voice came from behind me.
I knew better than to look but I did.
A knife glinted in his hand, the blade catching the low candlelight. His eyes had gone blood red. And then he charged.
My heart felt like it literally jumped out of my chest. I screamed and bolted through the door. A loud thud echoed behind me. The boy’s thundering steps were gone, but so was any sense of direction. Even with my enhanced Reaper vision, I couldn’t see a thing.
The door I came through? Gone.
I ran my hands along the cold brick wall, searching for any seams or cracks. Nothing.
Then, a faint glow appeared in the center of the room.
A single candle flickered to life, casting trembling shadows like something had exhaled across its flame. I squinted. It sat on what looked like a table?
Two candles blinked into existence. The scene expanded revealing a plate of food—meat and vegetables, perfectly arranged.
And then I smelled it. Immediately, my mouth watered.
Hades.
Something big and warm twisted around my leg. I stiffened. I already knew what it was.
The Devil’s tail.
The scent hit me next. Burnt marshmallows.
I clamped my mouth shut before I drooled like an idiot.
He walked past me. The curve of his bare back was visible in the candlelight. Through the cracks in his skin, I caught flickers of the other world—the one he carried inside him. The glow behind his flesh pulsed like a dying sun.
“Eat,” he ordered. He dragged out a chair, the wood scraping loudly across the stone floor. Then he took a seat in another chair. He turned to me. His eyes glowed red—deep and fierce, like a blood moon had risen just behind them. “Kara.”
I blinked. Whiplash. One second, he terrified me with the kid from Hell. Now, he wanted me to sit down and have dinner?
His brows furrowed. “Shouldn’t your curse be wreaking havoc on you? I know everything about you. No need to pretend. It’s just us.”
Deja vu slammed into me like a freight train.
Shadow.
He’d said the same thing. The first time he hijacked a man’s body to speak to me. I was in high school at the time. Same words. Same voice. Same eerie calm…
Michelle repeatedly popped her lips as she applied lip gloss. Turning from the bathroom mirror at Bugsy High School, she leaned against the sink. “Josh was a good kisser, but I don’t know. I think I’ll let Ethan take me to prom.”
Renee snorted. “Didn’t I tell you? Ethan already asked me.”
Michelle’s face flushed scarlet as she pinned two deep, slanted brows at Renee. “Are you freaking kidding me? When?”
“Earlier,” Renee practically sang the word. “If you’re unhappy, we can trade.”