17. She’s Got Magic in Her Fingertips
Chapter seventeen
She’s Got Magic in Her Fingertips
Nicodemus
My twenty-five Demon Hunters were collected around the portal entrance for our arena, bubbling with excitement palpable in the air.
They bounced in place as they rambled a mile a minute about the adventure we would have today, making me chuckle to my Shadows.
“Who would have thought anyone would be excited to go to Gehenna?”
“I know, right? I’d rather jump into a pool of lava then be down there,” Stark said with a shiver.
“You’re a Life Elemental, Stark. Of course you hate it down there,” Jackson pointed out.
Stark clung to my shoulders so he could hide behind me. “Do I have to come?”
“Yes, Stark,” I chastised.
“Can’t you let me stay behind for one little, tiny, itty bitty mission?”
I whisked around to grab his shirt collar and shake him wildly. “Did you or did you not sign up to be my Shadow Walker?”
“I d-did,” he said in tune with my shaking.
“Then that means you follow me wherever I go, including Gehenna. I’m about to be the God of Death, bro, so you need to get used to being down there.”
“You’re no fun!” he whined.
Claude chuckled and wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulders. Stark continued to scowl dramatically under Claude’s laughter. “Stop being a brat. Gehenna isn’t so bad.”
“You don’t have to deal with the Decay!”
“That is very true, but neither do you, considering you’re DEAD!”
“Oh my Gods, would you two stop already?” Bexley patronized as she took their heads and smacked them together. The brothers howled in pain while the rest of my Shadows laughed loudly at them.
I rolled my eyes heavily and attempted to drown out the nonsense as I pulled the gates to the arena open.
When the Elementals inside heard me enter, they all grew incredibly quiet, respectfully waiting for me to join them.
I was intimidated by this silence, but welcomed their gesture.
“Good afternoon, everyone. Are we ready to do some exploring?” I chimed.
“Are we ever! Are we really going to meet all the demon rulers?” Chase questioned.
I ruffled his hair lovingly. “We sure are. Let’s get to it so Geneva doesn’t ring my neck for being late.” I placed my palm to the portal entrance and focused all my energy on the rhythmic beating under my fingertips.
Each beat had it’s own destination. The short beats resembled the wings of high-ranking Life Elementals, meaning that portal led to Caelum.
The long, stagnant beats were an intimidating rhythm, meaning that portal led to Purgatory.
Finally, a combination of the two rhythms, long, short, short, long, beckoned me to open the portal to Gehenna.
As soon as I did, a wall of flames engulfed the stone beneath my hand before parting to reveal the black staircase down to Evris’s Layer.
The Elementals behind me gasped in astonishment and peered down the steps, their eyes like saucers as they took in the scenery. “Whoa…” Emmeline mouthed.
“Let’s all stay together. Find a partner to be with at all times so you don’t get lost.” I led the way down the winding staircase, proud to be leading my line of dedicated new prospects. Each one hurried after me, soaking in the sights of a place they’d only fantasized about.
I remembered the first time I went to Gehenna.
I was fifteen and had reaped a soul for Dad that was as black as the night sky.
I was curious as to where these black souls went and begged him for days to show me what Gehenna looked like.
He arranged a tour under Geneva’s nose and took me through Evris’s Layer to show me where souls crossed.
We were very careful of prying eyes, but to see Gehenna firsthand was as mesmerizing then as it was now.
The Realm had begun to feel familiar to me after so many visits.
The looming dread I used to feel when I returned here after the Icheiris incident was slowly waning, and I was glad for it.
I needed to work in this Realm for the rest of forever, after all, so it was good to get over my fears as soon as possible.
At least now I knew I controlled the Realm, and the Realm no longer controlled me.
I was free to leave whenever, no longer bound by its dark chains.
I could relish in that fact as much as possible to keep my head screwed on straight when I was down here.
Geneva stood at the bottom of the staircase with a binder and stack of papers in her hands.
She was fumbling with a pen that didn’t seem to want to write but looked up curiously when she heard the band of us coming down the steps.
She waved grandly to welcome us. “Well, hello there, young Death Elementals! Welcome to your one-stop shop for demon hunting!”
“Hi, Ms. Liseo!” Kaitlynn squeaked.
Geneva flashed me a scandalous smile. “I would have thought you’d told them about my golden rule, Crawford?”
I snickered to myself before turning to my Elites. “Don’t call Geneva Ms. Liseo. She goes by Geneva, and only Geneva. I learned that the hard way when I had her for class.”
“He surely did!” Geneva threw an arm around my neck and choked me off. “Look at you, my little pookie bear! Leading your own line of Elites! I’m prouder than Atlas!”
“Choking…!” I hacked, but that made her hold on even tighter.
Evris came from the Inn a moment later, dressed in a beautiful sundress with an apron over her ensemble.
She was really trying to push her friendly, innocent side, though the sight of her dressed like this made Geneva and I spit a roll of laughter.
Evris paused on her heel to glare at us demonically.
“What the fuck is so funny?” she sniffed.
“You tell me, mother goose!” Geneva blurted.
I howled laughter at her joke, but Evris just waved us off and came to greet my Elites. “Hello everyone! My name is Evris, and I run Layer One: Transitus.” She gestured to the river behind her. “This is where all souls go to be transferred to their respective Layers when they are finally judged.”
“What’s that building called?” Piper inquired.
“That’s the Inn. Think of it like a community center for the damned.
All souls that are waiting for final judgment, as well as the occasional well-behaved demon and Demon Hunters tend to hang out here.
When you’re not fighting demons, you’ll probably spend a lot of time here with me!
” She spun in a circle and clapped her hands together. “I make a pretty good cheesecake!”
The Elites tittered at her beaming personality. Curtis raised his hand. “So, you, like, help Atlas a lot, huh?”
“Oh yes. He sends me souls, and I cart them off to their final resting place. The job has its ups and downs, but I tend to think I’m good at it!” She motioned them forward. “Let’s go inside. The other rulers are eager to meet you!”
“This is so cool!” Kaitlynn squealed to Emmeline.
Emmeline nodded once. “It’s very interesting.”
Geneva waited for the Elites to follow Evris down the hillside before nudging me. “That girl with copper hair? What’s her deal?”
“That’s Emmeline. She’s actually who I’m considering for my second-in-command,” I admitted to her disbelief. “She’s a bit, to herself, but I’m trying to crack her shell.”
Geneva cupped her chin, bending one arm to support the other as she studied the girl. “Huh. You always attract the weirdest people.”
“Gee, thanks!” I scoffed, shaking my head at her giggles. “Keep an eye on her for me. See if you can get any vibes from her that I can’t.”
“Will do. You should consider pulling her aside for some one-on-one time. I can distract the others for you.”
“That would be fantastic.”
Evris arranged all of my Elites from tallest in the back to shortest in the front along the wall of the Inn’s restaurant, where each demon ruler was waiting with pleasant smiles for their arrival.
When I entered the room, most of them gave me a gentle wave or nod, which I returned before presenting my Elites to them.
“Everyone, these are our rulers of Gehenna. Evris, as you know, is Layer One: Transistus. Decimus is Layer Two: Violentia. Phillip is Layer Three: Libidine. Arabella is Layer Four: Mendacium. Isadora is Layer Five: Desperationis. Beatrix is Layer Six: Gula. Elias is Layer Seven: Cupiditas. Aloysius is Layer Eight: Haeresis. And, finally, Peregrine is Layer Nine: Insidiae.” Each ruler raised a hand when I called upon them.
“Each one has the incredibly important job of ruling these complex Layers. They may seem hard to approach, but I assure you, they’ll answer any questions you have. ”
“I love fresh meat!” Elias cackled in his booming voice.
“Don’t scare them off, you pinhead,” Beatrix barked with a smack to his shoulder.
“This is where you ended up, Decimus?” Emmeline breathed in astonishment. Her tone was odd. She held true pain in her voice, true disbelief, and when Decimus realized who she was, he sank into himself in shame.
“I… yes. I did some, questionable, things in life, and would have ended up here regardless. Nick gave me a chance to still have powers and a purpose, so, here I am,” he weakly offered with a shrug.
Emmeline’s grey eyes paled to near white.
She didn’t say another word, just laid her arms flat at her sides and cut her gaze away from him.
I figured pretty quickly that he might have sunken his teeth into her when he was alive, and wondered if he had broken her heart, or if he had truly been good to her, and died before they got a chance to blossom.
Either way, I was crushed to see her so sad.
Geneva broke the awkwardness with handing out a sheet to each Elemental. “Well, since you’re down here, I thought we could do something fun!”
“Is this… a scavenger hunt?” Mariah asked with a raised eyebrow.