Chapter Twenty #2
I think back to the months following the accident, a cloud of grief and heartache and, weirdly, clarity.
“Having grandkids was important to my parents, and that pressure fell on me since I was their only kid. They had me when they were older, so the clock was ticking. But being with someone romantically doesn’t come easy to me unless I really know them, so starting over seemed like a waste of time.
Losing my ex meant losing the perfect future I’d built up in my head.
But then I lost it all anyway and everything felt pointless. ”
Resting my glasses in my lap, I use the sleeve of my crewneck to wipe my eyes as the truth wobbles past my lips. “I’m the bad guy. I ran from my old life because it hurt too much to stay, and I’ve been running ever since.”
My sniffles are the only sound punctuating the silence of the van. Even the honking outside has died down. But when a warm hand rests on my thigh, thumb tenderly rubbing over the thin fabric of my leggings, I’m not surprised. Just grateful.
“I don’t think you’re the bad guy for prioritizing survival,” Luke says. After a brief hesitation, he adds, “If it makes you feel better, I think the veil is torn because of me.”
I blink at him. “The veil between the overworld and underworld? The one Beliar supposedly wants to sacrifice Krystal to rip completely and make literal hell on earth? That veil?”
Luke nods grimly. “The one and only. You asked about my brother’s betrayal, and here it is.
I didn’t want to leave hell. Maybe I should have, because now that I’m back, I see how truly awful it is, but it was home.
Once I made the deal to ensure my family’s protection, I didn’t care about the overworld.
But my brother never forgave me, and things between us got worse and worse until he did the unthinkable—got me kicked out. ”
“Of hell?”
“It’s not easy, but there are ways. Loopholes, like with everything else.
But I think that’s where things went wrong.
Letting someone pass between worlds involves a lot of paperwork and proper documentation.
It’s like a backward exorcism. When done incorrectly, it messes with the fragile balance between worlds.
Think of the veil like the ozone layer. The more things disrupt the balance, the larger the tears get, until it’s torn wide open.
A sacrifice like the one Beliar’s planning would be enough to tip the scales.
But my brother getting me sent to the overworld might have been enough to start the rip. I wasn’t sure before, but I am now.”
I shiver. “So what happened? You just…appeared in the overworld?”
“In Silicon Valley.” Luke nods. “I was disoriented and furious and had nothing except for these blades. I’d taken his as soon as I realized what he was doing.
I knew I could get back to hell if I could get to the station in New York, but getting to New York was a three-thousand-mile cross-country endeavor.
I had no car, no food, nothing. Still, I started the trek and made it pretty far off pure spite. ”
I can’t help the laugh that escapes. “Here we both were, running to New York. Why’d you stop in Tarrentown?”
“I stopped all over. I did get a car, illegally, and relied on odd jobs for money and the kindness of strangers for food. That’s where things shifted.”
“How so?”
“People were nice.” His brow creases, like this still boggles him.
“I started seeing the overworld in a different light.
Something to protect. Even before the veil tore, I knew some demons and monsters lurked there, having made it their home by other means.
Most live normal lives, but others cause mayhem and misery.
“Along my travels to New York, I started hunting demons that were making trouble. If you know what to look for, like a string of gruesome deaths or people suddenly acting very strange, they’re easy to find.
Hunting them came naturally to me. And honestly?
It felt good to send them back after spending so much of my life terrorized by them.
It didn’t take a deal to be powerful or safe. I no longer needed to hide.”
“I bet that was freeing,” I mention.
“Very. I had an instinct for finding them, and it led me to Tarrentown. I’d been hunting the demon possessing Debra for a while, but it was a slippery fucker.
When I narrowed it down to an employee at Curated Care, I honestly thought it was the old boss.
I applied for the position, got an interview, and was going to exorcise him there.
I always do a few tests, like throw salt or burn sage, and he didn’t react to either.
But he liked me, and it clicked that maybe getting a real job for a little bit wouldn’t be the worst thing.
I had gotten forged documents back in Vegas and had enough money saved up to rent that house.
It was far enough away for me to take care of business without meddling neighbors when I finally did sniff out the demon. ”
“What gave it away that it was Debra?”