Eros strolled through the mist. No awkward tumble or fall, just a casual stroll—like this was normal. But when he saw my legs dangling in the air and me gasping for air, he growled. “Put her down now!”
The demon immediately released me, and I fell to the ground with a thud and clutched my neck. Hell. I really shouldn’t have come. I haven’t even been here for a whole minute and I have already almost been choked out.
Both demons bowed to Eros. “Sorry, Lord Eros. We didn’t know she was yours.”
Eros wrapped his arm around my waist, picked me up, and placed me at his side. “We’re going to The Chains.”
“You’re allowed to pass, but…” the one that choked me said.
“But?” Eros asked, challenging him.
“But—um….” He scratched the back of his horn, gaze everywhere except on us. “She must stay here.”
The other demon stepped forward. “Commander Lucifer’s orders. Any new human or demon must be approved by him before entering the kingdom.”
Eros’s fingers dug into my side. “Tell him I’m here with Dani. He’ll let her though.”
“Commander Lucifer is-is busy,” one said. He kept glancing in my direction and looking away. When Eros growled, the other guard stepped forward. “But we’re sure that we can find him.”
One of the demons called for a female guard to deliver a message to Lucifer. While we waited for her to return, the two demons stood deathly still next to each other. Every so often, they’d glance at Eros and gulp fear.
The female guard returned and nodded. “Commander Lucifer allows her to pass along with the prisoner.”
Eros grabbed my hand, snatched Trevon off of the floor, and pushed past the guards to the door. Well, what a warm welcome that was.
As soon as we walked outside, I gasped at the sudden coldness. The stories Mom told me about Hell—at least Lucifer’s Hell—were true. Lucifer’s Kingdom was far from flames and fire. It was pure ice. Chillingly frightening like he was.
Tiny icicles dangled from frost white trees. A soft layer of snow laid atop a chalky stone fence that stretched on for miles. Two blazing blue suns floated in the sky and above a castle made entirely of ice. I gaped at it and clenched Mom’s pendant which was burning on my chest. Glacier-like mountains surrounded the castle, giving it an eerie feel.
“It’s cold in hell,” I said. Usually, I didn’t like the cold, but this was something I could stare at for years and never get tired of.
Eros chuckled and tugged me along. “Only in Lucifer’s Kingdom.” He nodded to the castle and leaned closer. “I’ll take you there sometime. You’d love it inside.”
We trudged down a clear path that snow didn’t seem to accumulate on—or even touch seeing that it was dry stone—until we reached a heavily guarded stone building. Before we entered, Eros grabbed my hand. “These are The Chains. Are you sure you want to go in?”
I nodded and inched closer to him. Yeah, sure, I’d be alright. We were at a prison for demons. Nothing could be worse than what I went through in that portal. Nothing.
The guards opened the doors for us to enter, and the lights flickered on. Hundreds of iron cages were stacked on top of each other throughout the room. Demons rattled them and stuck their arms through the bars to reach for me. All I could smell was fresh feces.
Eros grabbed my hand, and we walked through the prison.
“Come here, little girl.”
“Let me taste you.”
“A sacred little sinner, you are.”
One held half a human arm in his hands, his beady eyes trained on me. “Confess your sins to me, and I will cleanse you of them.” He bit off a finger, and I nearly puked.
Holy Hell. I should’ve brought a cross.
Eros leaned down. “Don’t listen to them. They prey on your fear,” he said.
I gulped and thanked God herself when we moved away from the foul-mouthed demons and stopped in front of an empty set of cages. Eros pulled Trevon into one of them and clasped a silver chain around his neck and wrists.
Trevon sat on his knees, staring at me, unaffected. Then, suddenly, he let out a piercing scream—his body jerking up. His body moved in ways I had never seen before—back arched almost a hundred and eighty degrees, shoulder blades popping out of place, head rotating in a terrifying circle like an owl.
He hastily bear-crawled on his fingertips towards the bars that the chains were attached to and pulled, bending them. Every curse word imaginable was coming out of his mouth, and I cringed—never before hearing such vile things from him.
Moments passed, and Trevon stopped completely. He stood to his feet, standing two to three feet taller than both Eros and me. His body was being stretched, and I could see every one of his ribs, nearly bursting through his skin.
He seized back and forth, and I grabbed Eros’s forearms. My God, I was wrong. Things could get worse down here.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and black blood seeped from them. I screamed and leapt forward to help Trevon in any way that I could, but Eros caught me and held me back. “You said that this wouldn’t hurt him,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.
His eyes turned black and his teeth lengthened into sharp fangs. The veins in his neck dilated so much that I thought they would burst. My heart was aching. How could this be happening? Why was this happening to him?
“Why did you lie, Eros?” I asked. He was in so much pain, and I could feel every bit of it.
Despite my best efforts to hold Trevon one last time, to tell him that everything would be alright, to try to comfort him when I knew a demon was terrorizing his body, Eros held me back.
In the next moment, Trevon fell onto his hands and knees, choking. He clutched his throat as a bulge—the size of a bowling ball—appeared in it. Two sets of sharp red claws pulled his lips apart from the inside, and what must’ve been a demon pushed his head through Trevon’s mouth—stretching it until the corners of his lips began to rip open.
The demon leapt out of Trevon’s body, and Eros snatched it. Trevon’s eyes returned to their normal brown, and he smacked against the cement.
I wrapped my arms around him, cradling his head to make sure he wasn’t hurt. When I turned him onto his back, I gazed at his face where his mouth was ripped open and doubled over him. Blood dripped down his cheeks, chin, and neck as tears ran down mine. I couldn’t believe this. This was nearly too much to handle.
After a few moments of trying to steady my ragged breathing, I gently rested him on the ground and turned back to Eros. I wanted us all to get out of here right now and never come back to The Chains.
Eros was standing in front of a cage which had Trevon’s demon on the inside. The demon had deep scar wounds, a long-pointed tail, and dark beady eyes. I didn’t know much about Hell, but it was clear that he wasn’t from this kingdom, especially not with that fiery red skin.
“Kingdom of Wrath,” Eros said to me. He stepped closer to the cage. “Did Sathanus send you?”
“Satan? Who listens to that livid fool anymore?” The demon grasped the chains and pulled on them. “Let me out!”
“Who sent you then?” Eros asked.
The demon curled his sharp tail around my wrist and yanked me right against the cage. “That bastard knew this would happen all along.” His beady eyes were fixed on me. “He knew I’d be chained to this fucking wall in this fucking kingdom!” The demon released me, and I grabbed my wrists. He pointed to Eros. “Your brother is going to fucking regret his very fucking life.”
Eros lunged toward the cage, hands grasping the metal bars. “Javier sent you?”
“I’ve had enough of your fucking voice!” The demon turned away and smashed his head into the cement wall on the other side of the cage. Talk about anger management issues.