But he hadn’t.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Thinking about the good old days?”
“Hardly.”
“You didn’t kill me when you had the chance,” she said.
“You know what I’m thinking?”
“I know lots of things, demon.”
He raked a hand through his hair and looked back in the direction he’d come from, but all he could see was darkness now. “Do you know why those wraiths were calling me demon-angel?”
“Yes.”
“Want to share?”
“Actually, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that riddle out.”
“I think I hate you.” He glowered at her. “No… wait. I do. I definitely hate you.”
She cocked her head. “Would you have killed me if you’d been given another chance? Would you have done what it took to return to your normal existence even if it meant destroying someone who had sought redemption for centuries?”
“Sure,” he replied immediately. It only made her smile wider.
“Think first, demon. You’ve always spoken before you thought first. It’s one of your many flaws.”
“Gee, you’re all kinds of charming, aren’t you?”
“Come on, it’s not much farther.”
The farther he walked, the more pain he felt. It was a normal sensation for one who punched a time clock in Hell itself, but it was still something that was best to be avoided. Pain, even for demons, was an indication that something was wrong.
A large black building shielded the view of what lay ahead. Darrak slowed. The pain had shifted to a burning sensation — flames blossoming outward from his chest.
Fire was his element to call, and it never hurt. Fire was such a part of him that he was shielded against this sort of pain. And yet… this wasn’t pleasant at all.
“I have a proposition for you, demon,” Selina said.
“Really. And what’s that?”
“You’ve come to a fork in the road. It’s up to you which path you choose.”
Darrak came to a halt next to Selina at the edge of the building.
“Talk,” he said. “I don’t have all night here. Patience isn’t one of my virtues.”
She leaned back against the black wall behind her. “Do you know where we are?”
“No. I believe that’s why I’ve been asking you that very question since I came to earlier in the bar.”
“Do you know how you got here?”
“What is this, twenty questions?” He fought against the frustration that rose in his chest. “No, I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know what part of the Netherworld this is, only that I’ve never been here before and I’m not too interested in coming back.”
“Do you know what you’ve lost?”
He gritted his teeth and tried to remain calm, cool, and collected, despite wanting to grab whatever or whoever this trickster in front of him was and shake it very hard.
“Do you even know you’ve lost something?” Selina persisted.
“Yes,” Darrak said. “I’ve lost something very important, but I don’t know what it is. Why don’t you go ahead and tell me?”
“Can’t do that.” Selina’s smile changed as her form shifted back to Theo’s again.
“Who are you?” Darrak asked again.
“Someone who has taken a mild interest in you, demon. A very mild interest. Look around the corner and see what is waiting for you. It’s time we move this along.”
This was ridiculous. Darrak moved past the trickster and went around the corner. He took three more steps before he froze in place. Something cold slithered through him. It felt a bit like clarity.
“The Void.” It was the word he couldn’t think of earlier, but it now came back to him.
The street before him, pavement surrounded by cement curbs and brick buildings just… disappeared. There was a drop-off, like the sheer side of a cliff into nothingness. He didn’t have to look. He knew it didn’t have a bottom to it.
The bottom didn’t exist.
He scanned the area to see that the street picked up a hundred yards up ahead and the jagged drop-off formed a wide, gaping circle. An open, bottomless mouth whose deep black hunger could never be satisfied since it had no stomach to fill.
Welcome to the Void.
“So those fairies—” Darrak began.
“Gatekeepers. Sentries. Administrators. Take your pick. They were on a break when they spotted us. It’s their job to make sure no one strays too close to the Void and to double-check those who do. Don’t worry, they’ll be swiftly replaced. It’s a bit lonely in this area, but the pay is excellent.”
Darrak covered his abdomen with his hand. The burning sensation had increased, and now he felt a strange pull toward the hole in the ground. “So let me guess, I’m next up on the list to take a dive?”
“You are.”
It was as if he’d known this from the moment he woke up in the bar, but had been trying to repress it. After all, this wasn’t exactly good news. There was no news he could think of worse than this.
“Well, shit,” he said. “This sure hasn’t been my lucky day, has it?”
Then he remembered something and glanced away from the abyss to look at Theo. “You said you have a proposition for me. Does that include an option of not heading down there?”
“That’s up to you.”
The cryptic statements were grating, but currently his only chance. He knew that strength or smarts weren’t enough to get out of this particular pickle. He’d never heard of anyone who’d survived a trip to the Void. Then again, his memories were currently shaky at best. Maybe he was forgetting something.
“Tell me,” he said.
“Do you want another chance?” Theo asked.
“Of course.” A demon’s first defense was self-preservation. It was also his second and third. Whatever happened, he would put himself first. This was the perfect example of that. At this very moment, Darrak was willing to promise anything in order to walk away from this in one solid piece.
“There is a job opportunity that’s just opened up. It would be a demotion from archdemon, I’m afraid, but these things happen.”
Darrak resisted the urge to protest. “Keep talking.”
“It would involve you going to the human world and doing some reaping of human souls.”
“You mean I’d be an incubus again.” The thought did not appeal, but it was better than the Void.
“No, not quite as pleasant as that. In order for an incubus to take a soul, that soul needs to be willing to be taken. This job requires a bit more stealth work. You would target specific humans, kill them, and tear the souls from their bodies. As you can see things are a bit on the downtrodden side around here, especially in outlying areas like this. With a fresh influx of positive energy we’d be able to do a nice upgrade.”
“Positive energy,” Darrak repeated. “So they would have to be clean souls. Not evil, not corrupt, not dark at all.”
“The cleaner the better.”
“And I’d have to kill them.”
“How else do you suggest reaping a soul?” Theo grinned. “It’ll be fun, I’ll even help you out for a bit like the good old days.”
If this was actually Theo and not some trickster demon, Darrak might find that amusing. “So what’s my first assignment?”
“A private school in England. A bunch of adorable schoolboys. Think Harry Potter without the magic and flying broomsticks. If it makes you feel better, a great many of them regularly break curfew to visit a nearby girl’s school. Very naughty.”
An image flitted through Darrak’s head. A school in London consumed by a fire that he’d set with his own power. Kids screaming, trying to run, but he was blocking the door, snatching them, trapping them. Them begging for his help, pleading, crying, but he wouldn’t help. They had something he needed. Souls, white, shiny, almost silvery souls filled with energy and power. Mothers and fathers consumed with grief when they found out they’d lost their children in such a horrible tragedy…