Hellfire

Chapter Fifty-Five

March 1995

I padded my way over the cool water towards the white lamppost guiding me through the tunnel safely, glancing at the sea of stars above warily. Lucius' bats whispered about the air, their numbers dwindling yet again. Amongst them I saw a single demon. Its wingspan was vast, more like an eagle that soared by catching the wind beneath its wings, rather than the little bats that flittered about, beating madly to stay aloft. It didn't seem to notice me. That at least was some good news.

When I reached the lamppost, I whisked a pen out of nothingness and gently scrawled a black mark over the crusting white paint. I then stared at it, my finger touching the rough line. No other marks were on this one, telling me that I hadn't seen Morrigan's influence this far yet.

Until tonight anyway.

I wiggled my nose and glanced up at the soaring demon that swept through the little black bats.

Time was running out.

I set off at a slight jog, trying not to run too fast despite the hellfire burning and making me itch to spring. I couldn't risk going off the path by accident and getting lost. I couldn't give Lucius grief. He was suffering enough fighting Morrigan, and suffering wasn't even a strong enough word for it. I'd lost count of how many times I'd woken up at dawn to blood soaking our bed and wounds lashed over his skin, deep gouges carved so deeply I could see his bones or his arm rotten so severely it barely functioned. I knew what I needed to do to help him - burn the blood commands or find a memory he could use. So far, I'd had no fucking luck. Her dreamscape was a maze, always twisting and always changing. When I got the grasp of a path, it shifted. When I found a room that hummed with significance, it vanished. She was protecting herself and it was getting worse as Lucius began to strain.

Time was running out.

I knew the moment I was breaking into the dreamscape now. I had to fight to move forward as the air grew thicker and heavier, the stink of rot and old blood beginning to stain the air, until it popped and I was flung forward into that same hall I was becoming very bored of. I slammed against the wall, this time prepared enough that my hands were out and slapping against the cold brick, protecting my nose from being pulverised.

I remained there for a heartbeat, my gaze flicking up and down the hall for Gabriel. I couldn't feel him. It was safe.

I pushed myself away and hunkered down, lifting up the thread-bare carpet and brushing my fingers over the blood-stained flooring. I found it - that little mark from yesterday I'd carved into it. Vicious relief hit me. She hadn't reset the castle yet. That massive library I found should still be there.

I hurried as quickly as I could without making a shit ton of noise to alert the demons dangling from the ceiling far, far above – a ceiling that had drawn closer since yesterday. I could actually see their shapes now. I wondered how long it was before they woke up. I could manage Gabriel, I knew when he was coming and I'd duck away and meditate to keep myself calm until he'd left, but he was one pair of eyes. I couldn't hide from hundreds.

I held up my arm as I came to a fork of three corridors splitting apart, one delving downwards, the other two twisting about and around endlessly. I didn't trust them, the corridors always changed in appearance on a whim, but so long as Morrigan hadn't reset herself, the marks would always be there. I checked along the edges of the walls, looking fiercely, until I spied the score I'd left behind, that massive cross. I glanced at the corridor in front of me as it dove downwards into a dark pit, and peeked my head over the edge. Before it had been a straight line, broken up by narrow glassless windows that spilled in moonlight and a terrible winter chill – but now it was just a hole of nothingness. I couldn't see anything. I wrinkled my nose, knowing she was catching on again. She was trying to hide this corridor. Tomorrow it would be gone.