Lilith (Demonology I)

XIII

Two days later, the time had come. We were going to raise hell in Hell.

We were in a museum, standing before an ancient statue of Pluto (the god not the dwarf planet). The artifact that we would use to open the gateway. Nearly one hundred of us had crowded the museum at 3:00 AM. The security guards were all . . . unconscious, to say the least.

Eva, a demon from the Dutch branch of the Holy Shield, stood at the front of the group. As the most powerful demon in the group, she could open the strongest gateway and hold it open for as long as we needed her to.

"Everyone ready?" she asked. At our confirmation, she began to open the gate. Instead of the blinding white flames that appeared when I opened a gateway, black flames began to rise around us. Remembering the stupefying effect of the flames, I took a step back. They had almost gotten me killed before, I wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Eva spread her arms out, tearing a giant hole in the wall. Thalia squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile.

"Here goes nothing," she said as she stepped in. I took a deep breath and followed her. Bit by bit, we all made our way into the underworld.

Like Luna had told me, there was a river of fire. The flames were powerful enough to instantly disintegrate an angel, but Thalia and some of the other demons had tattooed sigils on our arms, chests, and backs. They could last a day, but we only needed them to last a few hours, at most. Beyond the river were large stone structures. The sky was gray, but surprisingly light. This wasn't at all what I thought Hell would look like.

"Well," Eva said. "Get a move on, now. I'll stay here and keep this open. If anything goes bad, retreat. There's no shame in bailing." Clay moved to the front of the group and gestured us towards the river. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but at least I could check "Swim in Fire" off of my bucket list.

The fire didn't feel like fire. It felt like hot blasts of air were hitting me from all sides. I looked at my arms - the sigils were glowing and shaking. At least I knew that they were working.

We were nearing the riverbank when Clay held a hand up. Ahead of us was a large group of demons. I recognized a few of them as goblins and pucks. They were weak individually, but groups of them could be dangerously strong.

"We charge together, just know that once we do, every single demon and spirit down here will be on alert. These sigils should protect you from the spirits, but don't get cocky. Now, 3 . . . 2 . . . 1. Charge!"

We rushed out of the river in unison. Bodies fire, lightning, and blades flew everywhere. Everything was chaotic.

Thalia and I worked side by side. She used sigils and a long blade to destroy any demon that came close. I used my fire, which was much weaker than usual. Without the cross, I was much less powerful. Slowly, we made our way through an open field of demons. Bodies of demons and humans were littered all over the place. I tried to spot Luna and Dale, but I couldn't see them through the mass of bodies. I saw Clay leading the charge, skillfully taking down demons with guns, blades, and his fists if he needed to. He was an arrogant asshole, but I had to hand it to him; the guy could fight.

"There are so many of them," Thalia said. "How many demons does Lucifer have all together? He's sent thousands to Heaven, and has twice as many down here."

"Lust is one of the seven deadly sins," I joked. "And besides, they may have numbers, but dynamite comes in small packages, as long as we stay coordinated, they can't beat us. I'm not sure I can say the same about Lucifer." Sounds of pain and death filled the air. It became hard to tell which cries were coming from demons and which were coming from humans.