Highway to Hell

Chapter 6- Welcome Back... Again

I couldn't believe my ears. "Excuse me?"

She sighed. "Look, I don't have time to go into detail, but long story short, Ipos is causing a lot of trouble down there and I can't handle him."

"So what you're telling me is the big bad queen of Hell can't control a lousy demon?" I almost laughed had she not glared at me with fire in her eyes. If looks could kill I would've been a pile of ashes.

"Ipos isn't just some lousy demon," she snapped. "He's a prince, look him up with your Internet shit." She paused, tilting her head and squinting at me. "That angel buddy of yours isn't around, is he?"

"No?"

"Good." She stepped toward me and grabbed my wrist. Before I could object my vision faded, and then changed to a vaguely familiar room with a throne to my left.

"Oh, you son of a-" I spun to chew her out, but she was gone. "You damn bitch!" I screamed into the empty room. I groaned and kicked at the ground, my mind racing. I didn't know what to do. Try to escape? No, there wouldn't be a point. She'd probably try to bring me back anyway. And besides, isn't this what I wanted? To come back down and deal with the son of a bitch who screwed up my life to begin with? "I'll deal with her later," I muttered to myself. I looked around for an exit and found an open hallway behind me. I walked over and peeked down the long stretch of brick and lack of proper lighting. "Wouldn't hurt to see the end," I mumbled.

As I went down my eyes adjusted, and I began to see in the darkness. Heavy iron doors stood on either side of me with slots in them, exactly like prison doors the more I dwelled on it. Curiosity got the best of me and I stopped in front of one. I hesitated for a moment, hand hovering inches from the drawer, before I sucked in a breath stinking of sulfur and flung the little slot open. Immediately a growl echoed inside and a force slammed itself against the door. I jumped back, heart racing. I slammed the slot shut and sprinted down the hallway as more doors shook.

At the end were two hallways going left and right. I turned right without a second thought and kept running. After a few more moments I slowed to a brisk walk, until I finally stopped and leaned against the brick wall for a breath of air. I must've been going down a slight hill for some time, because the air was thicker with sulfur and made my eyes brim with tears. My head felt like it was being crushed, my ears on the verge of popping. My legs felt like Jell-O, my sides cramping from the sudden exercise.

After a few minutes to calm my racing heart, I took a few more deep breaths before continuing. I didn't know where they were keeping the asshole, or how to get there. I stopped to listen for something, anything. A click echoed down the hallway in front of me. I walked toward it, slowly reaching for the silver knife tucked away into my pants. Thanks Dean, for always getting on me about being prepared. The thought made a lump catch in my throat. Were they worried about me? Thinking about me? Did they even notice I was still gone? I forced myself to stop thinking about it and pushed myself on, another click sounding off, this one much closer.

At the end of the hall was a door, obviously thicker than the rest. Several large silver chains hung from the walls, criss-crossing across the door. An even larger padlock connected them all in the middle, except it didn't have a keyhole. I pulled it toward me, inspecting it. No keyholes of any sort. I yanked on the chains until a thought occurred to me: maybe whatever's inside shouldn't be let out.

Unfortunately, logical reasonings didn't seem to stick since I've been hanging out with two dudes who hunted myths and bedtime stories.

I stepped back a few steps and stretched my arm out, the palm of my hand facing the lock. This part I had almost perfected in the Cage, but hadn't used it in some time since I hadn't needed to. A blue light began to grow in my palm, but before I could shoot it I heard a rustle behind me. I spun around, my new target the figure of a man in the shadows.