Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) (11 page)

“But I saw demons with you who had horns and tails like an animal.”

“Horns and tails can be a demon trait. If you ever have the misfortune of seeing a lower-level demon, believe me, you will know the difference.”
And if she is who I seek, she will most likely see more than one.

“But Lucifer wasn’t born in Hell, wouldn’t he be considered lower-level?”

“He is a fallen angel. Heaven works like Hell does; Lucifer was supposed to perish on the mortal plane after being cast out, along with the others who were cast out with him. Instead, he somehow managed to find his way into our world and brought his cohorts with him; there is nothing lower-level about that. Many demons decided to follow him because of that fact alone.

“He didn’t try to take over Hell the minute he arrived, or so I was informed by elder demons who passed on our history. He bided his time and grew a following who believed they should be allowed to pass freely between Hell and Earth whenever they chose, and should be able to rule over the weaker and more desirable human plane. Over time, Hell became divided into two factions who have battled each other ever since. The Palitons, my side, who fights against Lucifer, and the Craetons who follow him.”

“So God tossed the angels onto Earth to die; what about the humans there at the time? Didn’t God have any concern for their safety?”

“Lucifer and the other angels couldn’t have killed them all in the time they were here, considering he was as vulnerable to injury as the humans were. There was no concern about the angels being discovered, as humans already spoke of demons and angels, Gods and Goddesses. At the time Lucifer fell, the world was an entirely different place. One of magic and mystery. The angels would not have garnered the same reaction from humans as we did when we were thrust into your world.”

“Trying to bomb you into oblivion?” she asked with a smile.

“Exactly.”

“How did Lucifer make it into your world?”

I drummed my fingers on the table. “That is something only he knows the answer to, and he’s not very forthcoming. Unfortunately, it’s an answer we require as we think it may be the key to closing the gateway the humans created. He opened the hole and my ancestor closed it after him. No demon has been allowed to cross into the mortal realm since.”

“Why not?”

“No one would risk opening the portal while Lucifer was in Hell. He had discovered a way in, but he couldn’t find a way out, and we couldn’t risk what he would do if he walked freely back and forth between the two dimensions.”

“Is there any way to find out how he got in?”

“If there is, we will find it.” That was all I could tell her on the matter. Fortunately, Bale standing outside and requesting entrance saved me from any more of her questions.

Kobal

“Enter,” I called out.

Bale pulled back the flap and ducked to come inside. Her gaze slid over River before glancing at me. Over her shoulder, I could see the lengthening shadows of the day; I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. River’s feet hit the floor, and I followed the direction of her gaze to a plate I hadn’t noticed in Bale’s hands. I kicked myself for not realizing River was probably hungry.

“I assumed she might like some food,” Bale said. “The other humans have all returned and are eating.”

“Yes, please,” River said. Bale strode forward and placed the plate before her. River stretched out her finger and poked it into the chunk of meat on the plate. “Steak?”

“Yes,” Bale said.

River smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Bale shot me an incredulous look before focusing on River’s bent head. It wasn’t often the humans thanked us for anything.

River grabbed her fork and knife and happily cut into the piece of meat on her plate. After shoving a chunk into her mouth, she let out a low groan. Her eyes closed as she enjoyed the bite. “Delicious.”

I waved toward the flap. Bale had been right to bring her food, but I wanted more time alone with her. “I will escort her back shortly.” Bale’s eyebrows shot up, but she bowed her head in deference to me and left the tent. I watched River eat with an enthusiasm I’d never seen before. “Do you not have such food where you are?”

“No,” she answered after swallowing. “It’s been years since I’ve had any beef. Some chicken, yes, but as a fishing community, seafood has been our main supply since the war started. I’d forgotten how delicious it is. Is that woman your girlfriend?”

I hadn’t expected the abrupt change in subject or the absurd notion she believed I would have a steady relationship with a woman. “Bale? No.”

“You sound surprised I would ask. She’s stunning.”

This little human was the most enthralling and unexpected creature I’d ever encountered, and I’d encountered thousands over my lifespan. She found Bale stunning when many of the human women avoided her, either because of their uneasiness around her or because of how much she outshone them. I’d watched some of the human men trip over themselves to get closer to her.

“We do not have
girl
friends.”

She paused in the middle of cutting her food. “I see. Well, are you two together in whatever way demons are together?”

“No. Bale is one of my commanders and that is all.”

“Oh.”

Finishing off the meat, she turned to the potatoes and vegetables still on her plate. “The fliers only started circulating around my town four years ago,” she said when she placed her fork and knife on the empty plate. “Why?”

“It took a couple of years after the gateway was torn open to regroup and to assure the humans we weren’t
all
here to kill them. That was one of our main obstacles, but after the first two years, we managed to convince them we were on their side by helping them to fight back the Craetons who were trying to spread further out. Mac had a big hand in getting them to accept us after I encountered him twelve years ago. Over the years, we’ve spent a lot of time building the wall, training and educating the humans on what they need to know about us, and fighting back the waves of Craetons trying to spread further across the land.”

Her mouth parted on a breath as she lifted her foot onto the chair again and draped her arm over her knee. My eyes tracked the way the movement caused her shirt to pull tighter over her breasts. What I wouldn’t give to take those breasts in my hands and knead them before bending my head to suck on one of her nipples. To hear her moans—

“The volunteering started eleven years ago,” she said.

I tore my gaze away from her breasts and compelled myself to focus on what she said. Getting involved with a possibility would be the worst decision I could possibly make; it could never happen. I told myself this, but it did nothing to ease the raging hard-on I had right now. Shifting uncomfortably in my chair, I lifted the goblet and took a drink of wine.

“Yes,” I said when I was finished swallowing. “And four years ago, we learned there was a hope out there for us, we only had to find it.”

“How did you find out about this…
hope?
”

“Bale can also sometimes see things.”

“And what did she see?”

“That is not for you to know, human.”

She placed her chin on her knee. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“Not at all. We have made much progress over the years with the humans, but there are still a large number who are distrustful of us.”

“I can understand that. It’s not every day you learn of a whole other plane of existence and that the plane is actually Hell. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

“You seem to be swallowing it quite well.”

She drank down some more of her wine. “For tonight. Who knows, maybe I’ll be drooling on myself in the morning.”

“I doubt that. You’ve taken this better than any human I’ve seen before.”

“Devil’s eyes, remember? Visions, knowing things. I think that makes it a little easier for me to believe there’s something more out there. Would I have guessed Heaven and Hell would be that something more, probably not, but it does make it easier for me to take at least some of this. Though, I’m still not at all pleased about being torn from my home.”

Her eyes filled with malice when they turned toward me. I was contemplating lifting her onto the table and sinking myself into her, and she looked as if she were contemplating my death. I remained silent, amazed she so relentlessly held my gaze when many others wouldn’t.

“That could not have been changed,” I told her. “It is extremely important, for everyone, including the entire human race, that we find who we are looking for.”

Some of her antagonistic spirit slipped away as she turned to look at the wall of the tent. “I almost hope I am this person,” she murmured. “At least then there would have been a reason.”

I hoped she wasn’t. The realization hit me with the impact of a hellhound barreling into my chest. I barely knew this woman; the person we sought could well be the key to taking back a throne that was supposed to have been mine at birth; a throne Lucifer stripped from my ancestors before I’d had a chance to claim and defend it. I’d spent my entire existence working toward this one goal. Now, all I could think about was how much I hoped this woman was not the one who could help me regain my rightful position in Hell.

“Why sixteen-year-old volunteers?” she asked. “Why so young and why cut the age off at twenty?”

“That was not my decision. The humans believed that younger people would have an easier time accepting what they would see and learn here. Even still, more than a few humans haven’t been able to handle this revelation. They’ve been secluded for their own safety and the safety of those around them. Some have killed themselves and others have fled into the wilds, never to be seen again. The volunteers aren’t considered soldiers until they’ve been through two solid years of training and can pass all stages of the training.”

“What happens if they don’t?”

“They take care of the animals, make the clothes, the food, and take care of other things requiring maintenance in every camp along the wall.”

“I see. How many other people, like me, have you found over the past four years?”

“Throughout all of the establishments and camps in the world, a couple hundred possibilities have been uncovered. Some of them actually could do things, some couldn’t, but none of them were the person we’re searching for.”

“And I am a possibility?”

“Yes.”

Her fingers curled into her shin. “Were all those people brought here?”

“No.”

“But you’re the one looking for them?”

“Demons have been established in many camps throughout the world in order to work with the humans and focus on our goal. They know the requirements we are searching for; the person will be brought to me if they’re uncovered.”

“How will they get here if they’re on the other side of the world?”

“There is still an open airport in Canada and one in London as well.”

“Could demons travel through the hole in the dimensions to the other side?”

“We could,” I confirmed. “But no human could survive Hell. It has also become too volatile to risk more of our members. We can get in without a problem, getting all the way through without notice is an entirely different matter. Guardians of the gate have been established on both ends to try and stop more demons from exiting Hell and to report to us if Lucifer makes his move out of Hell.”

Her foot hit the ground with a thud. “Shouldn’t you all be there in case that happens?”

“Right now, our best option is to defend the wall and keep them back from invading the lands beyond. There will be no protecting or controlling the humans anymore if the Craetons get beyond the wall. Demon attacks on top of panicked humans would only result in massacres.”

She shuddered; her hands ran up and down her arms as her gaze went beyond me.

“Many of the nightmares of Hell now roam free in the middle of your country as well as Europe,” I told her.

“What about Africa, Canada, Australia, and South America, are they still mostly out of it?”

“Australia is; the ocean has kept them secluded from the chaos. Most of Canada still is, but there are some problem areas on the wall along the border. There was a breach in the southern wall and an influx got through into Mexico. South America is still somewhat safe, but it’s only a matter of time before it too falls. There are also reports of Africa having been breached.”

Her gaze came back to me, and she chewed on her bottom lip as she studied me. “Why did you settle in this area?”

“I travel to all of the encampments on a rotating basis to check on things. I just happened to be here when you were brought in.”

“Do you bring all the possibilities you encounter in to talk with them?”

I poured us both some more wine. “No, you are the first.”

“Why me?”

“Because you are the first who has refused to go with the others and who didn’t turn into a blubbering mess once the secrets were out.”

“Have the others all been older than the volunteers, like me?”

“No, some were younger.”

“No wonder they started to cry; they were children.”

“You’re not much older than a child.”

“Maybe not, but I was never really able to be a child either.”

I folded my fingers together and rested them on the table as I studied her. Her fingers rose to fiddle with her necklace again; her eyes shadowed and distant. “What are those?” I inquired of the pink and white decorations around her neck.

She pulled it forward, her eyes crossing as she smiled down at it. “Seashells. Have you never seen them before?”

“I have never seen the sea.”

“Not even through the oracle?”

“I didn’t look often or for long.”

“You must see it; it’s beautiful. It’s life,” she breathed with a reverence that made my skin tingle. “The smell of it, the sounds, they’re all something I could never fully describe, but once you stand on the beach, with the birds soaring in the sky, the breeze blowing over you, and the water crashing on the shore, you’ll know.”

Her words captivated me, and the serene expression on her face had me mesmerized. Had I considered her simply pretty? She was breathtakingly beautiful with that look on her face. I could never understand her sense of peace; I’d never felt peace in my life. My existence had always been about battles, war, and death.

“What will I know?” I inquired, my voice hoarser than I’d expected.

She blinked, and her head turned toward me. Though her peaceful reverie vanished, she smiled at me. Her smile kicked into my chest, causing my breath to hitch as she watched me.

“That you’ve come home,” she murmured and released her necklace. “If you get the chance, you should see it.”

I’d never had the inclination to do so before, but I did now. The smile slid from her face. I despised the melancholy creeping over her features again. The compulsion to draw her into my lap and hold her there seized me. I shook my head to clear it of the notion. Grabbing my goblet, I drank more wine as I realized she had some kind of a strange effect on me that I couldn’t understand.

“You have to train with the others,” I told her brusquely. “You must know how to protect yourself on this side of the wall. I understand your resentment and frustration, but if you continue to refuse the training, you will get yourself killed. You must learn from us how to survive.”

Her jaw clenched, and her hands balled. For a second, I believed she would fight me and I would have to force her into it. Instead, she nodded. “I don’t like it.” She gave me a pointed look that I returned with a smile. “But you’re right. I don’t intend to be demon food.”

“Only some kinds of demons would eat you.”

“Good to know. You’re involved in the training?”

“Not normally, but until I know what to make of you, I will work with you personally.”