Church felt dead and buried. I knew I would carry the horror
of what I’d seen around with me forever.
We al started when we heard the soft buzz of a key card
and Jake let himself into the room. He was obviously so
sure of his authority that he hadn’t felt the need to knock
and was total y oblivious to having impinged on my privacy.
He seemed to believe round-the-clock access to me was
whol y within his rights. I saw Tucker stand up and linger
self-consciously, as if he should be making himself useful,
but Jake ignored him and marched over to where I lay,
regarding me careful y. Unlike Tucker, I made no attempt to
get up or even turn my head to face him.
“You look awful,” he observed. “I hate to say I told you so.”
“I don’t want to see you,” I said dul y.
“I thought you’d understand by now that there are far
worse things in this place than seeing me. Come on now,
you can’t blame me for what you’ve seen. I didn’t create this
place even though I may have some jurisdiction over it.”
“Do you enjoy inflicting pain and torture?” I asked in a
hol ow voice, looking up to meet his eyes. “Do you get off
on it?”
“Steady on,” Jake sounded offended. “I
personally
don’t
torture anyone. I have more important things to do.”
“But you know it’s happening,” I insisted. “And you do
nothing about it.”
Jake shared a bemused look with Tucker, who was
frowning at me as if he thought I were an idiot.
“And why on earth would I try to stop it?” he asked.
“Because they’re people,” I said weakly. It was always so
exhausting talking to Jake. It left me feeling as if I were
running in circles and getting nowhere.
“No, actual y they’re souls of people who were very bad in
life,” he explained patiently.
“Nobody deserves this—no matter what their crime.”
“Oh, real y?” Jake folded his arms. “Then you have no
idea what mankind is capable of. Besides, they al had the
choice to repent and they chose not to. That’s how the
system works.”
“Yeah, wel , your system stinks. It turns good people into
monsters.”
“And that,” Jake said, wagging a finger thoughtful y, “is
the difference between you and me. You insist on seeing
man as inherently noble even when al evidence suggests
otherwise. Humans—urghh!” Jake shuddered. “What’s
noble about them? They eat, they breed, they sleep, they
fight—they’re nothing but basic organisms. Look what
bil ions of them have done to the planet; their very existence
is pol uting the earth and you blame us for it. If humans are
God’s greatest achievement, he seriously needs to review
his design. Take Tucker, for instance. Why do you think I
keep him around? It’s to remind me of God’s fal ibility.”
Tucker’s face flushed crimson but Jake seemed not to
notice.
“People are much more than that,” I replied, partly to
cover up Tucker’s humiliation. “They can dream and hope
and love. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“Those are usual y worse off because they’re so
delusional. Empty yourself of compassion, Bethany, it won’t
serve you wel here.”
“I’l die before I become like you,” I said.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” said Jake breezily. “You
can’t die here. Only the earth entertains such ridiculous
notions as life and death. Another one of your father’s little
quirks.”
I was spared the effort of chal enging Jake further when
we heard voices in the hal and a woman sailed into the
room with al the aplomb of a celebrity.
“This is supposed to be my room,” I muttered. “Why do
people think they can just barge in and …”
I stopped short when I gave the woman a closer look and
remembered her instantly as the tattooed barmaid from
Pride. It would have been hard to forget the annihilating
look she’d given me then. She gave me a fleeting glance
this time as if my presence were too immaterial to take up
any more of her time. She was riled. I could see that in the
fixed line of her mouth and the way she brusquely pushed
past Tucker.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding,” she chided Jake.
“I wondered how long it’d be before you’d show up,” Jake
said lazily. “You know you’re getting yourself a reputation as
a stalker.”
“Shame a bad reputation don’t mean jack here,” the
woman replied.
There was a derisive tone in the way he addressed her,
but she seemed only amused by it. “Beth, meet Asia, my …
very personal … personal assistant. She gets stressed if
she doesn’t know exactly where I am at any given time.”
I sat up to get a better look at her. Asia was tal and
striking like an Amazon. She was dressed provocatively in
a gold halter top and a leather miniskirt. Her jet-black hair
with the texture of spun wool surrounded her feline features.
Her lips were exaggeratedly ful , sticky with gloss, and
permanently parted. The way she stood with her shoulders
thrust back reminded me of a boxer, and her coffee-colored
skin had a slight sheen as if it had been oiled. Her shoes
were extraordinary, like works of art; fawn-colored, open-
toed lace-up ankle boots with heels like ice picks.
“Jimmy Choo,” she said reading my mind. “Divine, aren’t
they? Jake has them special y made for me every season.”
There was a look in her smoldering eyes I was familiar
with. I’d seen girls give it to one another at school when they
wanted to issue a clear warning that said, “Hands off!” Asia
didn’t need to say anything to me; her look spoke volumes.
As Jake’s lover she was sending me a clear message that
said he was off-limits to me if I valued my life. In order to
make the status of her relationship patently clear, Asia
slithered around Jake like an asp at his throat, rubbing up
and pressing her bare flesh against him. Jake’s hand
traveled up her polished thigh, but in his eyes I was sure I
could see boredom. Asia surveyed me from head to foot,
decidedly unimpressed. “So, this is the little bitch
everyone’s talking about?
Small,
isn’t she?” Jake made a
clicking sound with his tongue.
“Asia—play nice.”
“I can’t see what al the fuss is about,” she said, circling
me now with a panther-like grace. “If you ask me, baby, I
think you’re downgradin’.”
“Wel , nobody asked you.” Jake gave her a warning look.
“And we talked about this; Beth is
special
.”
“Are you saying I’m not?” Asia put her hands on her hips
and arched her eyebrows flirtatiously.
“Oh, no, you’re very special,” Jake chuckled. “But in a
different way. Don’t think your talents haven’t been
appreciated.”
“So what’s with the Mary Sue outfit?” Asia asked,
plucking at the fril y sleeve of my dress. “You got some
fetish for Southern bel es? It’s very pure. That’s what this is
al about, right? But did you real y have to dress her like
she’s twelve?”
“No one dressed me,” I snapped.
“Oh, how cute!” Asia threw me a scathing look. “It talks.”
“I was just explaining to our guest how things work down
here,” Jake said, steering the conversation in a safer
direction. “I was trying to explain to her how life and death
have no meaning here. Would you mind assisting me in a
brief demonstration?”
“With pleasure,” Asia agreed. She came to stand right in
front of him and threw back her head, seductively sliding off
her halter top until she stood only in a black bra, revealing
the smooth milk chocolate skin of her torso. Jake’s eyes
traveled appreciatively over her body for a moment, before
he spun around and seized a fire poker from its hook
beside the grate. I realized his intention too late and the
scream caught in my throat as he plunged the thick tip into
her chest. I expected howls of pain or spurting blood,
anything but what I saw. Asia only gasped then shuddered
with pleasure and closed her eyes in ecstasy. When she
opened them and caught sight of my horror-stricken face
she dissolved into laughter. The poker was buried inches
deep in her chest without the slightest hint of a wound of
any kind. It looked as if it had molded to her body, as if it
had always been a part of her. When she grasped it with
both hands and wrenched it free of her flesh, it made a
gruesome sucking sound. Seconds later the smooth skin
closed over the puncture the poker had created.
“See?” Asia said. “The Grim Reaper can’t touch us. He
works for us.”
“But I’m not dead,” I blurted, unthinking.
Asia snatched up the poker from the floor where she’d
tossed it. “Why don’t we test that out?” she hissed. She
sprang at me with animal speed, but Jake was faster and
intercepted her, whipping the weapon from her tight grasp.
He threw her onto the couch and crouched over her, the tip
of the poker pressed menacingly against her throat. Asia
eye’s flashed with excitement. She bared and gnashed her
teeth as she ran her hands along his hips.
“Bethany is not a toy,” Jake said, as if he were scolding a
naughty child. “Try to think of her as your baby sister.” Asia
held her hands palm up in defeat but couldn’t repress her
expression of deep disappointment.
“You used to be so much fun.”
“Ignore her.” Jake looked at me. “She’l get used to you in
time.”
That’s if I survive
, I thought bitterly. “It doesn’t make
sense,” I said. “How can you torture souls when they can’t
feel pain?”
“I never said
they
couldn’t feel pain,” Jake explained.
“Only the demons are immune. The souls, on the other
hand, feel everything acutely. The beauty of Hades is that
you keep regenerating only to go through it al again.”
“The torture cycle’s set on repeat,” Asia said with a
crazed look. “We can hack ‘em up and by sundown they’l
be whole again. The poor suckers look so relieved to know
they’re close to the end. You should see their faces when
they wake up without a scratch and it starts al over again.”
My face must have reflected the light-headedness I
suddenly felt. I sank down into a chair, resting heavily on my
elbow. Jake brushed Asia’s wandering hands from his
chest and came over to me. He lifted my chin with an icy
finger.
“Tel me what’s wrong,” he said in a voice surprisingly
devoid of sarcasm.
“I don’t feel wel ,” I said flatly.
“Poor baby’s sick,” Asia crooned.
“What can I do?” Jake asked.
My gaze wandered inadvertently to Asia. I knew it wasn’t
wise to make an enemy out of her, but her very presence
was making me feel unwel . Jake looked at her flippantly
over his shoulder. “Get out,” he commanded without a
second’s hesitation.
“What?” She sounded genuinely surprised and even
unsure of who he was addressing for a moment.
“NOW!”
Asia had clearly never been in a position in which she
wasn’t Jake’s favorite and she didn’t like it. She threw me
one final venomous look before storming off. I breathed
easier with her gone. The malice she projected was
debilitating, as if she were feeding off my very life source.
“Tucker, pour us a drink,” Jake ordered. Tucker sprang to
life, moving to the dresser to pour whiskey from a crystal
decanter into a tumbler. He handed it to Jake with an
expression that suggested a mixture of fear and loathing.
Jake held out the glass to me.
“Drink this.”
I took some tentative sips of the warm, glowing liquid and
felt surprisingly better. It burned inside me, but somehow
the burn had a numbing effect.
“You need to keep your strength up,” Jake said, putting
an arm casual y around me. Instantaneously I shook myself
free. “You don’t always have to be so defensive.” He swung
himself playful y around a bedpost and slid in beside me so
deftly I barely had time to react. Although fil ed with a
strange darkness, Jake’s face was beautiful in the fading
light. His lips parted in a slow smile and I could hear him
breathing fast. His black eyes traveled unhurriedly over my
face. He always had a way of making me feel exposed and
vulnerable.
“You must make an effort to be happy,” he murmured,
trailing a finger along the inside of my arm.
“How can I try when I’m more miserable than I’ve ever