The Demon's Grave (40 page)

Aidan didn’t let me go like I had expected, one arm wrapped around my waist, holding me tight to him. He brushed a hand down my head to the back of my neck as if he couldn’t quite believe I was real.

My mouth pressed to his shoulder, and I felt myself smiling. He leaned his head against the side of mine. He smelled like sweat and smoke, and life. He smelled like safety.

We stood like that for several seconds, the fire crackling and the rain pattering the leaves. It almost felt as if we were in our own world.

I think he whispered, “Thank God,” but I couldn’t be sure when he pulled away.

His limp seemed to have worsened. Keeping one hand around his waist, I ducked under his arm, hoping to support him. He grimaced, but didn’t protest. Easing up to the door, I half expected it to fade from view, but it remained solid, just as Aidan thought it would.

No symbol etched itself in the wood, instead it was a smooth, dark surface reflecting the flames behind us.

Reaching out with one hand Aidan grabbed the doorknob. It was solid in his grasp and he twisted, swinging it inward for us to see a lush, green meadow.

It was sparkling from a recent rainfall. The clouds above were heavy globs, but broke enough to allow strips of moonlight.

Stepping through the threshold we were forced to release each other. We’d traded buckets of chilling rain and adrenaline for a peaceful meadow. I felt relief slowly begin to relax my shoulders.

Aidan nudged me and pointed to our right. A tall, square structure made of crumbling pieces of stone sat entirely out of place.

Pillars stretched to the sky, displaying large stone-carvings that I had never seen in history books. They were odd creatures. One looked similar to a sphinx except it had a bear-like body and a horse’s head. The pillars rolled down the meadow along an overgrown pathway, beckoning us in.

Statues of people stood between the pillared walkway. Most had fallen over, though some were only missing chunks or limbs. Everything had been marred by weather and time. The place looked ancient.

“Should we go check it out?” Aidan asked huskily.

I nodded, unsure what to think. Wasn’t this the end? Shouldn’t we be given some options for our friends? A doorway home? Damien, even?

Cautious, we approached the intimidating structure, taking our time. The bright full moon proved to be an excellent guide. Very few shadows were hidden, though in the meadow, nothing could jump out without giving us a very long head-start. The only place something could hide would be the temple ahead, which naturally was where we were headed.

As I kicked through the tall grass, it tickled my calves and ankles. My already soaked sock and shoe weren’t fazed by the dewy droplets.

“What do you think?” Aidan’s breath tickled my ear.

I shook my head, undecided.

The walls were vertical, unlike a pyramid, though it was as tall as a five story building with no windows.

“You think it’s a trap?” I asked.

Aidan’s wonderment melted, the smile twitching and he squeezed my hand without answering.

My sock landed on something hard and smooth, unlike the soft earth. Looking down I saw the cracked, white pavement, much like the building’s walls. Weeds sprang up between the walkways splits. Slowing our step, we focused on the only opening available. The archway was dimly lit, but I couldn’t see much from the edge of the grounds.

“We finished the Challenges,” Aidan said after a pause, “this can’t be a trap.”

I thought,
depending on those rules Damien clings to
.

Following the pillared walkway, I could make out the claustrophobic hallway and the torches lining the walls within.

“Looks like we’ve been expected,” Aidan observed in a hushed tone.

I nodded stiffly. Questions began to plague my good mood as we slipped beneath the stone archway and into the narrow hallway. It was cramped within, easily a trap. Our footsteps announced our presence. The farther we ventured, the more I expected something to go wrong. The flickering torchlight flung our shadows around like baited fish.

After what felt like fifteen minutes‌—‌though it was probably much shorter‌—‌we could make out a shimmering, black door. It was crudely out of place in the ancient ruins.

Reaching the door, I glanced over my shoulder to ensure we were alone. Aidan followed my stare before reaching out to grab the brass knob. Before his fingertips could graze it, the door voluntarily creaked inward.

Freezing, we watched as the circular room ignited with the same wall torches as the hallway. An ominous stone table lay in the center of the empty space.

Aidan took the lead, his hand not leaving mine as we slipped inside. The table was the only piece of furniture. On the stone slab was a beautiful, jagged crystal that glowed with a pale, pink light. I stopped within a foot of the doorway, ready to run back the way we came. Aidan stretched our arms as if my hand were a leash and we both watched the glow of the crystal flicker and fade like a struggling lightbulb.

“What now?” Aidan’s whisper bounced off the walls.

“I think that this is it,” I tilted my head back, looking up at the domed ceiling above.

“What do you mean?” Aidan asked. “Shouldn’t there be a door leading us to everyone else?”

“I mean that we might have to do something else to get home.”

“Correct,” the voice low, it resonated a vibration, nailing my feet to the floor. “I think it’s time we all had a chat.”

Damien was uncomfortably close.

My shoulder brushed against his chest and I stepped back, colliding with Aidan.

Damien’s lean figure lounged against the doorframe, barring our escape.

Aidan pulled me closer, centering us between the door and the stone table.

Damien’s obsidian gaze narrowed as he stepped inside and slammed the black door shut with a jerk of his arm, never removing his gaze.

The ear-splitting slam made me jump.

Wearing only black, Damien crossed his arms over a well-defined chest. His clothes clung in all the right places. In our world, women would be tripping all over themselves. Hell, so would I, which made me wonder if this was what he really looked like or if it was another illusion.

Aidan broke the uncomfortable silence first. “So, then talk. We’ve won and are ready to take our friends and go home.” His voice didn’t waver and I was glad he decided to confront the demon.

Leaning against the closed door as if we were casual friends, Damien’s predatory eyes glistened. I couldn’t decide whether it was amusement, excitement or anger. “You disappoint me, Birket,” he said the name as if it were poisoned. “You had a golden opportunity.”

I glanced at Aidan, but his pale gaze was combating Damien’s, unafraid. I had to give him points for that, I could barely hold the demon’s gaze without wanting to fidget.

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Damien said, “find the doorway and you can go home.”

I swallowed hard before venturing the one question I dreaded to ask. “What about the rest?”

Damien tilted his head. “The rest?”

“Yes.” My free hand twisted at my camisole and I kept my expression from twitching while inside, bombs were going off.

“Our friends. We won the Challenge, didn’t we?”

I could have been mistaken, but I could have sworn the muscles in his arms twitched and his body stiffened though his expression remained neutral. “You certainly did and you can go home. They didn’t, they’re mine now.”

Anger seeping between Aidan’s teeth. “You told me that I could have them back if I won.” It wasn’t posed as a question. We both knew what Damien meant.

“Yes, if you stood up to our agreement and handed her over,” Damien arched a straight eyebrow as if daring Aidan to Challenge him. “Then you would have.” I opened my mouth to argue but Aidan beat me to the punch.

“That isn’t fair! I won, so it should stand either way.” Aidan stepped in front of me.

Damien sighed, exasperated, and rolled his eyes heavenward, before answering. “
Nothing
is fair.” Despite his apathetic answer, he looked to me pointedly and something heated flashed in those dark eyes.

I couldn’t help but think of our friends trapped here with him. I licked my lips; my voice was softer than I would have liked. “Were those men real? The ones who kidnapped me?”

“Yes.”

“Did they lose a Challenge?” I asked.

Damien nodded once.

“Are they dead?”

“You didn’t notice? They’ve been dead for a long time.”

I thought of Phoebe as a zombie. Would they suffer the same? “But it was
them.
How did they get here and…‌” I almost said
her name
and tried not to look over my shoulder at Aidan.

Damien’s smirk held no pleasure.

I thought of the faceless people of Aidan’s nightmare, of the witch Cody killed. Could they all have been real people playing a Challenge to stop others? Those evil men had lived here for years, and suffered. Their souls‌—‌if such things existed‌—‌hadn’t been allowed to leave.

Aidan readjusted his fingers in mine. It was a small comfort that meant a lot more than I think he realized. It meant someone was on my side. Someone had been through Hell with me.

Unable to look at Damien, I asked the wall beside his head. “How did Nell get out?” I waited for lightning to strike me down for mentioning her name in front of Damien, but the demon didn’t flinch.

“She never entered the Demon’s Grave.”

Aidan thankfully remained quiet.

I cleared my throat and heard the nervous laugh. “After all that, she never stepped foot in here?”

Damien didn’t answer, just stared.

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why kill a little girl?” I remember she wanted him to come to the flames. “Was it you she wanted or something else?”

Pushing himself away from the door, his arms still crossed, Damien tilted his head. “It was me she wanted.”

“Why?” I demanded, hoping I’d get something out of him, a hint to his rules. I’d mentioned Nell in front of Aidan, but I hadn’t told Aidan specifically. It was the only reason I could think as to why he didn’t head off to kill Phoebe the instant I asked.

Aidan’s fingers had tightened in mine and in the demon’s silence he asked. “Why not take the portal at my grandpa’s house?”

Damien smiled. “Why not, indeed?”

I glanced back at Aidan, lips parting as the pieces began to click into place. “Your grandpa wouldn’t let her in.”

“Keepers are good for that,” Damien’s voice echoed off the domed ceiling.

I could see the wheels turning in Aidan’s head. “So, she found an alternative route.” He looked past me at Damien. “There has to be an alternative way to get our friends back too. Always a loophole, right?”

Turning my head too fast, I felt dizzy. Aidan was right, there had to be a way. Nell found a way to contact the Demon’s Grave. She sacrificed a little girl and sent two of her own accomplices into the Challenge.

Damien said. “Finally an interesting request. You wish to negotiate?”

Between a rock and a hard place. I suddenly became very aware of that cliché. Clenching my jaw, it hurt with the rising bruise but I needed the pain to ground me. Our answer could trap us into something, couldn’t it? Negotiating with a demon couldn’t come out pretty.

Aidan cleared his throat, “just tell us how to get them back.”

“Aw,” Damien didn’t mask his disappointment. “Re-entering the darkness between worlds could grant you such a request, if you survived that is.”

“You mean we’d have to go through another Challenge?” Aidan asked.

If Damien were aware of Aidan’s disgust he didn’t respond physically. “Yes.”

Aidan glanced between Damien and me. “There is no way that we can save them now?”

I couldn’t stop the shaking that rippled through me like water. I could feel my chest heave at the idea of losing my friends. The distinctly strange warmth in my stomach began to build. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Damien. “We fought to get them back and we’re
getting
them back.”

Damien’s eyes rolled down my body in a way that made me feel naked. Not in a sexual way, but the way a scientist might stare at a specimen. So detached and cold it was disturbing. I was exposed to so much emotion at once while he seemed oblivious. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of light.

The crystal in the center of the slab had changed colors from the light pink to a red. I was reminded of the little bomb from the museum.

Damien said. “Did you wonder how it’s possible to influence the Challenges around you? You think that heated sensation you feel in your gut is purely coincidence?”

Aidan beat me to the punch. “What do you mean? Influencing the Challenge?”

Damien nodded toward me, watching Aidan. “She has sway and she’s catching on. Go too far and it’s cheating,” His dark gaze shifted to me, the threat lingering. “You came very, very close.”

Behind me the crystal faded to a pink and I felt a lump in my throat.

Damien watched, fascinated, but otherwise held his mask of tolerance. I glanced at Aidan to see he’d paled a little.

He caught my eyes and mumbled, “How can that happen?”

“You’re the Keeper, you should know,” Damien shot back.

Aidan and I glanced at each other again, our confusion reflecting back and forth.

“Well,” Aidan looked away first, “I don’t, so help me out here.”

“I don’t train Keepers,” Damien said sourly, “only Neophytes to the grave.”

His grandpa
, I thought. Aidan had said that his cousin was supposed to inherit the house until he died shortly after their grandfather, leaving the Demon’s Grave open to anyone. The guardian or Keeper must have been there to keep people like Nell out‌—‌to keep us out.

“Well, what if there technically wasn’t a Keeper?” I tore my eyes from Aidan. “There must be a way we can leave with our friends. I mean, you just stole them from us.”

“Did I?” Damien raised his eyebrows, the smile twitching. “Or were they victims of their own mistakes?” He gestured to the door behind him. “Opening doors without keys, succumbing to fear, wandering off the path, or just not being quick enough‌—‌these are all reasons for their failures. I’m afraid the only way to get them back is to replace them. Two for two.”