Renegade (10 page)

I stared at her, silent.

She sighed dramatically. “Fine. Don’t tell me.”

“Look, I don’t want anyone to know. Not Heven, not anyone. The less people that know the better. I don’t want Heven implicated in case someone ties the body to me. I want everyone to be able to deny any knowledge.”

“Except for me.”

“Something tells me you can handle it.”

That made her look smug. I wanted to laugh because it hadn’t really been a compliment.

“Do you really think I’ll get my powers back?”

“You miss them?” When she nodded, I said, “They didn’t seem that strong down in hell.”

“That’s because I was in
hell
, with my soul out of my body. Trust me. I can do stuff.”

I hoped I could trust her. If she sold me out to the cops, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d backstabbed someone.

Chapter Six

The Vile

I stalked through the cave. The things I saw moments ago were unacceptable. How had this happened? Someone would pay for this. I would not have it!

The wall of fire was thick, hot and blazing. It should be no match for the kind of power that resided behind it. I reached through the burning flames and opened up the cell door. A decrepit body came forward, along with a soul without a body. I lifted my hands and spoke, pulling the body and spirit through, enjoying their screams of pain as they were burned.

They deserved that and more.

As they cowered on the floor, I waved another hand to put out the fire. Without the angry roar of the flames, the dungeon plunged into silence. I hated silence. It was too still.

“What is the meaning of this?” I roared. “How could you allow this to happen?”

“We were tricked,” the hag of an old woman said on her knees before me. “My powers have been bound.”

“How could anyone, a mere
girl
, bind your powers and trap you on your own land?”

The old hag looked up. “The dust, the golden dust,” she muttered. “She has the power of the sun.”

This I did not know. This I had not seen. “Tell me more.”

“She must have found where the flower grows. She could lead us to it.”

I heard the desperation in her voice, the pleading behind her words. I wanted to punish her, but I wanted that flower. I wanted its location.

I reached into my pocket and brought out a black velvet pouch. Her eyes widened in hope. I grabbed a handful of the black powder and threw it at her. Instantaneously, a heavy cloud of black surrounded her. Within, purple lightning cracked and flashed. When the dust settled, Hecate stepped out, no longer the burned, old hag.

She was young and beautiful once more, with onyx hair and flawless skin. Around her shoulders was a blood-red cloak. She smiled triumphantly, as if she won.

I threw out my hand and the age of the old hag began to creep up her hands and turn her skin paper thin, allowing the veins and wrinkles to show through. She began to shriek as she held up her hands and watched her newly returned beauty fade away. “I returned your powers to you, unbound them, but only because I want that flower. I want its location. You will find it. If you do not, I will reduce you to that blithering, weak hag and let you rot for your eternal life in misery.”

That wiped the smug look off her face.

“Of course, your highness.”

Another flick of my wrist and the aging of her hands and arms faded away. “Get out of my sight. When you find it, bring it to me.”

She was gone before I even finished talking.

I turned my attention to the soul hovering nearby. It was dark and twisted and utterly disappointing.

“You allowed a girl, a
weak
,
little
girl defeat you. You thought I would not notice how you are taking more and more power? You may be the Prince of Gluttony, but I will not have it! No one will have more power and control than me! No. One!”

On the floor, the soul quivered. I wished I could kill Beelzebub for ever thinking he would be able to gain more power than I. He was probably draining the stolen souls faster than they were being gathered, all in an attempt to overthrow me! I stomped my booted foot down on the soul, then raised it and stomped again and again.

“You are nothing but dirt beneath my shoe! Nothing!” I spat.

“In your quest for power you have lost control of your domain. You are an embarrassment. An abomination. I should leave you trapped with no body and no power.”

The soul moved about, no doubt wanting to speak, to make weak excuses for his mistakes.

“You are the personification of gluttony, but never before have you let your vice get the best of you. You became gluttonous in your need for power and then for revenge. Look where it’s gotten you! You disgust me!”

It flinched as I reached my hand right through the dark mass and grabbed hold. I jerked my fingers and curled them close to my palm. I felt the ripples and waves of pain and I laughed. I gripped harder, twisting, creating agonizing pain to the spirit. No doubt between the torrents of suffering he wondered how I could do this, and the thought of his doubt in me fueled my anger further. I could do anything! The soul was flickering when I finally released it, floating down onto the cave floor and lying motionless.

“I was called away from my gathering, from my twisting. I had to come here to clean up your mess and to remind you I am in charge here and always will be.”

I turned toward the creature lurking in the corner. “Find me a body!”

It rushed off to do my bidding and I turned back.

“Never mind the revenge you have been seeking. You want to torture some little girl. Fine. I do not care. But when you start drawing more and more power from hell to fuel your fight—when I get wind of ideas that you think you can win over control here…” The soul began moving, flopping around. “You will be punished. I cannot have a ruler here who doesn’t know his place!”

“You will be banished to Earth. Away from the home you love to rule and the land and power you have greedily gathered. Your home is now being invaded by someone new, someone who surprisingly is gaining some control and who no doubt knows who rules here. You will not be allowed back here until I am convinced you understand who your king is!”

Just then the creature came back, dragging behind it a struggling, pleading body.

“I said a body! Not a live being.” I blasted the creature and he turned to dust before my eyes, leaving the man in shock.

I killed him too.

Once his soul floated away, off to twist in the confines of hell, I pushed a new soul in. Seconds ticked by and then the limbs straightened and stretched, the lungs filled with breath, and the body rose.

“You dare banish me to Earth? To that vile place?”

I fisted my hands and brought them toward my body, bringing with it Beelzebub’s soul, partially ripping it from the body I just gave him.

“Wait.” He choked.

I held his soul there, suspended, half in half out. “You dare question me?”

“N-no.”

Upon his defeat, I shoved his soul back into the body.

“Go to Earth and prove to me that you know your place beneath me.”

“Wait,” he said pathetically, no doubt trying to worm his way out of punishment.

Sick of looking at him, I sent him away, spiraling toward the place he hated. The place where he ruled no one.

With that complete, I left the cave.

I had somewhere else to be.

Riley

Stupid dragon. Apparently my decision to use this overgrown bird as my personal tour guide wasn’t a very good one. Trying to get him to go where I wanted was like trying to get milk from a turtle. I hunched forward a little more, digging my hands into his overly bright feathers, and braced myself against the wind and the uneven way he soared through the sky.

“Take me to the souls,” I told him. I had no idea if he understood what I was saying, but Heven talked to him sometimes and he seemed to know what I was saying earilier `so I thought maybe I’d give it a try.

It seemed like we flew over the black, thick sludge forever. It was endless and dark, and I was starting to wonder if the Devourer was somehow just going in circles without me realizing. But then an expanse of rough granite ground with a fine layer of the gray ash appeared.

The landscape didn’t change at first. It looked a lot like Beelzebub’s land—barren and wasted—but then things began to change. The ride became a little less boring.

This place was different. It was developed.

Small buildings dotted the area below with hard granite paths between them as streets. I nudged the dragon and pushed my hands down, hoping he’d get the message and fly a little lower to the ground so I could get a better look.

He actually listened and dropped from the sky, practically in a free fall. I gave a shout of surprise and buried my hands deeper into his feathers, trying to swallow everything in my stomach threatening to come up.

I threw my head back and released shout of excitement. This is what I was talking about. Who needed a rollercoaster when you could ride a dragon?

He began to straighten out, but we weren’t as close as I wanted to be, and when I tried to nudge him down some more he turned his head and glared at me, tipping himself until I was hanging on and trying not to fall off. “I get the hint!” I yelled and he straightened back out.

I decided to never fly on him again.

Overgrown bird.

I turned my attention down and looked at the buildings. They actually looked like houses. In fact, if it weren’t for the stale air, the ashy, dark quality to everything around us, I might mistake this place for a rundown neighborhood. All the houses were built out of some sort of stone with dark metal roofs. They weren’t overly large and were a mix of square and triangular shapes.

What was also surprising were the street lamps. They were actually lit up and not with fire. I thought of all the time I sat around in the dark or carried a giant torch like I was a caveman. Did this place have electricity?

We continued to fly over houses and buildings. I spotted a few inhabitants—they were all demons of course. But it was shocking to see how they were essentially living… It was almost civilized.