Page 69 of Endless Terrors
I thought it would be impossible to fall asleep, but I did.
One moment, I was curled up on a strange bed, trying to keep the terror at bay.
The next I was opening my eyes to stars.
I rose slowly, looking down at myself. I wore my favorite running clothes, and the dream had gotten every detail right, even my faded sneakers. I frowned when I realized I was resting on black stone. The air was painfully cold.
“Please, allow me,” a familiar voice said.
Fingers gently took hold of my elbow, lending me balance as I got up. I lifted my head, already knowing it would be the devil standing there. He wore the same clothes I’d seen him in when I first got to Hell, but the jacket was gone now. The buttons undone at his collar showed glimpses of a hard, golden chest. I was about to wrench my arm from Lucifer’s grasp when I got caught in the beauty of him again. His vivid eyes, his full lips, the alluring slope of his jaw.
Lucifer let go and moved back. My cheeks burned, realizing that he’d been the one to pull away first, and not me.
I glanced around us, only intending to take stock of my surroundings. But when I saw where we were, I found my gaze lingering. This wasn’t the dreamscape, I knew that much. I wasn’t sure why I was so certain, since there were parts of that world I’d never seen. I just couldn’t shake the feeling of … fear. Curiosity. Awe.
We were on a rock. The part that was smooth enough to stand on was the size of an elevator. Then the edges dropped, plunging down into a rolling mist that stretched as far as the eye could see. It should’ve been creepy, or menacing, considering how many monsters that mist could be hiding. But the stars were big and bright. The mist was ever-moving, like the surreal, frothy waves of a monster-infested sea. There was no hint of the red sky, only empty darkness.
“What is this? Where is—” I stopped short of saying Oliver’s name, worried it would make him vulnerable, somehow.
Lucifer kept his gaze on the horizon. The starlight lent his skin an ethereal glow and lit up strands of his thick, golden hair. “Don’t worry, I haven’t harmed your … friend. He’s tucked away, or suppressed, for lack of a better word.”
A chill went through me at hearing him talk about Oliver. “How?” I asked.
What I really wanted to know was if he was stronger than me. If he was keeping Oliver away so easily, what chance did I have of using my abilities against him? Since getting to Hell, I hadn’t sensed a whisper of fear from Lucifer.
As though he could hear my thoughts, the corners of the devil’s mouth tipped up in a faint, amused smile. “You are in my domain now, Lady Sworn. My power is unmatched, even against curious creatures made by an artist such as yourself.”
Oliver had kept bad dreams away my entire life. Nothing ever overpowered him, no matter how terrible or strong. As I considered the implications of this, Jacob’s voice whispered through my memory.
Sometimes, he can reach you in your dreams.
I frowned, and my arms tightened against my body. “What is this place?” I asked abruptly.
Lucifer noticed the movement—the flick of his eyes was barely perceptible, but I saw it. He stepped closer again and held out his arm. Then I blinked, and Lucifer’s missing jacket was dangling there in a silent offering. I hesitated, knowing I should reject him. It was cold, though. Like, really cold.
I took the jacket from him and pulled it on, trying not to scowl. Why did I feel like I was losing a chess match?
The jacket smelled like him, of course. A scent that made me think of sandalwood. I wondered what Hell’s equivalent would be to that, since I doubted they had any trees. I pulled the jacket tight around my body and ignored how that scent made something in me stir.
“This is one of the highest points of Hell,” Lucifer said, turning back to the view. “It has no name. I discovered it several decades after the Fall. We’re not actually here, of course. But if we were, and you were still in the physical shell you wear on Earth, you’d be dead.”
“You flew all the way up here?” I asked, peering over the edge. I’d never considered myself afraid of heights, but seeing so much open air sent a nervous whisper through me.
“No. I climbed.”
My gaze shot back to Lucifer’s. “You climbed? Why?”
His blue eyes lingered on mine for an extra beat before he turned again. “After the Fall, all of us were scattered, and most of the planet was cast in darkness. Our wings were not designed to withstand another environment for extended periods of time. In a matter of days, they’d weakened and fallen off. We became wanderers. Alone, cold, in pain. I started losing my grip on sanity. One night, I decided to end it. I made a plan to throw myself off the highest edge I could find. I started climbing. I reached the point where I knew the fall would kill me. But then … I kept going. It became important to reach the top. To see light. I don’t know how long it took me—days, maybe weeks—to reach this spot. When I did, I looked at the stars and remembered who we were.
“Everything changed after that. I climbed back down, and I learned to hunt. I found others in the wilderness. We became strong again.”
I didn’t know how to respond. I was also fighting a sense of déjà vu. Collith had done this once—come into my dreams, shown me a place that meant something to him. My grip tightened on Lucifer’s jacket. History was not about to repeat itself. I wouldn’t let it.
“I thought there weren’t stars in Hell” was all I said.
He looked at me from the corner of his eye, eyebrows raised. “Hell may surprise you, my lady.”
I didn’t reply. I gazed out at that spill of light over the mist, mentally latching onto a lifeline of hope. If there were stars, then it seemed possible that rain existed, too. I had to get back. Not just for my Court. Faces flashed in my mind. Collith. Laurie.
