Page 65 of Endless Terrors
I made a beeline for the clothing and put everything on hurriedly beneath the blanket. The soft, dark pants fit perfectly, and the sweater, also black, settled on my frame as if it had been made for me. Whoever had brought the outfit had even thought to include a pair of slip-on shoes with low heels.
Now that I was alone—and no longer naked—my gaze darted around curiously, and I paid closer attention to the details of Lucifer’s inner sanctum. By the right wall there was a mammoth desk, complete with an intricate chair, stacks of paper, and an advanced-looking computer. What did this creature have to write, I wondered? The floor even had a rug laid out. It was a disorienting pattern, all swirls and never-ending lines. One of the walls was made of glass, and another was covered in a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. Overhead, a chandelier cast a glow over everything.
Definitely not what I would have expected.
“You certainly know how to make an entrance,” someone said from the doorway.
I spun, making a startled sound. I knew that voice.
Lucifer leaned against the doorframe.
The sight of him sent my thoughts into a dim frenzy. It was the first time we’d truly laid eyes on each other. Stood in each other’s presence. No more dreams, no more hosts.
It was just me and the devil.
He looked like he’d stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine. Lucifer’s muscular body was clothed in black slacks, a white button-up, and a jacket. It was still jarring, seeing him in a style from my world. The sleeves were shoved casually to his elbows, revealing forearms that were hard and defined. His biceps strained at the material. He also wore expensive-looking leather shoes.
There was no sign of the metal wings.
“Welcome to my dimension, Fortuna Sworn. I apologize for your reception. Had I known how you’d be arriving, I would have made far more ideal arrangements,” he said courteously.
“Where …” I touched my throat and cleared it, using the pause to scrape my composure back together.
“It may take another day or two for you to fully recover. Traveling between dimensions isn’t as simple as walking through a Door. We’re fortunate that you awoke in one of the seven cities. Imagine if you’d landed in the Waste.” Lucifer straightened and stepped aside, gesturing to the open doorway. “Follow me, please.”
I stayed where I was. “Where’s my brother?”
Lucifer put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve already reached out to my contacts in your world. Witches should be performing the spell to put his soul back in his body.”
“Prove it.”
“I plan to,” he said patiently. “But in order to do that, I need you to follow me.”
He was still standing by the door, and he inclined his bright head, indicating the walkway beyond. I stood there for another second, feeling stubborn and paranoid. But I hadn’t come all this way just to hide in Lucifer’s office. I raised my chin and walked past him, unable to shake the feeling that I was putting my back to a deadly predator. The devil stepped out and closed the door behind us, moving with the same thoughtless grace that Collith and Laurie did. The comparison unsettled me.
I turned, intending to examine my surroundings and push any thoughts about Collith and Laurie from my mind. A small creature darted across our path, and I couldn’t stop the startled sound that escaped me. Even in the brief glimpse I’d gotten, there was no missing its big, hairy legs and numerous eyes. I fought the instinct to go right back into that office and lock the door.
Lucifer paused, too, but he was watching me instead of the shadows, where more of those things were scuttling. “They’re called mazzikin. Mostly harmless. Pests,” he said dismissively.
Mostly harmless? I eyed one of them. Seeing the mazzikin made me think of the other strange species I’d glimpsed since coming to this dimension. “What were those creatures that found me? The ones with the gray skin?” I asked.
The devil started walking, forcing me to do the same, although I didn’t love getting closer to the mazzikin. He tilted his head as he considered my question. “Ah, that would be a baloc demon. They are the only ones who can work the mines, because their bodies are able to withstand the heat.”
Demon? I echoed silently, blinking. It made sense, of course. And yet I hadn’t thought of that sad, nameless creature as one of the things I loathed with every fiber of my being. Could it be that demons were like faeries, and some of them had the capacity to be good? The possibility made me frown.
“The one who brought me here was … very kind,” I said. “He spoke English.”
“Some of them do. It’s easy enough to pick up, hearing it from the souls that reside in the city.”
“Reside?” I echoed with raised brows. “So they’re not being tortured?”
Before Lucifer could answer, my gaze shifted. I registered the view, and I stopped in the middle of the walkway, staring. I sensed Lucifer coming to stand beside me, and a cool breeze carried his scent to me.
“Welcome to the First City, Fortuna,” he murmured.
It was the place Lucifer had shown me in the dreamscape. From this vantage point, it was even more alien and unnerving. Interspersed amongst the modern-looking skyscrapers, there were the black, jagged bits of rock I’d noticed before, standing up from the ground far below like enormous claws scraping the sky. But it seemed like there was no sky—the space above the towers and streets was unending darkness, broken only by brief, strange flashes of red, like colored lightning or a flickering fire. Winged things circled the air like vultures, just like I remembered.
As I leaned over the ledge to see one more closely, I thought about the remark Lucifer had made. We’re fortunate that you awoke in one of the seven cities. I pulled back and looked at him. “Earlier, you said something about cities. But I was taught there were seven circles in Hell. Are they the same thing?”
