Page 109 of Carved
Drops of his blood fell upon my tongue. Thefiery, coppery taste of it was comforting and familiar. His handsentangled in my hair, and my eyes closed as he turned me toward thewall, sheltering me from the others. I pulled him closer as thelast of my tears fell on his shirt.
Reluctantly, I released my bite on his fleshand leaned away from him. His hands smoothed my hair away from myface as his gaze searched mine. “What happened?” he demanded.
“I could feel them,allof them. The souls. The misery. The pain.” Ishuddered and rested my hand over my heart. “It was all right here,within me, so close and real.”
“She feeds on the pulse of life,” Balesaid.
“I know that,” Kobal replied brusquely.
“She’ll draw on the energy and emotionscoming from Hell too.”
“Oh,” I breathed in realization.
A muscle in Kobal’s jaw twitched. “We’releaving,” he declared.
He kissed my nose and went to rise, but Igrabbed hold of him, pulling him back. “No, we can’t.”
“You can’t go back in there.”
“I can. I wasn’t expecting the raw emotionsbefore. I’ll be better prepared for it now.”
“No—”
“We can’t turn back, not when we’ve come sofar. I won’t allow it.”
“Iwon’tallow you to suffer.”
“We all must suffer in life. We all must knowgrief and loss. The only alternative is death.”
As his hands tightened on my cheeks, theagonized look on his face tore me apart, but we couldn’t turn backnow. “Not this much, not for you,” he said.
“It has to be me.”
“No.”
“Don’t make me blast your ass,” I said with asmall smile. He didn’t look at all amused as his face remainedremorseless and his eyes unyielding. “I can do this.”
He kept hold of my arms as he helped me to myfeet. “If it happens again, I’m dragging you out of here whetheryou like it or not.”
I couldn’t argue with him. My bones felt likethey’d shatter when my feet hit the floor. Taking deep breaths, Ibraced myself for the emotional barrage about to hit me once again.Hawk, Erin, and Vargas all watched me with mixed expressions ofconcern and uncertainty.
I kept hold of Kobal’s hand as I walkedforward, drawing on his strength. Bale stood by the door, her greeneyes uncertain. On the other side of her, Corson looked as if hewere tempted to drag me away from here too. I subtly shook my headat him, knowing he would only flare Kobal’s desire to pull me awayif he spoke up against me returning to the gateway too.
Corson rested his hand on the door handle; Inodded for him to open it. A muscle twitched in his cheek, but heshoved the door open. My legs quivered when I walked through thedoor again and down the steps. My body felt like spun glass, but Imanaged to keep it from breaking apart.
“Staying!” Igrated through my teeth.
Kobal’s hand squeezed mine, his energy flowcalming me further. I couldn’t rely on him to hold my hand all theway through this though. Unfolding my fingers from his, I releasedhim and tried to take another step forward. I found I couldn’tmove.
Okay, fine, simply standhere and don’t turn into a sobbing mess. It’s still animprovement.
Closing my eyes, I took another deep breathbefore opening them once more. From here, I realized there werecaves or at least tunnels within the pit too. They branched off tosomewhere within the gloomy bowels before us. I’d seen pictures ofthe Grand Canyon, and though this pit was nowhere near as large,there was something about it that reminded me of the world wonderminus all the beauty and wonder. I tried again to move forward, butmy feet remained locked to the scorched earth beneath me.
“You really don’t think Lucifer will come forus?” Erin inquired.
“No, he’ll continue to try to bring down theseals,” Kobal replied.
“Won’t he try to stop River in case she canclose the gateway?” Hawk asked.
