Immortal Fire - Book One

Demons attacked from both sides and Damien was quick in fighting them off. Cassie had somehow frozen a few in place with her magic which I then cut down with my blades as I ran past them. Blazes went up behind my wake as the demons were destroyed. Damien was a blur within the chaos, and I had my own hands full.

Three demons came at me in unison as if to trap me.

Grabbing the bone candelabra behind me on the wall, I hauled myself up as the one ran at me. Dodging his attack, I swung down and ended the demon with a quick slice of my blade.

Spinning around, the other two were on top of me in seconds. Crouching, I kicked out the one’s legs and placed my blade through its chest.

The blaze caught the other off guard, and I threw my remaining dagger right between its orange eyes. The demon’s eyes went wide, and its shriek pierced my ears before it went up in flames like the others. Getting up and grabbing my daggers that lay in piles of ash on the ground, I tried to locate Cassie and Damien in the chaos.

I couldn’t see them, but I could spot Damien by the flames going up slightly further down the corridor and the gleaming angel blade reflecting as he fought off the hellish creatures with it.

Cassie’s scream caught my attention to my left in the darkness. Without thinking I sprinted down the dirt passage to find her. Angel fire licked at both my arms now and illuminated my way. A few demons tried to block my way, but I stopped them with my fire as well as my daggers before running and calling after Cassie once more.

“Aria!” I heard her scream before her mouth was muffled by whoever had her.

My anger and adrenaline rose. I was grateful for all the training I had been receiving. Without the training, there would be no way I could have run this fast and such a distance without tiring… Screams and battle cries pierced my ears, but it was drowned out by the pounding of my heart as I ran with all my determination to find Cassie.

Reaching a split in the passage, I came to a sudden halt and listened carefully as my breathing heaved in my chest. My hair was stuck to my face along with ash, blood, and dirt. I could taste the distinctive copper and salt taste of blood in my mouth as I licked my lips. Somehow, I had split it and the sting of it was almost enjoyable. It reminded me that I was still alive.

Shuffling to the right passage had me sprinting in a second… This passage had a light in the distance, and I almost laughed aloud at the irony of it all. Don’t run toward the light at the end of the tunnel… yeah, right. I thought to myself as breathlessly, I continued running.

Silhouettes in the distance made me push harder and faster. I was gaining on whoever it was that had Cassie. I was worried about Damien, but he knew how to take care of himself. He would be okay. He had to be. I had to push all thoughts of Damien from my mind at that moment as it would just distract me from helping Cassie.

I ran with everything I had and was just about to grab the figure before me when an invisible wall sprung up before me. I hit it with all the force of my run and fell back cursing. Fuck!

My nose was broken, again, and I had bitten into my tongue, as well as split my head open near my hairline. My lip was also split even further. Blood ran down my face and made it difficult to see. Tears welled up in my eyes from the pain, but I did not let them roll free. Peering up at the spot I had run into the barrier, Hades stood peering down at me.

“Well, what do we have here?” he spat out sarcastically.

He wore a dark robe that looked to be woven together. His chest pushed out as he held his hands behind his back. Ignoring him, I saw Cassie being held by two demons. They had tied her wrists together with some form of silver rope. Cassie was in tears and blood ran from her wrists.

This infuriated me that I hit the invisible wall, right in front of Hades’ face.

“What have you done to her?” I screamed.

Hade’s jaw ticked with irritation as I continued to curse and uselessly hit him. Cassie’s face looked drained and grey, and the sight frightened me.

“I have done nothing to the wench. The braided platinum that binds her is doing all the work. It is draining her magic which essentially is her life force. Tricky balance the witches have with their life force…” he said and chuckled as if it was all so humorous.

“You are a sick fucking bastard Hades! When I get through this I will…”

“You will what?!” he screamed as he interrupted me.

His eyes blazed up scarlet red and I saw a glimpse of why he was the God of the underworld. Pushing my fear aside I stared at him straight on, not flinching in any way.

He looked surprised at this. Smiling at him with the same sadistic smile he always used, I pressed my forehead against the wall so that I could feel the barrier press on my eyelashes too. Hades looked confused as I was held back a mere few centimeters from his face. I must have looked completely fucking horrific doing so, with a bloodied face and crimson-covered teeth…

“I’m going to watch you burn,” I said then stepped back and looked back at Cassie who seemed worse than a few seconds ago.

I tried to tell her with my eyes that everything was going to be okay, but she did not seem able to focus on anything. Her breathing was labored as she was held back and her head rolled, trying to stay up.

Hades had inadvertently taken two steps back and was looking at me wide-eyed. I did not think he knew how exactly to react to my determination and my being the Angelis Mortis.

The flames that had been lapping my arms began to crackle as I eyed Hades and the barrier that would soon be there no more. Hades told the Demons to take Cassie away then and began to turn casually away himself when I lifted my arms to let the fire take its aim.

The distinct smell of rot suddenly filled my nose and I whirled around but it was too late. I had been too focused on Hades that I did not even realize that there was an army of gruesome demons that were bounding up the passage toward me. There was one demon standing right by me when I turned, and my world went black as it smashed a fist into the side of my head, and I went down…