Deal with the Devil

Welcome to Hell

Bile rose in my throat as I watched Winnie step into the warehouse. I debated for a split second calling for back-up but Winne was already in danger and every second counted. I summoned my magic and was instantly transported inside the warehouse, not wanting to waste a second by running.

 Winnie stood in front of me, gaping at the scene before us. The fairy we had come to find was standing on a demon portal in the center of the warehouse. The demon circle drawn on the concrete with white paint. A star in the center with the points extending to join the circle, a demon oracle placed at each point. Magic swirled around him, mixing with the scent of sulfur as he chanted ancient spells to cast open the portal. I had always found Unseelie Fae to be masters of chaos, but opening a portal to the demon realm? This was new.

 Memories of the night Jace was stabbed washed over me. Had it been this fairy that was able to open that portal three years ago? “Winnie get back!” I screamed at her. 

 I ran past Winnie and shot out a lash of magic to throw her back as I approached the circle etched on the floor. “Close this portal now, Magnus.” My voice roared, barely heard above the rushing of wind and insistent chanting. The fairy hardly spared me a glance as his chants grew louder. 

If I could just interrupt the circle, displace a single oracle then I could ensure the demon realm stayed sealed.  I pushed a fist into the swirling cloud of black magic and my chest seized. The magic pulled the breath from my lungs and I could feel it begin to tug at mine, attempting to draw my magic out and strengthen its own. It recognized the demon magic deep in my veins and was feeding on it. I had felt just an ounce of this in the car, the full weight of it brought me to my knees. I used my fall as leverage to push an ancient demon stone from its place in the circle. But it was too late, the portal was open. 

The magic released its grip on me and I crawled backwards towards Winne. Winne. Oh Lucifer, I had to get her out of here. I needed to call Jace. The demons came in troves, as if they had been scratching at the very surface of their underground realm to be released. Winged bat-like creatures took the sky and circled the swirling magic above and slimy creatures with rows of teeth slithered out around my feet. I looked on in horror as the warehouse filled with the stuff of human nightmares.

 I was definitely getting fired over this…I spared at glance back at Winnie, she was throwing her magic at demons who dared near the door. Always the fighter. Claws scratched down my leg, dragging my attention back to the nightmare in front of me. A demon with black skin and multiple limbs ending in dagger-like claws was using my leg to hoist itself from the swirling pit. Panic began to consume me. I felt the tether I kept on my demon power snap inside me, as if it were merely a toothpick. As if it could have broken it anytime it had wanted. It moved inside me, crept down to my very fingertips. It felt as if I could isolate each nerve ending, every synapse firing in my brain. My body began levitating, ringing with power so great it shook the room. For a moment everything stopped. Every demonic creature paused their parade into the human realm and turned to face me. A demonic energy so strong it could whither these lesser creatures with a single glance. That is what was thrumming through my veins. 

I raised my arms above my head slowly as I tested and probed the new found power inside me, attempting to harness it. To wield it. I glimpsed Winnie’s awestruck face from the corner of the room. No not awe, it was horror I saw in those big brown eyes. I was finally the monster I had always feared I’d become. The beast lurking beneath. With the drop of my outstretched arms the demons began to fall. Fall from the sky, from the ground, from the walls. Back into the portal as if it had become a vacuum. Reclaiming what belonged to it. What belonged in Hell.

 I felt my power falter before I felt the pain. A small light creeping into my darkness. I turned to face him, Magnus, a very old fairy by the look of it had his hand still raised as if he had only just released it. His dagger was now protruding from my back. My nostrils flared in anger but I was as helpless as those slimy demons as I felt my body being pulled down. An endless downward descent into unconsciousness. 

My eyes cracked open and firmly squeezed shut against the headache that was pulsing between my eyes. I stretched out my arms and legs to test for injuries but felt like I was laying in a plush bed. I slowly cracked one eye open again to check my surroundings. I was indeed on a plush four poster bed, the size of my entire bedroom in New York. The sheets were a deep slate and gauzy drapes between the posters were pulled closed to dampened the light streaming in. It was heavenly...wait was I dead? The momentary panic left me as I pondered that this heavenly death was better than the eternity I was scheduled to spend in Hell. I silently prayed the demon Abaddon would accept my death by stab wound as poetic justice for saving Jace’s life and wouldn't go seeking another soul to snatch. 

I pulled back the gauzy delicate drapes to find myself in a colossal sized room. The walls looked to be carved from black stone. As if the room had been crafted right into a mountain. But it wasn't the dark and dingy air of a cave, it was light and cool and magnificent. As I swung my wobbly legs over the edge of the enormous bed, I found I was dressed in a floor length nightgown made from black silk. The gown hardly covered my chest and from the breeze I knew that my back was entirely exposed. A little raunchy for heaven if you asked me, but who was I to question the taste of the divine. 

I surveyed the room taking into account the door on the far right side. A massive fireplace was positioned across from the bed, dwarfing the four-poster frame. It was surrounded by a cozy leather couch and chaise longue. Bookshelves that seemed 50 feet tall lined either size of the fireplace with books of every color and thickness. Wouldn't want me to get bored up here in Heaven I suppose. I glanced back to the fireplace and blue flames erupted in thin air as if sensing I was chilly. A desk in the corner of the room held piles and piles of scribbled notes and runes. I wondered briefly who those belonged to. I could see the entrance to a bathroom around the corner, it had no door and looked like the entrance to a small cave. I imagined it held a bathtub that reflected the massiveness of everything else in the room and hummed in delight.

  I walked on shaky legs over to a balcony, or rather a giant hole in the side of the mountain. I peered down on a bustling city carved into the valley of the mountain. The mountain and its city were seemingly floating connected by bridges to other floating masses of land with rivers and hills of their own. I leaned over the edge to see what lies below these floating cities but  a dense fog filled the void. A warm breeze tickled my exposed skin and I shivered in delight, this I could get used to.

 The dark magic I had kept tethered before now prowled lazily beneath my skin. Like a panther resting in a tree, ready to pounce in a moment's notice. My magic felt alive in this room, humming in my veins and making me feel alive...even though I supposed I was dead. The warm breeze seemed to intensify and I felt the scar that covered my back heat up and my power tingle in my veins.  I could sense another person had entered the room, or rather another power. Reaching out to probe mine like it was sizing me up. 

A small breath of air behind my ear whispered “Welcome to Hell.”