THIRTY-ONE
Thaddeus
“I hope Lilith’s okay,” Kai muttered. “We’ve barely seen her.”
“I don’t know why we couldn’t have all gone,” Blaise grumbled.
“Because the Kings of Hell know Aziel already, and we need to make sure everything’s okay here so she has less to worry about,” I told them. “The sooner we get this shit done, the sooner we can get back to her.”
“Fine, but the demon’s going to get to spend time with her first,” Blaise said in a bitter tone. “It’s shit.”
We stood at the entrance of a small cave-like tunnel that was closed off by a magical barrier.
A demon stood guard with sweat dripping down his temples. “What brings you to the heart?”
“We’re here on behalf of Lilith,” I explained, running my hand through my hair with a yawn.
His brow arched. “For?”
“Have you noticed anything unusual with the gate recently?” Kai stepped forward and the demon narrowed his eyes.
“No. It’s been quiet.”
“Nothing?” I asked.
“Nothing that rings a bell.”
“Nothing weird has happened today?” Blaise tilted his head as he inspected the gate behind the guard.
“Well, now that you mention weird…” He glanced around. “Mortala, you know, the demon up King Zelek’s ass all the time?”
We nodded.
“He just went through the gate a few minutes ago.”
My mouth fell open at the sheer idiocy of this demon. “Are you bloody joking right now?”
“No?” He scratched his head. “Why? Is that bad?”
“Of course it’s bloody bad,” I muttered. “Kai, go get Bran and Orenn. Now.”
He gave a sharp nod before turning on his heels and running to the other gate where Bran and Orenn should’ve been standing watch.
The hellhounds were built to control the gates. We were able to stop souls from escaping Hell, but as vampires, we weren’t able to manipulate the gate itself.
“Bloody lucky we got here when we did.” Blaise grabbed the shirt of the demon and slammed him into the wall. “Why would you let that weasel inside?”
“He said he had to—” The demon wheezed, catching his breath. “Check on a soul.”
Blaise let him go with another curse word, his shoulders shaking with anger.
“What if we went inside first and obliterated Zelek and Astral before Mortala tried breaking them out?” I rubbed my chin, not glancing away for a second from the gate.
“I’m down, mate,” Blaise said, shifting on his feet. “Just get on with the pl—fuck!”
The portal started striking lightning within it, static electricity rich in the air. A sinking feeling heavy in my gut, I bent down to get a better look inside.
Inside the tunnel, Mortala crawled through, eyes widening as he noticed us. He pulled Zelek by the neck of his shirt behind him like a rag doll. I couldn’t catch a glimpse of Astral, but anger slammed into me as I witnessed the lesser demon attempting to break Zelek out of the heart and right under Lilith’s nose.