"And still you didn't convert?"
"No. I'm not stupid enough to call that prick master. Better I should live out eternity in this hole being eaten alive than help him."
Delphine. . .
She gasped as a demonic voice spoke her name. It reminded her of her mother. Help me, Delphine. Please.
"Ignore them," M'Adoc snapped.
"What are they?"
"The souls of the damned. If you answer them, you'll take their place in this hell forever, and they'll be free to wander the mortal realm."
The calls were louder now.
Delphine plugged her ears and made herself hear Jericho's voice. She closed her eyes and imagined being with him. Holding him.
That's it. . .
Laughter rang out.
Suddenly, light poured through the room. Delphine screamed as she saw the ghastly white specter in front of her. Its face was hollowed out. Its eyes sunken in darkness. Wisps of dirty gray hair floated around a bloated face as it reached for her to pull her close to it.
"I will not fear you!" she shouted. "I fear nothing. Nothing!" She prepared to battle it.
The ghoul launched itself at her.
Delphine ducked its punch, expecting it to attack her. But just as it reached her, it screamed and pulled back.
It was Jericho.
He had the creature by the neck. "Get Delphine out of here," he shouted over his shoulder. With one swift move, he cut the creature's throat and slung it away just in time to catch an assault from another one.
Phobos ran at her and pulled her toward the door. "Wait!" she said, trying to stop, "M'Adoc is here, too."
"We've got him." Phobos shoved her into the hallway.
Asmodeus was outside, waiting.
Delphine drew up short, expecting him to be against them. "What are you doing here?"
"Being counted among friends. But for the record, you guys better not lose. I don't want my ass fried over this, or any other body parts, either."
"Why would you help us?"
Asmodeus shrugged. "I hear stupidity is a fatal disease. Doing my own experimentation to see if that's true or not. If I survive, we'll know it's not. If I die... well, it'll suck. Bad. And I won't be happy."
Phobos came out of the room with M'Adoc leaning heavily against him. M'Adoc's face had been beaten to the point she barely recognized him. His clothes were torn and showed her a body rife with bleeding wounds. "C'mon."
She had no chance to argue before they left this realm. The next thing she knew, she was in a huge, white room with Tory and several other Oneroi. A man and a woman were tending the wounded while they lay on the floor in utter agony.
Three Charonte popped in with more wounded, whom they laid on the floor before vanishing again.
"What's going on?" she asked Tory, who was helping one of the Skoti drink a glass of water.
"Ash, Jericho, Jared and Phobos are pulling as many of the prisoners out as they can."
Still, Delphine was confused. "Why bring them here?"
"It's the safest place until we can regroup. Ash wants to count the survivors first."
Delphine looked around at the small handful who were here. It really didn't look promising. But at least they weren't fighting them. The Skoti appeared too weak to do anything other than lay on the ground and groan.
It sickened her to see them like this.
"Here. Let me help you."
She turned to find a petite woman by her side. "Help me with what?"
She smiled kindly. "Remove your collar. Relax, my name is Danger, and I'm one of Acheron's stewards. You're safe here, I promise."
Delphine lifted her hair up so that Danger could unfasten the collar and restore her powers... again. She was getting really tired of losing them. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." As Danger pulled it off, a sharp sting went through her.
Grimacing, she pulled back. But it took her a minute to realize it wasn't from the collar coming off.
It was her powers warning her that Jericho was in serious trouble.
Jericho left the pit to return to Ash and Jared, who were fighting demons, gallu and other creepy things, in the main hole where most of the prisoners were being kept. He couldn't take a step without being hammered by them.
But that was all right by him. He was getting a lot of pent-up aggression out. Poor them for being the recipients. If he wasn't enjoying it so much, he'd actually feel sorry for them.
As it was...
He cut a demon in half.
Phobos popped back in by his side. "Has anyone seen Deimos?"
Jericho caught another gallu, threw him on the ground and plunged his dagger between the creature's eyes to kill it before he answered. "He was with Jaden."
"Where?"
"Hanging on a wall."
Phobos gave him a harsh glare. "Can you show me?"
Leaving Ash and the Charonte to fight, Jericho led Phobos and Jared down the same hallway he'd taken earlier with Asmodeus. One of the best parts about his returned powers was being able to remember little details such as this. He'd missed the flawless memory of the gods.
Once they returned to the room, they had to kick the door in to enter. Something that wasn't easy, but they were determined.