The Beautiful Ashes

chapter thirteen

I had braced myself, but no amount of mental preparation would’ve been enough. At least, when I finally did throw up, it matched the reaction any human would have at seeing how demons lived inside their own world.

At first, the town reminded me of a medieval fiefdom, with the overlord’s manor overlooking the serfs’ much cruder lodgings. In this case, wigwam structures were laid out in tight clusters along the lowest part of the hill. Smoke billowed from their open tops, reminiscent of pictures I’d seen of sixteenth-century Native American life. Very few people seemed to be in the wigwam village, and the ones we passed looked away when they saw Adrian. They were also skinny to the point of appearing wasted, and their clothes consisted of shapeless leather tunics that couldn’t have been nearly warm enough in these frigid temperatures.

“This area is for laborers, the lowest level of human slaves,” Adrian said tersely. “Next are overseers’ and merchants’ quarters.”

Those must have been the plain but sturdy huts that dotted the hill about a hundred yards higher than the wigwam village. Torches were interspersed among the narrow paths between them, and their interiors glowed from what I guessed were fire hearths. They looked like ancient Southwestern pueblo houses, with the addition of leather flaps covering the doorways and windows to keep the heat in. Once more, no one attempted to stop us as we walked through. In fact, anyone we passed seemed to avoid eye contact with Adrian, and he strode by as though he owned the place. I practically had to run to keep up, and since the hill was steep, it was quite a workout.

After we ascended about three hundred yards, we reached gray stone gates that surrounded what was clearly the town’s epicenter. Torches lined the exterior of the gates, but I smelled fuel and heard the unmistakable hum of generators, which explained how this area appeared to have electricity. The added lighting made it easier to see, and once I did, I stared.

This wasn’t a mini city located at the top of a hill. The city was the hill. The closest thing I could compare it to was a gargantuan pyramid. The base had to be a mile long, with courtyards I couldn’t fully see from my lower vantage point. Massive balconies with elaborately carved stone columns showed people milling around inside the pyramid, and one entire side of it seemed to house a huge stadium.

Further up, the corners had huge faces carved into them. One was a lion and one was an eagle, with the predators’ mouths open as though about to devour their prey. The very top of the pyramid blazed with so much light that it looked like a star had landed there. I couldn’t make out much detail, though. It had to be as high up as the sphere on the Empire State building.

I was so awed that I didn’t realize someone had come up to us until I heard Adrian speaking in that poetically guttural language. My gaze snapped to his left, where a dark-haired, muscled man now stood. It wasn’t the metal breastplate over his brown camouflage clothes that caught my attention, although that fashion mistake should never be repeated. It was the man’s face. Light rolled over his eyes like the passing of clouds, and inky black wings rose and fell beneath his cheekbones, as if he had a tattoo that could magically appear and disappear.

My staring seemed to annoy him, so I looked away. He said something sharply to Adrian and then grabbed my wrist hard enough to bruise me. Adrian moved with that lightning quickness, putting Camo Guy in a headlock with his arm bent at the wrong angle before I could even say, “Let go.”

“I told you, she goes straight to Mayhemium,” Adrian said, speaking English this time. “And if you delay me again, I’ll rip your head off.”

I didn’t know if it was Adrian’s dangerous tone or how quickly he’d broken Camo Guy’s arm, but he grunted something that must’ve been an agreement. Adrian let him go, smiled as though they’d exchanged a friendly hello, and then half dragged me through one of the openings in the wall.

Lots of stone steps later, we reached the pyramid’s lower courtyards. At first glance, it looked like an average street market. Vendors hawked various wares inside their booths, food cooked on open grills, and people milled around, either buying or window shopping. But every other person had that strange roll of light over their eyes, and when I got a closer look at some of the vendors’ wares, my legs abruptly stopped working.

“Keep moving,” Adrian whispered, half lifting me so it wasn’t obvious that shock had frozen me where I stood.

I forced my suddenly numb limbs to keep working. It helped that Adrian took us quickly through the market section and into a side alcove that had a drain in the floor. Even though his large frame blocked most of my view of the courtyard, I still couldn’t stop the grisly images from replaying in my mind.

Along with a few slabs of cow and pig, food vendors also sold human body parts. For customers who wanted fresher meat, their human selections were slaughtered on the spot.

“Why?” I choked, unable to say more because words couldn’t make it past the bile in my throat.

“There’s no sunlight here.” Although Adrian’s tone was matter-of-fact, something haunted flashed across his expression. “That means no grass, grains, vegetation or animals. Minions and pampered human pets get to have regular food imported from the other side, but the slaves have only one thing to eat. Each other.”

That bile turned into vomit that I couldn’t hold back. At the same time, I was shaking with rage. Now I knew what all the leather garments and doorway flaps were probably made of, too.

Adrian didn’t mock me for puking, or tell me to pull myself together. He held back my hair, his other hand moving over my shoulders in a comforting caress.

“We can leave,” he said low. “The realm’s not going anywhere. We’ll come back another day to search it.”

Laughter drifted down from one of the pyramid’s balconies, its sound an abomination. No one should laugh here. No sound should be made except screams of horror at what was going on in this lightless pit of evil. I wanted to run back to my world as fast as I could and never, ever return, but if I did, I’d be condemning Jasmine to spending the rest of her life in a similar hellhole. I’d rather die than do that.

Resolve mixed with my rage, helping me get control of my stomach. I wiped my mouth with a gloved hand and gave Adrian a look that reflected the new hardness creeping through my soul.

“Take me deeper inside this place. I’m not leaving until I check every frigging wall for that weapon.”

I learned more about demon life than I ever wanted to know as Adrian guided me through the pyramid’s many levels. First, generators supplied heat as well as light to the massive structure, so my extra clothes were now slung over my arm. Second, the inside looked like someone had taken the Great Pyramid of Giza and pimped it out with modern—albeit barbaric—amenities.

The large stadium section was for gladiator-style fights to the death, a popular form of entertainment here. “Pets,” which was how Adrian referred to humans who’d caught the eye of demons, lived above the courtyards. Minions lived above them in condo-styled units, and of course, the best, most luxurious quarters were reserved for the supernaturally sadistic rulers of this realm. Adrian said we’d be avoiding those places unless I sensed something, but so far, I hadn’t picked up a hint of anything hallowed in this opulent, stone-and-brick nightmare.

I also found out how Adrian was able to escort me around without arousing suspicion. For one, he spoke the language, and every light-show-eyed guard who stopped us only used that to communicate. For another, Adrian’s cover story was that I was a newly arrived “pet” for Mayhemium. From the knowing looks that garnered, whoever Mayhemium was, he had a lot of “pets.”

I’d figured out Adrian’s final trick after noticing how quickly every human looked away from him when we passed. The only other people they treated that way were guards, and since they didn’t all dress alike, that left only one other thing.

“Zach glamoured your eyes to shine like the guards’ eyes, didn’t he?” I whispered once we had a moment alone in one of the pyramid’s many stairways.

The barest smile cocked his mouth. “That’s right.”

“Why do theirs do that?” Also whispered, but wheezier. I must’ve climbed two miles in steps by now.

“Part of the perks of being a minion. Along with increased strength and endurance, demon marks give them the supernatural version of tapetum lucidum.” At my raised brow, he added, “The extra layer of tissue in animals’ eyes that allows them to see in the dark.”

That explained the odd shine, but... “You don’t have that, and you see as well as they do.” And move faster, I mentally added.

I couldn’t read the look he threw me. “I’ve already told you why.”

Right, his mysterious lineage. He might’ve told me some of the whys, but he hadn’t spilled the “what” yet. The more secrets he revealed, the more I burned to know his biggest one.

“That’s the gift that keeps on giving, then,” I said, trying not to sound like I was probing, which I was.

His jaw tightened until I swore I heard cartilage crack. “I’d give anything not to have this lineage.” Sapphire eyes seemed to burn as they swept over me. “Especially after meeting you.”

If we weren’t inside a demonic version of the Luxor hotel, I would’ve demanded that he elaborate. He’d already told me more since we’d arrived than he had in the week leading up to it, but “bad timing” didn’t begin to cover our current situation.

Of course, that meant it was about to get worse.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose before I saw her. Apparently, my “hallowed” sensor could also pick up on the presence of pure darkness, because with one glance, I knew the woman coming down the staircase was a demon.

It’s not that she had “Evil!” stamped on her forehead, or obvious supernatural indicators like Demetrius’s shifting shadows. Maybe it was the way she moved, as if every muscle instantly coordinated with the others, turning her walk into a graceful, predatory glide. Maybe it was her hair, each wavy lock either midnight black or a burnished copper shade. Her pale skin was also telling, but it was her face that sealed my suspicions.

No one could be that incredibly, perfectly beautiful unless they’d had a million dollars in plastic surgery or had made a deal with the devil, and my money was on Option B.

Even Adrian couldn’t tear his eyes away, which hurt in ways I didn’t even want to acknowledge. Yes, she was gorgeous, but did he need to stop walking and stare like he’d been transfixed? He hadn’t been affected enough to pause in his stride when they were slaughtering people in the courtyards!

I either made a sound, or my instant hostility caught her attention because dark topaz eyes slid over me as she passed. Just like with Demetrius, I fought the urge to wipe my clothes, as if her gaze had left a tangible trail where it landed. She said something in what I now referred to as Demonish and Adrian responded, his voice much raspier than normal.

He couldn’t even talk right around Her Evil Hottiness? I quietly seethed, but when she disappeared down the stairwell, Adrian let out a sigh that almost blew the lid off my temper.

He was actually sighing after her. Guess when he said he hated demons, he meant only the males or the ugly ones.

“How much more ground do we have to cover?” I whispered acidly, hating him and hating myself more for caring.

His attention snapped back to me. “You still don’t sense anything?”

Only your hard-on for evil incarnate. “Nothing.”

“Then we’re done. You sensed the burial ground at half the distance from what we’ve covered, so it must not be here.”

Good, we could leave. Not soon enough for my tastes, either. This realm wasn’t where the weapon had been hidden, I’d already have nightmares from the horrors I’d seen, and now I wanted to punch my only ally in the face. Lose-lose all around.

We made it out of the pyramid without incident, and I looked down as we exited through the courtyards. No one stopped us at the stone gates, and we navigated the pueblo-like village with nary a word spoken in acknowledgement. Once we’d cleared the edge of the wigwam village, however, our luck ran out.

“Hondalte,” a commanding voice ordered.

Adrian paused. I did, too, schooling my features into a blank mask despite the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. When I turned around, I saw that my demon radar hadn’t been malfunctioning. The lanky, blond-haired man approaching us had two tall, dark arcs rising out of his back.

Not arcs, I realized when he drew nearer. Pitch-black wings. Then he spoke, causing my stomach to flip-flop in fear.

“If she is a new pet for me,” the winged stranger said in English, “tell me, why are you leaving with her?”