Rhyn's Redemption (Book III, Rhyn Trilogy)

Chapter Eleven

The death-dealer smiled faintly.  Rhyn trotted away from him, out of the palace and into the jungle.  He suspected freeing Katie from Death would be easier than freeing Gabe from Death.  There was more at stake for her if she lost Gabe.

Thunder cracked overhead.  Rhyn had ignored the rain, accustomed to being miserable.  Hell was either broiling or freezing, and the Alps were just as cold.  The underworld’s chilled rain didn’t compare.

He looked up instinctively, sensing something different about this thunder.  It didn’t sound like the rumbling thunder he’d heard in the mortal world.  It sounded like an explosion in the sky.  The jungle canopy blocked his view, so he leapt up to catch the branch of the nearest tree.  He scaled the tree quickly, stopping only when he broke through the layers of leaves.  More tiny explosions came, and he twisted to see what they were.

A portal had opened overhead, back towards what Gabe had called the Lake of Souls.  Demons fell from the sky, some changing into their winged forms while others simply fell.  It was too far for them to survive if they fell, and he estimated half of them were likely dead on impact.

The other half numbered in the hundreds.  The winged demons hovered around the portal and then took off in separate directions, swooping low above the jungle.

Rhyn scampered down the tree and fell far enough to knock his breath out.  Demons flew overhead, unable to see through the canopy.  He froze, watching them circle then leave, and stood, catching his breath.  Fear penetrated him, colder than the rain.  Katie was vulnerable.  Gabe was vulnerable.

Death alone could drive the invaders from her world.

As Darkyn had said, the underworld tempered his Immortal magic, but Rhyn felt the demon power broiling behind the constraints, seeking a way out of him.  He was sticking to his plan, though he no longer had time to find Death. He was going to try to make her come to him.  She’d know where Katie was, and Rhyn could find her before more demons closed in.

He knelt on the ground and closed his eyes, seeking out the writhing darkness of his demon side.  If the demons had the power to transform and fly, he could access his demon powers, too, even if the Immortal side of him was bound by Death’s underworld.

***

“Berries,” Toby commanded the tree before him.

The tree obliged and lowered one of the low hanging branches to Toby’s level.  He plucked a few of the red, tart berries and popped them in his mouth.

“How’d you do that?” Ully asked.

Toby hunched his shoulders.  He’d wandered far enough away from camp that he’d hoped to get some food before running from Ully, who was still sleeping. The angel memories convinced him that Ully’s strange comments and the trees attempt to combat him indicated Ully really was a demon. Toby turned slowly to face the scientist, whose hands and body had begun to transform back into its demon form.  The Ully-demon hadn’t yet realized it.

“Angel memories.  This is where old angels go before they die,” Toby said. He huddled deeper into his coat, more than the rain chilling him.  The Ully-demon still wore Ully’s face, but the rest of his body had grown bony and taller.  Toby couldn’t help wondering when Ully had been swapped for a demon, but it had to have been before they left Hell.

It now made sense how Ully had been able to free them and talk Jared into letting them go.  Toby had been too excited to find their escape too easy at the time, but now, he realized it was … weird.  He’d failed again.  He couldn’t even escape on his own.