Hell's Revelation (Book 3)

Chapter 9 Part 2

The mention of Furies had me effectively wary, and the further into the bowels of Hell we ventured – much to far to simply run back to our secluded safe haven – the more paranoid that they were watching our every move I became. In the end I was jumping at every flicker of light, every plume of smoke that rose from the burning orbs, and looking back over my shoulder every two steps.

"Rayne, calm down. I can see why Frank didn't tell us anything about this now, I've never seen you so jumpy," Lucas said, jumping into step with me.

"Ugh, I know. Sorry. But the Furies are sneaky bastards, they could appear from nowhere and attack before we eve realise. The last thing we need is to be infected with fury. We're supposed to be doing this to repair the Triangle, bring us all back together, and we're risking tearing ourselves even further apart."

"And isn't that the beauty of our lives now, nothing will ever be simple again." It didn't come through too much in his words, but I could tell there was a sense of bitterness he was trying to keep buried deep down at what had happened to him and I knew I was the main cause of that feeling. "But we can look at things simply. We reluctantly decided that we need him back, now is the best time for us to do that. Risk or no, we do this now or not at all. Simple."

As rousing speeches of encouragement go, it was less than effective. In fact I don't think he could have sounded any less enthusiastic if he tried. But in one respect Lucas was right, the facts were simple. But it didn't mean I had to like them any better.

"Besides, we just keep our heads and we won't be susceptible to their powers. They might be sneaky but they're not as powerful as we are." He patted me on the shoulder and pushed passed, taking off after Frank with a shrug.

What the hell did we have to lose? Well, everything if I thought about it. Perhaps a better question would be, what choice did we have? The answer to that was none. Furies or no Furies we had to do this, and hope like hell that luck would be on our side.

"Malick set Jesse up with some cosy little quarters up on the next level, we're almost there." Frank took a moment to pause and inform us before we headed up the final flight of stone steps.

"Hmm, right by his own chambers, why am I not surprised," Lucas intoned sarcastically.

"Well obviously, where else did you think he'd stash the meatbag, neatly away from Lucifer's prying eyes. The big man doesn't come up here if he can avoid it, he's just oh so trusting that Malick has everything in hand."

"Wonder what would happen if he found out the weasel was really working against him?"

"Who cares?" I snapped, catching both of their gazes, "Lucifer isn't the good guy either. In fact, if anything what he's got planned is worse than Malick's two bit scheming. One problem at a time though, and we'll only be able to effectively take on Lucifer if we're a whole unit again. So come on, let's get this done."

Not waiting for their response I stormed up the stairs. I'd managed to convince myself we needed to do this now, but it hadn't made me any less jumpy. I'd seen the Furies handiwork in person once before, and it wasn't pretty. Given no time to plan and prepare for this scenario we were being forced to wing it, and now that we were almost there I wanted to get it over with, before the anxiety consumed me.

I could hear them following me, shuffling along together, probably had their heads together muttering away like teenagers. I'm pretty sure the words 'Daddy issues' were said at least once followed by some snickering, but when I stopped and turned to face them what I saw belied what I'd imagined. They didn't walk together, in fact Frank took up the entire stairwell that Lucas was forced to follow up behind him, their faces were sombre and they were silent. A frown crinkled my brow, was I being more paranoid than I thought?

"Which way?" I asked, mostly as pretence to explain why I'd turned back to stare at them, but it was a useful question.

"Left," Frank said, "Third doorway down was where I saw Malick leave him with the advice to stay put. If he's smart he'll still be there."

"Okay." I nodded, still studying them. Had I really been imagining their making fun of me behind my back. It didn't bother me, in fact I kind of expected it from them, but had that moment really all been in my head?

My voice was shaky and so were my hands. I took a deep breath to try and calm the swell of emotion that was building inside of me, they might not be so confusing and conflicted in this new body, but they were certainly powerful and all consuming. I didn't need that right now, I needed to be in control if I didn't want to fall prey to the Furies power.

"I suppose it's too much to hope we'll get through this without any confrontation?" Lucas asked, a reluctant sigh on his lips.

A flicker of movement at the corner of my eye caught my attention as I crested the top of the stairs. At first I thought it was simply the lights again, the flames wavering in the change of air pressure as we moved into the vacant space of the hallway. But the smoke that rose from the plumes began to gather, billowing into a growing cloud, more than one of them along the length of the corridor. They pulsed and grew, taking on new shape and form, solidifying before my eyes.

"Far too much to hope for," I said, trying to keep my head even as my heart threatened to break my chest.

We didn't have a choice, no more talking, no more stalling, this was real and happening right now. Time to pick your battles, Rayne.

"Run now!" I yelled as I dived to the left, not waiting to see if Frank and Lucas would comply and follow me.

If we could get to Jesse before their physical forms coalesced we might just stand a chance. It wasn't going to be easy, Jesse was going to take some serious convincing to abandon his new master, but to even have a chance we had to run. Primary objective, get to Jesse before the Furies could get to us.