Ruby Shadows

  I did as he said and nearly screamed.

  About twenty feet straight up a massive stretch of black water was flowing. Actually, it was all around us, I saw. We were surrounded by water which was held back somehow by an invisible barrier.

  The closest thing to it I could imagine was some of the underwater rides and tunnels in Sea World, where you walk through a clear plastic tube and see the sharks and fish swimming all around you. But when you go in one of those tunnels, you can see the plastic or plexiglass or whatever it is they use to build the tunnel surrounding you, keeping the water out. Here, there was nothing—nothing I could see, anyway. The water was just there, flowing silently all around us, with no apparent reason for not filling the space we were in and drowning us.

  “It’s Infernal Magic which holds the waters back,” Laish answered my unspoken question. “Do not worry, Gwendolyn—we are quite safe.”

  “Are we?” I was still scanning the “roof” of the long tunnel we were in as Kurex kept on walking. My memory of the tunnels at Sea World was renewed as I saw a Great White shark pass directly overhead—only this was a shark the size of a school bus!

  “What the Hell?” I muttered, looking up at it.

  “A Megaladon,” Laish remarked. “Extinct in the Mortal Realm now for millions of years. Yet it thrives here, along with many of its brethren.”

  “Like that thing?” I pointed to something that was even bigger than the enormous shark. It had a long, pointed snout a little like a crocodile filled with razor sharp teeth. It could have used me for a toothpick or swallowed me without even realizing it—it was that big.

  “A Mosasaur,” Laish said laconically. “One of the largest predators every to stalk the ocean. I remember when the depths were full of such beasts—long before the Creator turned his attention to man.”

  “So you were around during the age of the dinosaurs?” I couldn’t help staring at him. He’d talked more than once about mortals having such a short life span we were like moths or butterflies but it hadn’t really sunk in for me. Somehow knowing that Laish had been around to see these ancient beasts roam the planet seemed to put everything into perspective.

  He gave me a mocking little smile.

  “Now don’t tell me you’ll let a little thing like age difference get in the way of our relationship.”

  Since I didn’t know exactly what our relationship was, I didn’t know how to answer that.

  “It’s just weird, that’s all,” I muttered. “I—oh, look—Nessie!”

  For just to the right side of us, so close to the invisible barrier I felt like I could go stroke its broad, paddle-like fins, was a creature that looked exactly like what the Lock Ness Monster is supposed to be.

  “A long necked Plesiosaur,” Laish said. “I did hear that one of them had escaped back through the dimensional gateway to the Mortal Realm.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the creature. It was huge, of course, but also sleek and graceful. It had a long, snaky neck and a small head with large black eyes. I knew it was crazy but I wanted to pet it. “Can we touch them?” I asked Laish. “I mean, can we reach through the magic barrier?”

  “You could,” he said dryly. “If you didn’t mind losing a hand…or an arm. Look.”

  The Nessie I had been admiring turned its head and stared at us, as though just noticing we were there. Then it spread its jaws and dived right for us, aiming its entire huge body like a torpedo.

  I couldn’t help screaming this time—especially when I saw that it had teeth every bit as sharp and deadly as the Mosasaur.

  Laish’s arm tightened around my waist. “No fear, my darling—it cannot harm you,” he murmured in my ear.

  Sure enough, the huge creature bounced off the invisible barrier without coming close to breaching it. It shook its head a little, as though it had hit something hard and then swam away quickly, shooting out of sight so fast it was soon just a silvery gray shape gliding away in the gloom.

  “Some of the stupider creatures do not understand the barrier and charge it more than once,” Laish said. “This one, thankfully, learned its lesson the first time.”

  “So how far does this sea go?” I asked as Kurex continued his steady pace along the dry, sandy sea bed.

  “It is far vaster than any in the Mortal Realm,” he remarked. “Hundreds of thousands of leagues in every direction. And it is filled with leviathans and monsters of the past.”

  “Fascinating,” I murmured, watching as a giant, glowing creature that looked like an immense squid floated quietly past.

  “It is,” he agreed. “Luckily this tunnel was built to connect the fifth and seventh circles of Hell or the way would be completely impassible and we would never reach the Abyss.”

  I could see his point. Even in a well equipped boat, how could you possibly hope to sail hundreds of thousands of miles through waters filled with prehistoric monsters, all of them eager to take a bite out of you?

  We traveled for hours through the half light that filtered down through the sea above. It was a strange, watery bluish-green and our journey was completely silent except for the clop-clop of Kurex’s hooves. Above us and around us, strange creatures swam. Some of them were horrible to look at, with jagged teeth and the flat, dead eyes of predators that made me shiver. But many of them were strangely beautiful. They seemed to fly through the water, glowing pink and purple and electric blue, adding neon stripes to the plain white sand and a magical, unreal feeling to our journey.

  Years later when I remembered my time in Hell, this was the part of our trip that I went back to in my mind with longing. It was so quiet, so peaceful. And aside from the Lock Ness Monster thing charging us, it was certainly the most uneventful.

  I thought of about a thousand things I wanted to say to Laish—questions I wanted answers to, mostly—but something stopped me from talking. He was so quiet, seeming content just to hold me against him as we traveled. And I felt content to be held by him. I didn’t want to disturb him or break the dreamy, magical mood that had somehow fallen over the two of us with questions or possibly arguments. So I simply let myself relax back against him as I looked up, watching the strange creatures that swam overhead and trying not to think about how soon the end of our journey was coming.

  We stopped for a very late lunch under a glowing octopus looking creature that was about twenty times bigger than any octopus I had ever heard of. It seemed to be resting on the top of the invisible tunnel and it shed a soft pink light on the sand below that was strange but beautiful.

  Laish made me a sandwich with a single drop of blood—I didn’t let him make anything more elaborate—and got out a few provisions for himself. We spread a blanket from Kurex’s newly restocked saddle bags and ate. I didn’t know why but I felt sad—as if this was the last meal we would share together. I told myself I was being silly—surely we would have dinner as well as breakfast the next morning, but I couldn’t shake the feeling somehow.

  As we were packing up, Laish took out the long, black box he’d gotten from the Minotaur and opened it.

  “What’s that?” I asked, coming to stand beside him.

  “It’s for you—but you must only use it in the last extremity.”

  “The last extremity—what do you mean by that?”

  “If you have no other hope and we have been separated, or you see me die,” he said quietly.

  “What? Why would you die? Nobody’s dying here!” I could hear the panic in my voice but couldn’t control it. I didn’t like the idea of Laish leaving me or dying—not one bit.

  “Calm yourself, mon ange, it is a precaution only.”

  He drew from the box a long knife with a silver handle and a black blade. Which seemed strange—I’d never seen black metal before. In fact, it almost looked like the exact opposite of the little knife he used to cut himself when he made me food.

  “What is that?” I asked, drawing back a little. I could feel the power pulsing off it—dark energy coming in wave
after wave from the strange, black blade.

  “A thrak.” He pronounced the word as a thick, guttural sound in the back of his throat. “It will kill any creature of Hell you stab it into—no matter how ancient or relentless.”

  “Like the HellSpawn?” I asked in a low voice. I didn’t want to say it too loudly, almost as if naming the thing that was tracking me would bring it to me.

  Laish nodded. “Exactly. But you must be very careful using it. Each time you plunge it into your enemy, it costs a piece of your soul.”

  “What?” I drew even further back from the blade. “I don’t want to lose my soul—not even a little piece of it.”

  “It may be unavoidable,” Laish said grimly. “I cannot wield the thrak myself as I have no soul to use as ammunition. But you can—only, however, if you are threatened and there is no other way.”

  “But…you’re going to be with me right up until the end, right? I mean, you’re not leaving me at the edge of the next barrier or anything?” I tried to keep my voice calm but I could hear the anxiety creeping into my tone.

  Laish cupped my cheek with the hand not holding the dagger.

  “Mon ange, I will be with you for as long as I possibly can. I wish to see you safely back to the Mortal Realm, as I promised your grandmother I would.” He stroked my face gently. “I care for you—and as much as I can, I love you. Remember that, no matter what happens.”

  “I…” I didn’t know what to say. Should I tell him I loved him back? Did I?

  But then the moment passed. Laish put the thrak into a black sheath and strung it on a belt which he made me wear. I didn’t want an object with so much dark power close to me but he insisted.

  “It is to keep you safe,” he said sternly. “Keep it with you, Gwendolyn, but only draw it in the direst need.”

  “You don’t need to tell me twice,” I said as we remounted Kurex. “I don’t want my soul to look like a piece of Swiss cheese.”

  “As to that, your soul would regenerate in time,” he said, kicking the horse’s sides to get him moving again. “In this way it is much like your human organ, the liver. You can donate a lobe of it to someone else and eventually your own will regrow. But it takes time.”

  I hadn’t known that about the liver—or the soul for that matter. Duraga had said something like it when he had showed me the soul hook, but I had assumed he was just lying in an attempt to make me give him the “taste” he’d been craving. Knowing it was truly possible to lose and regrow part of my soul was food for thought as we continued our journey.

  I just hoped I’d never have to put my new knowledge into practice.

  * * * * *

  Laish

  Much sooner than I would have liked, we reached the barrier between the Sunless Sea and the Abyss. It was invisible of course but I could feel it thrumming in the air ahead of us. Also, though Gwendolyn could not, I could see through it to the vast pit. There lived creatures so terrible even I could not name them—if you could call what they did living.

  My little witch was still looking up at the dark sea and its inhabitants, swimming overhead, and hadn’t noticed that we were coming to the end of our long road. I took the opportunity to scan the way ahead, looking for the headless bulk of the HellSpawn, wondering if it might be waiting for us in some dark corner—eager to pounce once the barrier came down.

  To my surprise, I neither saw it nor felt it—for some reason the HellSpawn was nowhere near. I couldn’t help the feeling of unease that stole over me. Where was it? It had proved itself exceptionally intelligent for its kind, using the Mirror of the Eye to track Gwendolyn. It had almost led her into a trap the night before so I expected another attempt at any time. The fact that it wasn’t around didn’t put me at ease—rather, it increased my trepidation.

  I had been hoping to spend one more night with Gwendolyn before we brought the barrier down and moved into the area surrounding the Abyss. One more night of holding her in my arms, one more night of feeling that she cared—at least a little—for me.

  One more night before she hated me.

  Yet my gut instinct told me that this would be a grave mistake. We needed to pay the Sin Tax and bring down the barrier sooner rather than later. To that end, I had come prepared.

  “We’re here,” I said in Gwendolyn’s ear. She had been looking up at a school of tiny, bioluminescent fish darting back and forth above us. But the dreamy expression on her lovely face faded when she heard my words.

  “We are? Where’s the barrier?”

  “Directly in front of us,” I told her. “We must stop here until we break it.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to face me. “Laish,” she began. “I don’t know what to say. This entire journey I’ve been thinking of what I would do when we came to this point. And…”

  “And?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

  She blew out a breath. “And I still don’t know. I guess…” She bit her lip. “I guess it’s going to take a pretty big sin to break this last barrier.”

  “It will,” I acknowledged quietly.

  “So we’re going to have to…to…”

  “Make love?” I finished for her. “Possibly. But there may be another way.”

  “What?” She frowned at me. “What other way?”

  “You’ll see.” I drew Kurex to a halt and began unloading the special saddle bags I had packed.

  “What’s all that?” Gwendolyn’s face looked uncertain in the greenish-blue light.

  “It’s everything you need, my little witch,” I told her. “Come help me—we are going to do a summoning.”

  * * * * *

  Gwendolyn

  “A what?” I frowned as I saw the things he was unloading. A small folding table… a rich burgundy cloth with golden designs embroidered into it…one large white pillar candle and four smaller colored ones… “And why did you bring all this stuff with us instead of just conjuring it?”

  “I wish to keep all my power intact in case of a confrontation,” he said obliquely as he helped me down from Kurex’s back. “I trust you understand my meaning, Gwendolyn.”

  “Of course.”

  I felt a chill go through me as I remembered the HellSpawn that was tracking me. I wanted Laish at full strength too. But why had he brought all the necessary equipment for a summoning spell? As I watched he withdrew a golden chalice and a silver athame—a ceremonial knife used in many witchcraft rituals.

  “Who are we summoning?” I asked as he led Kurex to the edge of the magical tunnel and told him to stay. The big horse stood quietly, not even flicking an ear when a prehistoric beast that could have swallowed him in two bites glided by not three inches from him.

  “Never mind that yet,” Laish beckoned to me. He had already set up the small folding table and draped it with the burgundy and gold cloth, creating a makeshift altar. Upon it he placed the chalice, the candles, and the athame. “Call the circle, Gwendolyn,” he told me.

  Feeling strange, I did as he said. I drew a circle in the sand, wide enough to encompass both Laish and myself and the small altar. Then, taking the first colored candle, I lifted it. Laish hadn’t provided me with a lighter so I gave it to him with a raised eyebrow. Smiling a little, he blew on the wick and it lit, the small flame blooming in response to his power.

  I took the lit candle a little way away and stood it upright carefully in the sand. As I did, I spoke the words of the ritual, calling the circle.

  “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the East. Spirits of Air, powers of Thought. I call upon you to lend your essence to this rite.”

  I took the next candle and Laish lit it. This one I buried in the sand a little way back in the direction we had come.

  “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the South. Spirits of Fire, powers of Will. I call upon you to lend your essence to this rite.”

  And then the next candle. “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the West. Spirits of Water, pow
ers of Emotion…”

  It was the same spell I had used to summon Laish himself, so many months ago when I’d thought he was just a minor demon who couldn’t hurt me. Now I knew better—much better and I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. At least, I wasn’t afraid he would hurt me physically. But all his talk of dying and his insistence that I wear the cursed dagger at my hip made me extremely nervous. I had to admit that it would hurt to lose him—a pain worse than any physical torture he might have inflicted if he was a different kind of demon.

  “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the North,” I said, taking the last candle from Laish. I used it to light the large white pillar candle on the altar and then placed it at the head of the circle. “Spirits of Earth, powers of Stability. I call upon you to lend your essence to this rite. I conjure ye, O Circle of Light to be a temple between the worlds, in the name of the Goddess who binds us all together. Wherefore do I bless and consecrate thee. So Mote It Be.”

  It’s not always necessary to call the circle in order to do magic—in fact, it’s mostly just for high rituals like the Great Rite. But it felt right to do so now, though I couldn’t have said why. I still didn’t understand why Laish had asked me to do it but I trusted him when he said it was necessary.

  “Raise a cup to the Goddess,” he murmured to me. He was already pouring water from my battered Zephyrhills bottle into the golden chalice as he spoke.

  “It would be better if it was wine,” I remarked.

  “That can be accomplished.” Lifting the silver athame, he held it out to me.

  I took it automatically, not understanding what he wanted until he held his hand, palm out, over the cup.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” I protested.

  “Do, it Gwendolyn. It’s necessary.”

  He nodded insistently until I very reluctantly pressed the sharp tip of the athame into the heel of his hand. A single ruby red droplet welled up and fell into the chalice filled with water. At once the ruby color spread to the water and a rich, fruity aroma began to rise from it.