Tirade (Heven and Hell #3)(51)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I paused, then shrugged and tossed him the candy, wrappers and all. He ate them without chewing. “You’re gross.” I told him. “But pretty.”

“I would think melted candy tastes better than demon souls.” Sam snorted.

“For real. You would think he would find something tastier to eat.”

“We need to go,” Sam said, taking my hand.

I looked up at our surroundings for the first time. The wall of fire wasn’t far behind us and I assumed its close proximity was why I was still feeling so hot. We were standing on a patch of land, of dirt really, with the fire behind us and a body of water about a mile wide in front of us. Beyond the water all I could see was white.

“What is this?” I asked. The Devourer noticed my lack of attention and flew away, disappearing back through the wall of fire.

“It’s the entrance to hell. In order for a soul to pass into hell it must first pass through a body of water and a wall of fire.”

“That’s why hellhounds were made, to help the souls do this?”

“Yep,” Sam said, looking out over the water. He seemed tense and worried.

“What’s beyond the water?”

“I don’t know. I think it might be the InBetween.”

My heart sank. Even if we made it to the InBetween, how would we get out? Airis already made it clear that she would not help my compromised soul.

Sam looked at me. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“I’m going to swim across the water with you.”

Nerves cramped my stomach. I hated the water. It was my worst fear. The one time Sam convinced me to get in was the one time Beelzebub (AKA: the Dream Walker) got into my head.

“We don’t have a choice here, Hev. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” He came forward and took my hands. “I want to go home. I want to really see you,”

I wanted that too, more than anything, certainly enough to go through an ocean. Even though Sam was free and I was with him, it wasn’t exactly the homecoming I was hoping for. This trip to hell had been even more disastrous than I anticipated.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Sam was already shifting, changing into a hellhound. He approached me slowly, warily, as if afraid to frighten me. I wanted to laugh. Of all the things I had seen, this was the least scary. I reached out and stroked his ears. They were bigger than a panther’s and a little floppy, but they felt like velvet to the touch. You’re beautiful, I told him.

He blinked his golden eyes and crouched down low and I climbed onto his back, securing my bag in my lap. He was an excellent swimmer. I was expecting to be low in the water, holding my chin up so I didn’t go under. But that didn’t happen. The water only reached to my chest. Sam was so powerful that he could keep his body upright enough so I wasn’t completely submerged.

I wondered how he swam through the gross sludge as it was. It was so thick and it clung to everything it touched, greedy for contact. I tried to ignore the way it stuck to my skin and I focused on the white ahead. A few demons tried to grab at us, but Sam would snap his jaws and make some intimidating sounds and the demons fell away.

It didn’t take as long as I thought for him to swim the mile and soon the water ended abruptly, with no ground for support, and we began falling into an endless pit of white.

*

One minute we were falling and the next we were standing in the InBetween. Our clothes were completely clean of the black sludge and Sam was back in his human form, wearing a white T-shirt with his burned up shorts. I stared at him curiously and he just shrugged.

“Airis!” Sam called, thinking she would send us home.

I cleared my throat. “She isn’t coming,”

His golden stare turned to me and my heart sank. How did I tell this beautiful, perfect person that I let him down? That good had turned its back on me because I’m not good.

“She said my soul was compromised and she wouldn’t help us anymore. She said I would never see her again.”

“She was too snooty for me anyway, with all her rules and riddles. We’ll find another way out.”

I let out a sigh. I knew Sam wouldn’t be angry with me, but I still hadn’t wanted to disappoint him, either. I looked around, hoping for some clue as to how to get out, but it was just endless white, endless nothing. But then something caught my vision and I turned toward the movement. In a cloud of white, a figure appeared, stumbled really.

He stood up and dusted off his light-colored pants. “Harder than it looks,” he grumbled.

“Dad!” I cried and ran toward him, hurling myself in his embrace.

“Heven!” He hugged me tight.

“What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t get into the InBetween?”

He shrugged. “Something had to be done. I don’t like the way Airis treated you.”

“She doesn’t know you’re here?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Not yet. We don’t have much time.”

“Are you going to get into trouble for this?”

“Don’t you worry about me. You’ve been through enough.” He held me out and looked me over. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “I got Sam back.” I pulled away and took Sam by the hand, pulling him forward. “Dad, this is Sam.”

Dad stared at him for a few long seconds and then his face broke out into a smile. “I had my doubts about you, kid. But I was wrong. You’ve taken care of my little girl.”

Sam offered his hand and smiled when they shook. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

When he released Sam’s hand, he looked at me. “I’m going to send you home.”

“Now?” I felt a little disappointed.

“We don’t have much time.” Again, he glanced over his shoulder. “I haven’t done this before so I’m not really sure if you’ll end up where I try to send you.” He looked a little sheepish.

“I don’t care where we end up as long as it’s earth,” I said.

Dad smiled sadly and touched my cheek. “I never realized what was in store for you. If I hadn’t died, things might have been different…”

“I’ve done some bad things, Daddy.

“You’ve made the only choices you could have, given your situation.”

“You really think so?”

He nodded and leaned forward and hugged me. “Follow your heart,” he whispered. “It won’t lead you wrong.”