Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(85)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Sam and Riley stopped breaking the chains to stare at me.

“There has to be a better way.”

Then I remembered.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the black velvet satchel filled with the last bit of dried flower petals Ana gave me. “Thank you, Ana,” I whispered.

I looked up at the guys. “I’ll use this.” But how to spread it out so it covered them all?

There was a noise above and I looked up. The Devourer soared down and landed a few feet away. He didn’t look nearly as weak as when we left him at Asmodeus’s land.

“Where’d you get your energy from?” I asked, running over to his side. He regarded me with a silent stare. “Not going to tell me, huh?”

When he did nothing else I climbed onto his back. “Since you’re here, can I have some help?”

The Devourer lifted off the ground, hovering above Sam and Riley, so I tossed down the bag containing Beelzebub. “Hold onto this,” I called as we rose higher into the sky. I loosened the drawstrings on the satchel that held the petal dust and poured some out onto my hand, preparing to sprinkle it over the souls.

“But what about the black souls, the ones we don’t want to free yet?” Sam called from the ground.

“This dust will only work on those souls that have hope, a little life in them that can still be saved. The magic in this dust will fail to work on something evil.” I don’t know how I knew, but I did, and I trusted myself.

I nudged the dragon toward the center of the graveyard. I held up my palm and began to blow gently on the dust. At first it didn’t seem to do anything, but then I began to notice this golden glow, this shimmering light that began to fall like gentle rain and spread over the souls. I kept blowing the dust as the Devourer gently flew in a wide arch over them all.

It was magical.

Everything began to shimmer and the ash falling from the sky stopped. The light began to grow brighter and more intense as the dragon touched back on the ground. Sam was there and reached out, lifting me off its back as we all watched in fascination at what was happening. It was a beautiful sight…

Then the screaming started.

It was tortured and loud. The wailing sounds that came out from the glittering gold cloud were nothing short of horrible.

“What’s happening?” Sam yelled.

“It’s the black souls. They’re upset because they’re not being allowed to go free,” I cried, hoping the horrible sounds would soon stop.

Just then the lighter souls began to burst into the sky. Hundreds of them were shooting up and out of the gold. It was a joyous sight and everything we’d been through to get here suddenly seemed small compared to what these souls had been through.

Soon, the gold dust began to thin out and the last of the souls shot into the sky. Golden glitter littered the ground and shimmered, a ray of sun in contrast to all the dead here in hell.

When the last of the souls were free, I turned from the glittering graveyard to see thousands of souls gathered around, almost like they were waiting for me to tell them what to do.

I looked up at the sky, wondering what to do next.

Behind me, Riley let out a low whistle.

“Heven,” Sam called, something strange in his voice.

I looked over my shoulder, out over the graveyard…

It was littered with dead bodies.

“If you’ll just excuse me for one minute,” I told the massive group of waiting souls (like I was some kind of hostess in a restaurant. How was I supposed to know what soul etiquette was?) and joined the guys who were looking out over the bodies.

“Must be the twisted souls that remained chained. Maybe the dust somehow gave them their form back.”

“They would’ve been better off as they were,” Riley said.

Sam snorted. “For once I agree with you.”

The bodies were demons, of course, and demons were never attractive, but these seemed more hideous than the others, probably because of everything they had to endure. I almost felt happy for them that they were now spared the agony of being captured.

“Body removal wasn’t really in my plans today,” Sam said.

It wasn’t in mine, either.

“Just leave them. It’s not like this place would be any prettier without them lying around cluttering up the place,” said Riley.

I wasn’t really sure that was the best thing, either, but it might be our only option. I needed to get the souls out of here and we needed to figure out how to chain Beelzebub.

“Let’s leave them. See how Beelzebub likes being chained with a bunch of dead,” Sam said, surprising me with his callousness.

I glanced at him and he shrugged. “After everything this guy has pulled”—he held up the backpack that held a struggling dark soul—“he deserves worse.”

In the end it didn’t really matter. The decision was made for us. “Look,” I said, pointing to where the gold dust glittered on the ground. We watched as it faded away, sparkling no more, and turned gray and lifeless like the rest of hell. Just as the last of it blinked away, all the leftover demon bodies turned to dust and disappeared.

“We need to do something with him,” Sam said. “This bag isn’t going to hold him much longer.” The backpack was being pummeled from the inside out, swinging around in Sam’s grip as Beelzebub fought against the thick fabric and zipper.

Behind me the souls grew restless. I could feel their sorrow and sudden unease. I glanced back at them, noting the way they trembled. “I need to get them out of here, like now.”

“Go,” Sam said. “Riley and I can handle this.”

The idea of splitting up wasn’t really in my plans, but I knew they could handle it. I felt a rueful smile tug my lips. “You do realize you just suggested that I go off in hell, alone.”

He smiled. “You don’t need me to protect you anymore.”

He was right. I didn’t. I hadn’t needed his protection for a long time. I needed something more important from him.

You’ve got that too, Hev. His voice floated through my mind. My heart’s been yours from the day I first saw you.

I smiled.

Riley sighed dramatically. “If you two don’t stop I’m going to let Beelzebub out just to avoid puking.”

I laughed. “I’m going.”

“Be careful,” Sam called as I climbed on the back of the Devourer.

“Meet me at the fountain in Portland,” I called and gave them a wave as we took off into the sky, the souls trailing behind me like some weird parade.