Chapter 16: Lana

A drenaline makes my muscles burn. The levels above us are full of demons, most less lethal than the lieutenants caged below, but far too numerous for us to contend with. Trying to hear past the beating of my heart, I'm belatedly hit with fear over the gravity of our situation. We're playing hide and seek in the enemy's territory, outmanned and outgunned. I hadn't thought this far ahead when I jumped into the slimy chute earlier.

We were trained to banish manifestations of sin and the odd demonic minion – that golem was the toughest opponent I've faced in my years below the human realm. Especially without my full team. I definitely wasn't adequately prepared to skulk around archdemons' houses. Akira, however, seems to be in his element. Either that or his icy exterior hides any fear and doubt. Though, I guess, anyone trained by Corson would be familiar with espionage and subterfuge.

We're back at the sewers and round a corner, sliding over slimy algae, just as a nestful of water imps drop down from the dripping grates above us. I've encountered the creatures before in a foul swamp I was clearing with my team. Their spindly limbs are covered in pale skin tinged sickly blue. It's fitting that they'd be at home here in this pungent sewer water.

Akira and I unsheathe our daggers in unison as the imps chitter with excitement, probably thinking that prey conveniently landed in their laps like a pizza delivery. The creatures start forming balls of fetid water to throw at us.

While having water thrown at you may sound innocuous enough, I know from experience that these imps pack a punch that's disproportionate to their size. Besides, there's a lot of them. I quickly use the ether to throw up a shield of hard-packed air, Akira following my lead.

I take the first few punches of water head-on as I throw myself at the nearest imp, daggers poised to stab into its little neck, one at each side. The imp gurgles and rancid water dribbles out of its mouth. I pull my daggers out just in time for an imp to land on my back, arms wrapped around my neck in a violent imitation of a piggyback ride. I land face-first onto the slain imp beneath me, my mouth filling with noxious liquid. I gag and buck up with enough force to flip us over, the imp now crushed beneath my weight under my back. The snapping of his bones and the sloshing sounds of his perforated innards, combined with the foul taste in my mouth finally push me over the edge of my tolerance. I tip to the side and burning stomach acid expels from between my lips, my stomach contracting in painful spasms. The smell of my vomit hardly registers through the offensive bouquet of odors already permeating the room.

"Whenever you're done resting, I could use a hand with the other dozen," Akira grits through clenched teeth as he uses his bare hands to rip an imp's head off. I manage to suppress the urge to throw up again and flip him off before scrambling up to my feet .

An imp charges towards me and I kick it, punting it into the wall. It slides down and lands in a heap. I almost feel bad for a second, like a giant bully, but then another latches onto my leg, biting me in the calf. While it doesn't manage to pierce the thicker leather of my boots, it's still applying enough pressure to hurt.

"Motherfucker!" I growl and hop on one foot, shaking the other like a dog when its owner finds the funny spot to scratch. Finally, it detaches. And sails straight into Akira. The soldier turns and glares at me before snapping the imp's neck.

"Sowwy," I pout. He shakes his head with a look of utter disgust and turns towards the next cluster of demons. I flip my daggers over into a reverse grip and punch one through the nearest imp's temple. I face the next demon.

Minutes later, I'm bent over, hands propped on my legs, trying to catch my breath. "That's it," I tell Akira. "That's the last time I'm going on a road trip with you."

He gives me an incredulous look.

???

We manage to find our way out of the sewers and climb into a circular room. The walls are tall, reaching all the way to the top of the ziggurat, where faded light filters in through high, narrow openings. The majority of the space is occupied by a turret staircase in the middle. Looking up, I see bridged pathways branching out of it. I think we're at the heart of the building.

There are corridors spaced throughout the area, some of which clearly lead to occupied halls. I frantically search for a smaller opening like the tunnel we entered through. Before we can make our choice, low growls stop us in place. I feel three hellhounds, now far too close to us for my liking. Clearly they're onto our scent and stalking us.

We dart into the nearest dark corridor just as a hunting howl splits the air. They've found us .

"Run," I pant, not daring a glance behind as I pump my arms and push myself into a sprint. The hellhounds are faster than us, naturally, and it's not long before Akira whirls around and swipes his daggers, one after the other, at the hellhound crashing into him.

Instinct takes over and I push them with a gust of air, then pull out my throwing knives, allowing myself just a breath before I throw them at the hounds. My aim is decent; I hit one of our attackers in the eye, while the other turns, and the knife's tip embeds into its flank. Green blood oozes from their leathery black skin, but neither my targets nor the hound Akira sliced at slow down.

One of the hellhounds, knife still lodged in its eye, snaps his shark-like serrated teeth at me, and I scream as the skin on my arm is sliced into ribbons. Akira bathes them with fire manifested from ether and they yelp and dart back.

While the creatures observe us, caution in their many rows of eyes, I expend precious energy to stop my wounds from bleeding. These foes are too much for us.

"I see a tunnel ahead." Akira's words are terse, and he pushes me ahead of him, turning to scorch our pursuers one more time. "I'm out," he snaps, clearly irritated by his own limitations.

Ignoring the pain from the bite and the many scrapes and bumps from the tunnels, I sprint towards our exit, my lungs burning and my heartbeat drumming out an irregular tattoo. I can hear the snarls of the approaching hounds and it feels like they're right at our ankles. Once I'm close enough, I dive into the tunnel, arms extended, screaming again at the new burst of pain. I quickly scurry forward and Akira crawls in behind me.

Just as I think we're safe from the much larger creatures, Akira's wail of pain stops my heart. I turn my head to see his brown eyes spread wide open in panic, a hellhound dragging him out by the foot. The smell of rotten eggs and acid emanating from the demon burns my nostrils.

I splay my hand behind me and send one more narrow gust of air just above Akira, freeing him from the hellhound's grasp. Luckily, he recovers fast enough to scramble out of reach.

The last of the light is gone and we don't stop crawling, even though my arms are shaking, and sweat stings my eyes and the scrapes on my face. All I can hear are our heaving breaths and the slide of leathers against stone. The hounds are either too far away to hear, or they've gone around to try to intercept us.

An uncountable amount of time later, we're out of the ziggurat. Though the smell of brimstone is always present in Hell, I gulp down marginally fresher air while waiting for Akira to join me, before we slide down the building.

We're on the other side of the pyramid now and there's zero cover. Gritting my teeth, I resign myself to more running. There's no way of knowing when the hellhounds will raise the alarm, if they haven't already. At least the courtyard is still empty.

A glance at Akira shows me he's deathly pale, and though he clotted his wound enough to not leave a bloody trail, it must be pure anguish to run on the bitten leg. He catches my gaze and nods forward, refusing any aid I may be able to provide. It would only slow us down.

So we run.