Chapter 8: Lana

"I 'm pretty sure she wants me."

"Uh-huh." I smile at Kevin. He's really lightened up over the years, as if he found his footing in this place, more than he ever had in the human realm. A home. I don't see the angry young man I met that first night in Purgatory's large atrium anymore. He's one of the most relaxed Elioud here now.

And, with the deluded vanity that comes hand in hand with a twenty-something's testosterone supply, he thinks he's God's gift to women. Even down here where God certainly isn't present.

"I'm telling you, I'm gonna come back and she'll be waiting for me in my room." He grins, unashamed. Deluded he may be, but his gorgeous face indeed ensures he doesn't sleep alone very often. Hell, he even has the older women blushing at his flirty grins. It's a good thing I'm immune to him .

"At this rate, you're going to plow through the available female population before the year's out," I tease him.

"By then I'll forget about the first ones and start all over again," Kev winks at me. I scoff and shake my head. It's not like he's leaving broken hearts behind. At least not yet. As his team leader and self-appointed (still young and beautiful) auntie, I worry about him getting entangled in what I like to refer to as ‘camp drama'. While we spend a lot of time patrolling the regions of Hell closest to Abaddon, it's still our home base. Our war camp. "You're just grumpy because you don't get dicked down often enough," he says with mock solemnity.

I snort and punch his arm. "I'm not judging you, asshat." While I certainly show more restraint than him, it's not like I'm an innocent maiden. I just realized pretty early on that being a female team leader brings out the worst in the guys who rank below me. Most just want to prove that they out-man me, fail spectacularly, and thus leave me dissatisfied.

Kevin and I are walking the eastern bank of The Phlegethon – The River of Fire. Over the sounds of our crackling steps on the charcoal ground and the bubbling of lava, I take the opportunity of him shutting the fuck up about his skill in wielding his sword – and I don't mean either of the ones sheathed in his crisscross harness – to listen for any danger. I gaze over the horizon while we catch our breaths and feel a tug northward.

"Demons," I say to Kevin, "More than one."

"I feel it too," he replies, now looking more like that serious young man I met three years ago. When the going gets real, Kev leaves the humor behind. Unlike me. I'll probably have ‘made fun of a demon lord's tiny tail' written on my gravestone.

"Actually, golems, I think," I correct my earlier assessment. The fiery constructs created by more powerful demons in a fit of strong emotion are not typical creatures of flesh and blood.

"I'm forever envious of your senses." Kev shakes his head. While he can sense demonic presence, he's not as precise at pinpointing the number or strength of demons present.

"Aren't you lucky you're with me?" Jess, Ethan, and Liam veered down the opposite side of the river's flow today.

"Yes, I feel incredibly lucky we ran into more than one golem, Lana. What a gift!" he rolls his eyes at me.

I get it; a golem isn't a thing lightly taken up by just two of us, especially if there are more of them.

"Well, we can strategically retreat now and regroup with the others," I nod sagely, and Kev scoffs at me.

"You mean run away, oh Great Leader?" he mocks.

"Precisely." I nod decisively.

We turn back to head to the area where we split from the others, but before we can take more than a couple of steps, I hear the sounds of the lava's bubbling pick up like it's about to boil over. Fuck .

"Uh, why didn't we feel this one, Lana?" Kevin stammers in apprehension.

"The lava must have muddled our senses somehow," I say as we turn towards The Phlegethon.

Indeed, a golem is clambering to his feet, rising to his full height of over fifteen feet. How did something that enormous hide in the river without us noticing it? Well, we stopped bothering to wonder about illogicalities years ago. When you're constantly peppered by them, you take them in stride or you have constant headaches. The golem's head is lit up like a match, and lava drips from his stony body, matching the orange glow of it. The pungent smell of brimstone pushes itself into my nose.

"Are we running?" Kevin asks.

"I think it's pointless," I retort, "a fight's going to happen. But we can try. Split up."

He follows without hesitating, the compulsion to obey me ingrained in his muscles. I run north, following the bank, while Kevin runs back the way we came. The golem decides to follow him, faster than I thought it would be, and I curse, switching directions. No way he can handle it alone.

"Kev, fight!" I yell as I unstrap my bo staff. Can't slash at stones. Kevin turns around and moves his arm in a slicing motion in front of him. The air he commands smashes into the golem's massive body, but instead of pushing it away, the golem merely staggers. This bastard is too heavy for us to move with our fledgling ether.

Kevin gapes at it, then pulls out his swords, knowing they'll be as little use against something so massive and well-armored, just as his wind was. The golem charges once again and Kevin dodges its gigantic fist, which smashes right where he stood a moment ago, sending plumes of black charcoal dust in the air.

I finally reach them and wedge the tip of my staff into the space between two of the giant rocks that make up its body on its leg. Joints, if you will. Thankfully, my staff was made by angels, and doesn't disintegrate in the heat. The action distracts the golem, though it probably feels like a bee sting, and it stomps, the force of the crash throwing me backward. I slide across the ground, so very thankful I'm wearing my leathers, despite the heat in this area of Hell. Once I stop, I groan and try to get my feet under me.

Kev recovered faster and is still dodging the golem's blows, slicing at it with his swords, as ineffective as it may be. He knows better than to panic over me while still in danger.

I run back, thinking that maybe I could use ether to slice wind between some of those joints, toppling it over and hobbling it long enough for us to run away. Hopefully, it would get bored with the chase eventually, and stop trying to turn us into red pesto.

Just as I get in range, the golem finally manages to catch Kevin with its next blow. I hear the crack of bone as the hit to his side hurls him backward, and then the thud of his head touching down on the ground too hard for him to keep conscious.

"No!" I scream, and do the first thing I think of – I grab a large rock from the ground in both hands, and then hurl it directly at the golem's undersized head. It turns towards me, abandoning its downed quarry, and starts stomping in my direction.

"Okay," I say to myself as I whip around and start running north again. Adrenaline pricks at my muscles and my breath saws in and out of my lungs as I sprint towards the river. I need to lead it away from Kev. Maybe it'll forget about him while chasing me. That's as far as I have time to plan before I see that the river turns to an outward bend, exactly where I'm rushing to.

"Shit!"

Turning would waste precious time – the lumbering fucker behind me is too fast for its size.

By some stroke of serendipitous luck, the river narrows and stones poke out from the lava, large enough and spaced close enough apart that I can conceivably cross there.

Hoping I'm not about to give a painful new definition to walking on coals, I jump and hurtle through the air, landing on stone after stone, then jump across the last of the distance to the other side of the bank. I land on my hands and knees, and take a quick look heavenward in gratitude that my steps were sure and fast enough, and that I wasn't deep-fried or grilled. As the golem is still approaching, I scramble up to my feet and start running again. The burst of speed cost me too much energy and I can feel myself slowing down.

I glance behind me just in time to see the golem cross the river and smash one of the stones under its heavy weight, landing on one knee, and trampling another of the boulders I crossed on. There's now no way for me to get back.

Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Or not, I guess.

I seize the opportunity to take stock of the area I have found myself in. On this side of the river, the ground feels like earth compressed by centuries of pressure into a hard, dusty surface. There's a stack of boulders twenty or more feet tall to my right.

"Work smarter, not harder," I mutter to myself, and run towards it just as the golem finds his footing and crosses the river. I climb up and don't stop to think of the many, many ways that this could go wrong. I stand on a precarious ledge facing The Phlegethon, and wait for my foe.

The construct charges at me, smashing into the boulders. I get thrown back as the golem gets buried under the rocks. The plan almost worked, surprisingly enough, but then I didn't account for the force of the crash sending the smaller stones in the same direction as I fell, which, duh .

One of said stones rolls right onto my right leg and I scream in surprise and pain. I don't think anything is broken, but it hurts like a motherfucker, and a sprain is inevitable. I eye the stone and wonder if I can push it off myself, and if doing so would actually crush something.

Before I gather the courage to act, the mound of boulders where the golem is buried begins to stir, and the construct itself bursts out.

I'm screwed.