Lincoln’s hand came up to rub my back, and I tried to work through the ice pick that was stabbing my brain.
I was just about to ask how long it would last when the pain lessened, and I heard something.
‘Bri!’
Joy ripped through my body as I nearly cried in relief. ‘Sera! I’m here!’ I told her.
“The portal is almost ready,” Shea stated.
“I’m talking to her!” I shouted.
A few raised their eyebrows, but I didn’t care if I looked crazy. I was freaking talking to Sera! I hadn’t realized how lonely I was for her companionship, until I heard her voice in my head.
‘It’s bad down here. Everything smells awful,’ Sera lamented.
Laughter bubbled up in chest, and now I was really getting some crazy looks, even from Lincoln.
‘You don’t have a nose,’ I reminded her.
Shea had started to open the portal. As she did, I saw a desolate landscape come into view.
Oh God.
I’d never peered into Hell. I mean, the one time Shea opened the portal in the training room, it was in the floor and I’d been too focused on the demons crawling out to notice anything. Then when Lucifer came through, he’d done so within a building, so I’d only seen a wall. The Succubus had opened one in the sky and all I’d seen was smoke, but this… this was my first view of Hell in all its horrific nature.
‘Where are you?’ I breathed as my eyes swept over the hordes of demons that passed before us. We seemed to be in some alleyway between two crumbling buildings, and the stench of sulfur and oil was nauseating.
‘I’m a cactus,’ she exclaimed.
My brow burrowed. ‘Excuse me?’
Was she drunk? Was it possible for her to get drunk? She could smell, so probably.
Maybe I was drunk.
‘I’ve been using all my power to morph myself into a cactus, so one of these cesspools doesn’t pick me up and sell me.’
My eyes widened. ‘You can do that?’
‘Hurry, I can’t hold it much longer. I’d nearly given up hope.’
For three weeks she’s been draining her magic to appear as a cactus?
I needed to focus before one of the passing demons noticed us. I couldn’t see any cacti nearby, but I figured Michael’s retrieval spell would still work.
Taking a deep breath, I felt for Sera’s energy, but nothing happened.
‘I can’t feel you,’ I told her with panic.
‘I don’t think that will work here.’
“Can you do the retrieval spell?” I asked the Light Mage, who seemed lost in concentration.
Nora growled and shook her head. “It’s not working. Her energy is different. You’re going to have to call her to you.”
Dammit. Could it be because she was a cactus? But if she dropped her illusion and was suddenly a shiny dagger on the ground, the demons might pick her up.
I closed my eyes and tried again, pulling at my Celestial magic, which felt a thousand miles away right then.
Then realization hit me in the gut. My Sera retrieval was a Celestial light gift, and when I’d taken off my necklace, it had forced the darkness to rear up.
‘I… can’t feel you. I can’t call to you,’ I explained.
‘Do you see the burning building?’ she asked.
My eyes flicked to the sky. Off to the left about thirty feet was a smoke stack. ‘I think so.’
‘There’s a street fight going on right now. The demons fight here all the time. I’m right in front of the burning building. If you’re quick, you can sneak in and grab me. They shouldn’t notice you.’
Go in? Did my infinity weapon just suggest I step into Hell and get her?
She’s totally drunk.
That thought had never crossed my mind, that I would enter and get her, not to mention Lincoln would never allow it. It bothered me that I couldn’t see Sera. What if this was Lucifer’s trick, and her voice in my head wasn’t real?
‘How did I feel about Lincoln when I first met him?’ I asked her.
I could almost sense a smile in her, if that were possible. ‘You hated his guts, and you stole his fruit, yet you secretly wanted to see him naked.’
I burst out laughing, and now Lincoln was really looking at me with concern.
“I need your sword.” I peered at my lover. “She needs to feel another soul weapon so she can guide herself to that,” I lied.
If I died, he’d never forgive me. I knew from history class that he couldn’t follow me in, but I was pretty sure I’d be able to walk through that hole, and I was also pretty sure my best friend wasn’t going to let me go in alone. Even now, Shea was watching me like a hawk.