As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Thirty-Four

Our eventful journey through the undead city of Troy–and wasn’t that just a fascinating change to all of human history–came to a stop at the most unlikely of places. A pair of doors.

That in itself was somewhat unusual. All throughout the city, none of the buildings we’d passed had possessed doors. They had all been open. Not a single scrap of wood had been visible. Not even doors of cloth or fabric. Nothing over the windows either. Nadda.

Yet here we were, stopping before a pair of incongruous wooden doors. Dark brown, which was astonishing on its own in this place of white and off-white. That should have been strange enough, but the colors weren’t the first thing I noticed about the doors.

That detail belonged to them standing out in the middle of a stone courtyard with a surrounding stone garden. Tiny pebbles of varying shades of white had been grouped together to represent what I assumed was dirt. Little spikes of stone emerged in places, branching off very slightly, into what I figured had to be a stone equivalent of flowers.

It was actually quite a sight. We stopped at one of four entrances to the courtyard. Together, the entryways formed a cross at the corners. Tall, faceless buildings surrounded us on every side, each corner of the square courtyard leading back down one of the city's roads.

A path of wide stones led from each corner to the doors, where they formed a circular platform in the center of the courtyard. The doors themselves just stood there, like the centerpiece of some deranged sculpture.

“Please tell me this isn’t our entrance,” I said to Aaron, considering everything about the setup made me feel uncomfortable.

He shrugged. “This isn’t our entrance.”

I sagged with relief. “Good. I’ll be glad to leave this place, then. Where do we go?”

Aaron lifted a hand and pointed. “Through those doors.”

“But–” I protested weakly. “You just said…”

Aaron smiled. The first real smile I’d seen him give since he agreed to bring us through his realm. “What? You told me to say that this isn’t our entrance. So, I did. You never told me to tell the truth.”

I glared at him. “I hate you,” I said flatly and without heat. “You’re just doing this because you’re upset we got spotted.”

Aaron sobered immediately. His gaze turned from the doors, but he didn’t look behind us toward where the group had greeted us as I’d expected. Instead, he looked ahead, down the street at the far side of the courtyard from where we’d entered.

I followed his gaze. That street led into a different section of town, where the road rose higher and higher and the buildings grew larger, taller, and longer.

“We should go,” Aaron said, shaking himself so violently I moved a step away.

He led the way into the courtyard, followed by the rest of his team. Vir only paused for a moment, and then he, too, stepped onto the path, heading into the center. Where the doors waited for us.

They all paused there and, almost as one, looked back to where I was waiting at the very edge of the courtyard path.

“Fuck,” I spat and took a step out onto the path, trying to shove aside the growing discomfort in my stomach.

Did you think the trip into the Underworld and the Pits of Tartarus was going to be fun? This isn’t some amusement ride, Dani. Get your shit together and suck it up.

“You can’t be serious?” I said as I joined the group. “You want to just walk through these doors and into Tartarus?”

“Basically,” Aaron said.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he repeated after me, nodding his head once.

“We’re taking the goddamned tourist entry,” I muttered.

Aaron cringed. “Watch your language.”

“Bloody realms are connected by high-speed travel,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard him.

“Well, what did you expect?” Aaron asked of me.

“I don’t know. More like how we got in here? Sneaking in?”

“Sneaking into Tartarus often has the undesirable effect of landing you right into one of the pits,” Aaron explained. “Trust me when I say you don’t want that. You don’t get out of those.”

“Fine,” I said. “But this? It just screams trap.”

“It’s an old entrance between our realms. Lightly used. Lightly guarded. We’ll be fine,” Aaron said, heading for the door.

“Wait!” I exclaimed, reaching out a hand for him, though he wasn’t within range anyway.

“What?” Aaron asked.

“Uh. You said lightly guarded.”

“Yes. I did.”

“That’s not the same as unguarded,” I pointed out.

Aaron rolled his shoulders. “No entrance to the Underworld is unguarded, Dani. This is our best choice. Are you done?”

“No,” I snapped. “Not really.”

I was growing tired of this side of Aaron. Was this the real him? The vampire side of him? I much preferred the sexual-conquest-oozing manslut that I’d met. He was fun. This man, though, he was dark, cranky, and hated to explain anything.

Everyone has multiple sides. Remember that, I told myself, trying and failing not to glance at Vir.

“What are we going to find on the other side? What kind of guards? I want to be prepared, since it seems I’m the only one who doesn’t know what to expect.” I glared at Vir, letting him know that he should be doing a better job educating me.

But his attention was focused firmly on the door. He hadn’t, I realized abruptly, returned to his human form. I was so used to him in either form that it hadn’t really registered on me. This entire time, he’d been marching as the Champion of Amunlea, complete with armor and weapons, including his spear and the sword he kept attached to his waist, though I’d never seen him wield it.

“Demons, most likely,” Aaron said, speaking like it was normal to fight those sorts of things. “Minor ones. None of the big guys like Abaddon or the Fallen. So don’t worry, you’re safe. It’ll probably be some Jinn or something like that.”

He turned to face the doors.

“That sounds bad enough,” I muttered, recognizing the term. “Fighting a bunch of genies a–”

Aaron whirled on me. “Do not call them that.”

I took a step back at the unexpected vehemence in his voice.

He frowned. “Sorry. It’s just, well, trust me when I say you don’t want to call them that. They take it personally. Like, really personally. They despise genies.”

“Okay,” I said, throwing my hands up. “I’ll be good. I promise.”

Aaron snorted. “I’m not sure you know how.”

He might have a point.

I stayed near the back as Aaron ordered his men into position. Fred was to lead the way, followed by Aaron. I wondered why that was and figured it had more to do with Fred than anything. I’d known all along that he was far more dangerous than anyone wanted to let on, but I still had no idea what that meant.

Aaron double-checked everyone, then he faced the doors and spoke a word in a dark language I didn’t recognize.

The doors opened, and heat washed over me, followed by a roar.

“Go,” Aaron barked.

At his command, I, along with the others, charged into the Pits of Hell to rob a god.