Void Domain, Book 04 полностью

“–nicer than you,” she finished. “She saved my life once. On orders from someone else.”

Does not sound like a decent demon.

Shaking her head, Shalise decided to change the subject. “How long are you planning on staying inside me.”

There may be more barriers I cannot cross without my servant. Until we escape from this place, at the very least.

Shalise stopped in her tracks. “A-at the very least?”

Continue moving, servant.

Shalise grumbled under her breath, but started moving again. “What do you mean by that?”

Leaving so soon may open me up to recapture. While I do not intend to trade one prison for another, this is by far preferable to staring at that blasted hellhound for the last nine centuries. Besides, mortals live for a century at the most? It will be temporary.

“I don’t want you in me for the rest of my life. I don’t want you in me now!”

You shall do as I say, servant.

“I’m not your servant,” Shalise said. And you’re not staying, she thought. Eva would have a way to get him out. She had to. Or maybe Sister Cross would know a way to exorcise him.

In the meantime, she grit her teeth and tried to ignore his laughter.

—

Red barriers stretched out as far as Shalise could see. Glancing behind her, the cells extended forever in that direction as well.

There was no end to this place.

They had passed by a crossroads. Prax had insisted on continuing in their current direction. His reply when she had asked if he even knew where they were going was less than reassuring. It boiled down to one corridor ‘feeling’ better than the others.

But even that had been an eternity ago.

Her feet were killing her. Her stomach clamored for food every dozen or so steps. And her back…

Shalise shrugged Juliana up her shoulders again. She kept slipping off.

At least Shalise hadn’t dropped her. Yet.

People, especially those clad in metal, were heavy. Prax’s muscles might have given her the strength and endurance to carry Juliana around, but she lacked the seemingly endless stamina that Arachne displayed during her fights with Juliana’s mom.

Every step wore her down that much further. She needed Juliana to wake up soon.

Juliana did not feel quite as hot as before. Neither was she as sweaty. Whether those were good signs pointing towards recovery or something far worse such as dehydration, Shalise was not qualified to say.

There was one thing she was qualified to say.

“This place is too big.”

It has not changed sizes since the last time you mentioned that. His tone was the very definition of exasperated. Probably.

“That doesn’t mean it–wait, probably?”

Relax. I doubt Keeper has had a chance to expand and inter new prisoners while all this is going on.

He gave a little mental nudge towards yet another barrier-less cell as they passed by.

Shalise had long since stopped slowing down and carefully creeping around the open cells they found. Both she and Prax agreed that no demon, sane or not, would willingly linger in their cells after having been freed. The damage around the cells made it clear that someone was purposely freeing the inmates. Given that, it was likely that all the freed demons were traveling as a group.

A group of demons that lay in the same direction she was moving in.

She tried not to think about that as she trudged along.

Another hundred or two cells passed before a small tremor forced her to stop.

Shalise waited, keeping her feet steady and stable.

The tremor never built up into a full-fledged earthquake. It died out as quickly as it came.

A faint cry of pain echoed through the prison corridor.

“W-what was that?”

We are closing in on our destination. Prepare yourself.

Shalise took a step forward. “F-for what?”

The same faint voice cried out again, this time more in rage than anything else. Another tremble ran up and down the corridor a moment after.

Anything.

Biting her lip, Shalise continued forward at a glacial pace.

Sounds of battle became louder as she walked forward. The occasional loud cries followed by shockwaves interspersed more mundane noises of metal scraping against metal.

It was terrifying.

Shalise could barely keep her legs steady as she moved forward. She’d never been in a fight before. And she didn’t count being eaten by a zombie as a fight.