experience cannot be explained away by one of those abilities.”
“We should probably discuss it later, Nyx,” Alex says hurrying to reach my side and extract me from the demon. “Too many ears could be listening in.”
He is right, but I don't see how they can expect me to just let what happened slide. It looked to me like I somehow helped a woman find some kind of peace to cross over to whatever was awaiting her in the afterlife. That isn't something that happens every day and I am going to go out on a limb and claim that it doesn't happen to normal people ever.
There have been a few times over the past months that I wish I could go back to believing I was just a human. This one has jumped to the top of that list of times. Ben indicated more things like this might start happening and I am not looking forward to any of them.
“You guys should probably brace yourself for what you are about to experience. Do what I do,” Ben says and then waves his hand so what looks to be a portal of some kind opens in the ground in front of a headstone. He quickly hops into it and we take a second to look around at each other prior to us doing the same.
Alex has a firm grip on my hand as we start falling into the hole that keeps getting hotter as we go. The temperature is a bit worrisome. The feeling of needing to upchuck isn't any better. Right before I hit the ground, I decide this was a really big mistake. When I shake my head free of the cobwebs and focus on my surroundings, I am certain of that decision.
Chapter 10
Live nude girls
“Welcome to Hell, Buttercup,” a voice that sure sounds like Ben says. The problem with that thought is that the seven foot tall goat/human/hawk looking thing before me looks nothing like Ben. The goat parts seem to be limited to his legs, the torso and arms look humanoid, and he has the face of a hawk. So creepy. I call things creepy a lot, but this really does take the cake.
“First things first, you said Hell. Please tell me you are joking,” I say as I continue to try to figure out what exactly the being in front of me is. Squinting and tilting my head a little doesn’t help.
“Where do you expect a club for demons to hang out in to be located? We are lucky that there was a portal to it as close as the one we entered.” Watching his beak move as he talks to top things off is really bizarre.
“Don't you think you should have mentioned that before?” Alex asks and I can tell he is pissed. I am not quite to that level of madness, but an excursion to Hell was not on my calendar. “I am pretty sure a trip to Hell is a little bit hazardous to anyone's health.”
“She will be fine, wolfy. We already fixed her up, remember?” Ben says and moves to take my hand. I move my hand back and stare at him.
“In a totally humanoid form you would be still pushing it with that move. As you stand now, don't be getting too close,” I grip Alex's hand tighter since he has refused to let go and I am thankful for that.
“Darn. Forgot about that little detail. Glamours aren't allowed in the bar. A lot of demons move through here and we like to know who we are talking to. If a glamour is good enough, some of the weaker demons can be confused. There have also been cases where demons have pretended to be other demons and the cleanup from those messes took at least a week.”
“I vote for hurrying this thing along. It is unnaturally warm and I would prefer to get back topside as soon as possible,” Jonas offers and I concur. I had always hoped to pick up some SPF 1000 before taking a trip down under.
“We shouldn't be more than an hour. The heat won't kill any of you and if you ask me, they seem to have the air conditioning turned on. Oh, and I did try to talk Nyx into coming down with just wolfy, so you guys have her to blame for any discomfort.”
Yeah, yeah, it is always my fault. Maybe if he mentioned where we were really going, we could have spared some of the guys the trip. Then