Espy, it turned out, was upstairs in Beni’s room. She was watching over my Dad, who was no longer on the floor, but atop the comforter. I had no idea how she got him up there by herself.

She looked up at me (from a chair beside the bed) as I entered. “I take it he agreed?”

“Yes.” I stayed across the bed from her, looking down at Dad so the side of my neck with Ira’s mark wasn’t in her sight. “We’re leaving now.”

She nodded, making to stand. “I’ll grab my things—”

“No,” I said quickly. “I mean, someone has to stay here with Dad.”

Her eyes flicked down at him, then back to me. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

“I know,” I said, “but mad as I am at him, no anesthetized person should be alone. There’s always a risk he’ll stop breathing.”

“A very slight risk,” she said. “We’ve been perfecting the formula for a long time.”

“Right, I just don’t feel right about leaving him here alone.”

“I don’t feel right about two junior partners breaching the underworld alone.” Her voice was tight. “You both are skilled infiltrators, but this is an unprecedented situation.”

As much as I would love to have the Magda at my back, I knew in my bones this was the right thing to do.

“Please, Espy.” It was barely more than a whisper. “I have to know he’s okay.”

I stared at her with my most pleading eyes, not hiding my emotions as our people always did, but letting her see on my face anything there was to see.

She looked away. “How will I know you’re alright?”

I swallowed. “I guess if we’re not back by dawn...we won’t be.”

Her eyes squeezed closed. “Be off, then, before I change my mind.”

I left the room before I could change mine.

***

Beni and Ira were downstairs, glaring daggers at each other.

“We ready?” She didn’t look at me, keeping her eyes on Ira.

“Yes,” I said. “Espy will stay behind to make sure Dad’s okay.”

“Let’s get this over with, yeah?” Ira said, straightening up from his nonchalant lean against the counter.

Beni’s face soured more, if possible.

“Let’s go,” I said before she could say anything.

We walked out into the night, Ira, me, then Beni. I think she took up the rear to keep an eye on things.

“Where are we going?” I asked, trying not to think of the last time I’d wandered into the dark forest.

“Anywhere.” Ira shrugged. “I’ll feel it when my powers come back.”

“And then what?” said Beni.

“Then I’ll be able to vape again,” he replied, “and I’ll take us to the entrance. As we agreed.”

“Both of us?”

“One at a time.”

She stopped. “No way. You’re not taking him anywhere alone.”

“I’ve never vaped with a passenger before,” he said. “Let alone two. It seems...unwise to experiment while under a blood oath. If anything happens to him, it happens to me, too, remember?”

“So you keep saying,” she muttered, but started walking again.

“It’s fine,” I said. “You can take me first, then come back for Beni.”

She grumbled at that, but I couldn’t make it out. If Ira could, he chose not to respond.

We had just passed out of sight of the house when Ira stopped. “Whoa.” He held up his hands, flexing his fingers. “I guess it’s true what they say about Slayer blood.”

“I take it your powers are back?”

“And then some,” he said.

He turned to face me, and I froze. Beneath the moonlight, his skin was a pale and perfect marble. The edges of his face had gone soft and luminous like an overexposed photograph. His eyes were shadowed by the sharp line of his brow, but I knew they were filled with obsidian.

This was where the legend that vampires slept during the day came from. It wasn’t that they couldn’t be active under the sun (except for older ones), it was that the moon stole their human face. No one could look upon him now and see anything other than what he really was. Never had he looked so inhuman, but unlike his animalistic mein from the basement, now he seemed almost...beautiful.

My heart stuttered with shame. How could I even think that word? Not only was Ira the enemy of my people, but I had no business noticing any other man while on the way to Evan.

Evan. Saving him was the only thing that mattered.

Swallowing hard, I forced myself to speak. “So you can do it now?”

Grinning, he offered me his hand. “Of course.”

I looked down at his hand, then back up at him.

He sighed. “We have to be touching for it to work.”

“Naturally,” Beni huffed from behind me.

He didn’t rise to the bait, just waited with his eyes on me. Slowly, I reached out and placed my hand in his. His skin was cool to the touch. I shivered. He gave a tug at the same time as he lifted our hands, spinning me against his chest like we were dancing.

“Hey!” I snapped, heart pounding.

Despite how I’d fallen against him, he hadn’t budged an inch. Our hands were still twined, and I tried not to notice the way he was so tall my shoulders fit just right between his arms.

He lowered his mouth to my ear. “Hold your breath.”

The world titled, spun away. My stomach flipped like the drop from a rollercoaster. I wanted to scream, but I had no mouth to scream with. Strangely, there was a sensation of speed, yet being frozen in place. (Like in a car. You’re not moving, but everything around you is.) I felt like there should be the sound of motion whipping past my ears, but there was only silence. I couldn’t tell if we were shooting through space or still in the forest, everything a swirl of darkness.

The world came rushing back, and I sagged against Ira’s chest, gasping for breath. If it wasn’t for the clasp of his arms I would have toppled over.

“Easy,” he whispered. “We’re not done yet.”

“W-what?”

Head spinning, I only had enough time to vaguely realize we were at the edge of a lake before the ground fell out from under us again. We must have gone beneath the water, but there was no difference as we traveled that I could discern.

When we landed again it was dark. With the way my head was spinning, at first I thought there was something wrong with my eyes.

“I can’t see!” I exclaimed, blinking desperately.

“Well, yeah,” Ira said. “We’re underground.”

Underground.

I froze, heart starting to pound. “What?”

“Did you not...I mean, underworld. It’s in the name.”

“Let go.” I started to struggle against his kryptonian grip. “Let go of me!”

“Okay, easy.”

The weight of his arms lifted, and I stumbled away from him. The scuffing sounds of my feet echoed, conjuring an ominous emptiness even as the darkness crushed down around me.

I turned around to face him (or what I thought was him). Even in the beginning of a panic attack I was not about to put a vampire at my back.

With shaky hands, I yanked Baby free and held her up before me. But there was no glow. I was too shaken to fall into my Spark.

“Fuck!” My breath leaked out in a high-pitched rush.

I heard Ira walking. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Stay back!” I staggered a few paces backwards, trying to still my ragged breathing.

This was just like my dream, a black, pressing void, but this time I couldn’t wake up. It was really happening. I couldn’t see the confines of the earth (I couldn’t see anything at all), but I could feel it. I knew it was there.

“Damn it,” he said. “Nobody thought to mention you were claustrophobic?”

It had never been an issue before. Spending a few minutes in a crypt or mausoleum, already in the zone before I even entered, was nothing compared to the bowels of the earth. We trained to compartmentalize our emotions, to hold fear at bay, but that fabled calm seemed out of my reach.

My face went hot as my hands went cold. Baby trembled in my grip as pins and needles prickled through my fingers. My legs were feeling it too, knees shaking. I was going to faint.

No.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I would not lose it like this in front of him. This darkness was no different than any other dark night I had faced the Damned. Just breathe. Fear is only a chemical in the brain. Stay calm and the brain will not produce any.

Don’t think about Evan, about her, about the vastness of the earth crushing down—

Stop.

Just.

Breathe.

In through the nose.

Out through the mouth.

In.

I will be a redeemer of the Damned.

Out.

I will be an avenger of the innocent.

In.

I will be a light in the dark.

Out.

My fear fell away. The tight panic in my chest eased. Not all at once like usual, but slowly. Instead of diving into my Spark, I was wading into the ocean. The tide of serenity swept over my head, and at last I felt the Spirit. Baby flickered to life.

Ira hissed and flinched away, shielding his eyes from the blue. With my true sight I could just make out the cold smoke in him where Spirit should be. I couldn’t actually see him, but I could perceive him somehow. Like a shark swimming through the black in a nature documentary, a suggestion of motion.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yes.” My voice was strained, breathing still not quite normal. “I’m fine. Go get Beni.”

He hesitated. “You sure?”

I nodded, knowing he’d see it. His eyes worked just fine in the dark.

“I’ll be back with her as soon as possible.” The whooshing air sound of him vaping out, usually nearly inaudible, was unnaturally loud in the stillness.

Despite myself I almost wished he hadn’t gone. Alone the silence was so absolute I could hear my own pulse pounding at my throat. Sword raised, I took a look around. Every crunch of my feet made me wince as I turned around, making sure there was no one (and nothing) else down here. Even with Baby I couldn’t see much. The glow of Spirit isn’t a flashlight. It can’t illuminate the physical world— at least that’s what I thought until I saw the huge doors behind me.

My skin prickled as I realized. These doors weren’t physical at all. This was the entrance to the underworld.

Honestly, aside from its sheer size it wasn’t that impressive at first. A rock wall, rough-hewn-looking, but worn smooth. I couldn’t detect its perimeter outside Baby’s glow. Arches set in the middle must be the doors. All the stone was dark, yet faintly metallic like very weathered bronze. A line of text I couldn’t make out was etched into the doors.

I inched closer, peering down at the symbols. Something about them made my breath catch, a brain-tickling sensation like déjà vu even though I’d never seen any language like this before and couldn’t read it.

Kshhhhh Kshhhhh

The sound of scraping rock whispered through the dark, and I raised my sword high. Any second now clawed demonesses would come scaling down the wall. When none came I slowly dropped my gaze back to the inscription, knowing what I would see. Right before my eyes the letters were changing, carving themselves anew until they formed a single line of perfect English.

NO MAN MAY ENTER

Aside from the lines of the letters themselves there were no marks, no chisel lines, as if the words had never changed.

Before my mind could fully process what I was seeing, a loud groan rumbled through the air, Prometheus on his mountain. I realized just in time to leap back as the doors ponderously heaved open.

My people didn’t believe in damnation as a literal place, yet now I stood before the mouth of hell. For a heartbeat the doors stood open, revealing a long, arching hall of pale marble that vanished out of sight. Then they began to swing closed.

“Ira! Beni!” I called, desperate, up into the dark.

There was no answer. They weren’t going to make it. I should have known. Ishtar, Orpheus, all the stars of the old tales descended alone to rescue their love. No one would be allowed to help Evan but me.

Only a foot or so of clearance remained. Steeling myself, I surged forward, just managing to squeak through as the doors slammed shut behind me.