Page 85 of To Crave Madly
“How do you know this?” I asked, part of me hoping that he was just trying to frighten me a little while the rest of me was terrified that I had yet another thing that might cause my death. Couldn’t a girl catch a break?
“Your witch friend, the one who doesn’t like me, said that I was caught between the world of the living and the dead. That’s not entirely true.”
“Oh?” I snapped. I really wasn’t in the mood for a lesson in Shadow Fiends.
“When I step into the Shadow Realm, it’s a plane that exists alongside this one. I see everything that we see now but all the colours are muted apart from the bright, glorious colours that make up a person’s soul. Wrapped around a soul is a thread of life. A beautiful, shimmering rope that shows everything a person has accomplished, experienced, is yet to know.”
I had never heard Torsten speak with such passion. When he mentioned the thread of life, all I could think about was Flint and that night that I consumed my first soul in a fit of rage. I realised that I had seen what he was talking about. In my anger, I had tugged that thread and unravelled everything about Flint. It was the most glorious thing I had ever consumed.
“It looks like a golden ribbon to me,” I whispered. I was still ashamed of my actions that day in the alley. Yes, I had saved Fenris but the cost that my own soul had paid was very dear indeed.
“Then you will have seen it glimmer and shine with life. But when I look at yours…”
I looked up at Torsten when he didn’t continue, and my stomach dropped through the floor. His eyes swirled with a sadness at the knowledge he was about to impart.
“What do you see?” Probably the most stupid question I have ever asked, but I needed to know.
Pity swam in his eyes and anger flared hotly in my veins.
“I don’t need your pity, Torsten,” I spat. I was sick of people pussy footing around me. “Just tell me.”
“Your thread has lost its shine and the edges have started to fray. If you don’t take care of your demon, your threadwilldisappear, and youwilldie.”
Tears of vexation crept into my eyes as I held back the need to scream at the world. I sensed Torsten approach me softly, clearly not wanting to antagonise me further, but I didn’t want his comfort. I just wanted to put all this out of my mind and let it fester until I had to deal with it. That seemed to be what I did with everything else in my life, so why not do the same with this?
“Don’t ignore this, Lori. Please,” Torsten begged as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I brushed him off sharply.
“Don’t touch me,” I snivelled.
I hated that I saw a flash of hurt pass over those mercurial depths and I went to apologise but stopped myself. He wasn’t my friend and he’d made it very clear what he was to me. I wasn’t about to forget who or what he was.
“Take me to Hell. I need to see Lucifer,” I demanded.
“I cannot do that, Mistress.”
He was back to calling me “Mistress”, which was probably a good thing. I needed that barrier firmly in place between us. I still enjoyed the sound of my name on his lips more than I cared to admit.
“You will take me to Hell, Torsten and you will do it now. I don’t care if Lucifer has forbidden it.” I walked up to him and looked him squarely in the eye. “He is not your Master. I am.”
His jaw clenched at my words and his eyes narrowed at my command. “Very well, I will take you to the Under Realm, but know that being down there will only bring your cravings to the surface. You’d be a fool to shun my advice then.”
I swallowed nervously. If I was being honest, some of my fiery rage melted at his words. What if he was right? What if I did succumb to my dark side and went rogue? At least there would be a menagerie of tainted souls down there to feed off.
Lucky me.
“I don’t care. Take me down there. Now.”
“As you wish, Mistress,” he responded sadly before wrapping us in a cloak of shadow and letting the world splinter around us.
Chapter 29
LUCIFER
I stared at the crumpled mess before me in shock. His clothes were torn, his face bloody and bruised, but there was no mistaking the golden crown of curls that matched my own.
“Michael?”
A crowd had gathered around him as he fell through the door to the throne room. I was in the middle of listening to complaints when my brother made his appearance and caused a commotion. I immediately jumped down off my dais and ran to him. What in Heaven’s name was going on here? What had happened and why was he here looking like he’d taken the worst beating of his life?
