Afterlife (Purgatory Series Part Three)

Chapter Thirteen: Out of the frying pan and into the (hell)fire

Previously...

"Fine," she replied. "You don't want to help? Adrienne and I will take care of this ourselves. You can never trust nephilim to get the job done."

Altair's arms began to flame and he laughed cynically. "I should have known. You don't' care about justice; Thea was right. You just want her dead."

Delilah nodded and made a thoughtful face. "Pretty much. Yes."

With a wave of her hand goblins poured into the room, including the one I had saved from burning to death. He looked more ready to slaughter me than the others. It must have been really old urine.

Adrienne filed in after the goblins, staring me down with a smirk.

"What will it be, Alethea? Your life or Altair's?"

Chapter Thirteen: Out of the frying pan and into the (hell)fire

"You're joking, right?" I scoffed. "Altair is a phoenix. You can't kill him."

Delilah gave a tittering laugh. It made her look rather deranged in my opinion. "We don't have to kill him to ruin his life, Thea. We just planned to send him straight to hell."

Altair blanched and I could almost hear his thoughts shouting, Can they really do that?

Probably. After all, a sorcerer and a witch were able to send Roran to purgatory, I was sure there was a spell for hell too.

"You're bluffing," I wagered, although I didn't have a very good poker face. My lips trembled slightly at the thought of having to go on another rescue mission.

Adrienne opened up a spell book she had had tucked under her arm and turned to a specific page. "Are you willing to bet Altair's life on it?"

"It doesn't matter what she decides," Altair finally spoke up. "You're still going to kill her and get rid of me. I'm a witness to what you're doing and you know I would tell the council. You aren't planning to let either one of us leave here."

"Well, you're not as dumb as you look," Delilah replied, giving him a slow clap. "And you're right, of course."

"And what's to keep me from just killing you all?" I asked, peering at Altair out of the corner of my eye and wondering if he would have my back.

"Because you don't know who I am," she answered.

Before either of us could say anything in response, a string of incomprehensible gibberish spewed from her mouth and Altair and I shared a look of apprehension. The room was quiet for several seconds after her rant, as if everyone was holding their breath in anticipation, but nothing happened.

The goblins seemed to be unhappy with the lack of action because many of them began shrieking at Delilah in anger. It didn't faze her - if anything she looked amused.

"Goblins have no patience," she said to Adrienne with a roll of her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded. "What did you do?"

An evil grin curved her lips and she replied, "Oh, you'll see soon enough."

Shaking my head I snapped, "You know what? No. I won't wait around for your trick to work. Altair and I are out of here."

I grabbed his sleeve and took one step forward, but that was as far as I got before I felt like my entire body was shutting down. Pain radiated up from my chest and a sudden onslaught of exhaustion brought me to my knees.