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  The door swung open just a crack. I forced myself to stand very still. Just wait, I kept telling myself. Don’t move, just wait. Eventually, the door opened wider and the gatekeeper appeared, staring out into the sand with a comical look of confusion.

  Nessus! I stifled a gasp. What the hell was he doing back here? Reaching out slowly I knocked again on the door: four short and staccato raps. In any other circumstances his reaction would have been funny. All four feet left the ground like a surprised cat and he whipped his head backwards and forwards looking for the source of the sound. The schoolboy, still unaccountably buried deep within me, laughed uproariously. This was the ultimate game of knock-knock ginger.

  Nessus took his tall bardiche firmly in both hands then stepped slowly out onto the sand. With nostrils flared and long ears flicking backward and forward, his head moved continuously. I was going to have to be either very quiet or very fast. I decided that speed was probably my best course of action.

  I broke into a sprint and, faster than I would have thought possible, his head whipped around and he brought the bardiche down. It missed me by millimetres; the force of the blow buried the blade deep into the sand and rock. Trying to ignore the hairs standing to attention at the back of my neck, I raced through the open door and, weaving my way through the twisted corridors of stone, headed back toward the market.

  Once safely in the marketplace I chanced a look back. Nessus had followed me and, with the bardiche over his shoulder, was staring around with a slight smile on his face. I panicked for a moment; I couldn’t be visible yet – that would ruin everything.

  Wending my way carefully through the crowds I headed back toward the green door. I needed information and fast. Running down the corridor I kept an eye out for any stray demon that happened to be walking the same halls. As I neared the file room I slowed down, desperately trying to get my breathing under control.

  As I stood there, sweating and panting, I realised that in a tall pile of stupid, ill-thought-out and sketchy plans this one would be somewhere near the top. I had no idea where Carly was, or how to find her. Even if I did find out where she was being held, I only knew about 500 square metres of a place that encompassed umpteen worlds, for Christ’s sake. What the hell was I doing in Hell? I still had time to get out. All I had to do was turn around, walk back to the gate and get home. Metatron would never know. I’d return the file and the box to his desk and just get on with doing what I was told and, when Armageddon went ahead, maybe I’d find some peace.

  I leant against the wall breathing hard. A faint breeze drifted down the long corridor, carrying with it the smell of spices and flowers from the market outside. It reminded me of Carly’s bathroom. God, she must be terrified.

  I’m no knight in shining armour – at best I’m an angel’s lackey. For as long as I can remember all I’ve ever done is follow orders, ask no questions, do as little as possible and enjoy the benefits. I’m certainly one of the best at turning a blind eye to any injustice I’ve been part of. But if I did this, my brain screamed at me, I’d lose everything. My boss would literally disembowel me if he ever found out and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d have the Host on my tail. Michael would no doubt be delighted to deal with me; this was one order he’d smile all the way through performing.

  I pushed away from the wall and turned resolutely back toward the gate. ‘Sorry, Carly,’ I whispered. ‘I’m really sorry.’ I took a step toward home, then turned around and marched through the file room door, firmly ignoring the voice in my head that was screaming, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing? Stop! STOP!’

  The file room was just as I remembered it: silent, dusty and stinking of ancient paper. The front desk, clear except for a large brown leather book, stood abandoned, the chair pushed against the desk. I lifted the cover: it was an index. Handwritten in tiny crabbed letters, each page listed thousands upon thousands of locations of other, larger indexes: surnames, first names, locations, the list went on and on. I closed the cover with a snap. To find a reference to Carly in here, I would have to locate the surname index, and then look through that to find her particular surname, find the part of the room that it referred to, then find that particular surname, then look through all the others with the same name. To a man like me, this overly organised paper graveyard was Hell. Never mind torments, pitchforks and fire, just stick me in here and tell me to find John Smith. I would be insane within seconds.

  ‘What do I do now?’ The best I could do would be to wander this place for years and check every file. There was no way I was going to find her by myself. I had one option: find someone in charge and offer them the box.

  ‘What are you doing back here, Joe?’ A deep voice sounded behind me.

  ‘Aii!’ I couldn’t stop one small scream from escaping and, whipping around, came face to face with Nessus. How could something that big move so quietly?

  ‘You can see me?’ I coughed to get rid of the quaver in my voice.

  Nessus snorted. ‘Nope.’ He swished that long tail of his, raising dust in a cloud around his rear end. ‘But I can smell you, and you have an interesting tendency to talk to yourself when you’re under pressure.’ He shook his head and frowned. ‘Not a good trait when you’re trying to remain invisible.’

  ‘Sorry.’ I tried to bully my brain into rational thought. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ I glanced up at him; he seemed in fairly good humour. ‘I’m sorry I left you.’

  ‘I’m fine, managed to talk my way out of the whole thing.’ He reached out, feeling for my shoulder. ‘OK this is a bit weird, whoops, sorry …’ Finally grasping it after smacking me round the head a couple of times he gave me a bit of a shake. ‘There wasn’t anything you could have done,’ he paused. ‘I hear you took Alice out rather spectacularly?’

  ‘Alice?’ For a moment I was confused and desperately ran through the events of my last visit. Finally it sank in. ‘That thing was called Alice?’

  Nessus nodded. ‘Yeah, most of the time she’s a real sweetie. I hear you met her brother?’

  ‘I think so.’ I remembered the sniggering, hissing Drekavak stroking Carly’s hair. ‘He was the one that took Carly right?’

  ‘Carly?’ Nessus’s brow furrowed. ‘What’s a Carly?’

  ‘She’s my …’ I stopped and thought for a moment – what was she? ‘Next-door neighbour.’ I finished lamely.

  Nessus snorted and shook my shoulder again. ‘You know, you might be taking the “good neighbour” thing a little far. I don’t know many people that would break into Hell for a neighbour.’ He grinned and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  ‘I have to get her back.’ I waved vaguely at the huge room forgetting that he couldn’t see me. ‘But I can’t find her in this.’ In frustration, I brought my fist down on the book and a waft of dust drifted up into my eyes.

  Nessus coughed then pushed me gently out of the way. ‘Is this neighbour of yours about five foot-six, bright red hair with a temper to match?’

  I nodded. Then remembered to speak: ‘You’ve seen her?’

  ‘I know where they’re keeping someone that looks like that. Evidently she caused quite a bit of trouble for Alice’s brother: she bit him twice.’ Nessus laughed. ‘He’s been moaning about it all day.’ The big centaur turned toward the door. ‘Come on, I can take you there, but for crying out loud keep the muttering to a minimum, will you?’

  I smiled. That was the Carly I knew. Obviously once she got over her fear she’d fought like a demon. I winced at the unintentional irony and followed Nessus’s broad tail out of the file room. ‘I don’t have much time.’

  He reflexively looked back over his shoulder, and then shook his head. Rolling his eyes he turned resolutely to face forward again. ‘This is a bit freaky not being able to see you,’ he said.

  ‘That’s the problem.’ I jogged to catch up with him. ‘I have about an hour and a half before everyone will be able to see me. I could hold your tail, if you like.’

  Nessus flicked h
is long tail up over his back and out of reach. ‘Don’t you dare.’ He stopped at a wide, heavy door and pressed a small button.

  The door slid to the right and revealed a large lift. Nessus’s hooves made hollow booming sounds as he entered.

  I hesitated. ‘Does this thing have a weight restriction?’ I followed him in and watched as he prepared the sophisticated winch and pulley system.

  Nessus snorted indignantly at me.

  ‘Going back to our original conversation.’ I watched his muscles move with a certain amount of envy as he heaved on the thick rope that operated the manual lift. ‘Why are there so many Drekavak here? Over the years I’ve picked up all sorts of demons, little green ones that look like big frogs right up to one great big hairy one. But recently it all seems to be Drekavak.’

  Nessus sniffed. ‘Hell went through a huge upheaval a long time ago. Belial decided that we were no longer going to be used as Heaven’s big stick to threaten everyone with. The lower levels were closed, all the sinners were set free and we opened the borders to other worlds.’ He sighed. ‘What you call “demons” are welcome pretty much anywhere, except Earth. Metatron did his best to kill every single one that set foot in the place. But the Drekavak …’ He smiled. ‘Ah, you should have seen their world; it was as close to paradise as anywhere I’ve ever been. They were artists and craftsmen, their cities were beautiful and the things they made …’ Nessus shook his head. ‘All lost, it was so sad.’

  ‘Really, they’re artists?’ I remembered the snarling faces and the huge claws. ‘I always thought they were just mindless muscle.’

  Nessus studied his hooves for a moment. ‘Well, they don’t like you very much.’

  ‘Me?’ I was surprised. ‘Why me, what have I done?’

  ‘Their world was dying; the sun was slowly going dark. They approached Metatron for help, not wanting to ally with Hell.’ He paused then snorted a laugh. ‘For some bizarre reason they’d got the idea that we were evil – a place where you go when you’re bad and they didn’t want that. They were peace loving and gentle so they approached Heaven and asked for asylum.’

  I had a sinking feeling I knew how that little conversation had gone.

  Nessus continued. ‘Metatron told them that they were demons and not fit to enter the kingdom of Heaven and if their world was dying then it was God’s will and they should try to mend their ways.’ He shrugged. ‘Well, in desperation, some of them broke through to Earth – those were the ones you were sent after.’ He turned to look in my direction, I was quite pleased he couldn’t actually see me; the look on his face wasn’t very nice. ‘Luckily you’re a pretty crap demon hunter and most of them got away, but you did manage to get a few, didn’t you?’

  I swallowed. ‘I was just following orders. I didn’t know …’

  ‘Right.’ He cut across me. ‘They kept breaking through and, as their world disintegrated, they became more and more panicked, trying to get away. In the end, they became so persistent that Metatron ordered Michael to destroy them – the whole damn species. That was when Belial contacted them once more and offered them a way out. We managed to get about 75 per cent of the population away before the angels attacked.

  Nessus paused for a moment, obviously uncomfortable revisiting the memories. ‘The carnage was horrific; the Host just slaughtered everything in sight. It was mainly the elderly and the children they concentrated on. Easy targets guaranteed to cause the most anguish to all the others.’ He drew in a deep shuddering breath. ‘I don’t know how they do it – the Drekavak kids are so sweet.’ He laughed. ‘They look like little kangaroos. But there was no emotion, no remorse, they just …’ He threw a meaningful look in my direction. ‘Followed orders.’ Pursing his lips he stared at the floor. ‘Surely if God made everything, how could he have issued that sort of order?’

  I swallowed hard. The rolling nausea was impossible to ignore; I seemed to spend all my waking hours feeling sick these days. ‘I’m not sure God had anything to do with it,’ I muttered, thinking that it was no wonder these beings hated me: I’d helped Metatron attempt genocide and now, just when they think they’re safe, I come strolling into Hell and kill one here as well. My legs wouldn’t hold me up any more and, sliding down the lift wall, I sat on the floor. It really didn’t matter what my original sin was, everything I’d done since then just compounded my crime. I thought I’d been paying off my debt but here I was, deeper than ever before. How convenient that I was immortal – I couldn’t even take myself out of the picture.

  ‘You OK?’ Nessus looked down at me. ‘Do you realise I can see you a bit? You’re all sort of shadowy. I think you’re running out of time.’ He frowned. ‘Where was I? Oh yes, most of the people are happy to stay here. They like it – they’re out of the host’s way and don’t feel the need to change that. But the Drekavak are still angry; they have very long memories and any chance they get to irritate an angel they take it. If they could move their whole species to Earth and start a war they would, but luckily Belial won’t allow it.’ He shrugged. ‘That’s why you see so many of them. Any time there’s a call for volunteers the Drekavak fall over themselves to be the first to stick their hand up and because it keeps all the others out of harm’s way Belial’s happy to accommodate them.’

  The lift finally bumped to a halt. Nessus tied off the rope and heaved the heavy wooden door open. I wondered just how much of the Drekavak hatred was aimed at me.

  ‘Come on.’ Nessus stuck his head out of the lift and peered each way down the corridor. ‘My rooms are just down there.’ He paused outside a tall, dark wooden door. ‘They’re keeping your neighbour in here.’ He waggled his eyebrows again and sniggered.

  If my whole life was a lie then I was sure as hell going to finally do something I could feel good about. At least I knew that getting Carly back to her life, safe and sound, was going to make me feel better – even if the act didn’t even register on my grand list of crimes. My stomach rolled again: hundreds of years of committing atrocities, thinking I was doing “the right thing”. Was I actually the most evil man alive or was I just the most stupid? If I was someone else I would have laughed at me. ‘I always thought I was doing good things.’ I could feel tears gathering. ‘I was told I was doing good things and I was told that if I carried on doing good things then I’d get my just reward and my sin would be wiped clean.’

  Nessus sighed. ‘You never really questioned it all though, did you?’ He glanced in my general direction still unable to look at me directly. ‘Do you want to know what the Drekavak call you?’ he asked.

  I waved a hand. ‘Go ahead and tell me – no, let me guess, the Destroyer or the Blade?’

  Nessus brayed a laugh. ‘Sorry, Joe, nothing so impressive.’ He paused for a moment, his ears swivelling. ‘They found an Earth term that they really love and have had great fun with it.’ He paused for effect. ‘They call you Metatron’s Bitch.’ He looked over his shoulder. ‘Someone’s coming, if you want to get your lady love back we need to go.’ He reached down and rattled the polished brass handle. ‘It’s locked.’ He looked panicked.

  The adrenaline of the situation finally caught up with me and I pushed all my self-loathing away; I’d have more than enough time to study those feelings later. Right now, I actually needed to do something worthwhile. ‘I have a key that will open it.’

  ‘What?’ Nessus backed away from the door. ‘Well, bloody well use it then.’

  Grabbing the key from around my neck I inserted it into the lock on the handle and, with a quiet click, the tumblers released.

  ‘Wait!’ Nessus gripped my arms. ‘There’ll be wards to check for weapons. I take it you have your horrible knife with you as usual?’

  I nodded as Nessus stared down the corridor. ‘Hurry, put all the weapons into your backpack. I’ll take it down to my rooms. Come and get it when you’ve got Carly, OK?’

  Swinging the pack off my shoulders I dumped the knuckle-dusters and the knife into the bag then handed it to him. ‘Thanks
, Nessus, I’ll be down in a few moments.’ I looked down at my hands. I was definitely showing now. Running a finger across my forehead confirmed it – it was almost smooth again. I twisted the handle and opened the door a crack before turning back to the expressionless centaur.

  ‘You’d better let me have that key as well,’ he said. ‘It isn’t a weapon but it may set the alarms off as well.’

  I nodded and looped the chain over my head. I paused for a moment wanting to thank him for all his help. Failing to find the right words, I asked a question instead. It was something that had been bugging me for a while.

  ‘If Metatron’s so wrong, why do you work for him?’ I wanted him to have a good reason – preferably one that would apply to me, one that would make sense of what I’d been doing all these years.

  Nessus shrugged. Then, raising a hand, he grasped me by the shoulder and bent down to smile at me. ‘I don’t,’ he said. His grin widened as he pushed me, backward, through the door.

  I landed hard and winced, more at hearing the lock click on the door than at any real pain. I couldn’t stop myself; I began to laugh. At least I now had the answer to my question. I really was the most stupid person alive. I’d sold my soul to the biggest sociopath there was and basically acted as his dirty hands. I’d spent a thousand years patting myself on the back and telling myself that I was one of the good guys. Now, here I was in Hell waiting to see what my punishment for that short-sightedness was going to be. I rolled over and groaned. Even if I could escape, Metatron would be waiting. I wasn’t just caught between a rock and a hard place – I was crushed between them.