I'm warning you now, this chapter is pretty graphic. I don't know how woozy some can get, so, I wanted to warn you, it may get disturbing, but I hope it's good none the less. I hope you enjoy and review! I love reviews...:3
The descent into Hell…
"Mmmm…"
…is almost unnoticeable…
Riko felt her eyes open, though she couldn't see. Everything was white and painfully bright, burning her eyes.
"Haaa?"
…until you find yourself there…
Riko thrashed her body back and forth, movement restricted by even more leather straps.
…in the middle of the fire.
"Open your eyes, Riko," a voice commanded and Riko's eyes flew open.
"Kaname…?" she panted, his distorted face eclipsing the white light. "What are you doing?"
"You've failed for the last time."
A cold sweat drop slithered down her neck. Riko yanked her arms furiously, the straps only burning her skin the more she struggled.
"K-Kaname, let's think rationally here," Riko tried to reason, her eyes bulging at the sight of his demonic rage.
"I'm done thinking rationally with you, Riko," the pureblood hissed, his fangs inches from her face. "I'm sending you back. You should have never left."
"Kaname, I can explain-!"
Silent but furious, Kaname lifted a vile for her to see, the glass shimmering in the artificial, death light. Cringing, Riko cowered away as best she could, praying to the lords below he wasn't going to sprinkle that substance on her.
"Keep that away from me."
"Why?" Kaname almost taunted, pulling the cork out effortlessly, "you are a priestess, after all."
"Kaname, don't!"
As if he hadn't heard her, the pureblood poured a drop of the holy water down on her stomach.
"KANAME!"
"This is only the beginning of what you are going to go through," the prince spat as he watched the spot of skin bubble and peel. Riko lurched her body from side to side in hopes of dodging the water and watched helplessly as her skin flaked away.
"P-please, don't. I killed—her—" she grimaced, hoping Kaname would believe her.
"Then why is she still haunting me? Why is her presence still lingering?" Kaname barked, pouring more water on her exposed shins. Riko screamed as her skin tightened and Kaname scraped a part of it. Blood trickled through the yells and pleas for mercy, the pureblood furthering the torture.
"I think you have an alliance."
"W…what are you talking about?" Riko lifted her head as best she could, her shins chipping like paint and trickling blood.
"Twice," the prince inhaled, "I have sent you after her. Twice, you claim, to have killed her." His hands folded behind his back and he turned around. "And both times, she has returned and more powerful than she was before."
"I'm not experienced for this life. My old magic and fighting doesn't work in this century!"
Kaname didn't seem to hear her but unfolded his hands and discreetly reached in front of him.
"If that were the case," he murmured, "then Yuuki would still be with us, wouldn't she?"
Heart leaping with both terror and regret, Riko tried to pull her body free, muttering the ancient spells of her ancestors. Kaname whipped back around, the mighty hand crashing down on her neck, strangling her words. Riko felt a snap and her oxygen was cut off. Gaping, Riko could decipher if the point protruding from her neck was her own bone or a knife.
"Go back to Hell!" Kaname bellowed, drenching the rest of her body with the cursed water and her skin torched. Riko screamed as best she could, the screams reaching the vampire as rodent like squeaks, as he lifted the knife above his head.
Without another word, Kaname slashed her body, blood spilling over the concrete and the blade eventually puncturing her pulsing heart.
There was no such time as "a time of innocence" for her. She had always lived in a world of strict rules and corrupt leaders, always been condemned for the practices she participated in.
At that time, God was the enemy and Lucifer was her saving angel.
"You are so very lovely," the blackened angel whispered to her in the secrecy of the temple, "I can give you all the power in the world. You will never need to worry, I will take care of you."
The gnarled fingers caressed her white face and wove through the raven hair. She smiled at the sunken face ornamented with the thick ram's horns. She knelt to the cool ground, her hands folded and head bowed in silent worship and the beast stroked her hair.
"Good girl."
"Anything for you, master."
Why hadn't I seen it? How could I have been so reckless?
Everything was black, the descent's tunnel reeking of torment and ashes. She knew she was screaming, she could feel her vocal cords rattling in her shade's translucent throat. Yet, there was no sound. Her voice had disappeared. Riko focused her eyes straight above her, blood—her blood-dripping to the cement crevasses and seeming to flee from the sacrificial alter.
"Kaname!" she tried, her lips moving but no sound emitted. "Kaname! Kaname!"
She watched the pureblood glower down at the shriveled corpse, torn, bleeding and revealing the true age. Riko gripped the sides of the portal before it sucked her down, her claws scraping through the cement.
"Kaname! Don't let me die here!"
Useless. Her voice had no sound—gone; nothing but a light breeze. Riko's wide eyes dared to glance down into the ebony abyss, her shade trembling. She was dead…
"NOO!"
The portal gave a supernatural yank and her shade was ripped from the bloodstained scene.
"KANAME! KANAME!"
The light above her quickly fizzled and disappeared, the hell enclosing in around her. Riko flailed her desperate arms in attempt to grab onto something but the walls contorted when she reached for them.
This can't happen…this can't happen again!
The convenient was shattered and Riko's speed increased as her soul plunged deeper into the forbidden afterlife.
Someone…
Faint screams began to ring through the abyss as Riko's being soared down, deeper and deeper. Scalding heat burned her, passing first through limbo, lonely shades wandering about with nowhere to go.
…save me…
Crashing through the second circle, torturous winds whisking shades this way and that.
Help me!
No one in the field of slush in neither the third circle nor anyone ceasing their fourth circle jousting stopped to aid her. No one in the tempest heard her cries as they blended in with those of the drowning in a perpetual tsunami.
Flaming graves…the screaming of the bleeding bushes…
Someone needed to hear her. Soon.
Riko clawed all she could, her soul burning with Hellfire which worsened until she finally felt her body collide with a stiff ground. Everything fell silent, the area around her a desolate land with gray light. Her white breath puffed out before her as Riko's eyes searched as best she could.
I'm surprised I have consciousness of where I am…
Moments passed and the expected torment never arrived. Her shade stood, gray for now. As she looked about, her soul regained a more solid form. Still translucent, Riko shakily ambled about a few feet, her shade trembling the more she looked around. If she had a heart, it'd be pounding and sweat would have been drenching her.
Neither sensations came, but there was light warmth beneath her feet.
Maybe I did make it to limbo…
The warmth increased, her feet suddenly becoming hot and began to burn. Riko jumped, fell and landed on her back as the scorching heat rose up to her ankles, passed her knees and engulfed through her stomach, surging through her lower body.
Riko screamed as the excruciating fire ebbed through her whole being, drying her throat and tongue, evaporating every feeling except for agony.
"SOMEBODY!" she begged, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
Unanswered prayers lead to fits and convulsions, her head whipping back and forth, Riko hearing a bone-like snapping, initiating unimaginable and grotesque agony.
"Welcome back, my false prophet," his voice slithered through her screams. She noticed the sadistic smirk etched across the goat-like face, seeming pleased he no longer had to endure eternal torment forever. "I've missed you."
Riko's head ceased thrashing and she gasped for the air around her, but no oxygen could relieve her. Suffocating, the Black Angel cupped her bruised face with his gnarled hands, the fangs glimmering before her eyes.
"G-get me…out…" she sputtered, eyes wide in terror. Lucifer smiled cruelly and stroked her shade's hair.
"I don't want to be alone, my little pet."
More fire blazed through her being and Riko screamed, Lucifer's hands tightly gripping her face.
More bone shattered and she was pushed to the ground, her head completely turned the opposite direction of the rest of her body.
I'm aware it's disturbing, I'm sorry for scarring anyone. I promise next chapter won't be as graphic. Till then, send me feedback? I want to know what you all think! :D
