Disclaimer: See first chapter

A/N: Quick update or what? I checked my chapter hits and Demon Hunter got more than I expected (as did Legacy) and yet only a few reviews (or in the case of Legacy, no reviews.) So if you are lurking out there a short review just to say you're reading would be excellent.

I nicked some more things from Constantine in this chapter. The bathtub scene particularly. Once again I remind you that the scenes in the underworld do not coincide with the ones in the mortal realm. It says that Jess had been in the underworld for hours when in fact in the mortal realm it has been almost a week.

Thanks to NikkiEvans and zimagesto for reviewing.

Chapter 18: Through the Gates of Hell

Jess could feel his lunch burning in the back of his throat as the hours of ingesting sulphur. The smell was unbearable and how Carlie could sleep in it he didn't know.

Nathan was lying next to her but he wasn't sleeping.

"What are you doing Nathan?" Jess asked.

"Trying to rest but the smell is terrible." Nathan answered.

Jess nodded. "I think that Carlie is worn out from her trip to Azkaban."

Nathan sat up. "When did she go to Azkaban?"

"Just before we got sent here." Jess spluttered as his lunch decided to exited his throat at that moment.

"What happened?" Nathan asked.

Jess wiped his mouth and swallowed hard before answering. "She went into shock and I took her to Marcus or at least what I thought was Marcus."

Nathan nodded and continued "I wish Lyndsay was here, I bet she would know how to get us out of here."

Jess grunted and Nathan raised his eyebrows at him. "You don't like Lyndsay?"

Jess rubbed his temples as his head was thumping. "I like Lyndsay enough but we clash too much. She's strong in her beliefs and I disagree with many of them."

"Carlie is too and you get on well with her." Nathan smirked. "So which one do you like more than a friend?"

Jess scowled. "Neither. Both are too strong willed for me." He smiled. "So which one do you like?"

"I used to like Lyndsay but she seems me as more of a brother than a potential boyfriend."

"You know I had this conversation with Lyndsay not to long ago." Jess and Nathan turned to face Carlie who looked playfully innocent with her eyes still closed and smiling.

"How long have you been listening?" Jess asked.

"Long enough." She opened her eyes and lay on her back.

"And who did you say you liked?" Nathan asked.

Carlie shrugged. "We were talking about the group as a whole. I like Jax." She admitted.

"What the hell happened to Jack Sloper?" Jess asked.

Carlie shrugged. "We kissed once and we held hands and we gave up."

Jess shook his head and a distant roar sounded. Jess looked out the grubby window but all he could see was a large orange glow.

"Let's go up to the roof." Carlie suggested and the three of them climbed up the rusted fire escape (since the stairs had rotted away.)

Nathan was the first on the roof, he ran to the side peered out at the ruined city and saw on another rooftop what looked to be a hobo.

"What's going on?" Nathan called.

Jess was still back at the fire escape helping Carlie up. He looked alarmed at Nathan. "He could be a demon!" Jess hissed.

Nathan ignored him as the homeless man squinted at Nathan. "I've only seen it do that once. It's the gates, they're having a reaction because someone brought live people to the underworld."

"Is that where we are?" Carlie whispered to Jess as he pulled her up.

He nodded and they moved slowly next to Nathan.

"Can you walk back through the gates?" Carlie asked.

The man rubbed his neck. "If you're the live ones that they brought through, yes."

"We need to get to the gates." Carlie whispered and both Jess and Nathan nodded in agreement.

"We'll need to do it slowly. We can just run up the streets or we'll get attacked." Jess murmured.

"We could run across the rooftops." Nathan suggested.

"Er…guys." Carlie said and Jess and Nathan turned to look at her. She pointed to where the orange glow was coming from and saw a mass of black moving.

"Think they're coming for us?" Carlie asked.

There was no answer since they all made for the fire escape as the screeches of the demons echoed through the city.

A clear crystal swung low over the map as Lyndsay clutched Carlie's headband in her hand. She was crystal scoping for her with no luck.

"Find anything?"

Lyndsay looked up to see the head of the Rapture Realm leaning in the doorway.

"No. I read in the book that I should be able to pick up Carlie's spirit from the underworld."

Phantal looked at the page in the Book of Shadows. "It says if the person is dead. Carlie is still alive. It is not just her spirit in the underworld it is her whole body."

Lyndsay dropped the crystal in defeat. "I've been looking for ways to get them out of the underworld but it's all about getting their souls out, I need to get their bodies out of there."

Phantal nodded in agreement. "Yes that's our problem too. It has never been done to my knowledge, that someone who was still alive has been taken to the depths of the underworld."

Lyndsay flipped the page helplessly as she tried for something new. "There's something in here about summoning the souls of the dead, we want more than their souls though."

Marcus burst in suddenly, out of breath. "There is a way we can contact them. We need a bathtub and a seer which I believe we have both."

Lyndsay jumped up. "What do I have to do?"

Marcus hesitated. "I have to drown you."

Lyndsay blinked in surprise. "Won't that kill me?"

"There is some incantations I have to say but in simple terms you will be suspending between realms."

Phantal rubbed his chin. "It's dangerous but it just might work."

LINE

"This is a much better idea. I'm glad I came up with it." Jess said as they waddled through the sewers.

"This place smells better than up there." Carlie commented.

"Manhole." Nathan pointed up at the ladder that led to the surface.

"Who wants to check this time?" Jess asked.

There was silence as none of them particularly wanted to stick their heads up to see how close they were to the gates.

"Paper, Scissors, Rock?" Carlie suggested and the three of them stuck there fist into a circle and shook them. Carlie lost and she climbed up the ladder and lifted the cover slightly and surveyed the outside.

"I can see the gates! We're down the street from them." She cried as she slid back down the ladder. "We're going to have to run for them." She said.

Jess jumped up on the ladder and climbed up, he looked around before pushing the cover off completely and gestured for them to follow.

When on the surface they cringed when the saw how many demons there were in front of the gates. "We need a better look. Come on" Nathan said as he ran towards one of the large buildings. Carlie and Jess following him.

Lyndsay looked down at the porcelain tub that Marcus had just filled.

"I don't have to be naked do I?" She asked worriedly.

Marcus shook his head. "Just lay down and don't panic when you run out of air."

Lyndsay shot him a dirty look before laying down into the tub. Marcus held her down at the neck.

Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. Lyndsay thought over and over as she felt her body wanting to take a breath. Her lungs screamed in agony and her body jerked as if wanting to leap from the tub by it's own will.

The moments that Lyndsay was suspended between the realms of life and death she would later say years later (after much more experience in magic) that it was the scariest moments of her life.

She screamed as she sat up in tub. "The gates, going through the gates." She whispered.

"They're going through the gates!" Marcus said anxiously.

"A woman, all she said was the gates, going through the gates." Said Lyndsay hoarsely.

"They'll be stuck there forever!" Marcus cried.

"We need to do something and fast." Phantal instructed. They left Lyndsay in the tub looking bewildered as to what the gates were."

The gates were not gates in the literal sense but more of a giant wall of fire that souls fell through. On a rooftop again, Nathan was trying to convince them to jump off it.

"We'll make it, we're so close!" Nathan hissed.

"And what if we miss? We could die." Carlie snapped.

"I agree with Carlie, who knows what'll happen to us if we die down here." Jess said.

They were too busy arguing to notice the bird-like creature that had landed on the roof. It squawked a horrible sound and the three of them turned in time to see the many demons that were leaping on the roof.

They made the decision quickly, not even speaking to each other as they linked arms and leapt off the rooftop.

Falling, falling, falling into the fire and onto the other side…………………..

Jess could feel Carlie still holding his arm as he looked around the pitch-black place they had fallen into.

"Where are we?" Carlie's voice echoed.

"You're in between the realms of life and death." An airy female voice answered.

"How do we get out?" Jess heard Nathan ask.

"Go towards the light." It answered.

"Don't they always say stay away the light?" Carlie asked.

"Go towards the light or you will be trapped here forever." It seemed to be less airy now and more desperate.

"I don't see any light do you?" Nathan whispered.

"No" Both answered simultaneously.

The place was as dark as ever, no light could been seen (or anything for that matter.)

"Where is the light?" Nathan called to the voice.

"Carlie" The voice echoed, now very close to them.

"Why is it calling to you?" Jess asked.

"Carlie" The voice seemed to be right in front of them. Carlie felt a tug on her shirt and she let it lead her for a few instants.

"Tell him we don't blame him." The voice said and the floor gave out underneath them. The fell through the void and they clutched to each other as they fell into a large white light.

Everything went white and then there was nothing.

It was a little short but I hope it will entertain you for a week until I can update again (I have exams). In case anyone wants to know, the voice that guided them was Lily Potter.