Chapter 16

Lauren had just vanished and Christina was alone again. The banging noises were getting closer so she shrank back as far as she could from the bars. Belial had entered the room with another demon, but he wasn't in his dark cloak, but a black suit with a blood red tie. He walked over to the bars and clasped them in his hands. 'Hi Christina.' He smiled.

'Nice suit.' Christina replied.

'Thank you.' He let go of the bars and circled so she could see the whole thing. 'I'm glad you like it.'

'Are you going to a dinner party in hell?' She asked.

'You are something, aren't you.' Belial said, smiling at her. 'Just like Michelle, making jokes to avoid feeling the fear.'

'Does your friend have a name?' Christina asked, looking at the man in the cloak standing against the far wall.

'He's not important right now, but he has some special skills.'

'Good for him.' Christina said. 'You know I could just blast my way out of here don't you.' She tried to sound confident, standing up and walking forward.

'You can try.' Belial said. He walked slowly to the end of the room and sat in the chair. 'I've got all night.' Christina lifted her hand and focused, shooting a stream of energy onto the metal bars. Unfortunately, the bars were protected with dark magic. Her power rebounded from the bars, not making a dent, and slammed into her chest sending her back into the wall. The wind was knocked out of her and she lay there stunned.

'Shit.' She whispered, bringing her hand to her chest. She could hear Belial clapping as she turned on her side.

'Good effort.' He said. 'But you'll have to try harder than that.' He was dangling a large skeleton key from his hands before hanging it on a hook beside his chair. 'Try hard enough and I might let you out for a rematch.'

'Alright, do we have enough potions?' Katherine asked as they were leaving the house.

'I think we have too many.' Lisa said.

'Better to be safe than sorry.' Amy reminded her.

'What if this is a waste of time? What if she's already dead?' Dani asked.

'She's not.' Lauren said firmly.

'How do you know? A lot can happen in an hour.' Dani pointed out.

'No, Lauren's right.' Lisa said. 'If something had happened, if she was... she would have come right back to us and I would have seen her.'

'I agree.' Katherine said. 'Lisa, do you have the spell?'

'Yeah, but I wrote it in record time. We'll definitely need all six of us to make it work.'

'So the plan is, find the entrance to the underworld on the nexus, find Christina and kill Belial.' Amy said.

'And kill every other demon who gets in our way.' Dani added.

'We've only got one shot at this.' Lisa reminded them. 'For our sakes, for Christina's sake, we need to get it right.

'As much fun as it is watching you go round in circles, I think it's time we get down to business.' Belial said, rising from his seat. Christina had spent the last half an hour trying to break out of the cage but only ended up with more bruises. She was breathing heavily, leaning against the wall.

'What business might that be?' Christina asked sarcastically.

'Why has the amulet attached to you?' Belial paced in front of the cage. 'And how are you turning it so quickly?' Christina looked down at it and there was more blue than before.

'I don't know, maybe it just likes me.' She said.

'Well why don't we see if it likes me?' Belial said. 'Tell you what, you give me that amulet and I will forget all about your powers. I'll leave you and your sisters alone forever.'

'Something tells me that's a lie.' Christina said. 'And it also tells me, that you can't just take the amulet from me or you would have done that already and I'd be dead.' She stepped up to the front of the cage and looked right into the eyeless sockets of his face. 'Go back to hell.' She said firmly. Belial let out a long sigh and turned to face the demon against the wall.

'I do like you Christina, which is why it pains me to do this.' He made a hand gesture and the demon stepped forward. Belial went back to his seat.

'What is this?' Christina asked as the demon came towards her. He took out a knife, and what looked like a voodoo doll.

'Do it until she takes the amulet off.' Belial ordered. Christina watched in fear as the demon lifted the knife to the doll. He stabbed the arm and ran the knife down it, as Christina cried out in pain watching as blood began to fall from a cut appearing on her arm.

'This must be the place.' Lisa said as Kathrine drove them around a corner, coming face to face with an old bar. It was boarded up and looked completely derelict. Katherine pulled over next to it and they all got out of the car.

'It even looks like where demons hide.' Dani pointed out as Lauren pulled her arms around herself.

'It feels really negative here guys.' Amy said.

'Can you feel anything from Christina?' Lauren asked.

'No.' Amy said. 'But that must mean she still has the amulet on, which is a good thing.'

'Is it?' Katherine wondered.

'We have to stay positive.' Lisa reminded them. 'Let's go.' She said, leading them towards the front door. It was sealed closed so it took Lisa and Katherine pulling hard on some wooden boards before it came loose. Katherine pulled open the door and they stepped cautiously inside.

'Anyone see a doorway to the underworld?' Dani asked.

'It's just one big room.' Lisa said. They spread out and began looking for hidden doors. Amy was walking over towards the bar area when she stopped suddenly and looked down. There was a creaking in the wood beneath her feet, like the floor was made of something different. She bent down and threw back and old dusty rug and, sure enough, there was a trap door.

'Guys, over here.' She said. They all gathered around and looked down as Amy hauled open the square door in the floor.

'Because that's not creepy at all.' Lauren said.

'I'll go first and make sure it's safe. When I call up you guys can follow.' Katherine said.

'Be careful Kath.' Lisa said as her big sister began her descent into the underworld.

'I'm very impressed Christina.' Belial said. He was pacing around the room once more whilst his colleague was working. Christina had not removed the amulet, but she was in a great deal of pain. There were cuts all over her body. She was lying on her side, breathing heavily facing the demon cutting her. 'There's still time for you to join me, we can share the power.'

'No thanks.' Christina said weakly, closing her eyes briefly to focus on her breathing. There was a particularly nasty cut on her thigh, a small pool of blood forming on the ground beneath it. Belial signed as he continued pacing. He turned to the demon.

'Carry on. She'll break eventually, they all do.' Christina grimaced as she felt another long cut appear on her back. She rolled onto her front and bit down hard on her sleeve. She would not give him the satisfaction of any more of her screams.