Demon Bound

feet in front of her, Jake did the same.
    But he wouldn’t have, not to save himself. He’d have taken the risk, just as she would have if the threat had been against her own life. Unless—
    She saw it in Jake’s eyes at the same moment. Oh, dear heavens. Somehow, Belial had made Jake hear something different. The fudging of a single word, the pressing of a different meaning, and Jake had stopped to save her life.
    A fudging, she thought—but that did not mean it had been a bluff. Belial might have killed them both, and why not? If Jake had reached her and they’d disappeared, it would be all the same to the demon. Death or teleportation; either way, they would have been beyond Belial’s reach.
    She glanced to the side, squinting, and made out the armored cadre of demons surrounding Belial. Saw the number of weapons leveled on them.
    Another look at Jake told her he’d just seen the same. She held his gaze, saw the battle waged there between doubt and determination. If he could teleport to her side, touch her, and teleport away, it would be almost instantaneous.
    But if his jump went awry, and he teleported out of Hell . . . he’d leave her behind.
    On the heels of that realization was a second: that the only reason they were alive now was because Belial knew one of them must be able to teleport. With the Gates closed, Belial could use Jake’s ability to travel between Hell and Earth . . . or to carry anyone Belial chose between the two realms. Perhaps even to Caelum.
    And if Jake stayed to save her, he might be bound by a bargain and forced to serve Belial.
    Her fingers tightened by her sides. Her lips formed the word. Go.
    A streak of light slammed into her, tossed her. Pain shrieked the length of her arm. Alice twisted in the air. She just needed to land on her feet. A hand grabbed her ankle, whipped her around, smashed her facedown on a broken sarcophagus.
    Blood filled her mouth, but the choking sounds were coming from behind her. Jake. She turned her head, and hands clamped over the back of her neck, pinned her feet and wrists. Terror ripped through her, then was swamped by rage. Her struggles brought more hands.
    Belial issued a command in the demon tongue, and then spoke softly in her ear, his voice a soothing, sweet harmony. “Calm yourself. I promise you will see him. And he will see you.”
    Her rage slipped into ice when they brought Jake before her. There was more blood on him now, and the slices through his shirt and his jeans told Alice that the wounds were his. They’d used his sword to skewer his forearms together behind his back; a demon had his arm around Jake’s throat, and his hand on the sword’s hilt.
    “Go,” she said.
    “He will not,” Belial replied. “Not without you. As long as you are alive, he will stay. But I imagine the moment he touches you, he will attempt to take you. Your Guardians have done that very thing before: appeared, and taken away that which belonged in Hell. Fortunately, we have discovered a way to prevent it.”
    Belial moved in front of her, blinding, burning her eyes. “I cannot see him when you are between us, demon. Do you break your promises so easily?”
    “I have broken nothing. It is your eyes, untouched by Glory, which are incapable of withstanding the illumination.”
    So he would pass blame, rather than admit to a mistake or make an adjustment. Lucifer, she was certain, would have said yes without hesitation.
    Alice didn’t know which would have chilled her more.
    But neither could have chilled her as much as the sword that appeared in Belial’s hand. Jake held its twin in his cache, but Zakril’s could not flare to life as Michael’s did, couldn’t burn with white-hot flame.
    Belial moved around to the other side of her. Alice saw Jake squinting against the light, then begin to furiously fight against the demon, against the blade through his forearms. Flesh and bone tore and snapped, and one of his hands was free.
    Another demon joined the first, forced Jake to his knees. Then onto his stomach when he didn’t stop resisting.
    “I will not kill her,” Belial said. “I will only make certain she stays in this realm.”
    There was a tug at the back of her dress, and a remark of surprise in the demon tongue. Then a line of heat ran down her spine as Belial sliced her dress open. Demon hands pulled the silk away.
    Jake made an incoherent noise, a howl of fury that was cut off as a demon forced his head back, took his throat in a