“What do you—”
That was as far as they got. I didn’t even bother speaking to these mooks. Before they could utter another word or draw down with those weapons, I hit them with so many tendrils they couldn’t cope. As they struggled and coughed, tendrils streamed into their noses and mouths, reaching for the sensitive meat within their skulls.
More tendrils. More darkness.
More.
Both demons’ heads exploded with sickening pops, spraying the door behind them with blood and gore. Christina gasped as their bodies slumped to the floor, their necks little more than headless stumps.
I stared over the lifeless demons for a moment, considering. “You did say I wouldn’t get in trouble unless I permanently kill demons, right?”
Mareth looked like she couldn’t decide whether to scream or jump my bones right there in the hallway. “R-Right,” she gasped, stepping around the spreading pool of blood on the carpet. “You’ve got maybe five minutes before these demons patch themselves together enough to take a crack at you. Maybe a little more, since that was especially...brutal.”
As if in response to Mareth’s explanation, the bodies began to twitch. Pieces of skull slid across the carpet, knitting themselves back to the demon’s ruined heads. I knew we had to move.
Five minutes, I grunted, reaching for the doorknob in the shape of a skull. Once I get my hands on Karl, I’ll give that asshole way more than five minutes…
To my surprise, the doors weren’t locked. They swung open easily before my touch, as if the hinges had been greased. I guess when you’ve got two heavies to guard it for you, I thought, you can afford to forget to lock things behind you.
A mistake I’d never give Karl the opportunity to repeat.
The double doors opened on a square of darkness. Not just a dark hallway, or a dingy bedroom—complete and total darkness, like the absence of not just light but space itself. For a moment I worried I’d popped open some kind of portal, sprung a clever trap, and hopped backwards fluttering my wings. They wrapped around Christina and Mareth as I landed, shielding them from any blast of magic that might come from that negative space.
Instead, the landscape twisted and changed. A musty scent filled the corridor as I beheld what looked like the deepest, darkest dungeon a medieval madman could build. Lichens and moss covered wet, slippery stones, like the sewer level in a video game. I’d never been a fan of those back in the day, and I wasn’t now.
“Gross!” Mareth wrinkled her nose as she stepped into the hallway. “Does he actually live like this?”
I shook my head, thinking. “This is a subspace,” I said. “Karl’s subspace. Most demons use them as storage, but he’s obviously made his bigger. Maybe it rotates—like you have to open the door one certain way to get to the living quarters.”
“While the other sends you to the dungeon,” Christina finished bitterly. “Fucking great. Hey, hold on—do you hear that?”
For a moment, I didn’t. Then an unmistakable sound reached my ears. A woman sobbing.
It sharpened my senses like nothing else could. I raced through the hallways, heedless, every one of my protective instincts activating at once. That sounded like Maddie—and if it was, she sounded hurt. Either way, it was a woman in trouble. I couldn’t back down from that.
Green, brackish water flowed down the center of each hallway in a recessed sluice. I stayed away from it as I made my way toward the voice, nearly tripping on the smooth stone steps. Everything down here was decrepit and dank, like the kind of oubliette you’d throw prisoners into who didn’t have a hope of ever seeing the light of day. Lock them up and throw away the key, I thought, my pulse pounding as the sound of sobbing grew closer. That’s not you, though, Maddie. I’m coming…
The long hallway split into three different directions, the gross water frothing as it splintered off into opposite paths. Here was a row of cells, the iron bars grown over with moss and half-covered with vines. The sobbing came from the final one of these, which stood with its door wide open.
“Maddie!? Is that you!?” I raced over, stepping over plant growth in the path. Whatever this place was, it hadn’t been maintained in a very long time. Whoever tucked people in this subspace didn’t particularly care what happened to them —which meant I needed to get Maddie out of here.
A trembling voice reached my ears. “Luke? Help me!” Maddie sounded like she was mere steps away.
“I’m coming!” I roared, tossing the half-opened cell door completely off its hinges. Somewhere far behind me, Christina, Mareth, and Oni struggled to keep up, howling warnings that I didn’t heed. Maddie gave me tunnel vision, made the only important thing in the world saving her.
My blood boiled as I saw the female figure sitting on the bench of the cell. Maddie hid her face in her hands, half turned away from the door with her knees tucked underneath of her. She’d clearly been crying for some time, and from the look of her, she’d been through a lot. My heart hurt at the sight.
I’m going to find this motherfucker and tear him apart, I thought, stepping into the cell. With an effort, I kept the rage out of my voice. “Maddie,” I said, reaching out a hand. “It’s me. It’s Luke. You’re safe now, babe—I’m not going to let anyone hurt you…”
A giggle burst from between Maddie’s fingers. “I knew you’d come for me,” she said, her shoulders shaking with what I assumed to be sobs. “I’ve been trapped in here so long!”
“It’s alright,” I said,
