"Hello?" It was Mary's number.
"I got him. He said we can come, but we should hurry."
A grin spread across my face. We finally had a lead. I texted Michael and Gabe and told them to meet us at Mary's, then grabbed Luc's hand and took off.
Mary waited for us at her front door. My guys appeared behind me and we walked in together. "Come on, come on. Is this all?" Mary put her hand on her hip and glared at us. "Working with you people is like being in the damn circus."
I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. You know how grateful we are?"
She chuffed. "Now listen. He's a strange duck. Very secretive. The only reason he's agreed to help is because he can see all the demons roaming around the astral plane. Otherwise, he wouldn't help demons or angels for all the money in the world. So, you do as I say, you hear me?"
We all nodded vigorously like errant children being given a reprieve by their mommy. In this case, we were at her mercy.
"Okay, you're going to have to let me guide us. Can you give up enough control to let me? I can't move us through space the way you can." She raised her eyebrows at me.
Sucking in a deep breath, I nodded. "I can give up control.”
"I have my doubts," she muttered, but she took my hand.
I had to hold back a chuckle. She was incredibly powerful for a human, and she had vast knowledge and resources that we just didn't have here on Earth, but my power still blew hers out of the water. Giving her the ability to guide me as I moved us was a simple act that involved giving up very little control.
Mary brushed up against my consciousness, and I got another taste of her pure, warm aura. She was one of the most unadulterated auras I'd ever encountered. I let her focus on our whereabouts, and seconds later we appeared in a lush jungle. Moist heat pounded against me the moment I opened my eyes. "Ugh," I muttered. Sweat popped up on my skin within seconds.
Mary chuckled. "Feels like summer in New Orleans."
Hot and sticky. "Where are we?"
"The Lacandon Jungle." She slapped a mosquito and looked around. "But I expected to arrive at his home, not out here."
She took my hand and her presence tickled against mine again. I let her direct us, but we didn't move. "Let me try," I said.
Focusing on a spot several hundred yards ahead, through the trees, I tried to move Mary and myself, but it didn't work. We stayed put.
Lucifer walked forward. "Keep going," I called. "See if you can get to the place I tried to port to."
He nodded and moved forward, stepping carefully through the jungle. When he'd gone about as far as I'd tried to, I yelled for him to stop. "I guess we're walking in," I told everyone else.
We set off, and I felt the moment we passed through the ward. "I wonder if we can move forward now that we're under the ward," I mused. I tried, to no success. "Well, do you know where we're going?" I asked Mary.
She shook her head. "Only the general direction."
Luc spread "Lead the way, then."
Mary walked ahead of us, but after a few feet, she stopped. "Something feels strange," she whispered.
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a large, angry Hellhound came out of nowhere, his large, slathering jaw open and aiming for her throat.
Michael was the closest. He blasted the hound with a beam of pure light, and it evaporated.
"Shit!" Mary yelled. "What the Hell was that?"
I stared in shock at the lingering dust in the air. "I've never seen a hound attack us like that."
"He attacked me, not you."
"I know, but they generally are very docile, despite how scary they look. They only attack if commanded to," I said. "And only by a Fallen."
"No Fallen would attack us," Luc said with conviction. "They're loyal, every last one of them."
Any other day I would've agreed with him. But too much strange shit had happened in the last few weeks. I didn't believe anything anymore.
"Let's continue," I said. "But be very wary."
The jungle foliage grew thicker and thicker as we moved. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Gabe asked. "Not that I doubt you, but this is kinda nuts." He shot a blast of air in a sharp chopping motion to move a few vines full of leaves out of the faint path.
Between Luc, Michael, and Gabe, they made sure Mary and I had a fairly easy walk through the jungle, albeit very hot.
"Hang on," Mary whispered. "I feel it again."
We were in a small clearing, and I'd just noticed the most beautiful bird watching us. It’s captivating stare and dark presence locked me in place.
It watched a bit too closely. "Bird," I whispered. I was sure it was a demon, but it was odd, because I couldn't see its true form, and I always could before.
Suddenly, it spread its wings and launched into the air. I prepared to blast it with power when something slammed into my chest. I fell backward into Mary and we both tumbled into the ground.
Luc reached me first and grabbed the creature from my chest before I could react. If Mary hadn't been behind me, I could've tucked and rolled so as not to hit the ground like that, but we were a tangled heap of limbs.
I didn't see the creature clearly before Luc ripped its head off. I did see its black blood coming straight for my face, though. Lifting my hands, I shot hellfire out. It caught the blood and burned it up before it had a chance to reach me and Mary. Ugh.
"Gross," Mary whispered.
I hopped up and grabbed her hand.
