NUMBER ONEThe heat from the fires of Hell were burning my feet. I needed to close the portal, but I needed to get up to the other side before I did.

And then there was a warmth—not like the burning heat from Hell—but something else—something soothing—and I knew what I had to do.

I had to get rid of the tie.

I couldn’t cut it—I’d tried that so many times—but I could shove it away. I could lessen its effects. I’d even burned it out once.

If it worked before, it could work now.

I blocked everything out except for the feeling of the tie that bound me to my father. It was always there—a leash of fire that wrapped around my body, my soul—thicker than any other tie I’d seen before on a living person. But it wasn’t just a demon-mortal tie. It was a father-daughter tie.

The tie connecting us grew hotter, burning, and I focused everything I had on burning it out.

I let my outrage fuel me. The outrage of how this monster—my father—had hunted me my whole life, tortured my mother, dragged me to Hell, and made it impossible for me to have any kind of innocent childhood.

He’d robbed me over and over of everything good.

Not this time. He wouldn’t win this time.

He laughed. He actually laughed at me. “I gave you life. I gave you your powers. Just as I give, I can take it all away.”

No. I didn’t believe that.

And I wasn’t quitting. I wasn’t listening to him.

Screw him.

I pulled again, but it didn’t work. He started to say something about how I was a failure, but screw him. Screw failing. Screw everything but sending him back to Hell.

But my mouth was dry and I wanted to throw up and my body was starting to feel weaker and my arms started to shake.

An evil, deep rumbling noise had fear skittering along my skin.

I was getting too tired, too quickly.

And then it clicked.

He wasn’t just controlling me. He was draining my strength through our tie.

Fast.

I had to be faster.

Quickly, as quick as I could, I pictured the tie knotting and pulling tight, cutting off my father’s influence. I pictured it again—forcing my will on the tie.

Knotted and pulled tight.

Knotted and pulled tight.

Slowly, with every knot, I felt my father’s control lessening. Just enough so that I could think and—

Where was Eli?

That one thought broke through.

It was a tiny crack, but it was enough.

“Eli!” I screamed along the spiritual realm as loud and with as much force as I could. I tried to pull myself up, but my arms were too tired.

The demons below me started screaming and moving faster. They knew who I’d called, and they knew what he could do to them.

Something hit my feet.

I jerked my leg away, and my hands slipped and—

Phoenix’s face suddenly above mine.

He was now hanging halfway through the portal. The only thing keeping me from dropping was his grip on my wrists. “Samantha. Please! Can you hear me?” His voice was deep and calm as it washed over me.

“I can now. Thank you.”

“Pull me up. Now. Hurry.”

“On the count of three. Okay?” He smiled. Even while all this insanity was happening—he smiled and it calmed me again and gave me confidence.

Why? I couldn’t say. But it did.

“One…Two…Three.” He pulled a little, and then all of a sudden, jerked me up, and I was lying on top of him.

“Thanks.” I gasped out the word and let my body relax against his for a second.

“You’re welcome.”

 

NUMBER TWO
I nodded but didn’t move my hand from my mouth. Even if I could think of something to say, I wasn’t sure it’d be coherent.

“Is that really you?” he asked.

I nodded because I couldn’t do anything else. This day kept taking me by surprise, and this time, I was truly speechless. For the best reason.

Was he taller? He’d been over six feet before, but he seemed bigger or more intimidating now. Except he still had that smile, and his hazel-green eyes were breathtaking against his darker tan skin. His hair wasn’t quite as short as before, but just long enough on top to have a slightly messy look.

Was he hotter?

Was that even possible? Because it shouldn’t have been, but I was looking at him and—

Could my heart be beating any faster?

I forced myself to breathe because I was freaking out.

“Samantha.” His voice said my name like it was special. A caress. With so much emotion that it finally unfroze me.

“Hi, Phoenix.” My voice was softer than I meant it to be, but I couldn’t help it.

“It’s so good to see you.” He closed the distance between us and gave me a hug.

I laughed and hugged him back. “It’s good to see you, too.”

If he hadn’t hugged me, if he didn’t feel warm, I would’ve thought this was a dream, but he was real.

Frank was saying something, but I wasn’t hearing it.

Phoenix Herrera was hugging me.

I couldn’t help but relax into his hold. I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have felt so comfortable with him, and I wasn’t. I was nervous. But also, he felt right. Somehow. Impossibly. He felt right to me.

My old neighbor from Los Angeles—the one who became an international soccer star, and then retired after an injury earlier in the season this year—was here, hugging me.

What in the world was he doing in Frank’s office? In Texas? Hugging me?

And why couldn’t I let him go?

 

NUMBER THREE – 211 WORDS

Gabe threw me to the ground and slapped a hand over my mouth, cutting off my scream. We were both in spirit form now, and he felt so real.

This all felt so real.

“Stop it,” he whisper-yelled as he hovered over me. His eyes were different here, brighter. And his aura was darker. Darker than I remembered it being, as if it were eating all the light around it. “Remember what I said. No talking. You’ll get us caught. There’s no one who can save us from this place.”

He was right. I knew he was right. But I couldn’t stop the panic.

I hadn’t been back here—not fully, not for longer than a minute—since I escaped all those years ago. I’d been back to pull souls out, but not like this. This was so much worse.

I’d never recovered from the trauma.

I’d been here for a mortal year, but it felt like a millennium. It aged me beyond my peers and taught me a lot about myself, but the cost…

Nightmares, flashbacks, freak-outs with my powers, and I still had problems with all of it after eleven years.

And I’d vowed to never come back.

Yet here I was.

Pinned to the fire-hot ground in Hell.