W.J. Howard

Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan.

After Margery sets up Barry as a decoy and Vern loses his head, Barry agrees to help Trisha, an angel’s apprentice stop the sacrifice. He finds a map of tunnels to the ranch where the sacrifice will take place and gives it to Trisha. While Barry is outside the warehouse, Nina tries to escape. Fed up, Margery intends to posses Nina with a demon she sends Oscar and Barry to retrieve from a vending machine.

Back at the garage, I ask Oscar, “If Nina can’t run, do you think Margery will let her stay here, with you, while we go to the ranch?” Even possessed, I doubt she’d last long around the demons out there.

He sniggers. “Highly doubtful with that demon in her.”

“What do you mean, that demon?”

Oscar opens the door to the back exit and points for me to go outside first. He doesn’t answer though. Before I can ask him again, we’re distracted by what’s up in the sky. White warriors, at least twenty of them, flying over the warehouse and the surrounding grounds.

Oscar’s staring up into the sky, his head scanning left to right. “Is this your doing?” he asks, then turns his head and glares at me.

“Hell, no.” I rush to answer and shiver, knowing damn well I’m partially responsible. Trisha must have sent them, no question in my mind.

“Trucks are down there, at the loading docks. Keys in the ignition. Drive them up here to the door, then come back inside.” He turns and reaches to open the door.

“Wait. What did you mean when you said ‘that demon’?”

“I lied to you. I shorted Margery’s offering. By now, she’s possessed Nina with a demon marked for destruction.” The guy appears happy for the first time.

I can’t bring myself to speak. I just stand there, hunched over, mouth gaping.

“It is doubtful the demon will behave any better than Nina. Agares demons are only destroyed when they are out of control and stray, but don’t worry. It will take several hours before it rebels. By then, the gates will be closed. And in the end, you will thank me.”

“What! Why!” I choke on my words.

“I want you both gone. You’re trouble and I don’t trust you,” he says. “Once the gates close, you take Nina and run. Run as far away as you can and never come back. The demon in Nina will show you how to hide and evade your contract.” Oscar turns to go back inside. “Enough said. Now go move the trucks.”

I don’t try to stop him. The guy is way more protective of Margery than I suspected, and he just gave me an escape plan.

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Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan.

After Margery sets up Barry as a decoy and Vern loses his head, Barry agrees to help Trisha, an angel’s apprentice stop the sacrifice. He finds a map of tunnels to the ranch where the sacrifice will take place and gives it to Trisha. At the same time, Nina tries to escape. Fed up, Margery sends Oscar and Barry to purchase the essence of a demon from a vending machine. She plans to posses Nina with the demon to control her.

“What the hell does a demon essence look like?” I ask while sliding the last coin into the machine, then shuffle to the left and brace myself for whatever comes out.

“You will see soon enough.” Oscar presses a sequence of flavors: cola, orange, lemon-lime, orange, orange, cola, lemon-lime, as if entering a code. He pauses. “Get ready. It will slither out like an anaconda ready for a meal. I will grab the end that comes out first, then pull it out a length of three feet. You grab the other end before it comes all the way through. Hold it away from your torso or it will try to enter your body.” He hits orange one last time.

The cooling system kicks on and the motor purrs before it amplifies into a screeching whine. When I look around the side of the machine, I see the plug, laying on the cement, and it’s not plugged in. Why should I be surprised.

All at once there’s a clunk, the same sound you hear when a soda can drops out of a vending machine but louder. The machine shuts off.

“Come closer,” Oscar says.

I don’t move though.

A black curvy tip, a cross between a bird’s beak and a rattlesnakes tale, hedges its way out. The thing is connected to a jagged diamond-shaped head, and it twitches, as if sniffing at the air. Oscar grabs it. “I said, come closer.”

I’m still holding back. The thought of touching the thing makes me shiver, and having it in my hands means it’s another step closer to possessing Nina. I don’t want to be a part of this. I can’t do it.

Oscar’s still holding on tightly, but the thing’s powerful, bucking and clattering against the inside of the machine. “Grab it or I will let it bore up your ass hole.”

I step forward and lean over the opening. “Ready.”

Oscar tugs it away from the machine and what comes into view appears to be a spine or backbone, but more ornate than a human’s or animal’s. Portions of it are similar to spiky fossilized dinosaur bones. I take it in my hands and hold it cautiously while it continues to resist. There’s a pinpricking on my palms from the bristly surface. I keep it at arms length while it bends and veers toward my torso. Oscar was right about two people needing to carrying this thing. The longer we hold it, the more wildly it bucks, almost as if it’s gaining strength the longer it’s in our world.

“Hurry,” Oscar says and turns to go back toward the garage.

The whole while I’m thinking about Trisha’s insistence that I do what I’m told around here. But playing a part to a human possession has to qualify as stupid.

We enter the garage and Margery calls out, “Bring it to the break room.

“On our way,” Oscar shakes his head. “Again, she has to make a mess of the break room.”

I pause. “I can’t do this.”

Oscar growls when he nearly lets go of his end. He turns back to me. “You can and will,” he says and pulls the spine to prompt me to move, “unless you want one possessing you too. Besides, I told you she won’t remember the insertion.”

He’s not helping. Although I’ll be of no use to Trisha if I’m possessed by a demon. “Let’s go.”

Around the corner, into the break room, Nina’s gagged and tied to a chair. She sees me and bounces and moans. The look in her eyes begs for my help.

My stomach is in knots at the sight of her and I have to turn away.

“Enough of your whining,” Margery says to her, then snatches away the spinal column with her demon claw. It goes limp in her hand.

I curse in my head, realizing she could have gotten the damn casing herself. She’s not doing this to control Nina. She’s doing this to control me. “Is it really necessary to keep her tied up like that?”

“What, it doesn’t turn you on to see her like this? I kind of like the way she looks, all helpless.” Margery’s sonorous laugh echoes across the room. “Besides, I need her as still as possible when I shove this in her gut.”

Nina lets out a muffled scream and hops forward in her chair, attempting an unachievable escape. Her breath labors until she’s hyperventilating. I rush to help her, but run into the back of Margery’s scaled hands. She hurls me half way across the room at the same time Nina tips in her chair to one side. Her head crashing onto the floor, and her body goes lifeless.

“Get him out of here,” she tells Oscar.

“I thought you needed help,” Oscar says.

“Look at her. She’s out cold. The little bitch has a way of ruining everything. If she doesn’t wake up, I’ll get this demon in her in less than a minute and without the satisfaction of hearing her scream,” she says. “Have him help you ready the trucks. We leave for the ranch right after her demon settles into its new home.”

Oscar picks me up by the back of my t-shirt and drags me out of the room.

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Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Otherwise, Nina will suffer.

Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, an Angel’s Apprentice seizes the truck and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. Barry agrees, but Vern was not so cooperative and Trisha kills him. At the Trinidad warehouse, Trisha calls Barry outside and tells him there were no kids in the truck. They believe Vern and Barry were decoys and the kids were transported in the vans. Since Margery’s plan to sacrifice the kids to close the Gates of Hell is back on, Barry finds a map of tunnels Trisha and the White Warriors can use to get on the Bellow’s Ranch and save the kids.

“How’s the air?” Oscar says when he sees me walking back into the garage.

I grunt and pull the door closed, then pick up my pace to avoid any additional questions. My only concern right now is Nina’s condition after a run in with Margery.

“Stop,” he says while waving a fist-sized grey sack by the drawstring. “Margery needs us to get her something.” He throws it at me.

It clinks as I catch it, like it contains metal or coins. “What does the hag want now?”

“Something to make your girlfriend behave. She tried to run away,” he says. “Takes two to carry it.”

This can’t be good.

Oscar leads the way outside, through the main garage door and to the right, around the building. Grasshoppers jump away from us as we approach a patio with tall brown grass and wild sunflowers growing between cracks in the cement. There’s a picnic table, missing the bench seats to one side and two vintage soda machines against one wall of the building. It smells like rotting trash even though no one would ever come back here to eat. I can almost see Margery and Vern here thirty years ago, smoking and plotting to close the Gates of Hell the last time.

“Put the coins in the blue machine,” Oscar tells me.

“All of them?”

He nods.

I untie and spread open the sack. It’s filled with gold coins, stamped with an old man riding a crocodile. “Dang, that’s some expensive soda. What kind of money is this?”

“Not money. An offering,” Oscar says. “Put it in the slot.”

At first I approach the machine, but question why I’m blindly following Oscar’s directions as I reach to pull a coin out of the bag. I turn and tell him, “No.”

Oscar gnashes his teeth and rushes at me. He takes ahold of the collar on my t-shirt and twists it until it’s restricting my breath. Then, just as quickly, he lets me go.

I take a few steps back and cough, clutching my neck. “What the . . . !”

“I apologize. You deserve an explanation,” he says while he stands up straight and composed. “The coins are an offering to Agares, head of Eastern Hell. He is the old man, pictured on the coin. If he accepts, which he will, he will dispatch the essence of one of the demon in his charge. It will dispense there.” Oscar points at the slot where a can of soda would normally fall. “Margery means to posses Nina with the essence to control her.”

“You mean like the Exorcist?” My eyes widen. “And Margery expects me to go along with this?”

“You go along or Nina goes to the ranch, and she won’t come back.” Oscar unzips his coveralls down to his belly button. He points at a bumpy star shaped scar below his breastbone. “Insertion is quick, and I do not remember the pain.”

“You’ve got a damn demon in you?” That would explain a lot.

“No. It was removed because I behave,” he says. “Nina will learn too. Now insert the coins or I tell Margery you chose to send Nina to her death.”

“Wait a minute. What do you mean, Nina will learn?”

“Agares’ demons make runaways return or stops them from leaving. It’s the same type she put in me. Same type Margery puts in most drivers who try to run.”

“The same demon?”

“You don’t listen. Same type, not same demon.” Oscar’s frown tells me he’s irritated again. “Put in the coins.”

I pause.

“Now!” Oscar lunges at me again.

I jump forward and start putting in the coins. “This is insane, Oscar, buying demons from a vending machine.”

“Wait until you see the essence.”

PREV | NEXT

Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Otherwise, Nina will suffer.

Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, an Angel’s Apprentice seizes the truck and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. Barry agrees, but Vern was not so cooperative and Trisha kills him. At the Trinidad warehouse, Trisha calls Barry outside and tells him there were no kids in the truck. They believe Vern and Barry were decoys and the kids were transported in the vans. Since Margery’s plan to sacrifice the kids to close the Gates of Hell is back on, Barry has to find a way for Trisha and the White Warriors to get on the Bellow’s Ranch and save the kids.

I exit the women’s restroom at the same time Oscar comes out of the men’s. We both pause and stare each other down.

“At least you know your place,” he says with his usual scowl.

I roll my eyes and scan up and down the hallway. “Where’s Margery?”

“Hell.” He turns to go back toward the garage.

“Hey, Oscar.” I shuffle to catch up. “You been out at the Bellow’s Ranch?”

“Many times. Why you ask?”

“I might have to go out there tonight. Wondering what to expect.”

“Stay clear of the demons and hellhounds, and you’ll be fine.” Oscar keeps forward, as if he’s hoping I’ll go away.

I’m not giving up though. “Demons and hellhounds?”

“Mean bastards. Sometimes Margery sends drivers out there just to get rid of them. Not that she wants to get rid of you.” Oscar sniggers.

I pause, swallow hard, and think how Margery’s been threatening to send Nina to the ranch. And what about Trisha. Surely she know what she’s getting the white warriors into?

Oscar turns into the garage and I follow, calling out, “How do you get on and off the ranch?”

“Drive.”

“You mean there’s nothing to stop people from wandering onto the ranch?” I ask.

“Not if they’re mortal.”

“What if someone sees what’s going on out there?”

“They’d never get past the hellhounds.”

“Is there some other way to get on and off the ranch?”

Oscar turns and glares at me. “Why you asking so many questions?”

I don’t know what to say at first, then stumble over my words. “If I go out there tonight. I mean, what if something happens. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Tunnels.” Oscar reaches into a tool chest, pulls out a hammer, and holds it up like he might use it on my head. “No more questions.”

* * *

Back at the lobby I stand over Margery’s table, scanning the papers strewn across the top. Tunnels. Where are the tunnels? How do I find the tunnels? As much paper as Margery keeps around here, there have to be records or maps detailing the underground, especially the coal mine’s air shafts. At least I’m optimistic there is.

Nina pokes her head out of a door off the kitchen, where I’ve only seen Margery go in and out. It’s the same door she disappeared through the day I signed my life away. I had assumed the door was off limits to drivers.

“What you doing, Bear?” Nina’s got this forced grin she gets when she’s about to ask for a favor.

“Looking for something,” I tell her while shuffling through what appear to be the new drivers’ contracts. “What are you doing?”

“Filing.” Nina rolls her eyes. “What are you looking for?”

“I probably shouldn’t tell you. I’ve already gotten you in enough trouble.”

“There’s a lot more paperwork in there.” Nina points to the door where she had exited. “More documents than a world full of trees could provide.”

I look at her confused.

“C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Inside the room, we weave through a maze of stacked papers, some of the piles towering out of reach. Overhead, naked lightbulbs are suspended in a black void, and there’s no telling the size of the room, because there are no walls in sight. One grey, metal file cabinets sits in the midst of it all. It’s old and dented, as if it’s been there for years.

“You weren’t kidding, Nina. Margery must be a hundred years behind on filing.”

“Get this. I have to file all this paperwork into that one file cabinet, and it’s already full.” Nina’s lower lip quivers. “This isn’t working for Satan, Bear. This is Hell.”

I pull out the second drawer from the top and examine the contents. Appears no different than any other filing system, completely packed with overstuffed manila folders. “When do you have to have it done?” I’m afraid to ask.

“She didn’t say.” Nina’s voice is squeaky now. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Hand me one of those contracts,” I say to Nina.

She gives me a two inch stack of legal sized paper with the name “Abe Templeton” on it. I close the second drawer and open the bottom one, marked for files at the end of the alphabet. It’s also filled to capacity. A tab for the letter ’T’ is up front, and no surprise, so is a folder for Abe. I can barley slip a finger inside the folder though.

“Good luck getting it in there,” Nina says.

“You forget that nothing’s as it seems around here.” I slowly lower the contract and jerk when every last page is sucked into the file cabinet as if the thing’s part vacuum.

Nina claps. “Brilliant. You’re a magician.”

“Now that we know how to put files in,” I say, “how do they come out?”

Nina pushes me out of the way. “What are you trying to find?”

“Like I said, you’re better off not knowing. Besides, Margery can’t know about this.”

“Bear, you help me out all the time. Let me help you for once.”

“Okay. I need a map to a tunnel system. Below the Bellow’s ranch.”

“Well, let’s look under maps and tunnels,” Nina says. Only there’s nothing under either.

“Let me check Bellows,” I tell her and cross my fingers it’s in there, and it is, taking up half the drawer. I flip through the file, searching for anything that looks like a map, but nothing even close to a drawing exists.

“Barry.” Nina’s voice is muffled and in the distance, but still sounds frantic about something.

What is she into now?

“Barry! Hurry!” she calls out a second time.

“Hang on!” I sigh and jog further into the maze, ready to save her ass yet again.

She’s standing in front of blueprints, stacked up into the darkness, holding one partially unrolled, and pointing at the legend. “I found it. I can’t believe I found it!”

I take it from her and spread it out on the floor. There are three maps in the roll: one of the warehouse, one of the ranch, and one of the tunnels connecting the two. Nothing detailing the air shafts though. I’m just about the kiss her when we hear the door slam closed.

“Hey! Girlie! Where are you? I said no breaks.”

We both freeze, our eyes widen, then Nina holds her finger up to her lips to shush me. “Coming!” she calls out, then whispers to me, “I’ll get rid of her.”

I shake my head frantically and reach to grab her wrist, but she’s already gotten away.

“I’m sorry,” Nina says. “I’m just so tired, I must have nodded off.”

“You worthless little whore,” Margery’s voice deepens as she speaks.

“Really, Marge. You sound like my mother.”

Oh, no. Did Nina just say that?

“You want a mother figure? Come here. I’ll give you a mother figure.” By the sound of Margery’s tone, she’s full demon.

Nina’s screams fade into the distance and are lost behind the door slamming again.

Shit! I jump up in a hurry to go after Nina, but a voice in my head tells me different. Get the map to Trisha first.

* * *

On my way to the thorn bush, where I last met Trisha, I decide to take a shortcut through the garage and run into Oscar again, literally. He’s like hitting a rock and knocks me off my feet. The rolled up blueprint flies up into the air and Oscar catches it.

He leans over and hands the blueprint back to me. “Where you headed so fast?”

“Fresh air.” Before he can ask me any more questions, I’m on my feet and running out the door. Outside, I dive under branches and out of sight.

“Trisha,” I whisper, “I’ve got something for you.”

Tricia appears out of thin air, up close to my face. “What you got?”

I jerk backward into a hundred or more thorns. “Damn. Warn a guy a little slower next time.”

“Pshaw,” Trisha utters. She’s in the middle of filing her nails and her hair is all messy again, like the time we first met. “You’re getting back to me awfully quickly. This better not be a waste of my time.”

I hold out the blueprints. “Drawings of the warehouse, ranch, and tunnels between both.”

She grins and snatches it out of my hand. “Tunnels, huh.” She unrolls it partially and studies the layout.

“Yeah, tunnels,” I say. “There’s one right under us that leads west to the Bellow’s Ranch. You think you can use it?”

“Use it? Barry, you have no idea how valuable a find this is.”

Finally I’ve done something right. I wonder if it’s enough for Trisha to help me out of my contract. And, considering Nina was first to find it, maybe she’ll score a few brownie points too. Still, it’s probably not the right time to bug Trisha about what I want. So instead I ask, “What now?”

“Go back inside,” Trisha rolls the print back up in a hurry. “Do whatever Margery tells you to do, and I mean anything.”

“Oh, no. I’m not getting myself in any more trouble. Plus, I’ve got Nina to take care of.”

“I’m telling you not to worry about any of that. You have to make it look like you’re on Margery’s side, or she might get wise to us.”

“And . . . if I do something against one of those Ten Commandments your side is always preaching about, you’re not going to hold it against me?”

“Don’t be stupid,” she says. “Now go. If I need you, I’ll find you.” Then Trisha’s gone, taking the blueprint with her.

I crawl out from under the bush, feeling a lot uneasy about a wanna be angel telling me to be bad.

PREV | NEXT

Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Otherwise, Nina will suffer.

Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, an Angel’s Apprentice seizes the truck and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. When he agrees, she hands him Vern’s head to deliver to Margery. An hour later Nina picks up Barry on the side of the road. They have their first kiss after being attacked by huge spheres from heaven. Later, at the Trinidad warehouse, Margery attempts to get information from Vern’s head but fails.

In the bathroom, Nina’s standing in front of the mirror, wiping tears from her cheek with a long piece of toilet paper, hanging nearly to the floor. She cries harder when she sees me.

“Don’t let Margery get to you. It only encourages her to torture you more.” I turn on the hot water and pull a half dozen paper towels from the dispenser. “Here. Wet them and bring them back to the table. And hurry.”

“You do it. She’ll just find something else wrong.” She comes across beaten down, the same way I was my first day. I’ve never seen her hair so messy and the rest of her appearance so unkempt.

“It’ll be worse if you don’t bring them back. She likes to torment the new drivers.” I wet the towels and squeeze out the excess water. “Seriously, she paralyzed me and made me piss my pants my first day.”

Nina chuckles and takes the wad of wet paper towels. “Tell me this is a dream.”

“I wish I could.” I pull some dry towels from the dispenser. “Here. Take these too. She’ll probably want to dry off.”

“I’m so glad you’re here with me.” She stretches up on her toes and kisses the air like she’s kissing my cheek. Nina smiles, then runs from the bathroom.

My cheek tingles as if her lips had touched my skin. I lean over the sink and look at myself in the mirror. Now is not the time to get involved with Nina. God, please help me stay focused. Help me help you—

A single tap at the window interrupts my pitiful prayer. Sounded like a rock hit the glass. It happens again. I walk over and peek through the window. Tricia’s crouched under a bush, about forty feet away from the building. She’s waving at me to join her outside.

The window’s unlocked and slides open to the left on the metal track easy enough. Luckily there’s not screen to take off. I lean my head out and look for Oscar or anyone else who might see me. No one’s there, so I hop up on the sill and jump out the window onto a gravel drive.

Trisha’s hiding inside a cluster of sticker bush. “Get in here,” she says.

“How? The thorns.”

“Would you rather be seen with me or get a few scratches?”

Sure enough, thorns prick and scratch my arms. Droplets of blood form on my arm, but just as quickly heal. “Damn it. It hurts,” I complain. “Find a safer place next time.”

“Safer place? Do you have any idea what would happen to me if Margery catches us?”

“Fine. What’s up?”

“There were no kids in the trucks. Margery used you and Vern as decoys.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” she says. “So where are the children?”

“How should I know. Margery said the plans going down tonight, but I assumed you guys taking the kids changed that. If you don’t have the kids . . . . Oh shit, the van locks.” I stop short, thinking how Margery’s a mastermind who set us all up.

“What about the locks?”

“I have a master key to the vans, only Margery changed the locks for this morning’s run.”

“You think she put the kids in the vans? And wait a minute. You said the plans going down tonight? What else do you know.”

“Nothing. I swear.”

“This is not turning out like I’d hoped. Barry, you’ve got to find out if she snuck the kids past us in the vans. We have to stop her from sacrificing those kids.”

“Anything else you want me to do?” I say all snide like.

“Something next to impossible,” she says. “I need you to find a breach in the shield around the Bellow’s Ranch. A way for the white warriors to get in and save the kids.”

“Exactly how do you expect me to snoop around for that information?”

“You want out of your contract?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then you’ll figure it out.”

“And, if Margery finds out what I’m doing, you going to be there to help me.”

“Of course not.”

I lower and shake my head as all my regrets flood my thoughts.

“I’m sorry, Barry. You signed the contract. There’s nothing I can do to help you.”

“Why can’t you make me one of those white warriors. Let me fight with them.”

“That’s not an option for you. You’ve dug yourself in too deep. This is your mission,” she says. “Have faith and you’ll figure out how to bring down the shield. When you do, Barry, come back here, to the bush, and look for me. I’ll be waiting.”

I crawl out from under the bush and climb back inside.

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Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Otherwise, Nina will suffer.

Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, an Angel’s Apprentice seizes the truck and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. When he agrees, she hands Vern’s head to him to deliver to Margery. An hour later Nina picks up Barry on the side of the road. They have their first kiss after being attacked by huge spheres from heaven. Margery then finds out Vern’s dead.

When we enter the garage at the Trinidad warehouse, I have to swerve around engine parts thrown all over the floor. Margery’s in her demon form, towering over Oscar. They’re behind his workbench, and she’s poking at his shoulders. With each step she forces him backward, but his chest is puffed out with confidence like it always is.

“Oh my God,” Nina says while panting. “It’s all true.”

“So you had to see it to believe it, huh?” I had managed to cut our drive time down to thirty-five minute. The whole way we argued about reality: Nina sure there was some explanation for all the bizarre happenings and me trying to convince her she was in denial. That didn’t go over well. She refused to believe the Gates of Hell were about to open nor the plan to sacrifice kids down the air shafts to plug it up. May have been a bad move on my part to tell her, especially if Margery heard our conversation.

“Do me a favor. Keep you mouth shut and stay behind me.” I turn off the engine, get out of the van, and slam the door hard, hoping to attract Margery’s attention.

She turns her head and deflates back to an old lady. I hope that means she’s happy to see us. “You two wait for me at my desk.” She flips two cigarettes out of no where and darts the cherry end at Oscar head.

I wince then grab Nina’s arm and guide her away from the pair. She’s shaking.

“What did he do?” Nina whispers.

“I thought I told you to shut up.”

As we enter the lobby, Margery’s already at her desk. She’s propping herself up with one hand and puffing a cigar with the other. “I don’t know how Vern smoked these things.”

“I’m sorry about Vern,” Nina says then leans in and whispers, “She really is everywhere.”

“Shut up,” Margery tells her.

“Why does everyone keep telling me to shut up?”

I squeeze Nina’s arm, guide her to a chair, and force her to sit. “Seriously, listen to Margery. Shut . . . up.”

Nina hunches over, still shaking, a single tear streaming down her cheek. “I know I’m suppose to be quiet, but I feel really dizzy.” She barely finished her sentence when she leans away from me. I try to catch her before she falls, but I’m too late.

Margery and I laugh at how Nina landed on her face. “Ah, you are evil,” Margery says.

I clear my throat. Margery calling me evil is worse than a hit from one of her cigarettes. I rush around the chair to lift Nina off the floor. She’s unsteady as she fumbles for the chair seat. “Sorry,” I whisper, my lips brushing against her ear. She shivers, then gasps when she see’s Margery.

“Oh knock off the drama, you two, or you’ll end up like Vern.”

“Stop it. Give her a chance to get used it all,” I say.

“I don’t have time for that, especially since you blabbered to her about closing the gates.” Margery turns to Nina. “You better get used to this face, girlie, because you’re going to be seeing a lot of it.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Nina’s been promoted to my personal assistant so I can keep an eye on her.”

“She’ll never last five minutes with you. Let her stay with me instead.”

“Not a chance,” Margery says. “I’ve got a lot of work around here she can do. How are you at filing?”

Nina sits silent, staring at Margery, her cheeks wet.

“Well? You going to answer? Or, maybe I should send you out to the Bellow’s Ranch to entertain the demons. They’d keep a really close eye on a pretty young things like you. And a few claws too.”

“I can file,” Nina snaps back.

Oscar interrupts. “Cleaning up trash in the vans is not in my job description.” He’s holding up Vern’s head by the tuft of his bad comb over hair. Both Oscar’s eyes and surrounding sockets are black up to his eyebrows, as if Margery gave him a couple shiners.

“Gimme that,” Margery says. She mumbles something unintelligable that ends in “Trisha.”

Oscar throws it at her over Nina’s head. A chunk of flesh falls on Nina’s lap. She stands and screams, “Get it off me!”

“Shut her up or the demons will.” Margery sets Vern upright on the table.

Holding her mouth, Nina drops to her seat.

“I need to ask Vern a few questions,” she says while slapping his cheek. “There might be a minutes worth of life left in him.”

What is she doing? There can’t be any more life in Vern. His face is all squished and one side of his lip is so puffed out he can’t possibly open his mouth. I search my memory, wondering if I said anything incriminating to Trisha that Vern might have overheard.

Margery pounds her fist on top of Vern’s head. “Wake up!” Bloody goo oozes out from under his neck, but there’s no response from Vern. After a second and a third hit, his eyes snap open. She leans in and yells in his face. “Welcome back, dumbass!”

Vern spits coagulated blood out of his mouth and it splatters across Margery’s face and clothes. “What happened?”

“For starters, look down and tell me what you see?” Margery wipes her face with her hand. “Someone, go get me a wet towel.”

I nudge Nina with my elbow, “You better do it.” She runs from the room.

“My body!” Vern gurgles when he talks. “The bitch cut my head off!”

“Bingo,” Margery says, “and you have about thirty seconds to answer my questions.”

“But all those kids in the warehouse, and I never got a chance to—”

“We don’t have time to discuss your sex life.”

My stomach wretches. I hope management reserved a special corner of Hell for the bastard.

“Did you tell Trisha we’re carrying out the plan tonight?” Margery says slowly.

My eyes widen. Tonight? How can the plan go down tonight? Trisha took the kids.

Vern’s eyes close, and it takes a couple more whacks before they open back up.

“Well, did you tell her about tonight?”

Vern replies in gibberish that sounds like some demonic language.

“Damn it! He’s fully transitioned.” Margery picks up Vern’s head and throws it across the room. She holds out her bloody hands. “Where’s your girl with my towel.”

“Giving her a chance,” I say. “I’m sure she’s on her way back.”

“She’s had enough chances in life. The only thing she’s good for—”

“Don’t say it.” I hold up my hands and back away. “I’ll get your towel.”

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Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He’s a driver for OTG Courier Services, forced by his demon boss, Margery, to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado. Demons on the Bellow’s Ranch are dumping the substance down an abandoned coal mine’s air shafts, and it’s forming a rift between Earth and Hell that will soon open.

Despite the fact that serving Satan comes with immortal life and any sinful thing his heart desires, Barry desperately wants out of his contract. Margery has other plans for Barry and bullies him to obey or suffer the consequences she inflicts with one wave of her magical cigarettes. Barry’s not giving up though. He plays the good employee and volunteers for overtime, resolved to snoop around for contract loopholes. Only the other OTG employees go missing—likely kidnapped by white warriors who fight for God’s angels. Margery makes Barry and senior driver Vern fill in, leaving Barry no time for anything other than work.

Knowing how bad life will be once the Gates of Hell open, Margery and Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release her from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, the girl he’s met a few times while picking up coffee for Margery, forces Barry off the road. She is an Angel’s Apprentice and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. Trisha then hands Vern’s head to him to deliver to Margery.

Nina’s been thrashing around in the passenger seat, trying to keep her feet away from Vern’s head. “Is there some place you can put that?” she asks. Besides constant moaning and groaning, it’s the the only thing she’s said since we got back on the highway.

Sure, she’s creeped out, but the foul odor it’s emitting, a cross between cigar smoke and roadkill, is becoming more of a problem. I veer into the median and park. “Hand me the head.”

“I’m not touching it.” She scrunches her face in disgust. Even though she’s irritating the crap out of me, she looks kind of cute.

“C’mon. It’s in a bag.”

“I’m not touching it.”

“Fine.” I yank the bag up from the floorboard and the plastic grazes her leg.

“Tsk.” She brushes away Vern’s cooties. “You did that on purpose.”

I shake my head and get out of the van.

The master key is in my pocket. For some reason Margery trusts me now. Or maybe it’s because I’m the only driver who can do everyone else’s jobs. Damn, I’m the new Vern.

The door handle is different than the standard one though, and the keyhole is much smaller. Still I try it, and of course it doesn’t fit. I jiggle the door handle, and of course it doesn’t move. Great.

I lift the bag up and examine Vern’s face. “Looks like we’ll both have to put up with Nina’s whining for another hour, buddy. Maybe I’ll play some loud music you’ll both hate.”

Vern’s eyes and mouth snap open. He lets out a hiss that fogs up the bag.

My neck jerks back. “Shit.”

“Barry! Barry!” Nina calls out from the passenger side window. “Margery’s asking for you.”

Back in the van, I don’t give Nina a choice. I shove the head at her. “Here.” She has to take it before it drops in her lap. “I don’t have the right key for the back.”

“Jerk,” Nina complains. “Margery, you should see what he’s doing.”

“Shut up, girlie.”

“What do you want . . . Marge?” I interrupt.

“I don’t think I like your tone . . . Honey.”

“Hey. My mood is your fault. You sent Vern and me out in unprotected trucks.”

“Oh that,” Margery coughs out a laugh. “Nina said she picked you up south of Colorado Springs. What happened to the truck?”

“Angel’s apprentice mean anything to you.”

“Trisha,” she says long and drawn out. “Where’s Vern?”

I don’t answer.

“Where’s Vern?”

“He’s dead,” Nina interjects. “We have his head.”

Margery lets out a growl that rocks the van. I’m glad we’re miles away from her cigarettes and vile breath. “You have thirty minutes to get to the warehouse.”

“We’re an hour away,” I tell her.

Click. She’s gone.

I turn my head to Nina. She’s got her feet up on the seat now, hugging her legs. “That can’t be comfortable.”

“This may sound weird, but I think he bit me.”

“No. Not weird. Actually, there are a few things I need to tell you before we get to Trinidad.” I pull out on the highway and gun the engine.

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Go back to Chapter 1 to read from the beginning
OR read the summary below and jump in.

So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He’s a driver for OTG Courier Services, forced by his demon boss, Margery, to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado. Demons on the Bellow’s Ranch are dumping the substance down an abandoned coal mine’s air shafts, and it’s forming a rift between Earth and Hell that will soon open.

Despite the fact that serving Satan comes with immortal life and any sinful thing his heart desires, Barry desperately wants out of his contract. Margery has other plans for Barry and bullies him to obey or suffer the consequences she inflicts with one wave of her magical cigarettes. Barry’s not giving up though. He plays the good employee and volunteers for overtime, resolved to snoop around for contract loopholes. Only the other OTG employees go missing—likely kidnapped by white warriors who fight for God’s angels. Margery makes Barry and senior driver Vern fill in, leaving Barry no time for anything other than work.

Knowing how bad life will be once the Gates of Hell open, Margery and Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release her from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, the girl he’s met a few times while picking up coffee for Margery, forces Barry off the road. She is an Angel’s Apprentice and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. Trisha then hands Vern’s head to him to deliver to Margery.

Damn it’s hot. And it’s only been a five mile hike since Trisha took my truck. Most of the heat is reflecting off the pavement, and not even a gust from a passing semi provides any relief.

While I’m still pissed Trisha left me stranded, I’m glad she took the kids. One less concern, especially now that Nina’s a driver. Then again, what will Margery do when she finds out Vern’s dead and her plan’s been derailed by an Angel’s Apprentice. Hell, what if she already know. I look down at Vern’s head, swinging at my right side. Poor bastard will be melty gelatin and skull by the time we reach Trinidad. Could be prettier than what Margery does to me.

I turn to the sound of roaring engines. Three vehicles including a red van approach. I jump and wave my arms, hoping it’s an OTG driver. Passers by would be horrified if they could make out Vern’s head flapping around.

The van passes, then pulls over and stops twenty or so yards down the road. “Yes,” I whisper and run to catch up.

Nina’s driving. “Bear, why you walking? Where’s your—” She retracts and screams at the sight of Vern’s head.

I ignore her and settle in the passenger seat. “Shut up and drive,” I say, too tired to put up with her girlie shit.

Nina squeals as she pulls away from the median and nearly side swipes a passing car.

“What the hell are you doing!” I grip the dashboard with both hands.

“Are you going to hurt me?” she whimpers while staring down at Vern’s head, resting against my feet. Another car swerves out of our way and blares its horn.

“Watch the road!” I tell her and reach to steer the van back into our lane. “I didn’t do it, okay.”

“Who . . . did?”

“Never mind, just drive.” If I tell her about Trisha and the angel apprentices, she won’t believe me anyways.

After a couple miles Nina breaks the silence. “What happened to you, Barry? You used to be so nice. Now you’re punching old ladies and carrying around the head of God knows who.”

“It’s Vern, and he has nothing to do with God.” I laugh. “He’s a driver, like us.”

“See, what I mean. It’s not funny. The guy’s dead.”

“If you knew Vern, you’d know he got what he deserved.”

All at once there’s a thump on top of the van and it jerks and rocks.

“Not again!” Nina screams. “I can’t do this again!”

I look up into the sky and expect to see white warriors descending. What hits the windshield instead is a white sphere, like the one Trisha threw at me. Only it rebounds off the windshield, probably because the van’s protected, then falls back down onto the hood. With each bounce it increases in size. The van rocks from the force. The steering wheel shakes in Nina’s hands until she gives up and releases her grip.

“Brake, Nina! Brake!” I grab the wheel, but not before the van is off road, headed toward a barbed wire fence. Nina’s frozen, her hands up in the air now. I push her legs out of the way with my foot and press down hard on the the brake pedal. When we stop short of a fence post, I’m half in her lap. “What the hell’s the matter with you,” I say.

“I can’t do this Barry. I can’t do this job.” She’s crying hysterically and slurring her words.

I want to shake her back to reality. Instead, I lean into her face. “Yeah Nina, you can’t do anything, can you?”

Nina stops crying, looks into my eyes.

“Just put the van in park.”

Nina doesn’t move. She’s looking at me weird, or in a way I can say women hardly ever look at me.

“Are you going to park it or what?” My eyes widen as I stare into her glaring eyes.

She smiles and reaches her hand up, but not for the gear shift. Her finger tips reach around my neck and our lips meet.

But I pull away. “Why’d you do that?”

“Do what? Kiss you?”

“Yeah. Why’d you kiss me?” What I really want to know is what changed her mind about me. All she’s ever wanted is a friendship with conditions. Why, all of the sudden, am I good enough to kiss? Or is it that I’m bad enough to kiss.

Nina frowns. “What do you mean? You kissed me too.”

“Well, don’t do it again.” I pull my head back, reach in to shift the van into park. “Get out,” I tell her and return to my seat.

“You’re not leaving me here are you?”

“Of course not. I’m driving.”

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