90: Final farewell to hell

“Liam, I *had* to. H-he’s not dead.” I said, instinctively backing away from him.
But it seemed that what I said had gone in the one ear and out the other. He snarled deeply and swiped his claws at me. He missed, just barely and I rolled away from him. This behaviour was unlike him. The Liam I knew would have given me a chance to explain.
“He’s not in his right mind.” Vincent said, a little distance behind me. Liam launched his foot towards my head. I dove backward, again, just barely missing him.
“What do you mean-” I ducked, avoiding a punch to the face, “-that he’s not in his right mind?”
“It’s this place. It makes people from the mortal realm… unusually aggressive. Hell preys on your worst emotions and twists them up until you’re unrecognisable. Unfortunately, your hurting that young man over there must have turned this one rabid. And what’s worse us that the hell fires have begun,” Vincent said, pointing to the left. Small cracks had formed in the hard rocky ground, and from them, hellish red flames had begun to escape.
“Are you sure you don’t need my help?”
“Uh huh, I’m sure.” I said after dodging another kick. Liam was merciless.
I’d begun to realise, however, that our little broken-up team was missing a member- David. I searched for him, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint the man between all of these bodies. However, in looking for David, I let my guard down and failed to miss Liam’s claws which dug into my side. I groaned in agony and couldn’t help but give in to the urge to punch him in the face. I was angrier than I should have been. But it wasn’t just a normal sense of anger which was beginning to come over me. This was something foreign and dark and raw and fierce like the fire which ignited all around us. And suddenly, this overwhelming urge to hurt him began to kick in. I *wanted* him to hurt. I *wanted* to see him bleed.
I let out a loud roar which echoed throughout the entire room. It was enough to distract everyone for a moment, to have them all looking at me, which, honestly, wasn’t the best thing in the world, especially considering that this room was full of demons just itching to get their hands on my precious soul to trap me down here for all eternity.
I was about to lunge for Liam, and he was about to lunge towards me when I was tackled by one of the notorious winged creatures. She smelled of death and her claws hung in the air, glinting tauntingly at me. But I was still running on hell’s rage vibes and so as she tried to plunge her claws into me, I grabbed at her scorched hand and crushed it in my grasp. She cried out in agony, and I bit into her neck, tearing her blackened flesh right off the bone. Her blood tasted like burnt toast and I spat it out the moment it touched my tongue. The demon rolled off of me and began crawling away before she vanished into a whisp of dust.
But I was wrong if I thought my troubles were over. Liam was still far angrier than I was and the second I got off of the floor I was tackled back onto it. Liam launched a successful punch into my face, and then another and another until I started coughing up blood all over the floor. In an angry haze, I flipped us over and wrapped my hands around his throat, digging my thumbs into it. Liam had a wicked look on his face, and a smile appeared on his lips. It caught me off-guard, and he knew it would because in the next second he had me face-down on the ground with his elbow digging between my shoulder blades.
“You fucking hurt Xavier!” He whispered lowly. “And now-” suddenly, I felt a sharp pain running against my spine, “-I’m going to hurt you.”
“Would this be a bad time to ask if you need my help?” Vincent asked again. This time there was a slight sense of nervousness in his voice. It was adorable how he thought that I’d actually need help in trying to defeat Liam. I was much stronger than him, by far, and so the problem wasn’t defeating him, but trying not to kill him.
There was, however, no use in trying to reason with Liam. Both he and I were running on rage, his more potent than mine. But I was sure that if he continued like this, I’d eventually lose all control of myself, no matter how hard I’d try to restrain myself, and end his life.
“Vincent,” I yelled from underneath Liam, “I need to get him out of here.”
Vincent pointed towards the door. “You mean-?”
“-yes.”
Vincent grabbed at Liam and tossed him off of me. I got up of the floor, and with me blood began dripping onto the ground. My blood. Liam had scratched deeply into my back.
“I’ll grab Liam, you take this key. When we get to the door, shove it into his hand. If I touch it, I’ll go through instead of him.” I said to Vincent. He nodded and took the key from me.
I ran towards Liam and before he had time to claw at me, I snatched at his hand and grabbed him.
“Everything I’m doing is for you.” I said firmly, before dragging him away. He was no easy passenger and the further into the room we got, the deeper the gashes on my back became.
“Let me go you bitch!” He kept on yelling at me. I was really going to punish him when all this was over.
Once we’d made it to the door, I pressed him tightly against it. He struggled still and I was beginning to have this sudden urge to knock his teeth out.
“Quickly, the key!” I said with a low growl.
Vincent placed the key into Liam’s hand tightly and soon a halo of light began to glow around him.
“N-no! I’m not done with you!” Liam yelled as the glow brightened. But it was too late. He was already disappearing. All that he left behind was the hauntingly fierce look in his red eyes. I’d never seen so much of hatred in one person, and to make it worse, it was hatred that did not belong to him. If I ever ended up trapped somewhere for eternity in the future, I hoped it would never be down here. We’d spent so little time in here but had still exposed ourselves enough to its violence to completely strip us away from who we were. It did, however, have me wondering why I hadn’t reacted this way when I’d first come here with Demetri and Sebastian. Further, I wondered why Vincent remained so human-like.
And so, seeing as I now had a moment to spare, one which I knew I would not have the privilege of having hereafter, I turned toward him and voiced my curiosity.
“Lucretia’s magic is different than the black magic here in hell. She’s the reason I’m still myself… for the most part. I can’t fully get rid of my demonic urges sometimes. But when you arrived here, you didn’t spend a lot of time out in the open before Lucretia brought you to her home. Her home is imbued with her own magic which cancels out hell’s poisonous energy. She was going to prepare something for you to allow you to resist this toxic environment, but I’m afraid she’s on a very tight leash, especially today.” Vincent explained.
I nodded in understanding and then took a glance around. Xavier was still safe and unconscious in his little corner, but I still could not find David. I wondered if he’d made it out already, and if so, why he hadn’t extended a hand. Admittedly, I needed him more in this round and the next than I ever did, yet ironically, he was nowhere to be seen.
Nonetheless, I’d done what I’d planned on doing, and now only one thing remained- finding a key.
“Now, are we finally finished with helping out your damsels in distress?” Vincent asked.
I chuckled and shook my head. “I have so many people that I want to protect-”
“But you can’t stay here any longer.” He said, cutting me off. He was right. Some of the demons had begun making a move towards me, and if I was trapped here, the world would truly be doomed and all the lives I would have saved here would have been ended as soon as they made it out of here.
“Yes. I need to find a key soon then.”
“You mean a key like this?” Vincent said, extending his hand and presenting a key atop his palm.
I smirked and took it, savouring its warmth in my own palm.
“Go.” He said firmly. I nodded and as I placed the key against the door and the familiar bright glow enclosed around me, I gave him a smile and said, “Until we meet again, Vincent, and please make sure my Xavier remains unharmed for the remainder of this round."
He nodded and then he returned my smile with a subtle sadness in his. We both knew that this would be the last time we’d ever see each other again, but for once I was thankful to Meera. She'd given me the opportunity to spend the day with one of Sebastian's relatives.
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Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!