It's just a legend.
That thought died as another demon turned around and viciously hissed at them. Huge, green, and smelly, it was as real as she was.
This wasn't playtime and that definitely wasn't make-believe. As much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. These things were real.
Baring his own fangs, Ren angled his club at the beast, letting it know what would happen should it attack. It shrank away in fear. He put her in front of him while he rushed her through the building, and away from the rest of the creatures.
Too grateful to argue or even question Ren's peculiar dental problem right now, she rounded a corner, then pulled up short as she saw three divergent hallways. With no idea where they were going, she allowed Ren to choose the correct direction.
He headed left with huge predacious strides.
Kateri practically ran in order to keep up with him. One of his strides equalled two and a half of hers. "How did we get here, anyway?"
Ren winced at a question he didn't want to answer. He couldn't stand looking stupid or being mocked. But apparently, his sole purpose in life was to serve as the poster child of imperfection and incompetence.
Thanks, fate. Appreciate the consideration.
So rather than hide it like a coward, he told her the truth. "I was trying to take us to Sin's and somehow I landed us here. I know it was a stupid mistake, okay? I'm doing my best to fix it as quickly as possible."
"Hey." She pulled him to a stop. "It's all right. You were trying to help me. I'm not about to complain when you saved my life, especially since you bled to do it. What kind of person do you think I am? And by the way, thank you. For everything." She rose up on her tiptoes to place a quick, chaste kiss on his cheek.
Ren couldn't speak as those words echoed in his head and his skin burned from her soft lips. Lips that left him swollen and aching for a much more thorough physical exchange.
Honestly, he was baffled by her. No one had ever given him the benefit of the doubt before. In the past, whenever he screwed up, he was held accountable, and usually rather rudely. "I should have known better."
She snorted. "I don't think knowing has much to do with it. Besides, we were a little preoccupied with our near-death experiences. Give yourself a break. Out of everything that has happened in the last few hours, this isn't so bad." She gestured to his club. "At least we're armed and ready to battle. Well ... you are, anyway. Thank goodness."
Her generosity of spirit charmed him. He'd often heard it said that people had good hearts, but he'd so seldom seen them that hers caught him off guard. The majority of people he'd dealt with had been self-serving and cold.
Unforgiving.
And that had been his family.
Ren slowed down as they left the building. The moment they were through the door, the glamour spell was broken and instead of appearing as the Ishtar Casino he'd thought it to be, it took on its true form-an old gray stone structure that looked weathered and aged, in a town full of similar buildings. They were burned-out hulls against a dark landscape of utter misery. There was nothing inviting or beautiful about this place.
Worse than that, he hated to be back here where he was forced to face the memories he'd wanted to keep buried. The First Guardian was right. He flogged himself more than any torturer ever could.
And that thought reminded him of the first time he'd met Acheron-the immortal who led the Dark-Hunters. Though Acheron appeared physically young-he'd barely been twenty-one when he was killed-he was one of the oldest and wisest men Ren had ever known.
His features perfect and chiseled, Acheron held the swirling, silver eyes of a true ancient. "Life is messy, Ren. It's not easy and it's definitely not for the timid. Everyone has a past. Things that stab them right between the eyes. Old grudges. Old shame. Regrets that steal your sleep and leave you awake until you fear for your own sanity. Betrayals that make your soul scream so loud you wonder why no one else hears it. In the end, we are all alone in that private hell. But life isn't about learning to forgive those who have hurt you or forgetting your past. It's about learning to forgive yourself for being human and making mistakes. Yes, people disappoint us all the time. But the harshest lessons come when we disappoint ourselves. When we put our trust and our hearts into the hands of the wrong person and they do us wrong. And while we may hate them for what they did, the one we hate most is ourself for allowing them into our private circle. How could I have been so stupid? How could I let them deceive me? We all go through that. It's humanity's Brotherhood of Misery."
Ren had locked gazes with the Atlantean youth. "Tell me, Acheron. How do we find peace again when we have wronged ourselves and others?"
"If we're lucky, we find the one person who will hold our trust and keep it sacred and safe against all attackers. That one soul who will restore our belief that people are decent and kind, and that life, while messy, is still the most wondrous gift anyone can know. But until that day comes, we have to try and remember that home isn't a specific place or person. It's a feeling we carry inside ourselves. That touch of the divine that lights a fire inside us that burns out the past and consumes the pain until nothing is left but a warmth that allows us to love others more than ourselves. A warmth that only grows when we do right even while others seek to do us wrong. Peace is knowing that one life, no matter how trivial it seems, touches thousands of others, and learning to respect that about all people. While you may not mean much to the world, to those who really know and love you, you are their entire world. And it is the knowledge that no one can hurt you unless you allow them to. The only power they have isn't something they've taken or demanded. It's what we give them by choice. And while it is imperative that we value the lives of others, it is equally important to value our own."
Even though he'd wanted to believe Acheron's words, Ren scoffed. "You make it sound so easy, Atlantean."
Acheron had let out a short, bitter laugh. "The truth is always simple, but the path to it is overgrown with thorns and lined with traps. Our fears and our emotions cloud even the brightest day and the clearest truth. Talk is cheap, but actions are bloody. You can't plant the garden until you've overturned the soil. And nothing new can grow until the old dies. Lay your past to rest, Ren, so that your future can grow unimpeded by those ghosts. We can't change what we've done, but we can always change what we're going to do."
Those last words had branded themselves into Ren's heart and he had carried them through the centuries.
And tonight, he was going to protect the woman by his side with everything he had.
Kateri's features went pale as she surveyed her dismal surroundings. Never had she seen a more frightening place. A huge sallow moon hung over a town that reminded her of a Tim Burton landscape. Mournful cries for mercy and tortured screams echoed all around, many punctuated by the sound of insane laughter as if someone or something took pleasure from their pain.
A chill of foreboding ran up her spine. "Is this hell?"
"As close to it as I want to get." Ren stopped, then gently tugged her into a shadowed alley.
When she started to speak, he placed his finger over her lips. Only then did she hear the sound of something slithering by the area they'd been in only a heartbeat before. Bug-eyed, she held her breath until it vanished and all was relatively quiet again.
"I have to get you out of here," he whispered in her ear.
She couldn't agree more. "And you, too."