To Hell and Back Read Online Free Page A

forest covered the landscape on the other side.
    The forest was thick and silent, but a shiver rolled over Kira as she gazed into the multicolored stand of trees. The autumn colors were near blinding in the early morning sun, and though the warmth of reds and gold and oranges were abundant, the shadows that surrounded the trees were eerie. Mist rolled near the edge like long plumes of smoke and she shuddered, remembering the gray realm. Remembering what mist and fog could hide.
    Something didn’t look right.
    “Shit,” the man beside her uttered harshly.
    Kira glanced up at him but his eyes were trained to where hers had just been. His brows furrowed, accenting the cold depths in his eyes, and she knew this wasn’t a man to be crossed.
    “We can’t go that way. The trees are filled with Askula demons.”
    Kira had no idea what the hell Askula were, but she didn’t like the sound of it or the feeling she got when she stared into the forest.
    He glanced down at her, skimmed over the dagger in her hand, and nodded to his left. The parking lot ended behind the bank, and beyond that was the main street with a children’s playground on the other side. “We’ll go that way.”
    Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and Kira took off, Priest falling in behind her. Her heart beat rapidly, filling her body with adrenaline, and her legs flew over the concrete.
    When she’d been confined at the Regent Psychiatric Institute many a night she’d lain awake in her prison, dreaming of the chance to stretch her legs and run as far away as she could. Of taking in great gulps of free air and leaving Mergerone and his awful hands, smelly breath, and wet mouth behind.
    “Pick up the pace,” Priest growled, inches from her back. Overhead, gray bulbous clouds blocked out the sun and a cold wind scattered bits of debris into the air. Small stones hit her face hard, like icicles against glass. She gasped as pain rifled over her cheekbones and dug deeper for more strength as she ran across the street, narrowly avoiding a large SUV.
    The driver yelled an obscenity at them as they hopped the guardrail and slid down a steep embankment that led to the park.
    No longer was the town of Waterford quaint. It was teeming with otherworld, with darkness and evil. Fear clutched at her insides, and Kira wove through the metal playground equipment, pausing long enough to catch her breath before Priest pointed to a house set back from the road, a few hundred feet up.
    “There,” he said, nodding. “We’ll take the car.”
    They reached the driveway just as the clouds overhead began to seep heavy, fat drops of rain. The car, a small, silver Honda Accord, had more rust along its panels than steel, and Kira thought it would be a miracle if the damn thing actually worked. She looked back toward where they’d come from, her eyes narrowing as she tried to see through the gloom and thick sheets of rain that now fell.
    “I’ll see about the keys.”
    She heard Priest but couldn’t look away from the vision that now emerged from the rain and mist. A shudder wracked her body and she pushed long, wet pieces of hair from her eyes as the fear inside her tripled. Huge, hulking beasts—seven of them—walked through the park in slow, controlled movements. They were flanked by two animals nearly as tall as them—animals that looked an awful lot like Logan’s hellhound form.
    Red eyes burned into the back of her brain and a steady, low hum began to navigate its way along the slick driveway, up her legs, where it settled inside her stomach.
    Hurry!
    The whispered word slipped through her brain and then she yanked on the car door, eyes frantically searching for Priest as he appeared from behind the two-story, white plank house.
    “Hurry!” she shouted hoarsely.
    Priest jumped into the car, cursing as he adjusted the seat to fit his tall frame, and when the engine roared to life, Kira exhaled, her hot breath misting up the window as she tried to see. The rain