Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)

26. Luca





I didn’t sleep at all that night. Pictures of what Hailz told me had happened to Mags ran through my head on a loop. My only distraction was the evil looks Hailz kept shooting my way. I know she was thinking of the many different ways she could kill me.

Frankly, I would deserve it. The humans have a saying, ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ They have it wrong. Ignorance is the destroyer of worlds. It tears family and communities apart. It drives men to war. But most of all, my ignorance has destroyed, its victim an innocent.

I will be subject to the punishment of one of the nine kings of Hades one day. I deserve nothing less and will take it willingly. Right now, I’d sell my soul to Iblis to save Mags.

“You f*cking idiot!!!” Hailz shouted at me, loud enough to wake the dead. For some new reason, she was angry at me.

“Do you mean it?” she demanded.

I was confused. I hadn’t said a word to her for hours. “Mean what?” I asked.

“Are you willing to give your soul freely to try and help Mags?”

My eyebrows hit the ceiling from the shock. “How did you know I was thinking that?”

Hailz looked bored with the question, but answered it anyway. “Why the hell do you think I spend so much time topside? You think I like it here? Aside from my not so random murder and mayhem, I’m a Soul Stealer.”

I was rather surprised. Hailz didn’t exactly strike me as a paperwork person.

Her attention was attuned to the windows and doors as if she were awaiting someone (probably my father) to burst through the doors). Hailz was ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

“I can hear it every time someone offers to sell their soul,” she continued. “My job is numbers. I will do whatever horrible thing I can to pillage those souls. I’m good at my job too. I’ve been the record holder for the last seventy-four years.”

“I thought you were Iblis’s right hand man,” I replied.

She laughed at me like I was stupid. “I can do two things at once f*ck face. So back to the matter at hand, is it worth your soul to save Mags?”

There was no question. “Yes.”

For the first time tonight, Hailz looked happy. “Cool. This will count for triple since I’m on a holiday.”

With a flash of brimstone, Hailz had the paperwork lying in front of me on the bed. “Now, since your signature will get me a bonus, I will do you a favor and give you a heads up,” she informed me. “I can’t promise Mags will survive, but the forfeiture of your soul will definitely tilt things in her favor.”

It didn’t matter if it didn’t work and I lost my soul for nothing. I promised Mags my life, that included my soul.

“Great. I’ll receive my punishment in Hades sooner.” I checked my pockets for a pen. “So where do I sign?”

Hailz put her hand up in front of her. “Hold on a minute, I’m not done,” she chided me. “You promised enslavement to her,” she pointed to Mags. “If Mags survives, I’m going to wait to collect. I’ll see you suffer your due before Iblis even touches you.

Those are my terms. Now, if you’ll give me your hand, I’ll just make a little nip and you can sign the paperwork in blood.”

With a smile on her face and a knife being twirled in her hand, Hailz looked only too happy to assist.

“I pulled out my own knife. “Thanks, but I’ll handle my own blood work,” I told her.

“Party pooper,” she grumbled as her knife disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I didn’t hesitate. I pricked my finger with the end of my knife. The moment the drop of blood made contact with the document, the smell of sulphur permeated the air. That was right before my forearm began to burn. I yelped in pain, wincing through the feeling of flames licking my skin. Once the burning feeling subsided, I looked down at my arm to see the cause of it. There was a smiley face with two x’d out eyes branded on my forearm. I raised an eyebrow in question at Hailz.

“It’s my own special mark.” She then smiled and I realized what the face of evil truly looked like. “It keeps the other Soul Stealers away,” she explained.

I narrowed my eyes at her. Knowing her, the pain and subsequent branding was probably just to spite me.

I kept vigil for signs of Mags’s return while Hailz was perched on her chair, lying in wait to welcome any intruders that dared. Neither of us got what we wanted.

Sometime past daybreak the Fae princess Fiona returned to the room followed by two of what had to be the most hideous looking creatures I’ve ever seen. They seemed as if they were made from the stuff of nightmares. Fiona introduced them as the Dreamweavers. I likened them to a drunken Carnival nightmare. Hailz later explained that their look was due to their extremely long longevity.

Fiona addressed them first. “I explained to you last night the particulars of the situation. Do you think you can help her?”

One of them spoke. I’m not sure which one it was as they both looked like identical.

“We’ve been with Magdalene since the horror began. She is of interest to us. We gave her what help we could. She still exists, but her voice is faint, even to us.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I begged of the creature.

“She needs her magic,” the whatever it’s called recommended. “With that she may return, but you must hurry. She is weak and her light is fading.”

Fiona then showed the men, at least I think they were men, out. I felt helpless, like a child unable to survive by itself. Every moment we wasted was making the situation grimmer.

“F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!” Hailz shouted, finally leaving her seat. She was upset, something clearly had her rattled.

“We’re going to have to go to Elemental Deep,” Hailz sighed, defeated. “It’ll take forever for all of us to get there. Sure there’s a portal to the top, but we’d have to carry her all the way down into the mines. I really don’t think Mags has that kind of time.”

Distracted by Mags’s survival chances, it took me a minute before I realized it. “We don’t have to go,” I told the room.

“So….what? We should just put her out of her misery without even trying?” Hailz questioned me and threw her hands in the air.

I jumped up from my spot by Mags’s side, energized by my revelation. “No Hailz. Take your head off murder for a second. What I meant is that we don’t have to go because someone already went and got the keys.”

I quickly explained Jack, John, and Melissa’s trip down there. “All we have to do is find them,” I suggested.

Hailz stood up and started shouting. “Fi! Fiona!”

Fiona rushed in, assuming the worst. She was relieved when she saw the up and down movement of Mags’s chest.

Hailz asked Fiona to have the palace guarded by the entire village Fae while she was gone. “No one, not even your mother is allowed in her until I return,” she demanded with all the ferocity of a mama bear. “Do you understand?”

“All you have to do is ask,” Fiona chided her gently. “I’ll protect her with my own life. No hurry.”

Hailz’s bond with Mags was still in effect. That allowed her to pop in and out across the world. Fiona shooed her on her way and Hailz disappeared in a flurry of purple and gold.


“Fiona waved her hand in front of her face and turned to me. “I understand this bond agreement, but why does it have to be so messy?”