The Death Trials by Jonsie (rocket ebook reader txt) 📕

the air. His blond hair fell before his left eye but I guess he only needed one to shoot a bullet in my chest.
“Seven months.”
“One week.”
“You always were the optimistic one,” my partner said, trying to sound confident. I bet his jeans pockets were filled with shot bottles.
“If it were so, we’re screwed.”
Then I grabbed the gun from the ground and weighted it in my hand. It felt familiar. Too familiar.
“On the count of three?”
I swallowed. Aimed.

“Once more, you open the door…”

His finger was on the trigger. Slowly pressing. I did the same.
“One,” he crocked, his voice shaking.
I’ll come back, Caden.

“And you’re here in my heart…”

I promise. Like I always come back.
“Two.”

“And my heart will go on…”

Like Cyril came back?

Pulling the trigger. A loud sound- bang. The bullet ripping through the air. Our eyes meeting. Steady. He smiled, slightly. Not watching the bullet. So fast. Then closed his eyes.

“And on…”

“Three,” I whispered, looking straight at Elias before the bullet hit me, slamming me to the ground. Pain rushed over my body like a huge wave, covering me. The gun fell out of my hand, sliding away. I heard my partner fall too, both of us lying on the floor in the circle of death.

And then everything went black and white.

Welcome to Hell

Day one

My heart ached, my head pounded. I didn’t want to open my eyes, didn’t want to see it.
Everything black and white.
Hell isn’t loaded with fire, isn’t a city built on mountains. It was Los Angeles featuring Wonderland gone bad- all black and white. Drained out of color- cold, gray.
Someone moaned to my right. The only noise. Slowly I peered through my eyelids, looking straight at the black sky. No clouds, no stars.
No moon.
Elias rolled from his side on his back, covering his left eye.
“You shot me,” I huffed, “in the eye? Really?”
I couldn’t answer. Time went by so slowly. Reapers, humans- we were used to time running fast. Here, it was like walking, moving, speaking with humus and glue covering you. In slow motion, I pulled myself into a sitting position. We were still in color, but it drained quickly. Too fast.
“We… should get going,” I mumbled, rubbing my left chest. He shot me in the heart. Directly. I frowned. Maybe I should’ve told him that…-
“Sure, lead the way.”
Elias hived himself up, even faster than I had expected from him. I had thought, because it was his first trip down here, he would have a hard time to get used to everything.
Maybe I underestimated him.
He held his hand out towards me and I took it. With one swing he brought me on my shaky legs, steadying me.
“And I thought you are the expert.”
I gritted my teeth. He pushed a button there. So I shoved him away and tried out, how fast I could walk, before needing to stop. It was quiet a bit. I even jumped up and down some more while Elias watched me with an amused look in his dead, dull eyes. Nothing down here seemed living.
“Ready?”
Did he really need to ask?

Our feet made no sound. Silent like cats we strode through down town purgatory, meeting no hell spawn, no demon. Nothing.
You have to know, there are difference between spawns and demons. Oh, you already knew? Well, buckle up, because I’m gonna tell y’all again.
Level one hell spawn: manicas. They’re the easy one, even a first grade reaper could handle. Nasty sometimes (my leg is proof), but no big deal to catch.
Level two hell spawn: catrions. Demon cats. Fond of anything small, living and… male. Manageable, but exhausting.
Level three hell spawn: Dreammares. They invade your dreams and kill you off while you’re sleeping. Really nasty and deadly. It’s hard to control a dream that’s trying to rip your throat out.
Level four hell spawn: - Never met one, never will. Never want to, actually. Adult reapers take care of these bad guys.
Level five hell spawn: - - - - No comment.

And then there are demons. You see, hell spawns are souls who escaped hell. Demons are fallen angels or Satan created creatures who come to earth through a ritual or- the really powerful ones- can just pop out whenever they want to. They look like humans, all fleshy and stuff, but they’re eyes are always gold.
The devil’s color.

And usually, all of the demons are loud, stomping on the ground and enjoying their life of drinking whatever- whenever they want to and never getting drunk, while the poor souls have to slave them, get tortured or do other unspeakable things to regain their status to- maybe- go to heaven or visit the paradise. Yeah, paradise mentioned in the bible was in hell- or it became hell? Something like that. Never listened to Mr. James on Monday mornings.
“So… B?”
“Hm?”
“When is your lady friend coming? Because it’s really exhausting walking around, getting paler and to not have a clue to where we’re going.”
I agreed, but didn’t want to remind him that Lavia never gave me a place to meet- or time, for that matter. I just assumed, she’ll find us. Which she did, after Elias found a full bottle of wine in the corner of a house. Yeah, demons have their booze everywhere.
He took a good swing from it, grinning like the Cheshire cat afterwards.
“My god this is good.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I reminded him, as a petite girl suddenly appeared directly in front of me. She looked rather annoyed, her eyes narrowed.
“You sure took your time, reaper girly.”
“Yeah, well. Here we are. Be grateful.”
I stretched my arms out, indicating my welcome, ignoring my drinking partner. Lavia didn’t.
“Where is the scared boy?” she asked, liking her lips. Demons fed of fear and lust. Caden had a lot fear to give when he say something more powerful than a hell spawn level two.
“Not here.”
The snake demon almost let the disappointment wash over her features, but she caught herself early enough. So, she just sighed and put her hand against the wall behind her.
“Hold your breath, close your eyes and don’t let go of my hands. Understand?”
Elias set the bottle one last time to his lips then grabbed the hand Lavia was holding out to him. The bottle fell silently to the ground.
“Yes.”
But he shot me an uncertain look. I shrugged, not wanting him to see my nervousness, as I took the snake girls hand. The ballerina smiled a wicket smile as she opened a portal. Demon magic. Of course, the bad guys always get the most efficient powers. Where her fingers had touched the cool stone of the wall was a dark hole, the edges a bit fizzy as if you drank too much. I’m sure for Elias it was a normal sight. Without hesitating she stepped into the wall, pulling us behind her.

My legs were already gray. I felt the color being drained out of me while my partner seemed perfectly… colorful. The throne room had a high ceiling, was wide and empty- except from the huge chair at the end of the chamber. On it sat demon officer Belzeebub with a huge grin and sparkling golden eyes. Behind him stood the one person I didn’t want to see. Ever again. I knew Elias saw him too, because he chocked next to me. Lavia stepped forward, kneeling down on the floor with a bowed head.
“Master… I brought the reapers you asked for.”
The demon nodded once. He looked like a young Georg Clooney- with ram horns, golden crocodiles eyes and tanned skin. He had a human upper body, but bull legs, covered in red fur. After waving his hand (Lavia took as her cue to leave), he focused his gaze on me.
“Blake Yves Heart- it has been a long time.”
My sight drifted off to the boy standing behind Belzeebub. Too long. What eye color did he have back then? Brown? Or was it green with a slight gray touch? And his hair? A picture showed his black curls, different from mine. They caressed his cheek, his arms holding me tight against his body. We were at the beach, the sun burning, the waves tickling our toes and seagulls singing their songs over our heads. Summer where we were still alive. Our last vacation together.
“Is that…?” Elias crocked, knowing what happened to me- to him.
My twin brother.
“Yes. That’s Cyril.”
Confusion filled the big, round eyes of my partner before he swallowed.
“Holy shit on a stick!”
“Are you done down there? We have business to attend to,” Belzeebub barked, folding his hands over his flat stomach.
“We apologize, Master Belzeebub,” I mumbled, bowing slightly. Elias followed my example, still baffled. I’m sure he was thinking nonstop about what a reaper did in hell- after such a long time and being declared as dead. Gone. Missing.
“What do you want form us?”
Young Georg sighed. Then he clapped his hands, Cyril standing perfectly still at his side.
“My dear slave- bring our guest some tea, will you?”
He reached out for my brother, touching his arm. His fingertips trailed down, locking in with some of his fingers. I went real stiff, pressing my lips together. How dare he…! But Cyril belonged to him and it was my fault. Because of me he had to be down here, spineless. Not even showing one emotion, my brother with his full lips, high cheek bones and slender body turned around and walked away. There had to be a door behind the huge throne because after two seconds his foot steps weren’t heard.
Still, the demon waited a few moments, before looking back at me. Seeing me all cramped, he couldn’t help himself but grin.
“Feeling guilty?”
If he only knew.
I gritted my teeth.
“Guilty? Why?”
Elias raised his head. Something flashed inside Belzeebub’s eyes, as if he planned something glorious. Slowly, he stood up and walked down the wide stairs. With every step my partner scooted more towards me. Maybe I got things confused, but didn’t boys protect the girls? Or were woman so established into society they rescued themselves now from the high towers?
“Didn’t little Blake Heart tell you? Nah, nah, nah. Then I shall fill you in.”
“Don’t you dare,” I sneered, but demons rarely listen to a reaper or pretend to. Demon officers didn’t even do that.
“Oh, but I do,” Belzeebub grinned, standing now at the foot of the stairs, before his gaze focused on my blond hot reaper friend.
“You know, before Blake chose to wear only black and Cyril becoming my personal… slave, they were both reapers. Good ones- even the best in school. But then something happened. On a level one hell spawn mission a demon