Chapter 29

"This mountain is so formed that it is always wearisome when one begins the ascent, but becomes easier the higher one climbs."

-Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio

The silence of the room was broken by long raspy breaths. Someone was standing by the bed, watching me through the gloomy darkness. The large windows were shaded with thick red curtains, and it'd been an hour since the sun hid itself behind the horizon. The creature in this room most likely had taken Natasha's body; I felt her human heart still beating wildly in her chest. Her face was hidden by the hood, somehow deformed, twisted at a strange angle. A wave of frigid air blasted me when I shut the door behind me. The creature that possessed this human's body was desperate to tap into my demonic energy. I wondered how it escaped from the underworld. In theory the Watchers were meant to keep an eye on unofficial entrances to earth, but that didn't quite work in practice.