CHAPTER 171

Up above, she heard what she assumed was an affirmative thump. Satisfied that at least someone was willing to hang back and help out, she went back inside and sat on the couch to await Tink and Yuki's return.

Mike jolted awake and shook his head. He had dozed off momentarily, so he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at his phone.

Another hour had passed. Cerberus was setting a good pace, and the swirling lights now occasionally blinded him with their intensity. The air had become cold, and he shivered, grateful for the warm arms around him.

The landscape had faded into an obscure mist, and distant cries like screams sent chills up and down his spine. He clutched Cerberus' fur tightly in his fists and closed his eyes.

"It's so awful here," he said. "I can feel it sucking the joy from my bones."

"Sorry, Romeo." She slid around him so that she sat in front, and he leaned into her, his head between her breasts. "This isn't meant to be a pleasant place."

He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. It wasn't just the heat leaving his body, but the absolute misery that rushed in to replace it. Thoughts that weren't his own flitted in and out, depressing things that whispered to him to step into the void. Large cracks had appeared in the ground all around Cerberus, and they stepped around them carefully.

"Remember why you're here," she whispered to him, like a mother to a child. "You have important things to do."

"You came along to protect me, didn't you?" His own voice was a whisper, and he heard it as if from far away.

"I was always planning to come. This is a bad place, waiting to swallow you whole like a snake. If not for Cerberus, I would have brought some of the others as well, your very own harem honor guard." She stroked his head, her long fingernails dragging through his hair like a comb. "I'm bad at being up front with you. I'm bad at a lot of things, actually, but I want to be better. If I'm being honest, Naia knew, too. That's the only reason she let you go without sending everyone in with you."

He smiled. It had seemed rather strange that everyone hadn't demanded to come, but he had attributed it to Cerberus.

"Was the handjob her idea, too? To keep my spirits high?"

Lily chuckled. "Let's just say I wanted some gas in the tank of my own. Just in case. While you're gone, I think the shadow is going to try and do something."

Mike sat up and looked at her. "I do, too. It's why I left the house to both of them, in case he came for me. Even if he took me out, he would have to get both of them afterward."

Lily opened her mouth to say something, then tilted her head to the side. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

He nodded his head. It was music that rang through his body, filling him with both joy and sorrow. He pictured golden musical notes that hovered in the air and wrapped around him, daring him to seek them out. Tears were running down his cheeks, and he wiped them away, his whole being flooded with emotions.

"Focus, Mike." Lily pinched his ass and he jumped.

"Right." He took the backpack from her and found the pair of earplugs inside, then stuffed them in his ears. The music dimmed and he was able to hold his thoughts together. "I assume we are almost there?"

He felt Lily tense up as Cerberus stepped over a hill and revealed a clearing surrounded by large stones in a pattern that reminded him of Stonehenge. In the middle was a brilliantly polished golden door that had opened just a crack, allowing a stream of light to illuminate the shadows of the Underworld. Faerie creatures slipped through the crack and immediately turned into motes of light before shooting off in every direction.

"Is that really it?" he asked. "Are we really here?"

"It would seem so." Lily was clearly shouting, but he barely heard her. Cerberus got close to the door and sniffed around before letting them down. Once on the ground, he turned to look at Lily, who handed him his backpack.

"I guess this is my stop," he told her.

A sly grin broke out on her face. "I guess so," she shouted. "When you see the queen, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything. Well, almost." He could think of a number of things he probably shouldn't do to the faerie queen.

Lily took his face in her hands and held him tightly, her eyes reflecting the supernatural light of the faerie realm. For just a moment, she looked like someone else, as if her demonic visage had been stripped away, leaving behind someone far more mortal than monster.

"Give her Hell for me!" she shouted, then planted a kiss on his lips. "She's not going to be happy to see you!"

"I'm fully aware." He looked at the door and took a deep breath. This was it, the moment of truth. But first, he took a moment to caress each of Cerberus' heads. The demon dog closed their eyes and rubbed up against him, then panted openly when he planted a kiss on their noses.

"Go home, Cerberus. Protect it until I get back."

Cerberus whimpered, but then bounded off into the mist, leaving Lily and Mike behind. When he looked at her, she gave him a mock salute, her wings flaring open behind her.

"I'm taking a different route," she informed him. "I have some business to attend to."

Curious what it was, now wasn't the time to chat about it. "Be safe," he cautioned.

"See you in your dreams." She blew him a kiss, then threw herself into the sky and vanished.