I knew of only one place in the village, other than the pub, that we could go, which was unfortunate. It would not have been the first time that I wished travelling The Void worked much more like teleportation. Simply choose your destination and there it would take you, but that was not how it worked. Oh it would take you anywhere on Earth you needed to go, provided you were travelling from Hell. Open it on the surface and there was only one destination it would take you to, and I was not ready to go back there, not yet.

It felt somewhat perverted, taking Lucas back to Jesse's house when its owner was a prisoner in Hell, almost as if I had taken over the place without permission. I was presumptuous of me to just use the place as I wished while he wasn't there, but I didn't know where else we could go. Sitting out in the open wasn't appealing, though we probably wouldn't be any more difficult to find no matter where we went, there was just some sense of security that four walls and a roof could give you.

We ran through the night, physically bursting through the bubble of Lucas' time freeze that still surrounded the street sending it fizzing out of existence, and turned down onto the narrow lane just as the lights and sirens of an ambulance rolled into view. We streaked like shadows through the darkness, Lucas following my lead as I clutched tightly to the whiskey bottle and choking back the urge to laugh. I had no idea why I wanted to laugh, something about the freedom of running, of feeling the cool summer night air whipping at my face and grabbing my hair caused all of my bubbling emotions to rise to the surface in search of release. It was either laugh or cry, and laughter felt far more appealing.

“You do actually know where we're going don't you, Rayne?” Lucas called out from behind me as I gradually slowed my pace to look out for the correct path up to Jesse's house. I might have been in and out of that place a number of times now, but the overgrown hedgerow kept the house well disguised and I didn't want to run past it. “You're not just taking me on some wild goose-chase, hoping you'll manage to lose me somewhere along the way right?”

At that I did laugh, hard. Doubling over with my hands on my knees I tried to catch my breath through chokes and guffaws.

“Why are you laughing?” Lucas skidded to a halt beside me, breathing just as hard from our run.

I shook my head. “I don't know,” I said between gasps. “This whole thing is just so ridiculous. What the hell happened to my life.” The tears were in my eyes before I knew what was happening, and I sank down to my still sore knees as my chuckles turned to sobs.

Lucas sighed. “Yes, I suppose it hasn't exactly been going to plan. Come on, is this the house?” I looked down the gravel path I'd stopped beside, the tangle of weeds that passed for its garden, even in the dark I could picture the wooden door with its old coat of peeling paint. I nodded and Lucas tugged me back to my feet again. “Well, come on then. Let's get indoor and crack open that bottle. It might help things seem a little easier to handle.”

I doubted it. Spilling my guts and then being taken down to Hell to face the music was never going to be easier to handle. I was still holing onto a small shred of hope that I could win Lucas round, convince him to help me figure out why they were doing this to me, and help me figure out how I might get out of this mess. But a part of me was holding tight to the reality, I could hope, but it was a futile hope, there was going to be no way around this it would all just depend on how things played out once we got back to Hell.

We settled ourselves in the kitchen at the large dining table. Despite a lack of soft furnishings it still felt much more comfortable than the dated and musty living room. Plus I didn't feel quite so much like I was invading Jesse's home uninvited while not surrounded by family photographs and personal knick-knacks that Jesse had never bothered to pack away – besides, Lucas was hardly the first demon I had entertained at that table. I poured the drinks, heavily dosing my own with ice and filling his tumbler much higher.

“So, go on then,” Lucas said after taking one long, appreciative swallow from his glass. “Regale me with this harrowing tale of yours, and then we'll see how we can handle things back home. I do want to help you, you know that, but they gave me an order, and it's more than my life is worth to disobey them.”

It was nice to hear the words directly from his lips, but somehow I thought our ideas of what would constitute help would differ from each others. I knew he was right, not delivering me to Hell as he had been instructed would not end well for him, helping me to my own ends would not doubt end worse, and it pained me to think that he would get into even more trouble on my account. I would have to go back to Hell with him, there was no other option on that part, I couldn't leave him to go back empty handed, but I'm sure he could understand if I wasn't exactly in a hurry to get on with my story so we could jump into The Void together. I wanted to savour my last moments of freedom while I still could.

But, likewise, I knew I wouldn't be able to stall forever and eventually I found the words falling from my lips; aided by small regular sips from my glass. It did feel good to let it all out. Every little insignificant detail, every fantastical theory I had managed to concoct along the way. The Whisperers that had hounded me:Frank; Maura; that police officer. The impossible case I'd been sent on in the first place, Frank's little revelation that had actually cost me far more than it had been worth. How could Lucas not see it the same way as me? Surely he would realise I was being set up, and for what? That was the big question, and the one I was hoping that he would help me to answer.

I'd come to a resolution that the answers I was really seeking would probably only be found in Hell. So, if I had no choice but to go back there, I may as well search for what I wanted while I was there. It would be a rather dangerous task, especially when all of Hell would know the precise moment we arrived, but there were few other options and I wasn't about to have the last of my time in Hell prove to be fruitless. Oh, and of course the question of Jesse had to come up at some point too.

“Do you have any idea what might of happened to him?” I asked, hopefully, but Lucas shook his head.

“No, I had no idea he'd even been brought to Hell until you mentioned it. He wasn't executed – executions were always a public affair in Hell – but I suppose if they really wanted to do away with him they'd do it on the sly...”

A disappointed sigh whistled through my lips. To tell the truth I had assumed as much. They might not have made his death a public spectacle, keeping it a secret could be one attempt to lure me down to Hell in hope of rescuing him, should their other attempts at getting me there fail. But why would they really need to keep him alive? He held valuable and dangerous information, he couldn't ever be released, they'd never trust his word that he wouldn't tell a soul what he knew. And with whatever report the Whisperer that had possessed Frank had cooked up about the two of us, they would be much better off having him killed.

Still though, I wasn't about to go back to Hell and not at least find out what had happened to him. If I could get him out of there then I damn well would.

“I'm still going to look for him,” I said with renewed determination in my voice. “I need to know for sure. And I want answers, real answers. I'm not just going to give myself up before they explain themselves. There has to be a better explanation than the one they fed that damn Whisperer.” Picking up the bottle I refilled both our glasses, mine only took a tiny drop to fill it back to its original volume, Lucas had been almost done.

“Is there no way I can talk you out of trying to find him?” Lucas asked as he picked up his drink and cradled it for a moment. “I mean I understand that you want an explanation for all of this, but him? Rayne, he's just a human. Do you really want to risk your life for a human?”

I shook my head, leaving my own drink untouched. “You don't understand, none of you do. We all talk about humans like they're some kind of inferior being, a parasite or something to be wiped out. We need them.” Lucas looked at me incredulously, not understanding at all where I was going with my ranting. “Don't you get it? Without humans on Earth we would become obsolete, we would no longer have a purpose. Their existence means that our kind, and all other demons that cross over serve a function, we have a reason to exist.”

“But we wouldn't just cease to be if there were no more humans, Rayne. We would still exist.”

“And can you imagine the chaos? No more humans to occupy their time and all the different breeds will turn on each other. We'd end up destroying ourselves.”

“Then we'd be no better than humans.” Lucas rolled his eyes as he cast that last remark with a wave of his hand before he downed his drink and refilled it for himself. He shook his head as if considering my words, but I could tell he didn't quite agree with me, not entirely.

“Fine, you might be right there, but aren't you being a little over-dramatic? He's one human, his death isn't going to cause the whole fabric of existence to disintegrate.”

“How do you know for sure? They're always so particular about the rules, not to upset the whole cosmic balance ourselves, hell keeping the world in order is the entire reason our breed exists. What if killing Jesse does tip things too far?” I knew I was starting to grasp at straws with my argument, it was far fetched and desperate, but I still felt I was onto a perfectly valid point.

“To be fair, Rayne, I think you've already gone the thrown out the cosmic balance argument yourself. How many people is it that you've killed now? With all the ripples that created I hardly think one more death, especially if it was performed in Hell, is going to make a huge difference. Besides, he's probably already dead as it is.”

I wanted to keep on arguing with him, there had to be another counter to his point, but something he had said gave me pause to think rather than jump up with another comeback. Although his remark about the people I had killed hit hard, I still hadn't really dealt with any of that, but it raised another interesting point. Had I created my own set of ripples? Set the scale to tipping in the wrong direction, if so then it would be my own life that needed to be sacrificed to set things to right again. And if killing Jesse only tipped the scales even further out of my favour what cause would they have to keep him alive?

“One more death is all it ever takes,” I muttered softly as this realisation settled over me like a dark cloud raining over my head. Could I really have made things any worse for myself. Though a frown then creased my brow as a very familiar feeling of stubbornness crept up from the dark. No, this wasn't what was happening, I hadn't shifted the balance, nothing had changed. “It hasn't changed!” I repeated to myself out loud, earning a puzzled look from Lucas who was entirely unaware of how my mind had been working.

“Hasn't what?”

“The world hasn't been thrown out of balance. Even though I killed all of those people everything is still the same.” A part of me knew I sounded like a petulant child, determined to get her own way, but Lucas wasn't about to coddle me.

“Are you sure about that? Hasn't the world been feeling much more chaotic since that first kill?”

“But...that's just been happening to me. It's not been chaos on a global scale, it's just been me fucking up ever more dramatically.”

“And don't you think that might be exactly how it starts? A slow build up, a ripple effect. That's where we get the time to step in and straighten things back up again, Rayne. It's not going to be like someone flipping a switch on or off.”

I didn't want to believe what he was saying was true, but at the same time I found myself unable to deny any of it any longer. “So now you're stepping in to stop me before things get even more out of control.”

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

I nodded, defeated and feeling completely the fool. How had I not seen what was right in front of my nose the whole time? Had I not truly understood, for all of those year, exactly what it was my job achieved.

“Fine,” I muttered, “I know you don't have a choice. But please, help me find some real answers. I didn't bring all of this down on myself, I know there is something bigger going on.”

Lucas nodded, “For all of the years of what I suppose we should call friendship, Rayne, I will do as much as I can for you. I promise.” As long as I'm not sticking my own neck on the chopping block, were the words I knew went unsaid at the end of his promise, but I would take what I could get. Desperate times and all that.

I knocked back what was left in my glass, cringing at the burn as it trailed down my throat and coughing, wishing I'd just left it untouched on the table.

“Well then, let's get this over with. Time to face the music.”

Lucas stood as well, setting aside his own empty glass, and reached for my hand. His grip was comforting and strong, even if there was the slightest hint of a threat at how tightly he held on, I was not about to get away from him and he was letting me know that.

“But I am going to find out what happened to Jesse, whether you like it or not.”