"Still dark in here," said the voice of his only friend.
"You here for me, Gabriel?"
"No, but thanks for asking."
Rhyn growled a painful laugh, appreciative of the death dealer's dark humor. Especially now, when he had no one else.
"What am I?" he asked, panting as he dropped to all fours.
"Not sure. You look like a cross between a were-beast and a bird."
Gabriel's touch was like ice, and Rhyn shuddered. He changed again and this time recognized his human form. One wall of his cell lit up suddenly. He shielded his eyes and gazed into an empty prison cell opposite his. Surprised, he crossed to the bars of his cell but found the whole wall disappeared when he touched it. In darkness again, he dropped his hands.
"Hell sucks."
"Yeah." Gabriel's voice was quieter.
"You and Death fighting?"
"Never. She'd win."
Rhyn snorted and faced the corner, making out Gabriel's eyes, which gleamed darker than a night in Hell itself. The death dealer was his only friend who'd stuck with him since he'd been banned to Hell by his brothers and dragged there by the immortal death dealer before him. Gabriel's visits weren't often, but Rhyn had grown to like him.
"Brought you something."
Gabriel held out a vial he'd last seen in the hand of a furious Death. A thrill went through Rhyn as he claimed it. He popped the top off and dumped the sandy magic into the air. The sand transformed into a mist and swirled around him before settling into his skin. He felt the magic penetrate him to the core, and the ancient tattoos marking him as both an immortal and an Ancient blazed red in the darkness before subsiding.
For the first time in years, he felt whole again. He tested his ability to control the familiar magic. Hell buffered his natural inability to rein in the magic and absorbed much of his energies.
"Who'd you kill for this?"
"I have other means of obtaining stuff," Gabriel said with some offense.
Rhyn felt Hell's and Sasha's power roll over him like a boulder in a river. They couldn't control him once he left Hell; no one could.
Even Kris. Rhyn's anger made his cell wall shake before the energies of Hell itself began suctioning his power from him.
"Easy," Gabriel warned. "I'm breaking Immortal Code one last time to bring that to you."
"Fuck the code."
"Rhyn."