Alex Stern, #2
Hell Bent
by Leigh Bardugo
Contents
Chapter 40
Overview
Darlington admits his lingering demonic hunger and fears hell will claim one of the team in the coming descent, offering himself as the price. He confirms Alex’s Wheelwalker nature and proposes safeguards against his volatility. Alex refuses any planned sacrifice, asserts control, and moves to coordinate with Turner.
Summary
In a tense private exchange, Darlington observes Alex’s survivor instincts and deflecting humor before both acknowledge growing uncertainties. Darlington outlines Alex’s power to use the dead—and potentially the living—then reflects on his time in hell, admitting he relished inflicting suffering as a demon.
Questioning his humanity, Darlington notes the team’s competence in his absence and suggests practical safeguards against his demonic impulses: keeping salt on hand and warding his residence so he cannot leave unescorted. He recognizes Alex as a Wheelwalker but concedes they need deeper research to understand it.
Darlington warns that the descent will demand a price: hell will keep one of them to balance the ledger since a murderer remains unclaimed, keeping the door open. He confesses he fed on the pain of the dead and still hungers for suffering. Alex, unfazed, counters that survival requires doing what’s necessary and tells him to control himself.
When Darlington offers himself as the sacrifice, Alex refuses. She rejects fatalism after their struggle to rescue him, tells him his problem is an unhealthy respect for rules, and takes charge—heading to consult Turner and make calls—while instructing Darlington to rest.
Who Appears
- Daniel Arlington (Darlington)Struggles with lingering demonic hunger, proposes safeguards, warns hell will claim one life, offers himself as the price.
- Alex SternWheelwalker; rejects Darlington’s self-sacrifice, asserts control, and moves to coordinate next steps with Turner.