Chapter 6
“Cole,” I breathed with a sigh of relief. The air around me warmed as the heat of Hell invaded through this realm.
I didn’t remember him having the power to portal through Hell, much less through realms, but maybe he’d succeeded in finding Hell’s Heart.
The last time we’d come to the Enchanted Forest it had required a powerful portal that Lucifer had started, and even then he’d needed me to finish it.
Cole shouldn’t be able to find me here.
But he had.
Which meant that he’d uncovered the Death Lotus. That was the only explanation for this.
He’d found what I thought I needed to successfully complete our bond, as well as an impressive power boost.
The ground shifted and broke, sending cracks running up the stone walls.
“Bring her!” Dante shouted from the hall.
“The portal’s not ready!” Hendrik replied, but Logan was already dragging me across the room.
Hendrik was a powerful Dark Mage, and his ability to create portals seemed to be something he had a knack for. I’d never considered how powerful that made him until now.
Orion released a blast of light, pushing down Cole’s power.
“I can’t hold the demon back for long,” Orion said as I resisted Logan, but the wolf quickly commanded me to follow him with his Alpha’s growl.
Fuck. I really needed to figure out how to get rid of his mark, because this wasn’t working out at all as I had hoped.
“Stop… doing that!” I bit out as my legs disobeyed me, sending me scampering after Logan and down the hall.
We entered a new room as Hendrik cursed and sliced a knife over his wrist, making me flinch.
The room didn’t have much within it, only a wide open space with blood drawn onto the marble slabs in a circular pattern.
Dante offered his scarred arm. He already had a number of new cuts where Hendrik had marked him. I expected it was to extract more power for his spell. “Take what you need,” Dante instructed.
Hendrik glared at him as the ground rumbled and Orion made a frustrated sound from the other room. “What I need is another hour to do the spell properly without bleeding us both dry.”
“You have ten seconds,” Orion growled from the doorway. “You better figure it out.”
Light infused within him, shining out in all directions as he fought against the flames ripping through the floor. He seemed to will them back, but it was a losing battle. The heat rushed toward us, making my nostrils flare when I scented home.
I glanced down, seeing the fissure expanding and I acted on instinct.
Reaching out a hand, I released my Hellfire, adding to the burn that was already scalding its way through the realms.
Logan growled, then immediately ordered me to stop, which was a command I had no choice but to obey.
It didn’t matter.
The flames I’d added to the stewing inferno tipped the balance, sending the ground breaking away at the edges and revealing the layer of Hell that broke through from underneath.
I’m almost there, Lilith, Cole promised me.
“Fuck!” Hendrik shouted, then fisted his dagger as he glared at me. “We’re leaving whether your demon wants us to or not, pet.” He flicked over the blade, then handed the hilt to Dante. “Stab me in the heart.”
“What?” the Hunter asked, taken aback.
My eyes went wide. “Are you insane?”
“Most likely,” my Dark Mage replied as Dante took the blade. He spread out his arms just as Cole’s claws speared through the ground just a few feet away. “Do it, Hunter. Or I’ll do it for you, and I would prefer to focus on the spell before I pass out.”
Dante glanced at Logan who gave him a subtle nod.
They were actually going to go through with this.
Dante thrust forward without any further hesitation, impaling Hendrik on the left side of his chest and I screamed, launching myself toward them.
But it was too late. Orion’s massive fingers wrapped around my arm, keeping me in place, but I didn’t fight him.
I couldn’t allow Cole to drag me back to Hell, not now.
Hendrik would need me to survive this.
But I couldn’t leave Hell unprotected, either. My visit to the Enchanted Forest had intended to be a short one, not enough time to do any permanent damage to the realm.
I’d already been gone too long. I needed to do something to prevent the frost that would take over the realm in my absence.
I powered its Hellfire as the last remaining royal within its main layers to keep things warm.
My mother was supposed to be on her throne managing Hell’s flow of heat and magic, but Lucifer had sent her somewhere deep enough that Hell’s outer layer wasn’t kept warm.
Hendrik made a strangled sound as he fell to his knees and gripped the dagger sticking out of his chest. Red dribbled down his chin as his dark eyes found mine, his soulless heart seeking me in his vulnerable state.
Why? I pleaded with him, but he couldn’t hear me. Calamity continued to block me from my Virtues, making me want to tear it to pieces.
He opened his mouth, but he didn’t speak to me. He didn’t return my sentiments of love and concern.
Instead, he betrayed me by speaking the words of the spell, activating the portal drawn in blood that yawned open and sucked us all in.
My insides flipped and a warm hand caught my wrist, keeping me in place.
Cole had extracted himself from the broken ground, but it had cost him. Cuts bled across his face, leaving black streaks as he snarled. “Hold on, my Queen,” he said, digging his heels into the ground as it warped and changed.
He was still in Hell’s realm. He hadn’t fully transitioned to the Enchanted Forest, and now Hendrik’s spell was launching us to earth at super speed.
Three realms at once.
It would tear us all to pieces.
My Dark Mage had impaled a dagger into his heart, providing the ultimate sacrifice that would easily complete any spell he could have desired, so we weren’t going to be staying put.
Which left me with one choice.
I held onto them.
All of them.
My Virtues.
My soulmates.
And I screamed, defying the order of the cosmos to keep them all alive.