Chapter One
Itwiddled about the dining room, setting up the decorations, laying out the dinnerware, and arranging the birthday dinner.
What luck it was that Dora’s graduation was scheduled for the same day as her birthday. Now we had double the reason to celebrate, and my boss had double the reason to float some extra shifts my way.
Thunder boomed, swinging my attention to the bay window. Outside, dark, ominous clouds loomed overhead—promising to wash this special day under a river of rain.
I clicked my tongue. “Shame it’s going to rain today, but at least we’re celebrating indoors.”
“Tch, darling, wake up.”
I was calm as I turned to face the head of the table.
“It’s not the rain that’s going to turn this day sour.”
I gazed into Lucifer’s mirthless smile, and then down on the cake resting in the middle of the table—waiting to end up on a frog demon’s head, and not in our bellies.
“Oh,” I murmured—calm as I could only be in a dream. “This is that night.”
The loathsome, smirking son of a bitch rolled his eyes at me.
“Why is it the thoughts of you mortals are always so tedious? As we speak, your sleeping body is being protected by men more powerful and handsome than you’ve ever seen, and instead of walking into a sweaty, romping threesome, you’re here pointlessly dreaming of the past, and raking over all the ways you could’ve changed the outcome? ”
“Is this why you’ve come?” I moved down the table and began fixing the balloons to Dora’s chair. “To remind me that I’m not safe from you anywhere? Not even in my dreams?”
“No, darling. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Good,” I breezed, “because I wouldn’t give a flipped shit about that. What I do care about is—oh, yeah—where the fuck is my sister!” Snatching up the cake stand, I flung it, cake and all, at his head.
It sailed through and reappeared back where it was like it never left that spot at all.
Lucifer didn’t even blink. “Where is Dora?” he repeated. “You mean to tell me you still care about her fate even though heaven rejected my offspring, and left her to the fate of a demon?”
“What are you talking about? Of course I care! She’s my sister! I came here to bring her back home, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
His face changed so suddenly, I would’ve missed it if I blinked.
“Good,” he hissed, his eyes darkening so deep, I flinched. “This wouldn’t be an effective threat otherwise.”
“Threat? What threat?”
Lucifer gritted his teeth, snarling as he leaned back in his chair.
“So here it is. Thanks to your mother’s love of monologuing, you know what we’re trying to achieve.
We’re opening the gates of hell,” he dropped.
“The fucking problem is that since the power of the All Hallows was used to close the gates, it will take the same immeasurable power to open them. That’s where you come in. ”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” he barked. “Do you see any other fucking living Avos witches around here?!”
Anger and irritation were coming off this angel in waves. He really, really, didn’t like that my ancestors got the jump on him, but honestly, it was a relief to see him drop the fake, smiling darling act. Seriously, was there anything more cringy than a bad guy pretending to be a gentleman?
“You,” he stressed. “Your mother says that even though your magic hasn’t awakened yet, the secret of the All Hallows is in your blood.
Trouble is, it’s been in the blood of all Avos witches for the last three hundred years, and you all clearly had no idea.
” The devil plucked a piece of paper from his pocket and flicked it at me.
It gently floated down onto the arm of Dora’s chair.
“Your mother says the key to unlocking the power has to be in the original spell. All that ‘stealing what was given and shackling yourself to his manhood’ bullshit. So get to it.”
I stared at him. “Excuse me...? Get to it? Get to what?”
“Find out what the clues are and awaken the power of the All Hallows. And when you do”—those terrible eyes cleaved me in two—“give that power to me.”
I still felt that strange, quieting calmness fighting to smother my rage. “Let me guess the rest. I give you this power, and you’ll give me my sister back?”
“See?” His smile held no mirth or warmth. “I knew you were the smart one.”
“But you’re not.”
His strong, handsome jaw crumpled like toilet paper. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Right then, I was thankful for this dreamy tranquility.
It was the only reason I could look into the murderous eyes of Satan himself without soiling myself.
“Seems to me we’re in the same place that we were before.
The place where I possess something that you can’t get without my cooperation.
So this is what I want: I want my sister back alive.
“With her soul back in her body and her whole future ahead of her again. Undo what you and that woman have done!” I shrieked. “Bring her back, and then you can have all the fictitious powers you want!”
He beheld me dispassionately. He almost looked bored. “You seem to think you stumped me, but, darling, with the power of the All Hallows at my fingertips, I can bring a thousand Adoras back to life—soul, mortality, and all.
“You have a deal, sweet Charlie.” Lucifer, the decorations, and the room all started fading. “I’ll even send you a little incentive... in all good faith...”
“Wait!” The scene slipped away, allowing the darkness to creep back in. “Wait!”
I shot up screaming, and jolted Tristan out of his chair.
“Charlie? Are you okay?” He rushed over to take my hand and place it on the glass of water waiting on my nightstand.
Wait? My nightstand?
I blinked through the gloom, surprised to find myself back in my plain, boring dorm room in Abaddon Academy. The only thing missing was Sabrina... and the one thing added was the large, looming presence in the corner—watching us with those ruby-red eyes.
“D-Dora,” I burst out. “Lucifer has Dora! He and my m—m—that woman! They have my sister in a horrible cellar down in the—”
“There’s no one there,” Tristan broke in.
“If you’re talking about the room we pulled you out of, I went back down there and busted the fucking door open to find the fucker who dared to snatch you, and all I did was walk into a dark, empty room that reeked of dark magic.
” He tossed Ronin a disgusted sneer and got one right back.
“It stank worse than shit, but it was empty. If your sister was there, she’s not there anymore. ”
“Ugh,” I groaned, tears stinging my eyes. I dropped my head in my hands and something crumpled in my palm. Drawing back, my eyes fell on the same scrap of paper from my dream.
The hallow of the air gives an aigrette light and fair.
From the hallow of the sea, steal what he has given thee.
For the hallow of the fire, light the pyre—burn the sire.
Among the hallow of the wood, join thy shackles to his manhood.
“It wasn’t a dream,” I whispered, closing the paper in my grip. “It was a deal.”
“What was?” Tristan asked.
I flicked up to him, and those gorgeous golden eyes.
Even with the weight of everything crashing on me, I couldn’t help but think he was breathtakingly beautiful.
His long, wild wavy hair was windswept instead of untamed.
His rough and scarred body was inviting, instead of intimidating.
His soft smile was... it just was. Every part of Tristan drew me in like a warm hug.
But him...
I peered at Ronin out of the corner of my eye. “Ronin, thank you for getting me out of there. You’ve probably got a lot to do, so please don’t feel like you need to stay.”
A slow smirk stretched his lips. “A very polite brush-off, but since when does a servant send their master away?” He closed the distance, moving soundlessly through the shadows.
Something in his large, shining eyes made me flinch before his fingers brushed my cheek.
“And what a pretty little servant you are...”
Heat bloomed in my face. “You—”
“She’s not your fucking servant,” Tristan growled, slapping his hand away.
Ronin snapped back before he could touch him, but somehow, his touch was still on me.
I swallowed hard. “The glamour—”
“Gone,” Tristan said. “For him, anyway. I could smell you were somewhere in the underlevel, but dark magic was confusing the scent. I needed that shithead”—he jerked a thumb at Ronin—“to find you, but he wouldn’t help until I told him why finding you was so important.
” Tristan winced. “I’m sorry, Charlie. I shouldn’t have—”
“A human mortal woman,” Ronin sliced in. He was still raking me up and down like a germ under a microscope. “What’s so special about you that someone would help you get into hell ahead of your death?”
My gaze was steady. “As I said, I’m thankful for your help, but how I got here and why is my business. Please give me some privacy. I’d like to talk to my friend alone.”
Ronin didn’t move a muscle. He just turned that irritating smirk on Tristan.
If anything, the wolf growled louder. “I’m sorry again, Charlie, but that was his price. The cost of getting you out of that room was telling him everything. Because the first thing he said when he sensed someone channeling all that rage and hatred into that putrid-smelling room was I want in.”
“You want in?” I cried, turning my outraged expression on him. “You sensed something horrible happening in the room my screams were coming out of, and your first thought was let me join the party!?”
“Yes,” Ronin replied, blinking lazily at me. “So let’s hear it.”
I clenched my teeth, turning over my options. I don’t want to tell this jerk a thing. I can still remember the look on his face when he made me have sex with Tristan in front of the entire class.
But, another voice said, can what Lucifer and my mother are planning even be kept secret? Should it be kept secret?
“Fine,” I forced out. “I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’ll tell you why... Lucifer brought me here.”
With that, I told them everything—
Sort of.