Chapter Fifty #2
I didn’t understand it. Not until one morning when I startled awake, gasping as something pierced straight through me.
The connections. Oh gods, the connections.
I clutched my chest, laughing through sudden tears just as Luke stormed into the room. His horns smacked the doorframe in his rush to reach me.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, eyes wild.
“I can feel them.” My voice broke in a breathless giggle. “My family—I can feel them again. That means they’ll be able to feel me too. They’ll know I’m okay.”
The sensation was overwhelming—like the warmth of the sun after years in shadow. I could sense all six of my siblings. And my mother. A full, glowing tether between us.
But I didn’t dare reach for my father…
I didn’t dare go further.
Even the thought of sensing nothing sliced through me like a blade.
The guilt carved deep—because it was Luke who had set it all in motion.
Luke, who had allowed Harvest to open the vortex. All just to break the spell my father had cast to keep us apart.
Luke’s gaze lingered on me, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes.
Then stillness. A quiet drop of energy, like something inside him just…settled.
His shoulders sagged.
“That’s it?” he asked softly.
Before I could ask what he meant, he slipped out the door.
He didn’t come back for hours.
When he finally returned, I was sprawled on the couch, blowing on my freshly painted nails—a bright, bold red that reminded me too much of his eyes.
He held something in his hand. The book. The freaking book that showed every terrible thing I didn’t want to know.
I frowned. “I don’t want to see what’s happening in the human world,” I muttered, capping the polish. “Especially now that I can’t do anything about it.”
Luke dropped to his knees in front of me, resting the book gently in my lap.
“It shows the present—anywhere,” he mumbled. “You can see your family.”
My heart stuttered as I stared down at the worn, ugly brown stitching along the spine. It didn’t look like much. It never did.
“You can’t talk to them,” he added. “But I think…you need to see them.”
He cracked the spine, and the once-blank pages shimmered with light. The soft golden glow spilled across the parchment, and images formed. Grim’s woods.
Then—there they were.
One by one, my siblings appeared. Alive. Solid. Working in the human world.
But it wasn’t like before.
The mortal realm was different now—tainted. Demons walked freely. Even though the Devil hadn’t crossed, demons had. The fabric had changed.
And yet…my family remained.
Fighting. Rebuilding. Surviving.
I flipped through more pages, watching each of them. The ache in my chest eased slightly.
Then Luke turned the page one last time.
My mother.
My stomach clenched, dread tightening through me. I didn’t want to see her grief—couldn’t bear to watch what losing both me and Dad had done to her.
But what I saw instead knocked the breath from my lungs.
She wasn’t alone.
Sure, the light in her eyes had dimmed, but there was strength in the way she stood. And beside her—
“Dad,” I whispered, trembling.
Fat, hot tears slipped down my cheeks and fell onto the page. They blurred the image, but I didn’t need clarity anymore. I had it.
My parents were together.
They were alive. Safe. Home.
And the weight I’d carried since the moment the crossover opened began to lift, slow but certain. Like light breaking through the cracks.
I cried—ugly, silent sobs of relief and gratitude. Luke didn’t speak. He didn’t touch me. He just stayed there, kneeling beside me while I wept, letting me be.
It was like a weight had lifted off my shoulders.
Then, slowly, everything changed.
Hell opened back up, little by little.
It was another week before we could return to the red forest—where everything happened. The odd animals were still there, but everything seemed…lovelier.
More vibrant.
I giggled when the birds chirped at Luke, always trying to get his attention like they had some vendetta or were just plain nosy.
Hell was new to him as much as it was for me.
Just as the human world had changed, so had his.
Home, I thought one day while standing in a pasture, the grass up to my knees.
A breeze swept through the field, light and playful.
A breeze. In Hell. It was a strange, beautiful thing—this place that had once been a prison, now something like peace.
Tootsie mooed beside me.
I smiled, petting the Roly-Poly Hell Cow as he shoved his giant head against my waist with all the gentleness of a small boulder.
Of course, Luke was beside me.
He followed me everywhere. I think he handled his Devil duties while I slept, because whenever I was awake, he never left my side. Sometimes, we were quiet together. Other times, he wanted noise.
“Say something,” he’d say.
“This is nice,” I’d reply.
That always earned a deep growl from his chest, like he was pleased.
But when I’d tell him to be nicer to the birds—or to Tootsie—he’d grumble and let the Hell Cow chew on his boots.
We sat by the riverbank sometimes. He’d casually touch my hand or sit behind me, caging me in his arms. I let him.
I didn’t pull away anymore.
And though he must have sensed the shift in me, he didn’t rush.
We savored the small moments.
I didn’t know how much time had passed. Our touches lingered. When he held me, I’d stroke his arm… or his thigh. Sometimes, his cock would harden against me, pressing into my back through our clothes.
Luke always made a mess of it.
He couldn’t help it—leaking the second he was aroused, need painting him in shame and desperation. But I didn’t leave him alone anymore.
When we finally gave in to each other, it happened near a waterfall.
There was no slow burn. No restraint.
He fucked me hard, the bulge of his head stretching me open as he forced it in. It stung. But afterward—when he kissed my trembling thighs, when he held me like I was precious—it was worth it.
And the more we fucked, the less his monstrous tip grew.
As long as I drained him well every day, his body behaved.
We were…happy.
Throughout the book, I watched my family grow. Luke would feed me grapes while I sat in his lap, our limbs tangled as we watched a new world unfold.
Humans were stronger than I gave them credit for. Some fought the change, but many adapted—building a new way forward.
Reapers were different now. They couldn’t sense death anymore, couldn’t feel the pull of a soul like they once could.
I couldn’t either. That connection was gone. But they still acted. They could still ascend and descend souls, use their powers, materialize from thin air. The difference was now they had to seek—had to work harder to find who needed them.
Helping people took longer. But it still happened.
And that…was enough.
August and Nova created a sanctuary for special children—those without families, or those hunted for what they were. A red-skinned female demon and three warlocks lived with them, helping run things. I assumed they were Nova’s family…and August’s.
Isabella stepped into leadership of their coven after Melinda passed. She and Sebastian split their time between witch business and aiding the human world.
Gwendolyn stayed with Mom when Barron was off doing his Reaper duties, and I was glad for that.
Joy and Payne tended to their dragon eggs every day, waiting patiently for them to hatch.
Prudence and Shepherd—chaos magnets that they were—kept the gremlins in check while eventually introducing themselves to Shepherd’s late sister’s family. The ones they’d managed to keep safe through the end.
Maureen baked. She smiled. She loved—Jackal, Mom, Dad, all of us.
Without the curse of pride, she’d softened again. She hugged our parents a lot. I liked watching that.
They all talked to me often. As if they knew I watched.
One day, I’d find a way to speak back. I’d tell them I was okay—more than okay. That I was exactly where I was meant to be.
Maybe I’d even tell them that the Devil—yes, the Devil—was a complete and utter sucker for me. That he sometimes pouted when I left our little home in Hell without him. That if I stayed out too long, he’d wander after me like a sad puppy with horns and a murderous tail.
I could tell them so many truths…not that they’d believe them.
But it would still be fun—just to see Luke’s face when he found out I’d spilled all his secrets. That their terrifying brother-in-law was a giant softy.
(But only for me.)
Maureen gave my parents their first grandchild—a little girl.
Then came August’s twins, a boy and girl.
Apparently, one baby was enough to trigger a wave of baby fever across the family. Even Joy and Payne’s eggs hatched. Three squalling dragon boys.
Every time a baby arrived, something sharp and sweet twisted in my chest. I’d always wanted children—lots of them.
So when the triplets hatched, I spent days doing two things—fucking Luke and then staring at him.
Hard.
I never had to say a word.
The second he got a peek into my thoughts, he had me bent over the kitchen table, legs parted, buried inside me.
He gave me what I wanted.
He always gave me what I wanted.
But when I slipped into his thoughts…
I realized he wanted this longer than I had.
And then, our life changed again.