Chapter 1
They’re counting on you.
Those four words had become my mantra, my prayer, my reason to keep on breathing. As I put one foot in front of the other, I told myself that Dante, Hendrik, Orion, and Logan were still alive.
I had to keep reminding myself of that fact because every instinct told me they were gone. The hole of grief in my chest was so large that I could stuff all the realms into it and still feel empty.
Heat wafted up from Hell’s hard stone floor, bringing sweat to my hairline as Kaito and I ventured closer to Purgatory.
I reminded myself that my Virtues had gone through this and survived. They’d watched me die and lived an entire year wondering if I would ever come back. Now, it was my turn to endure the same suffering they had gone through.
If I ever wanted to see them again, I had to undo what Lucifer had done. Infecting them with Calamity could kill them. Abandoning them as I headed to Purgatory felt like an unforgivable sin.
But to save them, I had to leave them.
Because Dante, Hendrik, Orion, and Logan weren’t the only ones counting on me. I had two angelic Virtues trapped in a dying realm with no way of getting out. I also had no means by which to save the Virtues infected with Calamity.
But a couple of angels just might.
For now, I wasn’t entirely alone. Kaito staggered at my side, injured, tired, but alive. I took his hand and he squeezed my fingers in return.
A whisper of noise in the dark winding tunnels gave us pause. My heart fluttered when I caught sight of the familiar hide of a Demonspawn’s body. It wasn’t the first one we’d seen scurrying away, even though its flaring nostrils said it knew we were here.
“They’re retreating,” Kaito murmured.
Jolting at his words, I squeezed his hand again and forced a swallow to work down my throat. “Any idea why?” I asked.
“Maybe Lucifer has called them back to his side.” Kaito tugged me forward. “It doesn’t matter. We need to keep moving.”
I hesitated, my gaze trapped on the tunnels where the shadows moved as Demonspawn fled this layer of Hell.
My legs coiled and my wings flared, the motion one that would give me the most momentum if I pushed off. I wanted to chase it, see where it was going, and if I caught it, rip its eyes out.
Because I wanted to take something from Lucifer like he’d taken my mates from me.
He won’t care about a pitiful Demonspawn, I reminded myself, forcing my muscles to relax.
And my mates weren’t dead. I needed to focus on what would save them, not what would only prolong their suffering.
“Why would he recall the Demonspawn?” I asked, frowning. The idea rubbed me the wrong way, breaking through the apathy that had been slowly invading my thoughts in the hours since we’d left my other mates behind.
Kaito stayed quiet. Finally, I looked over at him and caught sight of his hesitant expression.
“Kaito?”
He closed his eyes and exhaled, the blue flames flickering around his horns, fading out before burning bright and beautiful once more. “He thinks he won, Lily.”
The words hit me like a punch in the gut.
“He thinks he’s won?” I growled. Spinning away from Kaito, I paced several steps and stopped, my wings snapping open again to fan at the air.
“Of course that asshole thinks he won. He has the moronic idea that he can control Calamity. He must think I’ll go crawling to him so he could fix the guys, or heal them… or worse.”
Kaito didn’t answer.
Spinning to face him, I added, “Calamity can’t be controlled. That’s the whole point. It’s chaos incarnate and we’re supposed to stop it from unraveling everything in its path.”
Or everyone.
“True.” His beautiful lips frowned, an expression of resignation that I wasn’t accustomed to on my demon mate.
“But?” I asked, sensing his hesitation.
He flexed his jaw before answering. “But, Lucifer is arrogant. He ruled Hell for thousands of years before your mother came along.” He took my hands in his.
“He wants the throne back, Koneko-chan. That’s why Calamity chose him.
He’ll do anything to unseat a Champion of Calamity, so he’s a perfect candidate. ”
“Well he can’t have it.”
Kaito grinned, the gesture giving me butterflies in my stomach. My mates always knew exactly how to distract me. “He thinks you’re the key. If he controls your mates, then he thinks he can control you. And if he controls you…”
My eyes went wide. “Then he can control my mother.” Whether or not I had spent much time with Hell’s ruler, I knew Sonya cared for me. If it meant my life, she would give up the throne.
And then what?
With Calamity in charge of one of the most powerful realms, it would tip the balance for sure.
Something I couldn’t allow to happen.
“We’ll save them before it comes to that.” I didn’t have to specify who I meant. Kaito inclined his head in agreement, knowing I would rather die than let anyone harm my Virtues.
Or me, for that matter.
Sighing, I shifted my gaze to the horizon, scanning it. The brilliant pillar of light filled my vision and I stared at it for several seconds before finding my resolve.
“Then let’s go,” I murmured, that tug inside me strong and urgent. “Let’s go to Purgatory.”
He took my hand, his fingers tightening in a gentle squeeze. “Does that mean they’re still alive?”
I knew who he meant. A different they, this time. My angelic Virtues, the ones I had yet to meet, but were already a part of my soul.
“Yes. I can feel them. The pull is stronger now.” I rubbed my chest, the dull ache so raw it left a knot in my throat. “Maybe it’s because we’re closer?”
“Perhaps.”
Or maybe it’s because the others are dying…
“Don’t think that,” Kaito said, likely hearing my thoughts as he tugged me to face him. “They’re strong. So are you. Keep your focus.”
I stared at the gleaming pillar of light that pierced the veil of all the realms. The answers I needed would be there. And perhaps finally, I could put this entire nightmare behind me.
That dream spurred me on. Kaito kept pace with me as we wound through the rocky terrain, ignoring the skittering of retreating Demonspawn because Lucifer thought he had won.
I would prove him wrong.
Crawling back to him for help? Not happening.
Fuck that asshole.
The glowing golden sheen of light intruded with harsh rays against the craggy rocks, thickening the atmosphere until finally Kaito released my hand. He stayed behind the invisible wall, indicated only by the sheen of brilliance that cast a blurry shadow across the ground.
The border between Hell and Purgatory, something I crossed without thinking.
“I can’t go any further,” Kaito informed me.
I didn’t understand. He looked fine, the flames around his horns flickered and his demonic eyes watched me with a silver ring around the red glow.
He glanced past me to the pillar before meeting my gaze once more. “Holy ground, Koneko-chan. I’m a demon, remember?”
Oh, right.
My heart wrenched inside my chest as I realized that from here, I’d have to go on alone.
“You wouldn’t survive the purification process.
” I remembered what I’d gone through to retrieve the Angelstone from my mother’s little patch of holy ground.
It had nearly killed me, and that was after one cardinal sin of murder.
Kaito, being what he was, thrived on sin.
He couldn’t be purified. I was only part Demonspawn, a piece of myself I instinctually knew to bury when I stepped on Holy ground.
Kaito, though, didn’t have that option. His flesh was formed by sin, and if he attempted purification, there’d be nothing left.
I stepped through the veil once more, wanting to be close to him. I didn’t know what waited for me on the other side of Purgatory or if I’d even return.
I hated to do this to him again, but I had to. I had to save them.
Kaito cupped my face in his hands as tears streamed down my cheeks. “I believe in you, Lily.”
I nodded, leaning in to kiss him.
He molded his mouth to mine, trailing his touch down my neck in a way that gave me goose bumps. His words breathed on my lips like a promise. “I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait until I know you’re safe.”
He’ll wait for me.
That promise would get me through this.
Because he believed in me, and he believed I would return to him.
I knew how important that belief was inside of Kaito. He had lost me once and his belief was what had sustained him. I had returned to him once, I would return to him again.
Forcing myself to part from him, I let my hands fall from his chest as I pushed across the veil. I couldn’t even feel it. If Kaito hadn’t said something, I wouldn’t have known it was there.
But now that I knew what to look for I felt the locking of my Demonspawn self and the emergence of my holier traits. My wings felt lighter and lifted from the ground. My world brightened as I stepped into the golden light, leaving the dim red hue of Hell behind.
There was a weird sort of pressure, a pop, as I finally pushed through into the heart of Purgatory’s layer and I sucked in a relieved breath as I spun to face Kaito.
He gave me a reassuring smile, his form wavering as if suffering a sweltering heat.
His smile said, I’ll be waiting.
I nodded and turned back to face the pillar of light. The ache of my wings rolled over my spine when I spread them open, then gasped at the difference, the weight of them no longer dragging at me like an awkward, unnatural burden.
“Wow,” I whispered, sucking in a deep breath as I glanced over my shoulder, still stunned at the sight of my wings. Power pulsed in the air around me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, dancing along my skin almost like a caress.
For one brief moment, the rush of power was so sweet, I almost forgot the heavy burden weighing me down, a millstone around my neck.
My mates—my Virtues, both the ones I’d left behind, infected with Lucifer’s evil, and the two I could sense somewhere ahead of me, the responsibility of all of them a burden I wasn’t sure I could bear.
But on the next breath, one rife with the power rippling around me, a familiar weight rested on my head.
Reaching up, I touched the Hell Crown that had been called to me.
I had no recollection of intentionally summoning it, but the energy here was intense and I was still part Demon-spawn and Princess of Hell.
Something I didn’t want purified. Ever.
The crown hissed and sparked, reacting to the strange atmosphere in Purgatory and I could feel the part of me that was Demonspawn agreeing with the Hell Crown—that part of me wanted to leave here, flee back into Hell. But the other part of me, the angel part, insisted we push on.
Buoyed by the power in the air and the lessened weight of my wings, I walked into the light.
I wasn’t alone. A connection to each of my Virtues fueled me with hope. The Virtues I had left behind waited for me, just like Kaito, as did the ones ahead.
I was their Queen and they would trust me to save them.
I wouldn’t fail my Virtues.
I was a fucking Champion of Calamity. Lucifer would not win this war.