MY LIDS FLUTTERED opened, wincing from the throbbing in my cheek.  A high arched ceiling was above, a faded mural of angels and demons painted between beams of dark wood. The scent of candle wax, dust, and blood lit my nose.  And demon.  Dust motes swirled around my head, dancing in the flickering light.  When I tried to move, my body was constricted.

“What the hell?” I mumbled, tilting my head down. 

Shit.

My body was strapped to a wooden table, my arms and legs in heavy manacles.  Lorne and Ash were obviously responsible for my current state of imprisonment.

My pulse spiked.  How long had I been out?  My birthday was coming.  I had to get out of here before it was too late.

I started tugging on the manacles, kicking and bucking without results.

“I’ve tried that.  It doesn’t work.”

My head snapped to the left.  Alec was strapped to a similar table.  “What are you doing here?” Strange symbols were drawn on his arms in what looked like blood. 

Demon sigils.  He probably couldn’t see them like I could.

He shot me a wry smile.  “Looks like I’m ingredient number two in this delicious trifecta.”

“What?”

“I’m the descendent of the lastborn.”  He sighed.  “I’d just found out and was on my way to tell you when the headmaster stopped me.”

“Where are we?” I asked.  A row of broken pews led toward a demolished pulpit.  “A church?”

“I think so,” he said.  “But I don’t know where.  I was knocked out and woke up here.”  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.  “It was Ash.  He’s not who we thought.”

I scoffed.  “I know.  He was working with Kye, and now he’s working with Lorne.”

Alec cursed.  “That bastard.”

I agreed.

“Alec, we’ve got to get out of here before it’s too late.”  My teeth ground together as I pulled on the binds.  “Lorne has to wait until my birthday.”

The creak of a door sounded, and a figure appeared above me.  For a split second, I almost smiled.  Flawless pale skin, glacier blue eyes, and blonde hair greeted me.  And then the real horror sank to the bottom of my stomach.

“Ash,” I ground out.  “You’re a demon.”

A cruel smile twisted his lips.  “You were always very astute, Kory.  You would have made a fierce demon.”  His hand brushed the hair from my face.  If only his fingers came a little closer to my mouth, I would have bitten them off.  “And by the way, happy birthday.”

My brows knit.  “It’s the day after tomorrow.”  I glanced around, searching for a clock or anything that might tell me the time. 

He laughed.  “Lorne has kept you unconscious with drugs so your caetera couldn’t get to you even in your dreams.”  He patted my shoulder.  “If he kept you under too much longer, you might have died.”

Another door opened, and I felt rather than heard several others entering the abandoned church.  The sickly sweet scent of demons choked the air.  My head lifted, and sure enough, a couple dozen demons fanned out around the dilapidated room.

Acid curdled my stomach.

Lorne appeared above me, his face a blank mask.  “It’s time.”

“Screw you,” I hissed, bucking against the restraints. 

He ignored me and jerked his chin toward Ash.  “Keep her still while I finish preparing her.”

“Don’t touch me, filthy demon traitor!” 

Ash came around to where my head rested.  His hand grabbed my shoulders, holding me down.  His fingers were like iron threatening to crush my bones.  “The more you move, the more it will hurt, Kory.  Just be still, and it’ll be over soon.”

“You know I’m not the type of person to lay down and take anything.”

His brow arched.  “Given the circumstances, you don’t have a choice.”

Lorne took a blade and slashed his palm open.  He used his finger and began drawing demon sigils in his blood on me.  They were different than the ones staining Alec’s skin.  I cringed against his touch and the deep, burgundy liquid. 

“Why are you doing this?” I hissed.  “You chose to become a demon.  You chose to create this race.  Why, after millennia, would you want to become a ferrum again?”

“Because I’ve realized my place isn’t in the darkness.  It never was.”  His eyes shimmered back to their unnatural golden hue.  “I was Aurora’s firstborn.  I have a right to be an immortal without the consequences of living like a demon.”

“You’re not sorry for what you did.  You just want to be a god.”  My lips curled in disdain.  “I hope she crushes you with her bare hands.”

Lorne smiled.  “Once this is done, she won’t be able to.”

“You’re pathetic,” I spat.  “Still trying to one-up mommy because she punished you for being bad.”

A few of the demons I couldn’t see in the room snickered.  Lorne’s eyes lifted, shutting them up with one cold, terrifying look. 

His finger ran over my collarbone, tracing another sigil.  Power tingled over my skin.

Oh god.  I wasn’t going to get out of this.  Maybe I should have listened to my parents and ran as far and as fast as I could.  What was going to happen to Rex if my soul was shattered?  Would it sever the caetera bond?  Would it injure his soul?

“This won’t be the end, Lucius,” I hissed.  “No matter what you do someone strong enough to kill you will come.  I hope it’s a long, torturous death.”

“I really am sorry it has to be this way,” he said, ignoring my angry threat.  “You’re a magnificent fighter.  I knew you would be, but I had no idea the extent of your natural talent.”  Lorne made another cut on his palm for more blood after the first wound healed.  “When I began sending demons to Bishop, I never expected you to kill one without any training.”

I blinked.  “You sent demons to Bishop?”

He nodded.  “At first and then others came.  I needed you to realize what you were.”  He motioned his hand over me.  “Or this wouldn’t have been possible.”

My life had been a series of secrets, lies, and manipulations since the day I was born.  Hell, before then. 

“It was an unfortunate twist of fate the team The Council sent to hunt the demons was headed by your caetera.”  Lorne shook his head.  “I would have taken you sooner, but Rex was a complication.”

“I’m so sorry it was such an inconvenience for you.”  I rolled my eyes.  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you missing the third piece of your evil trifecta?”  I jerked my chin toward Alec.  “I only see two ferrums here.”

“The third will arrive shortly.”  He wiped his hands on his pants.  “I need you first.”

My skin puckered as he came closer, oily tar filling his eyes and shark teeth emerging from his mouth. 

“No!” Alec yelled.  “Leave her alone you evil son of a bitch.”  The rattling of his own binds clanked through the room.

I tried to back away from Lorne’s lethal maw, but the binds kept me in place.  His breath ghosted along my neck, and my body trembled.  I was about to become nonexistent.  I wouldn’t just die and go to wherever our souls went when our bodies were done.  I would be no more.  Nothing.

My throat clogged, and tears watered in my eyes, but I refused to cry out or so much as whimper.

A crash echoed, shaking the entire church.  My pulse skyrocketed.

Ash’s iron grip on my shoulders disappeared as a growl exploded through the room.  I looked up.  Kye was standing just inside of the church, wood raining down on him from the door he splintered.

A figure stepped beside him, my heart lurching.  Rex.

“You, I expected this soon,” Lorne said to Kye.  His black eyes flicked to Rex.  “You, I did not.”

Rex’s nostrils flared as he whipped his knife out.  “Sorry to interrupt your plan, but you won’t be killing my caetera tonight.”

Lorne lifted a hand, and half the demons rushed forward, attacking Rex and Kye at once.

“NO!”  I struggled against the binds, my heart choking my airways.  There were too many of them.  They needed help. 

Alec was cursing, trying to get free as well.

Lorne yanked my head aside again.  Glass shattered, and a figure zoomed by, slamming into Lorne and knocking him away from me. 

My father crushed his fist into the original demon’s face.  “You didn’t really think it would be this easy, did you?” he snarled.

My mother appeared, her black eyes trained on Ash behind me.  “I’m going to kill you slowly.”

He snickered.  “You sound like your daughter.”

She lunged and kicked Ash in the chest, sending him soaring into a broken piano.  The explosive clangs momentarily drowned out the demon snarls.

“Mom!” I yelled.  “Help me get out of this.”  I’d lost sight of Rex in the crowd of demons. 

She grabbed the manacles, ripping them off with ease.  I scrambled up and snatched the knife she handed me.  I jerked my head toward Alec.  “Help him.”

She gave a quick nod.

I sprinted for the mass of demons just as one flew over my head.  I ducked, and Kye appeared, bloodied and snarling.  “Where’s Rex?”

He plucked a demon out of the fray, lifting him up by his neck and tossing him across the room.  Rex emerged, disheveled but alive.

Relief lightened my chest, and I breathed.

“You.”  Kye’s black eyes were trained on someone behind me.  

I glanced over my shoulder to see Ash barreling toward us.

Rex yanked me aside just as the two blonde demons collided.  Thunderous growls erupted.  The other demons took notice of us and lunged.  Rex and I traded quick glances, understanding each other with one look. 

Stay together.  And don’t die.

We stood back to back as demons rushed us.  I didn’t hesitate.  I didn’t even think.  My instincts took over.  All of my instincts.  I let the darkness flow, melting with the light.  It was the only way.  I couldn’t fight myself and them at the same time.

My knife pierced a heart.  A demon death cry shadowed one Rex caused.  I yanked my knife out and drove it into another chest.

Everything was a blur.  The only thing I remained sure of was Rex’s presence behind me.  More demons came and died.  There was an endless supply of them.

I wasn’t sure how many I’d taken out, my body going on pure adrenaline when back up arrived.  Maxton and Annabeth surged forward, taking out two demons on their own.

I glanced behind me.  Rex was fine, breathing heavily as he yanked his knife free of another demon chest.  But more were coming.  Where was Lorne?  Last time I saw him, he was fighting my father.

A knot formed in my stomach, but I found my father with my mother and Alec, taking on a group of demons.  Alec was going to have a lot more than two broken infinity marks after this.  My eyes shifted over just as Kye hurled Ash through the air—right toward us.

“Shit.”  I slammed into Rex, and he swung me out of the way as Ash crashed to the floor.

The demon headmaster snarled and tried to jump up.  Rex beat him.  His knife came down into his chest, piercing his heart.  “I hope you rot in hell for betraying us.”

His growl melted into a shrill death cry.  “You won’t win, Rex,” he wheezed, his skin turning gray.  “Lucius will take her.”

“NO!” 

My head snapped around at Kye’s yell.  But it was too late. 

Not even a second passed before I was in an iron grasp and wind whipped around me.  Moments later I was back by the table I’d been strapped too.  Warm breath dusted my neck, and I knew from the horrified look on Rex’s face it was Lorne.

“I really am sorry it has to be this way, Koralein.”  Sharp teeth tore into my neck.

My scream erupted, deafening my ears.  Agony rippled through my entire body, crushing and debilitating.  I’d been bitten before, but it was never so excruciating.  Crimson bled through the edges of my vision.

Lorne wasn’t just taking my life force.  He was yanking my soul out to restore his light.  When he was done, my soul would shatter, and I would cease to exist. 

Snapshots of good memories didn’t flow through my mind like in the movies.  There was only pain and a gaping hole tearing through my gut.  All I could think about was what this would do to Rex.  Would he be broken beyond repair or would he be able to pick up the pieces and go on with his life?

A sick feeling told me there would be no going on with his life after I was destroyed.

I helplessly watched the action unfold around me in slow motion.  Rex ran for me, his face a mask of rage.  Lorne thrust his hand out, pushing him in the chest.  Rex went flying.

Oh god.  He was going to crack his head on something.

Out of nowhere, my father materialized, breaking Rex’s fall.

I breathed a sigh of relief.  Or at least I would have if I could breathe at all.

Kye was there, black eyes and demon teeth.  But he didn’t go for us.  Instead, he blurred toward a table holding the Sanguine de Liber.  Blood stained paper scattered around it.  His long fingers reached out and plucked one, reading it.

He blinked several times, the anger slowly melting from his face as his lips puckered.  His blue eyes met mine, a promise swirling in them.  He wouldn’t let me go.

I only wished I believed him.  Lorne was drawing my soul out, and my body was so weak I could barely stand. 

The paper fluttered from Kye’s fingertips, hitting the ground.  A name was written in big, bold letters.   

Cassius.

Kye glanced at my mother, and she tossed him her knife.  He rushed toward us, and Lorne pulled his mouth away.

“You left that demon behind on purpose,” Kye said.  “You knew he’d tell me where you’d taken her.”

“I needed you, brother,” Lorne said, holding me in an iron grip.

Kye nodded.  “The first demon you made.”

My heart thudded.  Did a demon have life force the same way ferrums and humans did?

“Yes, I need your life.  But unlike Kory, your dark soul will remain intact.”

That terrifying smile split Kye’s lips.  “Too bad you won’t get it.”  Without warning, Kye jammed the iron knife into his own chest.