I leapt over the railing and plummeted to the bottom of the stairwell, landing in a crouch to absorb the impact. I burst into the protected archive room and found Lucia and Uncle Luc engaged in a fierce battle of wills. Lucia stood with her fists clenched at her sides, a stream of midnight blue flame bursting from the center of her chest. Uncle Luc stood on the opposite side, one arm extended and hand held palm out. A stream of blazing fire poured from his hand, connecting with Lucia’s and holding her back.

“Who are you to stand in the way of love?” Lucia screamed, her voice shaking the room. “Do you know how sacred true love is?” A piece of concrete cracked and fell from the ceiling. “Can you experience such a thing? You don’t know what you took from me!”

“Silaran does not love you.” Uncle Luc shook his head. “He is using you.”

“Just like you are using your whore?” Lucia screamed. “Does she know you don’t care for her? That she’s nothing more than a pawn? If she knew the truth, would she agree to be the mother of your child?”

I scanned the room for said mother and spied Nancy cowering in the corner with Ania. Both of them hid behind one of the couches and watched the battle with wide eyes, tears streaming down their faces.

“Nancy will birth the future, Lucia.” Uncle Luc’s tone was hard—harder than I’d ever heard. “She is destined for a great, unstoppable fate. You think yourself a goddess,” he sneered. “But you know nothing! She will be my queen and you will be nothing more than a lost page in history.”

“No!” Lucia wailed. “I will rule over the realms with Silaran at my side. And I shall begin by taking the life of your child and using your own power to conquer every circle of Hell.”

I stalked forward, swords raised. Neither Lucia nor Uncle Luc paid me any attention. They kept pumping fire and evil at each other, unleashing so much energy the walls shook around us. I worried what would happen if it all broke free in this confined space, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Lucia was distracted. Now was the time to strike.

I rushed Lucia, but she sensed my approach. She raised one hand, firing a stream of blue flames in my direction. I deflected it with one of my hellfire-wreathed swords, but she had too much strength.

Far more than she had mere hours ago—before the stars aligned and maximized her power.

Note to self: remember time zones in the future.

She wavered a bit, her attention divided between me and Uncle Luc, but she seemed strong enough to hold us both back.

I kept my blade in front of me, pumping more and more hellfire into it to block Lucia’s attack. I tried to push forward, but she blazed too hot, hotter than I could handle. I tried a quick move to get out of her line of fire, but she was a fast-learning bitch. As soon as I moved, her flames spread into a broad cone, enveloping half the room around me. I was forced back into the stairwell, feet scraping on the bare concrete until I was unable to set even one foot into the blazing inferno of her raw, godly power.

I clenched my teeth and set my feet, keeping my own flames burning in the doorway as a shield against Lucia’s power. Now that I was cornered, she barely had to put any of her immense energy into holding me at bay. I was out of the picture, inconsequential.

Nothing more than an annoying gnat.

Her focus returned to Uncle Luc and sweat seeped from his skin, sliding down his jaw and dripping to his crisply pressed collar. His hand trembled, flames wavering and my heartbeat stuttered. It didn’t look like he could hold out much longer.

My mind raced, ideas rushing forward only to be discarded as I tried to figure out a way to get into the room and save him. But the blazing inferno held me at bay. There was no other way into the room.

Panic wrapped around my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs and constricting my throat. He’d be gone and we’d be lost.

Lost. Lost. Lost.

But then Uncle Luc caught my eye, a quick glance, his red stare colliding with mine. A red stare that sparkled with amusement and I noted the slightest hint of a smirk touching his lips.

My own lips twitched, corners tipping up for a moment before the quirk turned into an outright grin.

Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. The Morningstar. Lord of the Damned.

Prince of Lies.

Uncle Luc winced in pain and dropped to one knee. He brought his other hand up, focusing everything he had on channeling black flames to keep Lucia at bay. “You,” he gasped. “cannot win, Lucia,” his voice strained and he coughed a few times, looking like he might throw up. “Do you know who I am? I am ancient! I was among His most favored! You are nothing but a fool grasping at powers beyond your comprehension.”

Lucia advanced on Uncle Luc, eyes blazing with glee at her apparent victory. “You’re nothing but old news, Lucifer. It’s time to make way for the next big thing.”

She channeled a burst of flame so intense that it melted the concrete floor surrounding Uncle Luc. He collapsed onto his back, screaming in pain, wisps of smoke rising from his suit.

I screamed and rushed into the room, braving Lucia’s flames for my uncle. He couldn’t… I wouldn’t let…

I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t. The sprinklers had to be going off or something. Because the hellfire and the flames and the smoke and the stench. Burning flesh. Oh God, I scented his burning flesh.

My clothes peeled away from my skin, catching fire and falling loose to reveal flesh. Flesh that Lucia’s flames then attacked. I ignored the pain—the agony—and focused on the bitch that needed to die. I threw everything I had at her—blades and fire both—and Lucia… laughed. She turned away from my uncle and turned her power at me.

And that’s when Uncle Luc stabbed her in the back.

Lucia screamed in pain, falling to her knees with the harsh cry. The flames faded away though my skin still burned with pain, my flesh scorched and raw. I dropped to my knees opposite her, gasping for air, our pain simmering in the room.

Uncle Luc yanked the knife out of Lucia’s back, her blood dripping from the blade and oozing along the mystical runes carved into the metal. Runes I recognized. Runes my own son had been using these past weeks. The writing of Lucia’s own temple.

Uncle Luc padded to Lucia and crouched at her side, giving me a wink before he spoke to the dying demigoddess. “Do you know how to defeat a goddess?”

Lucia stared at Uncle Luc, reached around herself and touched the wound in her back. She brought her hand around and focused on her blood-covered palm. “Impossible,” she whispered. “How…?”

He held up the dagger, showing the familiar runes. “You must use her own power against her. A goddess is her own downfall.”

Uncle Luc didn’t give her a moment to say anything else, he fisted her hair and yanked her head back, sneering at the injured woman.

I saw it then—him. I saw the archangel cast from On High, the pure evil and hatred that sent him falling beyond the tween. That face sent a spear of fear racing down my spine, the sneer, the malevolence, the unadulterated fury consuming me with terror. I didn’t know this man, this dem. He…

He pulled his arm back and slashed Lucia across the throat, sinking the metal deep into her flesh. She screamed, her cries silenced by a sick wet gurgle, and then he threw her to the ground. A pool of blood spread from her severed throat, her head almost completely separated from her body. I stared at that woman—dem—psychotic bitch as she died, the last hints of life flowing from her in a red river.

Her body gradually turned black, pale skin darkening until she was nothing more than a dark husk that finally collapsed into ash. Moments later, there was nothing left but a black smear on the ground.

Uncle Luc stared at the smudge, dragging the tip of his shoe through the mark, and he let out a satisfied grunt.

“Is she really gone?” There didn’t seem to be much left.

“No.” He shook his head. “Dems and gels can only be killed on their home plane.”

“Right.” I let out a tired sigh. “Her spirit went to her new Hell dimension, didn’t it?”

Now he nodded. “But it will be some time before she can regain enough power to influence the world once again. Even longer before she can manifest here in physical form.”

Uncle Luc tucked the dagger away and then brushed off his hands. “And since she won’t be returning anytime soon,” he turned to face Nancy and held out his arms, “she won’t be able to harm our child.”

Nancy ran to him and Uncle Luc held her close, tightly against his chest. I watched him, wondering about the way he held her. Had Lucia been right? Was this nothing more than a scheme? Or did he somehow love her? I saw that glimpse of his true self—the archangel that’d been thrust from On High, but now he seemed so caring.

He caught my eye and held my gaze for a long moment and then… he smirked.

Prince of Lies, indeed.