I’m still trying to process the last two days. I’m numb. No longer have anything left to give after spilling all my emotions in the shower. I’m embracing the nothingness. Disconnected by the white static which has encompassed my being. It’s better this way. A temporary anaesthesia.

Lucifer hasn’t said a word after letting me fall to pieces, which I’m thankful for. Even afterwards, when he dried every inch of my wet skin before laying me in his bed. I’ve never felt so cosseted.

What surprised me more was the fact he hadn’t once tried to initiate sex. He just held me. Enveloped in the protection of his muscled arms, I had listened to the strong reassuring beat

of his heart. I’d found solace. A sense of peace. Nestled there, I eventually fell into an exhausted dreamless sleep.

“Where’s Cassandra and Mavi?”

Gabriel’s voice is unmistakable as I make my way towards the main hall. Waking to find Lucifer gone and fresh clothes waiting for me was not what I had been expecting. Then again, nowadays, I rarely can anticipate what comes next.

“Why are you here, Gabriel?” The Lord of Hell himself asks, his tone icy. “I sent no invitation.”

“Why do you think? Mavi! After what happened in Cease Fire I need to see my Granddaughter.”

“Why? So you can feed her more lies?”

“I’m not the only one who’s been lying.” Gabriel snaps back. “Playing with her heart was never part of the deal. This was supposed to be strictly business. Her services ridding you of your problem. You were never supposed to fuck her.”

Not bothering to knock, I pad into the room.

“You’ve been playing her for years so don’t try to judge me.” Lucifer growls. Seated on his bleached throne of bones, he’s a daunting sight. Shadowy robes seethe around his impressive physique with an insidious life of their own. His crimson eyes track my movements as I head towards the warmth of the fireplace.

Leo and Snatch. Two people I did not expect to see again so soon are flanking my ex-boss.

“Mavi, are you ok Puddin’?”

I ignore Leo. I’m far from fine and we all know that.

“How is this possible than I’m a demon?” I direct the question to Gabriel.

Standing there in all his biker leather he looks as if he might be carved from an unforgiving slab of stone. His ruggedly composed countenance tightens. “Half demon. Your father is a full blood. It makes you a half breed of immense power.”

“You knew? This whole time you knew?” I’m a demon. That fact keeps pounding through my head until it feels like it’s about to explode.

“Your father figured out who I was and impregnated your mother while pretending to be human. I didn’t know. I thought it best not to interfere in my children's lives. Neither displayed any angelic powers. When I realised what had happened we hid you from him. Kept your mother in the dark. The day of your brother’s rape she realised what you were. That’s why she didn’t want anything to do with you afterwards.” His voice is strained. Low.

More secrets are coming to light. Now it all makes sense. Why Lucifer has taken such an interest in me from the start. I’ve terminated plenty of targets in the past. Excelled at my job. Yet it’s been bugging me why he never used his own assassins to deal with his ex-commanders. Why he blackmailed me into this from the start. I should be angry, but nothing penetrates my emotionless bubble.

“Where’s my sperm donor now?” I don’t want to use the word father. Whatever he is I'll never recognize him as a parent.

“No longer breathing.” Lucifer replies with such certainty I know it must be true.

It makes me wonder if he was one of the demons I’ve put down in the past. There’s no guilt or remorse at the thought. Just emptiness.

“You haven’t been trying to activate the angelic genes inside me, it’s the demonic ones.”

“Yes.” He replies without hesitation.

Gabriel looks like he wants to say more. For a second I think he will until he presses his lips together in a thin white line.

“What else are you keeping from me?” If he doesn’t answer I will resort to violence for the information I need.

He must have sensed my intent as he responds quickly.

“There was a chance that stimulating both sets of genes would drive you insane. That your psyche would be too fragile to cope, or it would send you into a coma. But he still went ahead anyway.” He sends the Devil an accusing glare.

Lucifer stares back at me fathomlessly. There’s no regret. No guilt. Nothing.

It turns my heart to cold embers in my chest. Has everything been a power play? The way he held me gently in the shower? In bed? Another manipulation to get what he wants? I’ve barely scratched the surface of how devious and calculating he can be.

I haven’t been myself for weeks. Since the night I first laid eyes on him. Everything is no longer black and white. Cut and dry. Now everything is blurred.

I turn to watch the flames leaping and crackling in the hearth. “Does Trukun know about my brother?”

“We don’t think so. Come back with me, Mavi. We can sort this out.” Gabriel tells me calmly.

“I’ll be executed if I go back to Cease Fire.”

“I can talk them around. It was self-defence. I’m sure I can convince them. You’re my Granddaughter, after all. My blood.”

Shaking my head, I look back at him. “I can’t. I need to bring Nate home first.”

Snatch and Leo glance at each other uneasily beside him.

Gabriel sighs. “He’s more than likely dead now after you killed Talia.”

The truth of his words pierces the cocoon I’ve been living in. Pain squeezes inside me. So strong I almost lose the ability to breathe.

“I still have to finish this.” I barely manage to get out.

“Staying here with Lucifer is a mistake. You can’t face Trukun. Not like this, after what just happened.”

“Mistake or not, it’s my decision to make, not yours.”

He’s wrong. I can, and I will. I’ve always been a fighter. I’m not the type to sit around and let someone else win my battles. Someone who acts strong, but has someone else do their dirty work. My hands will be bathed in the blood of my enemies before I am through. I will revel in their downfall.

“Mavi.”

There’s a note of pleading in his tone.

He won’t sway me from my path. Not now.

Before he can say anymore, I storm from the room, needing to escape.

A chain reaction ricochets through me. Reanimating every cell, I thought I had lost the power to feel. It’s too much at once. How can it still be so over powering? I thought I’d emptied out everything I had bottled inside while in the shower.

“Mavi, wait up!”

Hearing Snatch’s voice behind me is the last thing I need. Glancing over my shoulder, I find Leo hot on his heels.

“You should go home with Gabriel.”

“Where you go, we go.” He tells me firmly. Eyes bright and clear, he’s still far too pale, his gaunt frame swamped by an oversized baggy brown sweatshirt. It looks like the detox did him good. He’s lost that sickly look he’s always worn.

“It’s too dangerous here.”

Leo halts, giving me a ‘do you really think we don’t know that’ look. Shirt bright, flowery, and pink, it’s more rumpled and creased than his usual snazzy prim facade as if he’s gotten dressed in a hurry. His eyebrows are hiked up into his hairline. “All the more reason we stay, especially with you shacking up with the Devil.”

“I’m not—”

“Whatever game he’s still playing, we have your back” he continues, cutting me off.

They’re both determined. I can see it in the set of their expressions. They won’t back off no matter what I say. I don’t have the heart to tell them I probably won’t be coming back from this.

“Guys...”

Leo pulls me in for a full-on bear hug. “Caesar’s dead and you don’t show any emotion over it. Christ, he was our friend too. You don’t have to pretend. We’re hurting over losing him too. Showing it won’t make you weak.”

My composure ruptures through the holes already inflicted. Unable to stay stiffly in his embrace, I squeeze him tightly in return.

“I can’t lose you too.” It’s a whisper. Hoarse and hesitant. I’ve never been good with things like this. Pushing them away is my instinctive thing to do, but I know these bastards aren’t going to let me.

Another set of arms wrap around me from behind. “Good, because we don’t want you to get your arse killed either.” Snatch murmurs, holding me just as securely.

We stand there sandwiched together. Three bodies giving and receiving comfort. Saying, without the need for words, that we have a connection no matter what the future brings.

“I didn’t realise you were into this hippy hug it out shit.” Raziel’s voice is filled with amusement from behind. “Personally, I think a good fuck solves most problems.”

Leo and Snatch’s laughter vibrate through my skin, making me smile.

“Raziel, can you find rooms for my friends?”

“The boss isn’t going to like that.”

Untangling myself, I rake the hair which has fallen into my eyes away with a hand. “Right now, I don’t care what the fuck he likes or thinks.”

Releasing a long suffering sigh, the fallen angel beckons to them with one thick finger. “It’s probably safer if you both share. Don’t go wandering around if you want your limbs to remain attached. I have enough to do without cleaning up your corpses.”

“Cass! Are you ok?”

Snatch’s excited voice catches my attention.

Poking her nose out of a door further along the corridor, Cassandra stands, observing us in a pair of faded jeans and an oversized yellow sweatshirt. For someone who was abducted by the monarch of Hell she looks well rested and unharmed.

She nods, giving us a quizzical expression. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Maybe because the Devil kidnapped you and is holding you hostage.” Snatch points out, giving the fallen angel a nervous sideways glance.

Throwing the door wider, her eyes light up as she gives him an eager grin. “Raz, I need more pizza.”

Raziel snorts in response to her request. “You know the deal. Tell me those race results and I’ll order you another one with everything you like on top.”

“You’re using her to cheat?” Not exactly what I had imagined Lucifer and his right-hand man to use an all-seeing oracle for. I thought he’d be more imaginative.

With a sniff, Raziel folds his brawny arms defensively across his chest. “She sees the future. It isn’t cheating. All I’m getting is a little celestial tip off. It’s not like we haven’t done this before.”

Fishing out his metal hip flask, Leo scrunches up his nose. “You risked the wrath of heavenly angels, so you could win some extra cash? Which isn’t even the currency you use in the seven Hell dimensions.”

Shifting on his feet, Raziel flexes his mighty black wings. “I can already see you’re going to be a pain in my arse.” He grumbles before setting off down the corridor. “You better keep up. If you get lost I am not coming to look for you dipshits.”