After Zane and Heron came back, we replenished our invisibility spells and gave a scoop to Lumi, as well. The guys had gotten rid of the COs and remaining daemon guard the old-fashioned way—their blood was spattered all over the walls, their heads decorating the corridors.

We made our way out of the basement, steering clear of potential red lenses. We’d all put on black capes, just in case we had to go visible and get lost in a crowd again. It also helped with our extraction plan.

As soon as we reached the ground floor, we realized the war had begun. The alarms were ringing throughout the building. Battle sirens blared outside. The Adlet flare had been launched.

The resident Maras rushed down the stairs from the upper floors, grabbing swords and spears that the receptionists handed out. They’d gone from pleasure workers to soldiers in what seemed like a split second. They mind-bent the Imen into joining them outside, and they all proceeded to go down the mountain and join the defense lines.

“Good grief, the Imen don’t even want to fight,” I murmured, watching the servants run out with blank expressions, clutching knives and short swords, clubs and hammers.

“They don’t have a choice,” Fiona replied.

“Intruders!” one of the receptionists screamed.

I didn’t even spot her red lens, but she’d seen us, and she was pointing a finger at us. We’d stopped at the end of the corridor, where we’d disabled the two Correction Officers prior to sneaking downstairs.

“Crap,” I muttered, gripping my swords.

Both receptionists came out from behind their desk, accompanied by several COs and a handful of Imen. I dashed forward and threw out a barrier. The pulse knocked them backward. They all landed on their backs, the air knocked out of their lungs.

Caspian handled the Imen, mind-bending them and overriding their previous commands.

“Lumi, stay back!” I said. “We need you to preserve your energy. We can handle these fools.”

Fiona, Zane, Avril, Heron, and I fought the others, hacking and slashing until not a single fiend was left standing. Lumi stayed back, like I’d asked. Once they were all down, we looked around and noticed the Palisade was empty. They’d all gone to war.

There was a doubtful pang troubling my stomach.

“This feels a little too easy,” I breathed, putting my swords away.

“I think we deserve some ‘easy’ today, babe,” Fiona replied.

“Let’s go,” Zane said.

He took the lead. We followed. I looked over my shoulder and scanned the interior of the Palisade once more, using my True Sight. Some Imen had been left behind in the rooms, most of them females, and most of them not moving. They’d been drained and killed.

Rage flowed through my veins, red hot. I looked forward to tearing down this entire city, brick by brick, and erasing all traces of the Exiled Maras. Neraka had been cursed with the worst of plagues.

I put on my mask and goggles, ready for the sun.

I didn’t even realize that Zane had stopped in the doorway until I bumped into him.

“Dude, keep—” I wanted to say “keep moving,” but then I saw what had brought him to such a sudden halt.

We had company. The worst kind of company.

Shaytan and one of his sons, Abeles, stood outside, red lenses on. Behind them, lined up in a semicircle, were over two dozen daemon soldiers—the bigger ones, with meranium armor and extra-large blades. Boots thundered up the stairs.

For a moment there, I noticed the frown on Shaytan’s face. He hadn’t been expecting company.

Correction Officers came up, their swords out and their red lenses on. They surrounded us and the daemons. They all looked at each other, equally displeased to share this space and, most likely, the swamp witch we were trying to sneak out.

“I take it you were going to snatch Lumi for yourself?” I asked Shaytan, my hands gripping my sword handles. My palms were already sweating.

I’d dreaded this moment, but, at the same time, part of me had hoped I’d get to keep my promise to Shaytan. Maybe this was my chance, after all. Shaytan grinned.

“You know me so well, darling,” he replied dryly.

One of the COs stepped forward, his expression firm, his brow furrowed. “Your Grace, I know our people have some issues to resolve, but please, let’s work together on this one. We cannot let the swamp witch escape.”

Shaytan rolled his eyes, then let out an exhausted sigh.

“Heron, go,” I whispered. “Back door.”

Two of us were supposed to get away if we ran into trouble. This was trouble multiplied by a thousand. They took advantage of Zane’s large figure still standing in the doorway and rushed back inside. There was a service door that had yet to be covered by the enemy, given that they were all gathered out front. Perfect.

“You know you’re not walking out of here with the witch, right?” Shaytan said, giving me a lazy grin. He then shifted his focus to Zane. His smile faded, replaced by a contemptuous sneer. “I should’ve killed you when you first helped these wretched fiends.”

“We both know you should’ve killed me long ago,” Zane replied, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he stepped forward.

Fiona, Caspian, and I kept our precious “asset” back. I quickly scanned the area; these were the only hostiles we were dealing with. Though they clearly outnumbered us, at least they were a finite quantity. Everybody else was rushing down to the ground level. From what I could see, the allied forces were yards away from the base of the mountain.

In a matter of minutes, they were going to tear through Azure Heights’s defenses, then work their way up to the top.

“That’s fine,” Shaytan shot back. “I’ll just kill you now, with the rest of them. I was going to keep you all as my midnight snacks, but you’ve really ruined your chances this time.”

I stifled a chuckle. “Oh, no! Whatever will we do?” I mockingly retorted. “Wait. I know. I’ll chop your head off and get this over with.”

Shaytan’s deadly scowl made my blood freeze for a moment, but I refused to let him see his effect on me. He was twice my height, massive, his muscles bulging, his veins throbbing all over. His gold-threaded horns were sharp and begging to rip me apart. I had my work cut out for me.

“I’ll go the extra mile and carve what you just said into your headstone,” Shaytan replied dryly.

“The city is under siege,” Zane cut in. “You’re not going to win this time, Father. You should start considering a truce.”

Shaytan let out a roaring laugh, then pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “You think a handful of Dhaxanians, mutts, and poisonous bugs will be the end of the daemon kingdom? My boy, I thought you were smarter than this.”

“It’s not just—” Zane started his reply, but stopped himself, as a nasty realization dawned on him. “You didn’t come here with just a squadron of daemons, did you?”

Shaytan smirked, his confidence setting me on fire.

“I didn’t come here to attend a funeral. I didn’t even come here to listen to the Lords scramble for excuses and then beg me to renegotiate our agreement,” the daemon king said. “I came here to conquer the mountain and establish my unbreakable supremacy.”

I used my True Sight to see past him.

Our allies were, indeed, coming in hot on the ground level. The Exiled Maras were dropping in a devastating combination of Dhaxanian frost, Adlet ferocity, and Manticore venom.

But farther back, across the field, hordes of daemons were pouring out of the gorges. Thousands of them.

My heart stopped for a split second.

They marched toward Azure Heights. Their drums of war echoed louder through the early afternoon. They’d started a few hours earlier, albeit muffled by the distance. But they were getting closer now. Their meranium shields glistened in the sunlight. They had catapults and ballistae, throngs of pit wolves and dark clouds of Death Claws.

Dread poisoned my resolve.

All we were left with was a small window of time. Our only hope was in Lumi’s ability to take down the protective shield. In less than half an hour, the daemon armies would reach the mountain, and all hell would break loose.

“I summoned all my armies from across the kingdom the moment you bastards destroyed my beautiful Draconis,” Shaytan added. “It took a while to get them all to move, but… there they are.”

“You never intended to continue your alliance with the Exiled Maras,” I breathed, my heart struggling against my chest. I gave Caspian a sideways glance and nearly unraveled. He was stunned, his chest moving with every tortured breath that he took, as he understood exactly what our circumstances were.

Shaytan shook his head, mildly amused. He took a couple of steps forward. His daemons moved as well, but he motioned for them to stand back.

“I’ll be honest. Last night, I was still thinking about giving them another chance,” he replied. “But then, I had an epiphany of sorts. I simply asked myself: Why should I? Wouldn’t it be easier if I just wiped them off the face of Neraka?” He clicked his teeth. “The Maras are emotional and greedy, Miss Hellswan. They’re partially responsible for the impending extinction of the Imen. We’re much more conservative with our soul food. We keep ourselves under control. We ration our portions. These idiots will wipe all the Imen out if I let them live. The Maras are pests, and it’s time I start treating them as such.”

I scoffed. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with you on this, but you do realize you’re just as bad, right? You’re killing Imen slowly and painfully, just so you can add more years to your ridiculously-long lifespan. They’re already stuck with just a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty if they stay healthy and spry. And you’re taking that away from them, too. You think the Maras are the only pests soiling this beautiful world? No, Shaytan. You’re just as bad. Screw your so-called conservative eating habits. That’s a load of crap. It’s still murder. It’s genocide. And you will pay for this.”

Shaytan sucked in a breath, narrowing his eyes at me. “I see why my wayward son likes you and your soon-to-be-dead friends. You’re all a bunch of naïve idealists,” he replied, then bared his fangs at me. “This is a wild world, Miss Hellswan. It’s the survival of the fittest. Only the strong get to live forever! And we’re the true Lords of Neraka!”

The drums of war grew louder in the distance. The siege on Azure Heights unfolded below, with swords clashing, fiends screaming and wailing, and Adlets roaring as they tore into the ground-floor defenses.

There wasn’t much we could do up here, given the circumstances, but I was sure as hell not going to let Shaytan stop us. Our mission objective was clear. No exception. No derailment. No turning back.

“You see, you say that,” I retorted sarcastically, “but you’ve yet to see what we can do for the wellbeing of all Nerakians.”

“I have to admit, I will enjoy draining the life out of your smart, plump little mouth,” Shaytan said in his most serious tone.

Chills ran down my spine.

I dry-swallowed, then took a deep breath, looking for that internal balance I desperately needed to get through this in one piece. Our allies were screwed down there if we didn’t take the shield down. We would all die within the hour if we failed in our mission.

We were smack in the middle of a perfect storm.